Spotted | Common News Update

Sep32018 by adminNo Comments

Tropical sunfish spotted in Highland waters

A fish normally found in tropical waters has twice been spotted off the west coast of Scotland last week.It is the fourth time this year that the sunfish has been recorded by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust.The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 2,200lbs (998kg).The species was recorded on Friday by the crew of a fishing boat off the north coast of Skye. A sunfish was also seen off Ardnamurchan on Wednesday.Sunfish, which drift with ocean currents, were once rarely seen in Scotland, but boat operators have reported more sightings in recent years, with August being the peak month.They live on a diet of mostly jellyfish and swim at depths of up to nearly 2,000ft (610m). ...

Jul172018 by adminNo Comments

Iceberg looming over Greenland village spotted from space

Technology

An iceberg that drifted perilously close to a remote Greenland village is so big it can be seen from space. The European Space Agency released an image Tuesday showing the giant iceberg just off the coast of Innaarsuit. Dozens of village residents were evacuated to higher ground last week due to concerns the 11 million-ton iceberg might break apart and produce waves large enough to wash away low-lying buildings. The image captured July 9 by ESA's Sentinel-2 satellites shows several other large icebergs in the vicinity. Separately, Greenland's broadcaster KNR published video taken by a local resident showing a time lapse of the iceberg drifting past the village. KNR reported that strong winds and elevated tides moved the iceberg northward, away from the harbor, over the weekend. —&#...

Jun272018 by adminNo Comments

Signatures of complex organic molecules spotted on Saturn's moon Enceladus

Science

June 27 (UPI) -- Scientists have found evidence of complex organic molecules on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The chemical signals were identified among spectrometry data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. "We are, yet again, blown away by Enceladus," Christopher Glein, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, said in a news release. "Previously we'd only identified the simplest organic molecules containing a few carbon atoms, but even that was very intriguing." The new data revealed the presence of complex organic molecules with masses greater than 200 atomic mass units. "That's over ten times heavier than methane," Glein said. "With complex organic molecules emanating from its liquid water ocean, this moon is the only body besides Earth known to simultaneously satisfy all...

May272018 by adminNo Comments

Breast screen error 'could have been spotted earlier'

Health

Tens of thousands more women in England may have missed out on breast screening invitations dating back further than previously thought, according to a leading cancer expert.Earlier this month, the health secretary said a 2009 computer failure may have shortened up to 270 lives.But Prof Peter Sasieni said the problems go back to 2005, and could have been spotted earlier. Public Health England said his analysis was "flawed".And it said an independent review would look at all aspects of the breast screening service.PHE discovered in January that some women aged 68-71 had not received their final invitation for breast screening.Jeremy Hunt told the Commons that 450,000 women were affected between 2009 and the start of 2018.Prof Sasi...

Mar32018 by adminNo Comments

Penguin super-colony spotted from space

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your deviceScientists have stumbled across a huge group of previously unknown Adélie penguins on the most northerly point of the Antarctic Peninsula.Numbering more than 1.5 million birds, they were first noticed when great patches of their poo, or guano, showed up in pictures taken from space.The animals are crammed on to a rocky archipelago called the Danger Islands.The researchers, who detail the discovery in the journal Scientific Reports, say it is a total surprise. "It's a classic case of finding something where no-one really looked! The Danger Islands are hard to reach, so people didn't really try that hard," team-member Dr Tom Hart from Oxford University, UK, told BBC News.The scientists used an algorithm to search images from the American Landsat sp