SCHOOLS IN THE NEWS


Mammal growth Te extinction of dinosaurs 65 million


years ago allowed mammal growth to explode, say researches at the University of Calgary. Teir study, published in the journal Sci-


ence, is the first to map the growth pattern of mammals aſter the dinosaurs vanished. Tey found the average mammal size bal- looned to 1,000 times their body mass. During the dinosaur era, the maximum mammal weight was 10 kilograms. Twenty- five million years aſter the extinction, the maximum weight was 17 tonnes. “Within 25 million years the system is


reset to a new maximum for animals. Tat’s actually a pretty short time frame geologi- cally speaking,” says Jessica Teodor, associ- ate professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Calgary. Te size increase was caused by a surplus


in vegetation since dinosaurs were no longer kings of the treetops. Tis leſt a new food source for animals. Te new research disproves previous theories that the size increase was due to a rise in the mammal population. Te largest-ever- recorded land animal appears during this time. Indricotherium, a relative of the rhinoceros, weighed in at 17 tonnes. It was said to be 5.5 metres (18 feet) high at the shoulders, and eight metres long. Te largest African elephant ever- recorded weighed a mere 12 tonnes.


6 SMART careers | Early Spring 2011


Anti-matter Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons fans


will rejoice to learn that for the first time antimatter has been captured long enough to be studied, thanks to researchers at Ca- nadian universities. Te Canadian team, which included 13


members from the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Calgary and York Univer- sity, worked at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclean Research) labo- ratory in Geneva to secure antimatter in a magnetically charged container. Antimatter is created in a particle ac-


celerator when particles collide. Many scientists believe anti-matter holds the key to unravelling the big bang theory of how the universe began. Scientists can now figure out how antimatter is different from regular matter and why it doesn’t appear in the universe. Antimatter is very unstable. It’s annihi-


lated once it comes in contact with regular matter, creating pure energy which poses a problem for studying it. Tanks to the Canadian contribution, antimatter can be suspended in the magnetic container for days. Te next step is to conduct experiments on the trapped antimatter.


T. rex Tyrannosaurus rex had more than just


junk in its trunk. Te carnivore was prob- ably one of the fastest predators during the cretaceous period thanks to its muscular tail, says a study from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. “I’m confident T.rex was as fast as any


Olympic-calibre sprinter and it could likely run down any other large dinosaur,” says Scott Persons, a masters student in paleon- tology who conducted the study. Previously, scientists thought T.rex was


a rather slow-moving creature because of its size. Tey also underestimated the tail muscle mass by about 45 per cent compared to what Scott has determined, attributing its function as being for bal- ance instead of speed. However, Scott’s study shows the tail housed powerful muscles which were attached to the leg bones, which allowed it to move faster than originally thought. Scott looked at the muscles in the tails


of living reptiles like crocodiles and komodo dragons, and compared their mass-speed ratio to that of a T.rex. Al- though, Scott says it’s hard to pinpoint the exact speed of the T.rex, he expects it could outrun many other animals in its ecosystems.


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