ScienceDaily: Top Science News |
- New fossils push the origin of flowering plants back by 100 million years to the early Triassic
- Researchers propose new theory to explain seeds of life in asteroids
- Supercomputing the transition from ordinary to extraordinary forms of matter
- 'Walking droplets': Strange behavior of bouncing drops demonstrates pilot-wave dynamics in action
- Breakthrough in photonics could allow for faster and faster electronics
- Caribou may be indirectly affected by sea-ice loss in the Arctic
- Vikings may have been more social than savage
- Better protein creation may be secret of longevity for the world's longest-living rodent
| New fossils push the origin of flowering plants back by 100 million years to the early Triassic Posted: 01 Oct 2013 04:18 PM PDT Drilling cores from Switzerland have revealed the oldest known fossils of the direct ancestors of flowering plants. These beautifully preserved 240-million-year-old pollen grains are evidence that flowering plants evolved 100 million years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study. Flowering plants evolved from extinct plants related to conifers, ginkgos, cycads, and seed ferns. The oldest known fossils from flowering plants are pollen grains. These are small, robust and numerous and therefore fossilize more easily than leaves and flowers. An uninterrupted sequence of fossilized pollen from flowers begins in the Early Cretaceous, approximately 140 million years ago, and it is generally assumed that flowering plants first evolved around that time. But the present study documents flowering plant-like pollen that is 100 million years older, implying that flowering plants may have originated in the Early Triassic (between 252 to 247 million years ago) or even earlier. |
| Researchers propose new theory to explain seeds of life in asteroids Posted: 01 Oct 2013 12:11 PM PDT A new look at the early solar system introduces an alternative to a long-taught, but largely discredited, theory that seeks to explain how biomolecules were once able to form inside of asteroids. |
| Supercomputing the transition from ordinary to extraordinary forms of matter Posted: 01 Oct 2013 12:10 PM PDT Calculations plus experimental data help map nuclear phase diagram, offering insight into transition that mimics formation of visible matter in the universe today. |
| 'Walking droplets': Strange behavior of bouncing drops demonstrates pilot-wave dynamics in action Posted: 01 Oct 2013 11:12 AM PDT A research team recently discovered that it's possible to make a tiny fluid droplet levitate on the surface of a vibrating bath, walking or bouncing across, propelled by its own wave field. Surprisingly, these walking droplets exhibit certain features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic quantum realm. This finding of quantum-like behavior inspired a team of researchers to examine the dynamics of these walking droplets. |
| Breakthrough in photonics could allow for faster and faster electronics Posted: 01 Oct 2013 08:57 AM PDT A pair of breakthroughs in the field of silicon photonics could allow for the trajectory of exponential improvement in microprocessors that began nearly half a century ago -- known as Moore's Law -- to continue well into the future, allowing for increasingly faster electronics, from supercomputers to laptops to smartphones. |
| Caribou may be indirectly affected by sea-ice loss in the Arctic Posted: 01 Oct 2013 08:56 AM PDT Melting sea ice in the Arctic may be leading, indirectly, to lower birth and survival rates for caribou calves in Greenland, according to scientists. They have linked the melting of Arctic sea ice with changes in the timing of plant growth on land, which in turn is associated with population declines in caribou herds. |
| Vikings may have been more social than savage Posted: 01 Oct 2013 06:13 AM PDT Academics have uncovered complex social networks within age-old Icelandic sagas, which challenge the stereotypical image of Vikings as unworldly, violent savages. |
| Better protein creation may be secret of longevity for the world's longest-living rodent Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:27 PM PDT Biologists conclude that a better protein-making process helps naked mole rats live long, healthy lives. |
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