Archaeopteryx had pennaceous (quill like) feathers all over it's body , not only it's wings , a new fossil ,only the eleventh of the creatures found reveals

These "trousers" were probably used for display , scientists said , their discovery adds weight to the theory that feathers originally evolved for purposes  other than flight

Archaeopteryx caused a major stir when the first fossil was unearthed in Germany in 1861 , ust two years after Charles Darwin published OnThe Origin of Species

With the claws and teeth of a dinosaur , but the feathers of a bird , it was clearly a transitional form , apparent proof of  Darwin's theory ,it's German name "Urvogal" means "first bird"

And though earlier bird like dinosaurs have been unearthed since , many scientists still believe Archaeopteryx was the first capable of "flight" as we know it today

The eleventh fossil specimen was announced in 2011 , and is remarkably well preserved , with detailed impressions of feathers all over it's skeleton , the feathers are long and symmetrical on t's upper leg and shorter lower down

Previous specimens had shown evidence of feathered hindlegs but this "completes the picture" , according to Dr. Oliver Rauhut and colleagues at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology

These "trousers" , as he describes they may have been used for display , camouflage , insulation , brooding , and manoeuvring on the ground

They were not primarilly designed for flight but might have helped steady the bird during landing similar to the hindlimb (feathers of hawks , eagles , and other modern raptors

The wing feathers of the new specimen show robust shafts , further evidence that the "first bird" really could fly

Recent studies assuming limited flight ability in Archaeopteryx "might be in error owing to the poorer preservation quality of the feathers"

The trousers are also a new clue to the mystery of how flight evolved in modern birds

Traditionally it was thought that feathers and flight evolved hand in hand , but the wide variation of plumage in early birds and feathered dinosaurs suggest that feathers first arose for a diferent purpose

Divers found the juvieniles bones by chance in a vast flooded limestone chamber on the Yucatan Peninsula

Aged 15 or 16 at death , the girl lived at least 12,000 years ago , her DNA backs the idea that the first Americans and modern Native American Indians share a common ancestry , this theory , argues that people from Siberia settled on the land bridge dubbed Beringia , that linked the Asia and America's some 20,000 years ago before sea levels rose

These people moved South to populate the American continents , the remains of the Yucatan girl shows , her DNA shares commonalities with modern Native Americans

Lab analysis of teeth and bone samples link her to a particular genitic lineage known as haplo group D1 , the same marker is found in substantial numbers of modern Native Americans

This lineage is thought to have developed in Beringia , the land mass which now lies beneath the Bering sea , after it's occupants became genetically isolated from the rest of Asia

PaleoAmericain's and Native Americain's decenede from the same homeland in Beringia , the differances between them likely arose from evolution that occured after the Beringian gene pool became separated from the rest of the world

It is suspected the girl ended up in the now underwater cavern , in search of water , because 12,000 years ago the climate was quite dry , and the cavern was likely to have had water pools ,  various animal remains were also found

Activity on the sun is sparking Lightning strikes here on Earth , a study suggests

Scientists have found that when gusts of high speed solar particles enter our atmosphere , the bumber of lightning bolts increases

Because solar activity  is closley monitered by satellites , it may now be possiable to forcast when these hazardous storms will hit

Lead researcher Dr. chris Scott , form the University of Reading , said lightning represents a significant hazard , "there's something like 24,000 people struck by lightning each year , so having any understanding or advanced warning of the severity of lightning storms has to be useful"

As the Sun rotates , the firey ball of plasma hurls out charged particles that travel at between 900,000 to 1.8 million times per hour or 400 - 800 km per second , the arrival of these solar winds in the atmosphere can trigger displays of the Northern Lights , but this research shows how they could influence our weather too 

"The solar wind is not continuous , it has slow and fast streams because the Sun Rotates , these streams can be sent out behind each other , so if you have a fast solar wind catching up with a slow solar wind , it causes a concentration to occur " said Dr. Scott

The scientists found that when the speed and intensity of the solar winds increased , so too did the rate of lightning strikes , the team said in turbulent weather lasted for more than a month after the particles hit the Earth

Using data from Northern Europe , the researchers found there was an average of 422 lightning strikes in the 40 days after the high speed solar wind arrived , compared with 321 strikes in the 40 days prior

The finding was surprising , said Dr. Scott , because it had been thought that an increase in the solar wind would have the oppisite effect

