Science

The new annual ranking of Canadian research universities has been released. Combined research income reported by the country’s top 50 leading universities expanded by just 0.6% in Fiscal 2015 to $6.71 billion from $6.67 billion in Fiscal 2014, according to Research Infosource Inc., which today released its annual ranking of Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities.  

The first fossilised dinosaur brain has been found on a beach in East Sussex and could show that the extinct giants were more intelligent than first thought. The fossil had been found ten years ago by a fossil hunter by the name of Jamie Hiscocks near Bexhill in Sussex, in 2004. The fossil has now been confirmed as a fossilized …

Scientists from MIT and the University of Southern California 3D printed tiny, and quite beautiful, sculptures out of two different materials that usually expand when heated. In a study published in the Oct. 21 edition of the journal Physical Review Letters, LLNL engineers, along with scientists from the University of Southern California, MIT, and the University of California, Los Angeles, …

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario released her annual report on the state of the environment in the province, and government ministries are not getting top marks for their efforts. The report covered two topics, the question of environmental rights and protection of biodiversity, said environmental commissioner Diane Saxe.

Astronomers have heard hugely unusual messages from deep in space that they think are coming from aliens. Astronomers Ermanno F. Borra and Eric Trottier from Laval University in Quebec shared that 234 of the 2.5 million stars observed during a digital sky survey were producing puzzling signals. “We consider the possibility, predicted in a previous published paper, that the signals …

A University of Alberta researcher who has been excavating a site in Mongolia says fossil poaching threatens to destroy evidence central to scientific study. “The common mythology of dinosaurs depicts solitary, vicious monsters running around eating everything,” explains Gregory Funston, PhD student and Vanier scholar at the University of Alberta. “Our discovery demonstrates that dinosaurs are more similar to modern …

Australia is well known for its deadly snakes, poisonous jellyfish and man-eating crocodiles – but new footage suggests giant killer spiders should be elevated on the list of the country’s scariest creatures. Jason Womal shot video of the creature that’s actually two creatures – a Hunstman spider carrying a mouse in Coppabella, Australia.

Researchers are seeking the public’s help in finding a mate for a lonely snail using the twitter hashtag #snaillove. Scientists at Nottingham University are hoping to study the genetics of the lefty snail, but to do so they will need more of its kind. And to make lefty snail babies, they will need for the snail – dubbed Jeremy – …

This morning, four rehabilitated harbour seal pups were released to the waters off Porteau Cove Provincial Park. Before their release, the animals were fitted with satellite-linked transmitters temporarily attached to their heads with animal-safe glue. Each tag will stay attached to the pelage — the seal’s coat — until it moults after six to nine months.

Scientists may have at last reached a conclusion regarding the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. It is basically an area comprising 500,000 square miles of ocean. A new theory suggests these hexagonal-shaped clouds create a wind gusts of up to 170 mph, causing ships to sink and planes to crash. These so-called “air-bombs” are so powerful that scientists are comparing …

The X-ray emissions were discovered by chance beyond the Milky Way and no one really knows what is causing them. A team of astronomers have now have observed not one, but two extraordinary objects whose behavior defies explanation. Jimmy Irwin from the University of Alabama and colleagues from the US, Canada and China trawled through years of data gathered by …