Gene Burst Link to Oxygenation of Earth’s Atmosphere

A relatively short burst of new gene family formation, many involved in processes associated with photosynthesis may have led to photosynthesis causing the ‘great oxygenation event’ of 2.4 billion years ago. (See ‘On the origin of Earth’s oxygen’, New Scientist, 25 December 2010, p12)

Bird Evolution Much Better Understood

Recent years have seen major development of our understanding of the evolution of birds so that:

• We can be sure birds evolved from dinosaurs;
• Feathers evolved before flight probably for display, perhaps for insulation;
• Four limbed/winged gliding was probably the first flying undertaken;
• Modern birds probably came into existence about 100 million years ago;
• They survived the asteroidal mass extinction of 65 million years ago probably because they were small, warm blooded, more powerfully brained and able to fly.

(See ‘Flight of the living dead’, New Scientist, 11 December 2010, pp36/40)

Neanderthals Matched Homo Sapiens

The cumulative evidence of Neanderthal life shows that many of their technologies and cultural practices matched those of their Homo sapiens contemporaries including fire hearths, compound tools, burials, care, glue production, sewing etc. This was however up until about 50,000 years ago when modern humans raced ahead with Neanderthal extinction occurring around 30,000 years ago. (See ‘One of the family’, New Scientist, 4 December 2010, pp32/36)

Earth Forming Dust Held on to Water

The early Solar System’s dust may have held onto water molecules strongly enough so that water was around on earth from the beginning not just delivered later by comets and asteroids. (See ‘Earth was watery world from day one’, New Scientist, 21 6 November 2010, p12)

Tectonic Land Forms Helped Early Humans

Human remain concentration in tectonically active areas suggets that tectonic creation of complex landscapes helped early humans thrive through opportunities to hunt, supplies of water and safety from predators. (See ‘Evolution by shake, rattle and roll’, New Scientist, 13 November 2010, pp8/9)

Big Bounce More Likely Than Big Bang

Loop Quantum Gravity which reconciles relativity and quantum mechanics suggests cosmological models that not only in themselves support the idea of a Big Bounce but also make the widely accepted notion of inflation a near certainty rather than very unlikely which further reinforces the idea of a Big Bounce. (See ‘Bouncing cosmos makes inflation a sure thing', New Scientist, 16 October 2010, p15)

Asian Volcanic Eruptions Behind Neanderthals’ Demise

Work by Russian anthropologists suggests this possibility with Homo sapiens, living further away, being less affected. (See ‘Neanderthal nemesis’, New Scientist, 2 October 2010, p5)  hide this.

The Cosmic Accidents that Created Us

Ten key turning points led to our existence today. They are: Void avoided; Why’s the matter; Here comes the sun; Mars attacks; Planetary bagatelle; Greta divide; Eats, rocks and leaves; Dino dodo; On our own two feet; Expanded horizons; and Everything.
(See ‘An unlikely story …’, New Scientist, 25 September 2010, pp36/43)

Longest Pinball game Battered Uranus

A 100,000 year long pinball game involving Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn may have finally flung Uranus out to its present orbit shifting the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn in the process.
(See ‘Uranus the victim of planetary pinball’, New Scientist, 18 September 2010, p17)

Oldest Animal Fossil Found

Fossil blobs thought to be of sponges have been dated to 650 to 640 million years old, suggesting they are the oldest animal fossils by 90m years.
(See ‘Sponge-blob fossil is world’s oldest animal’, New Scientist, 21st August 2010, p17)

Inflatons’ Inflation Rivals

The massive expansion of the early universe required enormous energy suggesting the existence of a field with associated particles – inflatons. Rival variants are looking at the likes of further Cosmic Microwave Background work and the Large Hadron Collider to prove their cases.
(See ‘Closing in on the elusive inflaton’, New Scientist, 21 August 2010, pp6/7)

Early Life May Have Managed Without Oxygen

An undersea brine lake in the Mediterranean, west of Crete, has no oxygen but hosts at least three species of animals. Early life could therefore have lived in anoxic environments with bacteria producing hydrogen and more complex life using the hydrogen.
(See ‘Genesis revisited’, New Scientist, 7 August 2010, pp36/39)

Oldest Animal Genome Sequenced

The genome of sponges, the oldest form of animal life around today, has been sequenced. Genes common to all animals, containing the essentials for multi-cellular life (genes for cell division along with master control genes), was significantly present. The split between sponges and ‘higher’ animals happened some 600m years ago.
(See ‘Meet our distant cousin, the sponge’, New Scientist, 7 August 2010, p13)

Look Back 13 Billion Years

In parts of the new picture of the universe captured by the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope, we can look back as much as 13 billion years with the photons recorded having started out just 380,000 years after the big bang.
(See ‘History of our universe is mapped’, New Scientist, 10 July 2010, p5) hide this.

Threat of Extinction of Human’s Closest Cousin

The IUCN and Wildlife Conservation Society say that we have only 10 years to save our closest cousin, the eastern chimpanzee, from extinction. East and Central African nations have devised a plan that, if implemented, could save 96% of them.
(See Ten year savings plan’. New Scientist, 26 June 2010, p5)

A Quintessential Space-Time Expansion

Chistophe Ringeval of the catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, suggests that a ‘quintessence’, a scalar field that’s been around sine the big bang is causing the current space-time expansion, its impact being clearer now other factors in the expansion of space-time have reduced in effect.
(See ‘Sleeper field awoke to expand universe’, New Scientist, 12 June 2010, p10)

Nature’s Constant Not So Constant?

Some evidence that nature’s constants may not be quite so has come from observations of a remote dense gas cloud. A frequency ‘gap’ suggested that one or more of proton/electron mass ratio, proton magnetic field response ratio or the fine-structure constant, alpha, may have been different.
(See ‘Do nature’s constants wobble’, New Scientist, 5 June 2010, p8)

Further Evidence for Life Creation Near Undersea Vents

Pores in magnesium rich rocks and fatty acids may have respectively driven miniature convection currents that could concentrate replicating DNA material and formed membrane shuttles to move it around.
(See ‘Life cooked up in undersea cauldrons’, New Scientist, 29 May 2010, p14)

Ice Age Complexity Down to Orbital Shifts, Ocean Circulation and CO2

With the waxing and waning of ice sheets in the dozens of ice-ages over the last 2 million years or so seemingly related to small changes in the Earth’s orbit, other factors have been identified as playing key roles in determining the severity of the ice ages which also affect the orbital relationship.
(See ‘The great meltdown’, New Scientist, 22 May 2010, pp32/36)

Big Bang, Inflation x 2 and Bubbles

A bubbling post secondary inflation maelstrom may have been followed by a bubble caused condensation from a soup of sub-nuclear particles called a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) into particles such as protons and neutrons making up today’s matter. Evidence of the colliding bubbles could still be around today.
(SS ‘Big Bang, part II: the big boil’, New Scientist, 22 May 2010, pp8/9)

Soft Tissue Evidence Beyond Impressions in Archaeopteryx

Powerful X-ray analysis of the ‘Thermopolis specimen’ of Archaeopteryx has identified soft-tissue chemistry matching the wing impressions left on the encasing limestone.
(See ‘Earliest fossil bird held on to more than just its bones’, New Scientist, 15 May 2010, p16)

Early Humans Interbred with Neanderthals

The Neanderthal genome suggests that Homo sapiens interbred not only with Neanderthals but other Homo species, too, over an extensive period of time.
(See ‘Modern humans’ Neanderthals origins’, New Scientist, 15 May 2010, p8)

A Messy Rather than Beautiful Theory of Everything

Rather than finding a beautifully simple theory of everything we may have to accept that the universe is a messy, imperfect, but somehow still life-giving reality. Sp says Marcelo Gleiser in his book ‘A Tear at the Edge of Creation: A radical new vision for life in an imperfect world’.
(See ‘Perfectly imperfect’, New Scientist, 8 May 2010, pp28/29)

Another Retrofit Workaround Solution Found in Eye’s Evolution

Further workaround solutions to problems arising from earlier iterations in the evolution of the eye have been found by neurophysicists in Israel. Muller cells collect, filter and refocus light to make images clearer and help overcome one of the principal shortcomings of the retina’s inside-ouy wiring.
(See ‘Optical fibres and vision in our backward eyes’, New Scientist, 8 May 2010, p12)

Life Was More or Less Inevitable

Natural affinities between the molecular building blocks of RNA and the proteins they code for made life all but inevitable. Enzymes called cofactors may have catalytically assisted RNA chains to form when proteins were not around. Or cyclic nucleotides may have formed viable RNA chains without the need for catalysts.
(See ‘Life was all but inevitable’, New Scientist, 24 April 2010, pp6/7)

Australopithecus Sebida Our Closest Relative

The skull of ‘Australopithecus sebida’ found at the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ site near Johannesburg is a few 100,000 years younger than the oldest Homo fossils (1.95 to 1.78 million years old) but the closest to non-Homo yet.
(See ‘New found hominid cousin is a brain teaser’, New Scientist, 17 April 2010, p14)

Complex Molecules may have Helped RNA Form Strands in Primordial Soup

Complex molecules may have helped RNA strands to link together in a double helix rather than forming circles by their ‘heads’ linking up with their ‘tails’. The principle has been demonstrated with a molecule not likely to have been in the primordial soup but other early molecules may have fitted the bill.
(See ‘Spice of life for the primordial soup’, New Scientist, 13 March 2010, p10)

Earliest Writings in Cave wall Symbology?

Symbols on cave walls surrounding more obvious cave paintings may be evidence of an early symbolic culture telling others who knows what.
(See ‘Messages from the Stone Age’, New Scientist, 20 February 2010, pp30/34)

Mammoth Star that Shouldn’t be There Prompts Hunt for More

A long-lived supernova spotted first in April 2007 grew brighter for 77 days, stayed bright for over 200 days and faded into obscurity after 555days. Calculated to be 300 times the mass of the sun it should not have existed to be seen today. However, dwarf galaxies with low metal content may enable massive stars, normally pre-galactic, to be born and still live today. A hunt for more is proposed.
(See ‘The star that time forgot’, New Scientist, 13 February 2010, pp28/31)

Earth’s Earliest Animal Tracks 565 million Years Old

The Earth’s earliest mobile organisms may have been creatures with a muscular disc-shaped foot like sea anemones. Tracks in 565 million year old rock are similar to those left today by anemones.
(See ‘Earliest animal trails were smeared on the sea floor’, New Scientist, 13 February 2010, p13)

Human Genome the Result of Human-Virus Symbiosis

When the human genome was sequenced it was found that only 1.5% of our genome was genes, with a significant part (9%) from viruses and a further 34% made up of virus like entities. This is probably the result of a long history of virus-vertebrate symbiosis still happening today (eg in relation to HIV related viruses).
(see ‘I virus’, New Scientist, 30 January 2010, pp32/35)

Quasar Jets Triggering New Galaxy Formation

Jets of matter from supermassive black holes may have triggered our galaxy’s formation from a cloud of cold gas. Every galaxy is thought to have a black hole. Some are dim because of a poor supply of gas but some, quasars, outshine the rest of the galaxy and appear to have emitted jets that have triggered the formation of new galaxies.
(See ‘Born in a black hole’, New Scientist, 9 January, pp30/33)

Earth-Mars Collision Magma Linked with Moon’s Crystal Deposits

Major crystal deposits on the Moon found by India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe appear to confirm the effects of a sea of Magma created when the moon formed as a result of a Mars-sized object’s collision with Earth.
(See ‘Crystal hills speak of turbulent lunar past’, New Scientist, 9 January 2010, p10)

Oldest Vertebrate Footprints

The oldest footprints of a four-legged vertebrate have been found in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. They are 397 million years old, 10 million years older than the previous record and are in a rock of marine origin suggesting a marine origin to land living vertebrates.
(See ‘Four legs old, New Scientist, 9 January 2010, p7)  hide this.

