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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


First probable person to person transmission of new bird flu virus in China; But H7N9 is not able to spread efficiently between humans

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 05:35 PM PDT

The first report of probable person to person transmission of the new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in Eastern China has been documented. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet of H7N9 transmission between humans, but the authors stress that its ability to transmit itself is "limited and non-sustainable."

Length of human pregnancies can vary naturally by as much as five weeks

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 05:33 PM PDT

The length of a human pregnancy can vary naturally by as much as five weeks, according to new research.

What color is your night light? It may affect your mood

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 05:31 PM PDT

When it comes to some of the health hazards of light at night, a new study in hamsters suggests that the color of the light can make a big difference.

Dolphins keep lifelong social memories, longest in a non-human species

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 05:31 PM PDT

Dolphins can recognize their old tank mates' whistles after being separated for more than 20 years — the longest social memory ever recorded for a non-human species.

The sun's magnetic field is about to flip

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:16 PM PDT

Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip.

Explosion illuminates invisible galaxy in the dark ages

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:57 PM PDT

More than 12 billion years ago a star exploded, glowing so brightly that it outshone its entire galaxy by a million times. This brilliant flash traveled across space for 12.7 billion years to a planet that hadn't even existed at the time of the explosion -- our Earth. By analyzing this light, astronomers learned about a galaxy that was otherwise too small, faint and far away for even the Hubble Space Telescope to see.

New and remarkable details of the sun now available from Big Bear Observatory

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 11:55 AM PDT

Researchers have obtained new and remarkably detailed photos of the sun with the New Solar Telescope. The photographs reveal never-before-seen details of solar magnetism revealed in photospheric and chromospheric features.

Hormone receptors may regulate effect of nutrition on life expectancy not only in roundworms, but perhaps also in humans

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 11:54 AM PDT

A reduced caloric intake increases life expectancy in many species. But how diet prolongs the lives of model organisms such as fruit flies and roundworms has remained a mystery until recently. Scientists have now discovered that a hormone receptor is one of the links between nutrition and life expectancy in the roundworms. The receptor protein NHR-62 increases the lifespan of the animals by twenty per cent if their calorie intake is reduced. Furthermore, another study showed that the hormone receptor NHR-8 affects development into adulthood as well as the maximum lifespan of the worms. It may be possible that receptors related to these are also responsible for regulating life expectancy in human beings.

How plants avoid sunburn: Findings could lead to crops with increased protection from bright light and enhanced photosynthesis

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:29 AM PDT

Scientists have discovered a group of stress-related proteins that explains how plants avoid sunburn in intense light, a finding that one day could help biotechnologists to develop crops that can better cope with hotter, drier conditions occurring in climate change.

A layer of tiny grains can slow sound waves

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:29 AM PDT

Researchers say the findings could lead to a new way of controlling frequencies in electronic devices such as cellphones, but with components that are only a fraction the size of those currently used for that function. On a larger scale, it could lead to new types of blast-shielding material for use in combat or by public-safety personnel or equipment.

Emotional behavior of adults could be triggered in the womb

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:27 AM PDT

Adults could be at greater risk of becoming anxious and vulnerable to poor mental health if they were deprived of certain hormones while developing in the womb according to new research.

Bringing light to a halt: Physicists freeze motion of light for a minute

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 08:11 AM PDT

Physicists have been able to stop something that has the greatest possible speed and that never really stops: light. A decade ago, physicists stopped it very for a short moment. In recent years, this extended towards stop times of a few seconds for simple light pulses in extremely cold gases and special crystals. But now the same researchers extended the possible duration and applications for freezing the motion of light considerably. The physicists stopped light for about one minute. They were also able to save images that were transferred by the light pulse into the crystal for a minute -- a million times longer than previously possible.

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