She was Queen of England for nine days in 1553, but historians have had to rely on contemporary descriptions of Lady Jane Grey's appearance as no portrait was thought to have survived from her lifetime.
Now a miniature measuring less than 2in (5cm) in diameter has been identified as a portrait of England's briefest monarch. It had languished in an American collection, its subject described as "unknown woman".
After 12 months of research, David Starkey, the Tudor specialist, believes that it is a contemporary portrait of Lady Jane Grey, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII who was deposed and beheaded by Mary I. "Jane need not remain one of history's invisible women," Dr Starkey said.
Science & Technology
RALEIGH, North Carolina -- A shipwreck off the North Carolina coast believed to be that of notorious pirate Blackbeard could be fully excavated in three years, officials working on the project said.
"That's really our target," Steve Claggett, the state archaeologist, said Friday while discussing 10 years of research that has been conducted since the shipwreck was found just off Atlantic Beach.
"That's really our target," Steve Claggett, the state archaeologist, said Friday while discussing 10 years of research that has been conducted since the shipwreck was found just off Atlantic Beach.
Sky watchers across the world have been enjoying the first total lunar eclipse in more than three years.
The eclipse began at 2018 GMT, with the Moon totally immersed in the shadow of the Earth between 2244 and 2358 GMT.
During "totality" the moon appeared reddish in colour, as only light that had been filtered through the Earth's atmosphere reached the Moon's surface.
The eclipse was visible from the whole of Europe, Africa, South America, and eastern parts of the US and Canada.
The coppery red Moon was visible across large areas of the UK thanks to clear skies.
The eclipse began at 2018 GMT, with the Moon totally immersed in the shadow of the Earth between 2244 and 2358 GMT.
During "totality" the moon appeared reddish in colour, as only light that had been filtered through the Earth's atmosphere reached the Moon's surface.
The eclipse was visible from the whole of Europe, Africa, South America, and eastern parts of the US and Canada.
The coppery red Moon was visible across large areas of the UK thanks to clear skies.
It's food scarcity, not dietary preferences, that motivates birds to migrate thousands of miles back and forth between breeding and non-breeding areas each year, new research shows.
"It's not whether you eat insects, fruit, nectar or candy bars or where you eat them - it matters how reliable that food source is from day-to-day," said study leader W. Alice Boyle of the University of Arizona.
To figure out the underlying pressures that drive some birds to leave home for the season, Boyle examined 379 related species of New World flycatchers and compared their size, food type, habitat, migratory behavior and whether or not they fed in flocks.
(New World flycatchers are one of the largest groups of birds in the Americas and include kingbirds, flycatchers, phoebes, manakins and cotingas.)
"It's not whether you eat insects, fruit, nectar or candy bars or where you eat them - it matters how reliable that food source is from day-to-day," said study leader W. Alice Boyle of the University of Arizona.
To figure out the underlying pressures that drive some birds to leave home for the season, Boyle examined 379 related species of New World flycatchers and compared their size, food type, habitat, migratory behavior and whether or not they fed in flocks.
(New World flycatchers are one of the largest groups of birds in the Americas and include kingbirds, flycatchers, phoebes, manakins and cotingas.)
What gruesome fate awaits our universe? Some physicists have argued that it is doomed to be ripped apart by runaway dark energy, while others think it is bouncing through an endless series of big bangs and big crunches. Now these two ideas are being combined to create another option, in which our universe ultimately shatters into billions of pieces, with each shard growing into a whole new universe. The model could solve the mystery of why our early universe was surprisingly well ordered.
One of the problems that cosmological models must explain revolves around the amount of disorder in the way that particles in our universe are arranged, which is marked by a quantity called entropy. Cosmologists believe that the universe started out in an ordered, low-entropy state after the big bang, and is gradually becoming more of a mess. But just why it started out so well ordered, when it is much more likely for particles and energy to be created in a greater state of disarray, is something of a puzzle.
One of the problems that cosmological models must explain revolves around the amount of disorder in the way that particles in our universe are arranged, which is marked by a quantity called entropy. Cosmologists believe that the universe started out in an ordered, low-entropy state after the big bang, and is gradually becoming more of a mess. But just why it started out so well ordered, when it is much more likely for particles and energy to be created in a greater state of disarray, is something of a puzzle.
A team of researchers from Oxford University has discovered that English apples may have originated from a forest on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China.
They may be thought of as quintessentially English, but many of the apples that grow in British gardens, such as the Cox's Orange Pippin and the Discovery may have originated in central Asia, scientists claim.
