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Top Science News

September 28, 2016

How Human and Neanderthal Ears Differ

92% of People Exposed to Serious Air Pollution

Quantum Computing a Step Closer to Reality

Creating Antimatter Via Lasers?

Sep. 27, 2016 — Scientists have scanned the skulls of Neanderthals and found the small middle ear ossicles, which are important for hearing, still preserved within ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — A new WHO air quality model confirms that 92% of the world's population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits. Some 3 million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — Physicists have brought quantum computing a step closer to reality by stopping light in a new experiment. Researchers report that controlling the movement of light is critical to developing future ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — Intriguing calculations explain the production and dynamics of electrons and positrons from ultrahigh-intensity laser-matter interactions. In other words: They've calculated how to create matter and ... read more

Latest Top Headlines

updated 2:43pm EDT

Depression in Pregnancy Increases Risk of Mental Health Problems in Children

Sep. 28, 2016 — Depression in pregnancy increases the risk of behavioral and emotional problems in children, says a ... read more

Americas Declared Free of Measles

Sep. 28, 2016 — The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, including pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and even death. This achievement culminates a 22-year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and ... read more

Have More Than Eight Dental Fillings? It Could Increase the Mercury Levels in Your Blood

Sep. 27, 2016 — Dental surface restorations composed of dental amalgam, a mixture of mercury, silver, tin and other metals, significantly contribute to prolonged mercury levels in the body, according to ... read more

Artificial Blood Vessels Developed in the Lab Can Grow With the Recipient

Sep. 27, 2016 — Biomedical engineers, artificial blood vessels bioengineered in the lab and implanted in young lambs are capable of growth within the recipient, a groundbreaking new study demonstrates. If confirmed in humans, these new vessel grafts would prevent the need for repeated surgeries in some children ... read more

A Perfect Sun-Storm

Sep. 28, 2016 — A geomagnetic storm on January 17, 2013, provided unique observations that finally resolved a long-standing scientific problem. For decades, scientists had asked how particles hitting Earth's magnetosphere were lost. A likely mechanism involved certain electromagnetic waves scattering particles ... read more

Cosmic Dust Demystified

Sep. 27, 2016 — Besides providing substantive information about the atmospheres of other planets, cosmic dust particles can impact radio communications, climate and even serve as fertilizer for phytoplankton in the oceans. A team of researchers has developed a new experimental Meteoric Ablation Simulator (MASI) ... read more

Secure Passwords Can Be Sent Through Your Body, Instead of Air

Sep. 27, 2016 — Engineers have devised a way to send secure passwords through the human body using smartphone fingerprint sensors and laptop touchpads -- rather than over the air where they're vulnerable ... read more

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Caused Widespread Marsh Erosion, Study Shows

Sep. 27, 2016 — The Deepwater Horizon oil spill six years ago caused widespread marsh erosion that may be permanent in some places, according to a new analysis of 270 miles of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts. At the hardest-hit of 103 Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) sites, where oil covered ... read more

Tracking the Amount of Sea Ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet

Sep. 28, 2016 — By analyzing ice cores drilled from deep inside the Greenland ice sheet, researchers have started to calculate how much Arctic sea ice there was in ... read more

One Fly to Rule Them All: Flies Are the Key Pollinators of the High Arctic

Sep. 28, 2016 — Forget the view of the Arctic as an icy desert devoid of life. The Arctic summer is buzzing with insects -- and here as everywhere else, plants rely on them for pollination. But who are the insects driving the pollination services across the Arctic? A new study finds the biggest heroes among the ... read more

Outrageous Heads Led to Outrageously Large Dinosaurs

Sep. 27, 2016 — Theropod dinosaur species with bony crests, horns and knobs evolved to giant body sizes 20 times faster than those species lacking such embellishments, new research ... read more

How Wetlands and Agriculture, Not Fossil Fuels, Could Be Causing a Global Rise in Methane

Sep. 27, 2016 — Recent rises in levels of methane in our atmosphere is being driven by biological sources, such as swamp gas, cow burps, or rice fields, rather than fossil fuel emissions, new ... read more

