Washington, April 21: In new discoveries by researchers from Uppsala, Cambridge and Duke Universities, it has been shown that the earliest backboned land animals had different life histories.

The researchers studied fossil upper arm bones from the two so-called “four-legged fishes”, Ichthtyostega and Acanthostega, from Greenland.

These animals, which lived during the Devonian period about 365 million years ago, were among the earliest vertebrates (backboned animals) with fore- and hindlimbs rather than paired fins.

Soot or black carbon from mud cooking stoves, used in tens of thousands of villages in India, are turning out to be one of the main causes of global warming - says one of the world's leading climate scientists, Veerabhadran Ramanathan. According to a study by Ramanathan, Soot, the second most pernicious gas, after carbon dioxide, is causing 18 percent of the global warming, while carbon dioxide is responsible for 40 percent of carbon dioxide.

Washington, April 21 : In a new research, scientists have determined that the ancient Maya civilization used a rare type of clay called "palygorskite" to produce Maya blue, a unique bright blue to greenish-blue pigment.

As part of the research, the Spanish research team defined the features of palygorskite clay on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

These findings will make it possible to ascertain the origin of the materials used to produce this pigment, which survives both time and chemical and environmental elements.

The team traced the route followed by the Maya to obtain palygorskite clay, one of the basic ingredients of Maya Blue.

Washington, April 21: Astronomers, using different telescopes, have found that the well-known Great Nebula of Orion, which is a stellar nursery of sorts, is a lively and overcrowded place, with young stars emitting gas jets in all directions, creating quite a chaotic picture.

This was observed by astronomers using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, the IRAM Millimeter-wave Telescope in Spain, and the Spitzer Space Telescope in orbit above the Earth.

Berlin, April 21 : Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, Cornell University, USA, and the University of Cologne, Germany, have detected two of the most complex molecules yet discovered in interstellar space: ethyl formate and n-propyl cyanide.

Their computational models of interstellar chemistry also indicate that yet larger organic molecules may be present - including the so-far elusive amino acids, which are essential for life.

Washington, April 21 : Distracting consumers from a decision for some moments could help them make more accurate product evaluations, a new study suggests.

In the study, author Davy Lerouge of Tilburg University has demonstrated that distraction can help decision-making, depending on the manner in which consumers process the available product information.