Top Science News

October 1, 2016

Zika Transmission from Tears or Sweat

Universal Flu Vaccine Designed

Record-Breaking Binary in Galaxy Next Door

Good Food Puts Bees in Good Mood

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updated 4:40am EDT

Ancient Global Cooling Gave Rise to Modern Ecosystems

Sep. 30, 2016 — Sea surface temperatures dipped dramatically during a period from 7 million to 5.4 million years ago, a time of massive global ecological change, scientists ... read more

Current Weak Spots in Greenland's Ice Sheet Have Been Weak for Thousands of Years

Sep. 28, 2016 — Earlier recent work has shown that the east, southeast and northwest regions of the Greenland ice sheet have contributed to ... read more

First Evidence of Deep-Sea Animals Ingesting Microplastics

Sep. 30, 2016 — Scientists working in the mid-Atlantic and south-west Indian Ocean have found evidence of microfibers ingested by deep sea animals including hermit crabs, squat lobsters and ... read more

Final Descent Image from Rosetta Spacecraft

Sep. 30, 2016 — A new image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft shortly before its controlled impact into the comet's surface ... read more

What's in a Face? Study Shows Puberty Changes Facial Recognition

Sep. 30, 2016 — Faces are as unique as fingerprints and can reveal a great deal of information about our health, personalities, age, and feelings. Researchers recently discovered adolescents ... read more

Heavy Hitters: Obesity Rate Soars Among Professional Baseball Players

Sep. 30, 2016 — Major League Baseball players have become overwhelmingly overweight and obese during the last quarter century, say health researchers. They found that the athletes' weight ... read more

Feral Chickens Spread Light on Evolution

Sep. 30, 2016 — Different genes are involved during the adaptation of a domestic animal to life in the wild than when a wild animal becomes domesticated, concludes a new study. The results ... read more

How to Be a Male Without the Y Chromosome

Sep. 30, 2016 — Key sex-determining genes continue to operate in a mammalian species that lacks the Y chromosome, taking us a step further toward understanding ... read more

Water Crisis in Bangladesh

Sep. 28, 2016 — Overpumping of groundwater to supply one of the planet's largest cities could be jeopardizing the future water supply for citizens living outside the city center, say ... read more

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 ... 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

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 ... read more

Spiral Arms in Protoplanetary Disk: They're Not Just for Galaxies Any 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

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 ... 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 ... 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 new ... read more

New Devices Emulate Human Biological Synapses

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

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 in ... read more

Use of Body-Worn Cameras Sees Complaints Against Police 'Virtually Vanish,' Study Finds

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 behavioral changes that ‘cool down’ potentially ... read more

Where You Live Shapes Your Immune System More Than Your Genes

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

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 halogen ... 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 ... 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 ... read more

ALMA Catches Stellar Cocoon With Curious Chemistry: First of Its Kind to Be Found Outside the Milky Way

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 the first of its kind to have been detected outside ... 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 ... read more

Rare Flu-Thwarting Mutation Discovered

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

Promising Biomaterial to Build Better Bones With 3-D Printing

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 ... read more

'Incomprehensible' Birth of Supercrystal Explained

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 ... read more

Optical Fiber Transmits One Terabit Per Second

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

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 ... 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, say ... read more

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Shape-shifters found in the Belt Supergroup: Revelations about Tappania plana

Saturday, September 24, 2016

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