ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Australia's stampeding dinosaurs take a dip: Largely tracks of swimming rather than running animals
• Hubble reveals rogue planetary orbit for Fomalhaut b
• NASA telescopes see weather patterns in brown dwarf
• NASA, ESA telescopes find evidence for asteroid belt around Vega
• First 'bone' of the Milky Way identified
• Testing Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 in outer space
• Oscillating gel gives synthetic materials the ability to 'speak': Material rebuilds itself through chemical communication
• Counting the twists in a helical light beam: New device could help advance future optical communications
• 'Tricorder' closer to reality: Portable X-ray source could put medical diagnosis and terrorism prevention in the palm of the hand
• Jurassic ecosystems were similar to modern: Animals flourish among lush plants
• Earth-size planets common in galaxy: Perhaps 17 percent of sun-like stars have Earth-size planets within the orbit of Mercury
• 2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S.
• Icing on a lake: Blocks of hydrocarbon ice might decorate surface of lakes and seas on Saturn's moon Titan
• New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes
• Genetic matchmaking saves endangered frogs
• Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste: U.S., Russian researchers collaborate on solution to toxic groundwater woes
• Scientists mimic fireflies to make brighter LEDs: New bio-inspired coating that increases LED efficiency by 55 percent
• Parasitic worms may help treat diseases associated with obesity
• Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival

Australia's stampeding dinosaurs take a dip: Largely tracks of swimming rather than running animals Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST Queensland paleontologists have discovered that the world's only recorded dinosaur stampede is largely made up of the tracks of swimming rather than running animals.

Hubble reveals rogue planetary orbit for Fomalhaut b Posted: 08 Jan 2013 03:36 PM PST Newly released Hubble Space Telescope images of a vast debris disk encircling the nearby star Fomalhaut and a mysterious planet circling it may provide forensic evidence of a titanic planetary disruption in the system.

NASA telescopes see weather patterns in brown dwarf Posted: 08 Jan 2013 03:26 PM PST Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.

NASA, ESA telescopes find evidence for asteroid belt around Vega Posted: 08 Jan 2013 03:22 PM PST Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.

First 'bone' of the Milky Way identified Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST Our Milky Way is a spiral galaxy -- a pinwheel-shaped collection of stars, gas and dust. It has a central bar and two major spiral arms that wrap around its disk. Since we view the Milky Way from the inside, its exact structure is difficult to determine. Astronomers have identified a new structure in the Milky Way: a long tendril of dust and gas that they are calling a "bone."

Testing Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 in outer space Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST A team of physicists have stirred the physics community with an intriguing idea yet to be tested experimentally: The world's most iconic equation, Albert Einstein's E=mc2, may be correct or not depending on where you are in space.

Oscillating gel gives synthetic materials the ability to 'speak': Material rebuilds itself through chemical communication Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:16 PM PST Self-moving gels can give synthetic materials the ability to "act alive" and mimic primitive biological communication, scientists have found. In a new paper, researchers demonstrate that a synthetic system can reconfigure itself through a combination of chemical communication and interaction with light.

Counting the twists in a helical light beam: New device could help advance future optical communications Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST At a time when communication networks are scrambling for ways to transmit more data over limited bandwidth, a type of twisted light wave is gaining new attention. Called an optical vortex or vortex beam, this complex beam resembles a corkscrew, with waves that rotate as they travel. Now, applied physicists have created a new device that enables a conventional optical detector (which would normally only measure the light's intensity) to pick up on that rotation.

'Tricorder' closer to reality: Portable X-ray source could put medical diagnosis and terrorism prevention in the palm of the hand Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST The hand-held scanners, or tricorders, of the Star Trek movies and television series are one step closer to reality now that an engineering team has invented a compact source of X-rays and other forms of radiation. The radiation source, which is the size of a stick of gum, could be used to create inexpensive and portable X-ray scanners for use by doctors, as well as to fight terrorism and aid exploration on this planet and others.

Jurassic ecosystems were similar to modern: Animals flourish among lush plants Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST In modern ecosystems, animals flourish amid lush vegetation. That was true 150 million years ago too, says a new study by paleontologists. They applied ecological principles to geochemical data from fossil soils and found scientists can infer animal diversity from it: "This illustrates that climate and biota have been ecologically connected for millions of years, indicating human change to global climate will have profound impacts on plants and animals."

Earth-size planets common in galaxy: Perhaps 17 percent of sun-like stars have Earth-size planets within the orbit of Mercury Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST Last year, astronomers were excited to discover that the number of exoplanets increases towards smaller sizes, which suggests that there are many Earth-size planets in the galaxy. A new analysis of three years of Kepler data shows that this increase stops around twice Earth size and holds for planets one to two times the diameter of Earth. Nevertheless, Earth-size planets occur around at least 17 percent of sun-like stars, they conclude.

2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S. Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:11 AM PST According to NOAA scientists, 2012 marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States with the year consisting of a record warm spring, second warmest summer, fourth warmest winter and a warmer-than-average autumn. The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3°F, 3.2°F above the 20th century average, and 1.0°F above 1998, the previous warmest year.

Icing on a lake: Blocks of hydrocarbon ice might decorate surface of lakes and seas on Saturn's moon Titan Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:36 AM PST It's not exactly icing on a cake, but it could be icing on a lake. A new paper by scientists on NASA's Cassini mission finds that blocks of hydrocarbon ice might decorate the surface of existing lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbon on Saturn's moon Titan. The presence of ice floes might explain some of the mixed readings Cassini has seen in the reflectivity of the surfaces of lakes on Titan.

New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for medicine and research.

Genetic matchmaking saves endangered frogs Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST What if Noah got it wrong? What if he paired a male and a female animal thinking they were the same species, and then discovered they were not the same and could not produce offspring? As researchers from the Smithsonian's Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project race to save frogs from a devastating disease by breeding them in captivity, a genetic test averts mating mix-ups.

Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste: U.S., Russian researchers collaborate on solution to toxic groundwater woes Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST Graphene oxide has a remarkable ability to quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water, researchers in the United States and Russia have found. The discovery could be a boon in the cleanup of contaminated sites like the Fukushima nuclear plants damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It could also cut the cost of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for oil and gas recovery and help reboot American mining of rare earth metals.

Scientists mimic fireflies to make brighter LEDs: New bio-inspired coating that increases LED efficiency by 55 percent Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST The nighttime twinkling of fireflies has inspired scientists to modify a light-emitting diode (LED) so it is more than one and a half times as efficient as the original. Researchers studied the internal structure of firefly lanterns, the organs on the bioluminescent insects' abdomens that flash to attract mates. The scientists identified an unexpected pattern of jagged scales that enhanced the lanterns' glow, and applied that knowledge to LED design.

Parasitic worms may help treat diseases associated with obesity Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST On the list of undesirable medical conditions, a parasitic worm infection surely ranks fairly high. But parasites are not all bad, according to new research. A study demonstrates that once inside a host, many parasitic worms secrete a sugar-based anti-inflammatory molecule that might actually help treat metabolic disorders associated with obesity.

Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:18 AM PST In a future shaped by climate change, only the strong -- or heat-resistant -- will survive. A new study opens a window into a genetic process that allows some corals to withstand unusually high temperatures and may hold a key to species survival for organisms around the world.

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