Science

A necropsy has revealed the deceased orca suffered blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. That could indicate J34, a member of the endangered southern killer whale population, was struck and killed by some kind of vessel, spokesman Paul Cottrell said. The orca was found floating near the Sunshine Coast community of Sechelt …

Researchers have been aiming sensors and giant microphones at space hoping to catch some sort of signal that would signify the existence of extraterrestrial beings for years. It’s basically a decades-long version of waiting by the phone for a call that never came. Now, it would seem that they have had enough. A group called the Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence …

Every year, researchers discover thousands of new species. Scientists at the The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco have added 133 to the family tree this year. The new species include one bee fly, 43 ants, 36 beetles, one sand wasp, four spiders, six plants, 23 fishes, one eel, one shark, seven nudibranchs, five fossil urchins (and one fossil …

Roman Fedortsov works on a fishing trawler based in Murmansk, a port city in the extreme northwest part of Russia. Earlier this year, he started tweeting photographs of his most unusual catches. Among the many creatures brought to light is the frilled shark – an elusive eel-like shark with rows of terrifying teeth. The frilled shark is often called a …

Oregon State University researchers have finally discovered the source of a strange sound recorded near the Mariana Trench. The metallic sound has been dubbed as Western Pacific Biotwang. Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part call includes deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a metallic finale that pushes as high as 8,000 hertz. “It’s very …

Scientists have reported a new wave of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) from deep space. These mysterious radio signals have baffled and intrigued astronomers, including some who speculate that they are the work of an extraterrestrial intelligence. A team led by Paul Scholz of McGill University has found six more FRBs coming from the same region of space as FRB 121102. …

The world’s smallest snowman has been built right here in Ontario, according to Western University’s Nanofabrication Facility. Todd Simpson from Western University created the original ‘snowman’ by accident back in 2005. In an effort to create isolated silica spheres he deposited a solution of them on a polymer film pockmarked with nanoscale holes.

NASA researchers have finally found the answers of the mysterious spider-shaped features in the red planet Mars. Images sent from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft were being studied specifically the growth of the spidery feature in the red planet’s terrain, from one Martian spring to another. According to the space agency, the spiders range in size from tens of hundreds …

Scientists modelled how the size of fish catches relate to warming, by combining data on ocean conditions, ecology, fishing, and population dynamics of 892 fish species. Meeting the Paris Agreement global warming target of 1.5°C will have large benefits to fisheries, finds a new Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program study. For every degree Celsius decrease in global warming, potential fish catches could …

According to the latest pictures from NASA’s Curiosity Rover, Martians really like soup. Or possibly ice cream. The evidence for this? The Rover has discovered a giant spoon on Mars. The spoon was sighted first by YouTube channel UFO Hunter in one of the images released by NASA for public viewing. Scott C. Waring, an alien chaser, concurs that the …

The University of Rochester has announced a team of geologists there has discovered a prehistoric species of bird in the Canadian Arctic. The fossils, estimated to be some 90 million years old, are believed to be among the oldest avian records found in the northernmost latitude. “The bird would have been a cross between a large seagull and a diving …