Science News Digest 12th July 2010
This week in science news, we take a peek at the first light in the universe, learn the outcome of ‘Climategate’, wait to see whether Japanese scientists have captured specks of an asteroid, find out about the earliest human settlement in northern Europe, and finally… learn about the language of fish.
Across the Universe
The European Space Agency’s (Esa) orbiting Planck telescope has taken the first full sky image, allowing scientists to visualise the first light that moved across space after the Big Bang.
The telescope is able to detect cosmic microwave background (CMB), light at very long wavelength beyond what the human eye can see. The CMB represents some of the oldest photons in the universe, able to move through space only after the universe had cooled sufficiently following the Big-Bang to allow the formation of hydrogen atoms.
Physicists are hoping to use the data gained from the image to look for evidence of ‘inflation’, faster-than-light expansion of the universe in the fractions of a second after the Big-Bang, to give insights into the formation of the early universe. The telescope is currently in the process of taking a second image, and there are plans to take a further two before the mission completes in 2012.
"It's a spectacular picture; it's a thing of beauty," Dr Jan Tauber, the Esa’s Planck project scientist.
Operating at minus 273.05 degrees centigrade (very close to ‘absolute zero’), the telescope is the coldest thing in space.
Read more from the BBC
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Scientists cleared of dishonesty
Scientist from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) from the University of East Anglia (UEA) have been cleared following accusations that they manipulated their data to increase the evidence for man-made climate change.
The scientists were criticised for their lack of openness, and there was "an ethos of minimal compliance (and at times non-compliance)" when responding to freedom of information requests. However Sir Muir Russell, a senior civil servant who lead the six-month inquiry said the “The honesty and rigour of CRU as scientists are not in doubt”.
This inquiry was triggered by the hacking of the CRU email servers and the subsequent release of 13 years’ worth of emails.
Climate-change sceptics alleged that the emails contained evidence of the manipulation of data, enhancing the argument for man-made climate change.
This review represents the third inquiry into the email leak, and clears the head of the CRU Professor Phil Jones and his colleagues of the most serious allegations, but does criticise CRU scientists for failing to correctly label a graph in a 1999 prepared for the World Meteorological Organisation, although it was accepted that this was not deliberate, and sufficient caveats were included in the text.
Full story from the Guardian
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Between a rock and a hard place
Scientists from Japan’s space agency (Jaxa) have revealed that minute particles are present in the sample container of the first probe to land on the surface of an asteroid and return to Earth.
What is not clear however is whether these particles are true asteroid dust, or represent contamination from Earth.
The Hayabusa space probe launched in 2003 and rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa in 2005, landing for around 30 minutes, before returning to Earth in June this year a total distance of over 3 billion miles.
Numerous technical problems plagued the mission, and a projectile to be fired from the probe to kick up asteroid dust failed to deploy.
Nevertheless, the Jaxa scientists are hopeful that sufficient dust was disturbed when the probe landed to be collected in the sample container.
Jaxa have released two photographs from inside the sample container which show clear evidence of microscopic dust. Jaxa are now working with NASA to retrieve the dust, but it will take several weeks of analysis before its source is known.
Read more from the Telegraph
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Norfolk, the cradle of British civilisation
Archaeologists have discovered 78 flint tools at a north Norfolk beach, showing that humans arrived in Britain much earlier than previously though.
The tools, found near the village of Happisburgh, were thought to have been laid down between 840, 000 and 950, 000 years ago. The find suggest that humans were living in Britain up to 250, 000 years earlier than the previous thought.
"These tools from Happisburgh are absolutely mint-fresh. They are exceptionally sharp, which suggests they have not moved far from where they were dropped," says Professor Chris Stringer, human origins expert at the Natural History Museum.
It is believed that these early humans were hunter gatherers, living on the banks of the ancient river Thames, which flowed through Norfolk but has long since dried up. They would have lived alongside sabre-tooth cats, hyenas and southern mammoths, and would have travelled to Britain along the land bridge that once connected Britain to the rest of Europe.
The users of these tools are believed to be related to the species Homo antecessor (also known as “Pioneer Man”), although currently no human remains have been found.
"This would be the 'holy grail' of our work" says Professor Stringer.
Read more from the Guardian
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And finally.....
A very fishy way of speaking
Rather than swimming around in total silence, certain types of fish are able to ‘talk’ to each other, according to a researcher from Auckland University, New Zealand.
"All fish can hear but not all can make sound - pops and other sounds made by vibrating their swim bladder, a muscle they can contract," says Shahriman Ghazali who is presenting his work to the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society this week.
Mr. Ghazali used underwater microphones and instruments which detect water movements to monitor groups of fish in tanks in a laboratory.
He believes that the sounds are involved in mating, orientation and warning each other of predators. It is also possible that these predators can ‘eavesdrop’ on talk to hunt prey.
The next stage of the research is to decipher what the sounds mean. Some fish it seems are very vocal, whilst others, such as Cod are very quiet, except while spawning.
If you are trying to communicate with your pet fish, don’t expect a reply.
