ScienceDaily: Top Science News |
- Oh, my stars and hexagons! DNA code shapes gold nanoparticles
- Hyenas that think outside the box solve problems faster
- Early human ancestors had more variable diet
- New atmospheric compound tied to climate change, human health
- New Kenyan fossils shed light on early human evolution
- July 2012 marked hottest month on record for contiguous U.S.; Drought expands to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48
- First BOSS data: 3-D map of 500,000 galaxies, 100,000 quasars
| Oh, my stars and hexagons! DNA code shapes gold nanoparticles Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:32 PM PDT DNA holds the genetic code for all sorts of biological molecules and traits. But researchers have found that DNA's code can similarly shape metallic structures. The team found that DNA segments can direct the shape of gold nanoparticles -- tiny gold crystals that have many applications in medicine, electronics and catalysis. Each of the four DNA bases codes for a different gold particle shape: rough round particles, stars, flat round discs, and hexagons.  |
| Hyenas that think outside the box solve problems faster Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:32 PM PDT Innovative problem solving requires trying many different solutions. That's true for humans, and now Michigan State University researchers show that it's true for hyenas, too.  |
| Early human ancestors had more variable diet Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT New research sheds more light on the diet and home ranges of early hominins belonging to three different genera, notably Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo -- that were discovered at sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind, about 50 kilometers from Johannesburg. Australopithecus existed before the other two genera evolved about 2 million years ago.  |
| New atmospheric compound tied to climate change, human health Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a surprising new chemical compound in Earth's atmosphere that reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sulfuric acid, which is known to have significant impacts on climate and health. The new compound, a type of carbonyl oxide, is formed from the reaction of ozone with alkenes, which are a family of hydrocarbons with both natural and human-made sources.  |
| New Kenyan fossils shed light on early human evolution Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Exciting new fossils discovered east of Lake Turkana confirm that there were two additional species of our genus -- Homo -- living alongside our direct human ancestral species, Homo erectus, almost two million years ago.  |
| Posted: 08 Aug 2012 08:50 AM PDT According to NOAA scientists, the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the hottest July and the hottest month on record for the nation. The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936 when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F. The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.  |
| First BOSS data: 3-D map of 500,000 galaxies, 100,000 quasars Posted: 08 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT Now available to the public: spectroscopic data from over 500,000 galaxies up to 7 billion light years away, over 100,000 quasars up to 11.5 billion light years away, and many thousands of other astronomical objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Data Release 9. This is the first data from BOSS, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, the largest spectroscopic survey ever for measuring evolution of large-scale galactic structure.  |
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