|  Who's got guts? Young infants expect animals to have insides  | A team of researchers has shown that 8-month-old infants expect objects they identify as animals to have insides. | Read More » Paleorivers across Sahara may have supported ancient human migration routes  | Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago. | Read More » Orangutans plan their future route and communicate it to others  | Male orangutans plan their travel route up to one day in advance and communicate it to other members of their species. In order to attract females and repel male rivals, they call in the direction in which they are going to travel. Anthropologists have found that not only captive, but also wild-living orangutans make use of their planning ability. | Read More » The final nail in the Jurassic Park coffin: Next generation sequencing reveals absence of DNA in sub-fossilized insects  | It is hardly possible to talk about fossil insects in amber without the 1993 movie Jurassic Park entering the debate. The idea of recreating dinosaurs by extracting DNA from insects in amber has held the fascination of the public for two decades. Claims for successful extraction of DNA from amber up to 130 million-years-old by various scientists in the early 1990s were only seriously questioned when a study at the Natural History Museum, London, was unable to replicate the process. The original claims are now considered by many to be a text-book example of modern contaminant DNA in the samples. Nonetheless, some scientists hold fast to their original claims.Research can now confirm that the existence of DNA in amber fossils is highly unlikely. | Read More » Plants in space: A novel method for fixing plant tissue samples maximizes time, resources, and data  | Researchers are working to understand plant growth and development in spaceflight. They have developed a single fixation protocol for use in space that allows plant material to be used for multiple experimental applications. The new protocol boasts low costs and wide application to any situation where recovery of biological resources is limited. | Read More » The eyes have it: How organic mercury can interfere with vision  | Methylmercury compounds specifically target the central nervous system, and among the many effects of their exposure are visual disturbances, which were previously thought to be solely due to methylmercury-induced damage to the brain visual cortex. However, after combining powerful synchrotron X-rays and methylmercury-poisoned zebrafish larvae, scientists have found that methylmercury may also directly affect vision by accumulating in the retinal photoreceptors, i.e., the cells that respond to light in our eyes. | Read More » An unprecedented threat to Peru's cloud forests  | Researchers have pieced together startling new evidence that shows rapid 21st century warming may spell doom for tree species in Peruvian cloud forests, with species losing 53-96 percent of their populations. | Read More » Calculating the true cost of a ton of mountaintop coal  | To meet current US coal demand through surface mining, an area of the Central Appalachians the size of Washington, D.C., would need to be mined every 81 days. A one-year supply of coal would require converting about 310 square miles of the region's mountains into surface mines, according to a new analysis. | Read More » Study provides insights on protecting world's poor from climate change  | The worst impacts of climate change on the world's poorest fishing communities can likely be avoided by careful management of the local environment and investing in the diversification of options for local people, according to new research. | Read More » Researchers move endangered mussels to save them  | Researchers have transported two endangered freshwater mussel species from Pennsylvania to Illinois in an attempt to re-establish their populations in the western part of the Ohio River Basin. | Read More » Crop-raiding elephants flee tiger growls  | Wild Asian elephants slink quietly away at the sound of a growling tiger, but trumpet and growl before retreating from leopard growls, researchers have found. The work could help Indian farmers protect their crops from marauding elephants and save the lives of both people and animals. | Read More » Pacific humpback whale abundance higher in British Columbia  | Humpback whale populations are on the rise in the coastal fjords of British Columbia, doubling in size from 2004 to 2011. | Read More » Australian tarantula venom contains novel insecticide against agricultural pests  | Spider venoms are usually toxic when injected into prey, but a new protein discovered in the venom of Australian tarantulas can also kill prey insects that consume the venom orally. The protein is strongly insecticidal to the cotton bollworm, an important agricultural pest. | Read More » Aerobic fitness boosts learning, memory in 9-10-year-old children  | Physical fitness can boost learning and memory in children, particularly when initial learning on a task is more challenging. | Read More » Climate change may speed up forests' life cycles  | Many climate studies have predicted that tree species will respond to global warming by migrating via seed dispersal to cooler climates. But a study of 65 different species in 31 eastern states finds that nearly 80 percent of the species are staying in place and speeding up their life cycles. | Read More » Guinness record: World's thinnest glass is just two atoms thick  | At just a molecule thick, it's a new record: The world's