Pigeons Can Distinguish Words from Non-Words, Study Says

Measles Has Officially Been Eliminated In The Americas

9 Out Of 10 People On Earth Are Breathing Polluted Air

Elon Musk Presents Transportation Plans For Colonizing Mars

Fertility Genes Required for Sperm Stem Cells

How 'Hair-Of-The-Dog' Works to Treat Allergies

Ancient Brain Area Controls Eye Movements

Fecal Bacteria Linked to Body Fat

Sep. 27, 2016 — The underlying cause of male infertility is unknown for 30 percent of cases. In a pair of new studies, researchers have determined that the reproductive homeobox (RHOX) family of transcription ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — Using mice as the models, a new study describes the cellular processes that occur during "rush desensitization." The approach involves giving a small dose of the allergy trigger -- peanuts or bee ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — There is much going on around us all the time, phenomena that we perceive with our different senses, which send information to the brain. This complication is solved by an ancient part of the ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — A new link between the diversity of bacteria in human poo -- known as the human fecal microbiome -- and levels of abdominal body fat, has been identified by scientists. The research provides further ... read more

Latest Health Headlines

updated 2:43pm EDT

Time Window to Help People Who Have Had a Stroke Longer Than Previously Shown

Sep. 28, 2016 — Time is of the essence when getting people stricken with acute ischemic strokes to treatment. Current professional guidelines recommend that stent retrievers be used to remove blood clots from stroke patients within six hours for people to benefit. But new research finds that the procedure has benefits for people up to 7.3 hours following the ... read more

Fungus Makes Mosquitoes Much More Likely to Become Infected With Malaria

Sep. 28, 2016 — A fungus that compromises the immune system of mosquitoes, making them more susceptible to infection with the parasite that causes malaria, has been discovered by scientists. Because environmental microorganisms can vary greatly from region to region, the researchers say the findings may help explain variations in the prevalence of malaria in different geographic ... read more

Heart Disease Exercise Program Could Work for Bowel Cancer Patients

Sep. 28, 2016 — Could rehabilitation programs for heart disease patients be used to help people recovering from bowel cancer get back on their feet? That’s the question cancer care experts have been ... read more

Cystic Fibrosis: Ensuring Adequate Nutrition

Sep. 28, 2016 — People with cystic fibrosis (CF) need help to ensure they are getting correct nutrition and the right amount of enzymes. They also need constant reminders. Researchers are now developing a digital support device to promote autonomy, but are finding that this is no easy ... read more

New Imaging Technique in Alzheimer's Disease Opens Up Possibilities for New Drug Development

Sep. 28, 2016 — Tau PET is a new and promising imaging method for Alzheimer’s disease. A case study in Sweden now confirms that tau PET images correspond to a higher degree to actual changes in the brain. According to the researchers behind the study, this increases opportunities for developing effective ... read more

Help Needed to Identify Post-Stroke Visual Impairments

Sep. 27, 2016 — A review of the methods available to screen for post-stroke visual impairments has found there is an urgent demand for the development of a ... read more

Teen Girls With a Family History of Breast Cancer Do Not Experience Increased Depression or Anxiety

Sep. 26, 2016 — More and more girls are expected to have to confront breast cancer fears as modern genomics technology makes it easier to detect strong risk factors such as inherited BRCA1/2 mutations. But a new study shows that adolescent girls in families with a history of breast cancer or a high-risk BRCA1/2 mutation do not experience negative psychological ... read more

Measurement Helps Craniofacial Surgeons Better Evaluate Children With Skull Deformity

Sep. 26, 2016 — A baby’s skull is made of several plates of bone that fuse together over time to form a single structure. Previous research has shown that approximately one in 2,000 babies have plates that fuse too early — a condition called craniosynostosis — causing cranial deformities that can lead to learning impairments and other neurodevelopmental ... read more

Energy Drink Use, With or Without Alcohol, Contributes to Drunk Driving

Sep. 27, 2016 — Highly caffeinated energy drinks (EDs) have been of concern to the public-health community for almost a decade. Many young people consume EDs with alcohol to decrease alcohol’s sedative effects and stay awake longer, enabling them to drink more alcohol. Adding to the growing body of research linking ED consumption with risk-taking and alcohol-related problems, this study examined its ... read more

The Spice of Life: Cinnamon Cools Your Stomach

Sep. 26, 2016 — Adding cinnamon to your diet can cool your body by up to two degrees, according to research. And the spice may also contribute to a general improvement in overall health, say authors of a new ... read more

Improving Protein Intake in Older Adults

Sep. 27, 2016 — Researchers have been exploring the reasons why many older people aren’t eating as much protein as they should be. Findings from the study could go on to inform strategies to improve protein ... read more

Poverty and Perceived Hardship Affect Cognitive Function and May Contribute to Premature Aging, Say Investigators

Sep. 27, 2016 — A new study finds strong associations between sustained exposure to economic hardship and worse cognitive function in relatively young ... read more

