Scientists are blasting off a&nbsp;500-million-year-old 'blob' that can think into space that will be welcomed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Physarum Polycephalum better known as "blob", is a unicellular organism that is neither plant, mushroom nor animal and capable of learning despite its lack of neuron.

It has long fascinated scientists and will now be part of a unique experiment carried out simultaneously by astronauts hundreds of kilometres above the Earth and by hundreds of thousands of French school students.

The slime mould first appeared on Earth around 500 million years ago, and defies conventional&nbsp;biology&nbsp;because it is made up of one cell with multiple nuclei.&nbsp;

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/want-to-become-a-space-tourist-here-is-all-you-need-to-do-399437" hreflang="en">Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do</a>

While most organisms grow and reproduce through the division and multiplication of cells, Physarum polycephalum does not.

"It is a single cell that grows without ever dividing," explains Pierre Ferrand, professor of Earth&nbsp;sciences&nbsp;and life seconded to French space agency CNES, one of the people behind the project.&nbsp;

Another oddity: "When most organisms make do with two sex types, the Blob has more than 720. It is an organism 'with drawers' which tells us that life consists of multitude originalities," he says.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/for-first-time-kepler-space-telescope-records-initial-phase-of-supernova-explosion-403448" hreflang="en">For first time, Kepler space telescope records initial phase of supernova explosion</a>

What one's cell can do?

A yellowish, spongy mass, the slime mould lacks a mouth, legs or brain. Yet despite these apparent disadvantages, the mould eats, grows, moves,&nbsp;albeit very slowly,&nbsp;and has amazing learning abilities.&nbsp;

Because the Blob's DNA floats freely around inside its cell walls,&nbsp;rather than being contained inside a nucleus,&nbsp;it can "slough off" parts of itself at will.&nbsp;

It can also enter a dormant state by dehydrating,&nbsp;called "sclerotia".

And it is several pieces of sclerotia that will embark on their odyssey aboard an ISS refuelling freighter.&nbsp;

When rehydrated in September, four sclerotia,&nbsp;each about the size of the average pinky fingernail,&nbsp;will be roused from their torpor in their Petri-dish beds.

The samples, both shorn from the same "parent Blob cell" (labelled by scientists as LU352), will undergo two protocols: one will deprive certain sub-Blobs of food; the others will be able to gorge out on a food source, porridge oats.

The goal is to observe the effects of weightlessness on this organism,&nbsp;&nbsp;but as an educational experience, a giant school experiment that reaches into space. There are no scientific papers expected as part of the mission's design.&nbsp;

"Nobody knows what its behaviour will be in a microgravity environment: what direction will it move in? Will it take the third dimension by going upwards, or go sideways?" asks Ferrand.

"I'll be curious to see if it develops by forming pillars," says Blob specialist Audrey Dussutour, director for the Centre for Research on Animal Cognition in Toulouse.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, back on Earth, thousands of specimens cut from the same LU352 strain will be distributed to about 4,500 schools and colleges in France.&nbsp;

"More than 350,000 students will 'touch' the Blob," says Christine Correcher, who runs the space agency's educational programme.

At the end of this month, teachers will receive kits containing three to five sclerotia.

When the sections of the Blob are revived in space, their cohorts will also be rehydrated on Earth.

Observations will then begin to compare the differences in how the samples in space adapt compared with those on Earth, which may cast light on fundamental questions surrounding the basic building blocks of life.

(With inputs from agencies)

Scientists are blasting off a 500-million-year-old 'blob' that can think into space that will be welcomed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Physarum Polycephalum better known as "blob", is a unicellular organism that is neither plant, mushroom nor animal and capable of learning despite its lack of neuron.

Scientists are blasting off a 500-million-year-old 'blob' that can think into space that will be welcomed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Physarum Polycephalum better known as "blob", is a unicellular organism that is neither plant, mushroom nor animal and capable of learning despite its lack of neuron. It has long fascinated scientists and will now be part of a unique experiment carried out simultaneously by astronauts hundreds of kilometres above the Earth and by hundreds of thousands of French school students. The slime mould first appeared on Earth around 500 million years ago, and defies conventional biology because it is made up of one cell with multiple nuclei. Also see | Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do While most organisms grow and reproduce through the division and multiplication of cells, Physarum polycephalum does not. "It is a single cell that grows without ever dividing," explains Pierre Ferrand, professor of Earth sciences and life seconded to French space agency CNES, one of the people behind the project. Another oddity: "When most organisms make do with two sex types, the Blob has more than 720. It is an organism 'with drawers' which tells us that life consists of multitude originalities," he says. Also read | For first time, Kepler space telescope records initial phase of supernova explosion What one's cell can do? A yellowish, spongy mass, the slime mould lacks a mouth, legs or brain. Yet despite these apparent disadvantages, the mould eats, grows, moves, albeit very slowly, and has amazing learning abilities. Because the Blob's DNA floats freely around inside its cell walls, rather than being contained inside a nucleus, it can "slough off" parts of itself at will. It can also enter a dormant state by dehydrating, called "sclerotia". And it is several pieces of sclerotia that will embark on their odyssey aboard an ISS refuelling freighter. When rehydrated in September, four sclerotia, each about the size of the average pinky fingernail, will be roused from their torpor in their Petri-dish beds. The samples, both shorn from the same "parent Blob cell" (labelled by scientists as LU352), will undergo two protocols: one will deprive certain sub-Blobs of food; the others will be able to gorge out on a food source, porridge oats. The goal is to observe the effects of weightlessness on this organism, but as an educational experience, a giant school experiment that reaches into space. There are no scientific papers expected as part of the mission's design. "Nobody knows what its behaviour will be in a microgravity environment: what direction will it move in? Will it take the third dimension by going upwards, or go sideways?" asks Ferrand. "I'll be curious to see if it develops by forming pillars," says Blob specialist Audrey Dussutour, director for the Centre for Research on Animal Cognition in Toulouse. Meanwhile, back on Earth, thousands of specimens cut from the same LU352 strain will be distributed to about 4,500 schools and colleges in France. "More than 350,000 students will 'touch' the Blob," says Christine Correcher, who runs the space agency's educational programme. At the end of this month, teachers will receive kits containing three to five sclerotia. When the sections of the Blob are revived in space, their cohorts will also be rehydrated on Earth. Observations will then begin to compare the differences in how the samples in space adapt compared with those on Earth, which may cast light on fundamental questions surrounding the basic building blocks of life. (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists are sending a 500-million-year-old 'blob' that can think into space

One moonless night a little more than a decade ago, Marie Dacke and Eric Warrant, animal vision experts from Lund University in Sweden, made a surprise discovery in South Africa.

The researchers had been watching nocturnal dung beetles, miniature Sisyphuses of the savanna, as they tumbled giant balls of dung. The beetles seemed to be able to roll remarkably straight, even though they had no clear landmarks to reference.

“We thought maybe they were using our cameras, maybe someone had lit a fire somewhere,” Dacke said. “We were really confused.” Then they realized the beetles were guided by the 100,000 light-years-long streak of the Milky Way.

We humans are famous for this sort of thing. The stars beckoned our species to cross seas and kindled the sciences that later let us putter up toward them in rockets. From culture to culture, the Milky Way served as backdrop and inspiration for stories about rivers, trees, gods, serpents and, of course, exploration.

But we were not the only ones looking.

Researchers like Dacke suspect that a wide swath of the animal world might sometimes navigate by starlight — and might be lost as our city lights drown out ever more of it. Her team’s newest study, published Thursday, found that dung beetles became confused under light-swamped skies. The result adds to a small and scattered body of research, conducted over decades, on what the night sky might mean to the other earthlings who can sense it.

These experiments raise the same few, difficult questions: Can animals see the stars? Can animals use them? And what happens when they lose them?

Aquatic Astronomers

In the 1780s, astronomers William and Caroline Herschel scoured the skies for nebulae, finding some that resembled spiral seashells. In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble, at the helm of an enormous telescope, discovered that the Milky Way, Andromeda and Herschel spirals were galactic islands in a vast cosmic sea.

And in the mid-2000s, Nick, a researcher of sorts in Cologne, Germany, swam to his own telescope and plopped into an underwater chair. Then he stuck his head in a tube and, if he saw a star, pressed a paddle. He was rewarded with fish.

Nick, a harbor seal, entered the annals of astronomical history when Guido Dehnhardt, a marine biologist now at the University of Rostock, was studying how marine mammals orient themselves. If seals could discern stars, Dehnhardt and his colleague Björn Mauck hypothesized, that might help explain how the animals are able to complete long swims across otherwise featureless seas.

To test a seal’s astronomical skills, Mauck devised what must be two of scientific history’s most wide-eyed, wonder-infused experiments.

First, the team constructed their seal-o-scope — a tube with no lens, through which Nick was given a tour of the night sky. He consistently pressed his paddle when bright points like Venus, Sirius and Polaris came into view; he could not see as many faint stars as humans can, the researchers determined, but plenty of possible celestial landmarks were still available to him.

Next, Mauck built something even bigger. This time two seals were invited to participate, Nick and his even cleverer brother, Malte.

When ushered back into the pool at a Cologne zoo, the seals entered a dome measuring 15 feet across, its rim resting on a floating ring. The insides of this bespoke aqua-planetarium were lit up with 6,000 simulated stars. “They were immediately swimming across the planetarium and looking at stars like, ‘Oh, what’s that?’” Dehnhardt said. “You got the impression that they really recognized what this is.”

First, the researchers used a laser pointer to direct the seals to where the rim of the dome met the water nearest to Sirius, the Dog Star. If a seal swam over and touched that precise part of the dome with its snout, it received some fish. Then the pointer was aimed directly at Sirius. Again the seal’s task was to swim toward the star and touch the point on the rim directly beneath it.

Then, the researchers dispensed with the laser pointer. No matter which way the star-projector was oriented, both seals could eventually swim in the direction of Sirius. That showed, the researchers argued in a 2008 paper, that seals traversing the open sea had the capacity to use lodestars to guide their travels.

It had taken Nick, the more seasoned astronomer, 11 sessions to reliably touch the wall right under Sirius. But Malte did it the very first time they left him alone in the planetarium. “Malte was an absolutely brilliant seal,” Dehnhardt said.

Coming of Age Under Polaris

While seals might steer by the stars, some birds definitely do, as more than a half-century of experiments inspired by Stephen T. Emlen have demonstrated.

In the early 1960s, Emlen, then a graduate student at the University of Michigan and now an emeritus professor at Cornell, began carrying indigo buntings into a planetarium in the evenings. “I was nocturnal myself,” he said recently.

Indigo buntings migrate at night, flying as far as 2,000 miles. Before they start out, they hop in the direction they plan to go, making their intent apparent to a navigation researcher. Emlen showed that if indigo buntings were exposed to the stars, the birds hopped in a manner indicating that they knew which way was north.

Human observers know that at night, the stars trace circles in the sky as Earth spins on its axis. Those circles shrink for more northern stars — and the northernmost, Polaris, does not seem to circle at all. Once you have learned that, you need only to remember a constellation in the vicinity of north — the Big Dipper works well — to get oriented.

Emlen wondered whether buntings employed a similar trick. If he covered up Polaris in the planetarium, could they still find north? Indeed they could, he discovered. What if he blotted out just the Big Dipper or just Cassiopeia? Now the birds’ performance varied. And if he erased all the northernmost constellations together? The birds were lost.

Later, Emlen enlisted young indigo buntings that had just left their nests. Over the summer, he tweaked the planetarium projector so that the sky rotated around Betelgeuse, the red giant star at Orion’s shoulder, rather than Polaris.

Sure enough, come autumn, the buntings indicated with their hops that they thought Betelgeuse guided the way north. This suggested that the bird’s stargazing skills were learned, not derived from some star map encoded in their genes, Emlen and his colleagues argued. In the glittering dark, each young bunting had apparently spent some time looking up, studying, as the stars traced circles in the night sky.

Lost on a Starless Night

Around the time Nick and Malte learned to spot Sirius, Dacke and Warrant had their eureka moment in South Africa with dung beetles.

After a dung beetle arrives on a dung pile, it painstakingly cobbles together a snowball of dung larger than itself. Then it climbs up onto the ball and spins around, scanning, as if deciphering the celestial scene.

Through a dung beetle’s compound eyes, stars appear as blobs, not as points of light. But those same eyes are more sensitive than ours to dim objects like the dappled patterns of the Milky Way.

After its spinning scan, a beetle rolls its ball in a straight line away from the dung pile for a few minutes, on a random heading. (This seems to minimize the likelihood that two beetles will meet, which often results in a fight.) Dacke found that the beetles seem to keep themselves rolling straight by confirming that the intragalactic scene they were heading toward still matched the earlier reference image.

But a funny thing happened as Dacke’s team kept studying this behavior: They had an increasingly difficult time locating the Milky Way in the sky. “I ended up spending one night cycling off into the forest,” said James Foster, who joined the project as a graduate student and is now a postdoc in zoology at the University of Würzburg in Germany.

That is a common experience; roughly 4 in 5 Americans, 2 in 3 Europeans, and 1 in 3 people in the world reside somewhere too bright at night for the Milky Way to be visible, a 2016 study showed, and the fraction of our planet that is illuminated at night grows larger every year.

Dacke and Foster resolved to test whether washed-out skies might also matter to their study subjects. In their latest experiments, published Thursday in Current Biology, they shined spotlights on the beetles and brought them to the roof of the Wits University biology building in central Johannesburg.

They found two effects, neither of them good. When a beetle’s sky was dominated by a single glaring light, it could still go straight — but instead of rolling off in a random direction, it made a beeline for the beacon. More confusing were the featureless, light-swamped skies you might expect in suburbs; the beetles just went in circles.

Other species may be similarly affected. The stars have always been more or less constant while landmarks erode and the planet’s magnetic field shifts. But now, rather abruptly, they are fading out. “What we’ve seen on a much smaller scale with the dung beetles could have huge impacts on birds and seals and migratory moths,” Foster said.

With their studies concluded, science’s pioneering animal astronomers have gone on to different fates. A few of the South African dung beetles now live in the lab in Lund, where the researchers sometimes study them under a fully simulated sky.

