ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Scientists create 'building block' of quantum networks
• Holographic microscopy: Peering into living cells -- with neither dye nor fluophore
• New classes of magnetoelectric materials promise advances in computing technology
• Gene silencing spurs fountain of youth in mouse brain
• Most comprehensive tree of life shows placental mammal diversity exploded after age of dinosaurs
• New evidence suggests comet or asteroid impact was last straw for dinosaurs
• Sugar influences the onset of flowering: Only when light, age and energy conditions are right do plants flower
• NASA telescopes discover strobe-like flashes in young stars
• Animal magnetism: First evidence that magnetism helps salmon find home
• Scientists discover how the world's saltiest pond gets its salt
• Cells forged from human skin show promise in treating multiple sclerosis, myelin disorders
• Immune systems of healthy adults 'remember' germs to which they've never been exposed
• Key to antidepressant response uncovered
• Volcano location: Greenhouse-icehouse key? Episodic purging of 'carbonate capacitor' drives long-term climate cycle
• New look at human fossil suggests Eastern Europe was an important pathway in evolution
• Unique peptide has therapeutic potential against cancers, neurological disorders, and infectious diseases
• Device made of DNA inserted into bacterial cell works like a diagnostic computer

Scientists create 'building block' of quantum networks Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:21 PM PST A proof-of-concept device that could pave the way for on-chip optical quantum networks has been created by a group of researchers. The device has been described as the "building block of future quantum networks."

Holographic microscopy: Peering into living cells -- with neither dye nor fluophore Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:22 PM PST Thanks to holographic microscopy, two young scientists have developed a device that can create 3-D images of living cells, almost in real time, and track their reaction to various stimuli without the use of contrast dyes or fluorophores.

New classes of magnetoelectric materials promise advances in computing technology Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:21 PM PST Physicists have developed new methods for controlling magnetic order in a particular class of materials known as "magnetoelectrics."

Gene silencing spurs fountain of youth in mouse brain Posted: 07 Feb 2013 12:09 PM PST Cognitive decline in old age is linked to decreasing production of new neurons. Scientists have discovered in mice that significantly more neurons are generated in the brains of older animals if a signaling molecule called Dickkopf-1 is turned off. In tests for spatial orientation and memory, mice in advanced adult age whose Dickkopf gene had been silenced reached an equal mental performance as young animals.

Most comprehensive tree of life shows placental mammal diversity exploded after age of dinosaurs Posted: 07 Feb 2013 11:14 AM PST Scientists have generated the most comprehensive tree of life to date on placental mammals, which are those bearing live young, including bats, rodents, whales and humans.

New evidence suggests comet or asteroid impact was last straw for dinosaurs Posted: 07 Feb 2013 11:14 AM PST While many assume that a comet or asteroid impact killed off the dinosaurs, the actual dates of the impact and extinction are imprecise enough that some have questioned the connection. Scientists have now dated the extinction with unprecedented precision and concluded that the impact and extinction where synchronous. While global climate change probably brought dinosaurs and other creatures to the brink, the impact likely was the final blow.

Sugar influences the onset of flowering: Only when light, age and energy conditions are right do plants flower Posted: 07 Feb 2013 11:14 AM PST Only when light, age and energy conditions are right do plants flower. A plant can reproduce successfully only if it flowers at the appropriate time. Therefore, a complex network of photoreceptors and other proteins has evolved to monitor environmental conditions such as light and temperature.

NASA telescopes discover strobe-like flashes in young stars Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:29 AM PST Two of NASA's great observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, have teamed up to uncover a mysterious infant star that behaves like a strobe light. Every 25.34 days, the object, designated LRLL 54361, unleashes a burst of light. Although a similar phenomenon has been observed in two other young stellar objects, this is the most powerful such beacon seen to date. The heart of the fireworks is hidden behind a dense disk and an envelope of dust. Astronomers propose the light flashes are caused by periodic interactions between two newly formed stars that are binary, or gravitationally bound to each other.

Animal magnetism: First evidence that magnetism helps salmon find home Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:17 AM PST When migrating, sockeye salmon typically swim up to 4,000 miles into the ocean and then, years later, navigate back to the upstream reaches of the rivers in which they were born to spawn their young. Scientists, the fishing community and lay people have long wondered how salmon find their way to their home rivers over such epic distances.

Scientists discover how the world's saltiest pond gets its salt Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:17 AM PST Antarctica's Don Juan Pond exists only because its high salinity -- the highest of any body of water on the planet -- keeps it from freezing. New researcher finds that water sucked out of the air by parched, salty soil provides the saltwater brine that enables the pond to persist in one of the coldest and driest places on Earth. The findings could shed light on possibility of flowing water on Mars.

Cells forged from human skin show promise in treating multiple sclerosis, myelin disorders Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:16 AM PST Human brain cells created by reprogramming skin cells are highly effective in treating myelin disorders, a family of diseases that includes multiple sclerosis and rare childhood disorders called pediatric leukodystrophies.

Immune systems of healthy adults 'remember' germs to which they've never been exposed Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:16 AM PST It's established dogma that the immune system develops a "memory" of a microbial pathogen, with a correspondingly enhanced readiness to combat that microbe, only upon exposure to it -- or to its components though a vaccine. But a discovery casts doubt on that dogma. This research offers a possible clue as to why kids eat dirt.

Key to antidepressant response uncovered Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:13 AM PST Through a series of investigations in mice and humans, researchers have identified a protein that appears to be the target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. Results of their experiments explain how these therapies likely work to relieve depression by stimulating stem cells in the brain to grow and mature. In addition, the researchers say, these experiments raise the possibility of predicting individual people's response to depression therapy, and fine-tuning treatment accordingly.

Volcano location: Greenhouse-icehouse key? Episodic purging of 'carbonate capacitor' drives long-term climate cycle Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:50 AM PST A new study suggests that Earth's repeated flip-flopping between greenhouse and icehouse climates during the past 500 million years may have been caused by an episodic flare-up of volcanoes at key locations where enormous amounts of carbon dioxide were poised for release into the atmosphere.

New look at human fossil suggests Eastern Europe was an important pathway in evolution Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:46 AM PST A fossilized bone fragment found buried deep in the soil of a Serbian cave is causing scientists to reconsider what happened during a critical period in human development, when the strands of modern humanity were still coming together.

Unique peptide has therapeutic potential against cancers, neurological disorders, and infectious diseases Posted: 07 Feb 2013 06:30 AM PST Scientists have synthesized a peptide that shows potential for pharmaceutical development into agents for treating infections, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer through an ability to induce a cell-recycling process called autophagy.

Device made of DNA inserted into bacterial cell works like a diagnostic computer Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:42 AM PST A biological device made of DNA inserted into a bacterial cell works like a tiny diagnostic computer.

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