ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Key to new antibiotics could be deep within isolated cave
• Breakthrough in quantum communication
• Astronomers discover sandstorms in space
• Astronomers identify 12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars only 100 light years away
• Powerful sequencing technology decodes DNA folding pattern
• Tackle fungal forces to save crops, forests and endangered animals, say scientists
• Duck-billed dinosaurs endured long, dark polar winters
• Gene switches do more than flip 'on' or 'off': Can exhibit much more complex binding behavior
• Could 'advanced' dinosaurs rule other planets?
• Oldest-ever reptile embryos unearthed
• Bats save energy by drawing in wings on upstroke
• Widespread adaptability: Coral reefs may be able to adapt to climate change with help from algae
• Wildlife thriving after nuclear disaster? Radiation from Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents not as harmful to wildlife as feared
• Study on extrasolar planet orbits suggests that planetary systems like our solar system is the norm
• Skin and umbilical cord cells turned directly into nerve cells

Key to new antibiotics could be deep within isolated cave Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:54 PM PDT Researchers discovered a remarkable prevalence of antibiotic resistance bacteria isolated from Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico, one of the deepest and largest caves in the world and a place isolated from human contact for more than four million years.

Breakthrough in quantum communication Posted: 11 Apr 2012 01:16 PM PDT Scientists have created the first elementary quantum network based on interfaces between single atoms and photons. Whether it comes to phoning a friend or to using the internet -- our daily communication is based on sophisticated networks, with data being transferred at the speed of light between different nodes. It is a tremendous challenge to build corresponding networks for the exchange of quantum information.

Astronomers discover sandstorms in space Posted: 11 Apr 2012 01:16 PM PDT Astronomers believe they have found the answer to the mystery of a powerful 'superwind' which causes the death of stars.

Astronomers identify 12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars only 100 light years away Posted: 11 Apr 2012 11:43 AM PDT Astronomers have identified two white dwarf stars considered the oldest and closest known. Astronomers identified these 11- to 12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars only 100 light years away from Earth. These stars are the closest known examples of the oldest stars in the universe forming soon after the Big Bang.

Powerful sequencing technology decodes DNA folding pattern Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:22 AM PDT Using a powerful DNA sequencing methodology, researchers have now investigated the three-dimensional structure of DNA folds in the nucleus of a chromosome. The findings provide scientists with a greater understanding about the basic principles of DNA folding and its role in gene regulation.

Tackle fungal forces to save crops, forests and endangered animals, say scientists Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:20 AM PDT More than 600 million people could be fed each year by halting the spread of fungal diseases in the world's five most important crops, according to new research.

Duck-billed dinosaurs endured long, dark polar winters Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:19 AM PDT Duck-billed dinosaurs that lived within Arctic latitudes approximately 70 million years ago likely endured long, dark polar winters instead of migrating to more southern latitudes.

Gene switches do more than flip 'on' or 'off': Can exhibit much more complex binding behavior Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:19 AM PDT Scientists have found that transcription factors don't act like an 'on-off' switch, but instead can exhibit much more complex binding behavior.

Could 'advanced' dinosaurs rule other planets? Posted: 11 Apr 2012 09:05 AM PDT New scientific research raises the possibility that advanced versions of T. rex and other dinosaurs -- monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans -- may be the life forms that evolved on other planets in the universe. "We would be better off not meeting them," concludes the study, which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Oldest-ever reptile embryos unearthed Posted: 11 Apr 2012 09:03 AM PDT Dating back 280 million years or so, the oldest known fossil reptile embryos have been unearthed in Uruguay and Brazil. They belong to the ancient aquatic reptiles, mesosaurs. The study of these exceptionally well-preserved fossils suggests that mesosaurs were either viviparous (pushing back this mode of reproduction by 60 million years) or that they laid eggs in advanced stages of development.

Bats save energy by drawing in wings on upstroke Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:41 AM PDT Bat wings are like hands: meaty, bony and full of joints. A new study finds that bats take advantage of their flexibility by folding in their wings on the upstroke to save inertial energy. The research suggests that engineers looking at flapping flight should account for wing mass and consider a folding design.

Widespread adaptability: Coral reefs may be able to adapt to climate change with help from algae Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:41 AM PDT Large-scale global survey of corals using high sensitivity genetic analysis shows many coral species can host multiple algal symbionts -- including some thought to help survive warming oceans.

Wildlife thriving after nuclear disaster? Radiation from Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents not as harmful to wildlife as feared Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:41 AM PDT Radiation from the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents may not have been as harmful to wildlife as previously thought.

Study on extrasolar planet orbits suggests that planetary systems like our solar system is the norm Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:40 AM PDT Orbits of other planetary systems are aligned, like in a disk, just like in our own solar system, according to a new analysis.

Skin and umbilical cord cells turned directly into nerve cells Posted: 11 Apr 2012 05:40 AM PDT Until recently, the production of pluripotent "multipurpose" stem cells from skin cells was considered to be the ultimate new development. In the meantime, it has become possible to directly convert cells of the body into one another -- without the time-consuming detour via a pluripotent intermediate stage. However, this method has so far been rather inefficient. Scientists have now developed the method to the point that it can be used for biomedical applications.

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