ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Ozone-depleting compound persists, NASA research shows
• Paleolithic diet may have included snails 10,000 years earlier than previously thought
• Missing Protein Restored in Patients with Muscular Dystrophy
• How lizards regenerate their tails: Researchers discover genetic 'recipe'
• Seals and sea lions likely spread tuberculosis to humans
• Life can persist in cold, dark world: Life under Antarctic ice explored
• Jurassic mammals were picky eaters, new study finds
• The power of salt: Power generation from where river water and seawater meet
• Turning waste from rice, parsley and other foods into biodegradable plastic
• Coronary arteries hold heart-regenerating cells
• Sunblock poses potential hazard to sea life
• Record decline of ice sheets: Scientists map elevation changes of Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers
• Paving the way for cyborg moth 'biobots'
• A semi-artificial leaf faster than 'natural' photosynthesis
• First LOFAR observations of 'Whirlpool Galaxy'
• Bacterial nanowires: 'Electric bacteria' not what we thought they were
• World's primary forests on the brink, study concludes

Ozone-depleting compound persists, NASA research shows Posted: 20 Aug 2014 02:35 PM PDT NASA research shows Earth's atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide.

Paleolithic diet may have included snails 10,000 years earlier than previously thought Posted: 20 Aug 2014 01:46 PM PDT Paleolithic inhabitants of modern-day Spain may have eaten snails 10,000 years earlier than their Mediterranean neighbors. Snails were widespread in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, but it is still unknown when and how they were incorporated into human diets.

Missing Protein Restored in Patients with Muscular Dystrophy Posted: 20 Aug 2014 01:44 PM PDT A research team has succeeded in restoring a missing repair protein in skeletal muscle of patients with muscular dystrophy, a scientific first. The team has offered a proof-of-principle study and restored the missing protein in skeletal muscle of patients with muscular dystrophy. Three patients carrying a dysferlin mutation received a single systemic dose of a proteasome inhibitor. After only a few days the patients' musculature produced the missing dysferlin protein at levels that could be therapeutically effective.

How lizards regenerate their tails: Researchers discover genetic 'recipe' Posted: 20 Aug 2014 01:43 PM PDT By understanding the secret of how lizards regenerate their tails, researchers may be able to develop ways to stimulate the regeneration of limbs in humans. Now, a team of researchers is one step closer to solving that mystery. The scientists have discovered the genetic "recipe" for lizard tail regeneration, which may come down to using genetic ingredients in just the right mixture and amounts.

Seals and sea lions likely spread tuberculosis to humans Posted: 20 Aug 2014 11:00 AM PDT Scientists who study tuberculosis have long debated its origins. New research shows that tuberculosis likely spread from humans in Africa to seals and sea lions that brought the disease to South America and transmitted it to Native people there before Europeans landed on the continent.

Life can persist in cold, dark world: Life under Antarctic ice explored Posted: 20 Aug 2014 11:00 AM PDT The first breakthrough article to come out of a massive U.S. expedition to one of Earth's final frontiers shows that there's life and an active ecosystem one-half mile below the surface of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, specifically in a lake that hasn't seen sunlight or felt a breath of wind for millions of years. The life is in the form of microorganisms that live beneath the enormous Antarctic ice sheet and convert ammonium and methane into the energy required for growth.

Jurassic mammals were picky eaters, new study finds Posted: 20 Aug 2014 10:59 AM PDT New analyses of tiny fossil mammals from Glamorgan, South Wales are shedding light on the function and diets of our earliest ancestors, a team reports. Mammals and their immediate ancestors from the Jurassic period (201-145 million years ago) developed new characteristics - such as better hearing and teeth capable of precise chewing.

