Today's Science News

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

Milky Way Amidst a 'Council of Giants'

Mar. 11, 2014 — We live in a galaxy known as the Milky Way -- a vast conglomeration of 300 billion stars, planets whizzing around them, and clouds of gas and dust floating in between. Though it has long been known ... full story

A Shocking Diet: Researchers Describe Microbe That 'Eats' Electricity

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers have shown that the commonly found bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris can use natural conductivity to pull electrons from minerals located remotely in soil and sediment while remaining ... full story

'Death Stars' in Orion Blast Planets Before They Even Form

Mar. 10, 2014 — Astronomers have studied the often deadly relationship between highly luminous O-type stars and nearby protostars in the Orion Nebula. Their data reveal that protostars within 0.1 light-years (about ... full story

Weirdness in Cosmic Web of the Universe: Faint Strings of Galaxies in 'Empty' Space Arranged in Way Never Before Seen

Mar. 10, 2014 — Australian astronomers have shown galaxies in the vast empty regions of the universe are actually aligned into delicate strings, according to new research. Using data from the Galaxy and Mass ... full story

First Animals Oxygenated Earth's Oceans, Study Suggests

Mar. 9, 2014 — The evolution of the first animals may have oxygenated Earth's oceans -- contrary to the traditional view that a rise in oxygen triggered their development. New research contests the long held ... full story

Empathy Chimpanzees Offer Is Key to Understanding Human Engagement

Mar. 11, 2014 — New findings show that chimpanzees exhibit flexibility in their empathy, just as humans do. This may help explain the evolution of how and when humans engage with others and choose to offer ... full story

To Drink or Not to Drink: Decision-Making Center of Brain Identified

Mar. 11, 2014 — Although choosing to do something because the perceived benefit outweighs the financial cost is something people do daily, little is known about what happens in the brain when a person makes these ... full story

Saturn and Jupiter: X-Ray Laser Spies Deep Into Giant Gas Planets

Mar. 11, 2014 — Using DESY's X-ray laser FLASH, researchers took a sneak peek deep into the lower atmospheric layers of giant gas planets such as Jupiter or Saturn. The observations reveal how liquid hydrogen ... full story

Personality Predicts Social Learning in Wild Monkeys: Bold or Anxious Baboons Learn to Solve Tasks from Other Baboons

Mar. 11, 2014 — Baboons learn from other baboons about new food sources -- but only if they are bold or anxious. The results suggest that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something ... full story

Timid Jumping Spider Uses Ant as Bodyguard

Mar. 11, 2014 — Ants are the unlikely guardians of jumping spiders in their battle against aggressive spitting spiders. A timid jumping spider uses the scent of ants as a secret weapon to save itself from becoming ... full story

Effective Thermal Camouflage and Invisibility Device for Soldiers Created

Mar. 11, 2014 — Scientists have created a thermal illusion device to control thermal camouflage and invisibility using thermotic materials. Every natural object exhibits thermal signatures. However, if these signals ... full story

Healthy Midlife Diet May Prevent Dementia Later

Mar. 10, 2014 — Healthy dietary choices in midlife may prevent dementia in later years, according a doctoral thesis. The results showed that those who ate the healthiest diet at the average age of 50 had an almost ... full story

Galaxies in the Early Universe Mature Beyond Their Years

Mar. 10, 2014 — An international team of researchers has discovered the most distant examples of galaxies in the early universe that were already mature and massive. The mature galaxies were found at a ... full story

Possible Evidence for Dark Matter Particle Presented at UCLA Physics Symposium

Mar. 10, 2014 — Dark matter, the mysterious substance estimated to make up approximately more than one-quarter of the mass of the universe, is crucial to the formation of galaxies, stars and even life but has so far ... full story

Natural Selection Has Altered the Appearance of Europeans Over the Past 5,000 Years

Mar. 10, 2014 — There has been much research into the factors that have influenced the human genome since the end of the last Ice Age. Anthropologists, geneticists and archaeologists have analyzed ancient DNA from ... full story

Featured Videos

from AP, Reuters, AFP, and other news services
How Sponges Spurred The Evolution Of Complex Life: Study

How Sponges Spurred The Evolution Of Complex Life: Study

Newsy (Mar. 10, 2014) — Scientists believe sponges helped oxygenate the deep ocean, making it an environment where complex, oxygen-using animals could evolve. Video provided by Newsy
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New Blood Test Could Predict Alzheimer's 3 Years In Advance

New Blood Test Could Predict Alzheimer's 3 Years In Advance

Newsy (Mar. 9, 2014) — Researchers say a simple blood test can tell the difference between seniors who will develop Alzheimer's within three years and those who won't. Video provided by Newsy
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Newly Discovered Dinosaur Is Largest Predator Ever

