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Top Science News

September 30, 2016

Record-Breaking Binary in Galaxy Next Door

Good Food Puts Bees in Good Mood

Spiral Arms in Protoplanetary Disk

New Devices Emulate Human Biological Synapses

Sep. 29, 2016 — Scientists have found the first gamma-ray binary in another galaxy and the most luminous one ever seen. The dual-star system, dubbed LMC P3, contains a massive star and a crushed stellar core that ... read more

Sep. 29, 2016 — After bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state, scientists have ... read more

Sep. 29, 2016 — Astronomers have found distinct spiral arms in the disk of gas and dust surrounding the young star Elias 2-27. While similar features have been observed on the surfaces of such disks before, this is ... read more

Sep. 29, 2016 — A new type of nanodevice for computer microprocessors is being developed that can mimic the functioning of a biological synapse -- the place where a signal passes from one nerve cell to another in ... read more

Latest Top Headlines

updated 1:03am EDT

Moderate Activity Helps Older Adults Maintain Mobility, Independence

Sep. 28, 2016 — By adopting a walking routine and other moderate physical activities, older adults can recover from a major disability more quickly, and maintain their independence over time, according to a ... read more

Scientists Track Unexpected Mechanisms of Memory

Sep. 29, 2016 — Our brains hold on to memories via physical changes in synapses, the tiny connections between neurons. Unexpected molecular mechanisms by which these changes take place have now been revealed by ... read more

Game Theory Research Reveals Fragility of Common Resources

Sep. 29, 2016 — People are naturally predisposed to over-use "common-pool resources" such as transportation systems and fisheries even if it risks failure of the system, to the detriment of society as a whole, new research in game ... read more

Brain Disruptions Similar Across Many Emotional Disorders

Sep. 28, 2016 — In an analysis of existing studies that used MRI images to study the brain’s white matter, researchers describe common brain abnormalities found in multiple ... read more

Rosetta Instrument Provided First-Ever Ultraviolet Observations of a Comet

Sep. 29, 2016 — After a two-year orbital tour around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft -- carrying the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph -- will end its mission on Sept. 30. Rosetta is the first spacecraft to orbit and escort a comet, and Alice, developed and operated for NASA, is the first ... read more

Food Additive Key to Environmentally Friendly, Efficient, Plastic Solar Cells

Sep. 29, 2016 — An efficient, semi-printed plastic solar cell has now been created without the use of environmentally hazardous ... read more

Curiosity Finds Evidence of Mars Crust Contributing to Atmosphere

Sep. 29, 2016 — NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence that chemistry in the surface material on Mars contributed dynamically to the makeup of its atmosphere over time. It's another clue that the history of the Red Planet's atmosphere is more complex and interesting than a simple legacy ... read more

Rosetta May Be Crashing, but Its Legacy Lives on Here on Earth

Sep. 28, 2016 — ESA's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014, following a ten-year journey through the Solar System after its launch on 2 March 2004. The Philae lander was sent down to the surface of the comet on 12 November 2014. Confirmation of the end of mission is ... read more

New Evidence Shifts the Timeline Back for Human Arrival in the Americas

Sep. 29, 2016 — Humans occupied South America earlier than previously thought, according to the recent discovery of ancient artifacts found at an archeological site ... read more

Genes Underlying Dogs' Social Ability Revealed

Sep. 29, 2016 — The social ability of dogs is affected by genes that also seems to influence human behavior, according to a new study. The scientists have found a relationship between five different genes and the ability of dogs to interact with humans. Four of them also show similarities to certain conditions ... read more

Human and Avian Running on Uneven Ground

Sep. 29, 2016 — Humans and birds adapt their movement when running on uneven ground. "And even though their adaptation mechanisms and strategies developed completely independently, they do so in very similar ways", outlines a new report that analyzes human and avian locomotion on ... read more

