ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Scientists confirm theory regarding the origins of the sucking disc of remora fish
• By trying it all, predatory sea slug learns what not to eat
• How similar are the gestures of apes and human infants? More than you might suspect
• Earthquake acoustics can indicate if a massive tsunami is imminent
• Three-billion-year-old microfossils include plankton
• Compulsive no more: Clues to what causes compulsive behavior could improve OCD treatments
• Spooky action put to order: Different types of 'entanglement' classified
• Gene variant may provide novel therapy for several cancer types
• Stalagmites provide new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years
• How young genes gain a toehold on becoming indispensable: Tracking a gene from its birth through to its pathway to purpose and evolutionary importance
• MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth
• Rewinding development: A step forward for stem cell research
• Promising material for lithium-ion batteries
• Quantum teleportation between atomic systems over long distances
• Predicting the future of coral reefs in a changing world
• Scientists coax brain to regenerate cells lost in Huntington's disease in mouse model
• 'Dust trap' around young star solves long-standing planet formation mystery
• Cassini sees precursors to aerosol haze on Saturn's largest moon, Titan
• Stars don't obliterate their planets (very often)
• Surgeons implant bioengineered vein: Kidney dialysis patient first in U.S. to receive lab-grown blood vessel
• Living fossils? Actually, sturgeon fish are evolutionary speedsters

Scientists confirm theory regarding the origins of the sucking disc of remora fish Posted: 06 Jun 2013 04:10 PM PDT Remora fish, with a sucking disc on their heads, have been the stuff of legend. They often attach themselves to boat hulls and were once thought to purposely slow the boat down. While that is a misunderstanding, something else not well understood was the origins of the fish's sucking disc. Scientists, however, have solved that mystery proving that the disc is actually a greatly modified dorsal fin.

By trying it all, predatory sea slug learns what not to eat Posted: 06 Jun 2013 04:08 PM PDT Researchers found that a type of predatory sea slug with a simple nervous system has more complex cognitive abilities than previously thought, allowing it to learn the warning cues of dangerous prey and avoid them in the future.

How similar are the gestures of apes and human infants? More than you might suspect Posted: 06 Jun 2013 04:08 PM PDT A new study used naturalistic video data for the first time to compare gestures in a female chimpanzee, bonobo and human infant.

Earthquake acoustics can indicate if a massive tsunami is imminent Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:51 PM PDT Scientists have identified key acoustic characteristics of the 2011 Japan earthquake that indicated it would cause a large tsunami. The technique could be applied worldwide to create an early warning system for massive tsunamis.

Three-billion-year-old microfossils include plankton Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:51 PM PDT Spindle-shaped inclusions in three-billion-year-old rocks are microfossils of plankton that probably inhabited the oceans around the globe during that time, according to scientists.

Compulsive no more: Clues to what causes compulsive behavior could improve OCD treatments Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:47 PM PDT By activating a brain circuit that controls compulsive behavior, neuroscientists have shown that they can block a compulsive behavior in mice -- a result that could help researchers develop new treatments for diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette's syndrome.

Spooky action put to order: Different types of 'entanglement' classified Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:47 PM PDT A property known as "entanglement" is a fundamental characteristic of quantum mechanics. Physicists and mathematicians have now shown how different forms of this phenomenon can be efficiently and systematically classified into categories. The method should help to fully exploit the potential of novel quantum technologies.

Gene variant may provide novel therapy for several cancer types Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:44 PM PDT A novel gene variant found in human and animal tissue may be a promising treatment for cancer, including breast and brain cancer.

Stalagmites provide new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:44 PM PDT A new set of long-term climate records based on cave stalagmites collected from tropical Borneo shows that the western tropical Pacific responded very differently than other regions of the globe to abrupt climate change events.

How young genes gain a toehold on becoming indispensable: Tracking a gene from its birth through to its pathway to purpose and evolutionary importance Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:44 PM PDT Scientists have, for the first time, mapped a young gene's short, dramatic evolutionary journey to becoming essential, or indispensable. The researchers detail one gene's rapid switch to a new and essential function in the fruit fly, challenging the long-held belief that only ancient genes are important.

MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:10 AM PDT A study using brain images from "quiet" MRI machines adds to the growing body of evidence that breastfeeding improves brain development in infants. Breastfeeding alone produced better brain development than a combination of breastfeeding and formula, which produced better development than formula alone.

Rewinding development: A step forward for stem cell research Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:10 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that they can make embryonic stem cells regress to a stage of development where they are able to make placenta cells as well as the other fetal cells. This significant discovery has the potential to shed new light on placenta related disorders that can lead to problematic pregnancies and miscarriages.

Promising material for lithium-ion batteries Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:10 AM PDT Laptops could work longer and electric cars could drive farther if it were possible to further increase the capacity of their lithium-ion batteries. The electrode material has a decisive influence on a battery's capacity. So far, the negative electrode typically consists of graphite, whose layers can store lithium atoms. Scientists have now developed a material made of boron and silicon that could smooth the way to systems with higher capacities.

Quantum teleportation between atomic systems over long distances Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:08 AM PDT Researchers have been able to teleport information from light to light at a quantum level for several years. In 2006, researchers succeeded in teleporting between light and gas atoms. Now the research group has succeeded in teleporting information between two clouds of gas atoms and to carry out the teleportation -- not just one or a few times, but successfully every single time.

Predicting the future of coral reefs in a changing world Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:06 AM PDT Scientists have described for the first time the biological process of how corals create their skeletons, which form massive and ecologically vital coral reefs in the world's oceans. They identified specific proteins secreted by corals that precipitate carbonate to form the corals' characteristic skeleton.

Scientists coax brain to regenerate cells lost in Huntington's disease in mouse model Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:06 AM PDT Researchers have been able to mobilize the brain's native stem cells to replenish a type of neuron lost in Huntington's disease. The scientists were able to both trigger the production of new neurons in mice with the disease and show that the new cells successfully integrated into the brain's existing neural networks, dramatically extending the survival of the treated mice.

'Dust trap' around young star solves long-standing planet formation mystery Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:05 AM PDT Astronomers have imaged a region around a young star where dust particles can grow by clumping together. This is the first time that such a dust trap has been clearly observed and modeled. It solves a long-standing mystery about how dust particles in discs grow to larger sizes so that they can eventually form comets, planets and other rocky bodies.

Cassini sees precursors to aerosol haze on Saturn's largest moon, Titan Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:58 AM PDT Scientists working with data from NASA's Cassini mission have confirmed the presence of a population of complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that later evolve into the components that give the moon a distinctive orange-brown haze. The presence of these complex, ringed hydrocarbons, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), explains the origin of the aerosol particles found in the lowest haze layer that blankets Titan's surface. Scientists think these PAH compounds aggregate into larger particles as they drift downward.

Stars don't obliterate their planets (very often) Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:47 AM PDT Stars have an alluring pull on planets, especially those in a class called hot Jupiters, which are gas giants that form farther from their stars before migrating inward and heating up. Now, a new study using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope shows that hot Jupiters, despite their close-in orbits, are not regularly consumed by their stars. Instead, the planets remain in fairly stable orbits for billions of years, until the day comes when they may ultimately get eaten.

Surgeons implant bioengineered vein: Kidney dialysis patient first in U.S. to receive lab-grown blood vessel Posted: 06 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT In a first-of-its-kind operation in the United States, a team of doctors created a bioengineered blood vessel and implanted it into the arm of a patient with end-stage kidney disease. The procedure, the first U.S. clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of the bioengineered blood vessel, is a milestone in the field of tissue engineering. The new vein is an off-the-shelf, human cell-based product with no biological properties that would cause organ rejection.

Living fossils? Actually, sturgeon fish are evolutionary speedsters Posted: 06 Jun 2013 07:13 AM PDT Efforts to restore sturgeon in the Great Lakes region have received a lot of attention in recent years, and many of the news stories note that the prehistoric-looking fish are "living fossils" virtually unchanged for millions of years. But a new study reveals that in at least one measure of evolutionary change -- changes in body size over time -- sturgeon have been one of the fastest-evolving fish on the planet.

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