Science

The potentially catastrophic threat posed to shipping by underwater volcanoes is to be monitored. Most volcanoes erupt beneath the ocean, but little is known about them compared to what is known about volcanoes that eject their lava on dry land. Gabrielle Tepp, of the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the US Geological Survey, believes that with improved monitoring, scientists can learn more about submarine eruptions, which threaten travel and alter the ocean soundscape. She said: "It's very difficult to study underwater...

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria began with farmers pumping livestock with penicillin six decades ago, according to new research. Low doses given to animals to boost their growth from the 1950s in the US and Europe fuelled the evolution and spread of the superbugs, say scientists. Bacteria that can pass on genes resistant to ampicillin - one of the most commonly used antibiotics today - emerged years before human use, the study showed. The discovery comes weeks after the World Health Organisation called...

Prehistoric women had even stronger arms than today's elite rowing crews, reveals new research. The study comparing the bones of women that lived during the first 6,000 years of farming with those of modern athletes shows that the average prehistoric agricultural woman had stronger upper arms than today's female rowing champions. Researchers from Cambridge University's Department of Archaeology say this physical prowess was likely obtained through tilling soil and harvesting crops by hand, as well as the grinding of grain...

The world's deepest living fish has been discovered living in the darkness more than eight kilometres below the surface. Named the Mariana snailfish, the translucent, scaleless fish exist at such depths that the water pressure is the equivalent of an elephant standing on your thumb. They are the top predator in their dark world, living off tiny crustaceans and shrimp at depths nearly as far down as Mount Everest is high. Researchers recover a trap after it landed on the...

The landing site for Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain more than 2,000 years ago has been identified for the first time - in Kent. His ships arrived at Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet at the north east point of the county, a spot never previously suspected because it was separated from the mainland. But the location matches Caesar's own personal account with three clues about the landscape being consistent with the amazing discovery. These were its visibility from...

Amputees can learn to control a robotic arm or leg... with the power of thought, say scientists. Electrodes implanted in the brain create new connections between neurons - even years after losing the limb, according to new research. The discovery offers hope to thousands of soldiers, accident victims or diabetes patients who have had limbs amputated. It would enable them to hold a cup of tea, or go for a walk unaided. In the first experiments of their kind, rhesus...

New species can develop in as little as two generations and the findings would have left Charles Darwin excited , researchers revealed. Scientists say the arrival 36 years ago of a strange bird to a remote island in the Galapagos provides direct genetic evidence of their claims. The newcomer, which belonged to one species, mated with a member of another species on the small island of Daphne Major in the Pacific Ocean. This produced a new species, known as the...

X-Rays have revealed the source of the destructive power behind parrotfish teeth. Researchers have found an Interwoven crystal structure is the key to their coral-crunching ability. The hardy gnashers of the parrotfish allow it to chomp on coral all day long, ultimately chewing and grinding it up through digestion into fine sand. A single parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of sand each year. Now, a study has revealed a chain mail-like woven microstructure that gives parrotfish teeth their remarkable...

A planet the same size of Earth and with a similar surface temperature may be "the closest known comfortable abode for possible life," according to new research. The newly discovered world, named Ross 128b, was found orbiting a red dwarf 11 light-years away from Earth - but it's getting nearer. Astronomers working with the European Southern Observatory's High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has found that the red dwarf star Ross 128...