| Cassini probe to take photo of Earth from deep space  | NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now exploring Saturn, will take a picture of our home planet from a distance of hundreds of millions of miles on July 19. NASA is inviting the public to help acknowledge the historic interplanetary portrait as it is being taken. | Read More »  Finding all asteroid threats to human populations: NASA announces asteroid grand challenge  | NASA has announced a Grand Challenge focused on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them. The challenge is a large-scale effort that will use multi-disciplinary collaborations and a variety of partnerships with other government agencies, international partners, industry, academia, and citizen scientists. It complements NASA's recently announced mission to redirect an asteroid and send humans to study it. | Read More » Small satellites soar in high-altitude demonstration  | Four tiny spacecraft soared over the California desert June 15 in a high-altitude demonstration flight that tested the sensor and equipment designs created by NASA engineers and student launch teams. | Read More » Seismic gap outside of Istanbul: Is this where the expected Marmara earthquake will originate from?  | Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just south of Istanbul that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake. The group of seismologists say that this potential earthquake source is only 15 to 20 kilometers from the historic city center of Istanbul. | Read More » Long distance calls by sugar molecules  | All our cells wear a coat of sugar molecules, so-called glycans. Researchers have now discovered that glycans rearrange water molecules over long distances. This may have an effect on how cells sense each other. | Read More » Possible record-setting deadzone for Gulf of Mexico predicted  | Scientists are forecasting that this year's Gulf of Mexico hypoxic "dead" zone will be between 7,286 and 8,561 square miles which could place it among the ten largest recorded. A second forecast, for the Chesapeake Bay, calls for a smaller than average dead zone in the nation's largest estuary. | Read More » Older males make better fathers says new research on beetles  | Researchers have found that older male burying beetles make better fathers than their younger counterparts. The study found that mature males, who had little chance of reproducing again, invested more effort in both mating and in parental care than younger males. | Read More » Distracted walking: Injuries soar for pedestrians on phones  | More than 1,500 pedestrians were estimated to be treated in emergency rooms in 2010 for injuries related to using a cell phone while walking, according to a new nationwide study. | Read More » New Alzheimer's research suggests possible cause: Interaction of proteins in brain  | For years, Alzheimer's researchers have focused on two proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and may contribute to the disease: Plaques made up of the protein amyloid-beta, and tangles of another protein, called tau. | Read More » Sound waves precisely position nanowires  | The smaller components become, the more difficult it is to create patterns in an economical and reproducible way, according to an interdisciplinary team of researchers who, using sound waves, can place nanowires in repeatable patterns for potential use in a variety of sensors, optoelectronics and nanoscale circuits. | Read More » Contribution of particulate matter from air pollution to forest decline  | Air pollution is related to forest decline and also appears to attack the protecting wax on tree leaves and needles. Scientists have now discovered a responsible mechanism: particulate matter salt compounds that become deliquescent because of humidity and form a wick-like structure that removes water from leaves and promotes dehydration. | Read More » Outlook is grim for mammals and birds as human population grows  | The ongoing global growth in the human population will inevitably crowd out mammals and birds and has the potential to threaten hundreds of species with extinction within 40 years, new research shows. | Read More » City slicker or country bumpkin: City-life changes blackbird personalities  | The origins of a young animal might have a significant impact on its behavior later on in life. Researchers have been able to demonstrate in hand-reared blackbirds that urban-born individuals are less curious and more cautious about new objects than their country counterparts. This study sheds light on an interesting debate on whether personality differences between rural and urban birds are behavioral adjustments to urban environments, or if there is an underlying evolutionary basis to the existence of different personalities in urban habitats. | Read More » Siberian caves warn of permafrost meltdown  | Climate records captured in Siberian caves suggest 1.5 degrees of warming is enough to trigger thawing of permafrost, according to a new article. | Read More » New research backs genetic 'switches' in human evolution  | A new study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off. | Read More » Researchers discover immunity mechanism: Platelets patrolling the bloodstream  | Scientists have discovered a mechanism that is used to protect the body from harmful bacteria. Platelets, a component of blood typically associated with clotting, were discovered