Measles Has Officially Been Eliminated In The Americas

Air Pollution Killing Hundreds of Thousands in S.Asia: WHO

9 Out Of 10 People On Earth Are Breathing Polluted Air

Over 90% of People Breathing Bad Air: UN

Cheaper Next-Generation Solar Modules

New Step Forward for Quantum Photonic Circuits

Scientists Put a New Twist On Artificial Muscles

Discovery: A New Form of Light

Sep. 27, 2016 — Thin-film technologies can dramatically reduce the cost of next-generation solar modules, say scientists. Whereas their production cost is low, it is in particular the combination of complementary ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — Whether for use in safe data encryption, ultrafast calculation of huge data volumes or so-called quantum simulation of highly complex systems: Optical quantum computers are a source of hope for ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — A high-tech twist has been put on the ancient art of fiber spinning, using modern materials to create ultra-strong, powerful, shape-shifting yarns. A new report describes the path to developing a new ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — Glow-in-the-dark stickers, weird deep-sea fish, LED lightbulbs -- all have forms of luminescence. In other words, instead of just reflecting light, they make their own. Scientists have discovered a ... read more

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 2:43pm EDT

Study of North Atlantic Ocean Reveals Decline of Leaded Petrol Emissions

Sep. 28, 2016 — A new study of lead pollution in the North Atlantic provides strong evidence that leaded petrol emissions have declined over the past few decades. For the first time in around 40 years, scientists have detected lead from natural sources in samples from this ocean. In the intervening period, the proportion of lead in the ocean from humanmade sources, most importantly leaded petrol emissions, had ... read more

Mechanical Behavior of Tiny Structures Is Affected by Atomic Defects

Sep. 28, 2016 — Scientists have measured the mechanics of tiny crystalline ceramics. Materials are made of atoms, and if they are arranged periodically, they are called crystalline structures. If the size of these crystalline structures is 1,000 times smaller than a single human hair diameter, then they are called ... read more

New Steel for Better Electric Motors Under Development

Sep. 28, 2016 — A new kind of steel for the motors in electric vehicles is now under development. The new steel would help make the motors smaller, lighter, more powerful and more ... read more

Scientists Visualize Quantum Behavior of Hot Electrons for First Time

Sep. 28, 2016 — Scientists have, for the first time, identified a method of visualizing the quantum behavior of electrons on a surface. The findings present a promising step forward towards being able to manipulate and control the behavior of high energy, or ... read more

Solving a Heavy-Duty Mystery

Sep. 26, 2016 — To determine how the universe's heavy elements -- gold, silver and many others -- came about, a team of international researchers is studying both the largest and smallest things known to us -- stars and atoms. The team is providing critical data to computer models of what are known as stellar events -- supernovas and neutron stars mergers, to be ... read more

Australian Technology Installed on World’s Largest Single-Dish Radio Telescope

Sep. 26, 2016 — The world’s largest filled single-dish radio telescope has launched, and it relies on a piece of West Australian innovation. The telescope -- known as FAST -- uses a data system developed at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy in Perth ... read more

Hubble Spots Possible Water Plumes Erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa

Sep. 26, 2016 — Astronomers have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water ... read more

Scientists' Finding Supports Moon Creation Hypothesis

Sep. 26, 2016 — A layer of iron and other elements deep underground is the evidence scientists have long been seeking to support the hypothesis that the moon was formed by a planetary object hitting the infant Earth some 4.5 billion years ago, a new ... read more

The Urge to Upgrade

Sep. 27, 2016 — In order to properly decide if an upgrade is worth the cost, consumers should compare the new product with what they already own. But new research shows there‘s a wide gap between what buyers should do and what actually happens when it comes to the most cutting-edge gadgets, products and ... read more

Quantum Computing Advances With Researchers' Control of Entanglement

Sep. 27, 2016 — Using laser light, a team of scientists has developed a precise, continuous control technology giving 60 times more success than previous efforts in sustaining the lifetime of “qubits,” the unit that quantum computers encode. In particular, the researchers have shown that they can continue to create a quantum behavior known as the entangled state -- entangling more than one million different ... read more

Computer Engineers Boost App Speeds by More Than 9 Percent

Sep. 26, 2016 — Researchers have found a way to boost the speed of computer applications by more than 9 percent. The improvement results from techniques that allow computer processors to retrieve data more ... read more

Next Generation of Statistical Tools to Be Developed for the Big Data Age

Sep. 21, 2016 — Statisticians are developing new ways to interpret the unprecedented amounts of data being generated continuously all around us. Whether it is smart phones packed full of sensors measuring your health, location and the weather, or connected cars driving past roadside monitors measuring traffic volumes or air quality, or even thousands of sensors on individual oil wells, in the world of the ... read more