A team of researchers from Oxford University has found that the DNA of English apples is nearly identical to that of apples growing in the Tian Shan forest on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China.
The team, led by Barrie Juniper, had assumed the English apple was a hybrid of different types of fruit including the crab apple, but discovered that they were direct descendants of fruit trees growing in the mountainous region.
They may be thought of as quintessentially English, but many of the apples that grow in British gardens, such as the Cox's Orange Pippin and the Discovery may have originated in central Asia, scientists claim.
A team of researchers from Oxford University has found that the DNA of English apples is nearly identical to that of apples growing in the Tian Shan forest on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China.
The team, led by Barrie Juniper, had assumed the English apple was a hybrid of different types of fruit including the crab apple, but discovered that they were direct descendants of fruit trees growing in the mountainous region.
Twin NASA spacecraft studying the sun have beamed their spectacular first images to Earth, helping scientists to detect and track solar storms that can fry satellites, harm astronauts, and overload power lines.
The panoramic images, released today, were taken by a suite of five telescopes on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, which were launched on October 25, 2006.
The pictures provide a closeup view of the sun's activity, such as this snapshot of loops in a magnetically active region that soon afterward produced a series of intense flares (top). The images also provide a progressive view of the sun's radiation all the way to Earth's atmosphere (bottom).
The panoramic images, released today, were taken by a suite of five telescopes on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, which were launched on October 25, 2006.
The pictures provide a closeup view of the sun's activity, such as this snapshot of loops in a magnetically active region that soon afterward produced a series of intense flares (top). The images also provide a progressive view of the sun's radiation all the way to Earth's atmosphere (bottom).
Scientists at Forsyth may have moved one step closer to regenerating human spinal cord tissue by artificially inducing a frog tadpole to re-grow its tail at a stage in its development when it is normally impossible. Using a variety of methods including a kind of gene therapy, the scientists altered the electrical properties of cells thus inducing regeneration. This discovery may provide clues about how bioelectricity can be used to help humans regenerate.
This study, for the first time, gave scientists a direct glimpse of the source of natural electric fields that are crucial for regeneration, as well as revealing how these are produced. In addition, the findings provide the first detailed mechanistic synthesis of bioelectrical, molecular-genetic, and cell-biological events underlying the regeneration of a complex vertebrate structure that includes skin, muscle, vasculature and critically spinal cord. Although the Xenopus (frog) tadpole sometimes has the ability to re-grow its tail, there are specific times during its development that regeneration does not take place (much as human children lose the ability to regenerate finger-tips after 7 years of age). During the Forsyth study, the activity of a yeast proton pump (which produces H+ ion flow and thus sets up regions of higher and lower pH) triggered the regeneration of the frog's tail during the normally quiescent time.
This study, for the first time, gave scientists a direct glimpse of the source of natural electric fields that are crucial for regeneration, as well as revealing how these are produced. In addition, the findings provide the first detailed mechanistic synthesis of bioelectrical, molecular-genetic, and cell-biological events underlying the regeneration of a complex vertebrate structure that includes skin, muscle, vasculature and critically spinal cord. Although the Xenopus (frog) tadpole sometimes has the ability to re-grow its tail, there are specific times during its development that regeneration does not take place (much as human children lose the ability to regenerate finger-tips after 7 years of age). During the Forsyth study, the activity of a yeast proton pump (which produces H+ ion flow and thus sets up regions of higher and lower pH) triggered the regeneration of the frog's tail during the normally quiescent time.
Archaeologists have discovered extensive remains of what is believed to be an ancient marketplace with shops and a religious center at the southern edge of Athens, the Culture Ministry said Friday. The finds, in the coastal neighborhood of Voula, date from the 4th or 5th century B.C.
"It is a very large complex," the ministry said. "It was a site of rich financial and religious activity, which was most probably a marketplace."
Marketplaces - or agoras - teemed with shops, open-air stalls and administrative buildings, and were the financial, political and social center of ancient Greek life.
"It is a very large complex," the ministry said. "It was a site of rich financial and religious activity, which was most probably a marketplace."
Marketplaces - or agoras - teemed with shops, open-air stalls and administrative buildings, and were the financial, political and social center of ancient Greek life.
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Skywatchers eagerly awaiting Saturday's total lunar eclipse say that the spectacle could be the "best in years".
The eclipse begins at 2018 GMT, with the Moon totally immersed in the shadow of the Earth between 2244 and 2358 GMT.
