A huge crustacean has been found lurking 7km down in the waters off the coast of New Zealand.

The creature – called a supergiant – is a type of amphipod, which are normally around 2-3cm long.

But these beasts, discovered in the Kermadec Trench, were more than 10 times bigger: the largest found measured in at 34cm.

Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, said: “It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach.”

“I stopped and thought: ‘What on Earth was that?’ This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible.”

Source: ‘Supergiant’ crustacean found in deepest ocean

World's smallest frog discovered

A frog species that appears to be the world’s smallest has been discovered in Papua New Guinea by a US-based team.

At 7mm (0.27 inches) long, Paedophryne amauensis may be the world’s smallest vertebrate – the group that includes mammals, fish, birds and amphibians.

The researchers also found a slightly larger relative, Paedophryne swiftorum.

Presenting the new species in PLoS One journal, they suggest the frogs’ tiny scale is linked to their habitat, in leaf litter on the forest floor.

Source: World’s smallest frog discovered

Below are a couple of short videos, one about M-theory and why such a theory would make God Unnecessary, and the second is 10 intriguing questions from Time.

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More great links:
Stephen Hawking at 70: Fellow scientists pay tribute
As cosmologists gather in Cambridge to honour Stephen Hawking on his 70th birthday, they share their recollections of meeting and working with him.

As Stephen Hawking turns 70, six life lessons you should learn from him
Physicist, cosmologist and obsessor of black holes Stephen Hawking turns 70 Sunday, despite a diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease that doctors said would kill him almost five decades ago. Many scientists are taking the birthday as a chance to reflect on what the man taught us in his brilliant career

Stephen Hawking – The Official Website!

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The video shows wild mountain gorillas visiting an ecotourism tented camp, the guy ‘John’ is speechless as the baby gorillas touch him and it also looks like one of them kisses him on the cheek!

I guess the more they interact with humans, especially the younger gorillas, the more tame they will become, which might not be such a good idea.

90mph winds blew foam up to 3 feet deep in places – but the foam is far from fun, as it’s oily and stains cloths and even cars!

Crazy Foam is Snow Joke!

IT looks like a carwash gone out of control – and the truth really has got locals in a lather.

The oily bubbles were blown ashore after 90mph winds battered the resort of Cleveleys, near Blackpool.

In places the freak foam was almost 3ft deep, trapping residents in their homes and stranding drivers.

Resident Gorden Stanley said: “The situation with the foam is horrendous, normally it happens once every few years but it has been like this three times this year.

“It is oil based so it is terrible for your car and stains your clothes and windows, people don’t like to go out of the house in it.

Crazy Foam is Snow Joke!

Last night the Environment Agency was probing the foam to check for polluting material. A spokesman said: “We have taken samples of the foam as obviously if this is caused by any kind of polluting material, we need to know about it.

“Early samples are not showing any trace of detergent so we think it could be the combination of decomposing algal matter churned with the tide and the westerly wind which is causing the foam.

Source: Freak foam storm swamps seaside resort of Cleveleys

China plans to put astronaut on the moon

China has declared its intention to land an astronaut on the moon, in the first official confirmation of its aim to go where Americans last set foot nearly 40 years ago.

While Chinese scientists have previously discussed the possibility of a manned lunar mission, a government white paper published on Thursday is the first public government document to enshrine it as a policy goal.

China will “conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing”, the white paper said.
Although a manned moon mission is still some time off – Chinese experts say after 2020 – the statement highlights Beijing’s soaring ambitions just five months after the US retired its space shuttle programme.

Source: China push to put astronaut on the moon (FT.com)

New Island among the Zubair archipelago

The island – essentially lava that cooled after breaking through the water’s surface – began forming this month (December 2011) between Yemen and Eritrea among the Zubair archipelago, a group of small islands that come from a submarine shield volcano.

Source: Eruption creates new island in Red Sea

Zubair archipelago before the new island was formed

An eruption occurred in the Red Sea in December 2011. According to news reports, fishermen witnessed lava fountains reaching up to 30 meters (90 feet) tall on December 19. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites observed plumes on December 20 and December 22. Meanwhile, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite detected elevated levels of sulfur dioxide, further indicating an eruption.

The activity in the Red Sea included more than an eruption. By December 23, 2011, what looked like a new island appeared in the region. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured these high-resolution, natural-color images on December 23, 2011 (top), and October 24, 2007 (bottom). The image from December 2011 shows an apparent island where there had previously been an unbroken water surface. A thick plume rises from the island, dark near the bottom and light near the top, perhaps a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapor.

The volcanic activity occurred along the Zubair Group, a collection of small islands off the west coast of Yemen. Running in a roughly northwest-southeast line, the islands poke above the sea surface, rising from a shield volcano. This region is part of the Red Sea Rift where the African and Arabian tectonic plates pull apart and new ocean crust regularly forms.

Source: Nasa

40ft Sperm Whale on Norfolk Beach

A 40ft sperm whale has been washed up dead on an East Anglian beach, with what appears to be a large gash in its stomach.

The sand around its tail did not appear disturbed, suggesting the creature was dead before the tide carried it onto the sands at Old Hunstanton, Norfolk.

Large crowds gathered to see the whale, which is near the high tide mark.

A spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue said it may have been the same whale which had been seen dead on the RAF’s bombing range on the other side of the estuary, at Holbeach, some weeks ago.

Scientists from the Zoological Society have already taken samples from the animal, which will be left to be carried away by the tide to decompose naturally.

Updated: Video of Sperm Whale on Old Hunstanton Beach

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