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Environment News

September 28, 2016

Fossil Proteins Break Through DNA Time Barrier

How Traffic Impacts Wild Owls' Foraging

Consistency Builds Cohesion in Animal Kingdom

Ancient Ocean Life Enabled by Erosion From Land

Sep. 27, 2016 — Scientists have identified fossil proteins in a 3.8 million year-old ostrich eggshell, suggesting that proteins could provide valuable new insights into the evolutionary tree, much further back in ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — Traffic noise reduces the foraging efficiency of wild owls by up to 89 percent, a team of researchers has found. The team's world-first study examined how different levels of such noise affect the ... read more

Sep. 27, 2016 — A wide range of animals -- from shoals of fish, to swarms of locusts, to zebras on the Serengeti -- live in tightly-coordinated social groups. This can help them avoid predation and find food, but ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — As scientists continue finding evidence for life in the ocean more than 3 billion years ago, those ancient fossils pose a paradox that raises questions about whether there was more land mass than ... read more

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 2:43pm EDT

How Choosy Should You Be?

Sep. 28, 2016 — When animals choose their mates, how discriminate they are varies a great deal. For some male Mormon crickets, any female will do; in contrast, blue peahens rarely fall for the first cock courting them. Across nature, all kinds of situations seem to occur (albeit with different frequencies): indiscriminate males and females, only choosy females, only choosy males, very choosy everybody, as well ... read more

Researchers Modify Yeast to Show How Plants Respond to a Key Hormone

Sep. 27, 2016 — Researchers have developed a novel toolkit based on modified yeast cells to tease out how plant genes and proteins respond to auxin, the most ubiquitous plant hormone. Their system allowed them to decode auxin's basic effects on a diverse family of ... read more

Toxins from Food Mold Weaken Airways' Defenses to Cause More Damage

Sep. 27, 2016 — Toxins from mold found growing on nuts or corn can weaken the airways’ self-clearing mechanisms and immunity, opening the door for respiratory diseases and exacerbating existing ones, suggests a new ... read more

Foreign Farms Increase the Risk of Conflicts in Africa

Sep. 28, 2016 — For the first time, researchers point to areas in Africa where foreign agricultural companies’ choice of crops and management of fresh water are partly responsible for the increased water shortages and greater competition for water. This in turn increases the risk of outright conflicts between all those who need water – plants, animals and ... read more

Climate Change Jigsaw Puzzle: Antarctic Pieces Missing

Sep. 28, 2016 — A shift in westerly winds, which has led to climate impacts in Australia and the Southern Ocean, is human-induced, new research suggests. To date, limited data on Antarctic climate has meant that it’s been difficult to disentangle changes caused by human activity from ... read more

Climate Change Will See Some Males Get Sexier

Sep. 27, 2016 — A common marine crustacean has shown researchers that it's all set to beat climate change -- the males will get more attractive to the females, with a resulting ... read more

Antibiotic Resistance Can Occur Naturally in Soil Bacteria

Sep. 27, 2016 — Scientists have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in prairie soils that had little or no exposure to human or ... read more

Could Excess Water from Oil and Gas Operations Help Farmers and Reduce Seismicity?

Sep. 27, 2016 — Water pumped from deep underground during oil and gas drilling could help farmers weather water shortages. The trick is making sure the water is safe, legal, and economically feasible to move to fields, say two groups of scientists studying what's called "produced water" from oil and gas operations in New Mexico and ... read more

Fossils Can Help Predict Future Species Survival

Sep. 27, 2016 — Many people are concerned about conservation of the planet's cute and cuddlies. But in a world of global climate change, sometimes we must prioritize which species we can and should save from extinction. Scientists are helping us make those determinations by looking at the ... read more

Ancestor of Arthropods Had the Mouth of a Penis Worm

Sep. 26, 2016 — Imagine a meter long worm with 12 stubby legs and matching sets of flaps running down the body. On the head is a large pair of spiny appendages used for grasping prey that transport victims into a circular mouth with several rows of teeth. For years, scientists have disagreed over whether this ... read more

In Bird Feathers, Scientists Find Hints About Color of Extinct Animals

Sep. 23, 2016 — In order to discover the true colors of ancient animals, scientists are using X-rays to closely examine the chemical details of modern bird feathers. The researchers were able to map elements that make up pigments responsible for red and black colors in feathers. They hope to use this information ... read more

Shape-Shifters Found in the Belt Supergroup: Revelations About Tappania Plana

Sep. 25, 2016 — The rise of eukaryotic organisms (organisms with complex cells, or a single cell with a complex structure) is still a mystery, but researchers have compelling evidence that Tappania plana may represent one of the earliest eukaryotic fossils. ... read more

Santa Cruz Wildfire Forces Hundreds from Homes

Pigeons Can Distinguish Words from Non-Words, Study Says

Lightning Strikes Leave Australian State in the Dark

Typhoon Megi Leave Trail of Destruction in Taiwan

What's the Impact of the VW Emissions Cheat?

