Scorching hot exoplanet 'snows' sunscreen

Artist’s illustration showing the scorching-hot exoplanet Kepler-13Ab, which orbits very close to its host star, Kepler-13A. Astronomers have observed an extrasolar planet with some of the weirdest weather conditions ever seen. Six times more massive than Jupiter and situated at a distance of 1,730 light years from the Earth, Kepler-13Ab, with often sees dayside surface temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is one of the...

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'Mega-carnivore' dinosaur found in Africa

An enormous meat-eating dinosaur measuring up to 30ft in length once roamed what is now Southern Africa. Discovered by a team of researchers from universities in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, this prehistoric behemoth was part of a group of carnivorous dinosaurs known as 'megatherapods'. Its footprints were found in the Maseru District of Lesotho - a small country in Southern Africa. The discovery of such a large carnivorous dinosaur...

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Supervolcano could erupt sooner than previously thought.

The enormous supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park could erupt with only a few years' warning. The natural beauty and hot springs of Yellowstone National Park attract thousands of tourists from all over the world on an annual basis, but not far below the park's serene surface is an increasingly large chamber of molten hot magma with the potential to erupt at any time. When the inevitable does eventually happen, the Yellowstone...

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New prehistoric marine predator discovered

Palaeontologists have identified a new species that could shed light on the origins of crocodiles. Nicknamed the 'Melksham Monster' after the town in England where it was first discovered, the 10ft predatory reptile, which dates back 163 million years, is officially known as Ieldraan melkshamensis. The find is particularly interesting because the Geosaurini - the sub-family of prehistoric crocodiles to which this new species belonged...

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Can Aliens observe the earth?

Astronomers have identified nine planets from which intelligent aliens could possibly be watching us. While much work has been done over the years to look for signs of intelligent life out there in the cosmos, there has been little consideration of the possibility that someone might be watching us. In a recent study, scientists from Belfast set out to determine where the best vantage points would be for an extraterrestrial civilization...

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'Vampire' kangaroos lived longer than thought

An extinct species of fanged kangaroo survived five million years longer than previously believed. An analysis of fossilized teeth discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north Queensland has revealed that these wallaby-sized fanged marsupials went extinct around 10 million years ago, which is five million years later than earlier studies had suggested. The discovery means that existing extinction theories concerning...

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China's space station is falling back to Earth

The Chinese space agency's Tiangong 1 space lab is going to hit the ground within the next few months. Launched back in 2011, Tiangong 1 - or 'Heavenly Place' - was part of China's efforts to assert itself as a major player in the space industry and to create a manned orbital laboratory for scientific research. Last year however, following months of speculation over peculiarities observed in Tiangong 1's orbit, China's CNSA...

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Evidence of a great lake discovered on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified the site of an ancient lake on the Red Planet's surface. Mars might be a cold, barren wasteland today, but millions of years ago its surface would have been alive with rivers and lakes of liquid water that could have possibly supported primitive life. Now scientists have discovered even more strong evidence of the planet's watery past in the form of a colossal lake that would...

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Giant James Webb Space Telescope is delayed again

James Webb Space Telescope The launch of the giant orbital telescope has been delayed from October 2018 to Spring 2019. The result of a long-running international collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, the James Webb Space Telescope will provide scientists with an unmatched view of the cosmos thanks to a resolution and sensitivity that is unrivalled by anything that has come before. Its primary goals will be...

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Giant prehistoric frog could eat small dinosaurs

A giant, beach ball-sized frog that lived 70 million years ago had a bite that would have been strong enough to snap up small dinosaurs. At the size of a beach ball, the giant Beelzebufo ampinga was the largest frog to have ever lived - at least that we know of. But it was similar to the modern Ceratophrys frogs, and now scientists have used those similarities to make a fascinating discovery. Ceratophrys frogs are also known...

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Blue Lava

One of the most destructive occurrences in our world is the explosion of a volcano. But in Indonesia, the Kawah Ijen crater on the island of Java appears to stream blue lava instead of the traditional orange and yellow tone. This produces a confusion as the lava is not inherently blue, the glow is actually due to the light from the combustion of sulfuric gases.These gases emerge from cracks in the volcano at high pressure and temperature...

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