ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• 'Metasurfaces' to usher in new optical technologies
• 'Hot spots' ride a merry-go-round on Jupiter
• One gene, many mutations: Key that controls coat color in mice evolved nine times
• DNA study clarifies how polar bears and brown bears are related
• Suppressing brain's 'filter' can improve performance in creative tasks
• Dinosaur-era climate change study suggests reasons for turtle disappearance
• Nanoscale spinning magnetic droplets created
• Key step in manufacture of red blood cells decoded: Subtle regulatory chords direct the birth of blood cells
• Life deep within oceanic crust sustained by energy from interior of Earth
• Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system
• Mitigating climate change? Guiding responsible research in geoengineering
• 'Dirty blizzard' in Gulf of Mexico may account for missing Deepwater Horizon oil
• Five-million-year-old saber-toothed cat in newly discovered genus discovered in Florida
• Fluorescent neural cells from monkey skin mature into several types of brain cells in monkeys
• Mass strandings of pilot whales may not be driven by kinship, DNA profiles show
• Bootstrapping biotechnology: Engineers cooperate to realize precision grammar for programming cells
• What do American bullfrogs eat when they're away from home? Practically everything
• Hovering is a bother for bees: Fast flight is more stable
• Scientists map genome of fungus that causes Dutch elm disease
• New results indicate that particle discovered at CERN is a Higgs boson
• Social bees mark dangerous flowers with chemical signals

'Metasurfaces' to usher in new optical technologies Posted: 14 Mar 2013 03:03 PM PDT New optical technologies using "metasurfaces" capable of the ultra-efficient control of light are nearing commercialization, with potential applications including advanced solar cells, computers, telecommunications, sensors and microscopes.

'Hot spots' ride a merry-go-round on Jupiter Posted: 14 Mar 2013 03:03 PM PDT In the swirling canopy of Jupiter's atmosphere, cloudless patches are so exceptional that the big ones get the special name "hot spots." Exactly how these clearings form and why they're only found near the planet's equator have long been mysteries.

One gene, many mutations: Key that controls coat color in mice evolved nine times Posted: 14 Mar 2013 03:03 PM PDT Scientists have shown that changes in coat color in mice are the result not of a single mutation, but many separate mutations, all within a single gene. The results start to answer one of the fundamental questions about evolution: does evolution proceed by huge leaps -- single mutations that result in dramatic change in an organism -- or is it the result of many smaller changes that accumulate over time?

DNA study clarifies how polar bears and brown bears are related Posted: 14 Mar 2013 02:56 PM PDT A new genetic study of polar bears and brown bears upends prevailing ideas about the evolutionary history of the two species.

Suppressing brain's 'filter' can improve performance in creative tasks Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT The brain's prefrontal cortex is thought to be the seat of cognitive control, working as a kind of filter that keeps irrelevant thoughts, perceptions and memories from interfering with a task at hand. Now, researchers have shown that inhibiting this filter can boost performance for tasks in which unfiltered, creative thoughts present an advantage.

Dinosaur-era climate change study suggests reasons for turtle disappearance Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT Dramatic climate change was previously proposed to be responsible for the disappearance of turtles 71-million-years ago, because they were considered to be "climate-sensitive" animals. Results of this research, however, show that the disappearance of turtles came before the climate cooled and instead closely corresponds to habitat disturbances, which was the disappearance of wetlands.

Nanoscale spinning magnetic droplets created Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT Researchers have successfully created a magnetic soliton -- a nano-sized, spinning droplet that was first theorized 35 years ago.

Key step in manufacture of red blood cells decoded: Subtle regulatory chords direct the birth of blood cells Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT Researchers have identified a key step in the process by which red blood cells are born. The discovery could not only shed light on the causes of blood disorders such as anemia, it could also bring closer the medics' dream of being able to manufacture red blood cells in the lab.

Life deep within oceanic crust sustained by energy from interior of Earth Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:43 AM PDT The Earth's oceanic crust covers an enormous expanse, and is mostly buried beneath a thick layer of mud that cuts it off from the surface world. Scientists now document life deep within the oceanic crust that appears to be sustained by energy released from chemical reactions of rocks with water.

Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:42 AM PDT Astronomers have made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet beyond our Solar System. A spectrum reveals that the carbon to oxygen ratio is consistent with the core accretion scenario, the model thought to explain the formation of our Solar System.