to actively search for specific bacteria, and upon detection, seal it off from the rest of the body. The findings provide the science community with a greater understanding of immunity. | Read More » Unusual supernova is doubly unusual for being perfectly normal  | Type Ia supernovae are indispensable milestones for measuring the expansion of the universe. With definitive measures of Supernova 2011fe, the "Backyard Supernova" that thrilled amateur and professional astronomers alike in the summer of 2011, the Nearby Supernova Factory demonstrates that this unusually close-by Type Ia is such a perfect example of its kind that future Type Ia's -- and models meant to explain their physics -- must be measured against it. | Read More » Environmentally friendly battery made from wood  | Taking inspiration from trees, scientists have developed a battery made from a sliver of wood coated with tin that shows promise for becoming a tiny, long-lasting, efficient and environmentally friendly energy source. The device is 1,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. | Read More » What do memories look like?  | Scientists develop a way to see the structures that store memories in a living brain. | Read More » Antioxidant shows promise in Parkinson's disease  | Diapocynin, a synthetic molecule derived from a naturally occurring compound (apocynin), has been found to protect neurobehavioral function in mice with Parkinson's Disease symptoms by preventing deficits in motor coordination. | Read More » The rhythm of the Arctic summer: Diverse activity patterns of birds during the Arctic breeding season  | Our internal circadian clock regulates daily life processes and is synchronized by external cues, the so-called Zeitgebers. The main cue is the light-dark cycle, whose strength is largely reduced in extreme habitats such as in the Arctic during the polar summer. Using a radiotelemetry system biologists have now found, in four bird species in Alaska, different daily activity patterns ranging from strictly rhythmic to completely arrhythmic. | Read More » Research of essential molecule reveals important targets in diabetes and obesity  | Medical researchers have made breakthrough advancements on a molecule that may provide more answers in understanding the precise molecular mechanisms by which insulin regulates glucose uptake in fat and muscle cells. | Read More » Three centaurs follow Uranus through the solar system  | Astrophysicists have confirmed that Crantor, a large asteroid with a diameter of 70 km has an orbit similar to that of Uranus and takes the same amount of time to orbit the Sun. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that this and a further two objects of the group of the Centaurs are co-orbital with Uranus. | Read More » Milestone for quantum networks: First entanglement between light and an optical atomic coherence  | Using clouds of ultra-cold atoms and a pair of lasers operating at optical wavelengths, researchers have reached a quantum network milestone: entangling light with an optical atomic coherence composed of interacting atoms in two different states. | Read More » Validating Maps of the Brain's Resting State  | Researchers have provided important validation of maps of the brain at rest that may offer insights into changes in the brain that occur in neurological and psychiatric disorders. | Read More » Stress hormone could trigger mechanism for the onset of Alzheimer's  | A chemical hormone released in the body as a reaction to stress could be a key trigger of the mechanism for the late onset of Alzheimer's disease. | Read More » Mars had oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago  | Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago -- well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2,500 million years ago. | Read More » Structure from disorder: Scientists find new source of versatility so 'floppy' proteins can get things done  | Many proteins work like Swiss Army knives, fitting multiple functions into their elaborately folded structures. A bit mysteriously, some proteins manage to multitask even with structures that are unfolded and floppy -- "intrinsically disordered." Scientists have now discovered an important trick that a well-known intrinsically disordered protein uses to expand and control its functionality. | Read More » Practical new approach to holographic video could also enable 2-D displays with higher resolution and lower power consumption  | A practical new approach to holographic video could also enable 2-D displays with higher resolution and lower power consumption. | Read More » No danger of cancer through gene therapy virus, study suggests  | The first modified adeno-associated virus was recently approved for clinical gene therapy in the Western world. Scientists say it appears that no cancer risk emanates from the virus used for gene delivery. | Read More » Chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof discovered  | Scientists have discovered the chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof. Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents that have never been known to get cancer, despite having a 30-year lifespan. Scientists discovered that these rodents are protected from cancer because their tissues are very rich with high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW-HA). | Read More » | |
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