ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New way to look at dawn of life: Focus shifts from 'hardware' to 'software'
• Physics on a plane: Helium crystals grown in zero gravity
• Cassini spots mini Nile River on Saturn's moon Titan
• Seven primitive galaxies at the dawn of time
• X-ray laser takes aim at cosmic mystery
• Study paves way to design drugs aimed at multiple protein targets at once
• Researchers induce, relieve depression symptoms in mice with light
• Australian multicellular fossils point to life on land, not at sea, geologist proposes
• More ice loss through snowfall on Antarctica
• Chemical analysis reveals first cheese-making in Northern Europe 7,000 years ago
• Astronomers discover 'missing link' of black holes
• Was life inevitable? New paper pieces together metabolism's beginnings
• Resurrection of extinct enzymes reveals evolutionary strategy for the invention of new functions
• What causes hot flushes during menopause? Researchers identify brain region that may trigger the uncomfortable surges of heat

New way to look at dawn of life: Focus shifts from 'hardware' to 'software' Posted: 12 Dec 2012 05:59 PM PST One of the great mysteries of life is how it began. What physical process transformed a nonliving mix of chemicals into something as complex as a living cell? A novel approach to the question of life's origin attempts to dramatically redefine the problem by shifting attention from the "hardware" -- the chemical basis of life -- to the "software" -- its information content.

Physics on a plane: Helium crystals grown in zero gravity Posted: 12 Dec 2012 05:56 PM PST Physicists from Japan have taken to the skies to grow crystals in zero gravity. Helium crystals were grown using high pressures, extremely low temperatures (0.6K/-272°C) and by splashing them with a superfluid -- a state of quantum matter which behaves like a fluid but has zero viscosity, meaning it has complete resistance to stress. Superfluids can also flow through extremely tiny gaps without any friction.

Cassini spots mini Nile River on Saturn's moon Titan Posted: 12 Dec 2012 01:40 PM PST Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have spotted what appears to be a miniature, extraterrestrial likeness of Earth's Nile River: a river valley on Saturn's moon Titan that stretches more than 200 miles (400 kilometers) from its "headwaters" to a large sea. It is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.

Seven primitive galaxies at the dawn of time Posted: 12 Dec 2012 11:18 AM PST Astronomers have uncovered a previously unseen population of seven primitive galaxies that formed more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 3 percent of its present age. The deepest images to date from Hubble yield the first statistically robust sample of galaxies that tells how abundant they were close to the era when galaxies first formed.

X-ray laser takes aim at cosmic mystery Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:41 AM PST Scientists have used powerful X-rays to study and measure, in atomic detail, a key process at work in extreme plasmas like those found in stars, the rims of black holes and other massive cosmic phenomena.

Study paves way to design drugs aimed at multiple protein targets at once Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST Pharmaceutical chemists had suggested that the objective of a drug hitting multiple targets simultaneously is impossible and unlikely to succeed. A new study shows how to efficiently and effectively make designer drugs that can do that.

Researchers induce, relieve depression symptoms in mice with light Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST Researchers have successfully induced and relieved depression-like deficiencies in both pleasure and motivation in mice by controlling just a single area of the brain known as the ventral tegmental area. It is the first time that well-defined types of neurons within a specific brain region have been directly tied to the control of myriad symptoms of major depressive illness.

Australian multicellular fossils point to life on land, not at sea, geologist proposes Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST Ancient multicellular fossils long thought to be ancestors of early marine life are remnants of land-dwelling lichen or other microbial colonies, says a University of Oregon scientist who has been studying fossil soils of South Australia.

More ice loss through snowfall on Antarctica Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST Stronger snowfall increases future ice discharge from Antarctica. Global warming leads to more precipitation as warmer air holds more moisture -- hence earlier research suggested the Antarctic ice sheet might grow under climate change. Now a new study shows that a lot of the ice gain due to increased snowfall is countered by an acceleration of ice-flow to the ocean.

Chemical analysis reveals first cheese-making in Northern Europe 7,000 years ago Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST Archeologists have the first unequivocal evidence that humans in prehistoric Northern Europe made cheese more than 7,000 years ago.

Astronomers discover 'missing link' of black holes Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:07 AM PST The discovery of a binging black hole in our nearest neighbouring galaxy, Andromeda, has shed new light on some of the brightest X-ray sources seen in other galaxies, according to a new article.

Was life inevitable? New paper pieces together metabolism's beginnings Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:07 AM PST A new synthesis by two researchers offers a coherent picture of how metabolism, and thus all life, arose. The study offers new insights into how the complex chemistry of metabolism cobbled itself together, the likelihood of life emerging and evolving as it did on Earth, and the chances of finding life elsewhere.

Resurrection of extinct enzymes reveals evolutionary strategy for the invention of new functions Posted: 11 Dec 2012 04:33 PM PST How does evolution innovate? By reconstructing DNA and proteins from prehistoric yeast cells, scientists have been able to directly examine the evolutionary forces that have acted over the last 100 million years to shape modern-day enzymes -- biological catalysts that enable organisms to manipulate molecules to their will.

What causes hot flushes during menopause? Researchers identify brain region that may trigger the uncomfortable surges of heat Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:44 PM PST Medical researchers have identified a region in the brain that may trigger the uncomfortable surges of heat most women experience in the first few years of menopause. Although the results are not yet directly applicable in helping affected individuals, they provide better understanding of the biological mechanisms involved, a necessary first step for treatments to be developed.

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