ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Rising mountains, cooling oceans prompted spread of invasive species 450 million years ago
• Astronomers take sharpest photos ever of the night sky
• Lab-made complexes are 'sun sponges'
• High-precision measurement of subatomic shape shifting and new result on differences among neutrino masses
• Experimental Ebola treatment protects some primates even after disease symptoms appear
• Mother's genes can impact aging process
• Bacteria make us feel pain… and suppress our immune response
• A brighter method for measuring the surface gravity of distant stars
• Physicists pinpoint key property of material that both conducts and insulates
• Crocodile confession: Meat-eating predators occasionally eat fruit
• Playing video games can boost brain power
• Hamster genome decoded: Researchers successfully sequence genome of Chinese hamster
• Human foot not as unique as originally thought
• Alcohol abuse, eating disorders share genetic link
• 'Zombie vortices' may be key step in star formation

Rising mountains, cooling oceans prompted spread of invasive species 450 million years ago Posted: 21 Aug 2013 02:01 PM PDT New research suggests that the rise of an early phase of the Appalachian Mountains and cooling oceans allowed invasive species to upset the North American ecosystem 450 million years ago.

Astronomers take sharpest photos ever of the night sky Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:21 PM PDT Thanks to new technology, astronomers can now view objects in the sky at unprecedented sharpness in visible light. Using a telescope mirror that vibrates a thousand times each second to counteract atmospheric flickering, the team has achieved image resolution capabilities that could see a baseball diamond on the moon.

Lab-made complexes are 'sun sponges' Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:21 PM PDT Scientists have described a testbed for light-harvesting antennae, the structures that capture the sun's light in plants and bacteria. Prototype designs built on the testbed soak up more of the sun's spectrum and are far easier to assemble than synthetic antennas made entirely from scratch. They offer the best of both worlds, combining human synthetic ingenuity with the repertoire of robust chemical machinery selected by evolution.

High-precision measurement of subatomic shape shifting and new result on differences among neutrino masses Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:21 PM PDT New results about the oscillation of neutrinos -- elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe -- have been announced by the Daya Bay Collaboration, an international experiment taking place outside of Hong Kong.

Experimental Ebola treatment protects some primates even after disease symptoms appear Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:20 PM PDT Scientists have successfully treated the deadly Ebola virus in infected animals following onset of disease symptoms, according to a new article. The results show promise for developing therapies against the virus, which causes hemorrhagic fever with human case fatality rates as high as 90 percent.

Mother's genes can impact aging process Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:27 AM PDT Researchers have shown that aging is determined not only by the accumulation of changes during our lifetime, but also by the genes we acquire from our mothers.

Bacteria make us feel pain… and suppress our immune response Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:27 AM PDT Researchers found pain from invasive skin infections from Staph, and possibly other serious, painful infections, appear to be induced by the invading bacteria themselves, and not by the body's immune response as previously thought. The research demonstrates that once the pain neurons "sense" the bacteria, they suppress the immune system, potentially helping the bacteria become more virulent.

A brighter method for measuring the surface gravity of distant stars Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:23 AM PDT Astronomers have found a clever new way to slice and dice the flickering light from a distant star in a way that reveals its surface gravity, one of the key properties that astronomers use to calculate a star's physical properties and assess its evolutionary state.

Physicists pinpoint key property of material that both conducts and insulates Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:23 AM PDT Scientists have made the first-ever accurate determination of a solid-state triple point -- the temperature and pressure at which three different solid phases can coexist stably -- in a substance called vanadium dioxide.

Crocodile confession: Meat-eating predators occasionally eat fruit Posted: 21 Aug 2013 09:43 AM PDT A new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society says that the American alligator and a dozen other crocodile species enjoy an occasional taste of fruit along with their normal meat-heavy diets of mammals, birds, and fish.

Playing video games can boost brain power Posted: 21 Aug 2013 06:49 AM PDT Certain types of video games can help to train the brain to become more agile and improve strategic thinking, according to scientists.

Hamster genome decoded: Researchers successfully sequence genome of Chinese hamster Posted: 21 Aug 2013 06:48 AM PDT Genome researchers have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the Chinese hamster. The Chinese hamster supplies the cell cultures used by the pharmaceutical industry to produce biopharmaceutical products such as antibodies used in medicine.

Human foot not as unique as originally thought Posted: 21 Aug 2013 05:54 AM PDT The mechanisms of the human foot are not as unique as originally thought and have much more in common with the flexible feet of other great apes.

Alcohol abuse, eating disorders share genetic link Posted: 21 Aug 2013 05:48 AM PDT Part of the risk for alcohol dependence is genetic. The same is true for eating disorders. Now researchers have found that some of the same genes likely are involved in both. They report that people with alcohol dependence may be more genetically susceptible to certain types of eating disorders and vice versa.

'Zombie vortices' may be key step in star formation Posted: 20 Aug 2013 03:58 PM PDT Scientists have proposed a new model that elucidates a key step in star formation. They point to "zombie vortices" as a destabilizing force needed to help protostars accumulate the mass needed to grow into stars.

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