Science News Digest - 12th December 2011
In the science news this week, an Earth-like planet from a galaxy far, far away, the fossil of a terrifying, stalk-eyed predator, the mystery of the disappearing butterflies, and finally… how a glass or two of cherry juice could help you get a proper night’s sleep.
Smallest planet outside our solar system has been found
The Kepler space telescope has spotted a new planet orbiting a star 600 light years away. The relatively small size of the planet, named Kepler-22b, has made it an important find for astronomers, reports New Scientist this week. At just two times wider than the Earth, the planet is by far the smallest planet in the “habitable zone” ever seen from outside our Solar System. The habitable, or Goldilocks zone, is the prime position in a star system where the light and heat from the star is neither too hot nor too cold, and could therefore theoretically support life.
The planet orbits the host star once every 290 days but so far the planet’s mass hasn’t been determined. From observations by other telescopes, astronomers have worked out that the planet’s mass must be less than 36 times that of the Earth, but aren’t able to be any more specific at this point. "We have no planet like this in our solar system," says Bill Borucki, Kepler's chief scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, but he was optimistic that the planet could be rocky and possibly contain liquid water.
However, others have remained more sceptical. Leslie Rogers, a graduate student from MIT told New Scientist that many planets of this width are more like small gas giants, like Jupiter, rather than rocky, like Earth.
It’s likely we won’t know what the planet is like until next year, when the patch of sky where the planet lies becomes more easily visible.
-------------------------------
Stalk-eyed predator swam the Cambrian seas
The fossilised remains of a pair of compound eyes, like those found in some flying insects, have been found by researchers in Australia. The eyes belonged to a soft-bodied marine predator, called anomalocaris, which lived in the Cambrian era more than half a billion years ago, reported The Guardian.
Alongside the eyes, they also found the remains of the animal’s claws and swimming flaps that ran down the sides of its body. From the fossils, researchers have deduced that the animals were up to a metre long when fully grown, and used its grasping claws and teeth-like mouth serrations to prey on other marine animals.
Found in the 515million-year-old rock layers on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, the eyes were each three centimetres long and contained over 16,000 separate lenses, giving the creatures’ exceptional eyesight.
Although fossils of these fearsome predators have been found before in both Canada and China, these are the first remains that have revealed the complexity of the creature’s eyes.
"These huge, sophisticated, eyes would give animals a tremendous advantage at locating prey," said Gregory Edgecombe, a co-author on the study, at the Natural History Museum, London.
In other paleontological news, The Telegraph reported on the discovery of the remains of an herbivore from the same family as the Triceratops… nearly one hundred years after they were first excavated. The bone fragments had been discovered in 1916, but were thought to be “rubbish” and not interesting enough to be studied.
The fossils were rediscovered by a group of researchers who decided to take a closer look at them and soon realised they belonged to a completely new and distinct species.
"I knew right away that these fossils were something unusual, and it was very exciting to learn about their convoluted history,” explained Dr Andrew Farke, who led the research team. The discovery has particular significance as it could redefine how this group of dinosaurs is classified, leading to a number of re-identifications in the future.
-------------------------------
Nearly three quarters of British butterfly species are in decline
According to a study compiled by the Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), almost three quarters of the butterfly species found in the UK have been in decline over the past decade. Worryingly, even the most common species have seen a fall of 24 per cent, reports the BBC.
Although the exact cause isn’t clear, the researchers expect the loss of suitable habitats to be the main culprit, although there does appear to have been a small boost by conservation efforts.
The study looked at the data from two long running surveys, which focussed on the numbers of each butterfly species as well as their spread across the UK over the past ten years.
The Butterfly Conservation’s surveys manager, Richard Fox, said: "It's sad and depressing that the numbers of habitat specialist butterflies are down.
"But it's particularly alarming that numbers of butterflies which are quite well adapted to living in a landscape that's highly modified by human management have decreased by nearly a quarter over a 10 year period."
However, the study also identified a number of success stories, including that of the Large Blue, a species that was extinct in the UK before it was re-introduced in the 1980s.
Dr Marc Botham, butterfly ecologist at CEH, said: "On a lot of local sites we've actually reversed these declines quite well.
"We've got a good understanding of the ecology and how to look after the habitat for these species. What we really need to do now is to expand this UK wide and look at this more broadly."
-------------------------------
And finally…
Cherry juice could help you get a better night’s sleep
Researchers at Northumbria University have found that a glass of tart cherry juice first thing in the morning and last thing at night helped people to get an extra 39 minutes sleep at night. The 20 participants were given the two glasses of cherry juice, or another alternative fruit juice, for seven consecutive days.
Reported in The Daily Mail, the study found that those who drank the cherry juice, on average, got an extra 25 minutes sleep a night, and an extra 14 minutes rest in bed. They were also less likely to nap in the daytime and had a better sleep efficiency – the ratio between time spent in bed and time spent sleeping.
The apparent benefits have been attributed to the melatonin content in the fruit, an antioxidant that is key to regulating our sleep cycles.
Dr Glyn Howatson, an exercise physiologist, said: “We were initially interested in the application of tart cherries in recovery from strenuous exercise.