He explained , "it's unexpected , because these streams of particles bring with them an enhanced magnetic field , and this shields Earth from the very high energy cosmic rays from outside of the solar system , these are generated when supernovae explode and they accellerate particles up to the speed of light"

Previous research has shown that cosmic rays from space can boost the rate of lightning , and it had been thought that an increased shielding effect from the solar particles  would cause a decrease in the number of strikes

"Instead what we actually saw was a marked increase in lightning , it turns out these solar winds bring with them a slightly lower energy population of particle , and these are enhancing the lightning rate " Dr Scott said 

He added " these solar wind streams are very predictable , we know the Sun rotates every 27 days , so there is a very strong recurrence rate iff we see them at one thing , we know it will be back again "

The bone from the Great Auk , a species last seen in British waters on St.Kilda in 1840 , was recovered at the Kirk Ness site , now known as North Berwick , it was unearthed during a dig at the Scottish Seabird Centre

Archaeologists , said the find sheds new light on human habitation of the area in the Middle Ages

The archaeological dig , by Edinburgh based Addyman archaeology , and supported by Historic Scotland , revealed bones of butchered seals , fish and seabirds , including the bone of the Great Auk

The upper arm bone of the flightless bird was unearthed at the entrance area of an early building and has been radio carbon dated to the 5th to 7th centuries , the seabird was a favoured food source in Medieval times , as it was easy to catch

Human predation led to the decline of the species , ensuring that by the middle of the 19th century it had become persecuted and exploited into extinction

The penguin like bird was 3 feet (1m) tall , and it's range at one time extended from the North Eastern United States , across the Atlantic to the British Isles , France and Northern Spain

Tom Brock , chief executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre , said "The discovery of the Great Auk bone on the site is facinating"

Two robotic experts , Prof. Ronald Ankin and Prof. Noel Sharkey will debate the efficacy and necssity of killer robots

The meeting will be held during the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)

A report on the discussion will be presented to the CCW meeting in November

This will be the first time that the issue of killer robots or lethal autonomous weapons systems , will be addressed within the CCW

A killer robot is a fully autonomous weapon that can select and engage targets without any human intervention they do not currently exist , but advances in technology are bringing them closer to reality

Those in favour of killer robots believe the current laws of war may be sufficient to address any problems that might emerge if they are ever deployed , arguing that a moratorium , not an outright ban , should be called if this is not the case

However those who oppose their use believe they are a threat to humanity and any autonomous "kill functions" should be banned 

"Autonomous weapons systems cannot be gauranteed to predictably comply with international law" Prof. Sharkey told reporters "nations aren't talking to each other about this , which poses a big risk to humanity"

Prof. Sharkey is a Member and Co Founder of the Campaign Against Killer Robots ,and Chairman of the international Committee for Robot Arms Control

Side events at the CCW will be  hosted by the campaign to stop killer robots

Prof. Arkin from the Georgia institute of technollogy said , he hoped killer robots would be able to significantly reduce non combatant casualties , but feared they would be rushed into battle before this was accomplished

"I support a moratorium until that end is achieved ,but I do not support a ban at this time" said Prof. Arkin

He  went on to state that killer robots may be better able to determine when not to engage a target than humans , "and could potentially exercise greater care in so doing" 

Tens of millions of people died in the epidemic , but their decedants lived longer and had better health than ever before , a study shows

The Black Death was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history

But survivors benefited from rising standards of living and better diets in the aftermath of the disaster , the improvements in health only occured because of the death of hugh numbers of people , said a U.S. scientist

It is evidence of how infectious disease had the power to shape patterns of health in population , said Dr. Sharon DeWitte of South Carolina University

The Black Death killed between 30 and 50 % of the entire European population in the 14th century , causing terror as victims broke out in lumps and black spots , then died within days , the eldery and the sick were most at risk of catching the bacterial  infection , which was probably spread through sneezez and coughs according to the latest theory

The outbreak had a huge impact on society , leaving villages to face starvation , with no workers left to plough the fields or bring in the harvest

However , despite anaiysis of historical records , little is known about the general health and death rates of population , before and after the disease struck

Dr. De Witte investigated how the deaths of frail people during the Black Death affected the population , in London after the epidemic

She analysed nearly 600 skeletons buried in London cemetries to estimate age ranges , birth rates and causes of death for medieval Londoners living before and after the epidemic

