ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New catalyst could cut cost of making hydrogen fuel
• Greenhouse gas likely altering ocean foodchain: Atmospheric CO2 has big consequences for tiny bacteria
• Names for new Pluto moons accepted
• Croc supersense: Multi-sensory organs in crocodylian skin sensitive to touch, heat, cold, environment
• Teens' self-consciousness linked with specific brain, physiological responses
• Insecticide causes changes in honeybee genes, research finds
• Solar dynamic loops reveal a simultaneous explosion and implosion, plus evidence for magnetic reconnection
• Protocells may have formed in a salty soup
• Cluster spacecraft detects elusive space wind
• Scientists help explain visual system's remarkable ability to recognize complex objects

New catalyst could cut cost of making hydrogen fuel Posted: 02 Jul 2013 12:10 PM PDT A new discovery may represent a significant advance in the quest to create a "hydrogen economy" that would use this abundant element to store and transfer energy.

Greenhouse gas likely altering ocean foodchain: Atmospheric CO2 has big consequences for tiny bacteria Posted: 02 Jul 2013 11:15 AM PDT Climate change may be weeding out the bacteria that form the base of the ocean's food chain, selecting certain strains for survival, according to a new study.

Names for new Pluto moons accepted Posted: 02 Jul 2013 09:31 AM PDT The International Astronomical Union has officially recognized the names Kerberos and Styx for the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto respectively (formerly known as P4 and P5). These names were backed by voters in a recently held popular contest, aimed at allowing the public to suggest names for the two recently discovered moons of the most famous dwarf planet in the Solar System.

Croc supersense: Multi-sensory organs in crocodylian skin sensitive to touch, heat, cold, environment Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:15 AM PDT Previously misunderstood multi-sensory organs in the skin of crocodylians are sensitive to touch, heat, cold, and the chemicals in their environment, new research finds. These sensors have no equivalent in any other vertebrate.

Teens' self-consciousness linked with specific brain, physiological responses Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:09 AM PDT Teenagers are famously self-conscious, acutely aware and concerned about what their peers think of them. A new study reveals that this self-consciousness is linked with specific physiological and brain responses that seem to emerge and peak in adolescence.

Insecticide causes changes in honeybee genes, research finds Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:06 AM PDT Exposure to a neonicotinoid insecticide causes changes to the genes of the honeybee.

Solar dynamic loops reveal a simultaneous explosion and implosion, plus evidence for magnetic reconnection Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:05 AM PDT Movies of giant loops projecting from the surface of the Sun are giving new insights into the complex mechanisms that drive solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). These eruptions release vast energy and electrically charged particles that can affect the Earth through space weather. Imagery shows the dynamics of loops before, during and after eruptions.

Protocells may have formed in a salty soup Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:01 AM PDT The first cell may have originated in a salty soup in which large biomolecules cluster spontaneously to form a protocell, chemists in the Netherlands have discovered.

Cluster spacecraft detects elusive space wind Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:01 AM PDT A new study provides the first conclusive proof of the existence of a space wind first proposed theoretically over 20 years ago. By analysing data from the European Space Agency's Cluster spacecraft, researchers detected this plasmaspheric wind, so-called because it contributes to the loss of material from the plasmasphere, a donut-shaped region extending above the Earth's atmosphere.

Scientists help explain visual system's remarkable ability to recognize complex objects Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT How is it possible for a human eye to figure out letters that are twisted and looped in crazy directions, like those in the little security test internet users are often given on websites? It seems easy to us -- the human brain just does it. But the apparent simplicity of this task is an illusion. The task is actually so complex, no one has been able to write computer code that translates these distorted letters the same way that neural networks can. That's why this test, called a CAPTCHA, is used to distinguish a human response from computer bots that try to steal sensitive information. Now, a team of neuroscientists has taken on the challenge of exploring how the brain accomplishes this remarkable task. Two studies demonstrate how complex a visual task decoding a CAPTCHA, or any image made of simple and intricate elements, actually is to the brain.

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