science

Ever Wondered Why Birds Fly in V-Formations? Scientists May Have Just Figured it Out

Higher Learning

Scientists from the Royal Veterinary College may have just discovered the reasoning behind birds’ V-formations.

The researchers attached mini data-loggers to a group of bald ibises that were being re-taught a long-forgotten migration route as part of a project by the Waldarappteam in Austria to bring the bird back in its native European habitat (they were wiped out by hunting).

flying v2

The birds were being taught the migration route by following a micro-light that they had been previously trained to follow. The mini-loggers, meanwhile, kept track of the position, speed, direction and each individual wing-flap of every bird.

They discovered that by flying in a V, the birds save energy by taking advantage of upwash, the air that is pushed upwards at the birds’ wingtips. By flying just behind and to the side of the bird in front, an individual can use their upwash to make flight less strenuous.

flying v

The team discovered that…

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Futurelearn: Reflections on Week 2

I really enjoyed week two of the Climate Change course. Especially the BBC video on snowball Earth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/ancient_earth/Snowball_Earth

The coming together of geology, biology & climate science shows the huge breakthroughs science has made in the last twenty years. It’s getting very hard to be a climate change denier if you believe in science.

Amazing Discovery: Sub-Glacial Canyon Larger Than The Grand Canyon Found Under ANTARCTICA

Higher Learning

A sub-glacial canyon that is nearly two miles deep, 200 miles long and 15 miles wide has been discovered buried under “several kilometers of ice”, according to a new study published by a group of British scientists. The canyon/huge hole is buried under snow and ice and proportions are larger than even The Grand Canyon.

Dr. Neil Ross, a professor of geology at Newcastle University, lead and announced the discovery after collecting three seasons worth of data. The study appears in the latest edition of The Geological Society of America bulletin. According to Dr. Ross…

The discovery of this huge trough, and the characterization of the surrounding mountainous landscape, was incredibly serendipitous.”

The discovery came as Ross and a team of scientists and researchers from the British Antarctic Survey, the British Antarctic Survey, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Exeter, and the University of York spent three seasons…

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