Samples dating several hundred years after the Black Death suggest survival and general health had improved dramatically by the 16th century , with peopole living much longer than before the epidemic broke out

This study suggests that even in the face of major threats to health , such as repeated plague outbreaks , several generations of people who lived after the Black Death were healthier in general than people who lived before the Black Death

A new type of Tyrannosaur with a very long nose has been nicknamed  "Pinocchio Rex"

The ferocious carnivore nine meters long with a distinctive horny snout , was a cousin to Tyrannosaurous Rex

It's skeleton was dug up in a Chinese construction site and identified by scientists at Edinburgh  University , Scotland

The 66 million year old predator officially named Qianzhousarus Sinensis , is  decribed in NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

"Pinocchio" looked very diffrent to other Tyrannosaurs , it had the familiar toothy grin of a T-rex , but it's snout was long and slender , with a row of horns on top" said Edinburgh's Dr. Steve Brusatte

It might have looked a little comical , but it would have been as deadly as any other Tyrannosaur and maybe even a little faster and stealthier , researchers now think several different Tyrannosaurs lived  and hunted along side each other in Asia during the late Cretaceous Period , the last days of the dinosaurs

The enormous Tarbosaurus (up to 13m) had deep and powerful jaws like T-rex , strong to crush the bones of great giant herbivores

The thinner teeth and lighter skeleton of Qianzhousaurus suggest it hunted smaller creatures , such as lizards and feathered dinosaurs , but at nine meters tall and weighing almost a ton , it was still a gigantic carnivore

Pinocchio's snout was 35% longer than other dinosaurs of it's size , so why the long face?

The truth is we don't know yet , but it must have been doing something diffrent

But this new species was lighter , less muscular  , it breaks the mould , perhaps it had a faster bite and hunted in a diffrent way

The discovery of "Pinocchio" settles an argument over a series of strange new fossil finds , in recent years , two Tyrannosaurs with unusually prominent proboscisis were  dug up in Mongolia and named Aeloramus

The horny snouted predators appeared to come from an  entirely new branch of the Tyrannosaur family

The trouble was , they were both juveniles , so it was possible their long snouts were just a weird transient feature that grows out in adults, said Dr.Brusatte , an expert in tyrannosaur evelution

But this new Qianzhousaurus specimen is an almost fully mature adult , it was found largely intact and remarkably well preserved , by road construction workers near Ganzhou in Southern China

Its twice the size of the juveniles , and yet it still shows the same features , including the distintive horns , this is the slam dunk we needed , the long snouted Tyrannosaurs were real

Palaeontologists are now confident that Qianzhousaurus and Alioramus are part of a new subgroup of Tyrannosaurs with elongated skulls

Their discovery from Mongolia to Southern China suggests these "second tier" carnivors were widely distributed , according to Prof. Junchang Lu of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and Co Author on the paper

The wave was generated by a catastrophic subsea landslide off the coast of Norway

Analysis suggests the Tsunami over ran Doggerland , a low lying landmass that has since vanished beneath the waves

"It was abandoned by Mesolithic tribes about 8,000 years ago , which is when the Storegga slide happened" said Dr. Jon Hill from Imperial College London

The wave could have wiped out the last people to occupy the island

The research has been submitted to the journal Ocean Modelling and is being presented at the European Geo Sciences Union General Assembly in Vienna this week

Dr. Hill and his Imperial based colleagues : Garenth Collins , Alexandros Avdis , Stephan Kramer , and Matthew Pigott used computer simulations to explore the likely effects of the Norwegian landslide

Hill told reporters "We were the first ever group to model the Storegga Tsunami with Doggerland in place , previous studies have used the modern bathymetry ( ocean depth)"

As such , the study gives the most detailed insite yet into the likely impacts of the huge landslide and it's associated Tsunami wave on this lost landmass

During the last Ice Age , sea levels were much lower , at it's maximum extent Doggerland connected Britain with mainland Europe , it was possible for human hunters to walk from what is now Northern Germany across to East Anglia

But from 20,000 years ago sea levels began to rise , gradually flooding the vast landscape, by around 10,000 years ago , the area would still have been one of the richest areas for hunting , fishing and fowling in Europe

A large fresh water basin occupied the centre of Doggerland , fed by the River Thames from the West and by the Rhine in the East , its lagoons , marshes and mudflats would have been a haven for wildlife

"In Mesolithic times this was a paradise" explained Bernhard Weninger , from the University of Cologne in Germany , who was not involved with the present study