Evidence Found of Previously Unknown Ancient Amazonian Civilization

Aerial photograph evidence, backed up by excavation, suggests a complex and successful ancient Amazonian civilisation on the Brazil-Bolivia border, not connected with the Inca and Nazca civilisations nor those further north in Brazil.
(See ‘Lost Amazon forest lays bare ancient civilisation’, New Scientist, 12 December 2009, p11)

Milky Way’s Globular Clusters May Be Galaxy Remnants

A heavy element presence created by supernovae and held onto only by galaxies suggests that globular clusters in the Milky Way may be remnants of such galaxies merging with the Milky Way.
(See ‘Sparkling leftovers of Milky Way’s birth’, New Scientist, 28 November 2009, p20)

Prehistoric Settlements Now Underwater

Areas where many prehistoric European coastal societies lived 11,000 or so years ago are now largely under water because of a 50m sea level rise. So a huge prehistoric record remains to be examined but is being damaged by trawling and pollution.
(See ‘Don’t dig, dive …’, New Scientist, 26 November 2009, pp46/49)

Gravity Wave Explanation of No Superposition for Larger Bodies

Ripples in space-time might explain why everything could originally be in a superposition of states but interaction with gravity waves would have caused larger body decoherence.
(See ‘Waves lap at edge of the quantum world’, New Scientist. 21 November 2009, p12)

Supersymmetry a More Exciting Potential Find than Higgs

SUSY (supersymmetry) may be the more exciting breakthrough of the Large Hadron Collider, ahead of the Higgs boson. Supersymmetry is particularly exciting because of the way it can address the hierarchy problem (relating to the Higgs mass), the reunification problem (of forces) and the Dark matter problem.
(See ‘In SUSY we trust’, New Scientist, 14 November 2009, pp36/40)

Neighbouring Universe Pulling Ours Apart

A neighbouring universe with which we are quantum entangled may be the cause of an observed massive and rapid flow outwards of galaxy clusters.
(See ‘Next-door universes make their presence felt’, New Scientist, 14 November 2009, p11)

Fast Freeze Faster than Previously Thought

The ‘Younger Dryas’ big freeze about 12,800 years ago may have taken less than a year to happen as a result of a massive glacial lake deluging the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and slowing down the Gulf Stream.
(See ‘Ice Age took hold in less than a year’, New Scientist, 14 November 2009, p10)

Neanderthals in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

A combination of bad luck and climate change may have destroyed the Neanderthals and left us, no more intelligent or able, to dominate the planet according to a new book ‘The Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals died out and we survived’ by Clive Finlayson.
(See ‘The unlucky ape, New Scientist, 7 November 2009, p57)

Nazca Destruction the Result of Deforestation

The disappearance by apparent felling of ground anchoring huarango trees may have left the ancient Nazca people of Peru vulnerable to their destruction by the major flood of 500 AD.
(See ‘Chop-happy Nazca learned hard lesson’, New Scientist, 7 November 2009, p16)

Molten Coal Combustion Cause of ‘Great Dying’ Extinction

A massive explosive burning of magma melted tar-soaked coal may have released huge quantities of CO2 causing rapid climate change and the ‘Great Dying’ extinction at the end of the Permian period.
(See ‘Death of a planet blamed on fiery fountains of coal’, New Scientist, 7 November 2009, p11)

Oldest Undersea Town Discovered

The world’s oldest undersea town, ‘Pavlopetri’, with streets, houses and larger buildings, has been discovered under the sea south of Greece. It is estimated to date back to about 3,000 BC, 2,000 to 3,000 years older than those studied to date.
(See ‘Underwater town dated to 3,000 BC’, New Scientist, 31 October 2009, p19)

Modern Women Measured to be Evolving

Direct measurement of reproductive success suggests that humans are continuing to evolve with women likely to be shorter and plumper with healthier hearts and a longer reproductive window’.
(See ‘Evolution is alive and well in modern women’, New Scientist, 24 October 2009, p14)

Greater Distortion of Time than Expected

A hint of some deviation from general relativity expectations for light from distant stars has come from Hubble Space Telescope results. Gravity’s distortion of time appears to be three times greater than its curving of space – general relativity calls for equivalence. But further work is needed to remove chance effects.
(See ‘Looking for chinks in relativity’s armour’, New Scientist, 24 October 200, pp8/9)

Ida Just a Lemur

Ida, the only known fossil of Darwinius massilae, has been judged along with a new fossil genus Afradapis, to be part of the lemur lineage and not a missing-link fossil between lemurs/lorises and apes/monkeys.
(See ‘Missing-link claims under fire, New Scientist, 24 October 2009, p7)

Life Originating Alkaline Vents

Life may have begun around alkaline hydrothermal vents with the assembly and break up of ATP molecules being the photocells’ energy provider that enabled two breakaways from the vents giving rise to bacteria and archaea..
(See ‘The cradle of life’, New Scientist, 17 October 2009, pp 38/42)

Appalachians Birth caused Ordovician Extinction

An extinction causing, Ordovician ice age may have been the result of the birth of the US Appalachian mountains and an associated sharp temperature drop relating to a sudden drop in atmospheric CO2
(See ‘Mountain birth led to species deaths, New Scientist, 17 October 2009, p18)

We’ve Always Walked on Two Legs

The remains of Ardi, a female Ardipithecus ramidus fossil found in Ethiopia in 1994, lived about a million years before the famous Lucy (also found in Ethiopia). She has been judged to bee an upright walker which suggests that knuckle walking may not have been a human trait that our ancestors gave up.
(See ‘Our ancestors walked tall’, New Scientist, 10 October 2009, p17)

Oldest Feathered Dinosaur

An Anchiornis fossil from China has been dated at 151 to 161 years old and therefore older than the 150 million year old Archaeopteryx, the hitherto oldest feathered dinosaur fossil.
(See ‘Feathered dinosaur is older than the earliest bird’, New Scientist, 3 October 2009, p17)  hide this.

Earth about the Right Size for Life

Rocky worlds about the size of Earth enable plate tectonics and magnetic fields. These features are important for climate stability and cosmic radiation deflection and are therefore conducive to life
(See ‘Not too big, not too small, Earth’s just right for life’, New Scientist, 5 September 2009, p12)

Purposeful New Human Genes through Recent Mutation

Three ‘new’ human genes have been identified as springing into existence as a result of mutations in previously non-coding but now coding DNA sequences. It is not yet known what the genes actually do.
(See ‘Genes that only humans have’, New Scientist, 5 September 2009, p15)

Large Asteroid Creation Key to Planet Formation?

A key latter stage of planet formation may have been the rapid creation of significant numbers of large asteroids which could then avoid gas drag effects and cling together to form planets.
(See ‘Did huge crunches form the planets?’ New Scientist, 15 August 2009, p9)

We may have Learned to walk in the Trees

Knuckle walking and walking on two feet could have evolved separately so that our ape ancestors need not ever have been knuckle walkers but could have learned to walk on two feet while in the trees.
(See ‘Our ancestors learned to walk in the trees’, New Scientist, 15 August 2009, p11)

Ice Age Brain Growth, Global Warming …

The ice age may have allowed humans’ heat generating brains to grow, under social pressures, without overheating. What future global warming holds for our brains may depend on our ability to maintain our technological ability to counter ill effects.
(See ‘Cool climes, smart times’, New Scientist, 1 August 2009, pp6/7

Cool. Calm and Collecting Star Forming Galaxies

The idea that galaxies started forming stars early on and as a result of galactic collisions may not be right with some evidence for steady star creation in undramatic galaxies fed by an inter-galactic filament structure.
(See ‘How does my galaxy grow’, New Scientist, 18 August 2009, pp34/37)

Late Creation of Oxygenating Oceans by Sponge-like earliest Animals

The state of the early oceans may have ensured that the earliest animals stayed tiny and soft-bodied (perhaps sponge-like) leaving few fossil traces. However they may eventually have transformed the oceans into clearer oxygenated waters causing the series of ice ages which in turn supported the evolution of larger more complex animals.
See ‘Dawn of the animals’, New Scientist, 11 July 2009, pp38/41)

Clarifying the Universe’s Shape and Dark Matter

The interplay between the geometry of the universe and the amount of dark matter is such that we need to know one to know the other. Experiments involving large scale radio telescope arrays and looking at dark matter’s effect on the evolution of galaxies will hopefully help fill both knowledge gaps.
(See ‘Do I look flat in this?’, New Scientist, 1 August 2009, pp40/43)

Possible Creation of Earth from Molten Magma Material

Glassy spheres inside ancient meteorites suggest molten magma collisions may have created the material that became the rocky planets including Earth.
(See ‘Did great balls of fire spurt forth the seeds of earth?’, New Scientist, 18 July 20009, p11) hide this.

A Disintegrating Planetary Object Peppered Inner Solar System

A disintegrated dwarf planet or large asteroid may have peppered the moon and other inner solar system objects about 3.9 million years ago.
(See ‘Broken dwarf planet may have scarred the moon’, New Scientist, 6 June 2009, p16)

Mayan Civilisation Overexploited its Resources

Changes in construction materials towards the end of its existence suggest that ecological overexploitation may have destroyed the Mayan civilization.
(See ‘Mayan temples reveal sorry tale of civilization wrung dry’, New Scientist, 30 May 2009, p12)

3D X-Ray Imaging Delivers Mass of Fossil detail

3D images of fossils using X-ray computed tomography are revealing unprecedented detail, including of internal structures and development rates.
(See ‘The real fossil revolution’, New Scientist, 30 May 2009, pp6/7)

Step Forward in Demonstrating Primordial Soup’s Life Creating Potential

New experiments using ingredients likely to be present in the primordial soup have created major elements of RNA, DNA’s simpler cousin. The need for UV light and phosphate were the key.
(See ‘With the right recipe, early life’s a cinch’, New Scientist, 16 May 2009, p13)

Sponge Larvae Origins of Complex Animals

The close genetic kinship between sponges and choanoflagellates suggest that sponges (and in particular sponge larvae) may have been our (and all complex animals’) early ancestors. But there are other candidates – eg placozoans and ctenophores.
(See ‘The mother of us all’, New Scientist, 2 May 2009, pp38/41

Ape Behaviours Shed Light on Early Human Evolution

The various behaviours of humans and primates are arguably shedding light on how humans evolved from the ancestors we shared with the chimps.
(See ’A window on the past’, New Scientist, 25 April 2009, pp28/32)

Dark Matter the Reionisation Culprit

Dark matter rather than first generation massive stars may have been responsible for the known reionisation of hydrogen. The time signatures of the two possibilities will be different so the issue may be resolvable.
(See ‘Dastardly dark matter ripped up early universe’, New Scientist, 25 April 2009, p8) hide this.

