Scientists Find

Curtin University researchers use innovative techniques to date three-billion-year-old impact crater in Pilbara regionA meteorite that struck Earth three billion years ago left behind a “smoking gun” – evidence of the world’s oldest impact crater in a remote part of Australia.Ancient rocks in Western Australia’s Pilbara region record the event, which occurred during the Archean eon, a period 4 to 2.5 billion years ago, when tectonic plates were beginning to form and early life emerging. Continue reading...

Geochronologists say Antrim coastline’s basalt columns developed over 5.5m years – 8m less than thoughtFor centuries, the tale has been passed from generation to generation: how the Irish giant Finn McCool built the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland to fight Benandonner, his Scottish rival, by hurling chunks of the Antrim coastline into the sea.Now, scientists have revealed it was intense volcanic activity during a “major globally impacting volcanic event” – and not a legendary battle between two destructive giants – that led to the formation of the coastline’s 40,000 distinctive interlocking basalt columns about 60m years ago. Continue reading...

Technique that examines fragments of foetal DNA in mother’s bloodstream could limit need for invasive screening, according to researchersA new maternal blood test that can detect thousands of serious genetic conditions in the developing foetus could limit the need for invasive screening during pregnancy, according to scientists.The test, to be described at the European Society for Human Genetics conference in Gothenburg on Saturday, relies on detecting tiny fragments of a foetus’s DNA that circulate in the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy. Using advanced sequencing techniques, scientists were able to identify a very high proportion of genetic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis, that are currently only reliably diagnosed using amniocentesis or other invasive tests. Continue reading...

• Scientists have updated the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) protocols to establish new rules for verifying and sharing evidence of alien intelligence. • The updated guidelines address the modern information age, accounting for the globalization of the search and the use of projects like Breakthrough Listen. • These protocols are critical because current efforts now monitor the entire electromagnetic spectrum rather than just specific stars, increasing the likelihood of detecting signals.

From Spain to Japan, experiments have repeatedly shown a left-turn bias, but exact mechanic ‘is still an open question’“I’m not an ambi-turner,” laments Derek Zoolander in the eponymous noughties satire about the world’s hottest male model and his rare catwalk hangup. “It’s a problem I’ve had since I was a baby … I can’t turn left.”Now, research suggests that the fashionista’s career-threatening quirk was even more unusual than previously thought. Tests reveal that when people are ambling about, they have a natural tendency to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction. Continue reading...

• Astronomers have discovered powerful winds emanating from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. • The discovery concludes a 50-year search by scientists attempting to find direct evidence of these galactic outflows. • This finding is significant because it provides critical insight into how black holes influence their surrounding environments and regulate galaxy evolution.

• A rapidly widening epidemic of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, is currently spreading across Africa. • A World Health Organization (W.H.O.) expert panel has recommended two monoclonal antibodies, maftimivab (by Regeneron) and MBP-134 (by Mapp Bio), for urgent clinical trials. • These treatments are significant because they utilize antibodies from survivors that can bind to glycoproteins across multiple strains, including Bundibugyo and Sudan viruses.