Newly Discovered Dinosaur Is Largest Predator Ever

Newsy (Mar. 6, 2014) — Researchers say the Torvosaurus Gurneyi, a newly identified dino, stood at a frightening 33 feet with 4 inch blades for molars. Video provided by Newsy
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Alzheimer's Could Be Third Leading Cause Of Death

Alzheimer's Could Be Third Leading Cause Of Death

Newsy (Mar. 6, 2014) — A new study suggests Alzheimer's might be the cause of nearly 500,000 deaths per year. That is six times the number reported by the government. Video provided by Newsy
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last updated on 2014-03-11 at 2:08 pm EDT

Top Health News

jump to:    Health  |  Tech  |  Enviro  |  Society

Why Antisocial Youth Are Less Able to See Perspective of Others

Mar. 11, 2014 — Adolescents with antisocial personality disorder inflict serious physical and psychological harm on both themselves and others. However, little is yet known about the underlying neural processes. ... full story

Improving Safety, Effectiveness of Lithium Therapy: Closer Than Ever

Mar. 11, 2014 — Lithium, one of the oldest and most widely used drugs to treat neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, has a serious drawback -- toxicity. In a continued effort to find a safer form of ... full story

Restoring Order in Brain: Brain Cell Regeneration May Alleviate Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease

Mar. 11, 2014 — Researchers have discovered that when they re-established a population of new cells in the part of the brain associated with behavior, some symptoms of Alzheimer's disease significantly decreased or ... full story

Anesthetic Technique Improves Quality of Recovery for Women Having Breast Cancer Surgery

Mar. 11, 2014 — Anesthesiologists using a technique similar to a dental freeze can improve the quality of recovery and decrease recovery time for breast cancer surgery patients, according to a new study. The ... full story

Girls Born Small or Underweight Twice as Likely to Be Infertile in Adulthood

Mar. 10, 2014 — Girls born unexpectedly small or underweight seem to be twice as likely to have fertility problems in adulthood as those of normal size at birth, suggests new research. "As medical research and care ... full story

Unique Individual With Lupus and HIV Demonstrates Desired Immune Response to HIV

Mar. 10, 2014 — One person’s unique ability to fight HIV has provided key insights into an immune response that researchers now hope to trigger with a vaccine, according to new findings. The person had a rare ... full story

Key Breaking Point Involved in Traumatic Brain Injury Modeled by Researchers

Mar. 10, 2014 — Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is using mathematical modeling ... full story

Serious Side Effect: Several FDA-Approved Anti-Cancer Drugs Induce Stem Cell Tumors

Mar. 10, 2014 — In a surprise finding, researchers discovered that several chemotherapeutics that do stop fast growing tumors have the opposite effect on stem cells in the same animal, causing them to divide too ... full story

How Light Affects Our Brain's Performance: Photic Memory for Executive Brain Responses

Mar. 10, 2014 — It has long been known that light exerts powerful effects on the brain and on our well-being. Light is not only required for vision but is also essential for a wide range of “non-visual” ... full story

One Step Closer to Ovarian Cancer Marker, Researchers Report

Mar. 10, 2014 — The hunt is on to find biomarkers that detect cancer, but it’s a challenging process. Early successes often are followed by heartbreaking failures. But now, researchers have verified that glycans ... full story

Gesturing With Hands a Powerful Tool for Children's Math Learning

Mar. 11, 2014 — Children who use their hands to gesture during a math lesson gain a deep understanding of the problems they are taught, according to new research. Previous research has found that gestures can help ... full story

Outside the Body Our Memories Fail Us

Mar. 10, 2014 — New research demonstrates for the first time that there is a close relationship between body perception and the ability to remember. For us to be able to store new memories from our lives, we need to ... full story

U.S. Cocaine Use Cut by Half, While Marijuana Consumption Jumps

Mar. 10, 2014 — A new study shows that the use of cocaine dropped by half across the United States from 2006 to 2010, while use of marijuana jumped by more than 30 percent during the period. Studying illegal drug ... full story

Smokers' Brains Biased Against Negative Images of Smoking

Mar. 10, 2014 — What if the use of a product influenced your perception of it, making you even more susceptible to its positive aspects and altering your understanding of its drawbacks? This is precisely what ... full story

Lower IQ and Poorer Cardiovascular Fitness in Teen Years Increase Risk of Early-Onset Dementia

Mar. 10, 2014 — Men who at the age of 18 years have poorer cardiovascular fitness and/or a lower IQ more often suffer from dementia before the age of 60. This is shown in a recent study encompassing more than one ... full story

