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Fossil name honours Don Merton [Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand)](Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Several science stories have passed under the public radar recently. New Zealand's New Parrots Four new kinds of fossil parrots have just been discovered in Otago. Te Papa's Alan Tennyson, Canterbury's Paul Scofield and ex- Kiwi Trevor Worthy report three of these birds were the size of parakeets, the other as big as a kea. No complete skeletons were found - just odd bones. These fossils add to the long list of birds, fish, frogs, reptiles and mammals that fell to the bottom of a gigantic lake near St Bathans 16 to 19 million years ago. The palaeontologists named one of the parrots Nelepsittacus donmertoni to commemorate the late Don Merton in recognition of his contribution to the conservation of New Zealand birds, particularly the kakapo. No-go Solar Panels Two big solar panel manufacturers in the US have gone bust this month. The high-profile start-up firm Solyndra, based in California, makes thin-film cylindrical photovoltaic modules to be installed on commercial roof-tops. Last year the firm was given a US$535-million loan guarantee by the US Department of Energy to expand manufacturing capacity but a fortnight ago the firm filed for bankruptcy. Two weeks before another big solar panel manufacturing business, Evergreen Solar, of Massachusetts, also filed for bankruptcy. Both firms say they can't compete with cheaper Chinese products. Iran's Commercial Nuclear Power Plant Nobody seems to have noticed Iranian workers connected that country's contentious 1000-megawatt nuclear reactor to the grid on September 4. The plant was begun by the German company Siemens in 1975. Work halted in 1979 after the revolution and suffered repeated delays for years until Russia agreed to complete the job. Iran's nuclear programme has been the centre of a geopolitical storm for a decade, but the switch-on went without public comment. Brits Warm To Nuclear Power A poll suggests that support for nuclear power in Britain increased in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Over 40 per cent of respondents said the benefits outweighed the risks. GM Honey Concern A European Court has just ruled that honey containing trace amounts of pollen from genetically modified plants can no longer be sold in the European Union. The decision could boost the chances of honey imports from GM-free NZ. New Planets European astronomers have just announced the discovery of more than 50 planets orbiting distant stars, including one that probably harbours liquid water and sits in the "Goldilocks" or human habitable zone. New Missing Link Three years ago nine-year-old Matthew Berger discovered some ancient human- like bones in a South African cave. Further searches by his anthropologist father, Dr Lee Berger, uncovered an almost complete right hand, a foot and a pelvis estimated to have lain in the cave for two million years. The fossil has raised a stir in palaeoanthropological circles because of its mixture of apelike and manlike features. Given the name Homo sideba the fossils are the best link so far between apes and early humans. (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |