Researchers writing in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology say they have discovered an 11 million-year-old species of Pliopithecus primate, Pliopithecus canmatensis, in the Vallès-Penedès basin in Catalonia.

Named in honor of the place they were discovered in Catalonia, the new fossil species sheds light on the evolution of the superfamily of the Pliopithecoidea, primates that include various genera of basal Catarrhini, a group that diverged before the separation of the two current superfamilies of the group: the cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys) and the hominoids (anthromorphs and humans); and which prospered in Eurasia during the Early and Late Miocene (between 23.5 and 5.3 million years ago).

The ESO's VISTA telescope has captured a stunning new image of the Cat's Paw Nebula - NGC 6334.

The view in the infrared is strikingly different from that in visible light. With dust obscuring the view far less, astronomers can learn much more about how stars in the nebula form and develop in their first few million years of life.

NGC 6334 is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and lies toward the heart of the Milky Way, 5500 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion).

The future effects of global warming could be significantly altered over very small distances by local air movements in complex or mountainous terrain, according to a new paper in the International Journal of Climatology.

Based on a regional temperature increase of about 5 degrees projected for western Oregon by 2100, scientists say that some locations, such as mountain ridge tops, could actually increase as much as 14 degrees at some times, while cold air pools in the valleys below them with temperature increases similar to the regional average.

I just received edition 1.1 of the "TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit Assembly Guide".  Rather than reprinting the entire 50-page instruction set, I decided to rewrite it as "Building Tubey, the Picosatellite", in faux children book style.

Welcome, kids!  Although Tubey the Picosatellite is very complex, we're going to build him with just a few steps.  Right now, we have his clothes-- a bare metal cylinder that Tubey has to fit into.  He'll get rid of his 'clothes' after launch, though.  Yes, Tubey flies naked!

Welcome To The Science Party

Today, 20 April, sees the launch of The Science Party, a new political party led by bestselling author and New Scientist consultant Dr Michael Brooks. Brooks is standing for the party in the forthcoming British general election in the East Midlands constituency of Bosworth.

Brooks launched The Science Party, whose slogan is “Because Science Matters”, at a Skeptics event in Leicester on Tuesday evening.