Futurity.org » University of Southampton

Taxidermy mystery reveals ‘big cats’ in UK

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:14:00 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — The rediscovery of a lynx in a museum’s underground storeroom proves that a non-native “big cat” prowled the British countryside in the early 1900s.

Researchers analyzed the animal’s skeleton and mounted skin and found it to be a Canadian lynx—a carnivorous predator more than twice the size of a domestic cat.

Researcher Max Blake rediscovered the Canadian lynx among hundreds of thousands of specimens at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. According to the new study, records unearthed at the museum show that, in 1903, Edwardian curators mislabeled the animal as a Eurasian lynx—a close relative of the Canadian lynx.

Antarctic whale bones teem with critters

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:02:02 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — Scientists have discovered a whale skeleton in an undersea crater near Antarctica, as well as at least nine new species of deep-sea organisms thriving on the bones.

Samples revealed several new species of deep-sea creatures living on the whale’s remains, which were discovered almost a mile under the surface.

The researchers’ finds include a “bone-eating zombie worm” known as Osedax burrowing into the bones and a new species of isopod crustacean, similar to woodlice, crawling over the skeleton.

‘Honeycomb’ implant helps grow new bone

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:24:08 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — Shattered limbs may soon get a boost in healing from an implant made from stem cells and a lightweight plastic that degrades as the bone mends.

The new method uses bone stem cells combined with a degradable rigid material that inserts into broken bones, encouraging real bone to re-grow.

Switch to vegetable fats linked to death risk

Leslie Lang-UNC — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:51:55 +0000

UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US) — A new look at data missing from a 1966-73 study casts doubt on current dietary advice about vegetable fats and heart health.

For patients with heart disease, switching to polyunsaturated vegetable fats (PUFAs) from saturated animal fats is linked to an increased risk of death, report researchers in the British Journal of Medicine,

“These findings highlight the need to re-evaluate worldwide dietary advice to substitute omega 6 PUFAs for saturated fats,” says study co-author Daisy Zamora, a nutrition epidemiologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Fossils hold evidence of sexual selection

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:49:45 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — Comparisons with living animals make it possible for scientists to detect sexual selection among creatures in the fossil record, say researchers.

The term “sexual selection” refers to the evolutionary pressures that relate to a species’ ability to repel rivals, meet mates, and pass on genes. We can observe these processes happening in living animals, but how do paleontologists know that sexual selection operated in fossil ones?

Historically, paleontologists have thought it challenging, even impossible, to recognize sexual selection in extinct animals.

‘Bird-dinosaur’ could run, but didn’t fly

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:18:54 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — A new bird-like dinosaur from the Jurassic period adds to the debate on the origin of flight.

Over many years, it has become accepted among palaeontologists that birds evolved from a group of dinosaurs called theropods from the Early Cretaceous period of Earth’s history, around 120-130 million years ago.

Jellyfish ‘bloom’ may be a bust

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:22:02 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — The current global increase in jellyfish may be nothing more than a consequence of a normal 20-year fluctuation cycle.

Blooms, or proliferations, of jellyfish can show a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations—clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked cooling intake pipes for power plants—and recent media reports have created a perception that the world’s oceans are experiencing trending increases in jellyfish.

For bronchitis, antibiotic no better than placebo

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:37:51 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — The antibiotic amoxicillin is no more effective at relieving symptoms of common chest infections like bronchitis than the use of no medication at all, even in older patients.

“Patients given amoxicillin don’t recover much quicker or have significantly fewer symptoms,” explains Paul Little, professor of primary care research at the University of Southampton.

“Indeed, using amoxicillin to treat respiratory infections in patients not suspected of having pneumonia is not likely to help and could be harmful. Overuse of antibiotics, which is dominated by primary care prescribing, particularly when they are ineffective, can lead to side effects such as diarrhea, rash, vomiting, and the development of resistance.”

Bad bugs can’t swap genes on copper

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:36:41 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — New research shows that copper can prevent horizontal transmission of genes, which has contributed to the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant infections worldwide.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in bacteria is largely responsible for the development of antibiotic-resistance, which has led to an increasing number of difficult-to-treat healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs).

Volcanoes fire when hot, cold magma meet

Andrew Duff-Southampton — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:49:17 +0000

U. SOUTHAMPTON (UK) — When hotter and colder magma combine, they can set off the largest explosive volcanic eruptions on Earth, say researchers.

The Las Cañadas volcanic caldera on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, has generated at least eight major eruptions during the last 700,000 years.