Science News

Alligators reveal how dinos survived low oxygen levels

Washington, April 17 : Scientists have studied alligators to analyze what life may have been like for dinosaurs at low oxygen levels of 12 percent during pre-historic times.

The scientists chose the alligator as a test subject for the study because they are believed to be the modern relatives of the dinosaurs.

"We knew testing the effects of different oxygen levels would work with alligators because crocodilians have survived in their basic shape and form for 220 million years. They must be doing something right to have survived the oxygen fluctuations," said scientist Tomasz Owerkowicz.

Chinese musical instruments could be 3000 yrs older than previously calculated

Washington, April 17 : The discovery of an ancient flute in Xinglongwa, China, has suggested that Chinese musical instruments could be 3000 years older than previously calculated.

Traditional Chinese musical instruments are believed to have originated from the reign of Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, some two thousand years ago.

But, a flute made of bones, unearthed at the Xinglongwa Site in Inner Mongolian in 1986, has changed the timeline for musical instruments in China.

The ancient flute was made from the bones of bustard, a kind of bird usually seen in Northeast China. The tube is 18 centimeters long, with finger holes still evident.

Scientists transform CO2 into clean-burning biofuel

Scientists transform CO2 into clean-burning biofuelWashington, April 17 : Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have become the first to transform the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into methanol, which is a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.

The IBN researchers report that by using organocatalysts, they activated CO2 in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.

Organocatalysts are catalysts that are comprised of non-metallic elements found in organic compounds.

When mammoth galaxy clusters collide in a ‘cosmic free-for-all’

When mammoth galaxy clusters collide in a ‘cosmic free-for-all’Washington, April 17 : By combining information from three different telescopes, scientists are learning what happens when some of the largest galaxy clusters in the Universe collide with each other in a cosmic free-for-all.

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects bound by gravity in the Universe.

Scientists discover microbes that survive without oxygen under Antarctic glacier

Scientists discover microbes that survive without oxygen under Antarctic glacierWashington, April 17 : A new research has led to the discovery of unusual microbial life under an inland Antarctic glacier, a place where cold, darkness and lack of oxygen would previously have led scientists to believe nothing could survive.

The microbes were found in an unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but buried under an inland Antarctic glacier.

Scientists create clock that takes 300 million yrs to lose just 1sec

London, April 17 : Researchers studying ultra-cold atoms have made a clock that takes 300 million years to lose just one second.

The atomic clock, which is twice as accurate as any similar device made previously, may believably turn out to be useful for measuring distances to far away galaxies, or for tracking tiny movements in the Earth''s crust that may give a warning of earthquakes.

Its makers have revealed that the clock consists of gas atoms trapped in a magnetic field and cooled almost to absolute zero, or minus 273 Celsius, the coldest temperature permitted by the laws of physics.

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