Science

Remember Comet Siding Spring? In October 2014, the comet soared past Mars at about 87,000 miles away. Space agencies with orbiters around the planet reoriented them to protect against the flyby. Data collected by the MAVEN probe’s magnetometer suggest the flyby momentarily threw the Martian magnetosphere into chaos.

The Louisiana black bear, which inspired the original teddy bear in the early 1900s, was taken off the Endangered Species List Thursday after 24 years of conservation efforts, US officials said. According to Richard Rummel, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks acting Black Bear Program leader, the number of Louisiana black bears in Mississippi is a bit of …

A newly discovered 250-million-year-old fossil reptile from Brazil gives an “extraordinary” insight into life just before the dinosaurs appeared. Experts from the University of Birmingham and the Universidade Federal do Pampa (Unipampa) have discovered a new fossilized reptile species that would have lived approximately 250 million years ago, shortly after a mass extinction event that wiped out 90 percent of …

Researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London have found the oldest fossils of the familiar pine tree that dominates Northern Hemisphere forests today. The 140-million-year-old fossils (dating from the Cretaceous ‘Age of the Dinosaurs’) are exquisitely preserved as charcoal, the result of burning in wildfires. The fossils suggest that pines co-evolved with fire at …

More than 100 scientists have penned a letter to the federal government urging them to reject the draft environmental assessment on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project near Lelu Island. They claim the report misrepresents the importance of the project area to fish populations, especially salmon.

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will likely be in Kamloops at the end of March to meet with city council and First Nations on the proposed Ajax mine. Mayor Peter Milobar told council Tuesday he has been emailed by McKenna’s staff with possible dates for her visit. “It sounds like the meeting will take place in Kamloops and it sounds …

The water security agency that looks after Saskatchewan’s lakes and rivers is trying to ensure places like Last Mountain Lake have enough water for the summer. Temperatures are forecasted to be above normal later this week and through the weekend and are expected to result in an early snowmelt runoff in the Qu’Appelle River Basin.

Birds have evolved syntax and communicate according to various calls using specific rules just like humans, do, say scientists from Sweden, Switzerland and Japan. Researchers have found that a Japanese songbird follows similar rules to communicate a variety of messages. The Japanese great tit was already famed for its wide vocal repertoire. Threatened by numerous predators, the small bird produces …

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama are expected to commit their two countries to slash methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by at least 40 per cent as part of a bilateral approach to curb climate change. During a White House press call on Tuesday, Todd Stern, U.S. special envoy for climate change, said that the …

Armageddonists around the world are breathing a sigh of relief, after it was confirmed that an asteroid heading towards the Earth passed by safely on Monday. According to the Minor Planet Center, which describes itself as the “nerve centre” of asteroid detection in the solar system, asteroid 2013 TX68’s closest approach occurred on at 13:42 GMT on 7 March 2016.

A rescued seal pup named after Olympian Maelle Ricker was released back into the wild Tuesday with help from the gold medallist herself. The pup, “Maelle Ricker,” was found in mid-December on Vancouver Island according to Lindsaye Akhurst with the Vancouver Aquarium. “She didn’t even bat an eyelash going into the water,” said Lindsaye as the seal swam away from …