ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Astronomers pinpoint 'Venus Zone' around stars
• Neuroscientists decode brain maps to discover how we take aim
• Can your blood type affect your memory in later years?
• Earth's ozone layer on track to recovery, scientists report
• Groundwater tied to human evolution
• Impact of violent media on the brain: Depends on each individual's brain circuitry, study finds
• Electronics that need very little energy? Nanotechnology used to help cool electrons with no external sources
• Drivers of rich bird biodiversity in Neotropics identified
• Three extinct squirrel-like species discovered: Mammals may have originated much earlier than thought
• Mysterious quasar sequence explained
• Gibbon genome sequence deepens understanding of primates rapid chromosomal rearrangements
• Highest resolution ever with X-ray microscopy
• Ancient swamp creature had lips like Mick Jagger
• Nerve impulses can collide, continue unaffected
• Non-dominant hand vital to the evolution of the thumb
• Female baboons with male companions live longer
• Sloths are no slouches when it comes to evolution
• First graphene-based flexible display produced
• Long-term use of pills for anxiety and sleep problems may be linked to Alzheimer's
• Frequent cannabis use in adolescence linked with reduced educational attainment, other problems in young 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.

Neuroscientists decode brain maps to discover how we take aim Posted: 10 Sep 2014 04:02 PM PDT A new brain map shows how the brain encodes allocentric and egocentric space in different ways during activities that involve manual aiming. The study finding will help healthcare providers to develop therapeutic treatment for patients with brain damage in these two areas, according to the neuroscientists.

Can your blood type affect your memory in later years? Posted: 10 Sep 2014 03:59 PM PDT People with blood type AB may be more likely to develop memory loss in later years than people with other blood types, according to a study. AB is the least common blood type, found in about 4 percent of the U.S. population. The study found that people with AB blood were 82 percent more likely to develop the thinking and memory problems that can lead to dementia than people with other blood types.

Earth's ozone layer on track to recovery, scientists report Posted: 10 Sep 2014 01:23 PM PDT Earth's protective ozone layer is well on track to recovery in the next few decades thanks to concerted international action against ozone depleting substances, according to a new assessment by 300 scientists.

Groundwater tied to human evolution Posted: 10 Sep 2014 12:25 PM PDT Our ancient ancestors' ability to move around and find new sources of groundwater during extremely dry periods in Africa millions of years ago may have been key to their survival and the evolution of the human species, a new study shows.

Impact of violent media on the brain: Depends on each individual's brain circuitry, study finds Posted: 10 Sep 2014 11:08 AM PDT With the longstanding debate over whether violent movies cause real world violence as a backstop, a study has found that each person's reaction to violent images depends on that individual's brain circuitry, and on how aggressive they were to begin with.

Electronics that need very little energy? Nanotechnology used to help cool electrons with no external sources Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to minus 228 degrees Celsius without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.

Drivers of rich bird biodiversity in Neotropics identified Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT New research challenges a commonly held view that explains how so many species of birds came to inhabit the Neotropics, an area rich in rain forest that extends from Mexico to the southernmost tip of South America. The study suggests that tropical bird speciation is not directly linked to geological and climate changes, as traditionally thought, but is driven by movements of birds across physical barriers that occur long after those landscapes' geological origins.

Three extinct squirrel-like species discovered: Mammals may have originated much earlier than thought Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT Paleontologists have described three new small squirrel-like species that place a poorly understood Mesozoic group of animals firmly in the mammal family tree. The study supports the idea that mammals -- an extremely diverse group that includes egg-laying monotremes such as the platypus, marsupials such as the opossum, and placentals like humans and whales -- originated at least 208 million years ago in the late Triassic, much earlier than some previous research suggests.

Mysterious quasar sequence explained Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT Quasars are supermassive black holes that live at the center of distant massive galaxies. They shine as the most luminous beacons in the sky by rapidly accelerating matter into their gravitationally inescapable centers. New work solves a quasar mystery that astronomers have been puzzling over for decades. It shows that most observed quasar phenomena can be unified with two simple quantities: how efficiently the hole is being fed, and the viewing orientation of the astronomer.

Gibbon genome sequence deepens understanding of primates rapid chromosomal rearrangements Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT With the completion of the sequencing and analysis of the gibbon genome, scientists now know more about why this small ape has a rapid rate of chromosomal rearrangements, providing information that broadens understanding of chromosomal biology.

Highest resolution ever with X-ray microscopy Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:06 AM PDT Researchers used 'soft' X-rays to image structures only five nanometers in size. This resolution is the highest ever achieved with X-ray microscopy.

Ancient swamp creature had lips like Mick Jagger Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT A swamp-dwelling, plant-munching creature that lived 19 million years ago in Africa has been named after Rolling Stones lead singer Sir Mick Jagger, because of its big, sensitive lips and snout. The name of the animal, Jaggermeryx naida, translates to 'Jagger's water nymph.'

Nerve impulses can collide, continue unaffected Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT According to the traditional theory of nerves, two nerve impulses sent from opposite ends of a nerve annihilate when they collide. New research now shows that two colliding nerve impulses simply pass through each other and continue unaffected. This supports the theory that nerves function as sound pulses.

Non-dominant hand vital to the evolution of the thumb Posted: 10 Sep 2014 07:29 AM PDT New research from biological anthropologists has shown that the use of the non-dominant hand was likely to have played a vital role in the evolution of modern human hand morphology: the production of stone tools requires the thumb on the non-dominant hand to be significantly stronger and more robust than the fingers.

Female baboons with male companions live longer Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:32 AM PDT Numerous studies have linked social interaction to improved health and survival in humans, and new research confirms that the same is true for baboons. A long-term study of more than 200 wild female baboons finds that the most sociable females live two to three years longer than their socially isolated counterparts. Socializing with males gave females an even bigger longevity boost than socializing with other females, the researchers found.

Sloths are no slouches when it comes to evolution Posted: 10 Sep 2014 05:38 AM PDT Today's sloths might be known as slow, small animals, but their ancestors developed large body sizes at an amazing rate, according to an evolutionary reconstruction. The fast rate of change suggests that factors such as environmental conditions, or competition with other species must have strongly favored the bigger sloths, before they died out.

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.

Long-term use of pills for anxiety and sleep problems may be linked to Alzheimer's Posted: 09 Sep 2014 04:20 PM PDT Taking benzodiazepines -- widely prescribed drugs to treat anxiety and insomnia -- is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, particularly for long-term users, suggests a new study.

Frequent cannabis use in adolescence linked with reduced educational attainment, other problems in young adults Posted: 09 Sep 2014 04:20 PM PDT Individuals who are daily users of cannabis before age 17 are over 60% less likely to complete high school or obtain a degree compared to those who have never used the drug, new research shows. The large meta-analysis also indicates that daily users of cannabis during adolescence are seven times more likely to attempt suicide, have an 18 times greater chance of cannabis dependence, and are eight times as likely to use other illicit drugs in later life.

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