Edith Larson

Was an extinct fox once man's best friend?

Our ancestors may have kept foxes as pets long before domestic dogs came on the scene.

Archaeological evidence suggests ancient human societies in South America revered foxes to such an extent that they were buried next to them.

Scientists were surprised to find a fox buried in a human grave dating back 1,500 years in Patagonia, Argentina.

They think the most likely explanation is that the fox was a highly valued companion or pet.

DNA analysis shows the animal dined with prehistoric hunter gatherers and was part of the inner circle of the camp.

A fox of the same species was found in a much older grave in another part of Argentina nearly a decade ago. It may also have been a pet but its diet was not analysed.

"This is a very rare find of having this fox that appears to have had such a close bond with individuals from the hunter-gatherer society," said Dr Ophélie Lebrasseur of the University of Oxford.

"I think it was more than just symbolic; I really do think it was companionship."

The fox was found at the burial site of Cañada Seca in Argentina, which was once inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers.

Teeth of wild foxes have been found in ancient human burial sites across Argentina and Peru, suggesting the animal had symbolic significance.

But the discovery of a near-complete skeleton of a fox in a human grave is extremely rare in the worldwide archaeological record.

The fox, which goes by the scientific name, Dusicyon avus, was of a medium size weighing 10-15 kg. It went extinct around 500 years ago, a few hundred years after domestic dogs arrived in Patagonia.

The research was carried out in collaboration with Dr Cinthia Abbona of the Institute of Evolution in Mendoza, Argentina, and published in the journal, RoyalSociety Open Science.

Sussex team to join Nasa’s galaxy probe project

Scientists in Sussex have secured a significant grant to become the UK lead on a Nasa space research project.

A University of Sussex team has been selected by the UK Space Agency as part of a £7m investment in space research.

The scientists will be working on developments for a potential probe mission to investigate the formation of planetary systems and the evolution of galaxies.

A university spokesperson said its team had demonstrated "scientific excellence in critical areas of space science and exploration technology".

The UK Space Agency funding is to enable scientists and engineers to play a role in major global space science missions in partnership with other space agencies around the world.

The Sussex team will be taking the lead in the project alongside scientists from Cardiff, London and Oxfordshire.

It comes as another Sussex-based research group is working with Nasa on a mission to search for water on one of Jupiter’s moons.

'Amazing track record'
Rosemary Coogan, a University of Sussex astrophysics alumna, is set to become the UK’s third astronaut, following her selection by the European Space Agency as an astronaut trainee in 2022.

Seb Oliver, professor of astrophysics at the University of Sussex, said: "The UK has an amazing track record in developing new space technology and providing data analysis that allows astronomers to see processes in galaxies, stars and planetary systems that would otherwise be hidden to conventional optical telescopes.

"We are very excited to start work with our US partners on developing exceptional space mission concepts.”

Food waste collections planned for Derby by 2026

Councillors in Derby have signed off plans to implement a food waste collection service.

Money has been earmarked to provide households with a food waste caddie and purchase collection trucks.

The city council is hoping to have the scheme up and running by 1 April 2026.

Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, cabinet member for communities and streetpride, told the BBC the new collections would reduce carbon emissions by diverting waste from landfill sites.

The Labour-run authority's cabinet approved the plan, which includes a £2m capital spend - mostly government funding - on resources to run the scheme.

Council officers estimate about 4,800 tonnes of food waste will be diverted from the landfill.

In turn, they said the scheme would reduce carbon emissions with the waste used for compost where products can be used to generate electricity.

But the leading manufacturer of food caddies has said it only has capacity to produce 55% of the country's potential requirement, creating an "urgency to compete with other councils".

The main supplier of collection lorries has also said an order needs to be submitted by June 2024 to guarantee delivery.

Mr Dhindsa said: "The food we throw away impacts the carbon emissions we send into the atmosphere... collections like these match up with our own ambitions to increase recycling.

"This will require a separate collection process. This is national scheme but this is the stage where we start to procure the vehicles and the types of containers needed.

"If we don't do this now, then the chances of getting these [resources] to go live will not be possible."

Stallingborough carbon capture project outlined

The first planning documents have been filed for a gas turbine and carbon capture project that could power one million homes.

The scheme would be in Stallingborough, close to the South Humber Bank Power Station, and RWE, the largest power producer in the UK, is behind it.

It could create 50 full-time operational jobs and thousands in construction and the supply chain.

Due to the size, the Secretary of State will decide whether it can go ahead.

The proposed development is expected to consist of one combined cycle gas turbine plant and to produce up to 900MW.

