ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Odors from human skin cells can be used to identify melanoma
• Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives
• Context crucial when it comes to mutations in genetic evolution
• Warm ocean drives most Antarctic ice shelf loss
• Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish: Synchrotron X-rays reconstruct soft tissue on 380-million-year-old fish
• How diving mammals evolved underwater endurance
• Medieval leprosy genomes shed light on disease's history
• Gustatory tug-of-war key to whether salty foods taste good
• Evidence for extrasolar planet under construction
• World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100
• Light-carved 'nano-volcanoes' hold promise for drug delivery
• First evidence of a new phase in neutron stars

Odors from human skin cells can be used to identify melanoma Posted: 13 Jun 2013 12:33 PM PDT Researchers identified odorants from human skin cells that can be used to identify melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. In addition a nanotechnology-based sensor could reliably differentiate melanoma cells from normal skin cells. Non-invasive odor analysis may be a valuable technique in the detection and early diagnosis of human melanoma.

Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:28 AM PDT Cheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. An important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered -- or catalyzed -- by a nanoparticle composed of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth.

Context crucial when it comes to mutations in genetic evolution Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:28 AM PDT Evolutionary biologists have found that whether a given mutation is good or bad is often determined by other mutations associated with it. In other words, genetic evolution is context-dependent.

Warm ocean drives most Antarctic ice shelf loss Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:28 AM PDT Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves, not icebergs calving into the sea, are responsible for most of the continent's ice loss, a new study has found.

Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish: Synchrotron X-rays reconstruct soft tissue on 380-million-year-old fish Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:28 AM PDT Scientists present for the first time miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old armored fish discovered in north-west Australia. This research will help scientists to better understand how neck and abdominal muscles evolved during the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates.

How diving mammals evolved underwater endurance Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:28 AM PDT Scientists have shed new light on how diving mammals, such as the sperm whale, have evolved to survive for long periods underwater without breathing.

Medieval leprosy genomes shed light on disease's history Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:26 AM PDT Scientists have reconstructed a dozen medieval and modern leprosy genomes -- suggesting a European origin for the North American leprosy strains found in armadillos and humans, and a common ancestor of all leprosy bacteria within the last 4000 years.

Gustatory tug-of-war key to whether salty foods taste good Posted: 13 Jun 2013 11:26 AM PDT As anyone who's ever mixed up the sugar and salt while baking knows, too much of a good thing can be inedible. What hasn't been clear, though, is how our tongues and brains can tell when the saltiness of our food has crossed the line from yummy to yucky -- or, worse, something dangerous. Now researchers report that in fruit flies, at least, that process is controlled by competing input from two different types of taste-sensing cells: one that attracts flies to salty foods, and one that repels them.

Evidence for extrasolar planet under construction Posted: 13 Jun 2013 10:35 AM PDT The keen vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected a mysterious gap in a vast protoplanetary disk of gas and dust swirling around the nearby star TW Hydrae, located 176 light-years away in the constellation Hydra (the Sea Serpent). The gap's presence is best explained as due to the effects of a growing, unseen planet that is gravitationally sweeping up material and carving out a lane in the disk, like a snow plow.

World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100 Posted: 13 Jun 2013 08:19 AM PDT A new United Nations analysis shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, about 800 million more people than the previous projection issued in 2011.

Light-carved 'nano-volcanoes' hold promise for drug delivery Posted: 13 Jun 2013 07:44 AM PDT Researchers have developed a method for creating "nano-volcanoes" by shining various colors of light through a nanoscale "crystal ball" made of a synthetic polymer. These nano-volcanoes can store precise amounts of other materials and hold promise for new drug-delivery technologies.

First evidence of a new phase in neutron stars Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:22 AM PDT The nuclear 'pasta', called as such due its similarity to the Italian food, limits the period of rotation of pulsars, and astronomers have detected the first evidence of existence of a new phase of matter in the inner crust of neutron stars.

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