Emlen kept the Betelgeuse-beguiled indigo buntings in his lab through the winter and released them in the spring. Hopefully, he said, they recalibrated to the true north before beginning their first migration.

And Nick the seal is still an active contributor to fields like acoustics, hydrodynamics and optics, although Malte died a few years ago. Nick now lives in a sprawling harbor lab that opens to the Baltic Sea; at night, he and the other seals in the enclosure can see fantastic skies overhead, Dehnhardt said.

“But whether they use it,” he said, “I don’t know.” 
&nbsp;

One moonless night a little more than a decade ago, Marie Dacke and Eric Warrant, animal vision experts from Lund University in Sweden, made a surprise discovery in South Africa.

One moonless night a little more than a decade ago, Marie Dacke and Eric Warrant, animal vision experts from Lund University in Sweden, made a surprise discovery in South Africa. The researchers had been watching nocturnal dung beetles, miniature Sisyphuses of the savanna, as they tumbled giant balls of dung. The beetles seemed to be able to roll remarkably straight, even though they had no clear landmarks to reference. “We thought maybe they were using our cameras, maybe someone had lit a fire somewhere,” Dacke said. “We were really confused.” Then they realized the beetles were guided by the 100,000 light-years-long streak of the Milky Way. We humans are famous for this sort of thing. The stars beckoned our species to cross seas and kindled the sciences that later let us putter up toward them in rockets. From culture to culture, the Milky Way served as backdrop and inspiration for stories about rivers, trees, gods, serpents and, of course, exploration. But we were not the only ones looking. Researchers like Dacke suspect that a wide swath of the animal world might sometimes navigate by starlight — and might be lost as our city lights drown out ever more of it. Her team’s newest study, published Thursday, found that dung beetles became confused under light-swamped skies. The result adds to a small and scattered body of research, conducted over decades, on what the night sky might mean to the other earthlings who can sense it. These experiments raise the same few, difficult questions: Can animals see the stars? Can animals use them? And what happens when they lose them? Aquatic Astronomers In the 1780s, astronomers William and Caroline Herschel scoured the skies for nebulae, finding some that resembled spiral seashells. In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble, at the helm of an enormous telescope, discovered that the Milky Way, Andromeda and Herschel spirals were galactic islands in a vast cosmic sea. And in the mid-2000s, Nick, a researcher of sorts in Cologne, Germany, swam to his own telescope and plopped into an underwater chair. Then he stuck his head in a tube and, if he saw a star, pressed a paddle. He was rewarded with fish. Nick, a harbor seal, entered the annals of astronomical history when Guido Dehnhardt, a marine biologist now at the University of Rostock, was studying how marine mammals orient themselves. If seals could discern stars, Dehnhardt and his colleague Björn Mauck hypothesized, that might help explain how the animals are able to complete long swims across otherwise featureless seas. To test a seal’s astronomical skills, Mauck devised what must be two of scientific history’s most wide-eyed, wonder-infused experiments. First, the team constructed their seal-o-scope — a tube with no lens, through which Nick was given a tour of the night sky. He consistently pressed his paddle when bright points like Venus, Sirius and Polaris came into view; he could not see as many faint stars as humans can, the researchers determined, but plenty of possible celestial landmarks were still available to him. Next, Mauck built something even bigger. This time two seals were invited to participate, Nick and his even cleverer brother, Malte. When ushered back into the pool at a Cologne zoo, the seals entered a dome measuring 15 feet across, its rim resting on a floating ring. The insides of this bespoke aqua-planetarium were lit up with 6,000 simulated stars. “They were immediately swimming across the planetarium and looking at stars like, ‘Oh, what’s that?’” Dehnhardt said. “You got the impression that they really recognized what this is.” First, the researchers used a laser pointer to direct the seals to where the rim of the dome met the water nearest to Sirius, the Dog Star. If a seal swam over and touched that precise part of the dome with its snout, it received some fish. Then the pointer was aimed directly at Sirius. Again the seal’s task was to swim toward the star and touch the point on the rim directly beneath it. Then, the researchers dispensed with the laser pointer. No matter which way the star-projector was oriented, both seals could eventually swim in the direction of Sirius. That showed, the researchers argued in a 2008 paper, that seals traversing the open sea had the capacity to use lodestars to guide their travels. It had taken Nick, the more seasoned astronomer, 11 sessions to reliably touch the wall right under Sirius. But Malte did it the very first time they left him alone in the planetarium. “Malte was an absolutely brilliant seal,” Dehnhardt said. Coming of Age Under Polaris While seals might steer by the stars, some birds definitely do, as more than a half-century of experiments inspired by Stephen T. Emlen have demonstrated. In the early 1960s, Emlen, then a graduate student at the University of Michigan and now an emeritus professor at Cornell, began carrying indigo buntings into a planetarium in the evenings. “I was nocturnal myself,” he said recently. Indigo buntings migrate at night, flying as far as 2,000 miles. Before they start out, they hop in the direction they plan to go, making their intent apparent to a navigation researcher. Emlen showed that if indigo buntings were exposed to the stars, the birds hopped in a manner indicating that they knew which way was north. Human observers know that at night, the stars trace circles in the sky as Earth spins on its axis. Those circles shrink for more northern stars — and the northernmost, Polaris, does not seem to circle at all. Once you have learned that, you need only to remember a constellation in the vicinity of north — the Big Dipper works well — to get oriented. Emlen wondered whether buntings employed a similar trick. If he covered up Polaris in the planetarium, could they still find north? Indeed they could, he discovered. What if he blotted out just the Big Dipper or just Cassiopeia? Now the birds’ performance varied. And if he erased all the northernmost constellations together? The birds were lost. Later, Emlen enlisted young indigo buntings that had just left their nests. Over the summer, he tweaked the planetarium projector so that the sky rotated around Betelgeuse, the red giant star at Orion’s shoulder, rather than Polaris. Sure enough, come autumn, the buntings indicated with their hops that they thought Betelgeuse guided the way north. This suggested that the bird’s stargazing skills were learned, not derived from some star map encoded in their genes, Emlen and his colleagues argued. In the glittering dark, each young bunting had apparently spent some time looking up, studying, as the stars traced circles in the night sky. Lost on a Starless Night Around the time Nick and Malte learned to spot Sirius, Dacke and Warrant had their eureka moment in South Africa with dung beetles. After a dung beetle arrives on a dung pile, it painstakingly cobbles together a snowball of dung larger than itself. Then it climbs up onto the ball and spins around, scanning, as if deciphering the celestial scene. Through a dung beetle’s compound eyes, stars appear as blobs, not as points of light. But those same eyes are more sensitive than ours to dim objects like the dappled patterns of the Milky Way. After its spinning scan, a beetle rolls its ball in a straight line away from the dung pile for a few minutes, on a random heading. (This seems to minimize the likelihood that two beetles will meet, which often results in a fight.) Dacke found that the beetles seem to keep themselves rolling straight by confirming that the intragalactic scene they were heading toward still matched the earlier reference image. But a funny thing happened as Dacke’s team kept studying this behavior: They had an increasingly difficult time locating the Milky Way in the sky. “I ended up spending one night cycling off into the forest,” said James Foster, who joined the project as a graduate student and is now a postdoc in zoology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. That is a common experience; roughly 4 in 5 Americans, 2 in 3 Europeans, and 1 in 3 people in the world reside somewhere too bright at night for the Milky Way to be visible, a 2016 study showed, and the fraction of our planet that is illuminated at night grows larger every year. Dacke and Foster resolved to test whether washed-out skies might also matter to their study subjects. In their latest experiments, published Thursday in Current Biology, they shined spotlights on the beetles and brought them to the roof of the Wits University biology building in central Johannesburg. They found two effects, neither of them good. When a beetle’s sky was dominated by a single glaring light, it could still go straight — but instead of rolling off in a random direction, it made a beeline for the beacon. More confusing were the featureless, light-swamped skies you might expect in suburbs; the beetles just went in circles. Other species may be similarly affected. The stars have always been more or less constant while landmarks erode and the planet’s magnetic field shifts. But now, rather abruptly, they are fading out. “What we’ve seen on a much smaller scale with the dung beetles could have huge impacts on birds and seals and migratory moths,” Foster said. With their studies concluded, science’s pioneering animal astronomers have gone on to different fates. A few of the South African dung beetles now live in the lab in Lund, where the researchers sometimes study them under a fully simulated sky. Emlen kept the Betelgeuse-beguiled indigo buntings in his lab through the winter and released them in the spring. Hopefully, he said, they recalibrated to the true north before beginning their first migration. And Nick the seal is still an active contributor to fields like acoustics, hydrodynamics and optics, although Malte died a few years ago. Nick now lives in a sprawling harbor lab that opens to the Baltic Sea; at night, he and the other seals in the enclosure can see fantastic skies overhead, Dehnhardt said. “But whether they use it,” he said, “I don’t know.”

What animals see in the stars, and what they stand to lose

Scientists have discovered the&nbsp;earliest known animal life on Earth, fossilised structures discovered in northwestern Canada&nbsp;that lived in oceans as long as 890 million years ago.

Researchers believe that the&nbsp;findings also challenge the long-held idea that animals did not arise on Earth until after a major infusion of oxygen into the atmosphere and oceans.

Sponges are simple animals with an ancient history. Genetic evidence gathered from modern sponges has shown they likely emerged between 1 billion and 500 million years ago.

But until now there has been no evidence of fossilised sponge bodies from this period, known as the early Neoproterozoic era.

Elizabeth Turner, a professor at Canada's Laurentian University's Harquail School of Earth Sciences, looked for evidence of sponges in 890-million-year-old reefs that were constructed by a type of bacteria that deposited calcium carbonate.

She found networks of tiny tube-shaped structures containing crystals of the mineral calcite -- suggesting they were contemporaneous to the reef -- that closely resemble the fibrous skeleton found within some modern sponges.

If her structures Turner identified end up being verified as sponge samples, they will outdate the current oldest known sponge fossils by 350 million years.

Although the implications of her possible discovery, published in the journal Nature, Turner said she was not getting carried away.

"The earliest animals to emerge evolutionarily were probably sponge-like. This too is not surprising, given that sponges are the most basic animal in the tree of animal life," she said.

"The nature of the material is familiar from the bodies of much younger body fossils of sponges," Turner said.

She said the possible sponges were around one centimetre across, and "would have been tiny and inconspicuous, living in shadowy nooks and crannies below the upper surfaces of the reefs"

If the structures do turn out to be confirmed as sponge specimens, that means they would have lived roughly 90 million years before Earth's oxygen levels reached levels thought to be necessary to support animal life.

Turner said that if confirmed to be sponges, she believed that they lived before the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event, during which oxygen levels increased, subsequently leading to the emergence of animal life.

"If I am correct in my interpretation of the material, the earliest animals appeared before that event and may have been tolerant of comparatively low oxygen levels, relative to modern conditions," she said.

"It is possible that the earliest animals were tolerant of low oxygen, some modern sponges are,&nbsp;but that more complex animal types that require a higher oxygen level did not appear until after the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event," Turner added.

(With inputs from agencies)

Scientists have discovered the earliest known animal life on Earth, fossilised structures discovered in northwestern Canada that lived in oceans as long as 890 million years ago.

Scientists have discovered the earliest known animal life on Earth, fossilised structures discovered in northwestern Canada that lived in oceans as long as 890 million years ago. Researchers believe that the findings also challenge the long-held idea that animals did not arise on Earth until after a major infusion of oxygen into the atmosphere and oceans. Sponges are simple animals with an ancient history. Genetic evidence gathered from modern sponges has shown they likely emerged between 1 billion and 500 million years ago. But until now there has been no evidence of fossilised sponge bodies from this period, known as the early Neoproterozoic era. Elizabeth Turner, a professor at Canada's Laurentian University's Harquail School of Earth Sciences, looked for evidence of sponges in 890-million-year-old reefs that were constructed by a type of bacteria that deposited calcium carbonate. She found networks of tiny tube-shaped structures containing crystals of the mineral calcite -- suggesting they were contemporaneous to the reef -- that closely resemble the fibrous skeleton found within some modern sponges. If her structures Turner identified end up being verified as sponge samples, they will outdate the current oldest known sponge fossils by 350 million years. Although the implications of her possible discovery, published in the journal Nature, Turner said she was not getting carried away. "The earliest animals to emerge evolutionarily were probably sponge-like. This too is not surprising, given that sponges are the most basic animal in the tree of animal life," she said. "The nature of the material is familiar from the bodies of much younger body fossils of sponges," Turner said. She said the possible sponges were around one centimetre across, and "would have been tiny and inconspicuous, living in shadowy nooks and crannies below the upper surfaces of the reefs" If the structures do turn out to be confirmed as sponge specimens, that means they would have lived roughly 90 million years before Earth's oxygen levels reached levels thought to be necessary to support animal life. Turner said that if confirmed to be sponges, she believed that they lived before the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event, during which oxygen levels increased, subsequently leading to the emergence of animal life. "If I am correct in my interpretation of the material, the earliest animals appeared before that event and may have been tolerant of comparatively low oxygen levels, relative to modern conditions," she said. "It is possible that the earliest animals were tolerant of low oxygen, some modern sponges are, but that more complex animal types that require a higher oxygen level did not appear until after the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event," Turner added. (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists discover Earth's oldest animal life, 'sponge structures'

NASA's Landsat 8 satellite has captured mesmerising images of&nbsp;phytoplanktons,&nbsp;the base component of the marine food chain.

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Microscopic ocean plants called&nbsp;phytoplankton&nbsp;gobble up CO2 and drag it to the bottom of the ocean when they die.

Their colony size is limited by a lack of natural iron, but experiments have shown that sowing the ocean with iron sulphate powder creates large blooms.

Plankton include microscopic plants and animals, fish larvae, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that drift in the oceans.

By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into organic carbon via photosynthesis, plankton provide a buffer against the increased carbon dioxide being generated by the burning of fossil fuels.

New research led by NASA researchers has found populations of the microscopic marine plants, phytoplankton, have decreased in the Northern Hemisphere.

An analysis using a NASA model in combination with ocean satellite data between 1998 and 2012, showed a 1 per cent&nbsp;decrease of phytoplankton per year.