Blood Test Identifies Those at-Risk for Cognitive Decline, Alzheimer's Within Three Years

Mar. 9, 2014 — A blood test that can predict with greater than 90 percent accuracy if a healthy person will develop mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease within three years has been discovered and ... full story

Can the Blind 'Hear' Colors, Shapes? Yes, Show Researchers

Mar. 9, 2014 — What if you could “hear” colors? Or shapes? These features are normally perceived visually, but using sensory substitution devices (SSDs) they can now be conveyed to the brain noninvasively ... full story

Combined Use of Oxytocin and Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Intractable Pain Patients

Mar. 8, 2014 — Two hormones credited with reducing pain and need for opioid analgesics when released naturally during pregnancy and childbirth worked similarly when administered simultaneously to patients with ... full story

Ever-So-Slight Delay Improves Decision-Making Accuracy

Mar. 7, 2014 — Researchers have found that decision-making accuracy can be improved by postponing the onset of a decision by a mere fraction of a second. The results could further our understanding of ... full story

The Dark Side of Fair Play: Why Would Evolution Let Spite Stick Around?

Mar. 7, 2014 — We often think of playing fair as an altru­istic behavior. We're sac­ri­ficing our own poten­tial gain to give others what they deserve. What could be more self­less than that? But new research ... full story

Feeding Gut Microbiota: Nutrition, Probiotics Key Factors for Digestive Health

Mar. 10, 2014 — A healthy and balanced diet, as well as probiotics, have been known to be helpful in preserving gastrointestinal health for quite a long time. But it is only recently that the underlying mechanisms ... full story

Tricky Balancing Act: Antibiotics Versus the Gut Microbiota

Mar. 10, 2014 — Antibiotics are valuable, potentially life-saving tools that have significantly reduced human morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, antibiotics may also have unintended consequences from their ... full story

Healthy Eating May Reduce the Risk of Preterm Delivery

Mar. 10, 2014 — In a new study, participants completed a scientifically evaluated questionnaire about what they had been eating and drinking since becoming pregnant. The results show that the group of women with the ... full story

Dropped Your Toast? Five-Second Food Rule Exists, New Research Suggests

Mar. 10, 2014 — Food picked up just a few seconds after being dropped is less likely to contain bacteria than if it is left for longer periods of time, according to new research. The findings suggest there may be ... full story

Pre-Term Birth Leads to Increased Risk of Asthma, Wheezing Disorders

Mar. 7, 2014 — Researchers have published findings strongly suggesting that preterm birth -- prior to 37 weeks gestation -- increases the risk of asthma and wheezing disorders during childhood, and that the risk of ... full story

Infants Using Known Verbs to Learn New Nouns: Before Infants Begin to Talk in Sentences, They Are Paying Careful Attention to Conversations

Mar. 7, 2014 — New research demonstrates that even before infants begin to talk in sentences, they are paying careful attention to the way a new word is used in conversations, and they learn new words from this ... full story

BPA Linked to Breast Cancer Tumor Growth

Mar. 6, 2014 — Researchers have attempted to trace how bisphenol-A may promote breast cancer tumor growth with help from a molecule called RNA HOTAIR. "We can't immediately say BPA causes cancer growth, but it ... full story

Vitamin D Increases Breast Cancer Patient Survival, Study Shows

Mar. 6, 2014 — Breast cancer patients with high levels of vitamin D in their blood are twice as likely to survive the disease as women with low levels of this nutrient, report researchers. According to the National ... full story

Obese Adolescents Not Getting Enough Sleep?

Mar. 6, 2014 — Lack of sleep and obesity have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in adults and young children. However, the association is not as clear in adolescents, ... full story

Some People Really Just Don't Like Music

Mar. 6, 2014 — It is often said that music is a universal language. However, a new report finds that music doesn't speak to everyone. There are people who are perfectly able to experience pleasure in other ways who ... full story

Top Physical & Tech News

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Bending the Light With a Tiny Chip: Silicon Chip Acts as a Lens-Free Projector, May One Day Fit in Cell Phones

Mar. 11, 2014 — Traditional projectors -- like those used to project a film or classroom lecture notes -- pass a beam of light through a tiny image, using lenses to map each point of the small picture to ... full story

Small Biomass Power Plants Could Help Rural Economies, Stabilize National Power Grid

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers have found that creating a bioenergy grid with these small plants could benefit people in rural areas of the country as well as provide relief to an overworked national power ... full story

Turing's Theory of Chemical Morphogenesis Validated 60 Years After His Death

Mar. 10, 2014 — Sixty years after Alan Turing's death, researchers have provided the first experimental evidence that validates Turing's theory of chemical morphogenesis in cell-like structures. This research could ... full story