In such a power station, gas is combusted to drive a gas turbine, which is connected to a generator producing electricity.

Usable heat that remains in the gas turbine exhaust is passed into a heat recovery generator to make steam to create additional electricity.

Carbon emissions made from the gas burning will be captured, compressed and transported via a pipeline to about 3km below the sea bed.

It will be stored there permanently, preventing its release into the atmosphere.

The exact proposed layout of the site is to be decided, but it is approximately 36 hectares.

The main document filed with North Lincolnshire Council by RWE states a new, high voltage electrical connection will be required, as well as a natural gas pipeline.

The electrical connection will either link up to the existing National Grid Grimsby West substation, or a new substation part of the proposed Grimsby to Walpole overhead line.

RWE is a partner in the Viking Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) scheme. This proposes a 55km onshore CO2 pipeline that would go through the Stallingborough site.

Public consultation
RWE’s preferred option is to link up the proposed power station’s CO2 emissions to that. The Viking CCS project is expected to get permission in spring 2025.

Up to two million tonnes of CO2 a year would be captured at the power station. This is the equivalent of 400,000 petrol cars.

A legally required consultation is planned for next year, when permission from the Secretary of State will be applied for.

Should permission be granted, construction could start in 2028. It would be expected to take three years to be completed.

An initial public consultation is planned in spring.

Council to ban balloon and sky lantern releases

A council is set to ban the release of balloons and sky lanterns in a bid to protect the environment.

Walsall Council said the measure was a response to the potential harm posed to wildlife and public spaces, with animals often mistaking balloon remnants for food or becoming entangled in them.

The local authority also cited the increasing issue of single-use plastic pollution and the fire hazard risks of lit lanterns.

The proposed policy would apply to land owned and maintained by the council, as well as the adopted highway.

Walsall Council said the new policy would actively encourage private landowners and event organisers to explore alternative options to mark important occasions, such as bubbles, kites, digital fireworks, candles in jam jars, planting trees or flowers, and memorial walks.

Councillor Gary Flint said: “Our priority is to create a cleaner, greener borough, where nature is respected and protected and our parks and open spaces support the health and wellbeing of our residents and visitors.

"This ban may have some small impacts upon third-party events which intend to generate income, but the council feels that the benefits of safeguarding our environment and preserving the natural beauty of our borough far outweigh the costs."

More than 160 local authorities across England have already banned balloon and sky lantern releases.

European mission approved to detect cosmic ripples

What will be one of the most ambitious and most expensive space missions ever mounted by Europe has just been given the formal green light.

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (Lisa) will try to detect ripples in the fabric of space-time generated when gargantuan black holes collide.

These gravitational waves will be sensed by three spacecraft firing lasers at each other over a distance of 2.5 million km (1.5 million miles).

The cost will run into the billions.

Scientists believe that studying gravitational waves will help answer important questions about the workings and history of the Universe.

Officials at the European Space Agency (Esa) forecast a budget of €1.75bn (£1.5bn; $1.9bn), with additional contributions coming from member states including Germany, France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The US space agency (Nasa) will be a major partner, too.

While this sum is considerable, it does represent a life-time cost - and the complexity of the mission means it will not launch before 2035 at the earliest.

Esa's director of science, Prof Carole Mundell, likened the cost to each European citizen to that of a cup of coffee, and she hoped they would agree with her that this represented great value for money.

"We're trying to solve some of the big mysteries of physics," she told BBC News.

"How do we go beyond Einstein's theory of general relativity (his theory of gravity)? How do we probe the nature of space-time? How do we understand the most violent collisions in the Universe, between supermassive black holes? So, you bring together what is almost science fiction and the science engineering, and we make it a science reality."

Gravity probe exceeds performance goals
Gravitational waves: Numbers don't do them justice

Gwynedd: Mystery surrounds Sea Eagle spotted by farmer

Mystery surrounds the appearance of a rare eagle not native to Wales for hundreds of years.

The White-tailed Eagle, or Sea Eagle, was seen at Rhodri Jones' farm near Llanuwchllyn, Gwynedd.

Eagles have been extinct as a breeding species for more than 150 years and this type has been absent in Wales since the 16th Century.

"Where it's come from, well that's a bit of a mystery," said wildlife expert Iolo Williams.

The eagle was first seen flying at the farm on Wednesday, 3 January, and Mr Jones said he saw it again the following day.

According to the RSPB, White-tailed Eagles can be as tall as 90cm (35.4 in) and Mr Jones said that the size of the bird was something that stood out to him.

