ScienceDaily: Top Science News

---

• Discovery of new material state counterintuitive to laws of physics
• Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce
• Sleep mechanism identified that plays role in emotional memory
• Rapid adaptation is purple sea urchins' weapon against ocean acidification
• Altitude may affect the way language is spoken
• Infants express non-verbal sympathy for others in distress
• Scan predicts whether therapy or meds will best lift depression
• NASA's Chandra turns up black hole bonanza in galaxy next door
• Iron fertilization, process of putting iron into ocean to help capture carbon, could backfire
• Easy and effective therapy to restore sight: Engineered virus will improve gene therapy for blinding eye diseases
• Male guppies reproduce long after death
• Filmmaking magic with polymers
• When will the next megathrust hit the west coast of North America?
• Deep biosphere harbors active, growing communities of microorganisms
• Chalking up a marine blooming alga: Genome fills a gap in the tree of life
• Nano-thermometer enables first atomic-scale heat transfer measurements
• Dad's life stress exposure leaves mark on sperm, can affect offspring brain development
• Commonly prescribed drugs may influence the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease
• Fingernails reveal clues to limb regeneration
• Harbor porpoises can thank their worst enemy, the killer whale, for their success
• High diversity of flying reptiles in England 110 million years ago
• New kind of variable star discovered: Minute variations in brightness reveal whole new class of stars
• Global quantum networks based on optical fibers: Scientists quantum mechanically couple atoms to glass fiber cables
• Sunny super-Earth? Atmosphere of super-Earth exoplanet observed for time first by two Japanese telescopes
• Controlling magnetic clouds in graphene
• Hands-free talking and texting are unsafe for drivers, study shows

Discovery of new material state counterintuitive to laws of physics Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:42 PM PDT When you squeeze something, it gets smaller -- unless you're among a group of scientists who have seemingly defied the laws of physics and found a way to apply pressure to make a material expand instead of compress/contract.

Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:41 PM PDT Researchers have created a material they say would make LED bulbs cheaper and greener to manufacture, driving down the price. Their silicon-based nanoparticles soften the blue light emitted by LEDs, creating white light that more closely resembles sunlight.

Sleep mechanism identified that plays role in emotional memory Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:41 PM PDT Sleep researchers have identified the sleep mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate emotional memory and found that a popular prescription sleep aid heightens the recollection of and response to negative memories.

Rapid adaptation is purple sea urchins' weapon against ocean acidification Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:40 PM PDT In the race against climate change and ocean acidification, some sea urchins may still have a few tricks up their spiny sleeves, suggesting that adaptation will likely play a large role for the sea creatures as the carbon content of the ocean increases.

Altitude may affect the way language is spoken Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:33 PM PDT Until recently most linguists believed that the relationship between the structure of language and the natural world was mainly the influence of the environment on vocabulary. Now, a new study shows that there is a link between geographical elevation and the way language is spoken. Ejectives are sounds made, and incorporated into language, only at higher altitudes.

Infants express non-verbal sympathy for others in distress Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:33 PM PDT Infants as young as ten months old express sympathy for others in distress in non-verbal ways, according to new research.

Scan predicts whether therapy or meds will best lift depression Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:23 PM PDT Pre-treatment scans of brain activity predicted whether depressed patients would best achieve remission with an antidepressant medication or psychotherapy, in a study that may help mental health treatment decision-making move beyond trial-and-error. The study sought to identify a biomarker that could predict which type of treatment a patient would benefit from based on the state of his or her brain.

NASA's Chandra turns up black hole bonanza in galaxy next door Posted: 12 Jun 2013 12:40 PM PDT Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have discovered an unprecedented bonanza of black holes in the Andromeda Galaxy, one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way. Using more than 150 Chandra observations, spread over 13 years, researchers identified 26 black hole candidates, the largest number to date, in a galaxy outside our own. Many consider Andromeda to be a sister galaxy to the Milky Way. The two ultimately will collide, several billion years from now.

Iron fertilization, process of putting iron into ocean to help capture carbon, could backfire Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:48 AM PDT A study suggests that iron fertilization, the process of putting iron into the ocean to encourage the growth of carbon dioxide capturing alga blooms, could backfire.

Easy and effective therapy to restore sight: Engineered virus will improve gene therapy for blinding eye diseases Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:48 AM PDT Gene therapy using adeno-associated virus has successfully restored sight to people with a rare inherited retinal degeneration, but current therapy requires injecting the virus directly into the retina. Researchers have now caused AAV to evolve so that it is able to penetrate the retina, allowing doctors to inject the virus and its gene load into the vitreous to reach all cells of the retina. This broadens AAV's potential application to more common types of vision loss.

Male guppies reproduce long after death Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:34 AM PDT Performing experiments in a river in Trinidad, evolutionary biologists have found that male guppies -- small freshwater fish -- continue to reproduce for at least ten months after they die, living on as stored sperm in females, who have much longer lifespans than males. While it is well known that guppies store sperm, biologists had never before thought of the extent of the storage.