NASA's Landsat 8 satellite has captured mesmerising images of phytoplanktons, the base component of the marine food chain. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) Microscopic ocean plants called phytoplankton gobble up CO2 and drag it to the bottom of the ocean when they die.

NASA's Landsat 8 satellite has captured mesmerising images of phytoplanktons, the base component of the marine food chain. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) Microscopic ocean plants called phytoplankton gobble up CO2 and drag it to the bottom of the ocean when they die. Their colony size is limited by a lack of natural iron, but experiments have shown that sowing the ocean with iron sulphate powder creates large blooms. Plankton include microscopic plants and animals, fish larvae, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that drift in the oceans. By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into organic carbon via photosynthesis, plankton provide a buffer against the increased carbon dioxide being generated by the burning of fossil fuels. New research led by NASA researchers has found populations of the microscopic marine plants, phytoplankton, have decreased in the Northern Hemisphere. An analysis using a NASA model in combination with ocean satellite data between 1998 and 2012, showed a 1 per cent decrease of phytoplankton per year.

'Summer is in full bloom': NASA shares satellite images of phytoplanktons

Paleontologists have discovered a&nbsp;new species:&nbsp;&nbsp;a microsaur from a&nbsp;finger-sized&nbsp;fossil&nbsp;from &nbsp;308 million years ago unearthed in the United States.

Researchers have revealed that the discovery gives tantalising clues to the habits of tiny dinosaur-like creatures that may be the forerunners of reptiles.

Microsaur, a small, lizard-like animals that roamed the Earth well before proper dinosaurs made their appearance.

The find sheds important light on the evolution of different animal groups, including amphibians and reptiles, scientists wrote in the journal Royal Society Open Science.&nbsp;

Microsaurs lived during the Carboniferous period, when the forebears of modern mammals and reptiles, called amniotes, first appeared.

"Many details of that transition aren't well known," said study co-author Arjan Mann, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.

"Microsaurs have recently become important in understanding the origins of amniotes," he said. "A lot of these microsaurs have been thought to be either ancestors of amphibians or ancestors of reptiles."

Encased in a bog in what is today the central United States, the specimen's serpent-like body measures about five centimetres (two inches).&nbsp;

The animals had four short, plump legs.

In deference to its tiny size, researchers dubbed the new species Joermungandr bolti after a giant sea serpent from Norse mythology who did battle with Thor.

Scientists were astonished to discover the&nbsp;fossil&nbsp;also contained the animal's skin.

"Areas of the skin had only been known from fragmentary fossils before," said Mann.

"This microsaur is the whole shebang... that's very rare for these fossils. It's very rare for anything 300 million years old to have skin with it!"

Contrary to previous ideas about microsaurs, which had been classed as amphibians, Mann and his team discovered that Joermungandr had scales.

"Modern amphibians... are soft and slimy things, this was not a soft and slimy thing," says Mann.&nbsp;

"This animal really had a reptile-like look to it."&nbsp;

Mann said the research suggests not only that microsaurs might be early relatives of reptiles, but also that the ability to burrow may have played a bigger role in the origin of amniotes than originally thought.

The researchers used a highly sensitive imaging technique called scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to get an up-close look at the nearly perfect&nbsp;fossil.

They discovered a pattern of ridges similar to those found on the scales of modern reptiles that dig into the ground.

Along with other features like a robust skull and elongated body, the scale shape led researchers to hypothesise that Joermungandr burrowed as well.

"It would probably have been a head-first burrower, using its head to smack itself into the soil," said Mann.

"Its limbs were probably not very functional. It may have used them to stabilise itself as it was wobbling around. But its primary mode of movement would have been side winding like a snake."

(With inputs from agencies)

Paleontologists have discovered a new species: a microsaur from a finger-sized fossil from 308 million years ago unearthed in the United States. Researchers have revealed that the discovery gives tantalising clues to the habits of tiny dinosaur-like creatures that may be the forerunners of reptiles.

Paleontologists have discovered a new species: a microsaur from a finger-sized fossil from 308 million years ago unearthed in the United States. Researchers have revealed that the discovery gives tantalising clues to the habits of tiny dinosaur-like creatures that may be the forerunners of reptiles. Microsaur, a small, lizard-like animals that roamed the Earth well before proper dinosaurs made their appearance. The find sheds important light on the evolution of different animal groups, including amphibians and reptiles, scientists wrote in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Microsaurs lived during the Carboniferous period, when the forebears of modern mammals and reptiles, called amniotes, first appeared. "Many details of that transition aren't well known," said study co-author Arjan Mann, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. "Microsaurs have recently become important in understanding the origins of amniotes," he said. "A lot of these microsaurs have been thought to be either ancestors of amphibians or ancestors of reptiles." Encased in a bog in what is today the central United States, the specimen's serpent-like body measures about five centimetres (two inches). The animals had four short, plump legs. In deference to its tiny size, researchers dubbed the new species Joermungandr bolti after a giant sea serpent from Norse mythology who did battle with Thor. Scientists were astonished to discover the fossil also contained the animal's skin. "Areas of the skin had only been known from fragmentary fossils before," said Mann. "This microsaur is the whole shebang... that's very rare for these fossils. It's very rare for anything 300 million years old to have skin with it!" Contrary to previous ideas about microsaurs, which had been classed as amphibians, Mann and his team discovered that Joermungandr had scales. "Modern amphibians... are soft and slimy things, this was not a soft and slimy thing," says Mann. "This animal really had a reptile-like look to it." Mann said the research suggests not only that microsaurs might be early relatives of reptiles, but also that the ability to burrow may have played a bigger role in the origin of amniotes than originally thought. The researchers used a highly sensitive imaging technique called scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to get an up-close look at the nearly perfect fossil. They discovered a pattern of ridges similar to those found on the scales of modern reptiles that dig into the ground. Along with other features like a robust skull and elongated body, the scale shape led researchers to hypothesise that Joermungandr burrowed as well. "It would probably have been a head-first burrower, using its head to smack itself into the soil," said Mann. "Its limbs were probably not very functional. It may have used them to stabilise itself as it was wobbling around. But its primary mode of movement would have been side winding like a snake." (With inputs from agencies)

Paleontologists discover new species called microsaur

Trust NASA to post something scientific and beautiful. The pics and videos are sure to go viral and they actually do. NASA's spacecrafts have literally travelled outside our Solar System and several are examining the celestial bodies inside our Solar System.

While us mortals don't usually get to see the cool pics and videos right when they are taken, NASA posts the images on its social handles and they get thousands of hits.

The video in discussion today has been captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft which is currently near the largest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter.

We see close-up images of planets and satellite close to Earth many times. Think Moon and Mars. But when a spacecraft goes as far as Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, the images often compel the planets to spill hidden secrets.

Juno spacecraft has been sending images back to Earth since 2016. This time, it gives us front-row access to Jupiter's moon Ganymede! It is the satellite of Jupiter on which ice changes directly from solid to gas.

The video shows Ganymede's cratered surface. Largest and brightest craters are easily seen. The video lasts for several seconds but it reported took June more than 12 hours to capture it in its entirety.

Check out the video

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Now isn't that mesmerising? 
&nbsp;

Trust NASA to post something scientific and beautiful. The pics and videos are sure to go viral and they actually do. NASA's spacecrafts have literally travelled outside our Solar System and several are examining the celestial bodies inside our Solar System.

Trust NASA to post something scientific and beautiful. The pics and videos are sure to go viral and they actually do. NASA's spacecrafts have literally travelled outside our Solar System and several are examining the celestial bodies inside our Solar System. While us mortals don't usually get to see the cool pics and videos right when they are taken, NASA posts the images on its social handles and they get thousands of hits. The video in discussion today has been captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft which is currently near the largest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter. We see close-up images of planets and satellite close to Earth many times. Think Moon and Mars. But when a spacecraft goes as far as Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, the images often compel the planets to spill hidden secrets. Juno spacecraft has been sending images back to Earth since 2016. This time, it gives us front-row access to Jupiter's moon Ganymede! It is the satellite of Jupiter on which ice changes directly from solid to gas. The video shows Ganymede's cratered surface. Largest and brightest craters are easily seen. The video lasts for several seconds but it reported took June more than 12 hours to capture it in its entirety. Check out the video × Now isn't that mesmerising?

NASA posts mesmerising video of Jupiter's moon

Scientists have discovered a potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims from a very unlikely source:&nbsp;the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders.

Researchers used venom from a type of funnel-web spider, among the world's deadliest species,&nbsp;in a drug they hope can soon be taken to human trials. So far the experimental medicine has only been lab-tested.

University of Queensland scientist&nbsp;Nathan Palpant&nbsp;said Friday the venom helped stop the body sending a "death signal" after a heart attack, which causes cells to die.

"After a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is reduced, resulting in a lack of oxygen to heart muscle," Palpant said.

"The lack of oxygen causes the cell environment to become acidic, which combine to send a message for heart cells to die.&nbsp;

"Despite decades of research, no one has been able to develop a drug that stops this death signal in heart cells, which is one of the reasons why heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the world."

The team has successfully used a protein from spider venom on beating human heart cells that were exposed to heart-attack stresses.

"The Hi1a protein from spider venom blocks acid-sensing ion channels in the heart, so the death message is blocked, cell death is reduced, and we see improved heart cell survival," Palpant said.

It is hoped the drug could help not only prevent heart damage and save lives, but improve the quality of donated hearts during transplants.

Previous research has indicated funnel-web spider venom may also be useful in curbing damage from strokes.

The University of Queensland said the team was aiming for human clinical trials for both stroke and heart disease "within two to three years".

The most recent research was published in the latest edition of the journal Circulation.

(With inputs from agencies)

Scientists have discovered a potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims from a very unlikely source: the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders.

Scientists have discovered a potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims from a very unlikely source: the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders. Researchers used venom from a type of funnel-web spider, among the world's deadliest species, in a drug they hope can soon be taken to human trials. So far the experimental medicine has only been lab-tested. University of Queensland scientist Nathan Palpant said Friday the venom helped stop the body sending a "death signal" after a heart attack, which causes cells to die. "After a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is reduced, resulting in a lack of oxygen to heart muscle," Palpant said. "The lack of oxygen causes the cell environment to become acidic, which combine to send a message for heart cells to die. "Despite decades of research, no one has been able to develop a drug that stops this death signal in heart cells, which is one of the reasons why heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the world." The team has successfully used a protein from spider venom on beating human heart cells that were exposed to heart-attack stresses. "The Hi1a protein from spider venom blocks acid-sensing ion channels in the heart, so the death message is blocked, cell death is reduced, and we see improved heart cell survival," Palpant said. It is hoped the drug could help not only prevent heart damage and save lives, but improve the quality of donated hearts during transplants. Previous research has indicated funnel-web spider venom may also be useful in curbing damage from strokes. The University of Queensland said the team was aiming for human clinical trials for both stroke and heart disease "within two to three years". The most recent research was published in the latest edition of the journal Circulation. (With inputs from agencies)

Repairing hearts with deadly spider venom? Scientists make unique discovery

How can a star be smallest and at the same time most massive? Well read on.

Scientists have found a dead star that is roughly the size of our Moon but has a mass greater than the Sun. The dead star named ZTF J1901+1458 is just 4,280 kilometers (2,660 miles) across but has 1.35 times the mass of the Sun.

It's a white dwarf star, which means it is ultradense collapsed core of a star. The dead star is located 130 light years away from us,

The star is superdense and very close to Chandrasekhar Limit

This limit refers to maximum mass a white dwarf star can have before it becomes unstable and literally explodes in a form of supernova.

Chandrasekhar limit is 1.4 times solar mass. And with 1.35 times the solar mass, the white dwarf is quite near the boundary line.

The team of scientists that studied the white dwarf feels that it is a product of merger between two white dwarf stars. The resultant mass is just below the Chandrasekhar limit and hence it hasn't exploded in a spectacular supernova.

The white dwarf is 100 million years old. And it has a very strong magnetic for a white dwarf. Its magnetic field is a billion times stronger than that of the Sun.

The research team has published their observations in scientific journal Nature.

How can a star be smallest and at the same time most massive? Well read on. Scientists have found a dead star that is roughly the size of our Moon but has a mass greater than the Sun.

How can a star be smallest and at the same time most massive? Well read on. Scientists have found a dead star that is roughly the size of our Moon but has a mass greater than the Sun. The dead star named ZTF J1901+1458 is just 4,280 kilometers (2,660 miles) across but has 1.35 times the mass of the Sun. It's a white dwarf star, which means it is ultradense collapsed core of a star. The dead star is located 130 light years away from us, The star is superdense and very close to Chandrasekhar Limit This limit refers to maximum mass a white dwarf star can have before it becomes unstable and literally explodes in a form of supernova. Chandrasekhar limit is 1.4 times solar mass. And with 1.35 times the solar mass, the white dwarf is quite near the boundary line. The team of scientists that studied the white dwarf feels that it is a product of merger between two white dwarf stars. The resultant mass is just below the Chandrasekhar limit and hence it hasn't exploded in a spectacular supernova. The white dwarf is 100 million years old. And it has a very strong magnetic for a white dwarf. Its magnetic field is a billion times stronger than that of the Sun. The research team has published their observations in scientific journal Nature.

Scientists find smallest but most massive dead star

New research has shown that dinosaurs may have been in decline millions of years before the meteor strike often attributed to their extinction.

The Chicxulub meteor, which slammed into what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula around 66 million years ago, is thought to have led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that killed off three-quarters of life on Earth, dinosaurs included.

Now new research suggests that a number of species of the terrible lizards may have been declining up to 10 million years before the meteor strike.

Research published in the journal Nature examined data from 1600 dinosaur remains found across the planet to model how common certain species of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs were in the late Cretaceous.

The team found that species decline began around 76 million years ago.&nbsp;

Fabien Condamine, from the University of Montpellier's Institute of Evolutionary&nbsp;Science&nbsp;and lead study author, said his team had followed the decline of six families of dinosaurs, comprising nearly 250 distinct species.

"We have a peak in diversity around 76 million years ago," he told said.