Marine Snow Fuels Life on the Sea-Floor

Sep. 29, 2016 — City-sized maps of terrain and life on the sea-floor have revealed that drifts of 'marine snow' on submarine hillsides act as a source of food to fuel a higher biomass of marine life on the hills than on the flatter plains surrounding hills This finding comes from research that may help improve ... read more

Earth's Carbon Dioxide Levels May Have Passed The Point Of No Return

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

Body-Worn Cameras and Complaints Against Police

Where You Live Shapes Your Immune System

Rare Flu-Thwarting Mutation Discovered

New Dental Fillings May Repair Tooth Decay

Sep. 29, 2016 — The introduction of wearable cameras led to a 93% drop in complaints made against police by the public – suggesting the cameras result in ... read more

Sep. 29, 2016 — Like fingerprints, immune systems vary from person to person. And although we all inherit a unique set of genes that help us respond to infections, recent studies have found that our history and ... read more

Sep. 28, 2016 — A rare and improbable mutation in a protein encoded by an influenza virus renders the virus defenseless against the body's immune system. This discovery could provide a new strategy for live ... read more

Sep. 26, 2016 — The first data on dental fillings that can actively repair tooth decay has been presented by a researcher. This data, indicating smart repair of tooth decay, prolonging the life of composite fillings ... read more

Latest Health Headlines

updated 1:03am EDT

Parents Cite Lack of Need as Reason for Not Getting Kids Flu Shots

Sep. 29, 2016 — Despite the fact that influenza leads to more hospitalizations and deaths among children than any other vaccine-preventable disease, parents frequently decline vaccinating their children against influenza because they don’t perceive the need, according to a new case-control ... read more

Genetic Switch for Cancer Cells' Immortality Revealed

Sep. 29, 2016 — Scientists have revealed how a genetic switch involved in the packaging of DNA may be key to a cancer cell’s ability to keep ... read more

Pre-Screening for Young Athletes at Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death

Sep. 29, 2016 — Although rare, sudden cardiac death in young athletes raises serious concerns, especially because most victims report no warning symptoms. Pre-participation screening aims to identify children, adolescents, and young adults at risk, but there is not yet consensus regarding the best way to accomplish this. A new report sheds light on this controversial topic by describing a new screening protocol ... read more

Research Into Fly Development Provides Insights Into Blood Vessel Formation

Sep. 29, 2016 — Researchers working with flies describe that the concentration of some small intracellular organelles determines the branching capacity of tracheal cells. Tracheal cells are analogous to the cells that form blood vessels in the human body. The inhibition or stimulation of new blood vessels has ... read more

Yours or Mine? How We Handle Objects Depends on Who Owns Them

Sep. 29, 2016 — From scissors and staplers to car keys and cell phones, we pass objects to other people every day. We often try to pass the objects so that the handle or other useful feature is facing the appropriate direction for the person receiving the item, but new research shows that we are less accommodating when it comes to handing over our own ... read more

New Treatment Strategy Could Cut Parkinson's Disease Off at the Pass

Sep. 29, 2016 — Researchers report they have identified a protein that enables a toxic natural aggregate to spread from cell to cell in a mammal's brain -- and a way to block that protein's action. Their study in mice and cultured cells suggests that an immunotherapy already in clinical trials as a cancer therapy ... read more

Smoking Bans Persuade Light Users to Give Up the Habit

Sep. 28, 2016 — For the first time, research shows how smoking bans in cities, states and counties led young people living in those areas to give up, or never take up, the use of ... read more

Parkinson's Disease Protection May Begin in the Gut

Sep. 26, 2016 — The gut may play a key role in preventing the onset of Parkinson's disease. Biologists found that in roundworms, an immune response from intestinal cells sparks a series of chemical signals that ultimately preserves neurons whose death is associated ... read more

Status Drives Men's Reproductive Success Across Non-Industrial World

Sep. 29, 2016 — The reproductive success of men in non-industrialized societies is closely tied to their social status, finds a new ... read more