Alarm at Massive Sea Ice and Permafrost Melting

The rapid melting of the Arctic sea ice and permafrost is alarming scientists with a jump in atmospheric methane being particularly concerning. Changes to the ocean conveyor current from the mass of fresh water released into the ocean is also worrying many as it could impact on crucial monsoon rains.
(See ‘Meltdown’, New Scientist, 28 March 2009, pp32/36)

Why Sauropods Managed to be So Big

Sauropods, with Argentinosaurus being the largest land animal ever at about 80 tonnes and 35m long, may have been able to evolve that big because of a combination of multiple egg-laying, fast metabolism and efficient breathing, feeding and digestion.
(See ‘Look at the SIZE of those things’, New Scientist, 21 March 2009, pp38/41)

All Dinosaurs Used to have Feathers

Primitive feathers have been found in both main branches of the dinosaur tree, suggesting feathers were the rule rather than the exception in early dinosaurs.
(See ‘Were dinosaurs all beasts of a feather, New Scientist, 21 March 2009, p11)

Life in Martian Mud Volcanoes

Methane rich possible ‘mud volcanoes’ on Mars are potential locations of microbes and water albeit some distance beneath the surface.
(See ‘Mud volcanoes could harbour Martian life’, New Scientist, 21 March 2009, p11)

First Use of Horses in Kazakhstan?

Kazakhstan may have been where humans first used horses with evidence of horse farms dating back to 3500BC.
(See ‘Earliest evidence of humans on horses’, New Scientist, 14 March 2009, p14)

Our Nearest Relatives – Orang-utans vs Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees are our nearest relatives (98% of DNA shared) yet orang-utans seem in many ways more like us. However, is looked at separately, the many ways orang-utans are similar to us can be see as particular responses to their evolutionary environments.
(See ‘The red-ape paradox’, New Scientist, 7 March 2009, pp26/27)

Oldest Modern Human Footprints

The oldest human ancestor footprints (1.5 million years old) have been found in north-west Kenya. They demonstrate a modern stride giving the ability to range widely from efficient and energy saving movement.
(See ‘Fossil footprints reveal modern walk’, New Scientist, 7 March 2009, p10)

High Velocity Stars Caused by Milky Way Collision

High velocity stars in the Milky Way could have been the result of a shock wave of collision with another galaxy about 2 billion years ago according to a computer model of billions of stars.
(See ‘Smashed Milky Way still reeling 2 billion years later’, New Scientist, 21 February 2009, p14)

Quark Stars could Shed Light on Early Universe

Quark stars, possible remnants of supernova explosions, may say something about the quark mater filled early universe. Evidence of quark stars is weak but could be strengthened by forthcoming space based X-ray observatories.
(See ‘Quark star may hold secret to early universe’, New Scientist, 21 February 2009, p11)

Still Evolving After All These Years

Evolution is a continuing story and may even be accelerating with advantageous adeles sweeping through populations perhaps as the result of major cultural developments such as agriculture and urbanisation.
(See ‘Still evolving after all these years’, New Scientist, 14 February 2009, pp46/47)

Essays and an Encyclopaedia on Evolution

A new collection of essays and an encyclopaedia on evolution is the content of ‘Evolution: The first four billion years’ edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis.
(See ‘Scholarly Jewels’, New Scientist, 7 February 2009, p49)

Gaps in Evolutionary Theory

A large number of gaps remain in evolutionary theory. They include fundamental ones like whether the origin of life itself was a probable event and how life actually began but there are many less fundamental ones like what the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees was and what brought about complex thought.
(See ‘Evolution’s final frontiers’, New Scientist, 31 January 2009, pp41/43)

Mysteries of the Solar System

The solar system is both understood and mysterious. Mysteries include how it was actually built, why the sun and the moon are the same size in the sky, whether there is another planet, where comets come from, whether the solar system is unique and how it will all end.
(See ‘Our unknown solar system’, New Scientist, 31 January 2009, pp28/35)

Reworking the Tree of Life

The swapping of genes and hybridisation isn’t just a feature of micro-life such as bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes but of animals and plants too so that horizontal as well as vertical descent is significant. This supports the ongoing and substantial reworking of the ‘Tree of Life’ concept.
(See ‘Uprooting Darwin’s tree, New Scientist, 24 January 2009, pp34/39)

Acidic Origins of Human Life?

Experiments in the real world (rather than the laboratory) are testing various real environment’s support for RNA chain growth (for instance in sulphuric clays) to help track down where life might have begun.
(See ‘The acid test’, New Scientist, 17 January 2009, pp28/32)

Our Universe could be a Holographic Projection

An experiment looking for gravitational waves may have discovered the graininess of space-time that in turn could mean we are living in a 3D cosmic-sized hologram projected by a 2D surface. And the smallest units of space-time may be discernible as a result of the projection.
(See ‘All the world’s a hologram’, New Scientist, 17 January 2009, pp24/27)

Planet and Moon Creation Simulated

A simulation of the early rocky ring around the sun has explained the creation of Venus and earth and collisions that can create smaller planets like Mercury and Mars along with moons like ours.
(See ‘Mercury and Mars – separated at birth’, New Scientist, 17 January 2009, p13)

Dark Energy Recycles Universes

Dark energy dominance could be the ingredient to deal with a problem in the colliding branes model of the creation of our universe which could have arisen phoenix-like from a small surviving seed amongst the ashes of the collision.
See ‘Dark energy gave us our home’, New Scientist, 17 January 3009, p8)

Bringing Back Extinct Beasts

A number of extinct beasts could be brought back into existence through a combination of reasonably preserved DNA and surrogate mothers. Candidates include the sabre-toothed tiger, Neanderthal, short-faced bear, glyptodon, Tasmanian tiger, dodo. Woolly rhinoceros, giant ground sloth, moa and Irish elk.
(See ‘Resurrection Park’, New Scientist, 10 January 2009, pp24/28)

A Watery World until 2.5 Million Years Ago?

A more solid sub-sea mantle and a more spreading continental crust may have left most of the Earth under water up to about 2.5million years ago. Subsiding sea floors and a rising continental crust might then explain the rise in oxygen levels from that time.
(See ‘When Earth really was the blue planet’, New Scientist, 3 January 2009, p8) hide this.

Loop Quantum Cosmology Suggests Big Bounce

Loop Quantum Cosmology (an application of Loop Quantum Gravity) provides for a singularity-free universe. Finding evidence of Loop Quantum Gravity effects in the CMB would be a key step forward for this Big Bounce theory. (See ‘From big bang to big bounce’, New Scientist, 13 December 2008, pp32/35)

Climate Fluctuations Tough for Neanderthals’ Mitochondria

Mitochondria studies suggest Neanderthals were less able than Home sapiens to cope with the climate change fluctuations of the ice age. (See ‘Too hot to live’, New Scientist, 6 December 2008, p15)

Grape Sized Amoeba Behind Sea Bed Tracks

Grape sized amoeba may have roamed the sea beds 1.8 billion years ago creating grooves and ridges that have previously defied explanation. (See ‘Monster amoeba plied the sea bed’, New Scientist, 29 November, p17)

New Genes, New Functions, Evolution

The creation of extra copies of genes and their retro-positioning can create genes able to take on new functions. The same is true for mergers of junk DNA. These can be major drivers of evolution. (See ‘Gene machine’, New Scientist, 22 November 2008. pp44/47)

Evolutionary Role of War

War may have been around since human beginnings and played an integral role in our evolution with men’s co-operative behaviour increasing in the context of inter-group competition. (See ‘Born to fight, evolved for peace’, New Scientist, 15 November 2008, ppp6/0)

Volcanic Rerun of Miller Experiment Doubles Amino-Acid Creation

Reruns of the classic Miller experiment within a simulated volcanic environment saw the formation of 22 amino-acids double the number in the original experiment. (See ‘Volcanoes’ vital contribution to the primordial melting pot’, New Scientist, 25 October 2008, p14)

Mars Life Evidence Could Be Found

Experiments with ‘re-entried’ sedimentary rocks suggest that Mars meteorites made of sedimentary Mars rock could contain detectable life evidence. (See ‘Best meteorites for Martian life’, New Scientist, 4 October 2008, p17)

Earth’s Oldest Rock?

A finding of a 4.28 billion year old rock is controversial as the isotope tested for may have come from previous rock that has reformed. (See ‘Earth’s oldest rock’, New Scientist, 4 October 2008, p16)

Elaborate Traits Without Natural Selection

The development of complex song by the Bengalese Finch, an aviary bird, suggests that elaborate traits can develop without the pressure of natural selection. Terry Deacon of the University of California suggests we can be seen to be a degenerate species rather than ‘genetically augmented apes’. (See ‘As if from nowhere’, New Scientist, 27 September 2008, pp40/43)

Dinosaurs Lucky Triumph Over Crocodile Ancestors

It may have been climate change that led to the dinosaurs’ domination of its crurotarsan competition (whose only descendants are the crocodiles). For 30 million years they coexisted with similar evolutionary rates. (See ‘Dinosaurs’ world domination was down to sheer luck’, New Scientist, 20 September 2008, p15)

Smaller Brains Gave Us the Edge Over Neanderthals

The development of smaller brains may have sped up maturation and reproduction and given modern humans the edge over the Neanderthals and other early species. (See ‘How big-brained Neanderthals lost the breeding battle’, New Scientist, 13 September 2008, p13)

Saharan Graveyards Suggest Previous Fertility

Graveyards excavated in the Sahara suggest historic populations who hunted wild animals and fish and herded cattle. (See ‘Desert graves reveal green past’, New Scientist, 23 August 2008, p17)

Evidence of Dark Matter Grows

Evidence from the PAMELA project at the University of Chicago has spotted more than expected anti-matter in our galaxy, a sign of the annihilation of dark mater particles. The GLAST telescope launched in 2008 may confirm these findings and the LHC may produce dark matter, (See ‘Out of the darkness it came …’) New Scientist, 23rd August 2008, pp8/9)

Language Gene Redeployment Behind Linguistic Skills

The FOXP2 gene, that is important for language, codes for a FOXP2 protein that appears to have evolved recently and rapidly. Neanderthals had the same FOXP2 gene. And birds have very similar versions that have been found to be crucial to song development. However FOXP2 genes seem to have a variety of complex control roles. So our linguistic skills appear to be the result of useful genetic redeployment. (See ‘More than words’, New Scientist, 16 August 2008, pp38/41)

Lithium Isotope Discrepancies Drive Better Understanding of our Universe

Variations in the presence of isotopes of lithium compared with expectations have pointed to problems with our understanding of the Big Bang, stars and other transition causes. Super symmetry particles are a suggested factor. The Large Hadron Collider is seen as a provider of some of the answers, (See ‘Crucible of Creation’, New Scientist, 9 July 2008, pp28/31)

A Broader Concept of Selfish Gene

There is increasing evidence of environmental factors (eg diet and stress) having biological consequences. Epigenetic settings that regulate gene activity are seen to be crucial. This suggests that the concept of the Selfish Gene should be broadened to Selfish Replicator. (See ‘Strange inheritance’, New Scientist, 12 July 2008, pp28/33)

Bridging the Bat Gap between Gliding and Flying

While bats are considered to have evolved from gliding ancestors the gap between gliding and flying is accepted as large. Research at the University of California is pointing to the importance of the relationship between intermediate wing shapes and rudimentary flapping. (See ‘Bats got into a flap to learn to fly’, New Scientist, 12 July 2008, p16)

