ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Drinking alcohol shrinks critical brain regions in genetically vulnerable mice
• In new mass-production technique, robotic insects spring to life
• Extreme summer temperatures occur more frequently in U.S. now, analysis shows
• Out of Africa? Data fail to support language origin in Africa
• Great eruption replay: Astronomers watch delayed broadcast of powerful stellar eruption
• Prions play powerful role in the survival and evolution of wild yeast strains
• Lava formations in Western U.S. linked to rip in giant slab of Earth
• Black hole came from a shredded galaxy
• New defense mechanism against viruses and cancer identified
• Diabetes may start in the intestines, research suggests
• Tiny chameleons discovered in Madagascar: Small enough to stand on the tip of a finger
• Newborn stars emerge from dark clouds in Taurus
• Huntington disease breakthrough: New potential therapy that restores motor function being planned for clinical trial

Drinking alcohol shrinks critical brain regions in genetically vulnerable mice Posted: 15 Feb 2012 04:00 PM PST Brain scans of two strains of mice imbibing significant quantities of alcohol reveal serious shrinkage in some brain regions -- but only in mice lacking a particular type of receptor for dopamine, the brain's "reward" chemical. The study provides new evidence that these dopamine receptors may play a protective role against alcohol-induced brain damage.

In new mass-production technique, robotic insects spring to life Posted: 15 Feb 2012 12:53 PM PST A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet. Devised by engineers, the ingenious layering and folding process enables the rapid fabrication of not just microrobots, but a broad range of electromechanical devices.

Extreme summer temperatures occur more frequently in U.S. now, analysis shows Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:31 AM PST Extreme summer temperatures are already occurring more frequently in the United States, and will become normal by mid-century if the world continues on a business as usual schedule of emitting greenhouse gases. By analyzing observations and results obtained from climate models, a new study has shown that previously rare high summertime (June, July and August) temperatures are already occurring more frequently in some regions of the 48 contiguous United States.

Out of Africa? Data fail to support language origin in Africa Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:30 AM PST Last year, a report claiming to support the idea that the origin of language can be traced to West Africa appeared in Science. The article caused quite a stir. Now a linguist has challenged its conclusions, in a commentary just published in Science.

Great eruption replay: Astronomers watch delayed broadcast of powerful stellar eruption Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:28 AM PST Astronomers are watching a delayed broadcast of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, an event initially seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago.

Prions play powerful role in the survival and evolution of wild yeast strains Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:28 AM PST Scientists have tested nearly 700 wild yeast strains isolated from diverse environments for the presence of known and unknown prion elements, finding them in one third of all strains. All the prions appear capable of creating diverse new traits, nearly half of which are beneficial. These unexpected findings stand as strong evidence against the common argument that prions are merely yeast "diseases" or rare artifacts of laboratory culture.

Lava formations in Western U.S. linked to rip in giant slab of Earth Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:28 AM PST Scientists have proposed mass melting as a new force behind volcanic activity in the Columbia River region.

Black hole came from a shredded galaxy Posted: 15 Feb 2012 09:39 AM PST Astronomers have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The discovery of the black hole and the star cluster has important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies.

New defense mechanism against viruses and cancer identified Posted: 15 Feb 2012 09:37 AM PST Scientists have found a fundamentally new mechanism how our defense system is ramped up when facing a viral intruder. Exploitation of this mechanism in vaccines sparks new hope for better prevention and therapy of infectious diseases and cancer.

Diabetes may start in the intestines, research suggests Posted: 15 Feb 2012 09:33 AM PST Scientists have made a surprising discovery about the origin of diabetes. Their research suggests that problems controlling blood sugar — the hallmark of diabetes — may begin in the intestines. The new study, in mice, may upend long-held theories about the causes of the disease.

Tiny chameleons discovered in Madagascar: Small enough to stand on the tip of a finger Posted: 15 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST Four new species of miniaturized lizards have been identified in Madagascar. These lizards, just tens of millimeters from head to tail and in some cases small enough to stand on the head of a match, rank among the smallest reptiles in the world.

Newborn stars emerge from dark clouds in Taurus Posted: 15 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST A new image from the APEX telescope in Chile shows a sinuous filament of cosmic dust more than ten light-years long. In it, newborn stars are hidden, and dense clouds of gas are on the verge of collapsing to form yet more stars. The cosmic dust grains are so cold that observations at wavelengths of around one millimeter are needed to detect their glow.

Huntington disease breakthrough: New potential therapy that restores motor function being planned for clinical trial Posted: 13 Feb 2012 12:41 PM PST Medical researchers have discovered a promising new therapy for Huntington disease that restores lost motor skills and may delay or stop the progression of the disease based on lab model tests, says the lead researcher. Because the new therapy uses a molecule already being used in clinical trials for other diseases, it could be used in a clinical trial for Huntington disease within the next one to two years.

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