Earthquake pushes up cluster of 10 new islands near Sumatra

The March earthquake that struck near Nias island off Sumatra was so powerful that it created about 10 new islands, Japan's Geographical Survey Institute said.

MORE ...

Sea monsters found in desert

Australia is emerging as a missing link in the evolution of giant prehistoric marine reptiles, says a scientist who has discovered what may be a new species of plesiosaur.

A team from the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum unearthed the remains of the creature in Queensland, at what was once a vast inland ocean.

Palaeontologist Dr Ben Kear says he thinks the reptile discovered at the Boulia site may be related to a group of long-necked plesiosaurs known as elasmosaurs.

Kear says teeth found on its jawbone provide the best clue that scientists are dealing with something new.

The jaw has a mouthful of "very large fangs" bunched together at the front and "no other plesiosaur ever discovered has teeth like that", Kear says.


More ...

Unpublished Jack Kerouac Play Discovered

An unpublished, three-act play by Jack Kerouac, based on his drunken Beat adventures, has been discovered recently and will be excerpted next month in BestLife magazine.

"The part we're excerpting will show Kerouac and Neal Cassady at a racetrack, and they're partying and gambling," Best Life editor-in-chief Stephen Perrine said Monday. "But they're also talking about reincarnation and other obsessions. It's more an exploration of their inner lives."

The entire play will be published this fall by Thunder's Mouth Press.

More ...

"New" giant ape found in DR Congo



The discovery has baffled scientists. There are three controversial possibilities to explain the origin of the mystery apes:

• They are a new species of ape
• They are giant chimpanzees, much larger than any so far recorded, but behave like gorillas
• They could be hybrids, the product of gorillas mating with chimpanzees.

So far, researchers have little to go on, but they now plan to return to northern DR Congo to study the apes further.

Primatologist Shelly Williams is thought to be the only scientist to have seen the apes.

During her visit to DR Congo two years ago, she says she captured them on video and located their nests.

She describes her encounter with them: "Four suddenly came rushing out of the bush towards me," she told New Scientist.

"If this had been a bluff charge, they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet. And they were huge. They were coming in for the kill. I was directly in front of them, and as soon as they saw my face, they stopped and disappeared."

More ...

Scientists find new Indian monkey

"What is also remarkable about our discovery is that few would have thought that with over a billion people and retreating wild lands, a new large mammal species would ever be found in India, of all places.

"This region of Arunachal Pradesh, with its rugged mountains and extensive forest cover, is truly one of India's last wild places, one that merits protection at both regional and international levels."

More ...

Scientists say Sumatra quake longest ever recorded

"Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds (at least 10 minutes)," said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State University.

More ...

New Species of Rodent Found in Laos

"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary. For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered," Timmins said.

Very little is known about the kha-nyou, other than it seems to prefer areas of limestone outcroppings and forest cover and appears to be a nocturnal vegetarian. It also gives birth to one offspring at a time, rather than a litter.
More...