SCIENCE

Astronomers have spotted a young star, almost 11,000 light years away, that can help scientists understand how massive stars in our Universe form. The young star is still gathering materials from its parent molecular cloud and is currently 30 times the mass of the sun. When it finally reaches adulthood, it will be even more massive.

In what is being hailed as a major breakthrough in the field of laser technology, scientists have, for the first time, developed laser from fluorescent jellyfish proteins grown in bacteria. This next-generation laser has the potential to be way more compact and efficient than conventional ones found today. It could even open up research avenues in optical computing and quantum physics.

Researchers have found that large catfish are eating mice in a desert river in Western Australia's Pilbara region. Murdoch University researchers were surprised to find native spinifex hopping mice at varying stages of digestion in eight of the 18 lesser salmon catfish caught in the Ashburton River. Moreover, two of the fish had remains of rodents in their stomach.

Researchers in Western Australia have found that giant goldfish weighing up to 1.9 kilograms are threatening freshwater species in WA waterways. People are dumping unwanted pet goldfish in the waterways and they are reaching massive sizes. This is threatening the ecosystem.

Reports suggest that two-thirds of the people visiting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are doing so for the last time. Most of the tourists want to see the reef before it dies from massive coral bleaching. The health of the reef is a sorry state with more and more tourists paying it a visit to experience it one last time.

Almost 24 native species in Queensland have been given the threatened status. The government is now gathering support for tougher vegetation clearing laws. It has come to the point where scientists should question why more and more species are being lost. Australia already has the alarming record of losing the most mammals.

In a world-first study, Australian researchers have calculated the proportion of our suntan that comes from beyond the Milky Way. This skin-tanning, natural radiation comes not from the sun but distant hungry black holes and stars and is known as intergalactic solarium. This alien radiation is also known as extra-galactic background light that that gives the tan. This alien light well beyond our galaxy helps beachgoers get that tanned bronze.

NASA thinks Venus may have looked like Earth once. It was a planet capable of life, with a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperature for up to two billion years.

Earth’s past climate has always been a mystery to scientists but ancient ice may hold clues to the mysteries surrounding it. In fact, ancient ice is already helping researchers understand Earth’s past climate and experts are now focusing on a massive freezer in suburban Denver known as the National Ice Core Laboratory in Lakewood. The ice is transported to the Colorado lab from Greenland and Antarctica.

A new form of colour has been discovered in peacock spiders. The structural colour that male peacock spiders display has never been documented before. Such colouration is much less common than pigment colouration where natural substances provide the colour to plants and animals. It is common in beetles and peacocks.

New Townsville research centre has its focus on the endangered green turtles. Scientists opened the centre in Queensland to unravel the mysteries of green turtles and also put an end to their high mortality rates. Physiology of green turtles of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef plays a big role in protecting the reef’s ecosystem. However, little is known about their physiology.

Australian scientists have developed a highly-advanced test, known as eDNA, that may save the endangered largetooth sawfish. The researchers of Australia’s four extremely rare sawfish developed the test for an easier way to find estuaries the fish exist in. The new way will be able to successfully test large bodies of water for DNA of the sawfish and that will make key habitats easier to find.

Australian researchers are taking a historic step forward as the Qb-50 project is set to launch its first Aussie mini-satellites in space from International Space Station (ISS) next year. The project will study Earth’s thermosphere as it is the least-understood layer of our atmosphere. Researchers from three Australian universities are getting ready to make history as they prepare to measure the density and temperature of plasma in that region.

Researchers have found that whales’ ultrasonic hearing has an ancient history. Their high-frequency hearing abilities arose earlier than anticipated. Morgan Churchill of New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York, said that the high-frequency hearing of whales may have preceded the emergence of echolocation.

Revolutionary self-propelling liquid metals are slowly bridging the gap between science fiction and reality. Shape-shifting Terminator T-1000 robot may soon be a reality after scientists have announced a liquid-metal breakthrough. It may be possible to develop a 3D liquid metal humanoid, researchers said.

Experts have revealed that humpback whales save other species from ocean killers. Apart from their gigantic size, spectacular leaps and gentle behaviour, whales also have another amazing characteristic and that is concern for other animals.

German scientists have proved that birds can sleep while flying. This weird habit of birds have been theorised for long. However, scientists from Max Planck Institute in Seewiesen, Bavaria, said that they have definitive proof for the first time.

Astronomers have reportedly discovered the most-desolate place in the Milky Way. The vast expanse right at the centre could well be a cosmic desert that is completely devoid of young stars. The new study by the international team of researchers promises to better the understanding of the entire Milky Way.

Scientists may have found an answer to why one of the last known groups of woolly mammoths died and were wiped out from the face of Earth. As per a new study, Alaskan woolly mammoths could have died of thirst as water became scarce around five thousand years ago.

It will be a double delight for stargazers as North Wales would allow them a chance to not only witness the Perseid meteor shower but also spot Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury this August. The five planets would be aligned along with the famous Perseid meteor shower, a perfect treat for stargazers.

New reports on asteroid Bennu suggest that Earth won’t be hit. The odds of the asteroid hitting earth are 1 in 2,700 and it would take 150 years to do so. Moreover, to reach the odds, Bennu would have to be gravitationally nudged from its current course when it passes between Earth and moon.

An international team of researchers has found that spider silk may be used to manipulate heat and sound. The silk shares a useful property with semiconductors.

In almost three decades, Lake Pedder in Tasmania is set to overflow for the first time. In the last 24 hours heavy rains lashed the region and the lake’s water level has risen 20cm. With capacity now at 99 percent, the lake is set to overflow on Wednesday.

Frogs are remarkably diverse when it comes to sex and reproduction. Cornell University frog biologists have revealed in a new study that some frogs hide on land to reduce competition from other males who also want to fertilize those eggs. They have sex on land as they have smaller testes.

Researchers with the Ocean Exploration Trust are scratching their heads after Exploration Vessel Nautilus unearthed a purple-coloured orb underwater in the Channel Islands off the coast of California.

Statistics released by the Department of Main Roads and Transport revealed that wild dogs have been responsible for many koala deaths. The statistics portray a grim picture of the planning process around the relocation of the koala population.

Researchers have revealed that all life as we see today descended from a microbe about four billion years ago. The microbe adapted itself to survive mineral-rich, oxygen-free and warm environments.

Researchers at James Cook University have shown how Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may be given improved protection. They have shown a way to halve the amount of fertiliser dairy farmers use and at the same time maintain pasture yields. This, in turn, would provide increases protection to the Great Barrier Reef.

A new study suggests that rocks formed beneath the ocean floor via rapidly-spreading tectonic plates may be a massive free source of hydrogen gas previously overlooked. The finding by Duke University researchers in the US may prove to be a goldmine for scientists as they believe free hydrogen gas (H2) may be responsible for life on Earth.