Gap in Flatfish Fossil Record Filled

Two fossil fish (Amphistium and Heteronectes) appear to be intermediate forms between symmetrical and modern flatfish. These neatly fill a gap in the fossil record that has been a problem for the theory of evolution. (See ‘Flatfish caught evolving, thanks to its roving eye’, New Scientist, 12 July 2008, p11)

Inflation Theory Gets a Boost

Hawking and colleagues think that because our universe could have arisen from many alternative quantum early universes then it had a greater probability of occurring than one might otherwise expect and the coming together of these appropriate early universes may have been behind inflation. (See ‘Hawking gets to grips with inflation’, New Scientist, 28 June 2008, p10)

The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

An explosion of evolution, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, was as momentous as the Cambrian one and created diverse and complex species and eco-systems that survived the devastating extinction event of the end of the Ordovician period. (See ‘The second coming’, New Scientist, 14 June 2008, pp34/37)

Cyclic Universe Model in Ascendancy Over Inflationary Model

The CMB’s lack of evidence of gravitational waves and distortions in the temperature distribution are giving concerns about inflation, the arguably best theory of the early universe. The alternative cyclic universe model is supported by these problems with inflation theory. (See ‘Inflation deflated’, New Scientist, 7 June 2008, pp30/33)

Earlier Internal Fertilization and Live Birth Evidenced

A 380 million year old fossil fish found in the Gogo formation in Western Australia included an embryo and umbilical cord pushing back by 200 million years proof of early internal fertilization and live birth. (See ‘Fossil fish pushes back first proof of live birth’, New Scientist, 31 May 2008, p10)

Human Vestiges of Previous Functionality

Humans, amongst others, have a significant range of vestigial organs – organs formerly of greater physiological significance than at present. The top five have been seen to be the vomeronasal organ, goose bumps, Darwin’s point, the tail bone and wisdom teeth. (See ‘The old curiosity shop’, New Scientist, 17 May 2008, pp42/45)

Mammalian Super-Predators Sized Up

The biggest extinct mammalian predators known combined aspects of large felines and bears and they may have feasted on giant wombats, bison and even immature mammoths terrorizing their neighbourhoods. They were however vulnerable to environmental change and became extinct a few 10,000s of years ago. (See ‘Bearlike super-predator terrorized first humans’, New Scientist, 3 May 2008, p15)

The Universe Before Ours. Similar Or Not

Modelling of a Big Crunch suggests that a universe existing before ours may have had similar properties to our own and may have left an imprint for us to see. Others however disagree and envisage prior universes very different from ours. (See ‘What the universe before ours was like’, New Scientist, 12 April 2008, p10)

Volcanic Gases Caused Climate Change Demise of Dinosaurs

Rare glass inclusions in volcanic rocks suggest a scale of sulphur and chlorine releases to cause drastic climate change at around the time of the dinosaur demise. (See ‘Did blasts of gas doom dinosaurs’, New Scientists, 29 March 20088, p16)

Hobbit Debate Continues

The discovery of other diminutive human populations suggests that Homo floresiensis’ size is not unusual so they could be Homo sapiens. But the argument continues because of the hobbits’ other primitive features. (See ‘Human after all’, New Scientist, 15 March 2008, p6)

Dark Fluid Blend of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Alternatives to dark matter explaining the structure of galaxies have suggested a ubiquity of black holes swallowing up the Earth amongst everything else. But a new approach, combines dark matter and dark energy into a dark fluid, with attractive and repulsive attributes at different scales. (See ‘Has dark fluid saved the Earth from oblivion?’, New Scientist, 8 March 2008, pp10/11)

Fossil Record ‘Gaps’ Exaggerated

Fossil record gaps continue to ‘shrink’, slimmed by missing links including velvet worms, lancelets, fishibians, synapsids, ceratopsians, rhinos, giraffes, ichthyosaurs, pinnipeds and manatees. (See ‘What missing links’, New Scientist, 1 March 2008, pp35/41)

Evolutionary Origins of Bacterial Flagellum

The growing plausibility of natural processes behind the evolution of the bacterial flagellum has bolstered the evolutionary position on this complex device. (See ‘Engines of evolution’, New Scientist, 16 February 2008, pp40/43)

Animal DNA Clues to Human Migration

The DNA of localised species of animals is rewriting human history by indicating when their antecedents may have arrived and where from (See ‘Beastly Tales’, New Scientist, 19 January 2008, pp30/33)

Life Origins on Radioactive Beach

Zachary Adams, an astrobiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, claims that life’s ingredients could have been created in a radioactive beach environment. (See ‘Life’s a beach on planet earth’, New Scientist, 12 January 2008, p8)

Solar System Revelations from Mercury Fly-past

Mercury’s oddities may explain much about how the solar system formed. A lot may be revealed by NASA’s Messenger spacecraft fly-past on January 14th 2008. (See ‘Ready Mercury?’, New Scientist, 5 January 2008, pp24/27)

String Theory Could Explain Our Single Universe

The universe could have started out very differently shaped from how it is now with a tendency for transitions that have delivered today’s universe. (See ‘How the universe turned out this way, New Scientist, 5 January 2008, pp4/5)  hide this.

Evolution in Action

Black and white photographs of animal skeletons outshine the text telling the story of evolution in this book, ‘Evolution (in Action)’, by Jean-Baptiste de Panalieu and Patrick Gries. (see ‘The bare bones of evolution’, New Scientist, 15 December 2007, p19)

Quantum Processes may have Kick-Started Life

The ability of quantum bits to take on many different values simultaneously with self replicating configurations causing a collapse in their favour. And cold ocean depths may have provided the right environment. (See ‘Was life forged in a quantum crucible’, New Scientist, 8 December 2007, p7)

Earlier Supernovae and Life’s Building Blocks

The earliest galaxies may have contained large stars which will have dispersed life supporting supernova debris earlier than previously thought. (See ‘Stars of life came much earlier on’, New Scientist, 8 December 2007, p19)

Asteroid Extinction Effects Depend on Where it Strikes

Whether asteroid impacts cause mass extinctions may depend on what is in the rocks vapourised by the strike of the asteroid. (See ‘The Armageddon factor’, New Scientist, 8th December 2007, p43)

Fingers and Fins Down to the Same Gene

The same gene controls the two stage growth of limbs in tetrapods and fins in fish, showing how evolution works with existing genetic structures. (See ‘Gene proves fingers formed from fins’, New Scientist, 27 October 2007, p14)

The Biggest Migration Increasingly Understood

The dating of fossil evidence is increasingly clarifying the timing of the emergence of anatomically modern humans in Africa up to 200,000 years ago and the pattern of migration to all parts of the world over the ensuing millennia. And cultural progress seems to fit the DNA evidence. (See ‘Going global’, New Scientist, 27 October, pp36/41)

The Flores, Hobbit or Human, Debate Continues

Increasing evidence that the Flores hobbits diverged from the human lineage long before modern human and Neanderthal times is still challenged bu diehard supporters of the microcephaly explanation. (See ‘Hobbit hand waves away doubters’, New Scientist, 29 September 2007, p14)

Earlier Start to Gorilla Lineage

New gorilla-like fossil teeth, between 10 and 10.5 million tears old suggest an earlier date for the start of the gorilla lineage than previously thought. (See ‘ New gorilla species rewrites ape evolution, New Scientist, 25 August 2007, p12)

Comets More Likely Source of Life on earth

The possibility that comets contain clay, a potential catalyst for a simple to complex molecule conversion, increases the likelihood that comets rather than Earth first spawned life. (See ‘Did a warm, wet comet kick-start life on earth?’ New Scientist, 25 August 2007, p14)

Rapid Cooling After Big Bang

The nature of today’s background radiation suggests that at as little as 10-32 seconds after the big bang the maximum temperature would have been around 11,000 degrees Celsius. (See ‘How the big bang chilled out’, New Scientist, 18 August 2007, p16)

New Jaw Suggests Longer Hominid Overlap

A new fossil found in north Kenya suggests that Homo habilis may have lived alongside Homo erectus for as long as half a million years although there is much disagreement about this. (See ‘Fossil jaw speaks of long-lingering ancestor’, New Scientist, 11 August 2007, p12)

Evidence of Coastal Route for the First Americans

There is increasing evidence (and a search for more) of coastal migration being the more likely route to the populating of the Americas. The early migrants may have followed a ‘kelp highway’ from Japan to Tierra del Fuego. See ‘Follow that kelp’, New Scientist, 11 August 2007, pp40/43)

Neat basis for Big bang, Big Crunch Cycles

Work by Martin Bojowald on space-time in Loop Quantum Gravity theory provides the neatest basis so far of the universe cycling through a series of big bangs and big crunches with most information lost in each cycle. (See ‘Before the big bang there was amnesia’, New Scientist, 7th July 2007, p16)

Moon Created from Rock Vapour after Collision with earth

A variation of the Mars-sized object knocking the Moon out of the Earth sees a hot vapour cloud created which then formed the Moon. This would change relative isotope levels and explain the differences found in studies. (See ‘Moon recipe, smash planets and stir’, New Scientist, 30 June 2007, p19)

Innovating Neanderthals

Evidence of Neanderthal toolmaking and settlement patterns in extreme seasonality suggests Neanderthals were culturally and cognitively evolving. (See ‘Neanderthals bid for human status’, New Scientist, 16 June 2007, p12)

Coalesced Milky Way and Andromeda Black Holes may Wander Off

The fate of our galaxy, The Milky Way, when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy in two million years time is uncertain. While the two black holes are likely to coalesce, the new black hole may wander off, leaving the rest of the galaxy on its own. (See ‘Black hole breakout’, New Scientist, 2 June 2007, pp34/37)

Comet Impact Destroyed North American Clovis Civilization

A comet may have destroyed North America’s Clovis civilization along with many of the continents mammals around 13,000 years ago. The main evidence is a carbon-rich layer of sediment including extra-terrestrial debris. (See ‘Firestorm from space wiped out prehistoric Americans’, New Scientist, 26 May 2007, pp8/0)

Unexpectedly Early Existence of Limb Genes

The master genes controlling the development of the paddle fish, one of nature’s ‘living fossils’ are unexpectedly similar to those controlling the development of limbs inland animals. Key limb development features in the Hox genes were there long before arms and legs evolved. (See ‘Handy gene kit was held in reserve’, New Scientist, 24 May 2007, p18)

Possible Sun Defection to Andromeda

As the Milky way and Andromeda move past, but close, to each other in the first stage of collision, the Sun could defect to Andromeda. But many little known factors may give rise to many other possibilities. (See ‘Goodbye Milky Way, hello Milkimeda’, New Scientist, 19 May 2007, pp12/13)

The Hunt for Cosmic Fossils

No-one knows what the earliest objects of the universe were. Some think primitive stars, some black stars. Various teams and equipment is looking at the evidence of whatever these cosmic fossils were. (See ‘Cosmic fossils’, New Scientist, 19 May 2007, pp44/46)

Macaque Genome Sequencing and Modern Human Evolution

The full sequencing of a third primate genome (the macaque, joining the human and chimpanzee genomes) has already come up with some interesting findings and is expected to identify key steps in the evolution of modern humans. (See ‘Monkey genome springs surprise for human origins’, New Scientist, 21 April 2007, p15)

Mammals Lineages Began in Dinosaur Era

An evolution super-tree of most living mammals suggests that the burst of evolutionary divergence behind today’s range of mammals happened while dinosaurs were still in their prime. (See ‘Mammals not such late developers’, New Scientist, 31 March 2007, p18)

Resistance is the Key to Evolutionary Success

Diversification rates appear not to be the reason for evolutionary success. Their constancy suggests persistence through adverse conditions, and therefore longevity, is the key. (See ‘Why beetles won the evolutionary game’, New Scientist. 10 March 2007, p17)

Ability to Digest Milk a Clear Recent Evolutionary Change

The evolutionary advantage of being able to drink milk saw this capability, arising spontaneously in the last 7,000 years. Become the norm for Northern Europeans (more than 90%). (See ‘A taste for milk shows evolution in action’, New Scientist, 3 March 2007, p12)

Modern Human and Neanderthal Interbreeding Evidence

Evidence of the reintroduction of a Neanderthal gene favoured bu natural selection into the modern human lineage suggests a degree of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals. (See ‘The Neanderthal within’, New Scientist, 3 March 2007, pp28/32)

Inflationary Cosmological Model Remains Robust

NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has evidenced well the standard (inflation) model of cosmology although there are gaps in our knowledge of aspects such as dark matter and dark energy. (See ‘Boom time’, New Scientist, 3 March 2007, pp32/37)

Chimps and Humans Share Tool-Wielding Ancestor?