thinnest sheet of glass, a serendipitous discovery by scientists in the U.S. and Germany, is recorded for posterity in the Guinness Book of World Records. | Read More » The peanut at the heart of our galaxy: Best 3-D map yet of central bulge of the Milky Way  | Two groups of astronomers have used data from ESO telescopes to make the best three-dimensional map yet of the central parts of the Milky Way. They have found that the inner regions take on a peanut-like, or X-shaped, appearance from some angles. This odd shape was mapped by using public data from ESO's VISTA survey telescope along with measurements of the motions of hundreds of very faint stars in the central bulge. | Read More » Probing methane's secrets: From diamonds to Neptune  | Hydrocarbons from the Earth make up the oil and gas that heat our homes and fuel our cars. The study of the various phases of molecules formed from carbon and hydrogen under high pressures and temperatures, like those found in the Earth's interior, helps scientists understand the chemical processes occurring deep within planets, including Earth. New research hones in on the hydrocarbon methane (CH4), because its behavior under the conditions found in planetary interiors is poorly understood. | Read More » The inside of the Milky Way Galaxy in 3-D  | Scientists have produced the first detailed three-dimensional map of the stars that form the inner regions of our Milky Way, using publicly available VVV survey data. They find a box/peanut shaped bulge with an elongated bar and a prominent X-structure, which had been hinted at in previous studies. This indicates that the Milky Way was originally a pure disk of stars, which then formed a thin bar, before buckling into the box/peanut shape seen today. The new map can be used for more detailed studies of the dynamics and evolution of our Milky Way. | Read More » Brain atrophy linked with cognitive decline in diabetes  | New research has shown that cognitive decline in people with type 2 diabetes is likely due to brain atrophy, or shrinkage, that resembles patterns seen in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. | Read More » Forcing cancer to digest itself  | When tumour cells no longer degrade themselves, cancer may develop. Using black skin cancer as an example, researchers have now shown that a protein plays an important role in the process of degradation of tumour cells. By reactivating this degradation therapeutically, tumours can be virtually forced to digest themselves. | Read More » Private tuition provides little help  | Around one sixth of school children in German-speaking Switzerland receive private tutoring. Mostly they seek assistance with mathematics. In contrast to the perceptions of those tutored, tutoring rarely results in any improvement in their marks. | Read More » Codeine could increase users' sensitivity to pain  | Using large and frequent doses of the pain-killer codeine may actually produce heightened sensitivity to pain, without the same level of relief offered by morphine, according to new research. | Read More » Dogs' behavior could help to design social robots  | Designers of social robots, take note. Bring your dog to the lab next time you test a prototype, and watch how your pet interacts with it. You might just learn a thing or two that could help you fine-tune future designs. So says researchers who found that 'man's best friend' reacts sociably to robots that behave socially towards them, even if the devices look nothing like a human. | Read More » Everyday sadists take pleasure in others' pain  | Most of the time, we try to avoid inflicting pain on others -- when we do hurt someone, we typically experience guilt, remorse, or other feelings of distress. But for some, cruelty can be pleasurable, even exciting. According to new research, this kind of everyday sadism is real and more common than we might think. | Read More » Novel vaccine reduces shedding of genital herpes virus  | Sexually transmitted infection researchers have potentially reached a milestone in vaccine treatment for genital herpes, according to a report. | Read More » How standardized cigarette packets reduce smoking  | Standardized cigarette packaging may reduce acute cravings and are associated with less favourable perceptions of appeal, taste, popularity and motivation to buy than branded packs. | Read More » Dreaming still possible even when the mind is blank  | Researchers have outlined case studies of patients with Auto-Activation Deficit who reported dreams when awakened from REM sleep – even when they demonstrated a mental blank during the daytime. This paper proves that even patients with Auto-Activation Disorder have the ability to dream and that it is the "bottom-up" process that causes the dream state. | Read More » Exercise provides some benefits for depression  | Exercise may benefit people suffering from depression, according to a recent review. Evidence has been found to suggest that exercise reduces symptoms of depression, although they say more high quality trials are needed. | Read More » Hubble uncovers largest known population of star clusters  | NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered the largest known population of globular star clusters, an estimated 160,000, swarming like bees inside the crowded core of the giant grouping of galaxies Abell 1689. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 such clusters. | Read More » Hate the sound of your voice? Not really  | A new study finds people unknowingly find their own pre-recorded voice more attractive than others do. | Read More » Read with your children, not to them  | Reading with your child is the key to building a child's literacy skills. Emergent literacy begins at birth and continues through preschool and kindergarten. Experts encourage parents to get children excited about reading. Engaging the child means figuring out what the child is thinking and getting them to think beyond the words written on the page. While reading with them, anticipate what children are thinking. Then ask questions, offer instruction, provide examples and give them some feedback about what they are thinking, they say. | Read More » Insights into evolution of life on Earth from one of Saturn's moons  | Glimpses of the nursery of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago are coming from an unlikely venue almost 1 billion miles away, according to the leader of an effort to understand Titan, one of the most unusual moons in the solar system. | Read More » A century of human impact on Arctic climate indicated by new models, historic aerosol data  | A new study suggests that both anthropogenic and natural factors -- specifically sulphate aerosols from industrial activity and volcanic emissions, in addition to greenhouse gas releases from fossil fuel burning -- account for Arctic surface temperature variations from 1900 to the present. | Read More » Pulsating dust cloud dynamics modeled  | New research outlines a new design of spatio-temporal models of astrophysical plasmas. The birth of stars is an event that eludes intuitive understanding. It is the collapse of dense molecular clouds under their own weight that offers the best sites of star formation. Now, astronomers have proposed a new model for investigating molecular cloud fluctuations at sites of star formation and thus are able to study their pulsational dynamics. | Read More » Guppy fish proven to be cheap, effective tool in fight against Dengue fever  | Larvae-eating guppy fish can help combat the spread of dengue, a mosquito-borne illness giving rise to hundreds of thousands of severe cases including 20,000 deaths worldwide every year. | Read More » Testosterone deficiency not the only cause of changes with age in men  | Just as the symptoms of menopause in women are attributed to a sharp drop in estrogen production, symptoms often seen in middle-aged men -- changes in body composition, energy, strength and sexual function -- are usually attributed to the less drastic decrease in testosterone production that typically occurs in the middle years. However, a new study finds that insufficient estrogen could be at least partially responsible for some of these symptoms. | Read More » Fat marker predicts cognitive decline in people with HIV  | Scientists have found that levels of certain fats found in cerebral spinal fluid can predict which patients with HIV are more likely to become intellectually impaired. | Read More » Chest pain duration can signal heart attack  | Patients with longer-lasting chest pain are more likely having a heart attack than those with pain of a shorter duration. | Read More » Delaying climate policy would triple short-term mitigation costs  | Further delay in the implementation of comprehensive international climate policies could substantially increase the short-term costs of climate change mitigation. Global economic growth would be cut back by up to 7 percent within the first decade after climate policy implementation if the current international stalemate is continued until 2030 -- compared to 2 percent if a climate agreement is reached by 2015 already, a new study shows. | Read More » Pea-shooter for molecules: Molecules pass through nanotubes at size-dependent speeds  | Researchers find that tiny molecules passing through nanotubes can be propelled or slowed depending on their size. | Read More » New heart catheter on a U. S. patient for first time  | Cardiovascular physicians have used the new IntellaTip MiFi™ XP catheter in a U.S. patient for the first time. | Read More » Darwin's dilemma resolved: Evolution's 'big bang' explained by five times faster rates of evolution  | Biologists have estimated, for the first time, the rates of evolution during the "Cambrian explosion" when most modern animal groups appeared between 540 and 520 million years ago. | Read More » Unprecedented rate and scale of ocean acidification found in the Arctic  | Acidification of the Arctic Ocean is occurring faster than projected, according to new findings. The increase in rate is being blamed on rapidly melting sea ice, a process that may have important consequences for health of the Arctic ecosystem. | Read More » Twitter analysis can help gamblers beat the spread on NFL games  | Analyses of Twitter feeds have been used to track flu epidemics, predict stock market changes and do political polling, and now it may also help gamblers beat the spread for National Football League games. | Read More » Tracking criminal movement using math  | A mathematical model has been developed that analyzes criminal movement in terms of a Lévy flight, a pattern in which criminals tend to move locally as well as in large leaps to other areas. | Read More » New info on an elusive green cicada  | For nearly 80 years, the North American cicada Okanagana viridis has received little attention in scientific literature, but a new article provides the first notes on the song and ecology of this elusive species, and updates its known range. | Read More » A microb's trick for staying young  | Researchers have discovered a microbe that stays forever