ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Early humans began eating meat earlier than thought: Oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency
• Tomb of Maya queen K'abel discovered in Guatemala
• NASA's infrared observatory measures expansion of universe
• That's no primate: It's a fish! New look at fossil of 'lemur without a nose'
• Which came first, shells or no shells? Ancient mollusk tells a contrary story
• Methane emissions can be traced back to Roman times
• Surprising black hole discovery changes picture of globular star clusters
• Arctic sea ice shatters previous low records; Antarctic sea ice edges to record high
• Sea urchin's spiny strength revealed
• New fanged dwarf dinosaur from Africa ate plants
• Increase in allergies is not from being too clean, just losing touch with 'old friends'

Early humans began eating meat earlier than thought: Oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:51 PM PDT A fragment of a child's skull discovered at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, shows the oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency, reports a new article. The discovery suggests that early human ancestors began eating meat much earlier in history than previously believed.

Tomb of Maya queen K'abel discovered in Guatemala Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT Archaeologists in Guatemala have discovered the tomb of Lady K'abel, a seventh-century Maya Holy Snake Lord considered one of the great queens of Classic Maya civilization. The tomb was discovered during excavations of the royal Maya city of El Perú-Waka' in northwestern Petén, Guatemala.

NASA's infrared observatory measures expansion of universe Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have announced the most precise measurement yet of the Hubble constant, or the rate at which our universe is stretching apart.

That's no primate: It's a fish! New look at fossil of 'lemur without a nose' Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:42 AM PDT A seven million-year-old South American fossil from a species known as Arrhinolemur scalabrinii -- which translates literally to "Scalabrini's lemur without a nose" -- has long been a curiosity because there is only one specimen in existence and it is unlike most other primates. There is a reason for that, scientists have discovered. The lemur without a nose is actually a fish.

Which came first, shells or no shells? Ancient mollusk tells a contrary story Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT A fossil unearthed in Great Britain may end a long-running debate about the mollusks, one of life's most diverse invertebrate groups: Which evolved first, shelled forms like clams and snails, or their shell-less, worm-like relatives?

Methane emissions can be traced back to Roman times Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere can be traced back thousands of years in the Greenland ice sheet. Using special analytical methods, researchers have determined how much methane originates from natural sources and how much is due to human activity. The results go back to Roman times and up to the present, where more than half of the emissions are now human-made.

Surprising black hole discovery changes picture of globular star clusters Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:21 AM PDT An unexpected discovery is forcing scientists to rethink their understanding of the environment in globular star clusters, tight-knit collections containing hundreds of thousands of stars. The astronomers were studying a globular cluster called Messier 22 (M22), a group of stars more than 10,000 light-years from Earth. They hoped to find evidence of a rare type of black hole in the cluster's center called an intermediate-mass black hole, which is more massive than those larger than the Sun's mass, but smaller than the supermassive black holes found at the cores of galaxies. However, they found something very surprising - two smaller black holes, which is unusual because most theorists say there should be at most one black hole in the cluster.

Arctic sea ice shatters previous low records; Antarctic sea ice edges to record high Posted: 03 Oct 2012 07:37 AM PDT This September, sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean fell to the lowest extent in the satellite record, which began in 1979. Satellite data showed that the sea ice cover reached its lowest extent on September 16. Sea ice extent averaged for the month of September was also the lowest in the satellite record. As the Arctic was experiencing a record low minimum extent, the Antarctic sea ice was reaching record high levels, culminating in a Southern Hemisphere winter maximum extent of 19.44 million square kilometers (7.51 million square miles) on September 26.

Sea urchin's spiny strength revealed Posted: 03 Oct 2012 06:46 AM PDT For the first time, a team of Australian engineers has modelled the microscopic mechanics of a sea urchin's spine, gaining insight into how these unusual creatures withstand impacts in their aquatic environment.

New fanged dwarf dinosaur from Africa ate plants Posted: 03 Oct 2012 06:41 AM PDT With tiny one-inch long jaws, a new species of plant-eater has come to light in rocks in South Africa dating to the early dinosaur era, some 200 million years ago.

Increase in allergies is not from being too clean, just losing touch with 'old friends' Posted: 03 Oct 2012 05:27 AM PDT A new scientific report dismantles the myth that the epidemic rise in allergies in recent years has happened because we're living in sterile homes and overdoing hygiene. But far from saying microbial exposure is not important, the report concludes that losing touch with microbial 'old friends' may be a fundamental factor underlying rises in an even wider array of serious diseases.

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