ScienceDaily: Top Science News |
- Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations
- Sun delivered curveball of powerful radiation at Earth
- Spider web's strength lies in more than its silk
- Societal control of sugar essential to ease public health burden, experts urge
- Road runoff spurring spotted salamander evolution
- Less summer Arctic sea ice cover means colder, snowier winters in Central Europe
- First plants caused ice ages, new research reveals
- Stellar nursery: A pocket of star formation
- Genetic information migrates from plant to plant
- Testosterone makes us less cooperative and more egocentric
| Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:12 PM PST Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date.  |
| Sun delivered curveball of powerful radiation at Earth Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:24 AM PST A potent follow-up solar flare, which occurred Jan. 17, 2012, just days after the Sun launched the biggest coronal mass ejection seen in nearly a decade, delivered a powerful radiation punch to Earth's magnetic field despite the fact that it was aimed away from our planet.  |
| Spider web's strength lies in more than its silk Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST A study that combines experimental observations of spider webs with complex computer simulations has shown that web durability depends not only on silk strength, but on how overall web design compensates for damage and the response of individual strands to continuously varying stresses.  |
| Societal control of sugar essential to ease public health burden, experts urge Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:53 AM PST Sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health, according to a team of researchers, who maintain in a new report that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.  |
| Road runoff spurring spotted salamander evolution Posted: 01 Feb 2012 09:07 AM PST Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to new research. The study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of roads apparently by evolving rapidly.  |
| Less summer Arctic sea ice cover means colder, snowier winters in Central Europe Posted: 01 Feb 2012 07:51 AM PST Even if the current weather situation may seem to go against it, the probability of cold winters with a lot of snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer.  |
| First plants caused ice ages, new research reveals Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:49 AM PST New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. The research reveals the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during the Ordovician Period, which ended 444 million years ago. During this period the climate gradually cooled, leading to a series of 'ice ages.' This global cooling was caused by a dramatic reduction in atmospheric carbon, which this research now suggests was triggered by the arrival of plants.  |
| Stellar nursery: A pocket of star formation Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:43 AM PST A new view shows a stellar nursery called NGC 3324. It was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The intense ultraviolet radiation from several of NGC 3324's hot young stars causes the gas cloud to glow with rich colors and has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust.  |
| Genetic information migrates from plant to plant Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:31 AM PST To generate phylogenetic trees and investigate relationships between organisms, scientists usually look for similarities and differences in the DNA. Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that the DNA extracted from the plants' green chloroplasts sometimes showed the greatest similarities when related species grew in the same area. Scientists have now discovered that a transfer of entire chloroplasts, or at least their genomes, can occur in contact zones between plants. Inter-species crossing is not necessary. The new chloroplast genome can even be handed down to the next generation and, thereby, give a plant with new traits. These findings are of great importance to the understanding of evolution as well as the breeding of new plant varieties.  |
| Testosterone makes us less cooperative and more egocentric Posted: 31 Jan 2012 06:02 PM PST Testosterone makes us overvalue our own opinions at the expense of cooperation, new research has found. Higher levels of testosterone were associated with individuals behaving egocentrically.  |
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