ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New threat to birds posed by invasive pythons in Florida
• Big advance against cystic fibrosis: Stem cell researchers create lung surface tissue in a dish
• Use of common pesticide, imidacloprid, linked to bee colony collapse
• Scientists redraw the blueprint of the body's biological clock
• Copper chains: Earth's deep-seated hold on copper revealed
• Controlling quantum tunneling with light: Novel particle opens door to taming mysteries of tunneling
• Initial stages by which giant gypsum crystals form
• Newly discovered close relative of T. rex is largest known feathered dinosaur
• Fasting for Lent forces hyenas to change diet
• Satellite observes rapid ice shelf disintegration in Antarctic
• Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of notorious pathogens
• Rising CO₂ levels linked to global warming during last deglaciation
• Protective gene discovered in fat cells

New threat to birds posed by invasive pythons in Florida Posted: 05 Apr 2012 07:48 PM PDT Scientists have uncovered a new threat posed by invasive Burmese pythons in Florida and the Everglades: The snakes are not only eating the area's birds, but also the birds' eggs straight from the nest. The results of this research add a new challenge to the area's already heavily taxed native wildlife.

Big advance against cystic fibrosis: Stem cell researchers create lung surface tissue in a dish Posted: 05 Apr 2012 07:48 PM PDT Stem cell researchers have taken a critical step in making possible the discovery in the relatively near future of a drug to control cystic fibrosis, a fatal lung disease that claims about 500 lives each year, with 1,000 new cases diagnosed annually.

Use of common pesticide, imidacloprid, linked to bee colony collapse Posted: 05 Apr 2012 07:46 PM PDT The likely culprit in sharp worldwide declines in honeybee colonies since 2006 is imidacloprid, one of the most widely used pesticides, according to a new study.

Scientists redraw the blueprint of the body's biological clock Posted: 05 Apr 2012 07:44 PM PDT The discovery of a major gear in the biological clock that tells the body when to sleep and metabolize food may lead to new drugs to treat sleep problems and metabolic disorders, including diabetes.

Copper chains: Earth's deep-seated hold on copper revealed Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:29 PM PDT Earth is clingy when it comes to copper. Nature conspires at scales both large and small -- from the realms of tectonic plates down to molecular bonds -- to keep most of Earth's copper buried dozens of miles below ground. A new study gives new insight into the way continents form and could help locate new sources of copper.

Controlling quantum tunneling with light: Novel particle opens door to taming mysteries of tunneling Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:21 AM PDT Scientists have used light to help push electrons through a classically impenetrable barrier. While quantum tunneling is at the heart of the peculiar wave nature of particles, this is the first time that it has been controlled by light.

Initial stages by which giant gypsum crystals form Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:21 AM PDT Gypsum is a naturally occurring mineral which is often used in industrial processes and which in nature, if left alone for thousands of years, can grow into huge translucent, towering and eerie, crystals more than 10 meters tall. These are famed for their beauty in places such as the Cave of Crystals in Mexico. Nevertheless, the formation of gypsum has until now been largely unexplored.

Newly discovered close relative of T. rex is largest known feathered dinosaur Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:34 AM PDT Palaeontologists have known for more than a decade that some small dinosaurs had bird-like feathers, mainly thanks to beautifully preserved fossils from northeastern China. Now three specimens of a new tyrannosauroid from the same region show that at least one much larger dinosaur had a feathery coat as well.

Fasting for Lent forces hyenas to change diet Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:52 AM PDT Many Christians give up certain foods for Lent, however ecologists have discovered these changes in human diet have a dramatic impact on the diet of wild animals. In Ethiopia, members of the Orthodox Tewahedo Church stop eating meat and dairy products during a 55-day fast before Easter. As a result, spotted hyenas too change their eating habits.

Satellite observes rapid ice shelf disintegration in Antarctic Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:51 AM PDT As ESA's Envisat satellite continues to observe the rapid retreat of one of Antarctica's ice shelves due to climate warming. One of the satellite's first observations following its launch on 1 March 2002 was of break-up of a main section of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica – when 3200 sq km of ice disintegrated within a few days due to mechanical instabilities of the ice masses triggered by climate warming.

Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of notorious pathogens Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:00 PM PDT Scientists have developed a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant.

Rising CO<sub>2</sub> levels linked to global warming during last deglaciation Posted: 04 Apr 2012 10:37 AM PDT Many scientists have long suspected that rising levels of carbon dioxide and the global warming that ended the last Ice Age were somehow linked, but establishing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between CO2 and global warming from the geologic record has remained difficult. A new study identifies this relationship and provides compelling evidence that rising CO2 caused much of the global warming.

Protective gene discovered in fat cells Posted: 01 Apr 2012 10:53 AM PDT In a finding that may challenge popular notions of body fat and health, researchers have shown how fat cells can protect the body against diabetes.

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