West Virginia Spill Activates Engineers to Determine Effects of Chemicals

Mar. 10, 2014 — Engineers sprung into action when more than 10,000 gallons of a chemical mixture leaked from a storage tank near Charleston, W.Va., and entered a river upstream of a water-treatment plant in ... full story

Scientists Build Thinnest-Possible LEDs to Be Stronger, More Energy Efficient

Mar. 10, 2014 — Scientists have built the thinnest-known LED that can be used as a source of light energy in electronics. The LED is based off of two-dimensional, flexible semiconductors, making it possible to stack ... full story

Two-Dimensional Material Shows Promise for Optoelectronics: LEDs, Photovoltaic Cells, and Light Detectors

Mar. 10, 2014 — Team creates LEDs, photovoltaic cells, and light detectors using novel one-molecule-thick material. Researchers have used a novel material that's just a few atoms thick to create devices that can ... full story

Synthetic Biologists Shine Light on Genetic Circuit Analysis

Mar. 10, 2014 — In a significant advance for the growing field of synthetic biology, bioengineers have created a toolkit of genes and hardware that uses colored lights and engineered bacteria to bring both ... full story

Alaska the Last Frontier ... Not for Long

Mar. 10, 2014 — Alaska, the last great frontier, is being threatened by many proposals to mine an estimated 5.5 trillion tons of coal. Scientists comment on the struggle to keep Alaska ... full story

Microwave Radar Monitors Sliding Slopes: Geodesists Research in the Alps

Mar. 10, 2014 — The “Steinlehnen” slope in Northern Tyrol (Austria) started to move in 2003. Rockfalls threatened people, streets and buildings. Meanwhile, peace has returned; although the slope is merely ... full story

Biomolecular Tweezers Facilitate Study of Mechanical Force Effects on Cells and Proteins

Mar. 10, 2014 — A new type of biomolecular tweezers could help researchers study how mechanical forces affect the biochemical activity of cells and proteins. The devices use opposing magnetic and electrophoretic ... full story

New NASA Van Allen Probes Observations Helping to Improve Space Weather Models

Mar. 7, 2014 — Using data from NASA's Van Allen Probes, researchers have tested and improved a model to help forecast what's happening in the radiation environment of near-Earth space -- a place seething with ... full story

NASA's WISE Survey Finds Thousands of New Stars, but No 'Planet X'

Mar. 7, 2014 — After searching hundreds of millions of objects across our sky, NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has turned up no evidence of the hypothesized celestial body in our solar system ... full story

Mystery of Planet-Forming Disks Explained by Magnetism

Mar. 7, 2014 — Astronomers say that magnetic storms in the gas orbiting young stars may explain a mystery that has persisted since before 2006. Researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to study developing ... full story

Plasma Plumes Help Shield Earth from Damaging Solar Storms

Mar. 6, 2014 — Scientists have identified a plasma plume that naturally protects the Earth against solar storms. Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, stretches from the planet's core out into space, where it ... full story

Icy Wreckage Discovered in Nearby Planetary System

Mar. 6, 2014 — Astronomers have discovered the splattered remains of comets colliding together around a nearby star. The researchers believe they are witnessing the total destruction of one of these icy bodies once ... full story

Storing Extra Rocket Fuel in Space for Future Missions?

Mar. 6, 2014 — Future lunar missions may be fueled by gas stations in space, according to engineers: A spacecraft might dock at a propellant depot, somewhere between the Earth and the moon, and pick up extra rocket ... full story

Hubble Witnesses an Asteroid Mysteriously Disintegrating

Mar. 6, 2014 — The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the never-before-seen break-up of an asteroid, which has fragmented into as many as ten smaller pieces. Although fragile comet nuclei have been ... full story

Catalog of Massive Stars: Only One on Two Million Qualify

Mar. 6, 2014 — Only one in two million stars in our galactic environment is of type O, a category that includes stars with anywhere between sixteen and more than one hundred solar masses, and luminosities millions ... full story

New Robotic Refueling Technologies Tested

Mar. 5, 2014 — NASA has successfully concluded a remotely controlled test of new technologies that would empower future space robots to transfer hazardous oxidizer -- a type of propellant -- into the tanks of ... full story

A Small Step Toward Discovering Habitable Earths

Mar. 5, 2014 — For the first time, astronomers have used the same imaging technology found in a digital camera to take a picture of a planet far from our solar system with an Earth-based telescope. The ... full story

More Secure Communications Thanks to Quantum Physics

Mar. 11, 2014 — One of the recent revelations by Edward Snowden is that the U.S. National Security Agency is currently developing a quantum computer. Physicists aren’t surprised by this news; such a computer could ... full story

