ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Wetter Arctic could influence climate change, study finds
• Dinosaur die out might have been second of two closely timed extinctions
• Seeing the birth of the universe in an atom of hydrogen: Radio waves used to uncover oldest galaxies yet
• First holistic view of how human genome actually works: ENCODE study produces massive data set
• Loss of tropical forests reduces rain
• Tough gel stretches to 21 times its length, recoils, and heals itself: Biocompatible material much tougher than cartilage
• First stars, galaxies formed more rapidly than expected
• Quantum teleportation goes the distance: Record-breaking distance of 143 kilometers through free space
• Plaque-forming substances in mice with Alzheimer’s disease dramatically reduced
• Explosion of galaxy formation lit up early universe
• Glacial thinning has sharply accelerated at major South American icefields
• Astronomers discover 'pigtail' molecular cloud

Wetter Arctic could influence climate change, study finds Posted: 05 Sep 2012 05:05 PM PDT Increased precipitation and river discharge in the Arctic has the potential to speed climate change, according to the results of a new study.

Dinosaur die out might have been second of two closely timed extinctions Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:43 PM PDT New research indicates that shortly before an asteroid impact spelled doom for the dinosaurs, a separate extinction triggered by volcanic eruptions killed life on the ocean floor.

Seeing the birth of the universe in an atom of hydrogen: Radio waves used to uncover oldest galaxies yet Posted: 05 Sep 2012 11:19 AM PDT Astronomers are using radio telescopes to find radio waves emitted by hydrogen atoms, which were abundant in the early days of the universe. This new field of research, called "21-centimeter cosmology," opens the way to learning more about the universe's oldest galaxies.

First holistic view of how human genome actually works: ENCODE study produces massive data set Posted: 05 Sep 2012 11:09 AM PDT The Human Genome Project produced an almost complete order of the 3 billion pairs of chemical letters in the DNA that embodies the human genetic code -- but little about the way this blueprint works. Now, after a multi-year concerted effort by more than 440 researchers in 32 labs around the world, a more dynamic picture gives the first holistic view of how the human genome actually does its job.

Loss of tropical forests reduces rain Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:50 AM PDT Deforestation can have a significant effect on tropical rainfall, new research confirms. The findings have potentially devastating impacts for people living in and near the Amazon and Congo forests. Continued destruction of these forests would reduce rain across the Amazon basin by up to a fifth (21 percent) in the dry season by 2050.

Tough gel stretches to 21 times its length, recoils, and heals itself: Biocompatible material much tougher than cartilage Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:49 AM PDT A team of experts in mechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering has created an extremely stretchy and tough gel that may pave the way to replacing damaged cartilage in human joints. Called a hydrogel, because its main ingredient is water, the new material is a hybrid of two weak gels that combine to create something much stronger. Not only can this new gel stretch to 21 times its original length, but it is also exceptionally tough, self-healing, and biocompatible -- a valuable collection of attributes that opens up new opportunities in medicine and tissue engineering.

First stars, galaxies formed more rapidly than expected Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:48 AM PDT Analysis of data from the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope, for the first time, more precisely defines the period of cosmological evolution when the first stars and galaxies formed and gradually illuminated the universe.

Quantum teleportation goes the distance: Record-breaking distance of 143 kilometers through free space Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:43 AM PDT An international research team has achieved quantum teleportation over a record-breaking distance of 143 kilometers through free space.

Plaque-forming substances in mice with Alzheimer’s disease dramatically reduced Posted: 05 Sep 2012 09:27 AM PDT Scientists have found that eliminating an enzyme from mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease leads to a 90 percent reduction in the compounds responsible for formation of the plaques linked to this form of dementia. That is the most dramatic reduction in this compound reported to date in published research.

Explosion of galaxy formation lit up early universe Posted: 05 Sep 2012 08:12 AM PDT The universe was dark until the first stars began to form, but really lit up once massive hydrogen clouds began birthing galaxies of stars. A study by researchers using data from the South Pole Telescope finds that this period, the Epoch of Reionization, was later and more explosive than thought, ending 13 billion years ago. The clues come from minute temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Glacial thinning has sharply accelerated at major South American icefields Posted: 05 Sep 2012 08:05 AM PDT For the past four decades scientists have monitored the ebbs and flows of the icefields in the southernmost stretch of South America's vast Andes Mountains, detecting an overall loss of ice as the climate warms. A new study, however, finds that the rate of glacier thinning has increased by about half over the last dozen years in the Southern Patagonian Icefield, compared to the 30 years prior to 2000.

Astronomers discover 'pigtail' molecular cloud Posted: 05 Sep 2012 05:37 AM PDT A research team has discovered a molecular cloud with a peculiar helical structure by observation with the NRO 45m Telescope at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The team named it a "pigtail" molecular cloud from its morphology. The "pigtail" molecular cloud is located in the galactic center, approximately 30,000 light years away from the solar system.

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