"Then there's a decline that lasts 10 million years -- that's more than the entire duration of the Homo genus."

The team found two possible explanations for the falling dinosaur diversity identified in the fossil records and their own computer modelling.

For one, the pace of the species decline corresponded with a strong cooling of the global climate around 75 million years ago, when temperatures fell up to eight degrees Celsius.

Condamine said that dinosaurs were adapted to a mesothermal climate -- predominantly warm and damp -- that had prevailed for tens of millions of years throughout their time on Earth.

"With strong cooling, like other large animals, they likely weren't able to adapt," he said.

The second possible decline explanation came as something of shock to the team.

Whereas both herbivores and carnivores would have been expected to be impacted at roughly the same time, the team found a two-million year lag between their respective declines.

"So the decline of the herbivores, which were the prey, would therefore have cascaded into a decline in meat-eaters," said Condamine.

The study concluded that not only did a cooling climate and reduced diversity among herbivores lead to the dinosaurs' slow decline, it also left the various species unable to recover after the meteor strike.

"These factors impeded their recovery from the final catastrophic event," it said.

(With inputs from agencies)

New research has shown that dinosaurs may have been in decline millions of years before the meteor strike often attributed to their extinction. The Chicxulub meteor, which slammed into what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula around 66 million years ago, is thought to have led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that killed off three-quarters of life on Earth, dinosaurs included.

New research has shown that dinosaurs may have been in decline millions of years before the meteor strike often attributed to their extinction. The Chicxulub meteor, which slammed into what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula around 66 million years ago, is thought to have led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that killed off three-quarters of life on Earth, dinosaurs included. Now new research suggests that a number of species of the terrible lizards may have been declining up to 10 million years before the meteor strike. Research published in the journal Nature examined data from 1600 dinosaur remains found across the planet to model how common certain species of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs were in the late Cretaceous. The team found that species decline began around 76 million years ago. Fabien Condamine, from the University of Montpellier's Institute of Evolutionary Science and lead study author, said his team had followed the decline of six families of dinosaurs, comprising nearly 250 distinct species. "We have a peak in diversity around 76 million years ago," he told said. "Then there's a decline that lasts 10 million years -- that's more than the entire duration of the Homo genus." The team found two possible explanations for the falling dinosaur diversity identified in the fossil records and their own computer modelling. For one, the pace of the species decline corresponded with a strong cooling of the global climate around 75 million years ago, when temperatures fell up to eight degrees Celsius. Condamine said that dinosaurs were adapted to a mesothermal climate -- predominantly warm and damp -- that had prevailed for tens of millions of years throughout their time on Earth. "With strong cooling, like other large animals, they likely weren't able to adapt," he said. The second possible decline explanation came as something of shock to the team. Whereas both herbivores and carnivores would have been expected to be impacted at roughly the same time, the team found a two-million year lag between their respective declines. "So the decline of the herbivores, which were the prey, would therefore have cascaded into a decline in meat-eaters," said Condamine. The study concluded that not only did a cooling climate and reduced diversity among herbivores lead to the dinosaurs' slow decline, it also left the various species unable to recover after the meteor strike. "These factors impeded their recovery from the final catastrophic event," it said. (With inputs from agencies)

Dinosaurs were already extinct before meteor strike hit Earth, say scientists

Humans have been on Earth for just a fraction of its existence. The planet has a life, mind and nature or its own, so to speak. A lot keeps on happening without human even being aware of it, let alone having power to control it.&nbsp;

Now scientists have found that Earth has a 'heartbeat' and a even a 'pulse' of 27.5 million years. And we don't know what causes it. Michael Rampino, a Geologist of New York University led the team that carried out the study.&nbsp;

The 'heartbeat' is of clustered geological events. Scientists have found that major events such mass extinction, where major chunk of life on Earth died out, happened at the time of this 'pulse'. It is not the only catastrophic event that occurred around the pulse but others such as volcanic eruptions, sea-level fluctuations, intraplate magmatism, changes in seafloor and others.

The scientists found that most of these calamitous incidents happened over geologically small period of time every 27.5 million years. However, there is no firm reason for existence of this cycle

So does this mean that we are doomed? End of humanity is just around the corner?

Well we can take heart in knowing that scientists who did this study predict that the next such pulse is 20 million years away.

The study has been published in the scientific journal Geoscience Frontiers.

Humans have been on Earth for just a fraction of its existence. The planet has a life, mind and nature or its own, so to speak. A lot keeps on happening without human even being aware of it, let alone having power to control it.

Humans have been on Earth for just a fraction of its existence. The planet has a life, mind and nature or its own, so to speak. A lot keeps on happening without human even being aware of it, let alone having power to control it. Now scientists have found that Earth has a 'heartbeat' and a even a 'pulse' of 27.5 million years. And we don't know what causes it. Michael Rampino, a Geologist of New York University led the team that carried out the study. The 'heartbeat' is of clustered geological events. Scientists have found that major events such mass extinction, where major chunk of life on Earth died out, happened at the time of this 'pulse'. It is not the only catastrophic event that occurred around the pulse but others such as volcanic eruptions, sea-level fluctuations, intraplate magmatism, changes in seafloor and others. The scientists found that most of these calamitous incidents happened over geologically small period of time every 27.5 million years. However, there is no firm reason for existence of this cycle So does this mean that we are doomed? End of humanity is just around the corner? Well we can take heart in knowing that scientists who did this study predict that the next such pulse is 20 million years away. The study has been published in the scientific journal Geoscience Frontiers.

Earth has a 'heartbeat' and nobody knows what causes it

Rhinos are battletanks of nature. Perfected armoured body, a mighty weapon in the front and a bulky body that packs enough punch to eliminate anyone. Rhinos are not to be messed with. Definitely not in the wild but also in captivity. There are records of many people getting seriously injured or worse in zoos around the world.

A normal-sized Rhino can cause this much of damage.

Now imagine a rhino taller than a giraffe charging at you! Yep, taller than a giraffe.

Researchers have concluded that fossils found in a Chinese village point towards an entirely new species of rhinos. These rhinos weighed 21 tonnes! This is the equivalent of four large African elephants.

The name of this rhino species is Paraceratherium linxiaense and the giant beasts lived some 26.5 million years ago. These rhinos did not have horns but were as tall as 23 feet (7 metres). This makes them taller than a giraffe.

The fossils of the rhino was found in Gansu province in China in the year 2015. The study of this rhino took place in Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. During the study, it was found that these rhinos did not have horn on the nose like the one modern rhinos have.

These rhinos were herbivores, which means they ate tree leaves like the giraffes do. But their massive size sure must have deterred any predator from hunting them.

The research has been published in Communications Biology journal on Thursday.

Rhinos are battletanks of nature. Perfected armoured body, a mighty weapon in the front and a bulky body that packs enough punch to eliminate anyone. Rhinos are not to be messed with.

Rhinos are battletanks of nature. Perfected armoured body, a mighty weapon in the front and a bulky body that packs enough punch to eliminate anyone. Rhinos are not to be messed with. Definitely not in the wild but also in captivity. There are records of many people getting seriously injured or worse in zoos around the world. A normal-sized Rhino can cause this much of damage. Now imagine a rhino taller than a giraffe charging at you! Yep, taller than a giraffe. Researchers have concluded that fossils found in a Chinese village point towards an entirely new species of rhinos. These rhinos weighed 21 tonnes! This is the equivalent of four large African elephants. The name of this rhino species is Paraceratherium linxiaense and the giant beasts lived some 26.5 million years ago. These rhinos did not have horns but were as tall as 23 feet (7 metres). This makes them taller than a giraffe. The fossils of the rhino was found in Gansu province in China in the year 2015. The study of this rhino took place in Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. During the study, it was found that these rhinos did not have horn on the nose like the one modern rhinos have. These rhinos were herbivores, which means they ate tree leaves like the giraffes do. But their massive size sure must have deterred any predator from hunting them. The research has been published in Communications Biology journal on Thursday.

Do rhinos scare you? Well, this one was taller than a giraffe

Astronomers have discovered the largest rotating structures in the Universe by&nbsp;mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web.

These long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light-years. A rotation on such enormous scales has never been seen before according to&nbsp;astronomers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).

The results published in Nature Astronomy signify that angular momentum can be generated on unprecedented scales.

Such a potential flow is irrotational or curl-free: there is no primordial rotation in the early Universe and angular momentum must be generated as structures form.

<section>
Cosmic filaments are huge bridges of galaxies and dark matter that connect clusters of galaxies to each other. They funnel galaxies towards and into large clusters that sit at their ends.

According to&nbsp;Peng Wang, both an author of the study and&nbsp;astronomer at the AIP,&nbsp;“By mapping the motion of galaxies in these huge cosmic superhighways using the Sloan Digital Sky survey – a survey of hundreds of thousands of galaxies – we found a remarkable property of these filaments: they spin.”&nbsp;

“Despite being thin cylinders – similar in dimension to pencils – hundreds of millions of light-years long, but just a few million light-years in diameter, these fantastic tendrils of matter rotate,” adds Noam Libeskind, initiator of the project at the AIP.

“On these scales the galaxies within them are themselves just specs of dust. They move on helixes or corkscrew-like orbits, circling around the middle of the filament while travelling along with it. Such a spin has never been seen before on such enormous scales, and the implication is that there must be an as yet unknown physical mechanism responsible for torquing these objects.”

How the angular momentum responsible for the rotation is generated in a cosmological context is one of the key unsolved problems of cosmology. In the standard model of structure formation, small overdensities present in the early universe grow via gravitational instability as matter flows from under to overdense regions.

Such a potential flow is irrotational or curl-free: there is no primordial rotation in the early universe. As such any rotation must be generated as structures form. The cosmic web in general and filaments, in particular, are intimately connected with galaxy formation and evolution. They also have a strong effect on galaxy spin, often regulating the direction of how galaxies and their dark matter halos rotate. However, it is not known whether the current understanding of structure formation predicts that filaments themselves, being uncollapsed quasi-linear objects, should spin.

“Motivated by the suggestion from the theorist Dr Mark Neyrinck that filaments may spin, we examined the observed galaxy distribution, looking for filament rotation,” says Noam Libeskind. “It's fantastic to see this confirmation that intergalactic filaments rotate in the real Universe, as well as in computer simulation.”

By using a sophisticated mapping method, the observed galaxy distribution was segmented into filaments. Each filament was approximated by a cylinder. Galaxies within it were divided into two regions on either side of the filament spine (in projection) and the mean redshift difference between the two regions was carefully measured.

The mean redshift difference is a proxy for the velocity difference (the Doppler shift) between galaxies on the receding and approaching side of the filament tube. It can thus measure the filament’s rotation. The study implies that depending on the viewing angle and end point mass, filaments in the universe show a clear signal consistent with rotation.
</section>

Astronomers have discovered the largest rotating structures in the Universe by mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web. These long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light-years.

Astronomers have discovered the largest rotating structures in the Universe by mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web. These long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light-years. A rotation on such enormous scales has never been seen before according to astronomers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP). The results published in Nature Astronomy signify that angular momentum can be generated on unprecedented scales. Such a potential flow is irrotational or curl-free: there is no primordial rotation in the early Universe and angular momentum must be generated as structures form. Cosmic filaments are huge bridges of galaxies and dark matter that connect clusters of galaxies to each other. They funnel galaxies towards and into large clusters that sit at their ends. According to Peng Wang, both an author of the study and astronomer at the AIP, “By mapping the motion of galaxies in these huge cosmic superhighways using the Sloan Digital Sky survey – a survey of hundreds of thousands of galaxies – we found a remarkable property of these filaments: they spin.” “Despite being thin cylinders – similar in dimension to pencils – hundreds of millions of light-years long, but just a few million light-years in diameter, these fantastic tendrils of matter rotate,” adds Noam Libeskind, initiator of the project at the AIP. “On these scales the galaxies within them are themselves just specs of dust. They move on helixes or corkscrew-like orbits, circling around the middle of the filament while travelling along with it. Such a spin has never been seen before on such enormous scales, and the implication is that there must be an as yet unknown physical mechanism responsible for torquing these objects.” How the angular momentum responsible for the rotation is generated in a cosmological context is one of the key unsolved problems of cosmology. In the standard model of structure formation, small overdensities present in the early universe grow via gravitational instability as matter flows from under to overdense regions. Such a potential flow is irrotational or curl-free: there is no primordial rotation in the early universe. As such any rotation must be generated as structures form. The cosmic web in general and filaments, in particular, are intimately connected with galaxy formation and evolution. They also have a strong effect on galaxy spin, often regulating the direction of how galaxies and their dark matter halos rotate. However, it is not known whether the current understanding of structure formation predicts that filaments themselves, being uncollapsed quasi-linear objects, should spin. “Motivated by the suggestion from the theorist Dr Mark Neyrinck that filaments may spin, we examined the observed galaxy distribution, looking for filament rotation,” says Noam Libeskind. “It's fantastic to see this confirmation that intergalactic filaments rotate in the real Universe, as well as in computer simulation.” By using a sophisticated mapping method, the observed galaxy distribution was segmented into filaments. Each filament was approximated by a cylinder. Galaxies within it were divided into two regions on either side of the filament spine (in projection) and the mean redshift difference between the two regions was carefully measured. The mean redshift difference is a proxy for the velocity difference (the Doppler shift) between galaxies on the receding and approaching side of the filament tube. It can thus measure the filament’s rotation. The study implies that depending on the viewing angle and end point mass, filaments in the universe show a clear signal consistent with rotation.

Scientists discover largest rotating structures in the universe

Finding alien life has long been a preoccupation of the human mind. Scientists and artists have both cast their imagination and vision in this direction. Till today though, we haven't heard from our counterparts from space. Bt research in this direction goes on. Hunt for the alien life continues.

Now scientists from the University of Concepción in Chile have concluded that 'rogue planets' in space may have moons with conditions conducive to life. The scientists made a mathematical model and based on this, have concluded that some of the 'exomoons' may have conditions for liquid water as well as atmosphere.

What are rogue planets?

Rogue planets are planets without a star. These planets roam the skies without being bound to a star. Rogue planets may have natural satellites and these are generally referred to as exomoons. Since rogue planets do not have a star, it has no heat source.

