ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• An unprecedented threat to Peru's cloud forests
• Calculating the true cost of a ton of mountaintop coal
• Pacific humpback whale abundance higher in British Columbia
• Paleorivers across Sahara may have supported ancient human migration routes
• Orangutans plan their future route and communicate it to others
• The final nail in the Jurassic Park coffin: Next generation sequencing reveals absence of DNA in sub-fossilized insects
• AIDS vaccine candidate appears to completely clear virus from the body in monkeys
• Embryonic stem cells produced in living adult organisms
• Faulty stem cell regulation may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome
• Pumping draws arsenic toward a big-city aquifer
• Astronomers explain why disk galaxies eventually look alike
• Unusual mechanism of DNA synthesis could explain genetic mutations
• Hottest days in some parts of Europe have warmed four times more than the global average
• Global warming could change strength of El Niño
• Robots take over economy: Sudden rise of global ecology of interacting robots trade at speeds too fast for humans

An unprecedented threat to Peru's cloud forests Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:48 PM PDT Researchers have pieced together startling new evidence that shows rapid 21st century warming may spell doom for tree species in Peruvian cloud forests, with species losing 53-96 percent of their populations.

Calculating the true cost of a ton of mountaintop coal Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:48 PM PDT To meet current US coal demand through surface mining, an area of the Central Appalachians the size of Washington, D.C., would need to be mined every 81 days. A one-year supply of coal would require converting about 310 square miles of the region's mountains into surface mines, according to a new analysis.

Pacific humpback whale abundance higher in British Columbia Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:47 PM PDT Humpback whale populations are on the rise in the coastal fjords of British Columbia, doubling in size from 2004 to 2011.

Paleorivers across Sahara may have supported ancient human migration routes Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:47 PM PDT Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago.

Orangutans plan their future route and communicate it to others Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:46 PM PDT Male orangutans plan their travel route up to one day in advance and communicate it to other members of their species. In order to attract females and repel male rivals, they call in the direction in which they are going to travel. Anthropologists have found that not only captive, but also wild-living orangutans make use of their planning ability.

The final nail in the Jurassic Park coffin: Next generation sequencing reveals absence of DNA in sub-fossilized insects Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:46 PM PDT It is hardly possible to talk about fossil insects in amber without the 1993 movie Jurassic Park entering the debate. The idea of recreating dinosaurs by extracting DNA from insects in amber has held the fascination of the public for two decades. Claims for successful extraction of DNA from amber up to 130 million-years-old by various scientists in the early 1990s were only seriously questioned when a study at the Natural History Museum, London, was unable to replicate the process. The original claims are now considered by many to be a text-book example of modern contaminant DNA in the samples. Nonetheless, some scientists hold fast to their original claims.Research can now confirm that the existence of DNA in amber fossils is highly unlikely.

AIDS vaccine candidate appears to completely clear virus from the body in monkeys Posted: 11 Sep 2013 11:17 AM PDT An HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate appears to have the ability to completely clear an AIDS-causing virus from the body. It is being tested through the use of a non-human primate form of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which causes AIDS in monkeys. Following further development, it is hoped an HIV-form of the vaccine candidate can soon be tested in humans.

Embryonic stem cells produced in living adult organisms Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT Scientists have produced embryonic stem cells within a living adult mammal. Researchers have also discovered that these embryonic stem cells, obtained directly from the inside of the organism, have a broader capacity for differentiation than those obtained via in vitro culture. Specifically, they have the characteristics of totipotent cells: a primitive state never before obtained in a laboratory.

Faulty stem cell regulation may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT The learning and physical disabilities that affect people with Down syndrome may be due at least in part to defective stem cell regulation throughout the body, according to researchers.

Pumping draws arsenic toward a big-city aquifer Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT Naturally occurring arsenic pollutes wells across the world, especially in south and southeast Asia, where an estimated 100 million people are exposed to dangerous levels. Now, scientists working in Vietnam have shown that massive pumping of groundwater from a clean aquifer is slowly but surely drawing the poison into the water fro a nearby polluted one. The study, done near Hanoi, confirms suspicions that booming water usage could eventually threaten millions more people across Asia.

Astronomers explain why disk galaxies eventually look alike Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:17 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered the fundamental process responsible for the smooth, steady fade of older disk galaxies. They say the key is the clumps of interstellar gases and new stars within young galaxy disks.

Unusual mechanism of DNA synthesis could explain genetic mutations Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:17 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the details of how cells repair breaks in both strands of DNA, a potentially devastating kind of DNA damage.

Hottest days in some parts of Europe have warmed four times more than the global average Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:07 AM PDT Some of the hottest days and coldest nights in parts of Europe have warmed more than four times the global average change since 1950, according to a new article.

Global warming could change strength of El Niño Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:31 AM PDT Global warming could impact the El Niño Southern Oscillation, altering the cycles of El Niño and La Niña events that bring extreme drought and flooding to Australia and many other Pacific-rim countries.

Robots take over economy: Sudden rise of global ecology of interacting robots trade at speeds too fast for humans Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:31 AM PDT Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system.

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