But 2,000 years later , Doggerland had become a low lying marshy island covering an area about the size of Wales

The nets of North Sea fishing boats have pulled up a wealth of pre historic bones belonging to the animals that once roamed this pre historic "Garden of Edan", but the waters have also given up a smaller cache of ancient human remains and artifacts from which scientists have been able to obtain radiocarbon dates

And they show that none of the relics of Mesolithic habitation on Doggerland occur later than the time of the Tsunami

The Storegga slide involved the collapse of some 3,000 cubic km of sediment , if you took that sediment and laid it over Scotland it would cover it to a depth of 8m 

Given that the majority of Doggerland was by this time less than 5m in height , it would have experienced widespread flooding

The Tsnami would have affected what is noe Scotland and the Eastern coast of England , as well as the Northern coast of continental Europe

The wave that hit the North East coast of Scotland is estimated to have been some 14m high ,though it is unclear whether this area was inhabited at the time , but waves measuring some 5m in height would have hit the Eastern coast of England , and there is good evidence humans were in the area 8,000 years ago

Much of this region would also have been low lying , suggesting the impact on Mesolithic people who depended substantially on coastal resources such as shellfish , would have been significant here too

An Italian is studying the awesome sight of lightning that is often observed in eruption plumes

His "lab volcano" allows him to recreate and study the process that give rise to the necessary electrical conditions

The hope eventually is to learn something about the nature of volcanoes purely from their lightning behavior, the lightning  can tell us alot about the structure of the eruption plume and the ash particle inside it

Such information could give an indication of whether a particular erruption was likely to pose a risk to aviation

His lab volcano is no mountain , the vent is only about 3 cm wide , but it is able to reproduce the conditions that trigger volcano lighining very successfully

The setup is essentially a hot , pressurized metal tube from which real volcano ash particles (from Popocatepeti in Mexico) are accelerated at high speed

Slow motion video captures mini lightning strikes dancing around the exaust jet

Ash particles can be charged by fracturing them and by rubbing them together , if the charges are big enough and are located in the right places in the plume , a bolt of lightning caan jump from one location to another

The scientists want to test the idea that you could extrapolate ash size from the frequency of lightning events

The side effects , however are potentially devastating , burning fossil fuels emits the C02 linked to global warming

And as reserves of oil , coal , and gas are becoming tougher to access , governments are looking even harder fooor alternatives , not just to produce energy , but to help achieve the holy grail  of all soverigin states , energy independence

Some have discovered a potential saviour , locked away under deep ocean beds and vast swathes of permafrost , the problem is it's a hydro carbon , but unlike any other we know 

Otherwise known as fire ice , methane hydrate presents as ice crystals with natural methane gas locked inside , they are formed through a combination of low temperatures and high pressure , and are found primariily on the edge of continental sheives where the seabed drops sharply away into the deep ocean floor , as the U.S. Geological survey map shows

And deposits of these compounds are enormous "estimates suggest that there is about the same amount of carbon in the methane hydrates as there is in every other organic carbon store on the planet" says Chris Rochelle of the British Geological survey , in other words , there is more energy in methane hydrates then in all the world's oil , coal and gas put togetherBy lowering the pressure or raising the temperature , the hydrate simply breaks down into water and methane , a lot of methane , one cubic meter of the compound releases about 160 cubic meters of gas , making it a highly energy intensive feul , this , together with abundant reserves and the relatively simple process of releasing the methane , means a number of governments are getting increasingly excited about this massive potential source of energy

The problem ,  however is accessing the hydrates , quite apart from reaching them at the bottom of the deep ocean shelves , not to mrntion operating at low temperatures and extremely high pressure , there is the potentially serious issue of destabilising the seabed , which can lead to submarine landslide

A greater potential threat is methane escape , extracting  the gas from a localised area of hydrates does not present too many  difficulties , but preventing the breakdown of hydrates and subsequent release of methane in surrounding structures is more difficult

Even using consertive estimates of methane (deposits) this could make all the C02 from fossil fuels look like a joke

the Jet experiment in Oxfordshire was opened in 1984 to understand fusion , the process that powers the Sun 

Professor Steve Cowley , said a  go ahead to run set at maximum power would allow scientists  to try for the record by the end of the decade

This could bring set up to the coveted goal of "break even" where fusion yeilds as much energy as it consumes

