ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Scrub jays react to their dead, bird study shows: 'Funerals' can last for up to half an hour
• Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear
• Planets can form in the galactic center
• Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets
• NASA Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars
• Was Kepler's supernova unusually powerful?
• At least 200,000 tons of oil and gas from Deepwater Horizon spill consumed by Gulf bacteria
• World's smallest fossil footprints: Small amphibian roamed Earth 315 million years ago
• High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape
• Stem cell researchers use gene therapy to restore immune systems in 'Bubble Boy' disease
• Aussie wasp on the hunt for redback spiders
• Crows react to threats in human-like way
• Priceless or worthless? 100 most threatened species first in line to disappear completely if nothing is done, conservationists warn
• Second-hand smoking damages memory

Scrub jays react to their dead, bird study shows: 'Funerals' can last for up to half an hour Posted: 11 Sep 2012 01:20 PM PDT Western scrub jays summon others to screech over the body of a dead jay, according to new research. The birds' cacophonous 'funerals' can last for up to half an hour.

Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a swirling fluid-like behavior in a solid piece of metal sliding over another, providing new insights into the mechanisms of wear and generation of machined surfaces that could help improve the durability of metal parts.

Planets can form in the galactic center Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT At first glance, the center of the Milky Way seems like a very inhospitable place to try to form a planet. Powerful gravitational forces from a supermassive black hole twist and warp the fabric of space itself. Yet new research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows that planets still can form in this cosmic maelstrom.

Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:09 PM PDT Astronomers have discovered a veritable rogues' gallery of odd exoplanets -- from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to frigid ice balls. And while the hunt continues for the elusive "blue dot" -- a planet with roughly the same characteristics as Earth -- new research reveals that life might actually be able to survive on some of the many exoplanetary oddballs that exist.

NASA Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:08 PM PDT NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon-dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon-dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system. Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which is much colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon-dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts of Mars may look quite Earth-like, the Red Planet is very different.

Was Kepler's supernova unusually powerful? Posted: 11 Sep 2012 10:26 AM PDT A new analysis of Kepler's supernova suggests that the supernova explosion was not only more powerful, but might have also occurred at a greater distance, than previously thought.

At least 200,000 tons of oil and gas from Deepwater Horizon spill consumed by Gulf bacteria Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:53 AM PDT Researchers have found that, over a period of five months following the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, naturally-occurring bacteria that exist in the Gulf of Mexico consumed and removed at least 200,000 tons of oil and natural gas that spewed into the deep Gulf from the ruptured well-head.

World's smallest fossil footprints: Small amphibian roamed Earth 315 million years ago Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT A new set of fossil footprints discovered in Joggins, Nova Scotia, have been identified as the world's smallest known fossil vertebrate footprints. The footprints belonged to a small amphibian which would have roamed Earth 315 million years ago, a creature not unlike a salamander.

High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:28 AM PDT An international team has developed a simple new technique using Scotch poster tape that has enabled them to induce high-temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor for the first time. The method paves the way for novel new devices that could be used in quantum computing and to improve energy efficiency.

Stem cell researchers use gene therapy to restore immune systems in 'Bubble Boy' disease Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:16 AM PDT Stem cell researchers have found that a gene therapy regimen can safely restore immune systems to children with so-called "Bubble Boy" disease, a life threatening condition that if left untreated can be fatal within one to two years.

Aussie wasp on the hunt for redback spiders Posted: 11 Sep 2012 07:29 AM PDT Researchers say a small native wasp that scientists had forgotten about for more than 200 years is now making a name for itself -- as a predator of Australia's most common dangerous spider, the redback.

Crows react to threats in human-like way Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT Crows and humans share the ability to recognize faces and associate them with negative and positive feelings. The way the brain activates during that process is something the two species also appear to share, according to new research.

Priceless or worthless? 100 most threatened species first in line to disappear completely if nothing is done, conservationists warn Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT Tarzan's chameleon, the spoon-billed sandpiper and the pygmy three-toed sloth have all topped a new list of the species closest to extinction released by the Zoological Society of London and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Second-hand smoking damages memory Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:13 AM PDT Non-smokers who live with or spend time with smokers are damaging their memory, according to new research.

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