Early tool-using chimps suggest we humans and chimps might have a common tool-wielding ancestor. (See ‘Stone Age chimps were handy with a hammer’, New Scientist, 17 February 2007, p15)

Climate Killed Off the Neanderthals

Climate conditions at the time of Neanderthal extinction were bad enough to be a more likely reason for extinction than human hunting. (See ‘We’re not guilty of Neanderthalicide’, New Scientist, 17 February 2007, p16)

Dark Secrets May Unravel

The speeding up of the expansion of the universe can be said to be caused by dark or vacuum energy or perhaps a field called quintessence. Work planned to examine this issue may show dark energy in its various guises as the ether of the 21st century. (See ‘Heart of Darkness’, New Scientist, 17 February 2007, pp22/33)

New Universes from Shreds of Our Ripped Universe

The accelerated expansion of the universe could rip it to shreds which collapse and bounce out into separate universes. This is the concept ofa model being worked on at Princeton University. (See ‘New universes will be born from ours’, New Scientist, 10 February 2007, p12)

Opposing Fingers in Dinosaur Well Before Human Lineage

A small dinosaur, Bambiraptor – a dromeosaur, evolved opposing fingers long before the human lineage evolved opposable thumbs. (See ‘Raptor’s opposable fingers spiked prey’, New Scientist, 3 February 2007, p17)

Dinosaur Eating Mammals

Substantial mammals coexisted with and even fed on dinosaurs including badger-like, beaver-like and flying squirrel-like species. (See ‘Big, bad and furry’, New Scientist, 3 February 2007, pp 32/35)

Evolution Running Backwards

Evolution can in some sense run backwards. Atavisms (occurrences of traits eg tails, webbed limbs, reflecting our ancestry) occur frequently and in non-humans may provide an advantage and spread through a population effectively reversing evolution. (See ‘The ancestor within’, New Scientist, 18 January 2007, pp28/33)

Civilisation from West of the Nile

The origins of the great Nile-based Pharaoh civilisations may have been a long way further west at the end of at least one marked (Abu Ballas) trail. (See ‘Pharaohs from the Stone Age’, New Scientis hide this.

Living with Neanderthals

Our common Neanderthal ancestors were in a population only 3,000 strong. And for most of the time since our split from them, we lived alongside them. (See ‘Apology to a Sister’, New Scientist, 23/30 December 2006, p15)

Evolution in Front of your Eyes

Introduction of larger lizards on an island where smaller lizards lived caused the smaller species to initially evolve longer legs only to evolve smaller legs later once they had learnt to climb trees. Speciation, successful and unsuccessful, has been observed in real time. (See ‘Evolution in Action’, New Scientist, 23/30 December 2006, p13)

Another Link Sorted in the Inorganic to Living Chain

Carbon dioxide, sunlight and two primordial soup compounds can create bio-molecules at relatively low temperatures (15%) without enzymes. This takes Miller’s 1950s work a stage further towards the living world. (See ‘Why life on earth was a sure thing’, New Scientist, 16 December 2006, p16)

The Solar System Explained

Simulations involving a resonance effect between Jupiter and Saturn and the consequential outward migration of two large planets of the solar system (Uranus and Neptune) may have caused further disruptions explaining asteroid families and the tilts and stretches of some planetary orbits. (See ‘New World Order’, New Scientist, 25 November 2006, pp 40/43)

Hamilton’s Altruism

Hamilton’s rule, linking the altruist’s cost (c ), the recipient’s benefit (b) and their relatedness) evolved from a more complex model to explain the development of altruism and continues to survive tests of predictions based on it. (See ‘Survival of the nicest’, New Scientist, 11 November 2006, pp 46/57)

Sequencing the Neanderthal

Work is underway on sequencing the entire Neanderthal genome. Similarities to and differences from the human genome may tell us about larger scale physical and behavioural differences that led to human supremacy and Neanderthal extinction. (See ‘The Neander Code’, New Scientist, 11 November 2006, pp 44/47)

Micro-RNA explanation of human-chimp differences

Micro-RNA can determine gene expression so, although humans share most of their DNA with chimps, micro-RNA may be enough to explain say the crucial brain differences between humans and chimps. (See ‘Humans left chimps behind in evolution’s playground’, New Scientist, 4 November 2006, p 17)

Missing Big Bang Helium Found

Big Bang theory expectations of helium-e presence in the universe are now borne out in a basic sense by measurement but star development theory, which works for other elements, is expected to have added to Big bang helium predictions. This may be resolved by a new idea about helium-3 destruction in starts. (See ‘The mystery of the missing helium’, New Scientist, 4 November 2006, p 9)

Flores - Hobbit or Human

The debate continues with the hobbit camp arguing that the humans with microcephaly explanation doesn’t stack up when Flores skulls are compared with known microcephaly affected skulls. (See ‘It’s a hobbit … no, it’s a human .. no, it’s a hobbit’, New Scientist, 14 October 2006, p 18)

Ancestral 3 Year Old to Yield Clues to early Man’s Development

A relatively complete skeleton of a 3 year old who lived 3.3m years ago should provide valuable information about the development stage of Australopithecus afarensis. (See ‘Amazing skeleton of a young ancestor’, New Scientist, 23 September 2006, p 8)

Fossil Fish Finds May Be Most Important for a Decade

Tiktaalik’s with their combination of fish-like and tetrapod-like features perhaps exploited the shallows raising themselves on their fins and breathing air. Complete fossils are making them a relatively well understood transitional form. (See ‘Meet your ancestors’, New Scientist, 9 September 2006, pp 35/39)

Magnetic Field Clues to Early Universe

Today’s cosmic magnetic fields may tell us about the infant universe because they may be the legacy of the inflating era just after the big bang. (See ‘North of the big bang, New Scientist, 2 September 2006, pp 28/31)

Loop Quantum Gravity Progresses

Loop quantum gravity’s ability to explain known particles is giving it growing credibility. (See ‘Curiouser and curiouser’, New Scientist, 12 August 2006, p 5)

Homo Erectus ‘Out of Asia’?

Archaeological excavations in Georgia have reinforced the picture of very early Home erectus across the world and of the first hominids out of Africa being Homo habilis with Home erectus evolving perhaps in Asis. (See ‘Made in Savannahistan’, New Scientist, 1 July 2006, pp 34/39)

Congo Giant Apes Just Large Chimpanzees

Large apes in the Congo seem to be a recognised sub-species of chimpanzee in spite of their particular size and unusual behaviour, (See ‘Bili’s giants are just overgrown apes’, New Scientist, 1 July 2006, p 14)

Amazon Refugia Hypothesis Not the Key to Amazonian Biodiversity

The refugia hypothesis (preserved wet refuges as grassland came and went) as the origin of the Amazon’s richness of biodiversity has taken a knock from pollen research which suggests the Amazon basin has been under forest for over 5 million years and has never been drier, just cooler. (See ‘How life branches out’, New Scientist, 24 June 2006, pp 51/53)

Early Bird with Webbed Feet and Feathers

A 110 million year old fossil of a web-footed bird with clearly visible feathers is the oldest known member o0f the group Ornithurae which includes modern birds although is 3 to 4 evolutionary steps away from these. (See ‘Webbed fowl hints at birds’; wet past, New Scientist, 24 June 2006, p 19)

Early Supernovae Dust Enough to Form New Stars and Planets

More dust identified in new studies of supernovae confirms the potential role in creating new stars and early planets. Earlier low dust findings may have reflected the earlier research’s focus on older supernovae where the dust has cooled or been destroyed so evading detection. (See ‘Hot on the trail of stardust missing since time began’, New Scientist, 17 June 2006, p 18)

Stromatolites are Earliest Evidence of Life

Mapping of stromatolites in the Pilbara region of Western Australia concludes that the stromatolite structures are biological in origin and evidence of biodiversity 3 to 4 million years ago although not all scientists agree. (See ‘Earth’s earliest life so far, and lots of it’, New Scientist, 10 June 2006, p 10)

Cavers Found Europe’s Oldest Modern Human Fossil

Cavers in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains found the oldest (35,000 years) European modern human fossil and it suggested interbreeding with Neanderthals. (See ‘Cave diving for Europe’s past’, New Scientist, 3 June 2006, p 50/51)

Flores Man – New Species or Not

The debate about whether the remains found on the island of Flores, Indonesia, are of a new species of early human (Homo floresiensis) derived from Homo erectus or are of modern humans with a pathological condition (microcephaly) continues. (See ‘Hobbit Brain ‘too small’ to be new species’, New Scientist, 27 May 2006, p 15)

All Possible Worlds Reducible by Measurement

Rather than our Universe being a branching set of universes, every possible version of our Universe may exist. The history of the Universe for an observer is them the one(s) that share(s) the features measured. We choose our past, according to Hawking and Hertog. (See ‘Mr Hawking’s Flexiverse’, New Scientist, 22 April 2006, pp 28/32)

Loop Quantum Gravity Explains Big Bounce Back

Loop quantum gravity can resist the ultimate shrinking of the Universe to bounce back in a new Big Bang without erasing memory of what the Universe was like before. (See ‘A view of the universe before the big bang’, New Scientist, 22 April 2006, p 15)

Challenge to Human Arrival in the Americas

Very early human footprints found in a Mexican Quarry seem to contradict thinking that the peopling of the Americas was via the Bering Straits. But there is debate about whether they are footprints at all. (See ‘The first Americans’, New Scientist, 8 April 2006, pp 42/46)

Fish to Land Animal Missing Link

A fossil found in the remote Arctic is an intermediate between finned fish and four-footed land animals and has been named Tiktaalik. There are clues that the fish may have been partly air-breathing and fin-based elbow and wrist-like joints could have operated as support structure. (See ‘The fish that headed for land’, New Scientist, 8 April 2006, p 14)

Early Earth Life Evidence in Earth Rocks on Moon

The littering of the Moon with rocks ejected from Earth by meteor impacts suggests that the Moon may be a good place to look for early life on Earth (or Mars or Venus). (See ‘House of Flying Fossils’, New Scientist, 1 April 2006, pp 38/41)

The DNA Route to Prehistoric Migration

Progress is being made on a five year project to gather some 10,000 DNA samples from populations around the world to retrace patterns of prehistoric migration. Isolated Chadian tribes may hold the key to the earliest migrations out of Africa. (See ‘Footsteps in the sand’, New Scientist, 25 March 2006, pp 48/49)

