ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Moa or less: Extinct 'robust' birds of New Zealand might not have been so robust after all
• Tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events
• Companion's comets the key to curious exoplanet system?

Moa or less: Extinct 'robust' birds of New Zealand might not have been so robust after all Posted: 18 Dec 2013 02:08 PM PST Giant moa bird (Dinornis robustus, literally meaning 'robust strange bird') may not have actually had robust bones, according to new research. The leg bones of one of the tallest birds that ever existed were actually rather like those of its modern (but distant) relatives, such as ostrich, emu and rhea, the study shows.

Tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events Posted: 18 Dec 2013 08:29 AM PST Tropical forests reduce peak runoff during storms and release stored water during droughts, according to researchers in Panama. Their results lend credence to a controversial phenomenon known as the sponge effect, which is at the center of a debate about how to minimize flood damage and maximize water availability in the tropics.

Companion's comets the key to curious exoplanet system? Posted: 18 Dec 2013 06:58 AM PST The nearby star Fomalhaut A hosts the most famous planetary system outside our own Solar System, containing both an exoplanet and a spectacular ring of comets. Astronomers have just announced a new discovery with the Herschel Space Observatory that has made this system even more intriguing; the least massive star of the three in the Fomalhaut system, Fomalhaut C, has now been found to host its own comet belt.

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