But as per the mathematical model drawn up by the scientists, cosmic radiation and gravitational effect of the rogue planet create just enough heat for liquid water and atmosphere to exits. Though the amount of water would be much much less than what it would be on Earth, it may well be the first step towards forming alien life.

Not all life needs light to survive, although Earth derives all its energy from the Sun, there are lifeforms deep, deep within the oceans who survive on heat emitted by Earth. Sunlight does not reach those depths.

It is hence quite possible for life to thrive in the waters of exomoons. We haven't found a conclusive proof of this yet. But imagine if one fine day, we woke up to a proven fact that we are indeed not alone in the universe!

The research by the scientists has been published in scientific journal International Journal of Astrobiology.

Finding alien life has long been a preoccupation of the human mind. Scientists and artists have both cast their imagination and vision in this direction. Till today though, we haven't heard from our counterparts from space.

Finding alien life has long been a preoccupation of the human mind. Scientists and artists have both cast their imagination and vision in this direction. Till today though, we haven't heard from our counterparts from space. Bt research in this direction goes on. Hunt for the alien life continues. Now scientists from the University of Concepción in Chile have concluded that 'rogue planets' in space may have moons with conditions conducive to life. The scientists made a mathematical model and based on this, have concluded that some of the 'exomoons' may have conditions for liquid water as well as atmosphere. What are rogue planets? Rogue planets are planets without a star. These planets roam the skies without being bound to a star. Rogue planets may have natural satellites and these are generally referred to as exomoons. Since rogue planets do not have a star, it has no heat source. But as per the mathematical model drawn up by the scientists, cosmic radiation and gravitational effect of the rogue planet create just enough heat for liquid water and atmosphere to exits. Though the amount of water would be much much less than what it would be on Earth, it may well be the first step towards forming alien life. Not all life needs light to survive, although Earth derives all its energy from the Sun, there are lifeforms deep, deep within the oceans who survive on heat emitted by Earth. Sunlight does not reach those depths. It is hence quite possible for life to thrive in the waters of exomoons. We haven't found a conclusive proof of this yet. But imagine if one fine day, we woke up to a proven fact that we are indeed not alone in the universe! The research by the scientists has been published in scientific journal International Journal of Astrobiology.

Rogue planets with habitable exomoons may have alien life

We know what is at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy, a Supermassive Black Hole. The unimaginably huge gravity associated with this Supermassive Black Hole is the reason billions of stars in our galaxy are held 'together'. It is this gravity that keeps the galaxy from splitting apart. Scientists have fascination about the galactic centre.

But now another object near our galactic centre has made scientists curious. A star named VVV-WIT-08 'blinked'. This is to say that it appeared to go out of existence before appearing again. The light coming out from the star dimmed by about 97 per cent before becoming bright again.

The 'WIT' in the star's name above literally stands for 'What Is This'.

Scientists think that the culprit behind this dimming effect is another star or planet surrounded by a thick opaque disk of dust. The researchers feel that the object is gravitationally bound to the star that appears to have 'blinked'. However, they are not sure what is exactly coming between the star and our telescopes here on Earth.

"It's amazing that we just observed a dark, large and elongated object pass between us and the distant star and we can only speculate what its origin is," astronomer Sergey Koposov from the University of Edinburgh has been quoted as saying by EurekaAlert.

The research has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

We know what is at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy, a Supermassive Black Hole. The unimaginably huge gravity associated with this Supermassive Black Hole is the reason billions of stars in our galaxy are held 'together'.

We know what is at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy, a Supermassive Black Hole. The unimaginably huge gravity associated with this Supermassive Black Hole is the reason billions of stars in our galaxy are held 'together'. It is this gravity that keeps the galaxy from splitting apart. Scientists have fascination about the galactic centre. But now another object near our galactic centre has made scientists curious. A star named VVV-WIT-08 'blinked'. This is to say that it appeared to go out of existence before appearing again. The light coming out from the star dimmed by about 97 per cent before becoming bright again. The 'WIT' in the star's name above literally stands for 'What Is This'. Scientists think that the culprit behind this dimming effect is another star or planet surrounded by a thick opaque disk of dust. The researchers feel that the object is gravitationally bound to the star that appears to have 'blinked'. However, they are not sure what is exactly coming between the star and our telescopes here on Earth. "It's amazing that we just observed a dark, large and elongated object pass between us and the distant star and we can only speculate what its origin is," astronomer Sergey Koposov from the University of Edinburgh has been quoted as saying by EurekaAlert. The research has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

A mysterious star near galactic centre appears to have 'blinked'

These days, we don't order food because we are hungry, we do it because we are bored. Nothing to spice up a lazy afternoon like a fresh, piping hot pizza eh? Fast food is bad for your health but it feels SO good for your mood.

But while we chomp on those slices, our immune system may just be thinking whether to treat the stuff as food or dangerous infection. This may sound wierd but a latest study suggests that what seems like solution to all our sadness (junk food) may just be putting our immune system in a spot.

This study was carried out in 2018. Mice were given a diet of saturated fats, sugar, and salt for a month. Their 'diet' did not have fresh fruits.

A spike in the the number of immune cells was observed. Body generates such a response when it is under attack by a microbial infection.

There's more to this, the international team of researchers found that the immune system may 'remember' the alarming response it gave. The study further says that as body begins to react to fast food diet, coming back to healthy eating habits may become harder than it was previously.

This study was published in scientific journal Cell.

These days, we don't order food because we are hungry, we do it because we are bored. Nothing to spice up a lazy afternoon like a fresh, piping hot pizza eh? Fast food is bad for your health but it feels SO good for your mood.

These days, we don't order food because we are hungry, we do it because we are bored. Nothing to spice up a lazy afternoon like a fresh, piping hot pizza eh? Fast food is bad for your health but it feels SO good for your mood. But while we chomp on those slices, our immune system may just be thinking whether to treat the stuff as food or dangerous infection. This may sound wierd but a latest study suggests that what seems like solution to all our sadness (junk food) may just be putting our immune system in a spot. This study was carried out in 2018. Mice were given a diet of saturated fats, sugar, and salt for a month. Their 'diet' did not have fresh fruits. A spike in the the number of immune cells was observed. Body generates such a response when it is under attack by a microbial infection. There's more to this, the international team of researchers found that the immune system may 'remember' the alarming response it gave. The study further says that as body begins to react to fast food diet, coming back to healthy eating habits may become harder than it was previously. This study was published in scientific journal Cell.

Body may treat fast food like an infection: Study

In times of the pandemic and Working From Home, we order food not because we are hungry but often because we are bored. But there are times when the work takes better of us and we don't eat on time. And this makes us agitated, takes us on the verge of wanting to destroy the world. But a quick meal and life seems easy again.

The brief angry phase that our hunger causes is termed being 'hangry'.

We get hangry a lot. After all, it's natural for our bodies to protest if well-deserved nourishment is denied. But fruit flies aren't something we can quickly relate to this very human feeling of being hangry.

Turns out the flies get hangry too. Researchers from University of Oxford and University of East Anglia have found this in a study.

To check the 'hangry'ness, the researchers put fruit flies inside vials with some amount of of food.

It was revealed that the flies that didn't have access to food became agitated as the hours went by. They lunged at each other aggressively. They even 'fenced', that is, tried to tackle each other using their front legs. Senior author of the study has been quoted in media reports as saying that hungry fruit flies displayed more 'hostility' towards each other.

That's not all. The hungry flies even showed a 'desperado' effect, that is, they even started fight that they were likely to lose.

As per reports, no flies died during the experiment. The result of the study was published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

In times of the pandemic and Working From Home, we order food not because we are hungry but often because we are bored. But there are times when the work takes better of us and we don't eat on time.

In times of the pandemic and Working From Home, we order food not because we are hungry but often because we are bored. But there are times when the work takes better of us and we don't eat on time. And this makes us agitated, takes us on the verge of wanting to destroy the world. But a quick meal and life seems easy again. The brief angry phase that our hunger causes is termed being 'hangry'. We get hangry a lot. After all, it's natural for our bodies to protest if well-deserved nourishment is denied. But fruit flies aren't something we can quickly relate to this very human feeling of being hangry. Turns out the flies get hangry too. Researchers from University of Oxford and University of East Anglia have found this in a study. To check the 'hangry'ness, the researchers put fruit flies inside vials with some amount of of food. It was revealed that the flies that didn't have access to food became agitated as the hours went by. They lunged at each other aggressively. They even 'fenced', that is, tried to tackle each other using their front legs. Senior author of the study has been quoted in media reports as saying that hungry fruit flies displayed more 'hostility' towards each other. That's not all. The hungry flies even showed a 'desperado' effect, that is, they even started fight that they were likely to lose. As per reports, no flies died during the experiment. The result of the study was published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Fruit flies get 'hangry' too, even become 'desperado': Study

Clouds are an everyday matter here on Earth. There are times we glance at the sky and imagine all sorts of shapes in those ever-changing patterns of vapour. But most of the time we are too busy in our daily lives to even take a second to look up and marvel the beauty of the sky.

We don't realise how lucky we are because our planet has clouds.&nbsp;

But now NASA's Curiosity rover has captured some brilliant images and videos of clouds in the Martian sky!

Mars has an atmosphere yes. But it is too thin and dry to enable cloud formation on regular basis. And that's why formation of clouds in Martian atmosphere is a rare thing itself.

"Sometimes you just need to stop and watch the clouds roll by... on Mars. Cloudy days are rare here because the atmosphere is so thin and dry, but I've been keeping my cameras peeled and wanted to share some recent pictures with you," tweeted the rover's official Twitter handle, thus starting an incredible thread. Check this out

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Sometimes you just need to stop and watch the clouds roll by... on Mars. 
 
Cloudy days are rare here because the atmosphere is so thin and dry, but I've been keeping my cameras peeled and wanted to share some recent pictures with you. <a href="https://t.co/Gtgz9Iu822">https://t.co/Gtgz9Iu822</a> (1/4) <a href="https://t.co/iJOLmnXMVo">pic.twitter.com/iJOLmnXMVo</a>
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/1398336271106281472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Thousands of likes on the post is enough to say that people have found the images and videos in the thread above absolutely mesmerising!

There are many many comments and Curiosity Rover's handle took time to answer some of the questions and reply to some of the comments.

"Sometimes I forget there's a little robot rolling around alone on Mars," tweeted a user.

The rover said, "I'm alone here in Gale Crater, but I'm not lonely. I get to talk to all my friends and teammates back on Earth through the Deep Space Network..."

Mars has long captivated human imagination. Across millennia, the red planet has gone from being a mythical God of War to a probable place to find life.

And from what Curiosity rover has captured, the planet still has some secrets up its sleeve.

Clouds are an everyday matter here on Earth. There are times we glance at the sky and imagine all sorts of shapes in those ever-changing patterns of vapour. But most of the time we are too busy in our daily lives to even take a second to look up and marvel the beauty of the sky.

Clouds are an everyday matter here on Earth. There are times we glance at the sky and imagine all sorts of shapes in those ever-changing patterns of vapour. But most of the time we are too busy in our daily lives to even take a second to look up and marvel the beauty of the sky. We don't realise how lucky we are because our planet has clouds. But now NASA's Curiosity rover has captured some brilliant images and videos of clouds in the Martian sky! Mars has an atmosphere yes. But it is too thin and dry to enable cloud formation on regular basis. And that's why formation of clouds in Martian atmosphere is a rare thing itself. "Sometimes you just need to stop and watch the clouds roll by... on Mars. Cloudy days are rare here because the atmosphere is so thin and dry, but I've been keeping my cameras peeled and wanted to share some recent pictures with you," tweeted the rover's official Twitter handle, thus starting an incredible thread. Check this out Sometimes you just need to stop and watch the clouds roll by... on Mars. Cloudy days are rare here because the atmosphere is so thin and dry, but I've been keeping my cameras peeled and wanted to share some recent pictures with you. https://t.co/Gtgz9Iu822 (1/4) pic.twitter.com/iJOLmnXMVo — Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) May 28, 2021 × Thousands of likes on the post is enough to say that people have found the images and videos in the thread above absolutely mesmerising! There are many many comments and Curiosity Rover's handle took time to answer some of the questions and reply to some of the comments. "Sometimes I forget there's a little robot rolling around alone on Mars," tweeted a user. The rover said, "I'm alone here in Gale Crater, but I'm not lonely. I get to talk to all my friends and teammates back on Earth through the Deep Space Network..." Mars has long captivated human imagination. Across millennia, the red planet has gone from being a mythical God of War to a probable place to find life. And from what Curiosity rover has captured, the planet still has some secrets up its sleeve.

NASA's Curiosity Rover clicks rare shiny clouds on Mars

Dark Matter is indeed an intriguing thing in space. Like normal matter, it cannot be felt or observed directly. It does not interact with light so even that door is closed. Dark Matter must be 'observed' through the gravitational effect it has on matter in space. The true nature of Dark Matter is unknown but scientists are sure that it performs vital function for the universe.

A new map of Dark Matter made with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is showing 'bridges' made up of Dark Matter that are connecting the galaxies. Scientists and researchers from the American Astronomical Society have made this map.

The map focusses on local universe, the neighbourhood that surrounds Milky Way galaxy.

Researchers trained a machine-learning program on simulations of visible and dark matter. Sophisticated set of simulations by the name of Illustris-TNG were used for this study. After the machine learning and testing phase, the scientists applied this to real-world data.

This threw up map of Dark Matter in local universe and its interaction with visible matter.

The map showed many things that were already known but also suggested new features like filaments of Dark Matter connecting Milky Way galaxy to other galaxies in the surroundings. Such connections were also seen between other galaxies in the neighbourhood.

The research was published in Astrophysical Journal.

Dark Matter is indeed an intriguing thing in space. Like normal matter, it cannot be felt or observed directly. It does not interact with light so even that door is closed.