“These results show that tart cherry juice concentrate can be used to facilitate sleep in healthy adults and, excitingly, has the potential to be applied as a natural intervention, not only to athletes, but to other populations with insomnia and general disturbed sleep from shift work or jet lag.”
Smallest planet outside our solar system has been found
The Kepler space telescope has spotted a new planet orbiting a star 600 light years away. The relatively small size of the planet, named Kepler-22b, has made it an important find for astronomers, reports New Scientist this week. At just two times wider than the Earth, the planet is by far the smallest planet in the “habitable zone” ever seen from outside our Solar System. The habitable, or Goldilocks zone, is the prime position in a star system where the light and heat from the star is neither too hot nor too cold, and could therefore theoretically support life.
The planet orbits the host star once every 290 days but so far the planet’s mass hasn’t been determined. From observations by other telescopes, astronomers have worked out that the planet’s mass must be less than 36 times that of the Earth, but aren’t able to be any more specific at this point. "We have no planet like this in our solar system," says Bill Borucki, Kepler's chief scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, but he was optimistic that the planet could be rocky and possibly contain liquid water.
However, others have remained more sceptical. Leslie Rogers, a graduate student from MIT told New Scientist that many planets of this width are more like small gas giants, like Jupiter, rather than rocky, like Earth.
It’s likely we won’t know what the planet is like until next year, when the patch of sky where the planet lies becomes more easily visible.
-------------------------------
Stalk-eyed predator swam the Cambrian seas
The fossilised remains of a pair of compound eyes, like those found in some flying insects, have been found by researchers in Australia. The eyes belonged to a soft-bodied marine predator, called anomalocaris, which lived in the Cambrian era more than half a billion years ago, reported The Guardian.
Alongside the eyes, they also found the remains of the animal’s claws and swimming flaps that ran down the sides of its body. From the fossils, researchers have deduced that the animals were up to a metre long when fully grown, and used its grasping claws and teeth-like mouth serrations to prey on other marine animals.
Found in the 515million-year-old rock layers on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, the eyes were each three centimetres long and contained over 16,000 separate lenses, giving the creatures’ exceptional eyesight.
Although fossils of these fearsome predators have been found before in both Canada and China, these are the first remains that have revealed the complexity of the creature’s eyes.
"These huge, sophisticated, eyes would give animals a tremendous advantage at locating prey," said Gregory Edgecombe, a co-author on the study, at the Natural History Museum, London.
In other paleontological news, The Telegraph reported on the discovery of the remains of an herbivore from the same family as the Triceratops… nearly one hundred years after they were first excavated. The bone fragments had been discovered in 1916, but were thought to be “rubbish” and not interesting enough to be studied.
The fossils were rediscovered by a group of researchers who decided to take a closer look at them and soon realised they belonged to a completely new and distinct species.
"I knew right away that these fossils were something unusual, and it was very exciting to learn about their convoluted history,” explained Dr Andrew Farke, who led the research team. The discovery has particular significance as it could redefine how this group of dinosaurs is classified, leading to a number of re-identifications in the future.
-------------------------------
Nearly three quarters of British butterfly species are in decline
According to a study compiled by the Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), almost three quarters of the butterfly species found in the UK have been in decline over the past decade. Worryingly, even the most common species have seen a fall of 24 per cent, reports the BBC.
Although the exact cause isn’t clear, the researchers expect the loss of suitable habitats to be the main culprit, although there does appear to have been a small boost by conservation efforts.
The study looked at the data from two long running surveys, which focussed on the numbers of each butterfly species as well as their spread across the UK over the past ten years.
The Butterfly Conservation’s surveys manager, Richard Fox, said: "It's sad and depressing that the numbers of habitat specialist butterflies are down.
"But it's particularly alarming that numbers of butterflies which are quite well adapted to living in a landscape that's highly modified by human management have decreased by nearly a quarter over a 10 year period."
However, the study also identified a number of success stories, including that of the Large Blue, a species that was extinct in the UK before it was re-introduced in the 1980s.
Dr Marc Botham, butterfly ecologist at CEH, said: "On a lot of local sites we've actually reversed these declines quite well.
"We've got a good understanding of the ecology and how to look after the habitat for these species. What we really need to do now is to expand this UK wide and look at this more broadly."
-------------------------------
And finally…
Cherry juice could help you get a better night’s sleep
Researchers at Northumbria University have found that a glass of tart cherry juice first thing in the morning and last thing at night helped people to get an extra 39 minutes sleep at night. The 20 participants were given the two glasses of cherry juice, or another alternative fruit juice, for seven consecutive days.
Reported in The Daily Mail, the study found that those who drank the cherry juice, on average, got an extra 25 minutes sleep a night, and an extra 14 minutes rest in bed. They were also less likely to nap in the daytime and had a better sleep efficiency – the ratio between time spent in bed and time spent sleeping.
The apparent benefits have been attributed to the melatonin content in the fruit, an antioxidant that is key to regulating our sleep cycles.
Dr Glyn Howatson, an exercise physiologist, said: “We were initially interested in the application of tart cherries in recovery from strenuous exercise.
“These results show that tart cherry juice concentrate can be used to facilitate sleep in healthy adults and, excitingly, has the potential to be applied as a natural intervention, not only to athletes, but to other populations with insomnia and general disturbed sleep from shift work or jet lag.”
search this section
