ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Antifreeze, cheap materials may lead to low-cost solar energy
• Hawkmoths use ultrasound to combat bats
• Key factors in understanding differences in rates of birth defects identified
• Climate change deniers using dirty tricks from 'Tobacco Wars'
• Bacteria communicate to help each other resist antibiotics
• Antarctic crabs may be native, evidence suggests
• Cockatoos 'pick' puzzle box locks: Cockatoos show technical intelligence on a five-lock problem
• Clues about autism may come from the gut
• Archaeologists unearth carved head of Roman god in ancient rubbish dump
• Study of mitochondrial DNA ties ancient remains to living descendants
• White dwarf star throws light on possible variability of a constant of Nature
• Spider webs more effective at ensnaring charged insects
• Live fast, die young: Long-lived mice are less active, biologists find
• Biomarker predicts heart attack risk based on response to aspirin therapy
• New approaches to understanding infection may uncover novel therapies against influenza
• Earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial found in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel
• First comprehensive regulatory map is a blueprint for how to defeat tuberculosis
• Lifesaving HIV treatment could reach millions more people following landmark study
• Fossil insect traces reveal ancient climate, entrapment, and fossilization at La Brea Tar Pits

Antifreeze, cheap materials may lead to low-cost solar energy Posted: 04 Jul 2013 07:08 AM PDT A process combining some comparatively cheap materials and the same antifreeze that keeps an automobile radiator from freezing in cold weather may be the key to making solar cells that cost less and avoid toxic compounds, while further expanding the use of solar energy.

Hawkmoths use ultrasound to combat bats Posted: 04 Jul 2013 07:08 AM PDT For years, pilots flying into combat have jammed enemy radar to get the drop on their opponents. It turns out that moths can do it, too.

Key factors in understanding differences in rates of birth defects identified Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT New research highlights important information for health professionals and parents about the factors which may increase the likelihood of a baby being born with a birth defect.

Climate change deniers using dirty tricks from 'Tobacco Wars' Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT Fossil fuel companies have been funding smear campaigns that raise doubts about climate change, according to experts.

Bacteria communicate to help each other resist antibiotics Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT New research unravels a novel means of communication that allows bacteria such as Burkholderia cenocepacia (B. cenocepacia) to resist antibiotic treatment. B. cenocepacia is an environmental bacterium that causes devastating infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Antarctic crabs may be native, evidence suggests Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT A new study has cast doubt on the claim that crabs may have disappeared from Antarctica only to return due to warming seas.

Cockatoos 'pick' puzzle box locks: Cockatoos show technical intelligence on a five-lock problem Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT A species of Indonesian parrot can solve complex mechanical problems that involve undoing a series of locks one after another, revealing new depths to physical intelligence in birds.

Clues about autism may come from the gut Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT Scientists present the first comprehensive bacterial analysis focusing on commensal or beneficial bacteria in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Archaeologists unearth carved head of Roman god in ancient rubbish dump Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT An 1,800-year-old carved stone head of what is believed to be a Roman god has been unearthed in an ancient rubbish dump in Northern England.

Study of mitochondrial DNA ties ancient remains to living descendants Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT Researchers report that they have found a direct genetic link between the remains of Native Americans who lived thousands of years ago and their living descendants. The team used mitochondrial DNA, which children inherit only from their mothers, to track three maternal lineages from ancient times to the present.

White dwarf star throws light on possible variability of a constant of Nature Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT Astronomers have studied a distant star where gravity is more than 30,000 times greater than on Earth to test the controversial theory that one of the constants of Nature is not a constant. The researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the strength of the electromagnetic force -- known as alpha -- on a white dwarf star. The results do not contradict the variable-constant theory.

Spider webs more effective at ensnaring charged insects Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT Flapping bees build up a charge of several hundred volts, enough to electrostatically draw pollen from a flower. But researchers have discovered a downside to being charged: it attracts spider silk and increases the chance that the bee or any insect will be snared by a web as it passes by. Perhaps, they say, the more flexible silk of an orb's spiral evolved to allow wind and electrostatic charge to improve capture success.

Live fast, die young: Long-lived mice are less active, biologists find Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:46 AM PDT Female mice with a high life expectancy are less active and less explorative. They also eat less than their fellow females with a lower life expectancy. Behavioral biologists reveal that there is a correlation between longevity and personality for female house mice, and a minimum amount of boldness is necessary for them to survive.

Biomarker predicts heart attack risk based on response to aspirin therapy Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:45 AM PDT Aspirin has been widely used for more than 50 years as a common, inexpensive blood thinner for patients with heart disease and stroke, but doctors have little understanding of how it works and why some people benefit and others don't.

New approaches to understanding infection may uncover novel therapies against influenza Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:43 AM PDT The influenza virus' ability to mutate quickly has produced new, emerging strains that make drug discovery more critical than ever. For the first time, researchers have mapped how critical molecules regulate both the induction and resolution of inflammation during flu infection.

Earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial found in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:43 AM PDT The earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial, dating back to 13,700 years ago, was discovered in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel in northern Israel. In four different graves from the Natufian period, dating back to 13,700-11,700 years ago, dozens of impressions of Salvia plants and other species of sedges and mints (the Lamiaceae family), were found under human skeletons.

First comprehensive regulatory map is a blueprint for how to defeat tuberculosis Posted: 03 Jul 2013 10:58 AM PDT Researchers have taken the first steps toward a complete representation of the regulatory network for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This map will yield unique insights into how the bacteria survive in the host.

Lifesaving HIV treatment could reach millions more people following landmark study Posted: 03 Jul 2013 07:14 AM PDT Millions more people could get access to life-saving HIV drug therapy, following a landmark study.

Fossil insect traces reveal ancient climate, entrapment, and fossilization at La Brea Tar Pits Posted: 03 Jul 2013 07:14 AM PDT The La Brea Tar Pits have stirred the imaginations of scientists and the public for over a century. But the amount of time it took for ancient animals to become buried in asphalt after enduring gruesome deaths has remained a mystery. Recent forensic investigations reveal new insights into fossilization and the prevailing climate at the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits toward the end of the last Ice Age.

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