Computer System Simulates the Behavior of Tax Evaders

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers have developed a computer model which, in different situations, simulates the behavior of taxpayers when faced with the possibility of committing tax evasion. The simulator analyzes the ... full story

Mapping Behavior of Charges in Correlated Spin-Orbit Coupled Materials: Electronic Disruption Prods Mott Insulator's Conversion to Metallic State

Mar. 10, 2014 — Physicists have mapped the inner atomic workings of a compound within the mysterious class of materials known as spin-orbit Mott insulators. The findings confirm the properties that theorists predict ... full story

Smartphones Become 'Eye-Phones' With Low-Cost Devices

Mar. 7, 2014 — Researchers have developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal ... full story

Software Analyzes Apps for Malicious Behavior

Mar. 7, 2014 — Apps on web-enabled mobile devices can be used to spy on their users. Computer scientists have developed software that shows whether an app has accessed private data. To accomplish this, the program ... full story

Squeezing Light Into Metals: Engineers Control Conductivity With Inkjet Printer

Mar. 7, 2014 — Using an inexpensive inkjet printer, electrical engineers produced microscopic structures that use light in metals to carry information. This new technique, which controls electrical conductivity ... full story

Crystals Ripple in Response to Light: First Propagating Surface Phonon Polaritons in a Van Der Waals Crystal

Mar. 6, 2014 — Minuscule waves that propagate across atom -- thin layers of crystal could carry information, light, and heat in nanoscale devices. For the first time, the frequency and amplitude of these waves, ... full story

Future Electronics With Super-Efficient Hard Drives: Electricity Controls Magnetism

Mar. 6, 2014 — Researchers have demonstrated how a magnetic structure can be altered quickly in novel materials. The effect could be used in efficient hard drives of the future. Data on a hard drive is stored by ... full story

Are You Smarter Than a 5-Year-Old? Preschoolers Can Do Algebra

Mar. 6, 2014 — Millions of high school and college algebra students are united in a shared agony over solving for x and y, and for those to whom the answers don't come easily, it gets worse: Most preschoolers and ... full story

Computers Used to 'See' Neurons to Better Understand Brain Function

Mar. 6, 2014 — A study reveals new information about the motor circuits of the brain that may one day help those developing therapies to treat conditions such as stroke, schizophrenia, spinal cord injury or ... full story

Top Environment News

jump to:    Health  |  Tech  |  Enviro  |  Society

Speed Trap for Fish Catches Domestic Trout Moving Too Slow

Mar. 11, 2014 — Researchers have documented dramatic differences in the swimming ability of domesticated trout and their wilder relatives. The study calls into question the ability of hatcheries to mitigate more ... full story

Light Pollution Impairs Rainforest Regeneration: Seed-Dispersing Bats Avoid Feeding in Light Polluted Areas

Mar. 10, 2014 — Increasing light pollution in tropical habitats could be hampering regeneration of rainforests because of its impact on nocturnal seed-dispersers. These new findings show that seed-dispersing bats ... full story

Impersonating Poisonous Prey: Evolution of Interspecific Communication

Mar. 10, 2014 — Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery -- especially in the predator/prey/poison cycle. In nature, bright colors are basically neon signs that scream, 'Don't eat me!' But how did prey evolve ... full story

National U.S. Study Reveals How Urban Lawn Care Habits Vary

Mar. 10, 2014 — What do people living in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, and Los Angeles have in common? From coast to coast, prairie to desert -- residential lawns reign. But, according to ... full story

Mongol Empire Rode Wave of Mild Climate, but Warming Now May Be Tipping Region Into Unparalleled Drought

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers studying the rings of ancient trees in mountainous central Mongolia think they may have gotten at the mystery of how small bands of nomadic Mongol horsemen united to conquer much of the ... full story

Volcanoes Helped Species Survive Ice Ages

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers have found evidence that the steam and heat from volcanoes and heated rocks allowed many species of plants and animals to survive past ice ages, helping scientists understand how species ... full story

Predation on Invertebrates by Woodland Salamanders Increases Carbon Capture

Mar. 10, 2014 — Woodland salamanders perform a vital ecological service in American forests by helping to mitigate the impacts of global warming. Woodland salamander predation on invertebrates indirectly affects the ... full story

Scents and Sustainability: Renewable Sources for Artificial Scents and Flavors

Mar. 10, 2014 — Fresh banana, a waft of flowers, blueberry: the scents in some labs are a little sweeter than most. Researchers are engineering bacteria to make esters -- molecules widely used as scents and ... full story

