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Some of the objects captured by ASKAP. (Author provided) ******************************************************************************* Radio astronomers see what the naked eye can’t. As we study the sky with telescopes that record radio signals rather than light, we end up seeing a lot of circles. The newest generation of radio telescopes – including the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and MeerKAT, a telescope in South Africa – is revealing incredibly faint cosmic objects, never before seen. In astronomy, surface brightness is a measure that tells us how easily visible an object is. The extraordinary sensitivity of MeerKAT and ASKAP is now revealing a new...

Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder reacted to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court Saturday by questioning the legitimacy of the court and arguing that it needed to regain the nation's trust. Holder -- who served as the nation’s top lawyer under former President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015 -- said the treatment of former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland by Senate Republicans, as well as Kavanaugh’s confirmation, meant the legitimacy of the court was in question. “With the confirmation of Kavanaugh and the process which led to it, (and the treatment of Merrick Garland), the...

Ape shall never kill ape. The primate society in the 1973 film “Battle for the Planet of the Apes,” the fifth installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, was governed by this central rule. It was a pleasant sentiment even when chanted from beneath a rubber mask. But such niceties never seem to last, particularly not in post-apocalyptic fiction. We hate to rock Dr. Zaius‘s world, but that rule does not exist in real-life mammal societies, either. As a new study published in the journal Nature demonstrated, not only does ape kill ape, but the mammalian world is full...

LONDON – A former meerkat expert at London Zoo has been ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked with a wine glass in a love spat over a llama-keeper. A judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court said Wednesday that Caroline Westlake must pay 800 pounds ($1,235) to Kate Sanders for assaulting her in a dispute over colleague Adam Davies, who had dated both women.

About three days after it received a lavish new funding round, Meerkat died an ugly and embarrassing death. It is hard to decide whether the Great Meerkat Debacle that has unfolded over the past week is a tragedy or a comedy — probably a bit of both. The mobile streaming app that had whipped U.S. tech journalists into a frenzy announced $14 million in new funding on Thursday. Money poured in from Jared Leto, Greylock Partners and other illustrious sources. On the same day, Twitter launched its rival streaming app called Periscope. Apparently, investors didn’t stop to ponder why Meerkat...

LEICESTERSHIRE, England, - Desperate for the right companion for their female meerkat, its British owners started a dating website for the animals . MeerkatMatch.com comes complete with a profile, gallery and blog for their 3-year-old meerkat, Lilly, and a chance for owners of single meerkats to register. Lilly's profile describes her as an "alert, dark-eyed, inquisitive, free-spirited lady with a good sense of humor who enjoys fine dining, digging and cozy nights in." Lilly has been received lots of messages from well-wishers but no proposals, The Times of London reports. Sandy Gyorvari, the owner of Twinlakes Family Theme Park in...

Science behind the Soap OperaThe cute and the shocking at Meerkat Manor Susan Milius Tim Clutton-Brock has suddenly said, for reasons not at all clear to me, "Hard-boiled egg." Perhaps it's best to ignore this. So, I ask him again in our phone conversation what he would pick as the highlights of his past 13 years of directing a field study of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. Meerkats, a type of mongoose, cluster in family groups and share the job of raising the top female's pups. Clutton-Brock and his colleagues have published reports on meerkat behaviors ranging from altruism to...

Five of the popular animals euthanized after girl, 9, is bitten Public condolences poured into the Minnesota Zoo on Friday, as zoo visitors and staff mourned the deaths of an entire meerkat family. Kids raced to the outdoor exhibit in Apple Valley and plastered their hands against the glass, only to find nothing inside. A small boy in a stroller wailed as his mother told him the creatures were away on vacation. "This is a hard day. This was frustrating, sad and totally avoidable," said Tony Fisher, zoo collections manager. "People need to respect the barriers we put up to...

By Rick Scavetta, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Sunday, January 4, 2004 Rick Scavetta / S&S Pfc. William Stribling, 19, of Brooklyn, N.Y., operates the remote control arm on a Buffalo, the Army's latest equipment to counter the threat of roadside bombs in Iraq. Rick Scavetta / S&S The Meerkat, a South African-designed mine detection vehicle, is used by U.S. Army engineers in Iraq to sweep for roadside bombs along convoy routes. Rick Scavetta / S&S A Buffalo crew uses a remote control arm to search for improvised explosive devices on Highway 1 south of Samarra, Iraq, as a supply convoy...