ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Under 'dark halo' old galaxies have many more stars
• Jurassic pain: Giant 'flea-like' insects plagued dinosaurs 165 million years ago
• Novel radiation surveillance technology could help thwart nuclear terrorism
• Bigger gorillas better at attracting mates and raising young
• Global warming: New research blames economic growth
• Resveratrol: Study resolves controversy on life-extending red wine ingredient, restores hope for anti-aging pill
• Were dinosaurs undergoing long-term decline before mass extinction?
• How illusions trick the brain: 'Rotating Snakes' appear to dance
• Venus to appear in once-in-a-lifetime event
• Faster-ticking clock indicates early solar system may have evolved faster than we thought
• High-powered microscopes reveal inner workings of sex cells

Under 'dark halo' old galaxies have many more stars Posted: 01 May 2012 06:14 PM PDT Some of the oldest galaxies in the Universe have three times more stellar mass, and so many more stars, than all current models of galaxy evolution predict.

Jurassic pain: Giant 'flea-like' insects plagued dinosaurs 165 million years ago Posted: 01 May 2012 01:27 PM PDT It takes a gutsy insect to sneak up on a huge dinosaur while it sleeps, crawl onto its soft underbelly and give it a bite that might have felt like a needle going in -- but giant "flea-like" animals, possibly the oldest of their type ever discovered, probably did just that.

Novel radiation surveillance technology could help thwart nuclear terrorism Posted: 01 May 2012 11:50 AM PDT Researchers have developed a prototype radiation-detection system that uses rare-earth elements and other materials at the nanoscale. The system could be used to enhance radiation-detection devices used at ports, border crossings, airports and elsewhere.

Bigger gorillas better at attracting mates and raising young Posted: 01 May 2012 10:44 AM PDT Conservationists have found that larger male gorillas living in the rainforests of Congo seem to be more successful than smaller ones at attracting mates and even raising young.

Global warming: New research blames economic growth Posted: 01 May 2012 10:43 AM PDT It's a message no one wants to hear: to slow down global warming, we'll either have to put the brakes on economic growth or transform the way the world's economies work. That's the implication of an innovative study examining the evolution of atmospheric CO2, the most likely cause of climate change.

Resveratrol: Study resolves controversy on life-extending red wine ingredient, restores hope for anti-aging pill Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT A new study appears to offer vindication for an approach to anti-aging drugs that has been at the center of heated scientific debate in recent years. The new findings show for the first time that the metabolic benefits of the red wine ingredient known as resveratrol evaporate in mice that lack the famed longevity gene SIRT1.

Were dinosaurs undergoing long-term decline before mass extinction? Posted: 01 May 2012 10:41 AM PDT Despite years of intensive research about the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs about 65.5 million years ago, a fundamental question remains: Were dinosaurs already undergoing a long-term decline before an asteroid hit at the end of the Cretaceous? A new study suggests that in general, large-bodied, "bulk-feeding" herbivores were declining during the last 12 million years of the Cretaceous. But carnivorous dinosaurs and mid-sized herbivores were not.

How illusions trick the brain: 'Rotating Snakes' appear to dance Posted: 01 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT New research sheds light on why illusions trick our brains. The study explores the neural bases of illusory motion in Akiyoshi Kitaoka's striking visual illusion known as the "Rotating Snakes." The study shows that tiny eye movements and blinking can make a geometric drawing of "snakes" appear to dance. The results help explain the mystery of how the Rotating Snakes illusion tricks the brain.

Venus to appear in once-in-a-lifetime event Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT On 5 and 6 June this year, millions of people around the world will be able to see Venus pass across the face of the Sun in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will take Venus about six hours to complete its transit, appearing as a small black dot on the Sun's surface, in an event that will not happen again until 2117.

Faster-ticking clock indicates early solar system may have evolved faster than we thought Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT Our solar system is four and a half billion years old, but its formation may have occurred over a shorter period of time than we previously thought, say researchers.

High-powered microscopes reveal inner workings of sex cells Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT Scientists using high-powered microscopes have made a stunning observation of the architecture within a cell – and identified for the first time how the architecture changes during the formation of gametes, also known as sex cells, in order to successfully complete  the process.

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