Farm Salmon Pose Clear Reproductive Threat to Wild Gene Pools, Researchers Say

Mar. 10, 2014 — While farmed salmon are genetically different to their wild counterparts, they are just as fertile. This is important information because millions of farmed salmon escape into the wild -- posing ... full story

IBS and Bloating: When Gut Microbiota Gets out of Balance

Mar. 10, 2014 — Irritable bowel syndrome belongs to the most widespread diseases in Western countries, causing up to 60 percent of the workload of gastrointestinal physicians. One of the most frequent symptoms of ... full story

New Light Shed on Changing Greenland Ice

Mar. 10, 2014 — Research using NASA data is giving new insight into one of the processes causing Greenland's ice sheet to lose mass. A team of scientists used satellite observations and ice thickness measurements ... full story

Aerosols from Human Activities Tend to Weaken Hurricanes and Cyclones

Mar. 10, 2014 — Aerosols in the atmosphere produced from human activities do indeed directly affect a hurricane or tropical cyclone, but not in a way many scientists had previously believed. In fact, they tend to ... full story

'Super Bacteria' Clean Up After Oil Spills

Mar. 10, 2014 — Researchers have achieved surprising results by exploiting nature's own ability to clean up after oil spills. Scientists know that marine bacteria can assist in cleaning up after oil spills. What is ... full story

'Tree of Life' Distances Are No Shortcut to Conservation

Mar. 9, 2014 — Some conservation strategies assume that the evolutionary distances between species on a phylogenetic 'tree of life' (a branching diagram of species popularized by Charles Darwin) can be used to ... full story

Atomically Thin, Flexible, Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Created

Mar. 9, 2014 — A lot of research has been done on graphene recently -- carbon flakes, consisting of only one layer of atoms. As it turns out, there are other materials too which exhibit remarkable properties if ... full story

In Grasslands Remade by Humans, Animals May Protect Biodiversity: Grazers Let in the Light, Rescue Imperiled Plants

Mar. 9, 2014 — A study of grasslands on six continents suggests a way to counteract the human-made overdose of fertilizer that threatens the biodiversity of the world's prairies. The solution originates in nature: ... full story

Four New Human-Made Ozone Depleting Gases Found in the Atmosphere

Mar. 9, 2014 — Scientists at the University of East Anglia have identified four new human-made gases in the atmosphere -- all of which are contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer. New research reveals ... full story

Sun's Energy Influences 1,000 Years of Natural Climate Variability in North Atlantic

Mar. 9, 2014 — Changes in the sun's energy output may have led to marked natural climate change in Europe over the last 1,000 years, according to researchers. The study found that changes in the sun's activity can ... full story

Deer Proliferation Disrupts a Forest's Natural Growth

Mar. 8, 2014 — Researchers have discovered that a burgeoning deer population forever alters the progression of a forest's natural future by creating environmental havoc in the soil and disrupting the soil's natural ... full story

Over Demanding Market Affects Fisheries More Than Climate Change

Mar. 7, 2014 — Fisheries that rely on short life species, such as shrimp or sardine, have been more affected by climate change, because this phenomenon affects chlorophyll production, which is vital for ... full story

Emotional Expressions in Ancient Funerary Art Served as Therapy for the Bereaved

Mar. 10, 2014 — Emotional expressions on Greek tombstones from the Hellenistic period -- 323-31 B.C. -- help increase our understanding of social communication and cultural values. Despite the potential of the ... full story

New Insights Into Ancient Pacific Settlers' Diet: Diet Based on Foraging, Not Horticulture

Mar. 5, 2014 — Researchers studying 3,000-year-old skeletons from the oldest known cemetery in the Pacific Islands are casting new light on the diet and lives of the enigmatic Lapita people, the likely ancestors of ... full story

New Dinosaur Found in Portugal, Largest Terrestrial Predator from Europe

Mar. 5, 2014 — A new dinosaur species found in Portugal may be the largest land predator discovered in Europe, as well as one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs from the Jurassic. T. gurneyi had blade-shaped ... full story

Pigment or Bacteria? Researchers Re-Examine the Idea of 'Color' in Fossil Feathers

Mar. 5, 2014 — Paleontologists studying fossilized feathers propose that the shapes of certain microscopic structures inside the feathers can tell us the color of ancient birds. But new research shows that it is ... full story

Shadows of Petra Awaken Its Astronomical Orientation

Mar. 5, 2014 — During the winter solstice, the sun is filtered into the Monastery at Petra, Jordan, illuminating the podium of a deity. Just at this moment, the silhouette of the mountain opposite draws the head of ... full story

