ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Discovery demystifies origin of life phenomenon Posted: 11 Mar 2015 03:58 PM PDT Biomolecules, if large enough (several nanometers) and with an electrical charge, will seek their own type with which to form large assemblies. This is essentially 'self-recognition' of left-handed and right-handed molecule pairs.

New material captures carbon at half the energy cost Posted: 11 Mar 2015 03:58 PM PDT Capturing carbon from power plants will likely be necessary in the future to avoid the worst effects of climate change, but current technologies are very expensive. Chemists have now developed a new material, a diamine-appended metal-organic framework, that captures carbon dioxide with much reduced energy costs compared to today's technologies, potentially lowering the cost of capturing and sequestering this greenhouse gas.

Loneliness and social isolation are just as much a threat to longevity as obesity Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:05 PM PDT Loneliness and social isolation are just as much a threat to longevity as obesity. The effect occurs even for people who like to be alone. Lack of relationships is a bigger health risk for people under age 65.

Fossil skull sheds new light on transition from water to land Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:04 PM PDT The first 3-D reconstruction of the skull of a 360-million-year-old near-ancestor of land vertebrates has been created. The 3-D skull, which differs from earlier 2-D reconstructions, suggests such creatures, which lived their lives primarily in shallow water environments, were more like modern crocodiles than previously thought.

Epoch-defining study pinpoints when humans came to dominate planet Earth Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:04 PM PDT The human-dominated geological epoch known as the Anthropocene probably began around the year 1610, with an unusual drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide and the irreversible exchange of species between the New and Old Worlds, according to new research.

Did Neandertals make jewelry 130,000 years go? Eagle claws provide clues Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:04 PM PDT Krapina Neandertals may have manipulated white-tailed eagle talons to make jewelry 130,000 years ago, before the appearance of modern humans in Europe.

Highly evolved bacteria found near hydrothermal vents: Iron-oxidizing bacteria found along Mid-Atlantic Ridge Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:03 PM PDT Bacteria that live on iron were found for the first time at three well-known vent sites along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These bacteria likely play an important role in deep-ocean iron cycling, and are dominant members of communities near and adjacent to sulfur-rich hydrothermal vents prevalent along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This group of iron-oxidizing bacteria, Zetaproteobacteria, appears to be restricted to environments where iron is plentiful, suggesting they are highly evolved to utilize iron for energy.

Mystery of the dancing droplets solved Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:03 PM PDT A puzzling observation, pursued through hundreds of experiments, has led researchers to a simple yet profound discovery: under certain circumstances, droplets of fluid will move like performers in a dance choreographed by molecular physics. The unexpected findings may prove useful in semiconductor manufacturing and self-cleaning solar panels.

Scientists reconstruct evolutionary history of whale hearing with rare museum collection Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:03 PM PDT Scientists CT scanned fetal whale specimens from the museum's marine mammal collection to trace the development of fetal ear bones in 56 specimens from 10 different whale families. Their findings confirmed that changes in the development of ear bones in the womb paralleled changes observed throughout whale evolution, providing new insight about how whales made the dramatic evolutionary shift from land to sea and adapted to hearing underwater.

Saharan 'carpet of tools' is earliest known human-made landscape Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:02 PM PDT A new intensive survey of the Messak Settafet escarpment, a massive outcrop of sandstone in the middle of the Saharan desert, has shown that stone tools occur "ubiquitously" across the entire landscape: averaging 75 artefacts per square meter, or 75 million per square kilometer.

Experience of time is altered in depression, meta-study shows Posted: 11 Mar 2015 11:09 AM PDT Patients suffering from depression appear to experience time differently than healthy individuals. Statements made by patients in a recent study indicate that for them time seems to pass extremely slowly or even stands still. Psychologists have collated relevant studies on the subject to analyze them in a meta-study.

Saturn moon's ocean may harbor hydrothermal activity, spacecraft data suggest Posted: 11 Mar 2015 11:08 AM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which may resemble that seen in the deep oceans on Earth. The implications of such activity on a world other than our planet open up unprecedented scientific possibilities.

Brain processes ongoing pain more emotionally Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:45 AM PDT A momentary lapse of concentration is all it takes for a finger to become trapped or sprain an ankle -- and it hurts. Pain is the body's protective mechanism and a complex neurological phenomenon. Moreover, ongoing pain in the sense of chronic pain can be a disease, clinicians say. Scientists have now demonstrated that already during a few minutes of ongoing pain, the underlying brain activity changes by shifting from sensory to emotional processes.

Swine flu outbreak in India raises concern: New strain of H1N1 may carry dangerous mutations Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:44 AM PDT Since December, an outbreak of swine flu in India has killed more than 1,200 people, and a new study suggests that the strain has acquired mutations that make it more dangerous than previously circulating strains of H1N1 influenza.

Drug restores brain function and memory in early Alzheimer’s disease Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:42 AM PDT An existing epilepsy drug reverses a condition in elderly patients who are at high risk for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

The corrugated galaxy: Milky Way may be much larger than previously estimated Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:41 AM PDT The Milky Way galaxy is at least 50 percent larger than is commonly estimated, according to new findings that reveal that the galactic disk is contoured into several concentric ripples.

Honey, I shrunk the ants: How environment controls size Posted: 11 Mar 2015 05:12 AM PDT Until now scientists have believed that the variations in traits -- such as our height, skin color, tendency to gain weight or not, intelligence, tendency to develop certain diseases, etc., all of them traits that exist along a continuum -- were a result of both genetic and environmental factors. But they didn't know how exactly these things worked together. By studying ants, researchers have identified a key mechanism by which environmental (or epigenetic) factors influence the expression of all of these traits, along with many more.

'Perfect storm' of stress, depression may raise risk of death, heart attack for heart patients Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:41 PM PDT High stress and deep depression among heart patients may up the risk of death or heart attack by 48 percent. The findings validate the concept of a 'psychosocial perfect storm' for heart patients. Researchers say behavioral interventions may be needed to help heart patients manage both stress and depression.