ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Monster black hole discovered at cosmic dawn Posted: 25 Feb 2015 11:24 AM PST The discovery of the brightest quasar in the early universe, powered by the most massive black hole yet known at that time presents a puzzle to researchers: How could something so massive and luminous form so early in the universe, only 900 million years after the Big Bang?

Physicists offer a solution to the puzzle of the origin of matter in the universe Posted: 25 Feb 2015 10:22 AM PST Most of the laws of nature treat particles and antiparticles equally, but stars and planets are made of particles, or matter, and not antiparticles, or antimatter. That asymmetry, which favors matter to a very small degree, has puzzled scientists for many years. Physicists offer a possible solution to the mystery of the origin of matter in the universe.

Widely used food additives promotes colitis, obesity and metabolic syndrome, shows study of emulsifiers Posted: 25 Feb 2015 10:21 AM PST Emulsifiers, which are added to most processed foods to aid texture and extend shelf life, can alter the gut microbiota composition and localization to induce intestinal inflammation that promotes the development of inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome, new research shows.

First direct observation of carbon dioxide's increasing greenhouse effect at Earth's surface Posted: 25 Feb 2015 10:21 AM PST Scientists have observed an increase in carbon dioxide's greenhouse effect at Earth's surface for the first time. They measured atmospheric carbon dioxide's increasing capacity to absorb thermal radiation emitted from Earth's surface over an 11-year period at two locations in North America. They attributed this upward trend to rising carbon dioxide levels from fossil fuel emissions.

Agricultural insecticides pose a global risk to surface water bodies, researchers find Posted: 25 Feb 2015 05:28 AM PST Streams within approximately 40 percent of the global land surface are at risk from the application of insecticides. These were the results from the first global map to be modeled on insecticide runoff to surface waters. Streams, especially those in the Mediterranean, the United States, Central America and Southeast Asia are at risk.

Easy on the eyes: Optimum length of eyelashes is one third width of eye Posted: 24 Feb 2015 04:27 PM PST A new study finds that the optimal eyelash length is one-third the width of the eye for humans and 21 other mammals. Anything shorter or longer increases airflow around the eye and leads to more dust hitting the surface.

Crocodiles rocked pre-Amazonian Peru: Seven crocodile species found in single 13-million-year-old bone bed Posted: 24 Feb 2015 04:27 PM PST Thirteen million years ago, as many as seven different species of crocodiles hunted in the swampy waters of what is now northeastern Peru, new research shows. This hyperdiverse assemblage, revealed through more than a decade of work in Amazon bone beds, contains the largest number of crocodile species co-existing in one place at any time in Earth's history, likely due to a food source that forms a small part of modern crocodile diets: mollusks.