ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry
• Genetic mutation may have allowed early humans to migrate throughout Africa
• The more people rely on their intuitions, the more cooperative they become
• Medication effective in treating social withdrawal in Fragile X and potentially autism patients
• Ultra-distant galaxy discovered amidst cosmic 'dark ages': May be oldest galaxy ever
• Using a laser to 'see' the smallest world: Powerful laser breathes new life into an old technology for studying atomic-level structures
• How organisms evolve new functions: Evolution is as complicated as 1-2-3
• Human brains share a consistent genetic blueprint and possess enormous biochemical complexity
• Experiment corrects prediction in quantum theory
• Thermoelectric material is the best at converting heat waste to electricity
• Single-atom writer a landmark for quantum computing
• CT scan and 3-D print help scientists reconstruct an ancient mollusk
• Your memory is like the telephone game, altered with each retelling
• Did a 'forgotten' meteor have a deadly, icy double-punch?
• Warming ocean could start big shift of Antarctic ice
• Out-of-this-world nanoscience: A computer chip that can assemble itself?
• Fireworks in the early universe: In star-forming galaxies, energy bursts from massive central black hole accretion
• Evolutionary history of lizards and snakes reconstructed using massive molecular dataset

Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:09 PM PDT Researchers may have uncovered new evidence of ancient dentistry in the form of a 6,500-year-old human jaw bone with a tooth showing traces of beeswax filling.

Genetic mutation may have allowed early humans to migrate throughout Africa Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT A genetic mutation that occurred thousands of years ago might be the answer to how early humans were able to move from central Africa and across the continent in what has been called "the great expansion," according to new research.

The more people rely on their intuitions, the more cooperative they become Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:21 AM PDT Researchers trying to answer an age-old question about human goodness have found evidence for a "cooperation reflex." They show that when self-interest goes up against the common good, our intuitions favor cooperation, while stopping to think leads to selfishness.

Medication effective in treating social withdrawal in Fragile X and potentially autism patients Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:21 AM PDT An investigational compound that targets the core symptoms of fragile X syndrome is effective for addressing the social withdrawal and challenging behaviors characteristic of the condition, making it the first such discovery for fragile X syndrome and, potentially, the first for autism spectrum disorder, a study has found.

Ultra-distant galaxy discovered amidst cosmic 'dark ages': May be oldest galaxy ever Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes as well as a cosmic magnification effect, a team of astronomers has spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever detected. Light from the young galaxy captured by the orbiting observatories shone forth when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was just 500 million years old.

Using a laser to 'see' the smallest world: Powerful laser breathes new life into an old technology for studying atomic-level structures Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT A high-powered laser has dramatically improved one of the tools scientists use to study the world at the atomic level. Scientists used an amped-up electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer to study the electron spin of free radicals and nitrogen atoms trapped inside a diamond.

How organisms evolve new functions: Evolution is as complicated as 1-2-3 Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT Biologists have documented the step-by-step process in which organisms evolve new functions. The results are revealed through an in-depth, genomics-based analysis that decodes how E. coli bacteria figured out how to supplement a traditional diet of glucose with an extra course of citrate.

Human brains share a consistent genetic blueprint and possess enormous biochemical complexity Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Human brains share a consistent genetic blueprint and possess enormous biochemical complexity, according to new research. The findings stem from the first deep and large-scale analysis of the vast data set publicly available in the Allen Human Brain Atlas.

Experiment corrects prediction in quantum theory Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Scientists are rewriting a page from the quantum physics rulebook using a laboratory once dubbed the coldest spot in the universe.

Thermoelectric material is the best at converting heat waste to electricity Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Scientists have developed a thermoelectric material that is the best in the world at converting waste heat to electricity. This is very good news once you realize nearly two-thirds of energy input is lost as waste heat. The material could signify a paradigm shift. With a very environmentally stable material that is expected to convert 15 to 20 percent of waste heat to useful electricity, thermoelectrics now could see more widespread adoption by industry.

Single-atom writer a landmark for quantum computing Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Engineers have created the first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, opening the way to ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future. Scientists were able to both read and write information using the spin, or magnetic orientation, of an electron bound to a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip.

CT scan and 3-D print help scientists reconstruct an ancient mollusk Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:57 AM PDT Using a combination of traditional and innovative model-building techniques, scientists have created a lifelike reconstruction of an ancient mollusk, a multiplacophoran, offering a vivid portrait of a creature that lived about 390 million years ago, and answering questions about its place in the tree of life.

Your memory is like the telephone game, altered with each retelling Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:57 AM PDT Your memory is a lot like the telephone game, according to a new study. Every time you remember an event from the past, your brain networks change in ways that can alter the later recall of the event. The next time you remember it, you might recall not the original event but what you remembered the previous time. The Northwestern study is the first to show this and has implications for witnesses in criminal cases.

Did a 'forgotten' meteor have a deadly, icy double-punch? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:36 AM PDT When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago and fell into the southern Pacific Ocean it not only could have generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests.

Warming ocean could start big shift of Antarctic ice Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:36 AM PDT Fast-flowing and narrow glaciers have the potential to trigger massive changes in the Antarctic ice sheet and contribute to rapid ice-sheet decay and sea-level rise, a new study has found.

Out-of-this-world nanoscience: A computer chip that can assemble itself? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:31 AM PDT Imagine a computer chip that can assemble itself. According to a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, engineers and scientists are closer to making this and other scalable forms of nanotechnology a reality as a result of new milestones in using nanoparticles as building blocks in functional materials.

Fireworks in the early universe: In star-forming galaxies, energy bursts from massive central black hole accretion Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:29 AM PDT Galaxies in the early universe grew fast by rapidly making new stars. Such prodigious star formation episodes, characterized by the intense radiation of the newborn stars, were often accompanied by fireworks in the form of energy bursts caused by the massive central black hole accretion in these galaxies.

Evolutionary history of lizards and snakes reconstructed using massive molecular dataset Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:18 AM PDT A new study has utilized a massive molecular dataset to reconstruct the evolutionary history of lizards and snakes. The results reveal a surprising finding about the evolution of snakes: that most snakes we see living on the surface today arose from ancestors that lived underground.

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