Dark Matter is indeed an intriguing thing in space. Like normal matter, it cannot be felt or observed directly. It does not interact with light so even that door is closed. Dark Matter must be 'observed' through the gravitational effect it has on matter in space. The true nature of Dark Matter is unknown but scientists are sure that it performs vital function for the universe. A new map of Dark Matter made with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is showing 'bridges' made up of Dark Matter that are connecting the galaxies. Scientists and researchers from the American Astronomical Society have made this map. The map focusses on local universe, the neighbourhood that surrounds Milky Way galaxy. Researchers trained a machine-learning program on simulations of visible and dark matter. Sophisticated set of simulations by the name of Illustris-TNG were used for this study. After the machine learning and testing phase, the scientists applied this to real-world data. This threw up map of Dark Matter in local universe and its interaction with visible matter. The map showed many things that were already known but also suggested new features like filaments of Dark Matter connecting Milky Way galaxy to other galaxies in the surroundings. Such connections were also seen between other galaxies in the neighbourhood. The research was published in Astrophysical Journal.

AI-generated map of Dark Matter shows 'bridges' between galaxies

Astronomers have&nbsp;investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma,&nbsp;the first matter ever to be present,&nbsp;during the first microsecond of the Big Bang.

The findings of the study, conducted by researchers at the&nbsp;University of Copenhagen,&nbsp;provide a piece of the puzzle to the evolution of the universe, as people know it today.

About 14 billion years ago, our universe changed from being a lot hotter and denser to expanding radically- a process that scientists have named 'The Big Bang'.

And even though we know that this fast expansion created particles, atoms, stars, galaxies, and life as we know it today, the details of how it all happened are still unknown.

Now a new study performed by researchers from the University of Copenhagen reveals insights into how it all began.

"We have studied a substance called Quark-Gluon Plasma that was the only matter, which existed during the first microsecond of Big Bang. Our results tell us a unique story of how the plasma evolved in the early stage of the universe," explains You Zhou, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

"First the plasma that consisted of quarks and gluons was separated by the hot expansion of the universe. Then the pieces of quark reformed into so-called hadrons. A hadron with three quarks makes a proton, which is part of atomic cores. These cores are the building blocks that constitute Earth, ourselves, and the universe that surrounds us," he adds.

The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) was present in the first 0.000001 seconds of the Big Bang and thereafter it disappeared because of the expansion.

But by using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, researchers were able to recreate this first matter in history and trace back what happened to it.

"The collider smashes together ions from the plasma with great velocity,&nbsp;almost like the speed of light. This makes us able to see how the QGP evolved from being its own matter to the cores in atoms and the building blocks of life," says You Zhou.

"In addition to using the Large Hadron Collider, the researchers also developed an algorithm that is able to analyze the collective expansion of more produced particles at once, than ever possible before. Their results show that the QGP used to be a fluent liquid form and that it distinguishes itself from other matters by constantly changing its shape over time."

For a long time researchers thought that the plasma was a form of gas, but the&nbsp;analysis confirms the latest milestone measurement, where the Hadron Collider showed that QGP was fluent and had a smooth soft texture like water.

''The new details we provide is that the plasma has changed its shape over time, which is quite surprising and different from any other matter we know and what we would have expected," says You Zhou.

Even though this might seem like a small detail, it brings us one step closer to solving the puzzle of the Big Bang and how the universe developed in the first microsecond, he elaborates.

"Every discovery is a brick that improves our chances of finding out the truth about Big Bang. It has taken us about 20 years to find out that the Quark-Gluon Plasma was fluent before it changed into hadrons and the building blocks of life. Therefore our new knowledge on the ever-changing behaviour of the plasma is a major breakthrough for us," You Zhou concludes.

The study has just been published in the journal Physics Letters B and is performed by You Zhou together with Zuzana Moravcova, who is a PhD at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

Astronomers have investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma, the first matter ever to be present, during the first microsecond of the Big Bang. The findings of the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, provide a piece of the puzzle to the evolution of the universe, as people know it today.

Astronomers have investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma, the first matter ever to be present, during the first microsecond of the Big Bang. The findings of the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, provide a piece of the puzzle to the evolution of the universe, as people know it today. About 14 billion years ago, our universe changed from being a lot hotter and denser to expanding radically- a process that scientists have named 'The Big Bang'. And even though we know that this fast expansion created particles, atoms, stars, galaxies, and life as we know it today, the details of how it all happened are still unknown. Now a new study performed by researchers from the University of Copenhagen reveals insights into how it all began. "We have studied a substance called Quark-Gluon Plasma that was the only matter, which existed during the first microsecond of Big Bang. Our results tell us a unique story of how the plasma evolved in the early stage of the universe," explains You Zhou, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. "First the plasma that consisted of quarks and gluons was separated by the hot expansion of the universe. Then the pieces of quark reformed into so-called hadrons. A hadron with three quarks makes a proton, which is part of atomic cores. These cores are the building blocks that constitute Earth, ourselves, and the universe that surrounds us," he adds. The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) was present in the first 0.000001 seconds of the Big Bang and thereafter it disappeared because of the expansion. But by using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, researchers were able to recreate this first matter in history and trace back what happened to it. "The collider smashes together ions from the plasma with great velocity, almost like the speed of light. This makes us able to see how the QGP evolved from being its own matter to the cores in atoms and the building blocks of life," says You Zhou. "In addition to using the Large Hadron Collider, the researchers also developed an algorithm that is able to analyze the collective expansion of more produced particles at once, than ever possible before. Their results show that the QGP used to be a fluent liquid form and that it distinguishes itself from other matters by constantly changing its shape over time." For a long time researchers thought that the plasma was a form of gas, but the analysis confirms the latest milestone measurement, where the Hadron Collider showed that QGP was fluent and had a smooth soft texture like water. ''The new details we provide is that the plasma has changed its shape over time, which is quite surprising and different from any other matter we know and what we would have expected," says You Zhou. Even though this might seem like a small detail, it brings us one step closer to solving the puzzle of the Big Bang and how the universe developed in the first microsecond, he elaborates. "Every discovery is a brick that improves our chances of finding out the truth about Big Bang. It has taken us about 20 years to find out that the Quark-Gluon Plasma was fluent before it changed into hadrons and the building blocks of life. Therefore our new knowledge on the ever-changing behaviour of the plasma is a major breakthrough for us," You Zhou concludes. The study has just been published in the journal Physics Letters B and is performed by You Zhou together with Zuzana Moravcova, who is a PhD at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

Astronomers reveal what happened in first microsecond of Big Bang

A new study led by researchers at Ohio State University provides the latest evidence into&nbsp;the formation of the Milky Way galaxy,&nbsp;including the merger with a key satellite galaxy.

The study,&nbsp;published in the journal Nature Astronomy, was conducted by using&nbsp;relatively new methods in astronomy.

The researchers were able to identify the most precise ages currently possible for a sample of about a hundred red giant stars in the galaxy.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/british-astronomers-unveil-the-most-detailed-map-of-milky-way-galaxy-347255">British astronomers unveil the most detailed map of Milky Way galaxy</a>

With this and other data, the researchers were able to show what was happening when the Milky Way merged with an orbiting satellite galaxy, known as Gaia-Enceladus, about 10 billion years ago.

"Our evidence suggests that when the merger occurred, the Milky Way had already formed a large population of its own stars," said Fiorenzo Vincenzo, co-author of the study and a fellow in The Ohio State University's Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-discover-milky-way-galaxys-smallest-black-hole-dubbed-unicorn-379419">Astronomers discover Milky Way galaxy's smallest black hole dubbed 'Unicorn'</a>

Many of those "homemade" stars ended up in the thick disc in the middle of the galaxy, while most that were captured from Gaia-Enceladus are in the outer halo of the galaxy.

"The merging event with Gaia-Enceladus is thought to be one of the most important in the Milky Way's history, shaping how we observe it today," said Josefina Montalban, with the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham in the UK, who led the project.

By calculating the age of the stars, the researchers were able to determine, for the first time, that the stars captured from Gaia-Enceladus have similar or slightly younger ages compared to the majority of stars that were born inside the Milky Way.

A violent merger between two galaxies&nbsp;shakes things up, Vincenzo said.

Results showed that the merger changed the orbits of the stars already in the galaxy, making them more eccentric.

Vincenzo compared the stars'&nbsp;movements to a dance, where the stars from the former Gaia-Enceladus move differently than those born within the Milky Way.

The stars even "dress" differently, Vincenzo said, with stars from outside showing different chemical compositions from those born inside the Milky Way.

The researchers used several different approaches and data sources to conduct their study. One way the researchers were able to get such precise ages of the stars was through the use of asteroseismology, a relatively new field that probes the internal structure of stars.

Asteroseismologists study oscillations in stars, which are sound waves that ripple through their interiors, said Mathieu Vrard, a postdoctoral research associate in Ohio State's Department of Astronomy.

"That allows us to get very precise ages for the stars, which are important in determining the chronology of when events happened in the early Milky Way," Vrard said.

The study also used a spectroscopic survey, called APOGEE, which provides the chemical composition of stars- another aid in determining their ages.

"We have shown the great potential of asteroseismology, in combination with spectroscopy, to age-date individual stars," Montalban said.

This study is just the first step, according to the researchers.

"We now intend to apply this approach to larger samples of stars and to include even more subtle features of the frequency spectra. This will eventually lead to a much sharper view of the Milky Way's assembly history and evolution, creating a timeline of how our galaxy developed," Vincenzo said.

A new study led by researchers at Ohio State University provides the latest evidence into the formation of the Milky Way galaxy, including the merger with a key satellite galaxy.

A new study led by researchers at Ohio State University provides the latest evidence into the formation of the Milky Way galaxy, including the merger with a key satellite galaxy. The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, was conducted by using relatively new methods in astronomy. The researchers were able to identify the most precise ages currently possible for a sample of about a hundred red giant stars in the galaxy. Also read| British astronomers unveil the most detailed map of Milky Way galaxy With this and other data, the researchers were able to show what was happening when the Milky Way merged with an orbiting satellite galaxy, known as Gaia-Enceladus, about 10 billion years ago. "Our evidence suggests that when the merger occurred, the Milky Way had already formed a large population of its own stars," said Fiorenzo Vincenzo, co-author of the study and a fellow in The Ohio State University's Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. Also read| Astronomers discover Milky Way galaxy's smallest black hole dubbed 'Unicorn' Many of those "homemade" stars ended up in the thick disc in the middle of the galaxy, while most that were captured from Gaia-Enceladus are in the outer halo of the galaxy. "The merging event with Gaia-Enceladus is thought to be one of the most important in the Milky Way's history, shaping how we observe it today," said Josefina Montalban, with the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham in the UK, who led the project. By calculating the age of the stars, the researchers were able to determine, for the first time, that the stars captured from Gaia-Enceladus have similar or slightly younger ages compared to the majority of stars that were born inside the Milky Way. A violent merger between two galaxies shakes things up, Vincenzo said. Results showed that the merger changed the orbits of the stars already in the galaxy, making them more eccentric. Vincenzo compared the stars' movements to a dance, where the stars from the former Gaia-Enceladus move differently than those born within the Milky Way. The stars even "dress" differently, Vincenzo said, with stars from outside showing different chemical compositions from those born inside the Milky Way. The researchers used several different approaches and data sources to conduct their study. One way the researchers were able to get such precise ages of the stars was through the use of asteroseismology, a relatively new field that probes the internal structure of stars. Asteroseismologists study oscillations in stars, which are sound waves that ripple through their interiors, said Mathieu Vrard, a postdoctoral research associate in Ohio State's Department of Astronomy. "That allows us to get very precise ages for the stars, which are important in determining the chronology of when events happened in the early Milky Way," Vrard said. The study also used a spectroscopic survey, called APOGEE, which provides the chemical composition of stars- another aid in determining their ages. "We have shown the great potential of asteroseismology, in combination with spectroscopy, to age-date individual stars," Montalban said. This study is just the first step, according to the researchers. "We now intend to apply this approach to larger samples of stars and to include even more subtle features of the frequency spectra. This will eventually lead to a much sharper view of the Milky Way's assembly history and evolution, creating a timeline of how our galaxy developed," Vincenzo said.

Astronomers discover how the Milky Way galaxy was formed

Universe is a wonderful place. It generates life, but also has a place for gigantic, unimaginable explosions that dwarf even our most dangerous nuclear weapons. The result is a constant flux of celestial activity.

Many of these cosmic events have effect on us on Earth. From solar flares to cosmic rays, we are just one planet in the cosmos that goes through everything it throws at us.

But an 'alien' isotope found in Earth's crust has scientists interested. This isotope is radioactive Iron.

Building atoms is serious business. Making simple atoms like Helium and Hydrogen takes massive power of a star. But building radioactive atoms takes massive firepower of a literal explosion of a star, a Supernova.

Scientists at Australian National University have found such a radioactive isotope of Iron (Iron 60) 1500 metres below Pacific Ocean. This is a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' sort of an isotope which has a very short half-life on cosmic scale.

Presence of Iron-60 isotope indicates that Earth was subjected to energy released by supernovas in our immediate neighbourhood. The isotope has been formed due to an 'alien' cosmic activity.

The rock sample containing Iron-60 is being analysed more. The scientists have published their findings in the scientific journal Science

Universe is a wonderful place. It generates life, but also has a place for gigantic, unimaginable explosions that dwarf even our most dangerous nuclear weapons. The result is a constant flux of celestial activity.

Universe is a wonderful place. It generates life, but also has a place for gigantic, unimaginable explosions that dwarf even our most dangerous nuclear weapons. The result is a constant flux of celestial activity. Many of these cosmic events have effect on us on Earth. From solar flares to cosmic rays, we are just one planet in the cosmos that goes through everything it throws at us. But an 'alien' isotope found in Earth's crust has scientists interested. This isotope is radioactive Iron. Building atoms is serious business. Making simple atoms like Helium and Hydrogen takes massive power of a star. But building radioactive atoms takes massive firepower of a literal explosion of a star, a Supernova. Scientists at Australian National University have found such a radioactive isotope of Iron (Iron 60) 1500 metres below Pacific Ocean. This is a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' sort of an isotope which has a very short half-life on cosmic scale. Presence of Iron-60 isotope indicates that Earth was subjected to energy released by supernovas in our immediate neighbourhood. The isotope has been formed due to an 'alien' cosmic activity. The rock sample containing Iron-60 is being analysed more. The scientists have published their findings in the scientific journal Science

'Alien' isotope found in Earth's crust

We all know about the saber-toothed tiger. It's perhaps old news that the animal had the iconic big teeth which came out menacingly from his jaws even when its mouoth was shut. It's easy to imagine that this now-extinct tiger hunted down prey aggressively.

