Ariane 5 makes final 2010 flight
December 30, 2010
Europe’s heavy-lift rocket, the Ariane 5, has completed its sixth and final mission of 2010, putting two satellites high above the Earth.
The launcher powered skyward from its Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 1827 local time (2127 GMT).
Neanderthals cooked and ate vegetables
December 27, 2010
Neanderthals cooked and ate plants and vegetables, a new study of Neanderthal remains reveals.
Researchers in the US have found grains of cooked plant material in their teeth.
The study is the first to confirm that the Neanderthal diet was not confined to meat and was more sophisticated than previously thought.
The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ka-Sat net-dedicated spacecraft ready for launch
December 26, 2010
Europe is about to get a second satellite dedicated to delivering broadband internet connections.
Cocoa genome ‘will save chocolate industry’
November 15, 2010
The public release of the genome of the cacao tree - from which chocolate is made - will save the chocolate industry from collapse, a scientist has said.
Howard Yana-Shapiro, a researcher for Mars, said that without engineering higher-yielding cacao trees, demand would outstrip supply within 50 years.
Dr Yana-Shapiro said such strains will also help biodiversity and farmers’ welfare in cacao-growing regions.
Nagoya biodiversity talks stall on cash and targets
October 23, 2010
Conservation groups have expressed concern that a major UN conference on nature protection is stalling, with some governments accused of holding the process hostage to their own interest.
Their warning comes halfway through the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Nagoya, Japan.
Galaxy is most distant object yet
October 21, 2010
A tiny faint dot in a Hubble picture has been confirmed as the most distant galaxy ever detected in the Universe.
This collection of stars is so far away its light has taken more than 13 billion years to arrive at Earth.
‘Ten years’ to solve nature crisis, UN meeting hears
October 18, 2010
The UN biodiversity convention meeting has opened with warnings that the ongoing loss of nature is hurting human societies as well as the natural world.
The two-week gathering aims to set new targets for conserving life on Earth.
Fossils of earliest land plants discovered in Argentina
October 12, 2010
The earliest plants to have colonised land have been found in Argentina.
The discovery puts back by 10 million years the colonisation of land by plants, and suggests that a diversity of land plants had evolved by 472 million years ago.
Materials breakthrough wins Nobel
October 5, 2010
Two scientists have shared this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics for their “groundbreaking” work on a material with amazing properties.
Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, both at Manchester University, UK, took the prize for research on graphene.
Climate risks greater for long distance migratory birds
September 26, 2010
Birds embarking on long distance migrations are more vulnerable to shifts in the climate than ones making shorter journeys, a study suggests.
Scientists say the increasingly early arrival of spring at breeding sites in Europe makes it harder for the birds to attract a mate or find food.