Argentine dinosaur paved way for T. rex: scientists

A small predator that hunted in South America 230 million years ago represents one of the earliest-known dinosaurs and foreshadowed later meat-eating beasts like Tyrannosaurus rex, according to scientists from Argentina and the United States. In findings published on Friday in the journal Science, they described the discovery of a dinosaur called Eodromaeus, meaning "dawn runner." It was a modest creature -- measuring about 4 feet long and weighing only 10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kg) -- that walked on two legs and possessed a long neck and tail, sharp claws and saber-shaped teeth. But the scientists said it paved the way for some true monsters like T. rex. Tyrannosaurus, which lived at the very end of the age of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, approached 50 feet in length and weighed about 6 tonnes. The scientists found the fossilized remains of Eodromaeus in Argentina's "Valley of the Moon," a region that has provided a glimpse into some of the earliest days of the dinosaurs during the Triassic period. "The dawn of the age of dinosaurs is coming into focus," Argentine paleontologist Ricardo Martinez, one of the scientists, said in a statement. Eodromaeus was very close to the root of the dinosaur family tree, but already boasted features typical of the later meat-eating dinosaurs. "It really is the earliest look we have at the long line of meat eaters that would ultimately culminate in Tyrannosaurus rex near the end of the dinosaur era," University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, who also took part in the study, said in a statement. "Who could foretell what evolution had in store for the descendants of this pint-sized, fleet-footed predator?" Sereno added. Two near-complete skeletons were found side-by-side in 1996 in a desert area in western Argentina, but scientists had to study the fossils thoroughly to determine that they belonged to a previously unknown dinosaur. The scientists said Eodromaeus lived alongside another very early dinosaur called Eoraptor, a similar-sized creature that ate plants whose descendants eventually would include giant, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs like Apatosaurus and the truly gargantuan Argentinosaurus. Eodromaeus, with its stabbing canine teeth and sharp-clawed grasping hands, was a precursor to the dinosaur meat-eaters called theropods, like T. rex, Allosaurus and Giganotosaurus, as well as to birds, the scientists said. While dinosaurs eventually became the dominant land animals on Earth, these earliest ones were certainly not the masters of their universe. There were many larger reptiles living alongside them that would have easily turned them into a meal. "We're looking at a snapshot of early dinosaur life. Their storied evolutionary careers are just unfolding, but at this point they're actually quite similar," Sereno said.

Scientists seek climate clues in shattered glass

Studying the way glass or other brittle objects shatter can help scientists hone their weather forecasts and predictions of future climate, a study released on Tuesday says.

Scientists say on way to solving anti-matter mystery

GENEVA: European scientists reported the creation and capture of anti-hydrogen atoms in a novel magnetic trap and said it put them on track to solving one of the great cosmic mysteries -- the make-up of anti-matter.

Anti-matter is of intense interest outside the global scientific community because it has often been cited as a potential source of boundless and almost cost-free energy.

The announcement from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, came just three weeks after another of the three teams working separately on the problem at the particle research centre near Geneva said they had briefly made and caught the elusive atoms for the first time.

"With these alternative methods of producing and eventually studying anti-hydrogen, anti-matter will not be able to hide its properties from us for much longer," said Yasunori Yamazaki of the team that scored the latest breakthrough.

Anti, or neutral, matter is believed to have been created in the same quantities as conventional matter -- the substance of everything visible in the universe including life on earth -- at the moment of the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.

A theme of much science fiction, it was only discovered by U.S. physicist David Anderson in 1932.

As the latest breakthrough was reported, CERN engineers were closing down the centre's showpiece Large Hadron Collider or LHC for a two-month break after eight months of scientific success in research into how the universe began.

CERN's Director-General Rolf Heuer said that new discoveries were rolling in so fast that it was likely the initial phase of LHC operations would be stretched to the end of 2012, a year longer than planned.

His deputy Sergio Bertolucci said the LHC was moving rapidly into totally new territories of scientific knowledge and the coming months could bring real insight into the "dark matter" that makes up 25 percent of the universe.

Physicists and cosmologists speculate that "dark matter" -- so called because it reflects no light and cannot be seen -- could account for at least some of the missing anti-matter, particles which were first spotted at CERN in 2002.

Some suggest it may have also some relation to the "dark energy" that constitutes about 70 percent of the universe leaving only 5 percent for the visible parts -- galaxies, stars and planets -- that can be observed from earth or nearby.

Monday's announcement said the "ASACUSA" experiment, in a CERN storage ring known as the Antiproton Decelerator or AD, captured "significant numbers" of anti-hydrogen atoms in flight in a particle trap called CUSP.

Last month the parallel, and complementary, ALPHA experiment at the AD captured 38 anti-hydrogen atoms in flight and held them fleetingly, making possible initial observations of their properties and behaviour.

New equipment developed by ASACUSA, ALPHA and a third experiment, ATRAP, has overcome the problem that prevented close study of anti-particles until now -- the fact that when they meet other matter they self-destruct.

No worries of major quake in Midwest: scientist

CHICAGO: The New Madrid seismic zone will not produce a major earthquake in the U.S. Midwest for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, according to a geologist and author of a new book on the topic, "Disaster Deferred."

Scientists say Asia's corals dying on mass

SYDNEY: Coral reefs in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean are dying from the worst bleaching effect in more than a decade, Australian marine scientists said.

German scientists unveil self-driving car

BERLIN: Scientists in Germany unveiling the latest self-driven car on Wednesday said the days of humans behind the wheel are numbered and that their technology can slash accidents and help the environment.