Hidden superchain of volcanoes discovered in Australia

Scientists have just found the world's longest chain of volcanoes on a continent, hiding in plain sight. The newly discovered Australian volcano chain isn't a complete surprise, though: Geologists have long known of small, separate chains of volcanic activity on the island continent. However, new research reveals a hidden hotspot once churned beneath regions with no signs of surface volcanism, connecting these separate strings of volcanoes into one megachain. That 1,240-mile-long chain of fire spanned most of eastern Australia, from Hillsborough in the north, where rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef, to the island of Tasmania in the south. "The track is nearly three times the length of the famous Yellowstone hotspot...

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Double whammy: 2 meteors hit ancient Earth at the same time

It's not altogether uncommon to hear about double rainbows, but what about a double meteor strike? It's a rare event, but researchers in Sweden recently found evidence that two meteors smacked into Earth at the same time, about 458 million years ago. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg uncovered two craters in the county of Jämtland in central Sweden. The meteors that formed the craterslanded just a few miles from each other at the same moment, according to Erik Sturkell, a professor of geophysics at the University of Gothenburg and one of the scientists who is studying the newfound craters. When the meteors slammed into Earth, Jämtland was just a seafloor, about 1,600 feet below the surface of the water. One of the craters...

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The cute and complicated science of raising twin pandas

The little panda was cold, low energy and having trouble breathing before its heart stopped beating. But the zoo baby left an indelible mark on its caretakers and admirers before it died, just days after being born to mother Mei Xiang, along with its brother. During its short life, the twin rode atop a lacrosse stick, snuggled with its mother and fed from a bottle, the last of which may have led to its demise. The final necropsy results aren't complete, but the butter-stick-size panda likely died when fluid got into its lungs and caused inflammation, a condition called aspiration pneumonia. Veterinarians are unsure whether the cub got the condition during a bottle-feeding blunder or from formula it regurgitated, said Dr. Donald Neiffer,...

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How armored dinosaur got its bone-bashing tail

Armored, squat, and built like a tank, ankylosaurs were a type of dinosaur known for their bony, protective exterior and distinct, sledgehammer-shaped tails. Now, scientists have pieced together how the animals' rear-end weapons evolved, finding that the hammer's "handle" came first. Ankylosaurs were a group of bulky, tanklike dinosaurs with bony plates covering much of their bodies. Some of these animals — a subgroup known as ankylosaurids — also came equipped with a weaponized tail club as well. "Ankylosaur tail clubs are made of two parts of the body," said study lead author Victoria Arbour, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural...

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Surprise! Newfound venomous spider drops in on scientists

Most people likely wouldn't react well to being surprised by a venomous spider, but recently, scientists at Booderee National Park, on the southern coast of Australia, were excited when a highly venomous funnel-web spider showed up unannounced.    Many species of funnel-web spiders, named for their funnel-shaped webs, are indigenous to Australia, but only one of these species, the Sydney funnel-web spider, is known to live in Booderee National Park. Sydney funnel-webs (Atrax robustus) are ground-dwelling spiders with highly venomous bites that, before the development of an anti-venom, posed a serious medical risk to humans. Funnel-webs, including Atrax robustus, were believed to be responsible for at least 13...

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Bird mummy's secret: Why raptor was force-fed by ancient Egyptians

Its last meal wasn't pleasant. A mouse tail was lodged in its throat when it died. Semi-digested flesh and fur still remained in its stomach when it was wrapped in mummy bandages. A new autopsy reveals that overeating choked and killed this unfortunate raptor from ancient Egypt. Scientists suspect that Egyptians force-fed the bird so they could offer it to the sun god Ra as a votive mummy. Mummification wasn't reserved for people in Egypt. The archaeological record is full of examples of cats, dogs, crocodiles and birds that were mummified and used as religious offerings to their corresponding animal gods, a practice that was popular from about 600 B.C. until around A.D. 250, well into the Roman period. Salima Ikram, a professor...

