ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Vegetarian diets associated with lower risk of death
• New biomolecular archaeological evidence points to the beginnings of viniculture in France
• A grassy trend in human ancestors' diets
• Solar system's Milky Way neighborhood gets more respect
• New way fish camouflage themselves in the ocean: Manipulating how light reflects off skin
• New explanation for slow earthquakes on San Andreas
• Blood vessels in the eye linked with IQ, cognitive function
• No early birds getting the worms: Songbirds risk missing peak food supply
• Chimpanzees have five universal personality dimensions
• Fossil remains reveal new species of marine fish from 408 million years ago in Teruel, Spain
• Cosmic rays: Galactic knee and extragalactic ankle
• Lightest exoplanet to be directly observed so far? Faint object moves near bright star

Vegetarian diets associated with lower risk of death Posted: 03 Jun 2013 01:41 PM PDT Vegetarian diets are associated with reduced death rates in a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists with more favorable results for men than women, according to a new report.

New biomolecular archaeological evidence points to the beginnings of viniculture in France Posted: 03 Jun 2013 01:38 PM PDT France is renowned the world over as a leader in the crafts of viticulture and winemaking -- but the beginnings of French viniculture have been largely unknown, until now. Imported ancient Etruscan amphoras and a limestone press platform, discovered at the ancient port site of Lattara in southern France, have provided the earliest known biomolecular archaeological evidence of winemaking -- and point to the beginnings of a Celtic or Gallic vinicultural industry in France circa 500-400 BCE.

A grassy trend in human ancestors' diets Posted: 03 Jun 2013 01:37 PM PDT Most apes eat leaves and fruits from trees and shrubs. New studies show that human ancestors expanded their menu 3.5 million years ago, adding tropical grasses and sedges to an ape-like diet and setting the stage for our modern diet of grains, grasses, and meat and dairy from grazing animals.

Solar system's Milky Way neighborhood gets more respect Posted: 03 Jun 2013 01:36 PM PDT Our Solar System's Milky Way neighborhood just went upscale. We reside between two major spiral arms of our home galaxy, in a structure called the Local Arm. New research indicates that the Local Arm, previously thought to be only a small spur, instead is much more like the adjacent major arms, and is likely a significant branch of one of them.

New way fish camouflage themselves in the ocean: Manipulating how light reflects off skin Posted: 03 Jun 2013 11:23 AM PDT Researchers found that lookdown fish camouflage themselves through a complex manipulation of polarized light after it strikes the fish skin. In laboratory studies, they showed that this kind of camouflage outperforms by up to 80 percent the "mirror" strategy that was previously thought to be state-of-the-art in fish camouflage.

New explanation for slow earthquakes on San Andreas Posted: 03 Jun 2013 11:23 AM PDT New Zealand's geologic hazards agency reported this week an ongoing, "silent" earthquake that began in January is still going strong. Though it is releasing the energy equivalent of a 7.0 earthquake, New Zealanders can't feel it because its energy is being released over a long period of time, therefore slow, rather than a few short seconds.

Blood vessels in the eye linked with IQ, cognitive function Posted: 03 Jun 2013 10:55 AM PDT The width of blood vessels in the retina, located at the back of the eye, may indicate brain health years before the onset of dementia and other deficits, according to a new study.

No early birds getting the worms: Songbirds risk missing peak food supply Posted: 03 Jun 2013 10:55 AM PDT A mismatch between the departure schedules of songbirds and higher spring temperatures at their breeding sites means they are arriving 'late' for the advanced spring and likely missing out on peak food they need to be productive breeders.

Chimpanzees have five universal personality dimensions Posted: 03 Jun 2013 10:55 AM PDT While psychologists have long debated the core personality dimensions that define humanity, primate researchers have been working to uncover the defining personality traits for humankind's closest living relative, the chimpanzee. New research provides strong support for the universal existence of five personality dimensions in chimpanzees: reactivity/undependability, dominance, openness, extraversion and agreeableness with a possible sixth factor, methodical, needing further investigation.

Fossil remains reveal new species of marine fish from 408 million years ago in Teruel, Spain Posted: 03 Jun 2013 10:34 AM PDT Researchers have studied the fossilized remains of scales and bones found in Teruel, Spain, and the south of Zaragoza, ascertaining that they belong to a new fish species called Machaeracanthus goujeti that lived in that area of the peninsula during the Devonian period. The fossils are part of the collection housed in the Palaeontology Museum of Zaragoza.

Cosmic rays: Galactic knee and extragalactic ankle Posted: 03 Jun 2013 08:33 AM PDT A new experiment has yielded the important result that a characteristic bend in the energy spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays, also called "knee", is located at different energies for light and heavy primary particles. Astronomers have found that these cosmic radiation particles are accelerated in galaxies other than the Milky Way.

Lightest exoplanet to be directly observed so far? Faint object moves near bright star Posted: 03 Jun 2013 06:17 AM PDT A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has imaged a faint object moving near a bright star. With an estimated mass of four to five times that of Jupiter, it would be the least massive planet to be directly observed outside the Solar System. The discovery is an important contribution to our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

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