Convergent Evolution: New Fins Evolve Repeatedly in Teleost Fishes

Mar. 5, 2014 — A new study analyzing the origins of the adipose fin, thought by some to be vestigial, finds that these fins arose repeatedly and independently in multiple species -- a striking example of convergent ... full story

Sea-Level Rise Threatens UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Mar. 4, 2014 — Some of the world's most recognizable and important landmarks could be lost to rising sea-levels if current global warming trends are maintained over the next two millennia. This is according to a ... full story

Prequel Outshines the Original: Exceptional Fossils of 160-Million-Year-Old Doahugou Biota

Mar. 4, 2014 — A new article shows that several Jurassic sites are linked together by shared species and can be recognized as representing a single fossil fauna and flora, containing superbly preserved specimens of ... full story

How Apes and Humans Evolved Side by Side

Mar. 4, 2014 — In a new book, a paleoanthropologist incorporates his research with a synthesis of a vast amount of research from other scientists who study primate evolution and behavior. The book explains how apes ... full story

Native American City on the Mississippi Was America's First 'Melting Pot'

Mar. 4, 2014 — New evidence establishes for the first time that Cahokia, a sprawling, pre-Columbian city situated at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, hosted a sizable population of immigrants. ... full story

Top Society & Education News

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Urbanization Exposes French Cities to Greater Seismic Risk

Mar. 7, 2014 — French researchers have looked into data mining to develop a method for extracting information on the vulnerability of cities in regions of moderate risk, creating a proxy for assessing the probable ... full story

Preschoolers Can Outsmart College Students at Figuring out Gizmos

Mar. 6, 2014 — Preschoolers can be smarter than college students at figuring out how unusual toys and gadgets work because they're more flexible and less biased than adults in their ideas about cause and effect, ... full story

Japanese Town: Half the Survivors of Mega-Earthquake, Tsunami, Have PTSD Symptoms

Mar. 6, 2014 — A new study shows that more than half the survivors in one Japanese town exhibited 'clinically concerning' symptoms of PTSD following the country's mega-earthquake and tsunami. Two-thirds of ... full story

Love or Kill Thy Neighbor? New Study Into Animal Social Behavior

Mar. 6, 2014 — A theoretical study has shed new light on the conditions that lead to the evolution of spite or altruism in structured populations. Understanding the way in which social behaviors such as altruism -- ... full story

Human Activity Influences Beach Bacterial Diversity

Mar. 5, 2014 — Human activity influences ocean beach bacterial communities, and bacterial diversity may indicate greater ecological health and resiliency to sewage contamination. Beaches all contain bacteria, but ... full story

Long-Lasting Device Protects Against HIV, Pregnancy

Mar. 5, 2014 — Women's reproductive health may never be the same, thanks to a biomedical engineer and his first-of-its-kind intravaginal ring that reliably delivers an antiretroviral drug and a contraceptive for ... full story

Advertisements Telling Smokers 'Why' to Quit More Successful Than 'How' Messages

Mar. 4, 2014 — Brief exposure to anti-smoking television ads with messages about why to quit smoking can influence a smoker to quit within a month, while ads about how to quit smoking do not influence smoking ... full story

New School Meal Standards Significantly Increase Fruit, Vegetable Consumption

Mar. 4, 2014 — New federal standards launched in 2012 that require schools to offer healthier meals have led to increased fruit and vegetable consumption, according to a new study. The study, the first to examine ... full story

Blasts May Cause Brain Injury Even Without Symptoms: Veteran Study

Mar. 3, 2014 — Veterans exposed to explosions who do not report symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have damage to the brain's white matter comparable to veterans with TBI, according to researchers. ... full story

Largest-Ever Study of Mental Health Risk, Resilience in Army Personnel Releases Findings

Mar. 3, 2014 — Most mental health disorders and suicidal ideation among U.S. Army soldiers start before enlistment, according to findings of the largest-ever study of mental health risk in army personnel. Three new ... full story

Using a Treadmill While Working Can Boost Employee Productivity, Study Finds

Mar. 4, 2014 — Walking while you work may not only improve an employee's health, it may also boost productivity, according to new research. Researchers studied employees using treadmills instead of office chairs as ... full story

Google Glass Could Help Stop Emerging Public Health Threats Around the World

Feb. 27, 2014 — The much-talked-about Google Glass -- the eyewear with computer capabilities -- could potentially save lives, especially in isolated or far-flung locations, say scientists. They are reporting ... full story

Warning: Your Open-Plan Office Can Make You Ill

Feb. 25, 2014 — Don’t blame other commuters if you catch a cold this winter: blame the people who designed your office. According to a study, workplace layout has a surprising effect on rates of sick leave. After ... full story