More Evidence fro Inflation Theory

Evidence has been found fro a massive expansion of the universe in its first split second. The Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe (WMAP) has helped establish a sharper image of the early universe. This shows bigger, ie brighter, spots which the theory of inflation predicts. (See ‘Clearest view yet of the universe’s troubled youth’, New Scientist, 25 March 2006. pp 8/9)

Planet Hunting Increasingly Successful

More and more extra solar planets are being found through microlensing when one star passes in front of another, If the closer star has a planet it may be wobbling and produce a characteristic blip. The Andromeda Galaxy will be a new hunting ground. (See ‘Planet Hunters Eye Andromeda’, New Scientist, 18 March 2006, p 12)

Humans Continue to Involve

A new study has identified more than 700 human genes that have been selected for in the last 10,000 years. Genes for skin pigmentation and hair formation and patterning, food metabolism and brain function are newly identified evolving types with not all populations subject to the same selection pressures. (See ‘Species Angst’, New Scientist, 11 March 2006, p 5)

More to Evolution than the Selfish Gene

Some evolutionary biologists are arguing that non-genetic information affecting development is routinely passed on to new generations. (See ‘Inheriting a Heresy’, New Scientist, 4 March 2006, p 53)

Jurassic-Triassic, the Biggest Extinction

Paul Olsen of Columbia University’s Earth Observatory thinks the Jurassic-Triassic extinction may have been the biggest of all extinctions. All sorts of large, bizarre, reptiles (in particular the archosaurs) disappeared forever, paving the way fro the Jurassic dinosaurs. Olsen believes the change was quick, too, favouring an asteroid impact cause although no compelling evidence for such an asteroid exists. (See ‘Triassic Park’, New Scientist, 25 February 2006, pp 44/47)

New Telescopes Could Spot Quantum Froth

Soon the world’s largest telescopes might be able to see the ‘foamy’ rather than the smooth nature of space-time. The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) being built in Chile has the sensitivity and resolution to detect tiny space-time fluctuations. (See ‘Sights set on quantum froth’, New Scientist, 18 February 2006, p 18)

Is the Universe Just a 5D Black Hole?

Modelling in 5 dimensions throws up an exact correspondence between the universe and a 5D black hole. Thus we may in fact be living inside one. (See ‘Enter the void’, New Scientist, 11 February 2006, pp 32/35)

Earth’s Atmosphere Down to Clay Trap for Carbon

The clay content of ancient shales sharply increased around 600 to 800 years ago. Clay can form from bonds with organic carbon debris preventing the carbon from combining with oxygen and allowing it to build uo in the atmosphere. (See ‘Thank clay fro the air we breathe’, New Scientist, 11 February, p 15)

Cosmic Evolution – A Theory of Everything

Eric Chaisson argues that there is unity in the way evolution operates, biological and cultural ways on living matter and in a range of ways on inanimate cosmic systems (See ‘The Great Unifier’, New Scientist, 7 January 2006, pp 36/38) hide this.

Zero Point Energy and the Fate of the Universe

70% of the universe is made of something we know nothing about. If this ‘dark energy’, which is supposedly forcing the Universe to expand, is really caused by zero-point fluctuations in the vacuum of space then the Universe should have been torn apart a long time ago says Robert Jaff of the MIT. Whilst zero-point fluctuations definitely occur, what causes them is so far, simply unknown. (See ‘Something for nothing’, New Scientist, 1 October 2005, p 34)

Siberian Volcanoes behind Mass Extinctions’

New simulations by Jeff Kiehl and Christine Shields of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, have suggested that mass eruptions in Siberia could have halted oxygen flow to the deep sea by reducing temperature difference in the ocean. Lack of oxygen would have increased the release of hydrogen sulphide: toxic to land and sea animals. This would have caused mass extinctions on land and sea say Kiehl and Shields. (See ‘Siberian blast led to mass extinction’, New Scientist, 10 September 2005, p 18)

Animals from an Evolutionary Time-Warp

Stygobites - tiny animals living underground in hidden reservoirs – have been discovered in Australia. Every pool discovered by Stygobiologist Steve Cooper and his colleague throws up new and strange species of plankton-like animals and beetles. Many of these animals are thought to be stuck in an evolutionary ‘time-warp’ where the rest of the world has evolved onwards but these have been stuck in underground cave pools. (See ‘Underground Australia’, New Scientist, 6 August 2005, p 30)

Pre-Cambrian Life Still Around

Courtney Turich, a biochemist from Pennsylvania State University has discovered primitive reefs formed by bacterial stromalites in oases deep in freshwater desert pools in Northern Mexico (Coahuila state). She believes the microbes living in these pools offer a unique insight into early forming life before the Cambrian explosion when limits on phosphate halted the evolution of complex multi-celled organisms. (See ‘Primeval Pools’, New Scientist, 2 July 2005, p 40)

Plasma Processes Obviate Need for Big Bang?

Eric Lerner, president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics in West Orange, New Jersey, has suggested that the big bang, by far the most conventional theory concerning the beginning of the Universe, might never have happened. His reasons include the constant revisions made to account for observational failure of the big bang model. Galaxies far away should look young, because light has taken so long to reach us, but they do not. Lerner has theorised that plasma which is the state of 99.99% of matter in the Universe is not accounted for in current models. (See ‘End of the Beginning’, New Scientist, 2 July 2005, p 3)

Early Man Took the Coast Road

By measuring genetic variation in south-east Asia, Vincent Macaulay of the University of Glasgow has suggested that man came out of Africa only once by the Red Sea and followed the coastal route around India and into Australasia. This route also made ecological sense to early man as fishing and shellfish would have been readily available. (See ‘The scenic route out of Africa, New Scientist, 21 May 2005, p 14)

Intermediate Eyes in a Jellyfish

Box jellyfish have 24 eyes of varying complexity and from which image forming eyes could easily evolve. (See ‘ Multi-eyed jellyfish casts new light on Darwin’s puzzle’, New Scientist, 14 May 2005, p 18)

Pop Could Go the Universe

Bubbles within space time appear and fizzle out constantly. However, according to Louis Clavelli, a physicist at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, if a bubble appears inside a white dwarf and the Pauli exclusion principle (a law which stops electrons existing in the same place) fails to work for S-electrons - electrons’ super-symmetry partners - then the Universe could end in a giant pop, as gamma rays are thrown out by a new black hole. (See ‘A bubble ate the universe’, New Scientist, 12 March 2005, pp 28/32)

Primordial Seas Too Salty

Paul Knauth, a geologist of Arizona State University, Tempe, has questioned the widely accepted hypothesis that life evolved in the oceans saying that they were too hot and too salty; and as a result had oxygen levels too low for life to evolve. Instead, he suggests life evolved in freshwater pools and lakes before moving to the sea in the Cambrian explosion of shelled organisms. (See ‘Primordial seas too saline for early evolution’, New Scientist, 5 February 2005, p 17) hide this.

Quantum Transition of Atoms of Life

Quantum mechanics might have increased the likelihood of life-encouraging transitions of biological molecules. (See ‘The ascent of life’, New Scientist, 11 December 2004, pp 28/32)

Evolution in Action

Experimental evolution in controlled test-tube environments is showing how mutants and new strains benefiting from co-operation can evolve. (See ‘Life force’, New Scientist, 4 December 2004, pp 46/49)

Lensed Images Suggests Older Universe

An image of a distant galaxy dragged around a nearer red giant suggests that the Hubble constant and therefore the known age of the Universe, may be wrong. (See ‘Postcards from the edge’, New Scientist, 13 November 2004, pp 42/45)

Sticky Ice Clue to Early Stages Planetary Formation

Ice forming around dust particles at very low temperatures is ‘sticky’ providing the mechanism for the early clumping of dust leading ultimately to the formation of planets. (See ‘Sticky ice cements growing planets’, New Scientist, 13 November 2004, p 11)

A Far from Quiet Birth for the Solar System

A nearby supernova explosion may have blasted the embryonic solar system causing the planets to be as they are and forming the chemicals necessary for life. (See ‘Hell’s nursery’, New Scientist, 20 October 2004, pp 61/64)

Dwarf Co-Humans

A human species (Homo floresiensis) that survived well beyond the Neanderthals, lived in the Indonesian Archipelago until as recently as 13,000 years ago. (See ‘Meet our human relatives’, New Scientist, 30 October 2004, pp 8/10)

Big Bang Plasma Recreated

Scientists have collided nuclei together to create the very hot and very strange plasma that was the constituent of the cosmos almost at the beginning of time. (See ‘Liquid Universe’, New Scientist, 16 October 2004, pp 34/37)

Volcanic Origins of Key Life Factors

Volcanoes may have created the fixed Nitrogen and primitive protein cahins crucial to life. (See ‘Were volcanoes creation’s crucible?’, New Scientist, 16 October 2004, p 14)

Support for Early Photosynthetic Life

A 3 - 4 billion year old layer of carbonaceous rock in South Africa has features which strengthen support for it being the result of photosynthetic bacteria. (See ‘Photosynthesis got a really early start’, New Scientist, 2 October 2004, pp 14/15)

Jupiter, a Creator not a Destroyer of the Earth

Jupiter may have migrated closer to the Sun and helped create the Earth but fortunately not so far that it might have destroyed the Earth. (See ‘Wandering Jupiter took trek towards the Sun’, New Scientist, 25 September 2004, p 15)

Civilisation – From Nomad to Urbanite

Civilisation only truly began a few thousand years ago. Food cultivation seems to have been a major factor. (See ‘The making of the modern world, New Scientist, 18 September 2004, pp 24/35)

Ten Big Questions about Life

How did life begin? How many species are there? Are we still evolving? Why do we sleep? Is intelligence inevitable? What is consciousness? Can we prevent ageing? What is life? Is there life on other planets?

Iron Meteorite Source of Life-Essential Phosphorus

Iron meteorites which contain a phosphorus-rich mineral could have provided Earth with enough phosphorous. (See ‘Iron meteorites offer clue to life’s big puzzle’, New Scientist, 4 September 2004, p 9)

A New Big Bang at Any Time

Random fluctuations of vacuum energy could trigger a new Big Bang at any time. But as long as it doesn’t start inside you, you might be alright. (See ‘It’s just a matter of time …’. New Scientist, 21 August 2004, pp34/35)

Space Dust Origins of Life’s Membranes?

Organic membranes can be created by irradiation of space dust. These could then have arrived on Earth to provide the containers for life molecules. (See ‘Did life begin in a space prefab?’, New Scientist, 21 August 2004, p 17)

Early Fish Sunbathed for Energy?

Early fish hauling themselves onto land, giving rise to land vertebrates including us, may have done so to gain energy from the sun for extra predatory speed. (See ‘Primitive fish hit dry land to bask in the sun’, New Scientist, 31 July 2004, p 13)

Leaves a Response to CO2 Drop?

