Two researchers threw in their two-cents in the continuing debate over the Flores hobbits discovered back in 2004. Comparing it to modern bones, what they found suggested that the small stature of these beings were the result of a defective condition. Find out more in the full article.

So what's to say that the next major tsunami event doesn't befall the Pacific Northwestern region this time? Researchers from the San Diego State University are currently looking into a study which will simulate the next "megathrust" disaster event by running several scenarios through the San Diego Supercomputer Center's DataStar supercomputer. You can find out more about the results of this study by reading the full article.

Imagine a bigger version of Remy cooking meals for customers in the Gusteau restaurant in the film "Ratatouille." Well, this giant rat from Indonesia's "Lost World" isn't exactly a gourmet chef, but it did attract the curiosity of scientists from Conservation International and the Indonesia Institute of Science.

Find out why after the jump!

The World Wildlife Fund (now called World Wide Fund for Nature) has introduced a new species into its great cat family. A new kind of the tree-hopping clouded leopard has been discovered in South-East Asia, in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Right now, it's creatively dubbed as *drumroll* the Bornean clouded leopard. If you wanna be scientific about it, Neofelis diardi.

Although scientists have been observing this furry for a couple of years now, they never realized how unique it actually was. As early as 1821 (almost two centuries ago!), the clouded leopard was filed under Neofilis nebulusa. It's always been believed that the "stripe-spotted" great cats inhabiting both the mainlands and outlying islands have been of the same species. Until now, of course.

DNA tests from the National Cancer Institute have revealed that there are 40-odd genetic differences between the mainland cats and those in the Borneo islands. They've even dated this evolutionary branching to about 1.4 million years ago. Now just so you know, between lions and common leopards, there are around 56 genetic differences. Clearly, if two different leopards have 40-ish genetic differences, then that makes them unique enough to have their own scientific name descriptor.

Now as for the Bornean clouded leopard, they have the trademark clouded spots, but they sport 1) gray fur that's darker than their mainland cousins, 2) a double stripe down its back, and 3) the longest canine teeth relative to size of any other feline. They are the main predators in the islands, feeding on birds, lizards, monkeys, and small deer.

It's still to be confirmed if Steve Jobs has any form of influence in the identification of this leopard. (teehee!)

The discovery of the 20 new species in Indonesia is not a very big surprise because as Mr. William White said, "Indonesia has the most diverse shark and ray fauna and the largest shark and ray fishery in the world, with reported landings of more than 100,000 tons a year."

In a five-year survey of catches at local fish markets in Indonesia, 20 new species of sharks and manta rays have been discovered. From 2001 to 2006, researchers photographed and sampled more than 130 species on 22 survey trips to 11 ports across Indonesia. The survey was conducted by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and represents the first in-depth look at the sharks and manta rays of Indonesia since 1842-60. However, some of their findings have been already observed, the researchers admitted that six of these creatures have been described in peer review journals such as the Bali Catshark and Jimbaran Shovelnose Ray, and the Hortle's Whipray.

The 14 other species are still pending because supporting documentation for each one is still being prepared.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a splotch of water the size of the Arctic Ocean hundreds of miles beneath eastern Asia.

The water, accordingly, is locked in moisture-containing rocks 700 to 1,400 kilometers (400 to 800 miles) beneath the surface and was found while scanning seismic waves as they passed through the Earth's interior.

This is remarkable. Normally, our planet's heat bakes the water out of the rocks before it even gets more than 100 kilometers deep (60 miles). But along the eastern Pacific Rim, conditions allow the water to get to deeper location before evaporating.

In this case, the water blob is found from Indonesia to the northern tip of Russia. The head of the research team, Michael Wysession, suggests that this could give a clue as to how volcanic regions like Iceland, Hawaii, and Yellowstone National Park were formed. According to Wysession, the presence of water allow hot spots to melt more rock and create more lava.

Stanford University geophysicist Norman Sleep, likewise, believes that water is gradually being sucked back below the surface because the Earth is aging. This, in the long run, may be a good thing for Earth's geological stability as it helps keep the thickness and elevation of the continents stable.

So you think you've heard the last of the supposed hobbits found in Indonesia, eh? Well you're wrong. The debate as to whether or not the found skeletons in a cave are actually from a new species is still very much on. And this time, it looks as if the archaeologists proposing that they are indeed from a different kind has the odds stacked up for them.

