ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Making a better invisibility cloak
• Why Antarctic sea ice cover has increased under the effects of climate change
• Recipe for 'supercharging' atoms with X-ray laser
• New way in which plants control flower production
• Touch-sensitive plastic skin heals itself
• Using rust and water to store solar energy as hydrogen
• Climate change threatens giant pandas' bamboo buffet -- and survival
• It's not just what you eat, but when you eat it: Link between fat cell and brain clock molecules shown

Making a better invisibility cloak Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:39 PM PST The first functional "cloaking" device reported by electrical engineers in 2006 worked like a charm, but it wasn't perfect. Now a member of the same laboratory has developed a new design that ties up one of the major loose ends from the original device.

Why Antarctic sea ice cover has increased under the effects of climate change Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:38 PM PST Scientists have the first direct evidence that marked changes to Antarctic sea ice drift have occurred over the last 20 years, in response to changing winds. They can now explain why, unlike the dramatic losses reported in the Arctic, the Antarctic sea ice cover has increased under the effects of climate change.

Recipe for 'supercharging' atoms with X-ray laser Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:38 PM PST Researchers using a free-electron X-ray laser have found a way to strip most of the electrons from xenon atoms, creating a "supercharged," strongly positive state at energies previously thought too low.

New way in which plants control flower production Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:38 PM PST The timing of flowering in plants is critical. It can have profound effects on flower, fruit, and seed production, and consequently agricultural yields. This process is known to depend on daylight and temperature cues. However, biologists now reveal there is a second, previously unknown, mechanism that controls flowering.

Touch-sensitive plastic skin heals itself Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:37 PM PST Chemists and engineers have created the first synthetic material that is both sensitive to touch and capable of healing itself quickly and repeatedly at room temperature. The advance could lead to smarter prosthetics or more resilient personal electronics that repair themselves.

Using rust and water to store solar energy as hydrogen Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:37 PM PST How can solar energy be stored so that it can be available any time, day or night, when the sun shining or not? Scientists are developing a technology that can transform light energy into a clean fuel that has a neutral carbon footprint: hydrogen. The basic ingredients of the recipe are water and metal oxides, such as iron oxide, better known as rust.

Climate change threatens giant pandas' bamboo buffet -- and survival Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:37 PM PST China's endangered wild pandas may need new dinner reservations – and quickly – based on models that indicate climate change may kill off swaths of bamboo that pandas need to survive.

It's not just what you eat, but when you eat it: Link between fat cell and brain clock molecules shown Posted: 11 Nov 2012 12:29 PM PST Fat cells store excess energy and signal these levels to the brain. Deletion of the clock gene Arntl, also known as Bmal1, in fat cells, causes mice to become obese, with a shift in the timing of when this nocturnal species normally eats. These findings shed light on the complex causes of obesity in humans.

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