Alcohol Shown to Act in Same Way as Rapid Antidepressants

Sep. 28, 2016 — Can having a few drinks help people with clinical depression feel better? Yes. At least in terms of biochemistry, ... read more

Rest and Well-Being: World's Largest Survey

Sep. 28, 2016 — Over two thirds (68 per cent) of the public would like more rest, according to the world's largest ever survey on the topic. The study also revealed that nearly a third (32 per cent) of respondents said they need more rest than the average person, while 10 per cent think they ... read more

Moderate Alcohol Use Linked to Heart Chamber Damage, Atrial Fibrillation in New Study

Sep. 28, 2016 — Researchers have found that even moderate alcohol consumption may change the structure of the heart in ways that increase the risk of atrial ... read more

In Bali's Deaf Village, Silence Is Golden

CDC: No Excuse Not To Get Flu Vaccination

Kratom Could Be Moved To Illegal Drug List As Soon As Friday

Phages Offers Virus Alternative to Antibiotics

'Incomprehensible' Birth of Supercrystal

Stellar Cocoon With Curious Chemistry

3-D Printing to Induce Bone Regeneration

Optical Fiber Transmits One Terabit Per Second

Sep. 28, 2016 — Two years ago, a research team published an article explaining how they had created a material with unique and extremely interesting electronic characteristics. In this 'supercrystal', the electrons ... read more

Sep. 29, 2016 — A hot and dense mass of complex molecules, cocooning a newborn star, has been discovered astronomers using ALMA. This unique hot molecular core is ... read more

Sep. 28, 2016 — Engineers have developed a 3-D printable ink that produces a synthetic bone implant that rapidly induces bone regeneration and growth. This hyperelastic "bone" material, whose shape can be easily ... read more

Sep. 28, 2016 — Researchers have achieved unprecedented transmission capacity and spectral efficiency in an optical communications field trial with a new modulation technique. The breakthrough research could extend ... read more

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 1:03am EDT

It's Delightful, It's Dynamic, It's Dewetting!

Sep. 28, 2016 — How would you like a kitchen surface that cleans itself? Technological advances such as this could be one step closer after a breakthrough by ... read more

Wind Turbines Killing More Than Just Local Birds

Sep. 29, 2016 — Wind turbines are known to kill large birds, such as golden eagles, that live nearby. Now there is evidence that birds from up to hundreds of miles away make up a significant portion of the raptors that are killed at these wind energy ... read more

Nanoparticle Creates 'Wave of Destruction' in Cancer Cells

Sep. 28, 2016 — Nanoparticles known as Cornell dots, or C dots, have shown great promise as a therapeutic tool in the detection and treatment of cancer. Now, the ultrasmall particles have shown they can do something even better: kill cancer cells without attaching a ... read more

Correlated Magnets Made out of Single Atoms

Sep. 29, 2016 — Scientists have observed antiferromagnetic correlations in one-dimensional fermionic quantum many-body systems, outlines a ... 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

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

Identifying Children and Saving Lives One Thumbprint at a Time

Sep. 29, 2016 — Digital scans of a young child's fingerprints can be correctly identified one year later, a first-of-its-kind study demonstrates. A child could be identified by a simple fingerprint scan at each medical visit, allowing them to get proper medical care such as life-saving vaccinations or food ... read more

Encryption Method Takes Authentication to a New Level, Improves Privacy Protection

Sep. 29, 2016 — New kinds of encryption methods have been developed for improving the privacy protection of consumers to enable safer, more reliable and easier-to-use user authentication than current systems allow. The method combines safety, usability and privacy protection, when, until now, implementing all three at the same time has been a ... 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

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New Jersey Train Crash Kills 1, Injures More Than 100

