ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Some giant planets in other systems most likely to be alone
• Looking for Earths by looking for Jupiters
• Greater purpose in life may protect against harmful changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease
• Anthropologist finds explanation for hominin brain evolution in famous fossils
• New research brings satellite measurements and global climate models closer
• Screening for breast cancer without X-rays: Lasers and sound merge in promising diagnostic technique
• One supernova type, two different sources
• Gaseous emissions from dinosaurs may have warmed prehistoric Earth
• Robot reveals the inner workings of brain cells: Automated way to record electrical activity inside neurons in the living brain

Some giant planets in other systems most likely to be alone Posted: 07 May 2012 06:01 PM PDT "Hot Jupiter-type" planets are most likely to be alone in their systems, according to new research.

Looking for Earths by looking for Jupiters Posted: 07 May 2012 01:55 PM PDT In the search for Earth-like planets, it is helpful to look for clues and patterns that can help scientist narrow down the types of systems where potentially habitable planets are likely to be discovered. New research narrows down the search for Earth-like planets near Jupiter-like planets. Their work indicates that the early post-formation movements of hot-Jupiter planets probably disrupt the formation of Earth-like planets.

Greater purpose in life may protect against harmful changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease Posted: 07 May 2012 01:43 PM PDT Greater purpose in life may help stave off the harmful effects of plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Anthropologist finds explanation for hominin brain evolution in famous fossils Posted: 07 May 2012 12:40 PM PDT One of the world's most important fossils has a story to tell about the brain evolution of modern humans and their ancestors, according to new research. The Taung fossil -- the first australopithecine ever discovered -- has two significant features that were analyzed by anthropological researchers. Their findings suggest brain evolution was a result of a complex set of interrelated dynamics in childbirth among new bipeds.

New research brings satellite measurements and global climate models closer Posted: 07 May 2012 12:12 PM PDT One popular climate record that shows a slower atmospheric warming trend than other studies contains a data calibration problem, and when the problem is corrected the results fall in line with other records and climate models, according to a new study.

Screening for breast cancer without X-rays: Lasers and sound merge in promising diagnostic technique Posted: 07 May 2012 11:13 AM PDT In the first phase of clinical testing of a new imaging device, researchers in the Netherlands used photoacoustics rather than ionizing radiation to detect and visualize breast tumors. The team's preliminary results, which were conducted on 12 patients with diagnosed malignancies, have just been published.

One supernova type, two different sources Posted: 07 May 2012 11:12 AM PDT The exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae serve an important role in measuring the universe, and were used to discover the existence of dark energy. They're bright enough to see across large distances, and similar enough to act as a "standard candle" - an object of known luminosity. However, an embarrassing fact is that astronomers still don't know what star systems make Type Ia supernovae.

Gaseous emissions from dinosaurs may have warmed prehistoric Earth Posted: 07 May 2012 07:23 AM PDT Sauropod dinosaurs could in principle have produced enough of the greenhouse gas methane to warm the climate many millions of years ago, at a time when the Earth was warm and wet. That's according to calculations reported in the May 8 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

Robot reveals the inner workings of brain cells: Automated way to record electrical activity inside neurons in the living brain Posted: 06 May 2012 01:01 PM PDT Researchers have developed a way to automate the process of finding and recording information from neurons in the living brain. The researchers have shown that a robotic arm guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm can identify and record from neurons in the living mouse brain with better accuracy and speed than a human experimenter.

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