ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New study brings a doubted exoplanet 'back from the dead'
• Warmer future oceans could cause phytoplankton to thrive near poles, shrink in tropics
• Fossils of first feathered dinosaurs from North America discovered: Clues on early wing uses
• Lucy and Selam's species climbed trees: Australopithecus afarensis shoulder blades show partially arboreal lifestyle
• Not-so-permanent permafrost: 850 billion tons of carbon stored in frozen Arctic ground could be released
• Black widow's tango mortale in gamma-ray light: Scientists discover record-breaking millisecond pulsar with new analysis method
• Far from random, evolution follows a predictable genetic pattern
• Galactic snack time: Stream of stars slowly being ingested by the Milky Way
• Impact of adversity on early life development demonstrated
• Monster galaxy may have been stirred up by black-hole mischief
• NASA spacecraft sees huge burp at Saturn after large storm
• Climate change may alter amphibian evolution

New study brings a doubted exoplanet 'back from the dead' Posted: 25 Oct 2012 02:46 PM PDT A second look at data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is reanimating the claim that the nearby star Fomalhaut hosts a massive exoplanet. The study suggests that the planet, named Fomalhaut b, is a rare and possibly unique object that is completely shrouded by dust.

Warmer future oceans could cause phytoplankton to thrive near poles, shrink in tropics Posted: 25 Oct 2012 01:17 PM PDT In the future, warmer waters could significantly change ocean distribution of populations of phytoplankton, tiny organisms that could have a major effect on climate change. In a new study, researchers show that by the end of the 21st century, warmer oceans will cause populations of these marine microorganisms to thrive near the poles and shrink in equatorial waters.

Fossils of first feathered dinosaurs from North America discovered: Clues on early wing uses Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:03 PM PDT The first ornithomimid specimens preserved with feathers, recovered from 75 million-year-old rocks in the badlands of Alberta, Canada has been described.

Lucy and Selam's species climbed trees: Australopithecus afarensis shoulder blades show partially arboreal lifestyle Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:03 PM PDT Australopithecus afarensis was an upright walking species, but the question of whether it also spent much of its time in trees has been the subject of much debate. For the first time, scientists have thoroughly examined the two complete shoulder blades of the fossil "Selam." Analyses of these rare bones showed them to be quite apelike, suggesting that this species was adapted to climbing trees in addition to walking bipedally when on the ground.

Not-so-permanent permafrost: 850 billion tons of carbon stored in frozen Arctic ground could be released Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:54 AM PDT As much as 44 billion tons of nitrogen and 850 billion tons of carbon stored in Arctic permafrost, or frozen ground, could be released into the environment as the region begins to thaw over the next century as a result of a warmer planet, according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey. This nitrogen and carbon are likely to impact ecosystems, the atmosphere, and water resources including rivers and lakes. For context, this is roughly the amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere today.

Black widow's tango mortale in gamma-ray light: Scientists discover record-breaking millisecond pulsar with new analysis method Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:07 AM PDT Pulsars are the compact remnants from explosions of massive stars. Some of them spin around their own axis hundreds of times per second, emitting beams of radiation into space. Until now, they could only be found through their pulsed radio emissions. Now, scientists have discovered a millisecond pulsar solely via its pulsed gamma radiation.

Far from random, evolution follows a predictable genetic pattern Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT Research suggests that knowledge of a species' genes -- and how certain external conditions affect the proteins encoded by those genes -- could be used to determine a predictable evolutionary pattern driven by outside factors. Scientists could then pinpoint how the diversity of adaptations seen in the natural world developed even in distantly related animals.

Galactic snack time: Stream of stars slowly being ingested by the Milky Way Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT Yale astronomers have caught the Milky Way having a snack. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, they have discovered a band, or stream, of stars believed to be the remnant of an ancient star cluster slowly being ingested by the Milky Way, Earth's home galaxy.

Impact of adversity on early life development demonstrated Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT It's time to end the nature versus nurture debate and embrace growing evidence that it's the interaction between biology and environment that influences human development. One study by evolutionary biologists using fruit flies showed that food deprivation and lack of adequate nutrition in early life had significant impact on adult behavior and quality of life.

Monster galaxy may have been stirred up by black-hole mischief Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:07 AM PDT Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of a whopper of an elliptical galaxy that may have been puffed up by the actions of one or more black holes in its core.

NASA spacecraft sees huge burp at Saturn after large storm Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:52 AM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a rare massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought.

Climate change may alter amphibian evolution Posted: 25 Oct 2012 06:55 AM PDT Most of the more than 6,000 species of frogs in the world lay their eggs in water. But many tropical frogs lay their eggs out of water. This behavior protects the eggs from aquatic predators, such as fish and tadpoles, but also increases their risk of drying out. A researcher has discovered that climate change in Panama may be altering frogs' course of evolution.

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