ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• New math and quantum mechanics: Fluid mechanics suggests alternative to quantum orthodoxy
• Gray matter matters when measuring risk tolerance: May explain why risk tolerance decreases with age
• From worm muscle to spinal discs: An evolutionary surprise
• Unraveling mysteries of the Venusian atmosphere
• Tipping the balance of behavior: Neurons found that control social behavior may have implications for autism
• Brain differences: Sometimes, adolescents just can't resist
• Astronomers pinpoint 'Venus Zone' around stars
• First graphene-based flexible display produced
• Buckyballs and diamondoids in tiny electronic gadget: Two exotic types of carbon form molecule for steering electron flow
• Evidence of 'diving' tectonic plates on Jupiter's moon Europa
• Spanking children slows cognitive development and increases risk of criminal behavior, expert says
• Enormous Spider Web Found In Texas

New math and quantum mechanics: Fluid mechanics suggests alternative to quantum orthodoxy Posted: 12 Sep 2014 09:06 AM PDT The central mystery of quantum mechanics is that small chunks of matter sometimes seem to behave like particles, sometimes like waves. For most of the past century, the prevailing explanation of this conundrum has been what's called the "Copenhagen interpretation" -- which holds that, in some sense, a single particle really is a wave, smeared out across the universe, that collapses into a determinate location only when observed. But some founders of quantum physics -- notably Louis de Broglie -- championed an alternative interpretation, known as "pilot-wave theory," which posits that quantum particles are borne along on some type of wave. According to pilot-wave theory, the particles have definite trajectories, but because of the pilot wave's influence, they still exhibit wavelike statistics. Now a professor of applied mathematics believes that pilot-wave theory deserves a second look.

Gray matter matters when measuring risk tolerance: May explain why risk tolerance decreases with age Posted: 12 Sep 2014 08:24 AM PDT The gray matter volume of a region in the right posterior parietal cortex is significantly predictive of individual risk attitudes, new research has found. Using a whole-brain analysis, scientists found that the grey matter volume of a region in the right posterior parietal cortex was significantly predictive of individual risk attitudes. Men and women with higher grey matter volume in this region exhibited less risk aversion.

From worm muscle to spinal discs: An evolutionary surprise Posted: 12 Sep 2014 05:53 AM PDT Thoughts of the family tree may not be uppermost in the mind of a person suffering from a slipped disc, but those spinal discs provide a window into our evolutionary past. They are remnants of the first vertebrate skeleton, whose origins now appear to be older than had been assumed. Scientists have found that, unexpectedly, this skeleton most likely evolved from a muscle.

Unraveling mysteries of the Venusian atmosphere Posted: 11 Sep 2014 03:07 PM PDT Underscoring the vast differences between Earth and its neighbor Venus, new research shows a glimpse of giant holes in the electrically charged layer of the Venusian atmosphere, called the ionosphere. The observations point to a more complicated magnetic environment than previously thought -- which in turn helps us better understand this neighboring, rocky planet.

Tipping the balance of behavior: Neurons found that control social behavior may have implications for autism Posted: 11 Sep 2014 03:07 PM PDT Antagonistic neuron populations in the mouse amygdala that control whether the animal engages in social behaviors or asocial repetitive self-grooming have been recently discovered by researchers. Dubbed a 'seesaw circuit,' this discovery may have implications for understanding neural circuit dysfunctions that underlie autism in humans.

Brain differences: Sometimes, adolescents just can't resist Posted: 11 Sep 2014 09:45 AM PDT A new study finds teenagers are far more sensitive than adults to the immediate effect or reward of their behaviors. Even when a behavior is no longer in a teenager's best interest to continue, they will because the effect of the reward is still there and lasts much longer in adolescents than in adults.

Astronomers pinpoint 'Venus Zone' around stars Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:41 PM PDT Astronomers have defined the 'Venus Zone,' the area around a star in which a planet is likely to exhibit the unlivable conditions found on the planet Venus. The research will aid Kepler astronomers searching for exoplanets, helping them determine which are likely to be similar to Earth and which are more likely to resemble Venus.

First graphene-based flexible display produced Posted: 10 Sep 2014 05:33 AM PDT A flexible display incorporating graphene in its pixels' electronics has been successfully demonstrated, the first time graphene has been used in a transistor-based flexible device.

Buckyballs and diamondoids in tiny electronic gadget: Two exotic types of carbon form molecule for steering electron flow Posted: 09 Sep 2014 06:38 AM PDT Scientists have married two unconventional forms of carbon -- one shaped like a soccer ball, the other a tiny diamond -- to make a molecule that conducts electricity in only one direction. This tiny electronic component, known as a rectifier, could play a key role in shrinking chip components down to the size of molecules to enable faster, more powerful devices.

Evidence of 'diving' tectonic plates on Jupiter's moon Europa Posted: 08 Sep 2014 09:22 AM PDT Scientists have found evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter's moon Europa. This indicates the first sign of this type of surface-shifting geological activity on a world other than Earth. "Europa may be more Earth-like than we imagined, if it has a global plate tectonic system," said one of the researchers.

Spanking children slows cognitive development and increases risk of criminal behavior, expert says Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:39 AM PST A scientist makes a definitive case against spanking, including how it slows cognitive development and increases antisocial and criminal behavior.

Enormous Spider Web Found In Texas Posted: 12 Sep 2007 11:59 AM PDT A massive spider web first spotted covering several acres of oak-elm woodlands along a Lake Tawakoni State Park trail in early August made national and international headlines throughout the Labor Day Weekend. Stumped as to the web's origin, the initial consensus of arachnologists and entomologists who saw an online photo of the web sent by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist Mike Quinn was that it may have resulted from a "mass dispersal" event. In such an event, millions of tiny spiders or spiderlings spin out silk filaments to ride air currents in a phenomenon known as "ballooning."

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