But a cat actually hunting a rhino? Well, that's an interesting deal.

But it appears that such a cat existed millions of years ago. And just like the saber-toothed tiger, it had fangs that protruded from its mouth.

Scientists have now able to identify this giant new cat species using detailed fossil comparison technique. This is one of the biggest cats discovered.

The scientific name of this cat is Machairodus lahayishupup. It had a body mass of 274 kilograms (604 pounds).

This cat was a pretty mean predator. In carnivorous land mammals, strength of upper arm often proves decisive as they use it not only for chasing prey, but also to hold it and finish the job

Scientists involved in the study found fossil of this cat. Bone of the upper arm of this animal was found to be 1.4 times the size of the modern day lion!

These cats may have prowled the lands of North America 5 to 9 million years ago. It's easy to imagine that with their strength, they hunted even rhinos which were abundant in North America around that time. This cat may have even been on top of her food chain, easily tearing off its prey and even other meat-eating animals that crossed its path

Still think cat videos on social media are JUST cute?

We all know about the saber-toothed tiger. It's perhaps old news that the animal had the iconic big teeth which came out menacingly from his jaws even when its mouoth was shut.

We all know about the saber-toothed tiger. It's perhaps old news that the animal had the iconic big teeth which came out menacingly from his jaws even when its mouoth was shut. It's easy to imagine that this now-extinct tiger hunted down prey aggressively. But a cat actually hunting a rhino? Well, that's an interesting deal. But it appears that such a cat existed millions of years ago. And just like the saber-toothed tiger, it had fangs that protruded from its mouth. Scientists have now able to identify this giant new cat species using detailed fossil comparison technique. This is one of the biggest cats discovered. The scientific name of this cat is Machairodus lahayishupup. It had a body mass of 274 kilograms (604 pounds). This cat was a pretty mean predator. In carnivorous land mammals, strength of upper arm often proves decisive as they use it not only for chasing prey, but also to hold it and finish the job Scientists involved in the study found fossil of this cat. Bone of the upper arm of this animal was found to be 1.4 times the size of the modern day lion! These cats may have prowled the lands of North America 5 to 9 million years ago. It's easy to imagine that with their strength, they hunted even rhinos which were abundant in North America around that time. This cat may have even been on top of her food chain, easily tearing off its prey and even other meat-eating animals that crossed its path Still think cat videos on social media are JUST cute?

This cat actually hunted rhinos millions of years ago

Moderna has revealed the findings from its initial data of a small clinical trial regarding the performance of booster shot of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus-vaccine">vaccine</a>&nbsp;against the deadly <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">coronavirus.</a>&nbsp;The trial was done against some variants of the virus including those first found in South Africa and Brazil.

The good news from Moderna’s clinical trial has come as an encouragement for several medical experts around the globe.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/largest-study-on-pfizer-covid-vaccine-says-drug-offers-over-95-protection-383099">Largest study on Pfizer Covid vaccine says drug offers over 95% protection</a>

The pharmaceutical company, which is one of the leading manufactures of a vaccine against Covid, has been studying the need and impact of a booster shot against this deadly virus, in a bid to protect humans completely from this pandemic.

"We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective against these newly detected variants," Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/canada-becomes-first-country-to-authorise-pfizer-covid-vaccine-for-kids-age-12-and-up-383033" hreflang="en">Canada becomes first country to authorise Pfizer Covid vaccine for kids age 12 and up</a>

In this small clinical trial, forty participants were tested for their levels of neutralising antibodies nearly six to eight months after the participants had received their primary vaccination, in two different doses.

They were injected with a third shot which has been designed to fight against the new variants which have been found all over the globe, especially in South Africa and Brazil. The booster shot improved antibody levels against these two major variants, the data revealed.

Moderna is also testing a third type of booster which will be a combination of the two other types and the results for which will be announced soon.

Moderna has revealed the findings from its initial data of a small clinical trial regarding the performance of booster shot of vaccine against the deadly coronavirus.

Moderna has revealed the findings from its initial data of a small clinical trial regarding the performance of booster shot of vaccine against the deadly coronavirus. The trial was done against some variants of the virus including those first found in South Africa and Brazil. The good news from Moderna’s clinical trial has come as an encouragement for several medical experts around the globe. Also read | Largest study on Pfizer Covid vaccine says drug offers over 95% protection The pharmaceutical company, which is one of the leading manufactures of a vaccine against Covid, has been studying the need and impact of a booster shot against this deadly virus, in a bid to protect humans completely from this pandemic. "We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective against these newly detected variants," Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said. Also read | Canada becomes first country to authorise Pfizer Covid vaccine for kids age 12 and up In this small clinical trial, forty participants were tested for their levels of neutralising antibodies nearly six to eight months after the participants had received their primary vaccination, in two different doses. They were injected with a third shot which has been designed to fight against the new variants which have been found all over the globe, especially in South Africa and Brazil. The booster shot improved antibody levels against these two major variants, the data revealed. Moderna is also testing a third type of booster which will be a combination of the two other types and the results for which will be announced soon.

Moderna's trial sees progress against COVID-19 varients, brings good news and encouragement

Research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has for the first time mapped the unique genetic profile of the skeleton`s 'master regulator` cells, known as osteocytes.

The study published today in Nature Communications outlines the genes that are switched on or off in osteocytes, a type of bone cell that controls how other types of cells make or break down parts of the skeleton to maintain strong and healthy bones.

"This new information provides a kind of genetic shortlist we can look to when diagnosing bone diseases that have a genetic component," says the study`s first author Dr Scott Youlten, Research Officer in the Bone Biology Lab.

"Identifying this unique genetic pattern will also help us find new therapies for bone disease and better understand the impacts of current therapies on the skeleton."

The skeleton is a highly dynamic structure that changes shape and composition throughout a person`s life. Osteocytes are the most abundant cell type in bone but have proved difficult to study because they are embedded within the hard mineral structure of the skeleton.

Inside the bone, osteocytes form a network similar in scale and complexity to the neurons in the brain (with over 23 trillion connections between 42 billion osteocytes) that monitors bone health and responds to ageing and damage by signalling other cells to build more bone or break down old bone. Diseases such as osteoporosis and rare genetic skeletal disorders arise from an imbalance in these processes.

To understand what genes are involved in controlling bone build-up or breakdown, the researchers isolated bone samples from different skeletal sites of experimental models to measure the average gene activity in osteocytes.

Through this, they mapped a comprehensive osteocyte `signature` of 1239 genes that are switched on in osteocytes and that distinguish them from other cells. 77 per cent&nbsp;of these genes have no previously known role in the skeleton and many were completely novel and only found in these critical cells.

"Many of the genes we saw enriched in osteocytes are also found in neurons, which is interesting given these cells share similar physical characteristics and may suggest they are more closely related than we previously thought," explains Dr Youlten.

A comparison of the osteocyte signature genes with human genetic association studies of osteoporosis identify new genes that maybe associated with susceptibility to this common skeleton disease. Furthermore, many of these osteocyte genes were also shown to cause rare bone diseases.

"Mapping the osteocyte transcriptome could help clinicians and researchers more easily establish whether a rare bone disease has a genetic cause, by looking through the `shortlist` of genes known to play an active role in controlling the skeleton," says Dr Youlten.

The big picture viewCo-senior author Professor Peter Croucher, Deputy Director of the Garvan Institute and Head of the Bone Biology Lab, says that "the osteocyte transcriptome map gives researchers a picture of the whole landscape of genes that are switched on in osteocytes for the first time, rather than just a small glimpse".

"The majority of genes that we`ve found to be active within osteocytes had no previously known role in bones. This discovery will help us understand what controls the skeleton, which genes are important in rare and common skeletal diseases and help us identify new treatments that can stop the development of bone disease and also restore lost bone."

(With inputs from agencies)

Research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has for the first time mapped the unique genetic profile of the skeleton`s 'master regulator` cells, known as osteocytes.

Research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has for the first time mapped the unique genetic profile of the skeleton`s 'master regulator` cells, known as osteocytes. The study published today in Nature Communications outlines the genes that are switched on or off in osteocytes, a type of bone cell that controls how other types of cells make or break down parts of the skeleton to maintain strong and healthy bones. "This new information provides a kind of genetic shortlist we can look to when diagnosing bone diseases that have a genetic component," says the study`s first author Dr Scott Youlten, Research Officer in the Bone Biology Lab. "Identifying this unique genetic pattern will also help us find new therapies for bone disease and better understand the impacts of current therapies on the skeleton." The skeleton is a highly dynamic structure that changes shape and composition throughout a person`s life. Osteocytes are the most abundant cell type in bone but have proved difficult to study because they are embedded within the hard mineral structure of the skeleton. Inside the bone, osteocytes form a network similar in scale and complexity to the neurons in the brain (with over 23 trillion connections between 42 billion osteocytes) that monitors bone health and responds to ageing and damage by signalling other cells to build more bone or break down old bone. Diseases such as osteoporosis and rare genetic skeletal disorders arise from an imbalance in these processes. To understand what genes are involved in controlling bone build-up or breakdown, the researchers isolated bone samples from different skeletal sites of experimental models to measure the average gene activity in osteocytes. Through this, they mapped a comprehensive osteocyte `signature` of 1239 genes that are switched on in osteocytes and that distinguish them from other cells. 77 per cent of these genes have no previously known role in the skeleton and many were completely novel and only found in these critical cells. "Many of the genes we saw enriched in osteocytes are also found in neurons, which is interesting given these cells share similar physical characteristics and may suggest they are more closely related than we previously thought," explains Dr Youlten. A comparison of the osteocyte signature genes with human genetic association studies of osteoporosis identify new genes that maybe associated with susceptibility to this common skeleton disease. Furthermore, many of these osteocyte genes were also shown to cause rare bone diseases. "Mapping the osteocyte transcriptome could help clinicians and researchers more easily establish whether a rare bone disease has a genetic cause, by looking through the `shortlist` of genes known to play an active role in controlling the skeleton," says Dr Youlten. The big picture viewCo-senior author Professor Peter Croucher, Deputy Director of the Garvan Institute and Head of the Bone Biology Lab, says that "the osteocyte transcriptome map gives researchers a picture of the whole landscape of genes that are switched on in osteocytes for the first time, rather than just a small glimpse". "The majority of genes that we`ve found to be active within osteocytes had no previously known role in bones. This discovery will help us understand what controls the skeleton, which genes are important in rare and common skeletal diseases and help us identify new treatments that can stop the development of bone disease and also restore lost bone." (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists discover new map revealing genes that control skeleton

China on Thursday launched the first module of its new space station, state television showed,&nbsp;a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to place a permanent human presence in space.

The Tianhe core module, which houses life support equipment and a living space for astronauts, was launched from Wenchang in China's tropical Hainan province on a Long-March 5B rocket.

The space station is expected to become fully operational in 2022 after around 10 missions to bring up more parts and assemble them in orbit.

Billions of dollars have been poured into space exploration as China seeks to assert its rising global stature and growing technological might, following in the footsteps of the United States and Russia.

Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed space programme employees cheering as the rocket powered its way through the atmosphere billowing flames from the launch site.&nbsp;

Once completed, the Chinese space station is expected to remain in low Earth orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres above Earth for 15 years.

While China does not plan to use its space station for international cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration without giving details of the scope of that cooperation.

The country has come a long way since its first satellite in 1970.

It put the first Chinese "taikonaut" in space in 2003 and sent a probe in to Mars orbit earlier this year.

China launched the Tiangong-1 lab, its first prototype module intended to lay the groundwork for the permanent station, in September 2011.

China has prioritised space exploration in recent years, with the aim of becoming a major space power by 2030.

By 2045, it hopes to establish a programme operating thousands of space flights a year and carrying tens of thousands of tonnes of cargo and passengers.

(With inputs from agencies)

China on Thursday launched the first module of its new space station, state television showed, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to place a permanent human presence in space.

China on Thursday launched the first module of its new space station, state television showed, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to place a permanent human presence in space. The Tianhe core module, which houses life support equipment and a living space for astronauts, was launched from Wenchang in China's tropical Hainan province on a Long-March 5B rocket. The space station is expected to become fully operational in 2022 after around 10 missions to bring up more parts and assemble them in orbit. Billions of dollars have been poured into space exploration as China seeks to assert its rising global stature and growing technological might, following in the footsteps of the United States and Russia. Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed space programme employees cheering as the rocket powered its way through the atmosphere billowing flames from the launch site. Once completed, the Chinese space station is expected to remain in low Earth orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres above Earth for 15 years. While China does not plan to use its space station for international cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration without giving details of the scope of that cooperation. The country has come a long way since its first satellite in 1970. It put the first Chinese "taikonaut" in space in 2003 and sent a probe in to Mars orbit earlier this year. China launched the Tiangong-1 lab, its first prototype module intended to lay the groundwork for the permanent station, in September 2011. China has prioritised space exploration in recent years, with the aim of becoming a major space power by 2030. By 2045, it hopes to establish a programme operating thousands of space flights a year and carrying tens of thousands of tonnes of cargo and passengers. (With inputs from agencies)

China launches first module for new space station

Corals are essential for the health of Oceans and our planet. Widespread pollution and climate change has caused great damage to corals in oceans around the world. This is especially true in case of the Great Barrier Reef. The huge wall of corals is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia. &nbsp;&nbsp;

The reef faces "precipitous declines" in coral cover over the next five decades due to "intense pressure" from climate change, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Royal Society Open Science said.

But a new, experimental "cloud brightening" technology and introduction of heat-tolerant corals can help slow down the damage to the reef

Climate change is causing marine heatwaves, more intense cyclones and flooding -- all of which are damaging the health of the reef.

"Coral reefs are some of the most climate-vulnerable ecosystems on Earth," lead author Scott Condie told AFP.

"The model projections suggest that coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef could fall below 10 per cent within 20 years."

