Scientific discoveries this week: 10/28/13
Stanford Woods Institute – Rebecca and Doug Bird have found that Aboriginal hunters in Australia use hunting methods that increase the populations of the animals that they hunt. The Aboriginal hunters use fire to clear patches of land. This practice creates areas of regrowth that enhance habitats. Scientists used the populations of monitor lizards to study the habitats and found that the lizards were more abundant in the Aboriginal hunting areas.
University of Montana, Missoula, Montana – James W. Sears of the University of Montana proposed that the Colorado River could have once flowed into the Labrador Sea. The river would have flowed toward the southwest corner of the Colorado Plateau and turned north into the vicinity of Lake Mead. The river would have then flowed across the Rockies to the Great Plains and joined the pre-ice age Bell River. The Bell River then discharged into the Labrador Sea.