Fusion is markedly diffrent from current nuclear power , which operates through splitting atoms , fission , rather than squashing them together as occurs in fusion

Despite it's history spanning some five decades , scientists hoping to harness fusion have faced many hurdles , but it remains an attractive prospect because it can yeild a  near limitless supply of clean energy

The fusion community hopes their luck could change when the multi bilion euro lter fusion experiment comes online in Cadarache , in the South of France , in the 2020's , and officials from Jet , based at Culham , Oxfordshire , are now in the process of signing a contract which will keep the facility running for another five years

Jet (Joint European Torus) was the prototype for lter and over its extended lifetime will effectively carry out a dress rehearsal for that much bigger reactor , which will aim to demonstrate the scintific viability of fusion power at scale

During Jet's extended run , scientists will again begin using the deuterium tritium fuel mix needed

For maximum fusion power until recently , scientists had been running the experiment using deuterium fuel only , while running the experiment in this mode  allows scientists to gather valuable scientific knowledge , both deuterium and tritium will be needed to exceed the record set by Oxfordshire facility 17 years ago

Jet uses the same approch to fusion lter , this is known as magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) , in which electrically charged  gas called plasma  is heated to millions of degrees inside a sealed tube called a "lokmak"

The temperture inside Jet during one of it's full power shots can soar  to a scorching 200 million Cel. , that's more than 10 times the temperture at the centre  of the Sun , estimated at about 15 million Cel.

The "frozen in aspic" apperance of what are apparently fragments of frozen grasses 

Incredibly , the searing heat generated by the impacts was responsible for the remarkable preservation , findings could point to a new way of searching for past life on Mars

Impact glass is created when the heat from an impact causes debris thrown into the air to liquify then fall back to Earth coating it's surroundings , thus preserving things , the impact crater studied was located in Argentina ,South America , dating from around ten Million years ago , around the Miocene  and Holocene eras 

Due to the moving across North America of Glaciers from the last Ice Age , the same type of Impact Glass can be found , but is very rere in North America , dating back to only about 18,000 years

While in South America because it was not effected the same way during ice age , Impact Glass can be found dating back 12 Million years

Researchers carried out heating experiments in an effort to recreate Impact Glass , they used samples of grass mixed with pulverized Impact glass , then flash heated them , at a range of temperatues for 10 , 60 and 300 seconds , it was found that when heated under 1,500 degrees the grass would burn up , however at temperatures higher the samples of grass were conserved much like the original found ancient grass samples

Researchers have found that pollutants are strengthening storms above the Pacific Ocean, which feeds into weather systems in other parts of the world , Parts of Asia have some of the highest levels of air pollution in the world

In China's capital , Beijing , pollutants frequently reach hazardous levels , while emissions in the Indian capital , Delhi , also regulary soar above those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)

This has dire consequences for the health of those living in these regions , but there is growing evidence that there are other impacts further afield

To analyse this , researchers from the U.S. and China used computer models to look at the effect of Asia's pollution on weather systems , the team said that tiny polluting particles were blown towards the North Pacific where they interacted with water droplets in the air

This , the researchers said , caused clouds to grow denser , resulting in more intense storms above the Ocean , Dr. Yuan Wang said "since the pacific storm track is an important component in the global general circulation , the impacts of Asain pollution on the storm track tend to effect the weather patterns of other parts of the world during the winter time , especially a downstream region (of the track) like North America

Commenting on the study , Professor Ellie Highwood , a climate physicist at the University of Reading , said "we are becoming increasingly aware that pollution in the atmosphere can have an impact both locally , wherever it is sitting over regions , and it can have a remote impact in other parts of the world , this is a good example of that

"There have also been suggestions that aerosols over the North Atlantic effect storms over the North Atlantic , and that aerosols in the Monsoon region over South Asia can effect circulation around the whole of the world"

N.A.S.A has imaged a mysterious ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka , the bridge was purportedly passable on foot until 1480 AD , when a cyclone moved the sand around ,

This recently discovered bridge has been found to be made of a chain of limestone shoals , it's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made , the bridge currently named  Adam's Bridge  ( most poulary known as Ran Seti) is about 18 miles long

This bridge starts as a chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of India's Pamban island and ends at Sri lanka's Mannar island , water between India and Sri Lanka is only 3 to 30 feet (1-10 meter) deep , owing to shallow water this bridge presents a problem in navigation , as big ships cannot travel in the shallow waters of the Pamban channel