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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Planet found in nearest star system to Earth: HARPS instrument finds Earth-mass exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri B

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:44 PM PDT

European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system -- the nearest to Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Cold viruses point the way to new cancer therapies

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 01:28 PM PDT

Cold viruses generally get a bad rap -- which they've certainly earned -- but new findings by a team of scientists suggest that these viruses might also be a valuable ally in the fight against cancer.

Scientists identify likely origins of vertebrate air breathing

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Scientists have identified what they think is the ancestral trait that allowed for the evolution of air breathing in vertebrates.

New type of cosmic ray discovered after 100 years

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 10:15 AM PDT

Using the European X-ray astronomy satellite XMM-Newton, researchers have discovered a new source of cosmic rays. In the vicinity of the remarkable Arches cluster, near the center of the Milky Way, these particles are accelerated in the shock wave generated by tens of thousands of young stars moving at a speed of around 700,000 km/h. These cosmic rays produce a characteristic X-ray emission by interacting with the atoms in the surrounding gas. Their origin differs from that of the cosmic rays discovered exactly a hundred years ago by Victor Hess, which originate in the explosions of supernovae.

Starvation hormone markedly extends mouse life span, without need for calorie restriction

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 07:34 AM PDT

A starvation hormone markedly extends life span in mice without the need for calorie restriction.

Dark matter filament studied in 3-D for the first time

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 06:22 AM PDT

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have studied a giant filament of dark matter in 3D for the first time. Extending 60 million light-years from one of the most massive galaxy clusters known, the filament is part of the cosmic web that constitutes the large-scale structure of the Universe, and is a leftover of the very first moments after the Big Bang. If the high mass measured for the filament is representative of the rest of the Universe, then these structures may contain more than half of all the mass in the Universe.

Ice age polarity reversal was global event: Extremely brief reversal of geomagnetic field, climate variability, and super volcano

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:49 AM PDT

Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occured. Magnetic studies on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north. Moreover, data obtained by the research team, together with additional data from other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, prove that this polarity reversal was a global event.

Link between creativity and mental illness confirmed in large-scale Swedish study

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 05:49 AM PDT

People in creative professions are treated more often for mental illness than the general population, there being a particularly salient connection between writing and schizophrenia, according to researchers whose large-scale Swedish registry study is the most comprehensive ever in its field.

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