"Goldfish have excellent hearing but they don't make any sound whatsoever," says Mr. Ghazali
Read more from the Telegraph
---------------------------------------------
Across the Universe
The European Space Agency’s (Esa) orbiting Planck telescope has taken the first full sky image, allowing scientists to visualise the first light that moved across space after the Big Bang.
The telescope is able to detect cosmic microwave background (CMB), light at very long wavelength beyond what the human eye can see. The CMB represents some of the oldest photons in the universe, able to move through space only after the universe had cooled sufficiently following the Big-Bang to allow the formation of hydrogen atoms.
Physicists are hoping to use the data gained from the image to look for evidence of ‘inflation’, faster-than-light expansion of the universe in the fractions of a second after the Big-Bang, to give insights into the formation of the early universe. The telescope is currently in the process of taking a second image, and there are plans to take a further two before the mission completes in 2012.
"It's a spectacular picture; it's a thing of beauty," Dr Jan Tauber, the Esa’s Planck project scientist.
Operating at minus 273.05 degrees centigrade (very close to ‘absolute zero’), the telescope is the coldest thing in space.
Read more from the BBC
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientists cleared of dishonesty
Scientist from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) from the University of East Anglia (UEA) have been cleared following accusations that they manipulated their data to increase the evidence for man-made climate change.
The scientists were criticised for their lack of openness, and there was "an ethos of minimal compliance (and at times non-compliance)" when responding to freedom of information requests. However Sir Muir Russell, a senior civil servant who lead the six-month inquiry said the “The honesty and rigour of CRU as scientists are not in doubt”.
This inquiry was triggered by the hacking of the CRU email servers and the subsequent release of 13 years’ worth of emails.
Climate-change sceptics alleged that the emails contained evidence of the manipulation of data, enhancing the argument for man-made climate change.
This review represents the third inquiry into the email leak, and clears the head of the CRU Professor Phil Jones and his colleagues of the most serious allegations, but does criticise CRU scientists for failing to correctly label a graph in a 1999 prepared for the World Meteorological Organisation, although it was accepted that this was not deliberate, and sufficient caveats were included in the text.
Full story from the Guardian
---------------------------------------------
Between a rock and a hard place
Scientists from Japan’s space agency (Jaxa) have revealed that minute particles are present in the sample container of the first probe to land on the surface of an asteroid and return to Earth.
What is not clear however is whether these particles are true asteroid dust, or represent contamination from Earth.
The Hayabusa space probe launched in 2003 and rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa in 2005, landing for around 30 minutes, before returning to Earth in June this year a total distance of over 3 billion miles.
Numerous technical problems plagued the mission, and a projectile to be fired from the probe to kick up asteroid dust failed to deploy.
Nevertheless, the Jaxa scientists are hopeful that sufficient dust was disturbed when the probe landed to be collected in the sample container.
Jaxa have released two photographs from inside the sample container which show clear evidence of microscopic dust. Jaxa are now working with NASA to retrieve the dust, but it will take several weeks of analysis before its source is known.
Read more from the Telegraph
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Norfolk, the cradle of British civilisation
Archaeologists have discovered 78 flint tools at a north Norfolk beach, showing that humans arrived in Britain much earlier than previously though.
The tools, found near the village of Happisburgh, were thought to have been laid down between 840, 000 and 950, 000 years ago. The find suggest that humans were living in Britain up to 250, 000 years earlier than the previous thought.
"These tools from Happisburgh are absolutely mint-fresh. They are exceptionally sharp, which suggests they have not moved far from where they were dropped," says Professor Chris Stringer, human origins expert at the Natural History Museum.
It is believed that these early humans were hunter gatherers, living on the banks of the ancient river Thames, which flowed through Norfolk but has long since dried up. They would have lived alongside sabre-tooth cats, hyenas and southern mammoths, and would have travelled to Britain along the land bridge that once connected Britain to the rest of Europe.
The users of these tools are believed to be related to the species Homo antecessor (also known as “Pioneer Man”), although currently no human remains have been found.
"This would be the 'holy grail' of our work" says Professor Stringer.
Read more from the Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------
And finally.....
A very fishy way of speaking
Rather than swimming around in total silence, certain types of fish are able to ‘talk’ to each other, according to a researcher from Auckland University, New Zealand.
"All fish can hear but not all can make sound - pops and other sounds made by vibrating their swim bladder, a muscle they can contract," says Shahriman Ghazali who is presenting his work to the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society this week.
Mr. Ghazali used underwater microphones and instruments which detect water movements to monitor groups of fish in tanks in a laboratory.
He believes that the sounds are involved in mating, orientation and warning each other of predators. It is also possible that these predators can ‘eavesdrop’ on talk to hunt prey.
The next stage of the research is to decipher what the sounds mean. Some fish it seems are very vocal, whilst others, such as Cod are very quiet, except while spawning.
If you are trying to communicate with your pet fish, don’t expect a reply.
"Goldfish have excellent hearing but they don't make any sound whatsoever," says Mr. Ghazali
Read more from the Telegraph
---------------------------------------------
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