The power of salt: Power generation from where river water and seawater meet Posted: 20 Aug 2014 08:05 AM PDT Where the river meets the sea, there is the potential to harness a significant amount of renewable energy, according to a team of mechanical engineers. The researchers evaluated an emerging method of power generation called pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), in which two streams of different salinity are mixed to produce energy. In principle, a PRO system would take in river water and seawater on either side of a semi-permeable membrane. Through osmosis, water from the less-salty stream would cross the membrane to a pre-pressurized saltier side, creating a flow that can be sent through a turbine to recover power.

Turning waste from rice, parsley and other foods into biodegradable plastic Posted: 20 Aug 2014 08:05 AM PDT Your chairs, synthetic rugs and plastic bags could one day be made out of cocoa, rice and vegetable waste rather than petroleum, scientists are now reporting. The novel process they developed and their results could help the world deal with its agricultural and plastic waste problems.

Coronary arteries hold heart-regenerating cells Posted: 20 Aug 2014 08:05 AM PDT Endothelial cells residing in the coronary arteries can function as cardiac stem cells to produce new heart muscle tissue, investigators have discovered. The heart has long been considered to be an organ without regenerative potential, said one expert. Recent findings, however, have demonstrated that new heart muscle cells are generated at a low rate, suggesting the presence of cardiac stem cells. The source of these cells was unknown.

Sunblock poses potential hazard to sea life Posted: 20 Aug 2014 08:05 AM PDT The sweet and salty aroma of sunscreen and seawater signals a relaxing trip to the shore. But scientists are now reporting that the idyllic beach vacation comes with an environmental hitch. When certain sunblock ingredients wash off skin and into the sea, they can become toxic to some of the ocean's tiniest inhabitants, which are the main course for many other marine animals.

Record decline of ice sheets: Scientists map elevation changes of Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers Posted: 20 Aug 2014 08:05 AM PDT Researchers have for the first time extensively mapped Greenland's and Antarctica's ice sheets with the help of the ESA satellite CryoSat-2 and have thus been able to prove that the ice crusts of both regions momentarily decline at an unprecedented rate. In total the ice sheets are losing around 500 cubic kilometers of ice per year.

Paving the way for cyborg moth 'biobots' Posted: 20 Aug 2014 06:17 AM PDT Researchers have developed methods for electronically manipulating the flight muscles of moths and for monitoring the electrical signals moths use to control those muscles. The work opens the door to the development of remotely-controlled moths, or 'biobots,' for use in emergency response.

A semi-artificial leaf faster than 'natural' photosynthesis Posted: 20 Aug 2014 06:16 AM PDT Cooperation between chemists and biologists has resulted in a new method for the very efficient integration of photosynthetic proteins in photovoltaics. Their research offers a new immobilization strategy that yields electron transfer rates exceeding for the first time rates observed in natural photosynthesis. This discovery opens the possibility for the construction of semi-artificial leaves functioning as photovoltaic devices with drastically increased performance.

First LOFAR observations of 'Whirlpool Galaxy' Posted: 20 Aug 2014 06:12 AM PDT Using a radio telescope with frequencies just above those of commercial FM radio stations, a European team of astronomers has obtained the most sensitive image of a galaxy below 1 GHz.

Bacterial nanowires: 'Electric bacteria' not what we thought they were Posted: 18 Aug 2014 12:25 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that bacterial nanowires (which conduct electricity, allowing certain bacteria to breathe) are actually extensions of the bacteria's outer membrane -- not pili, as originally thought. Understanding the way these electric bacteria work has applications well beyond the lab. Such creatures have the potential to address some of the big questions about the nature of life itself, including what types of lifeforms we might find in extreme environments, like space.

World's primary forests on the brink, study concludes Posted: 18 Aug 2014 08:29 AM PDT The precarious state of the world's primary forests has been outlined in new research by an international team of conservationist scientists and practitioners. Primary forests -- largely ignored by policy makers and under increasing land use threats -- are forests where there are no visible indications of human activities, especially industrial-scale land use, and ecological processes have not been significantly disrupted. The analysis reveals that only five percent of the world's pre-agricultural primary forest cover is now found in protected areas.

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