Science

Giant plant eating dinosaurs were snacking on shellfish 75 million years ago - as a side dish, according to new research. Crustaceans, possibly crab, have been found in the sung of horny beaked hadrosaurs that once roamed present day Utah - showing they weren't strictly meat eaters. Eating foods rich in protein and calcium was probably a seasonal behaviour that boosted the huge beasts' reproduction. The remarkable discovery adds to growing evidence dinosaurs really did evolve into modern birds -...

How safe is the air we breathe on airplanes? Britain's largest union is calling for a public inquiry into toxic air in passenger planes as it emerged that one of Britain’s biggest airlines is set to fit new filters to stop particulates entering cabin air next year. Unite the union, which represents over 25,000 cabin crew working for airlines operating out of the UK, is calling on the rest of the airline industry to follow suit now. Unite also want...

Humanoid robots are a 'strong' step closer after engineers developed synthetic muscle that can lift a thousand times its own weight. The 3D-printable synthetic soft muscle, which doesn't need an external compressor or high voltage equipment as previous attempts required, also has a strain density - expansion per gram - FIFTEEN times larger than natural muscle. And the artificial muscle can push, pull, bend and twist - as well as lift weight. Up until now no material has been capable of...

A 52 million year old ankle fossil dug up in France shows the first primates were high flying acrobats... throwing human evolution on its head. The shape and size of the tiny bone suggests our earliest ancestors flexed and sharply extended their ankles - to launch into the air. They spent most of their time in the branches rather than on the ground, but just how nimble they were as they moved around in the treetops has been hotly disputed....

As dinosaurs changed into birds millions of years ago their skull and brains moved in tandem, scientists have revealed for the first time. They tracked the link between the brain's development and the roofing bones of the skull. The team from Yale University, led by co-senior author assistant professor of geology and geophysics Dr Bhart-Anjan Singh Bhullar, found important changes in the skull roof of reptiles which showed the brain and skull were developmentally related. Prof Bhullar who is also...

Farmers can grow bigger, juicier tomatoes - thanks to a gene mutation, according to new research. When humans first began cultivating the wild tomato in the Andean mountain regions of Ecuador and Northern Peru, they continually selected plants that produced larger fruits. Now, thousands of years later, tomatoes on the market can weigh 1,000 times more than the fruits of their ancestors. In the new study, researchers investigated a gene they named Cell Size Regulator, or CSR, that boosts fruit...

The source of the itch sensation has been discovered by scientists. A study conducted by Chinese researchers has discovered a central neural circuit that is "critical" for transmitting the itch signal. Linked with the desire to scratch, the itch sensation is an important protective mechanism for animals. But chronic itch, often seen in patients with skin and liver diseases, remains a challenging clinical problem as uncontrollable scratching causes severe skin and tissue damage. However, therapeutic approaches for chronic itch treatment...

An extinct rainforest tree has been identified from its beautiful flowers - dislodged by a rampaging dinosaur 100 million years ago. A Triceratops or Tyrannosaurus rex could have been crashing its way through a pine forest when it knocked off the blooms, which then became trapped in chunks of amber. It's the first time seven complete flowers this old have been found together. They are tiny - ranging from 3.4 to 5 millimetres in diameter - but so well-preserved they...

Snakes lose their stripes the nearer they live to man - because of pollution, suggests a new study. Researchers monitoring turtle-headed seasnakes living on coral reefs in the Pacific noticed something unusual about the snakes' colour patterns. Seasnakes living in more pristine parts of the reef were decorated with black-and-white bands or blotches. But those in places with more human activity - near the city or military activity - were black. This is a photograph of a turtle-headed seasnake.  The...