Filmmaking magic with polymers Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:31 AM PDT Self-assembled copolymer block film is now being fabricated with intricately organized nanostructures, giving them multiple functions and flexibility on a macroscale level never before seen.

When will the next megathrust hit the west coast of North America? Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:31 AM PDT A new study presents our first glimpse back in geologic time of the recurrence interval of large and megathrust earthquakes impacting the vulnerable BC outer coastline.

Deep biosphere harbors active, growing communities of microorganisms Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:30 AM PDT The deep biosphere -- the realm of sediments far below the seafloor -- harbors a vast ecosystem of bacteria, archaea, and fungi that are actively metabolizing, proliferating, and moving, according a new study. The finding of so much activity in the deep biosphere has implications for our understanding of global biogeochemical cycles.

Chalking up a marine blooming alga: Genome fills a gap in the tree of life Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:30 AM PDT Carbon dioxide is released when the calcium carbonate "armor" of the photosynthetic alga Emiliania huxleyi forms, but Ehux can trap as much as 20 percent of organic carbon derived from carbon dioxide in some marine ecosystems. Its versatility in either contributing to primary production or adding to carbon dioxide emissions makes Ehux a critical player in the marine carbon cycle. The Ehux genome sequence has now been compared with other algal sequences.

Nano-thermometer enables first atomic-scale heat transfer measurements Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:30 AM PDT In findings that could help overcome a major technological hurdle in the road toward smaller and more powerful electronics, an international research team has shown the unique ways in which heat dissipates at the tiniest scales.

Dad's life stress exposure leaves mark on sperm, can affect offspring brain development Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:26 AM PDT Stress felt by dad -- whether as a preadolescent or adult -- leaves a lasting impression on his sperm that gives sons and daughters a blunted reaction to stress, according to a new preclinical study. The findings point to a never-before-seen epigenetic link to stress-related diseases such as anxiety and depression passed from father to child.

Commonly prescribed drugs may influence the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:25 AM PDT Multiple drug classes commonly prescribed for common medical conditions are capable of influencing the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers.

Fingernails reveal clues to limb regeneration Posted: 12 Jun 2013 10:25 AM PDT Mammals possess the remarkable ability to regenerate a lost fingertip, including the nail, nerves and even bone. In humans, an amputated fingertip can sprout back in as little as two months, a phenomenon that has remained poorly understood until now. Biologists now shed light on this rare regenerative power in mammals, using genetically engineered mice to document for the first time the biochemical chain of events that unfolds in the wake of a fingertip amputation.

Harbor porpoises can thank their worst enemy, the killer whale, for their success Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:19 AM PDT The harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is a whale species that is doing quite well in coastal and busy waters. They are found in large numbers throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Mauritania to Alaska, and now researchers explain why these small toothed whales are doing so well: The harbor porpoise can thank their worst enemy, the killer whale, for their success.

High diversity of flying reptiles in England 110 million years ago Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:18 AM PDT Pterosaurs are an extinct group of flying reptiles that are only abundant in very few deposits. One of these is situated in England, where hundreds of fossils of these animals, that covered the skies some 110 million years ago, have been unearthed. Paleontologists have re-analyzed these fossils and discovered that they had a much higher diversity of groups than previously thought.

New kind of variable star discovered: Minute variations in brightness reveal whole new class of stars Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:37 AM PDT Astronomers have found a new type of variable star. The discovery was based on the detection of very tiny changes in brightness of stars in a cluster. The observations revealed previously unknown properties of these stars that defy current theories and raise questions about the origin of the variations.

Global quantum networks based on optical fibers: Scientists quantum mechanically couple atoms to glass fiber cables Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:35 AM PDT Researchers have quantum mechanically couple atoms to glass fiber cables. Now, they have shown that their technique enables storage of quantum information over a sufficiently long period of time to realize global quantum networks based on optical fibers.

Sunny super-Earth? Atmosphere of super-Earth exoplanet observed for time first by two Japanese telescopes Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:35 AM PDT Astronomers have observed the atmosphere of super-Earth "GJ3470b" for the first time using two telescopes. This super-Earth is an exoplanet, having only about 14 times the mass of our home planet, and it is the second lightest one among already-surveyed exoplanets. The observational data revealed that this planet is highly likely to NOT be covered by thick clouds.

Controlling magnetic clouds in graphene Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:35 AM PDT Wonder material graphene can be made magnetic and its magnetism switched on and off at the press of a button, opening a new avenue towards electronics with very low energy consumption. Scientists have now shown how to create elementary magnetic moments in graphene and then switch them on and off.

Hands-free talking and texting are unsafe for drivers, study shows Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:29 AM PDT Using hands-free devices to talk, text or send e-mail while driving is distracting and risky, contrary to what many people believe, says a new study.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610