young by rejuvenating every time it reproduces. | Read More » Genetics of how and why fish swim in schools: Research sheds light on complex social behavior  | How and why fish swim in schools has long fascinated biologists looking for clues to understand the complexities of social behavior. A new study may help provide some insight. | Read More » Study explores complex physical oceanography in East China Sea  | Just days before a team of researchers set out to conduct fieldwork in the East China Sea, Typhoon Morakot -- one of the most destructive storms ever to hit Taiwan -- made landfall on the island, causing widespread damage and drastically altering the flow of water along the nearby continental shelf. Their research may offer a new understanding of how chaotic and powerful currents form in the East China Sea, and could also reveal how large storms affect those currents. | Read More » Uros people of Peru and Bolivia found to have distinctive genetic ancestries  | New genetic research led by the Genographic Project consortium shows a distinctive ancestry for the Uros populations of Peru and Bolivia that predates the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and may date back to the earliest settlement of the Altiplano, or high plain, of the central Andes some 3,700 years ago. Despite the fact that the Uros today share many lineages with the surrounding Andean populations, they have maintained their own divergent genetic ancestry. | Read More » Cilantro, that favorite salsa ingredient, purifies drinking water  | New research hints that a favorite ingredient in Mexican, Southeast Asian and other spicy cuisine may be an inexpensive new way of purifying drinking water. | Read More » Ancient ancestor of tulip tree line identified  | The modern-day tulip tree, state tree of Indiana as well as Kentucky and Tennessee, can trace its lineage back to the time of the dinosaurs, according to newly published research. | Read More » NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft embarks on historic journey into interstellar space  | NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun. New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars. Voyager is in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects from our sun are still evident. | Read More » Helper cells trigger potent responses to HIV  | A major new finding that will significantly advance efforts to create the world's first antibody-based AIDS vaccine shows that certain helper T cells are important for triggering a strong antibody response against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. | Read More » Autism gene stunts neurons, but growth can be restored  | A new study reports that mutation of a gene associated with some autism forms in humans can hinder the proper growth and connectivity of brain cells in mice. It also shows how that understanding allowed these cells to restore proper growth in the lab. | Read More » Alzheimer's patients show striking individual differences in molecular basis of disease  | Alzheimer's disease is thought to be caused by the buildup of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, but little is known about the molecular structures of these beta-amyloid fibrils. A new study has revealed that distinct molecular structures may predominate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients with different clinical histories and degrees of brain damage. The findings pave the way for new patient-specific strategies to improve diagnosis and treatment. | Read More » Dali gets a health check: Using medical devices to diagnose art  | Scientists and conservators have developed a new method to diagnose painting canvases from the back, without disturbing a single fibre, to see if they can withstand the stress of handling and travel. | Read More » Treat the fungus among us with nontoxic medicinal compound  | A research team has found a breakthrough herbal medicine treatment for a common human fungal pathogen that lives in almost 80 percent of people. The team discovered a medicinal herb called Gymnema slyvestre is both nontoxic and blocks the virulence properties of a common fungus called Candida albicans. | Read More » Researchers hit virtual heads to make safer games  | Two nearly identical softballs, both approved for league play, can have dramatically different effects when smacked into a player's head. | Read More » Take a virtual tour of Vesta with new high resolution atlases  | An atlas of the asteroid, Vesta, created from images taken during the Dawn Mission's Low Altitude Mapping Orbit, is now accessible for the public to explore online. The set of maps has been created from mosaics of 10,000 images from Dawn's framing camera instrument, taken at an average altitude of about 210 kilometers. | Read More » Could life have survived a fall to Earth?  | It sounds like science fiction, but the theory of panspermia, in which life can naturally transfer between planets, is considered a serious hypothesis by planetary scientists. The suggestion that life did not originate on Earth but came from elsewhere in the universe (for instance, Mars), is one possible variant of panspermia. Planets and moons were heavily bombarded by meteorites when the Solar System was young, throwing lots of material back into space. Meteorites made of Mars rock are occasionally found on Earth to this day, so it is quite plausible that simple life forms like yeasts or bacteria could have been carried on them. | Read More » | |
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