Internet Addiction Signals Mental Health ...

Half of Kids Spend Time in Home With Firearms

Earthquakes Can Trigger Other Fault Aftershocks

Sep. 20, 2016 — Beginning in 2008, Volkswagen installed software to circumvent emissions testing by turning off the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions control system in ... read more

Sep. 18, 2016 — A new survey of internet users suggests that people who use the internet excessively may have more mental health problems. Using two scales to ... read more

Sep. 14, 2016 — About half of the children whose parents were surveyed in the United States spend time in homes that have firearms, a study of shows. However, few ... read more

Sep. 8, 2016 — A large earthquake on one fault can trigger large aftershocks on separate faults within just a few minutes. These findings have important implications for earthquake hazard prone regions like ... read more

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 2:43pm EDT

Missing Fish Catch Data? Not Necessarily a Problem, New Study Says

Sep. 27, 2016 — Recording how many fish are caught is one important requirement to measure the well-being of a fish stock -- if scientists know the number of fish taken from the ocean, they can adjust management of that fishery to keep it from being overfished. Missing catch data, however, are rampant, causing concern that fisheries around the world are overfished. In many cases, misreporting caught fish doesn't ... read more

High-Tech Future Early Warning System for Hurricanes, Tornados and Volcanic Eruptions

Sep. 27, 2016 — The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been able to detect a gravity wave wafting through space from two colliding black holes billions of years ago. Now a group has built a much smaller ring laser interferometer to ... read more

Crystalline Fault Lines Provide Pathway for Solar Cell Current

Sep. 26, 2016 — A team of scientists studying solar cells made from cadmium telluride, a promising alternative to silicon, has discovered that microscopic "fault lines" within and between crystals of the material act as conductive pathways that ease the flow of electric current. This research may help explain how ... read more

Science Can Shape Healthy City Planning

Sep. 23, 2016 — The health gains achieved if cities were designed so that shops, facilities, work and public transportation were within walking distance of most residents have now been quantified by researchers. In a series of articles, researchers tackle how to implement timely research into city design, planning and policy to improve the health of a city’s ... read more

Automated Screening for Childhood Communication Disorders

Sep. 23, 2016 — For children with speech and language disorders, early-childhood intervention can make a great difference in their later academic and social success. But many such children -- one study estimates 60 percent -- go undiagnosed until kindergarten or ... read more

Research Shows That How Students Engage With Feedback Is as Important as Its Content

Sep. 21, 2016 — A new research review takes a novel approach to feedback by focusing not on how it is delivered, but how students engage with and use it. The key message from the study is that effective feedback needs to be a dialogue – not a one-way ... read more

Health Benefits of Evening Classes Revealed

Sep. 20, 2016 — Those with a taste for adult education classes have long known it, but now scientists have confirmed that taking part in the weekly sessions can boost wellbeing -- regardless of the ... read more

Video Games Can Have Lasting Impact on Learning

Sep. 20, 2016 — A computer-based brain training program helps improve student performance in reading and math — in some cases even more than individualized tutoring, according to a new ... read more

Rushing to Complete Work on Deadline Could Mean More Mistakes

Sep. 19, 2016 — When deadlines are in place, workers tend to complete their tasks at the last minute, often leading to lower quality outcomes, shows a new ... read more

'Sleeper Effect' Accounts for Durability of Weak Messages from Credible Sources

Sep. 13, 2016 — The least convincing arguments can reverberate in the public consciousness over time -- provided they're delivered by a credible source, explains new ... read more

Group Work Can Harm Memory

Sep. 13, 2016 — Collaborating in a group to remember information is harmful, new research suggests. The research statistically analysed 64 earlier collaborative remembering studies and found that groups recall less than their individual members would if working ... read more

Women Do Ask for Pay Rises but Don’t Get Them

Sep. 5, 2016 — New research shows that women ask for wage rises just as often as men, but men are 25 per cent more likely to get a raise when they ... read more

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