Leaf evolution, from tiny stick like projections to the broad leaves of today, may have been plants’ response to a drop in CO2 levels with increases in stomata, necessary to keep cool, evolving alongside. (See ‘How plants evolved big broad leaves’, New Scientist, 10 July 2004 p 10)

Man Out of Asia

Man’s simian ancestors may have developed in Asia before ending explosively in the then virgin and verdant continent of Africa – although this is much disputed. (See ‘Out of Asia’, New Scientist, 22 May 2004 pp 36/39)

Big Bang Weaknesses Support Alternatives

Some scientists are arguing that the need to invent things (eg Dark Matter) to explain contradictions in the big bang theory raises serious questions about the validity of the theory and that investigations of alternative theories should be supported. (See ‘Bucking the big bang’, New Scientist, 22 May 2004 pp 36/39)

Meteorite behind Largest Extinction

An ancient crater off north-west Australia may have been the result of a meteorite hit causing the largest mass extinction of species on earth (bringing to an end the Permian period around 251 million years ago). (See ‘Crater finding linked to biggest ever wipe-out’, New Scientist, 22 May 2004 p 19)

Archaeopteryx Glides?

A new study of Archaeopteryx suggests the first birds were four-winged gliders (feathers on legs as well) with feathers evolving much earlier than the skeletal needs of active flight. (See ‘Four-winged birds were first to take to the air’, New Scientist, 28 May 2004 p 8)

Deadly Gamma Rays behind Extinction?

The earth could have be hit every few hundred million years by a deadly wave of gamma rays. This may have caused the second largest mass extinction of the end of the Ordovician period. (See ‘Blowout’, New Scientist, 8 May 2004 pp 40/43)

Massive Underground Explosions behind Extinction?

The coincidence of continental flood basalts seemingly with meteoric impacts has led to a ‘Verneshots’ explanation for the main extinctions of the last 400 million years. ‘Verneshots’ are massive explosions from underground preceded perhaps by flood basalts. (See ‘Four days that shook the world’, New Scientist, 8 May 2004 pp 32/35)

Metabolic Rate and Environment Link

A new metabolic theory in ecology relates the metabolic rate of organisms and ecologies and even society consistently to a range of other key variables (body mass, lifespan, nutrient recycling, energy use). (See ‘One rate to rule them all’, New Scientist, 1 May 2004 pp 38/41)

Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal Distinction

Studies suggest that co-existing Cro-Magnon and the Neanderthal populations did not interbreed with Cro-Magnon mitochondrial DNA being essentially indistinguishable from that of living people and the Neanderthal’s being distinct. (See ‘Neanderthals had a life less human’, New Scientist, 1 May 2004 p 16)

Lava Tubes Evidence of Earliest Life

Tiny tubes in 3.5 billion year old lava may be evidence, albeit disputed, of life 800 million years earlier than the oldest undisputed evidence. (See ‘Are lava tubes first evidence of life?’, New Scientist, 1 May 2004 p 12)

Migrations behind New Zealand’s Inhabitants

Apparently conflicting language/mitochondrial DNA evidence of the origins of New Zealand’s first inhabitants suggest separate Melanesian male and Taiwan female lines. (See ‘Last of the great migrations’, New Scientist, 24 April 2004, pp 39/41)

Even Earlier Bead Culture

Mollusc shells pierced to make jewellery, at least 75,000 years old, and found in Tanzania favour an earlier emergence of modern human behaviour. (See ‘Shells point to origin of the modern mind’, New Scientist, 24 April 2004 p 17)

Primitive Peking Man

Research on the nature and circumstances of the fossilised bones of some fifty ‘Peking man’ individuals at Dragon Bone Hill south west of Bejing suggest a rather more primitive existence than had previously been constructed. (See ‘Brute of Dragon Bone Hill’, New Scientist, 17 April 2004 pp 32/35)

Archaeopteryx Related

The eight known Archaeopteryx specimens have been shown to be all of the same species and one new genus, Wellnhofevia. (See ‘Archaeopteryx turns out to be a singular bird of a feather’, New Scientist, 17 April 2004 p 17)

Infection behind Blood-type Evolutions

The proportions of people of blood group A, B, AB or O appears to vary according to the prevalence of viral as against bacterial infections in their populations, with bacteria needing to adhere to cell sugars ensuring the survival of the A, B and AB groups against the evolutionary pressure for blood group O dominance in a virus only environment. (See ‘Infections explain why our blood groups differ’, New Scientist, 17 April 2004 p 15)

Molecular Midwives for the Birth of Life?

Particular molecules such as proflavin dubbed ‘midwives’ may have played a key role in the assembly of DNA chains and in turn the origins of life. (See ‘In the beginning were midwives’, New Scientist, 10 April 2004 p 18)

Hippos have Sea-going Relatives

Cladistic analysis of living and extinct mammalian groups suggests that cetaceans (whales, dolphins etc…) are artiodactyls and that hippos and whales had a common semi-aquatic hairless herbivorous ancestor. (See ‘Hippos discover their long-lost relatives are all at sea’, New Scientist, 10 April 2004, p 18)

Early Bead Culture

Two small beads found in Africa and made of Ostrich eggshell may be the earliest sign of human culture. They seem to be over 45,000 years old compared with the previously earliest European ornaments and cave paintings which are about 35,000 years old. (See ‘Is this the earliest sign of human culture?’, New Scientist, 10 April 2004 p 8)

Bacterial Methane on Mars?

With most of the methane on Earth produced by bacteria the discovery of methane on Mars is seen as a strong signal of possible life. (See ‘What lies beneath’, New Scientist, 3 April 2004 pp 8/9)

Butterflies Around Earlier

Ancient but advanced butterflies preserved in amber suggest butterflies may have evolved much earlier than previously thought. (See ‘Did butterflies flutter around Tyrannosaurus rex?’, New Scientist, 27 March 2004, p 17)

Younger Earth and Moon Closer

The moon’s orbit used to be much closer to earth with its more dramatic and frequent tides creating chemical cycles of possibly great value to life formation. (See ‘How the moon gave life on earth its first big break’, New Scientist, 27 March 2004, p 17)

Genetic Mutation not so Random

It is becoming increasingly clear that genetic mutations are not necessarily random and that genomes contain information that can focus mutations for instance where variation is crucial for survival. (See ‘Genomes don’t play dice’, New Scientist, 6 March 2004, pp 44/45)

Wetter Beginners

Quartz veins in a meteorite from the Vesta asteroid suggest a wetter early solar system than previously thought and therefore a wider potential for life. (See ‘Solar System’s damp start written in asteroid’s rock’, New Scientist 6 March 2004 p17)

Ancient Dust Seeds

A billions-of-years-old dust particle from the edge of the solar system has shown that complex organic molecules, produced in temperatures only just above absolute zero, could have ‘seeded’ the earth from its very beginning. (See ‘Mystery particle floats in from deep space’, New Scientist, 6 March 2004 p9)

Chaos in the Solar System

The gravitational equations of nine planets (plus moons) orbiting the sun cannot be solved exactly. Instead, the solar system is chaotic and alignments, particularly of the larger planets, with the sun could have dramatic influences on other bodies such as asteroids, with implications for past and possible future earth catastrophes. (See ‘Chaotic Heavens’, New Scientist, 28 February 2004, pp 32/35)

Doubts about Inflation Theory

Variations in temperature between regions of space are different for different sized regions, something which is at odds with inflation theory. (See ‘Seeds of doubt for theory of inflation’, New Scientist, 28 February 2004 p9)

How Genes are used in Evolution

Although we have fewer genes than expected, and most are the same as other animals’, mechanisms that effect how these genes determine human attributes are emerging including the cis-regulatory and protein coding sequences. Duplicates of segments of DNA, which humans have relatively high proportions of, may also have been significant for key ape and human evolutionary steps. (See ‘Seeds of doubt for theory of inflation’, New Scientist, 21 February 2004 pp36/43)

WMAP Sheds Light on Timing of Early Universe’s Re-ionisation

The WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe) has changed astrophysicists timings of the re-ionisation phase of the early Universe with radiation from early massive stars then black holes tearing electrons from hydrogen. (See ‘Flash and Burn’, New Scientist, 21 February 2004 pp 32/39)

Genetic Tracking of Human Movements

Genetic anthropology is shedding more light on the role of migration and intermarriage in the spread of new technologies, languages and religious practices. (See ‘The gene chronicles’, New Scientist, 7 February 2004, pp 40/43)

Neanderthals and Humans are Separate Species

New Craniofacial studies of Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens’ skulls suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans are not related subspecies but rather two entirely different species. (See ‘Humans and Neanderthals had separate evolutionary pathways’, New Scientist, 31 January 2004, p17)

Neanderthals Frozen Out

A scientific team has concluded that increasingly harsh winters killed off the Neanderthals while the co-existing Homo sapiens survived through the arrival of the more technologically advanced ‘Gavethians’. (See ‘Big Chill Killed off the Neanderthals’, New Scientist, 24 January 2004, pp10/11)

A Mathematical No to Communal Evolution

Mathematics has been used to argue that the idea of life evolving from a group of differently gened cells does not stand up. (See ‘Early life wouldn’t stand a chance in a commune’, New Scientist, 24 January 2004, p9)

Steps towards life in Space

The most complex molecules yet formed in space, anthracene and purene, have been seen in the Red Rectangle nebula referred to as a factory for organic molecules. (See ‘Dying Star churns out the building blocks of life’, New Scientist, 17 January 2004, p17)

From Expansion to Rip

The Universe could rip apart if light fails to keep up the accelerating expansion of the universe. (See ‘The big rip’, New Scientist, 3 January 2004, p22)

Ape to Human Gene Change

Natural selection may have changed almost one in ten of our genes since we split from other apes according to a study of genes in humans and chimpanzees. This is a step towards understanding which genes have played a major part in the evolution of humans. (See ‘Losing the ape within’, New Scientist, 3 January 2004, p9) hide this.

Our Very Hot Future

Beyond a billion years hence, the earth might look immensely strange with oceans boiled away, super-continents reforming and new molten oceans coming into being. (See ‘Hell on Earth’, New Scientist, 6 December 2003, pp36/37)

Oldest Signs of Life Artificial?

Crystals grown in gel in a lab form structures that look like fossilised bacteria. So sediment behaving like a gel as it fossilises could have grown artificially what has previously been thought to be the oldest signs of life. (See ‘Micro fossils made in the laboratory’, New Scientist, 22 November 2003, p.14/15)

Ocean Planets the Best Place for Life’s Start?

Ocean planets whose surfaces are maybe totally covered by water are unavoidably out there. Their surfaces may be as brilliant as a polished mirror and provide one of the best places for life to arise. (See ‘The big blue’, New Scientist, 15 November 2003, pp.38/41)

The Evolutionary Impact of Niche Construction

The construction by species of niches can dramatically influence their succeeding evolution. Ecosystems can then be seen as super-constructions created by the collective activities of their constituent organisms. This may help us understand the impacts and success of species (even such as ourselves). (See ‘Life’s little builders’, New Scientist, 15 November 2003, pp.42/45)

Universe’s Expansion Better Understood

The accelerated expansion of the universe is now known to have started 5 billion years ago driven by “dark energy” whose repulsive force has been estimated better than ever before. (See ‘Universe stepped on the gas 5 billion years ago’, New Scientist, 18 October 2003, p.17)

Fast Forward from Genes

Increases in gene activity in the brain appear to be a significant differentiator of humans from chimps with human neurones perhaps communicating at faster speeds. (See ‘Souped up genes pulled humans into fast lane’, New Scientist, 18 October 2003, p.14)

Speciation under Stress is How the World Works

Speciation (separation into separate species) may occur ordinarily without significant survival drivers, e.g. without separation (sympatric speciation). Instability in a population can be a trigger and mathematics can show how this could divide a population into two niche exploiting species. (See ‘How the species became’, New Scientist, 11 October 2003, p32/35)

The Universe: Finite or Infinite?

