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Vikings brought home foreign currency much earlier than the previously established date, based on archaeologist reports. The coins, unearthed close to the main international airport in Sweden, are the largest early Viking coin discovery. The coins are Arabic and were buried some 1,150 years ago.

Swedish National Heritage archaeologists unearthed the 472 sliver coins while excavating a Bronze Age Tomb close to the Arland airport in Stockholm. Professor of coin studies, University of Stockholm, Kenneth Jonsson has established the date of the coins as far back as A.D.850.

This discovery contains more coins than the earlier Viking hoard unearthed, which was in 1827. It also indicates that the Vikings were engaged in overseas trade much earlier than what was thought of. The coins are of eastern origin. Most of the Viking coins are from the Middle East.

The coins discovered were minted in Arab areas such as Baghdad in Iraq and Damascus in Syria. The youngest of them dates to A.D. 840s. The oldest coin came from Persia.

These coins were probably in circulation for centuries before being buried and “were of very high quality”. The coins were probably exchanged for goods such as slaves, iron, amber and tar and were valued for their sliver content.

Source

The world’s oldest living tree, a conifer, was discovered in Sweden. It took root at the end of the Ice Age, according to researchers. The 13 foot tall "Christmas" tree is not all that ancient, but its root has been taking shape for 9,550 years.

The team of researchers led by Leif Kullman, a professor of ecology and environment at the University of Umea in Sweden claims that it is the longest lived identified plant of the planet. Its longevity is on account of its ability to clone itself. The lifespan of the spruce’s trunks or stems is 600 years old, which is the reason for the longevity of life of the tree.

The Norway spruce was used to decorate European houses during Christmas. It would be difficult to discover trees older than 9,550 years because Sweden was covered by ice-sheets till last Ice Age.

This discovery proves that deglaciation in Sweden had taken place much earlier than thought of. The ice sheets during the Ice Age might have been much thinner than what was believed.

Also the discovery of the tree will help scientists to study how plants will respond to present climatic changes.

Source : National Geographic

Global warming drastically changing the slumbering patterns of hibernating animals by altering and decreasing the normal hibernation period that could easily extinct, reports new evidence.

This finding from National Geographic News, done by researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Crested Butte, Colorado, who studied a marmot’s hibernation patterns found that hibernating animals are waking up early or not going to sleep at all due to the rise in temperatures.

When these animals were first studied in 1970s, it was found that they wake up before the 3rd week of May. But now marmots are waking up one month before i.e. by the 3rd week of April.

David Inouye, a biology professor at the University of Maryland said that:
"With respect to the marmots, at least, the evidence is convincing that it is connected to warming temperatures." Researchers say the altered sleeping patterns of squirrels to chipmunks of the Rocky Mountains to brown bears of Spain, putting them at greater risk of increased predation and starvation which could ultimately result in extinction of these species.

Hibernating animals actually live on fat reserves during winters when there is scarcity of food. At the time of hibernation, their body temperature drops down to the levels similar to the surrounding air temperature. This slows down their metabolism too. As long as the air temperature remains cold, their body too remains cold and they live on the fat accumulation. But as the ambient temperature rises, so does their metabolism and body temperature. This ultimately results in early wake up, migration, high birth rate, increased predation, starvation and slowly extinction among these animals.

Grey seals flock in huge numbers around the British coasts though they are also prevalent around the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Southern Iceland. Grey seals have a smooth skin and large nose and eyes. They are generally found around open rocky sea coasts and islands while sometimes they can also be seen at sandy beaches.

Size
The male grey seal is 2.7m long whereas the female is 1.7m long. The male seal weighs about 233kg whereas the female grey seal weighs about 154kg.

Color
Grey seals exist in variable colors though they generally have a skin color darker than the cows. Grey seals are born white.

Life
The grey seal thrives between 26 to 38 years.

Diet
The grey seal feeds on fish, molluscs, crustaceans, squids and octopus.

Grey Seals are Solitary Hunters
The most interesting feature about the grey seal is that it is a lone hunter. The grey seal prefers to hunt alone while in the sea. On land, it takes the efforts of about thousands to of grey seals to hunt down their prey.

Hunting Skills
Grey seals have some typical hunting skills like the following:

• Large eyes which can see through dark and muddy waters
• Sensitive ears used to hunt down preys (not visible as ear lobes which the grey seals can close while diving into the water)
• Sensitive whiskers help detect a prey with the slightest of vibration
• The grey seal’s streamlined body enables it to chase a prey as swiftly as possible
• The seal is also able to chase a prey or fish by sensing the chemical composition of the sea water
• The grey seal’s insulating layers of fat and fur enables it to stay longer in cold waters that would kill humans in seconds
• The grey seal can stay under for a maximum time limit of 16 minutes
• The seal’s heart rate slows down while taking a long dive to conserve more oxygen to stay under water

Most of the fish that a grey seal feeds on include salmon, herring, flatfish and sometimes crabs or squids too. The grey seal is Britain’s largest carnivorous mammal.

A team of scientists have discovered the coolest star which is about 40-light years away from the Earth. It has been unearthed that this dim-lit, cool and lonely star has a mass between 15-30 times the mass of Jupiter.

The star, which is also being referred to as the “brown dwarf star” , is said to have a surface temperature of 660 degrees Fahrenheit or 350 degrees Celsius, which is equal to the surface temperature of the planet Mercury at the equator and cooler than the surface temperature of Venus.

This brown dwarf star is distinct because it falls right in the middle of the mega-planets and the smaller stars. Usually the stars which fall in this territory are referred to as the “Y class dwarf”.

Loic Albert, stellar researcher from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, Hawaii is of the opinion that the “CFBDS0059” star, as it has been named, maybe the last visible spectral type of star lying between the planets and the stars.

Albert’s team claims that Y class dwarfs are generally dim in nature and cannot be identified so easily. Forget naked eye, it is difficult to identify the same through a telescope too. This is mainly due to the fact that it is not hot enough to glow red and bright. Instead, the dwarf star glows below the red hot temperature in the infrared light.

The team therefore made use of studying the CFBDS0059 star with the help of near-infrared and infrared instruments of the Canada France Hawaii and the Gemini North telescopes in Hawaii, together with the European Southern Observatory’s NTT telescope in Chile.