galaxy

Scientific Discoveries… On a Friday!

Posted on by jellybeanhq

 

Hey guys! Apologies for this being a day late but I’ve been doing research on lemurs! But here is my round up of the week’s most interesting science news! 

1.) Researchers are studying the growth of a new galaxy, 3 billion years after the big bang.

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Researchers are now being able to track the development of the formation of a galaxy, in particular, of galaxy GOODS-N-774, or Sparky as it’s being affectionately called. It is an elliptical galaxy form, and is described as a ‘giant’. Because of it’s early stage of development, it’s creating around 300 stars a year, compared to around 10 a year from a developed galaxy. It was originally theorized that every galaxy starts off with a dense core, and develop from the inside out and thus expand. Sparky will hopefully allow scientists to test this theory and add more to how the big bang started off.

Reference: 

http://www.iflscience.com/space/researchers-spot-early-growth-giant-galaxy-just-3-billion-years-after-big-bang

2.) A fossilised dinosaur nursery has been found.

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This nursery contained at least 30 infant bones, and the bones of the ‘babysitter’ too! They were all members of a herbivore species, Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis. It poses a link between the babysitting behaviour of birds and dinosaur, cementing their evolutionary tracks. 

Reference:

 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26117-fossil-dinosaur-nursery-includes-babysitters-bones.html#.VACjxPldXco

3.) Mystery of the sailing stones has been solved.

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The stones in Death Valley move across the surface of the dried up lake (a playa), seemingly by themselves. These rocks are so heavy, about 320kg! They are moved by a combination of wind and ice sheets melting into a small pool of water. So, the culprit is floating ice, who knew?!

What do you think guys? What’s been the most noteworthy science news you’ve seen so far this week? Let me know! And I hope you have a fab Friday!

Scientific discoveries this past, crazy week!

Posted on by jellybeanhq

It’s been another busy week for scientists! Science is always advancing rapidly everyday, and it’s surprising we can even catch our breath to understand everything that gets thrown our way! So, I’ve tried to round up the three stories that have caught my eye this week!

1.) The mystery of why we yawn may soon be solved.

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According to a new study, yawning may play a big role in thermoregulation, and thus, the cooling down of the body. Everyday we go through various sleep cycles, cortical processes and stresses, which all increase the brain temperature, so this needs to be regulated. Brain cooling helps mental efficiency, and it’s thought that higher temperatures induce more yawning, but this is dependent on the type of climate in that environment. 

Reference: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-do-we-yawn 

2.) Dinosaur discovered that is related to the Tyrannosaurus rex.

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This dinosaur has a longer snout than it’s cousin, and thus it has been named Pinnocchio rex! It was discovered in China, in Ganzhou. It’s been suggested that it survived more on it’s speed than it’s strength, and fed on smaller organisms.

Reference: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25527-new-tyrannosaur-was-the-dobermann-of-the-dinosaur-era.html#.U2uAf_ldXco 

3.) A computer simulation has created the very first realistic virtual universe.

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The Illustris simulation has created a virtual representation of a huge galaxy cluster that exists today. It shows it on both large and small scales simultaneously. It shows all the stars and bodies that existed since the big bang in just one space, it can also go forward in time, so scientists can examine what’s happening in that area.

Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140507142849.htm 

So, that’s your scientific info-byte for this week! I hope you enjoyed it!

Heather

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