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Hummingbirds use hawks for home security

Tiny hummingbird nests, with their coffee-bean-size eggs, are a tempting treat for predators. But a new study finds that hummingbirds have evolved a clever approach to home security: They use hawks as guard dogs. About 80 percent of the hummingbird nests built in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona are clustered near hawk nests, the researchers said. And location matters: When hummingbird nests are built near hawks, the nests have a daily survival rate of 31 percent. Outside of hawk territory, the daily survival rate drops to a mere 6 percent, one study found. Harold Greeney, a biologist and the founder and director of the Yanayacu Biological Station Cosanga in Ecuador, and his colleagues first published that finding in The...

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Time for flu vaccine, updated after misery of last winter

It's time for flu shots again, and health officials expect to avoid a repeat of the misery last winter, when immunizations weren't a good match for a nasty surprise strain. More than 170 million doses of flu vaccine are expected this year, with options ranging from traditional shots, a nasal spray, a high-dose version for seniors and even a needle-free injection for the squeamish. "Getting the flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself against the flu," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview Thursday. Last year's flu season was especially rough, as a harsh new Type A strain burst on the scene after vaccine doses already were brewed, leaving them less effective than usual....

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Scientists look to re-animate ancient, giant 'Frankenvirus' found in Siberia

It’s alive! Or that’s what scientists might say when they reanimate the so-called “frankenvirus,” a 30,000-year-old giant virus that was discovered in Siberia. The French researchers behind the find – published this week in PNAS, the journal from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences – warn that climate change could reawaken dangerous microscopic pathogens, reports Agence France-Presse. Since 2003, the virus, known as Mollivirus sibericum, is the fourth kind of prehistoric virus unearthed overall, and the second one discovered by the research team. Related: Giant virus resurrected from permafrost after 30,000 years The scientists made it clear that they must assess whether the virus could lead to diseases that are...

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Lilly diabetes drug slashes deaths 32 percent in heart-risk patients

Eli Lilly and Co's new Jardiance pill slashed deaths by 32 percent in a study of 7,000 patients with type 2 diabetes at risk of heart attack and stroke, a finding that researchers said could make it a mainstay diabetes treatment.  "This is the first diabetes therapy to show robust effect in reducing cardiovascular death. It really is big news," said Dr. Bernard Zinman, director of the Diabetes Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, who led the 3-year study. Zinman, in an interview, predicted the study would prompt medical societies to recommend in their treatment guidelines that Jardiance be used for type 2 diabetics that have a history of heart disease or are at risk of cardiovascular events. The once-a-day drug, developed...

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Energy drinks tied to brain injuries in teens

Teens who drink energy drinks a lot are more likely to get head injuries than those who don't consume the highly caffeinated beverages, a new study from Canada suggests. Researchers analyzed information from a survey of more than 10,000 middle and high school students ages 11 to 20 in Ontario in 2013. Students were asked about their energy drink consumption, as well as whether they had experienced atraumatic brain injury (TBI), meaning they had sustained a blow to the head that left them unconscious for at least 5 minutes, or resulted in an overnight hospital stay. About 22 percent of students said they had experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in their lifetimes, and 6 percent said they'd had a TBI in the last year. Most of these...

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Rare identical triplet boys born in New York

A Long Island, New York, family welcomed the newest additions to their family in July: identical triplets, a 1 in 50 million occurrence. The boys, born Wednesday, July 1, were introduced to the world by their parents on Thursday, Fox5NY reported. In addition to Owen Michael (2 pounds, 14 ounces), Noah Charles (2 pounds, 15 ounces) and Miles John (2 pounds, 12 ounces), Jason and Kelli Fenley are parents to Aidan, 3. Kelli, 33, told Fox5NY that she keeps the boys on a hospital-created schedule, including bathing them every other night, feeding them every three hours, and putting them down for naps immediately after they eat...

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How to diagnose delirium in less than 40 seconds

Health researchers have figured out how to identify whether elderly hospital patients are suffering from delirium with nearly complete accuracy in about the same amount of time as it takes to read this paragraph, according to a new studypublished yesterday in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Delirium is a serious problem for elderly patients, who may arrive at the hospital mentally sound only to develop delirium during their stay, possibly from medications or poor sleep, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "Delirium can be very costly and deadly—and with high-risk patients, time matters," Penn State professor Donna Fick says in a press release. Doctors and nurses currently use a 3-minute test to diagnose delirium,...

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