Mitigating climate change? Guiding responsible research in geoengineering Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:10 AM PDT Geoengineering, the use of human technologies to alter the Earth's climate system — such as injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to scatter incoming sunlight back to space — has emerged as a potentially promising way to mitigate the impacts of climate change. But such efforts could present unforeseen new risks. Scientists outline how the current deadlock on governance of geoengineering research poses real threats to the sound management of climate risk. Their article advances concrete and actionable proposals for allowing further research -- but not deployment -- and for creating scientific and legal guidance, as well as addressing public concerns.

'Dirty blizzard' in Gulf of Mexico may account for missing Deepwater Horizon oil Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:09 AM PDT Oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill acted as a catalyst for plankton and other surface materials to clump together and fall to the sea floor in a massive sedimentation event that researchers are calling a "dirty blizzard."

Five-million-year-old saber-toothed cat in newly discovered genus discovered in Florida Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:09 AM PDT A new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat has been discovered in Polk County, Florida. The 5-million-year-old fossils belong to the same lineage as the famous Smilodon fatalis from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, a large, carnivorous apex predator with elongated upper canine teeth. Previous research suggested the group of saber-toothed cats known as Smilodontini originated in the Old World and then migrated to North America, but the age of the new species indicates the group likely originated in North America.

Fluorescent neural cells from monkey skin mature into several types of brain cells in monkeys Posted: 14 Mar 2013 09:46 AM PDT For the first time, scientists have transplanted neural cells derived from a monkey's skin into its brain and watched the cells develop into several types of mature brain cells, according to a new study. After six months, the cells looked entirely normal, and were only detectable because they initially were tagged with a fluorescent protein.

Mass strandings of pilot whales may not be driven by kinship, DNA profiles show Posted: 14 Mar 2013 09:46 AM PDT Recent research has shed some light on whether family relationships play a role in beachings of otherwise healthy whales. Investigators used genetic data to describe the kinship of individual long-finned pilot whales involved in mass strandings. The study found that stranded groups are not necessarily members of one extended family, contradicting the hypothesis that stranding groups all descend from a single ancestral mother. Further, many stranded calves were found with no mother in evidence.

Bootstrapping biotechnology: Engineers cooperate to realize precision grammar for programming cells Posted: 14 Mar 2013 08:18 AM PDT DNA sequences and statistical models have been unveiled that greatly increase the reliability and precision by which microbes can be engineered.

What do American bullfrogs eat when they're away from home? Practically everything Posted: 14 Mar 2013 08:16 AM PDT A control program on southern Vancouver Island provided the carcasses of over 5,000 adult and juvenile invasive alien American bullfrogs. Examination of their stomach contents confirms that bullfrogs eat virtually any organism that can fit into their large mouths, whether it be under water, at the surface, on land, even when it can defend itself with stingers, spines, or claws. So native ecosystems beware!

Hovering is a bother for bees: Fast flight is more stable Posted: 14 Mar 2013 08:06 AM PDT Bumblebees are much more unstable when they hover than when they fly fast, according to new research. Scientists used a mathematical model to analyze the way bumblebees fly at different speeds, showing that the bumblebee is unstable when it hovers and flies slowly, and becomes neutral or weakly stable at medium and high flight speeds.

Scientists map genome of fungus that causes Dutch elm disease Posted: 14 Mar 2013 08:02 AM PDT Researchers have successfully mapped the genes in the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease. The researchers believe this is the first time the 30 million DNA letters for the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi have been mapped. The findings could help scientists figure out how to prevent the fungus from destroying elm trees in the future.

New results indicate that particle discovered at CERN is a Higgs boson Posted: 14 Mar 2013 07:21 AM PDT Scientists working with CERN's Large Hadron Collider have presented preliminary new results that further elucidate the particle discovered last year. Having analyzed two and a half times more data than was available for the discovery announcement in July, they find that the new particle is looking more and more like a Higgs boson, the particle linked to the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. It remains an open question, however, whether this is the Higgs boson of the Standard Model of particle physics, or possibly the lightest of several bosons predicted in some theories that go beyond the Standard Model.

Social bees mark dangerous flowers with chemical signals Posted: 14 Mar 2013 05:51 AM PDT Scientists already knew that some social bee species warn their conspecifics when detecting the presence of a predator near their hive, which in turn causes an attack response to the possible predator. Researchers have now demonstrated that they also use chemical signals to mark those flowers where they have previously been attacked.

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