Unlike the Golden Eagle, the White-tailed Eagle is less fierce and can eat all kinds of things, such as fish, seabirds and carrion.

Bid to return lost eagle species to Wales
Police review into sea eagle's death concludes
Rhodri Jones said: "It stood on a rock looking down on the house for a good hour I'm sure.

"It was very quiet, and I went closer to get a better look, just a few hundred yards away to take a picture."

Mr Jones said one of the farm workers was first to see the bird, but he did not tell him it was an eagle to begin with, because he thought his boss would laugh at him in disbelief.

He added: "There are plenty of buzzards and kites here, but this bird was nothing like those."

Ornithologist and broadcaster, Iolo Williams, said the sighting was fantastic news.

He said: "We don't see them often, they were absent for centuries - having nested here around five centuries ago.

"Now that they are being released on the Isle of Wight and are doing well in Scotland, we see a few… but only about one every ten years or so usually."

Recycled Christmas trees raise £175,000 in the West

Christmas tree recycling schemes are proving a lucrative fundraiser for West charities.

Organisation Just Helping, which partners with charities to help bring efforts together, said those who work with them made £174,988 in January.

Across Wiltshire, Bristol, Somerset and Gloucestershire, it adds up to more than 12,500 trees collected.

Dorothy House Hospice - based near Bradford-on-Avon - made the most in the region at £75,000.

Tom Laverty from Just Helping explained that they "provide charities with a registration platform and routing."

More than £930,000 was raised nationally during the last drive after Christmas 2022.

Dorothy House covers 17 postcodes across Wiltshire, Somerset and the Bath area.

When the charity started its scheme in 2017 it raised a total of £6,500 altogether but after opening the drive for this Christmas, it had raised that amount within one day of opening bookings.

They now get around 200 volunteers each year and it is all organised by Steph Cox, who said: "I'm a very competitive person and absolutely want to smash it again in January 2024."

She said they picked up more than 5,000 trees in January 2023.

To get it started a few years ago, she had to find a lot of people: "I just basically cold contacted people like tree surgeons, landscape gardeners, and all of those kind of people.

"Year on year, I can email the database of people that have helped and just say same again."

Attenborough ship encounters mammoth iceberg

The UK's polar ship, RRS Sir David Attenborough, has come face to face with the world's biggest iceberg.

The planned encounter allowed scientists on board the research vessel a closer look at one of the true wonders of the natural world.

A23a, as the berg is known, covers 3,900 sq km (1,500 sq miles), twice the size of Greater London.

It broke from the Antarctic coast in 1986 and has spent much of the time since stuck fast to the seafloor.

But during the past year, currents and winds have driven the frozen block rapidly across the Weddell Sea. And it is now set to spill beyond the White Continent, into the Southern Ocean.

The Attenborough intercepted A23a on Friday, 1 December, about 90km (56 miles) north-east of Joinville Island, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

It was a fortuitous meeting. The ship was on its way to Signy Island and the behemoth in its path.

A drone was put up to fly over the berg's immense cliffs. But it remains difficult to appreciate its mammoth scale.

The white of A23a's surface extends to the horizon. But most of the berg's bulk is below the waterline.

Some sections may be more than 300m (1,000ft) thick.

And even travelling at 10 knots (19km/h), it took the Attenborough several hours to sail along two sides of the square berg.

If his team don't find life signs on K2-18b, they have 10 more Goldilocks planets on their list to study - and possibly many more after that. Even finding nothing would "provide important insights into the possibility of life on such planets", he says.

His project is just one of many that are under way or planned for the coming years searching for signs of life in the Universe. Some search on the planets in our Solar System - others look much further, into deep space.

Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently detected tantalising hints at life on a planet outside our Solar System - and it has many more worlds in its sights.

Numerous missions that are either under way or about to begin mark a new space race for the biggest scientific discovery of all time.

"We live in an infinite Universe, with infinite stars and planets. And it's been obvious to many of us that we can't be the only intelligent life out there," says Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal.

Once the capsule is safely on the ground, it will be whisked off to the Johnson Space Center in Texas, where a dedicated cleanroom has been built to analyse the samples.

Dr Ashley King from London's Natural History Museum (NHM) will be one of the very first scientists to get his gloves on the material. He is part of the "quick look" team that will do the initial analysis.

Dr Ashley King from London's Natural History Museum (NHM) will be one of the very first scientists to get his gloves on the material. He is part of the "quick look" team that will do the initial analysis.

"Bringing back samples from an asteroid - we don't do that very often. So you want to do those first measurements, and you want to do them really well," he says. "It's incredibly exciting."