Portable Hydrogen Fuel Cell Unit to Provide Green, Sustainable Power to Honolulu Port

Feb. 25, 2014 — Clean hydrogen power that’s expected to lower emissions and reduce energy consumption will be coming to the Port of Honolulu in 2015 after the completion of a new fuel cell technology ... full story

Gauging What It Takes to Heal a Disaster-Ravaged Forest: Case Study in China

Feb. 24, 2014 — Recovering from natural disasters usually means rebuilding infrastructure and reassembling human lives. Yet ecologically sensitive areas need to heal, too, and scientists are pioneering new methods ... full story

Will Plug-in Cars Crash the Electric Grid? Not With Newly Proposed System

Feb. 21, 2014 — The world’s growing fleet of plug-in cars will put strain on aging electrical distribution systems. Now research presents a solution: to prevent the electric grid from crashing, break-up requests ... full story

New York Takes Lead in State Efforts to End Ivory Trade

Feb. 20, 2014 — A bill introduced into the New York State Legislature proposing a sweeping ban on the sale of ivory in New York State, Assembly bill A8824, has been welcomed by the Wildlife Conservation Society. ... full story

Sustainable Manufacturing System to Better Consider the Human Component

Feb. 20, 2014 — Engineers have developed a new approach toward 'sustainable manufacturing' that begins on the factory floor and tries to encompass the totality of manufacturing issues -- including economic, ... full story

Rise of the Compliant Machines: Sociable Humanoids Could Help Advance Human-Robot Interaction

Feb. 20, 2014 — Are we on the brink of a robotics revolution? That's what numerous media outlets asked last December when Google acquired eight robotics companies that specialize in such innovations as manipulation, ... full story

Stress Hormones in Financial Traders May Trigger 'Risk Aversion,' Contribute to Market Crises

Feb. 17, 2014 — High levels of the stress hormone cortisol may contribute to the risk aversion and ‘irrational pessimism’ found among bankers and fund managers during financial crises, according to a new study. ... full story

Zoos, Aquariums Do Teach Us About Biodiversity, Largest International Study Proves

Mar. 3, 2014 — Zoos and aquariums do teach the public about the delicate balance between animal species and their habitats, a new international study shows. More than 6,000 visitors to over 30 zoos and aquariums ... full story

Education Attenuates Impact of TBI on Cognition

Feb. 28, 2014 — Higher educational attainment (a proxy of intellectual enrichment) attenuates the negative impact of traumatic brain injury on cognitive status, new research indicates. Said one researcher of the ... full story

Can an App Help Make Life Easier for Children With ADHD?

Feb. 28, 2014 — We have tended to associate welfare technology with support for the elderly. Now researchers are looking at whether technology such as digital calendars and smartwatches can also provide support for ... full story

Father's Age Tied to Higher Rates of Psychiatric, Academic Problems in Kids

Feb. 26, 2014 — Advancing paternal age can lead to higher rates of psychiatric and academic problems in offspring than previously estimated. Compared to a children born to a 24-year-old father, children born to a ... full story

Why Breastfed Babies Are So Smart: Moms Who Breastfeed Are Often Responsive and Read to Their Babies

Feb. 26, 2014 — Research has shown that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests and perform better in school, but the reason why remained unclear. Now a new study shows that two parenting skills deserve ... full story

Virtual Computer-Based World an Effective Learning Environment for Healthcare Education, Study Shows

Feb. 26, 2014 — Researchers have demonstrated the potential of using a virtual computer environment for distance healthcare education for an international audience that often has limited access to conventional ... full story

New Autism Definition May Decrease Diagnosis by One Third

Feb. 26, 2014 — New diagnosis guidelines for autism spectrum disorder may reduce by almost one third the total number of people being diagnosed, according to new research. The guidelines, released in May 2013 and ... full story

Prevalence of High School Seniors' Marijuana Use Is Expected to Increase With Legalization

Feb. 25, 2014 — Large proportions of high school students normally at low risk for marijuana use (e.g., non-cigarette-smokers, religious students, those with friends who disapprove of use) reported intention to use ... full story

The Musical Brain: Novel Study of Jazz Players Shows Common Brain Circuitry Processes Both Music, Language

Feb. 19, 2014 — The brains of jazz musicians engrossed in spontaneous, improvisational musical conversation showed robust activation of brain areas traditionally associated with spoken language and syntax, which are ... full story

In Fight Against Teen Prescription Drug Abuse, Home and School-Based Programs Work in Combination

Feb. 18, 2014 — Programs that aim to curb teen prescription drug abuse have vastly differing success rates, ranging from big drops in drug abuse to no measurable effect, says a new study. The best results came from ... full story

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