Two years after being blocked by the Indonesian government from excavating into the hobbit cave, the team can now resume their study on it. Says Professor Roberts of the University of Wollongong in Australia, "This year, we will be back in Liang Bua again, back in the cave where we found the Hobbits. This is good; we've now managed to get over the political hurdles that had been put up. We'll probably be in there towards the middle of the year."

And this time, it will be more crucial. On their first visit, they found other specimens in the cave, particularly one with an intact skull. They team believed that it is crucial to resolving the question of the Hobbit's classification (Homo floresiensis). Digging in the cave might yield some great surprises that will shed more light as to our human ancestry.

"This particular discovery seems to have prompted people to rethink what it is to be human, the relationship between size and behaviour, and whether hominin populations have been insulated from environmental factors. This indicate that they haven't. It also raises the question about the colonisation capabilities of early hominids. What are they doing on Flores and what are they almost certainly doing on other islands in South-East Asia."

Mike Morwood, director of the excavation, continues on: South-East Asia and East Asia are going to yield an awful lot of surprises and it's going to make a major contribution to our understanding of hominin evolution."

Keep it posted here for more updates on this series.

The banana as we know it is in danger. Scientists are worried about the world's fave fruit.

The banana is the most popular fresh fruit in the U.S., consumed at about 26.2 pounds per year per person. The best known kind of banana is the Cavendish. Every Cavendish is a genetic duplicate of any Cavendish around the world. It was first discovered in Southeast Asia then brought to a botanical garden in the Carribean.

The quality that makes the banana perfect for worldwide consumption, perfect banana clones, may also be it's downfall. Species rely on genetic diversity for survival, so what makes one person sick may not affect another person. Since bananas are all genetic twins, a fungus or a bacterial disease can wipe out an entire plantation then spread around the globe and infect all the plantations.

A banana catastrophe? Rabbids would run out of ammo. But seriously speaking though, it's happened before. The Gros Michel type, nicknamed "Big Mike" used to be the most popular kind imported and exported. It was wiped out by a fungus named the Panama disease. The Cavendish was then accepted as the replacement, since it was immune to the Panama disease.

Now, a new strain of the fungus was discovered in Southeast Asia and wreaked havoc in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Taiwan. It is still making its way to the rest of the Southeast. Experts are racing against time to find a way to prevent another global wipeout and the subsequent shortage. Some scientists estimate that the Cavendish only has five to ten years left. They are trying genetic splicing but if the fungus spreads faster than expected, finding an alternative banana species would be the best choice.

Or switch to apples.

The research team from Conservation International (CI) claim to have found 24 new species of fish, 20 species of coral, and 8 species of shrimp from Indonesia's side of Papua.

One of the strangest on their collection is a type of epaulette shark that actually walks along the ocean floor on its fins. The four feet (1.2 meters) long creatures "walk" along the seafloor using their muscular pectoral fins.

Researchers say this ability to walk helps the sharks hunt for food, which include crabs and snails as well as small fishes. It also helps them maneuver in and out of tight spaces between coral reefs.

Other theories say the walking shark could be closely related to the first forms of marine life, which left the primitive seas in favor of land.

CI called the discovery of the walking shark "amazing" and "quite spectacular". Not to mention very Dr.Seuss.

There are about 375 known species of sharks in the world ranging from the pygmy shark (Euprotomicrus bispinatus), which is less than a foot long all the way to the 41 ft (12 m) whale shark (Rhincodon typus) - the biggest fish in the ocean. Although feared as man-eaters, 100 million sharks are killed for food each year.

El Nino, the Dennis the Menace of weather systems, has started to develop in the tropical Pacific and is likely to continue into early 2007 according to scientists. But scientists at the National Weather Service in Monterrey, Ca. say, "Worry about something else."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the main U.S. agency in charge of forecasting and tracking the El Nino phenomenon, says weak conditions exist but could strengthen into a moderate event by winter. At its worst, the phenomenon was described as akin to a low-grade fever and should not cause any major upheavals.

In fact, the development of El Ni?ould help explain why the current Atlantic hurricane season has not been as active as expected. Early this week, Hurricane Gordon was downgraded to a Category 1 - one of the early effects of El Nino.

If El Nino continues to hold, scientists say the U.S. should expect wetter-than-average conditions over portions of the Gulf Coast and southeastern states in the first three months of 2007. While the West, the northern Great Plains, and the upper Midwest could experience warmer-than-average conditions.

Elsewhere, El Nino effects have already been observed in Indonesia, Malaysia and most of the Philippines with drier-than-average conditions.