OPEC Deal Bullish for U.S. Shale

Why You Shouldn't Google Amy Schumer — Or A Bunch Of Other Celebrities

Earth Doesn't Exactly Have The Best View For Studying The Milky Way

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Environment News

September 30, 2016

New Theory On How Life Began On Earth

Tracking Sea Ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet

Flies Are Key Pollinators of the High Arctic

How Human and Neanderthal Ears Differ

Sep. 28, 2016 — A new study offers a twist on a popular theory for how life on Earth began about four billion years ago. The study questions the "RNA world" hypothesis, a theory for how RNA molecules evolved to ... read more

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 the ... read more

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 ... read more

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

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 1:03am EDT

Ancient Reptile Fossils Claw for More Attention

Sep. 29, 2016 — Newly recovered fossils confirm that Drepanosaurus, a prehistoric cross between a chameleon and an anteater, was a small reptile with a fearsome finger. The second digit of its forelimb sported a massive ... read more

Are Suburban Garden Ponds Spreading Lethal Frog Disease?

Sep. 29, 2016 — Keen gardeners stocking their domestic ponds with exotic or wild aquatic species could be inadvertently fueling the rapid spread of the lethally infectious frog disease ranavirus in England, according to new ... read more

Component of Red Wine, Grapes Can Help to Reduce Inflammation, Study Finds

Sep. 28, 2016 — A component of red wine and grapes can help control inflammation induced by a bacterial pathogen that is linked to upper respiratory tract inflammatory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and middle ear infection (otitis media), according to a ... read more

Contrary to Popular Belief, Coca Not the Driving Force of Deforestation, Report Reveals

Sep. 29, 2016 — Most of the world’s coca—the plant source of cocaine—grows in the Amazon forests of the Andean countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, where many think this illicit crop causes deforestation. However, a team of researchers shows that most ... read more

New Technique for Finding Weakness in Earth's Crust

Sep. 29, 2016 — Scientists have developed a method to estimate weakness in the Earth’s outer layers which will help explain and predict volcanic activity ... read more

Solution Blooming for Fracking Spills?

Sep. 28, 2016 — Wastewater from oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – is often laden with salts and can spill, contaminating soils. In a recent study, researchers tested a method that extracted a large percentage of the salt present in soils contaminated by ... read more

Toward 'Greener,' Inexpensive Solar Cells

Sep. 28, 2016 — Solar panels are proliferating across the globe to help reduce the world's dependency on fossil fuels. But conventional panels are not without environmental costs, too. Now scientists report a new advance toward more practical, "greener" solar cells made with inexpensive halide perovskite materials. They have developed low-bandgap perovskite solar cells with a reduced lead content and a power ... read more

Optimization Technique Identifies Cost-Effective Biodiversity Corridors

Sep. 27, 2016 — A new optimization technique could help conservation biologists choose the most cost-effective ways of connecting isolated populations of rare, threatened and endangered species living in ... 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

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

Ancient Eggshell Protein Breaks Through DNA Time Barrier

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 time than was ... read more

Life in Ancient Oceans Enabled by Erosion from Land

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

Earth's Carbon Dioxide Levels May Have Passed The Point Of No Return

OPEC Deal Bullish for U.S. Shale

Turns Out Meerkats Are Super Violent. Who Knew?

Visitors Bring Trouble to Norway's Polar Bears

Americas Declared Free of Measles

Marsh Erosion from Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Cheaper Next-Generation Solar Modules

Global Rise in Methane from Agriculture?

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. ... read more

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 ... read more

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 — 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 ... read more

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 1:03am EDT

Sociologists Examine Shift from 'No Child Left Behind' to 'Children Left Behind'

Sep. 27, 2016 — Sociologists look back to 2007 to understand how the No Child Left Behind Act acquired an alternative meaning: "NCLB means children left ... read more

Identifying Ecstasy's Dangerous Path

Sep. 28, 2016 — In an important discovery in the battle against the United States’ growing drug epidemic, an economist has found the Carolinas could be a hotspot for the trafficking and production of the drug ... read more

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

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

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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