December 14, 2011


Good Morning,

Here's a neat article for you: the world's smallest frog has been discovered in New Guinea, measuring less than a third of an inch long! Check out the details in the first article.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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World's smallest frog species found

HONOLULU - A U.S. researcher says he's discovered the world's smallest frogs in southeastern New Guinea, with adults less than a third of an inch long. Researcher Fred Kraus from the Bishop Museum in Honolulu said the frogs belong to the genus Paedophryne, all of whose species are extremely small. "Miniaturization occurs in many frog genera around the world," he said, "but New Guinea seems particularly well represented, with species in seven genera exhibiting the phenomenon." Kraus discovered the first species of Paedophryne in 2002 from nearby areas in New Guinea. The four known species -- including the two new smallest, Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa -- all inhabit small ranges in the mountains of southeastern New Guinea or adjacent, offshore islands, he said. "Although most frog genera have only a few diminutive representatives mixed among larger relatives, Paedophryne is unique in that all species are minute," Kraus said. The finding was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.


'God particle': Grasping the cosmos

GENEVA, Switzerland - Finally glimpsing the most coveted prize in particle physics could be a turning point in understanding the universe, U.S. and European scientists say. The elusive, and so far hypothetical yet massive, Higgs boson elementary particle -- sometimes called "the God particle" because it could be a basic building block of the universe from which all other particles are made -- would vindicate the modern theory of how the fundamental particles that make up atoms get mass, scientists say. Two competing armies of scientists sifting debris from hundreds of trillions of proton collisions in the world's largest particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider, were expected to report at 8 a.m. EST Tuesday seeing hints of the Higgs. Their glimpses -- at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, northwest of Geneva, Switzerland -- could lead the way to a conclusive statement about the Higgs' existence when more data are gathered next year, CERN scientists said in a statement. The significance of finding the last remaining particle-physics particle not yet observed experimentally would go far beyond understanding how atoms could develop mass and become a basic unit of all matter, scientists say. "The thing about the Higgs is that we always say we need it to explain mass. But the real importance of it is that we need it to make sense of the universe," particle physicist Tara Shears of the University of Liverpool told BBC News. "Discovering the Higgs confirms that the approach we have been taking to understand the Universe is correct," she said. University of California, Riverside, physicist Gail Hanson -- currently at the CERN particle physics laboratory as part of a U.S. research team -- told The Christian Science Monitor, "This is the one thing that hasn't been found that we need in the Standard Model" if it is to underpin a "theory of everything." The Standard Model catalogs fundamental electromagnetic and nuclear interactions that mediate the dynamics of subatomic particles, describing how particles and forces interact. A model theory speculates that as the universe cooled after the big bang -- the moment at which many scientists think the universe began with the explosion of a superdense primeval atom -- an invisible force known as the Higgs field formed together with its associated boson particle. It is this field -- and not the boson -- that gives mass to the fundamental particles that make up atoms, the theory hypothesizes.


Asian region yields species new to science

GLAND, Switzerland - More than 200 species newly discovered in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region have been described by science, a World Wide Fund for Nature report says. A total of 145 plants, 28 reptiles, 25 fish, seven amphibians, two mammals and one bird species were discovered in the region, which spans Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, a WWF release said Monday. Despite the numerous discoveries, the Mekong's wildlife and habitats are under threat from rapid, unsustainable development and climate change, the organization said. Species will keep disappearing without greater efforts to green the region's economies, conservationists said, citing the extinction of the Javan rhino in Vietnam as an example of the decline of biodiversity in the region. "This report is an affirmation of what we know -- that the Greater Mekong offers unparalleled diversity in nature -- and what must be done," Rebecca Ng of WWF's Greater Mekong Program said. "The rich natural treasures of the region could be lost if regional governments don't recognize that protecting biodiversity is an investment to ensure long-term sustainability, especially in the face of global environmental change."


System could be 'brain' for Mars rovers

DIDCOT, England - British scientists have announced a project they say could allow Mars rovers to roam autonomously around the planet. The Seeker system was designed by engineers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot as part of the European Space Agency's exploration efforts, the BBC reported. It would allow a vehicle "to travel under its own steam with its own intelligence around a 6 kilometer (4-mile) route," engineer Kim Ward said. Conventional rovers must follow commands sent from mission control on Earth that take 30 minutes to arrive at the Red Planet. Seeker is designed to guide a rover Mars' hostile terrain autonomously to gather data. Aron Kisbi, 24, a systems engineer at Appleton, called the system a leap forward after recent tests. "We put the robot in the target area, leave it out there and it does the whole journey by itself, and that is what is really novel about the project," he said.

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