Condie and his co-authors modelled the potential impact of interventions such as "cloud brightening", which was first trialled by scientists on the reef last year.

The technology sends salt crystals into the air, making clouds reflect more sunlight to cool waters around the reef.

They also modelled expanded measures to control the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, which consume the corals and proliferate when bleaching forces bigger fish to leave an area.

"The results suggest that combinations of interventions may delay decline of the Great Barrier Reef by two decades or more," Condie said.

He said there was "clear urgency" to act but acknowledged that the scale of the work required was "much larger than anything that has previously been deployed on coral reefs".

"Any large-scale interventions would require a major financial investment and need to be acceptable to local communities," he added.

The modelling assumes global temperatures will not rise beyond 1.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, which would require governments to follow through on their Paris climate agreement pledges.

(With inouts from agencies) 
&nbsp;

Corals are essential for the health of Oceans and our planet. Widespread pollution and climate change has caused great damage to corals in oceans around the world.

Corals are essential for the health of Oceans and our planet. Widespread pollution and climate change has caused great damage to corals in oceans around the world. This is especially true in case of the Great Barrier Reef. The huge wall of corals is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia. The reef faces "precipitous declines" in coral cover over the next five decades due to "intense pressure" from climate change, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Royal Society Open Science said. But a new, experimental "cloud brightening" technology and introduction of heat-tolerant corals can help slow down the damage to the reef Climate change is causing marine heatwaves, more intense cyclones and flooding -- all of which are damaging the health of the reef. "Coral reefs are some of the most climate-vulnerable ecosystems on Earth," lead author Scott Condie told AFP. "The model projections suggest that coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef could fall below 10 per cent within 20 years." Condie and his co-authors modelled the potential impact of interventions such as "cloud brightening", which was first trialled by scientists on the reef last year. The technology sends salt crystals into the air, making clouds reflect more sunlight to cool waters around the reef. They also modelled expanded measures to control the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, which consume the corals and proliferate when bleaching forces bigger fish to leave an area. "The results suggest that combinations of interventions may delay decline of the Great Barrier Reef by two decades or more," Condie said. He said there was "clear urgency" to act but acknowledged that the scale of the work required was "much larger than anything that has previously been deployed on coral reefs". "Any large-scale interventions would require a major financial investment and need to be acceptable to local communities," he added. The modelling assumes global temperatures will not rise beyond 1.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, which would require governments to follow through on their Paris climate agreement pledges. (With inouts from agencies)

'Cloud brightening' technology can save Great Barrier Reef

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres).

"So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations," said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.

"We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity," Balaram said in a statement.

The US space agency conducted the first flight of the four-pound (1.8 kilogramme) rotorcraft on Monday, the first powered flight ever on another planet.

That time Ingenuity rose to a height of 10 feet and then touched down after 39.1 seconds.

For the second flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet, hovered briefly, tilted and then accelerated sideways for seven feet.

"The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions," said Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot. "Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land.

"It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars."

Data and images from the flights are transmitted 173 million miles (278 million kilometres) back to Earth where they are received by NASA's array of ground antennas and processed.&nbsp;

Ingenuity traveled to Mars tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs of past microbial life.

Ingenuity's goal, by contrast, is to prove its technology works.

Ingenuity's flights are challenging because of conditions vastly different from Earth's -- foremost among them a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one percent the density of our own.

This means that Ingenuity's rotors, which span four feet, have to spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute to achieve lift -- about five times more than a helicopter on Earth.

Because of the distance from Earth, it can't be piloted by a human. While its main maneuvers are pre-programmed, Ingenuity needs to make some real time decisions using data from its sensors and camera.

It also needs to run a heater to survive nighttime temperatures that plunge to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).

NASA is already preparing to send Dragonfly, a much larger rotorcraft-lander, to Saturn's icy moon Titan where it will fly multiple sorties in search of extraterrestrial life when it reaches there in 2034.

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres).

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres). "So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations," said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. "We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity," Balaram said in a statement. The US space agency conducted the first flight of the four-pound (1.8 kilogramme) rotorcraft on Monday, the first powered flight ever on another planet. That time Ingenuity rose to a height of 10 feet and then touched down after 39.1 seconds. For the second flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet, hovered briefly, tilted and then accelerated sideways for seven feet. "The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions," said Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot. "Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land. "It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars." Data and images from the flights are transmitted 173 million miles (278 million kilometres) back to Earth where they are received by NASA's array of ground antennas and processed. Ingenuity traveled to Mars tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs of past microbial life. Ingenuity's goal, by contrast, is to prove its technology works. Ingenuity's flights are challenging because of conditions vastly different from Earth's -- foremost among them a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one percent the density of our own. This means that Ingenuity's rotors, which span four feet, have to spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute to achieve lift -- about five times more than a helicopter on Earth. Because of the distance from Earth, it can't be piloted by a human. While its main maneuvers are pre-programmed, Ingenuity needs to make some real time decisions using data from its sensors and camera. It also needs to run a heater to survive nighttime temperatures that plunge to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius). NASA is already preparing to send Dragonfly, a much larger rotorcraft-lander, to Saturn's icy moon Titan where it will fly multiple sorties in search of extraterrestrial life when it reaches there in 2034.

NASA's Mars helicopter makes second flight

Humans have a huge footprint on this planet and this doesn't always mean a good thing. The footprint may be in form of carbon emissions or&nbsp;climate change. Human activities have often harmed nature. But human activities have adverse impact on humans as well.

A radioactive element has been found in honey samples collected in the US. The study has been carried out by researchers from William and Mary University in the US.

But why is there a radioactive element in honey?

The nuclear tests carried out in the US in 1950s and 60s are to blame. Nuclear bombs contain Uranium and when the bomb explodes, it produces radioactive Cesium.

Cesium atom is similar to Potassium atom and Potassium is a very important nutrient for plants. When Potassium is available in the soil, plants absorb it. But if soil is deficient in Potassium, there is a likelihood that the radioactive Cesium atoms may be absorbed by the plants, explain the researchers.

Cesium then passes into the nectar of the plant's flowers which in turn is converted to honey by the honeybees.

As per the researchers, the Cesium levels in the honey were not found to be high enough to cause extreme danger to human life. But this study is yet another reminder of the need to take care of our only home in the universe. Our Planet Earth.

The study has been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Humans have a huge footprint on this planet and this doesn't always mean a good thing. The footprint may be in form of carbon emissions or climate change. Human activities have often harmed nature.

Humans have a huge footprint on this planet and this doesn't always mean a good thing. The footprint may be in form of carbon emissions or climate change. Human activities have often harmed nature. But human activities have adverse impact on humans as well. A radioactive element has been found in honey samples collected in the US. The study has been carried out by researchers from William and Mary University in the US. But why is there a radioactive element in honey? The nuclear tests carried out in the US in 1950s and 60s are to blame. Nuclear bombs contain Uranium and when the bomb explodes, it produces radioactive Cesium. Cesium atom is similar to Potassium atom and Potassium is a very important nutrient for plants. When Potassium is available in the soil, plants absorb it. But if soil is deficient in Potassium, there is a likelihood that the radioactive Cesium atoms may be absorbed by the plants, explain the researchers. Cesium then passes into the nectar of the plant's flowers which in turn is converted to honey by the honeybees. As per the researchers, the Cesium levels in the honey were not found to be high enough to cause extreme danger to human life. But this study is yet another reminder of the need to take care of our only home in the universe. Our Planet Earth. The study has been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

American honey samples found to contain radioactive element: Study

Russian space agency Roscosmos on Tuesday said that it hoped to launch its own space station in 2025. Moscow is considering withdrawing from the International Space Station programme. Dmitry Rogozin, chief of Roscosmos said work had already begun on the first module of the new space station.&nbsp;

"The first core module of the new Russian orbital station is in the works," Rogozin said in a statement on messaging app Telegram.&nbsp;

He said Russia's Energia space corporation was aiming to have the module "ready for launch" in 2025 and released a video of Energia staff at work.

The announcement came with tensions soaring over espionage claims, a Russian troop build-up along Ukraine's borders and the deteriorating health of President Vladimir Putin's imprisoned critic Alexei Navalny.

International Space Station (ISS) which is currently in orbit is one of the most ambitious international collaborations in human history.

The ISS was launched in 1998 with co-operation between Russia, the US, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said in recent days that Moscow was considering whether to leave the ISS programme from 2025 because of the station's age.

However, Roscosmos said on Monday that a decision on quitting the ISS had not yet been made.

"When we make a decision we will start negotiations with our partners on forms and conditions of cooperation beyond 2024," the space agency told AFP in a statement.

Russia lost its monopoly for manned flights to the ISS last year after the first successful mission of US company Space X.

Despite its much-lauded history -- Russia this month marked the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in orbit -- the country's space programme has struggled in recent years.

(With inputs from agencies)

Russian space agency Roscosmos on Tuesday said that it hoped to launch its own space station in 2025. Moscow is considering withdrawing from the International Space Station programme.

Russian space agency Roscosmos on Tuesday said that it hoped to launch its own space station in 2025. Moscow is considering withdrawing from the International Space Station programme. Dmitry Rogozin, chief of Roscosmos said work had already begun on the first module of the new space station. "The first core module of the new Russian orbital station is in the works," Rogozin said in a statement on messaging app Telegram. He said Russia's Energia space corporation was aiming to have the module "ready for launch" in 2025 and released a video of Energia staff at work. The announcement came with tensions soaring over espionage claims, a Russian troop build-up along Ukraine's borders and the deteriorating health of President Vladimir Putin's imprisoned critic Alexei Navalny. International Space Station (ISS) which is currently in orbit is one of the most ambitious international collaborations in human history. The ISS was launched in 1998 with co-operation between Russia, the US, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said in recent days that Moscow was considering whether to leave the ISS programme from 2025 because of the station's age. However, Roscosmos said on Monday that a decision on quitting the ISS had not yet been made. "When we make a decision we will start negotiations with our partners on forms and conditions of cooperation beyond 2024," the space agency told AFP in a statement. Russia lost its monopoly for manned flights to the ISS last year after the first successful mission of US company Space X. Despite its much-lauded history -- Russia this month marked the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in orbit -- the country's space programme has struggled in recent years. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia to launch its own space station in 2025

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface.

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"Wow!" 
 
The <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAJPL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAJPL</a> team is all cheers as they receive video data from the <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAPersevere</a> rover of the Ingenuity <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarsHelicopter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarsHelicopter</a> flight: <a href="https://t.co/8eH4H6jGKs">pic.twitter.com/8eH4H6jGKs</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384099167832735748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight -- the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered.&nbsp;

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A short clip sent back by Perseverance rover showed the helicopter grounded at first, howering three meters above the surface and then touching back down.

Ingenuity itself sent back a still black-and-white image from its downward pointing camera, showing its own shadow cast on the surface.

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It happened. Today our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarsHelicopter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarsHelicopter</a> proved that powered, controlled flight from the surface of another planet is possible. It takes a little ingenuity, perseverance, and spirit to make that opportunity a reality: <a href="https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj">https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj</a> <a href="https://t.co/u63GKshp0G">pic.twitter.com/u63GKshp0G</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384108519390027779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

"We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet!" said lead engineer MiMi Aung to her team.

"We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers' moment on Mars, and here it is," she added. 
The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.&nbsp;

A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface.

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface. "Wow!" The @NASAJPL team is all cheers as they receive video data from the @NASAPersevere rover of the Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter flight: pic.twitter.com/8eH4H6jGKs — NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021 × "Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight -- the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered. A short clip sent back by Perseverance rover showed the helicopter grounded at first, howering three meters above the surface and then touching back down. Ingenuity itself sent back a still black-and-white image from its downward pointing camera, showing its own shadow cast on the surface. It happened. Today our #MarsHelicopter proved that powered, controlled flight from the surface of another planet is possible. It takes a little ingenuity, perseverance, and spirit to make that opportunity a reality: https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj pic.twitter.com/u63GKshp0G — NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021 × "We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet!" said lead engineer MiMi Aung to her team. "We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers' moment on Mars, and here it is," she added. The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat. (With inputs from agencies)

Giant flight for mankind: NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flies successfully over Mars

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth. And it is because of this, images of Earth taken from space have a special place. Sure, we'll have plenty of stars, planets and galaxies to click. But images of our blue planet will always be cherished. NASA has posted new images of Earth.

These new images have been captured from International Space Station (ISS). NASA has posted these images from their Instagram account.

The new images are in celebration of Earth Day, which is fast approaching (April 22).

"...Leading up to Earth Day, we invite you to celebrate our blue marble!..." says NASA in its Instagram post. The 'blue marble' is of course our Earth.

"In these stunning images, the natural systems – land, water, air, ice – connect to each other to bring life. No matter whether we are on land or in space, we are unified by this tiny blue planet – and that’s something to celebrate..." NASA said

It has posted four photos in total. Check them out below. Click on the arrows to see the next image in the frame below.

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In this universe, our gaze may be deep and wide. We may have the capacity to uncover deepest mysteries of the universe. But sometimes, once in a while, it doesn't hurt to look back and appreciate the planet that has let our roots grow strong.

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth.

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth. And it is because of this, images of Earth taken from space have a special place. Sure, we'll have plenty of stars, planets and galaxies to click. But images of our blue planet will always be cherished. NASA has posted new images of Earth. These new images have been captured from International Space Station (ISS). NASA has posted these images from their Instagram account. The new images are in celebration of Earth Day, which is fast approaching (April 22). "...Leading up to Earth Day, we invite you to celebrate our blue marble!..." says NASA in its Instagram post. The 'blue marble' is of course our Earth. "In these stunning images, the natural systems – land, water, air, ice – connect to each other to bring life. No matter whether we are on land or in space, we are unified by this tiny blue planet – and that’s something to celebrate..." NASA said It has posted four photos in total. Check them out below. Click on the arrows to see the next image in the frame below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) × In this universe, our gaze may be deep and wide. We may have the capacity to uncover deepest mysteries of the universe. But sometimes, once in a while, it doesn't hurt to look back and appreciate the planet that has let our roots grow strong.

NASA posts stunning new photos of Earth captured from International Space Station

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