The finiteness or otherwise of the universe remains unclear. On the one hand, fitting the non existence of larger scale ripples in the background radiation, the universe could be small (70 billion light years across) and appear as endlessly repeating dodecahedrons. On the other hand predicted matching circles in the background radiation appear not to be there. (See ‘Does the universe go on forever?’, New Scientist, 11 October 2003, pp.6/7)

Energy for Life in Lava?

Primitive life may have got its energy from an enzyme, still present in modern bacteria, that unloads energy from pyrophosphate found in cooling lava. And enzymes mutate very easily to do tasks necessary for survival. Meanwhile balls of lipid molecules, known as micelles, may be able to grow and self-replicate and could have been a precursor to life. (See ‘Relic hints at primal force’, New Scientist, 27 September 2003, pp.22/23)

Gamma Ray Extinctions

One of the Earth’s worst mass extinctions may have been caused by a burst of gamma rays from a collapsing giant star in our galaxy. Deep-sea creatures would have survived best. (See ‘Did a gamma ray burst devastate life on earth?’, New Scientist, 27 September 2003, p.17)

Earlier Plant Colonisation?

Plants may have colonized land 450 million years ago, some 50 million years earlier than previously thought. Fossilised fragments of liverwort-like plants have been found in rocks of this age in Oman. (See ‘Earliest plants found’, New Scientist, 20 September 2003, p.22)

Cell Creation from Gaseous Plasma

Cell-like spheres of gas have been created in simulated early Earth atmospheric conditions. They can replicate and grow raising the possibility of life out there but not as we know it. (See ‘Plasma blobs hint at new form of life’, New Scientist, 20 September 2003, pp.16/17)

Impact Craters for Life

Asteroids hitting the earth created hydrothermal systems ideal for early life. The bigger the impact the longer the hydrothermal conditions last. The search for fossil evidence of life in ancient impact structures is on. (See ‘Shocked into Life’, New Scientist, 13 September 2003, pp.40/43)

Earliest Life in Ocean Formed Lava?

2.8 million year old rock from Isua, Greenland, has cavities that contained methane and brine suggesting an environment very favourable for life. Evidence of actual life is the focus of ongoing work. (See ‘Droplets may reveal life’s oceanic beginnings’, New Scientist, 13 September 2003, p.25)

Recent Arrival of Humans in the Americas

Mitochondrial DNA evidence backs up archaeological evidence of the relatively recent (30 to 40,000 years ago) arrival of humans in the Americas. (See ‘First Americans’, New Scientist, 13 September 2003, p.26)

Differently Skulled Populations in the Earlier Americas

The Americas had two distinct population groups one of which had long narrow skulls and has died out possibly quite recently. Whether they arrived as the different groups (at different times) or evolved into these groups is disputed. (See ‘Long, narrow skulls reveal the colonisation of America, New Scientist, 6 September 2003, p.17)

Genetic Diversity Related to Polygamy?

Polygamy may explain evidence that diversity is greater for mitochondrial DNA (passed on by mothers) than for Y chromosomes (passed on from fathers to sons). Other explanations, e.g. related to migration may however explain the evidence. (See ‘A few prehistoric men had all the children’, New Scientist, 6 September 2003, p.18)

A Changing Genetic Code?

The genetic code of all living things is less immutable than previously thought. If a new amino acid gives an organism huge selective advantages then organisms without it could disappear altogether. Strange features of the genetic code of the microbe causing thrush (and other species) are suggestive of such mutability. (See ‘Renegade Code’, New Scientist, 30 August 2003, pp.34/37)

A Paleobiology Database

Plans for a Paleobiology Database may help understanding of diversity and extinctions and how significant current changes are. Already it can be seen that biodiversity plateaued long ago and that irregularities in classification overstate species in the fossil record by around 40 per cent. (See ‘The fossil files’, New Scientist, 23 August 2003, pp.32/35)

Independent Evolution of Same Traits from Same Genes

Evolution seems to rely mostly on the same genes to arrive at the same traits in related species. This suggests that evolution is less random than it might have been. (See ‘Evolution returns to the same old genes again and again’, New Scientist, 23 August 2003, p.15)

Early vertebrate Steps

The Chengjiang area of south-western China is providing clues to the earliest steps towards to the vertebrate members of the deuterstones (‘second mouthers’). (See ‘Once we were worms’, New Scientist, 2 August 2003, pp.34/37)

Our Distant Ancestors?

Sea lily larvae may be like our distant ancestors of 570 million years ago. They perhaps hold the key to the origin of chordates the group to which we and all other vertebrates belong. (See ‘The way we were’, New Scientist, 26 July 2003, pp.32/33)

Life; A Miracle or Inevitable

The difference between life being a near miracle, so that we are an irrelevant sideshow in a great impersonal cosmic drama, and life being bound to arrive, so that the universe is teeming with it, is vast. Major missions are taking shape to find out what the reality might be. The fact that life happened relatively quickly on Earth suggests its arrival from elsewhere. (See ‘Is there life beyond Earth’, New Scientist, 12 July 2003, pp.24/39)

Could a Runaway Expansion Rip the Universe Apart?

The repulsive forces of dark energy causing the accelerating expansions of the universe could become stronger and stronger and break up the universe sooner than previously expected. (See ‘Phantom menace rips the cosmos apart’, New Scientist, 8 March 2003, pp.14/15)

Might the Earliest Signs of Life be Non-Living Remnants?

Questions have arisen about whether micro-structures which are three to four million years are remnants of early life or not although most experts still believe life began early in the Earth’s 4.5 billion year history. (See ‘Proof of life’, New Scientist, 22 February 2003, pp.29/31) hide this.

The Line from Homo Sapiens back to Apes Looks More and More like a Thicket

The 6 to 7 Million Year Old Sahelanthopus Tchadensis skull has both very early on and much later features of the hominid progression, a widespread evolution of apes to hominid-like species. (See ‘Who are we?’, New Scientist, 26 October 2002, pp.44/47)

More Evidence for Life Beginning around Undersea Hydrothermal Vents

Mechanisms have been identified by which key life building molecules might have become concentrated around undersea hydrothermal vents. (See ‘Swirling hot water on the ocean floor may have given evolution a kick-start’, New Scientist, 2 November 2002, p.15)

Mapping the Whole ‘Tree of Life’ is about to Begin

A major project using genetic and morphological data to map out how all living things are related to each other is about to begin. (See ‘From bugs to birds to giant reptiles, we’re finally growing a Tree of Life’, New Scientist, 9 November 2002, p.7)

Is Life just a Manifestation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

Ecosystems emit cooler radiation the more mature they are and in evolution life tends to choose the route that provides more usable energy. There is speculation that human civilization has evolved along similar lines. (See ‘The meaning of life’, New Scientist, 9 October 2002, pp.30/33)

Polarisation of Background Radiation to Reveal More about the Early Universe

The predicted polarisation of the Universe’s cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) has been observed and should tell us much more about the early universe than the previously detected temperature variations. (See ‘Story of early Universe unfolds’, New Scientist, 28 September 2002, p.14)

More Evidence of Life’s Spare Parts from Space

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which can easily be converted into life constructing molecules seem to have been around before the Solar System burned so could be forerunners of life on Earth (coming to us in meteorites) – as well as elsewhere? (See ‘And God said let there be smog’, New Scientist, 24 August 2002, p.14)

Earlier Moves from Sea to Land Living

Ancient fossil tracks in Ontario suggest land living, albeit not well adapted, by euthycarcinoids some 500 million years ago. This is significantly older than the 440 million year old dating of an actual euthycarcinoid fossil. Exoskeleton shedding, mating and laying eggs seem to have been drivers of some early terrestrials. (See ‘Invasion Earth!’, New Scientist, 8 June 2002, pp.38/41)

Further Evidence on the way about the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) Mass Extinction

Drilling of a 1.5 km rock core from the Chicxulub meteorite crater in Yucatan, Mexico, may enlighten the debate about the cause of the mass extinction (including most dinosaurs) about 65 million years ago. Was it the ‘catastrophists’ meteorite impact or the ‘gradualists’ super volcanism that brought about the mass extinction. (See ‘Killer Blow’, New Scientists, 4 May 2002, pp.29/31)

Is Life More Likely to have Begun in Freshwater than in the Oceans?

Spherical membranes (vesicles) required for cell development and made from ingredients found on the early Earth appear to be much more stable in freshwater than seawater. (See ‘A fresh start’, New Scientist, 11 May 2002, p.7)

Oscillating Membranes Create the Universe Afresh Again and Again

Two four-dimensional membranes pacing through each other repeatedly as they oscillate back and forth along a fifth dimension may trigger a fresh Big Bang each time, creating a new ekpyrotic (‘born out of fire’) universe. (See ‘Cycles of creation’, New Scientist, 16 March 2002, pp.26/30) hide this.

Galaxies Get Bigger and Bigger

The future for galaxies such as our Milky Way seems to be dismemberment and consumption by larger galaxies to form clusters and then superclusters with monster elliptical galaxies at their centres in turn containing monster blackholes. (See ‘The shape of things to come’, New Scientist, 25 August 2001, pp.35/37)

Could High Altitude Bacteria be from Space?

Air samples collected up to 41 km from the Earth’s surface have contained bacteria which it had not seemed possible could have got there from Earth. (See ‘Space invaders’, New Scientist, 4 August 2001, p.11)

Did Human-Borne Lethal Diseases kill off Large Mammals?

The coincidence of the extinction of many large mammals and the arrival of early humans could be explained by lethal diseases carried by man and to which the large mammals had no resistance. (See ‘Mammoth mystery’, New Scientist, 5 May 2001, pp.32/35)

A Peek at the Beginning of Time

Polarisation of the Cosmic Background Radiation (CMB) may tell us about gravitational wave strength and in turn when inflation began so clarifying which inflation models work and which don’t. (See ‘The First Split Second’, New Scientist, 31 March 2001, pp.26/29) hide this.

The Earliest Upright Walking Human-Like Ancestor is Found

A six million year old fossil of a human-like upright walking animal is 1½ million years older than previous hominid finds and around the time it is thought that the human and chimpanzee branches of life diverged. (See ‘The oldest strider in town’, New Scientist, 16 December 2000, p.5)

How Aquatic were our Ancestors?

Water environments could be linked to our upright walking, our brain, hand and ear developments and a Rift Valley origin. (See ‘Our distant ancestors fondness for a swim may explain why humans are such unusual primates, 25 November 2000, pp.29.33)

Could Life Have Begun in the Skies?

Chemicals can become increasingly concentrated in cell-like droplets in the atmosphere with chemical reactions powered by strong sunlight. Earth’s gravity and atmospheric pressure are also just right for bacterial cell sized droplets. (See ‘Life from the skies’, New Scientist, 15 July 2000, pp.4/5)

Language Studies tell us about our Early History

Innovative studies of language structure have dated human migrations and provided clues to the dawn of language may be about 132,000 years ago. (See ‘Voices from the Past’, New Scientist, 26 February 2000, pp.36/40)

Did Interstellar Stay give a Chemical Kick-Start to Evolution?

Astro-chemists in India have modelled the evolution of chemicals in an interstellar cloud collapsing under gravity. The early Earth could have been showered in DNA bases. (See ‘Seeds of life’, New Scientist, 22 February 2000, p.4) hide this.