ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Novel genetic patterns may make us rethink biology and individuality
• Solar activity playing a minimal role in global warming, research suggests
• Artificial heart to pump human waste into future robots
• New species of shark: Carolina hammerhead
• How body clock affects inflammation: Discovery could accelerate body's response to infection, autoimmune disorders
• White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings
• Wireless device converts 'lost' energy into electric power: Metamaterial cells provide electric power as efficiently as solar panels
• Plant cell architecture: Growth toward a light source
• Preparing for hell and high water: Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science
• Unique sighting of lava solves mystery
• 'Freakish' asteroid discovered, resembles rotating lawn sprinkler
• Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S.
• Researchers regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues: Enhancing cell metabolism was an unexpected key to tissue repair
• Muscle built in diseased mice: Human muscle cells created in a dish
• Did inefficient cellular machinery evolve to fight viruses and jumping genes?
• Scientists identify clue to regrowing nerve cells
• Hearing through sight: Brain plasticity and why cochlear implants work better for some people than others
• Ants, like humans, can change their priorities
• Bio patch that can regrow bone
• New light on dark energy, cosmic speed-up: Big Bang afterglow shows Earth has no special place in expanding universe
• Organizing programmed nanoparticles into highly complex nanostructures

Novel genetic patterns may make us rethink biology and individuality Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:42 PM PST Scientists have made two novel discoveries: 1) a person can have several DNA mutations in parts of their body, with their original DNA in the rest -- resulting in several different genotypes in one individual -- and 2) some of the same genetic mutations occur in unrelated people. We think of each person's DNA as unique, but if a person can have more than one genotype, this may have broad implications.

Solar activity playing a minimal role in global warming, research suggests Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:42 PM PST Changes in solar activity have contributed no more than 10 per cent to global warming in the twentieth century, a new study has found.

Artificial heart to pump human waste into future robots Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:42 PM PST A new device capable of pumping human waste into the "engine room" of a self-sustaining robot has been created by a group of researchers.

New species of shark: Carolina hammerhead Posted: 07 Nov 2013 02:09 PM PST A research team has recently described a new species of hammerhead shark. This discovery is the result of years of study of the rivers and coastal waters of South Carolina.

How body clock affects inflammation: Discovery could accelerate body's response to infection, autoimmune disorders Posted: 07 Nov 2013 02:06 PM PST Researchers report that disrupting the light-dark cycle of mice increased their susceptibility to inflammatory disease, indicating that the production of a key immune cell is controlled by the body's circadian clock.

White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings Posted: 07 Nov 2013 01:23 PM PST While tracking white-lipped peccaries and gathering environmental data in forests that link Brazil's Pantanal and Cerrado biomes, researchers discovered ancient cave drawings made by hunter-gatherer societies thousands of years ago.

Wireless device converts 'lost' energy into electric power: Metamaterial cells provide electric power as efficiently as solar panels Posted: 07 Nov 2013 12:48 PM PST Using inexpensive materials configured and tuned to capture microwave signals, researchers have designed a power-harvesting device with efficiency similar to that of modern solar panels.

Plant cell architecture: Growth toward a light source Posted: 07 Nov 2013 11:25 AM PST Inside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell's walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the direction of a light source influences a plant's growth pattern.

Preparing for hell and high water: Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science Posted: 07 Nov 2013 11:25 AM PST As climate changes get more pronounced, people everywhere will have to adjust. In this week's issue of the journal Science, an international group of researchers urge the development of science needed to manage climate risks and capitalize on unexpected opportunities.

Unique sighting of lava solves mystery Posted: 07 Nov 2013 10:27 AM PST Scientists have made the first ever observations of how a rare type of lava continues moving almost a year after a volcanic eruption.

'Freakish' asteroid discovered, resembles rotating lawn sprinkler Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Astronomers report the discovery of a never-before-seen "weird and freakish object" in the asteroid belt that resembles a rotating lawn sprinkler.

Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S. Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Total deforestation of the Amazon could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires, new research shows.

Researchers regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues: Enhancing cell metabolism was an unexpected key to tissue repair Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Young animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity be recaptured in adults? A new study suggests that it can. By reactivating a dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells, researchers were able to regrow hair and repair cartilage, bone, skin and other soft tissues in a mouse model.

Muscle built in diseased mice: Human muscle cells created in a dish Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Skeletal muscle has proved to be very difficult to grow in patients with muscular dystrophy and other disorders that degrade and weaken muscle. Researchers now report boosting muscle mass and reversing disease in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, using a "cocktail" of three compounds identified through a new rapid culture system. Adding the same compounds to stem cells derived from patients' skin cells, they then successfully grew human muscle cells in a dish.

Did inefficient cellular machinery evolve to fight viruses and jumping genes? Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST It might seem obvious that humans are elegant and sophisticated beings in comparison to lowly bacteria, but when it comes to genes, a scientist wants to turn conventional wisdom about human and bacterial evolution on its head.

Scientists identify clue to regrowing nerve cells Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:27 AM PST Researchers have identified a chain reaction that triggers the regrowth of some damaged nerve cell branches, a discovery that one day may help improve treatments for nerve injuries that can cause loss of sensation or paralysis.

Hearing through sight: Brain plasticity and why cochlear implants work better for some people than others Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST Cochlear implants allow adults who have become profoundly deaf to recover the ability to understand speech. However, recovery differs between individuals. Activating the visual regions of the brain has proved essential to the satisfactory recovery of hearing, according to a new study.

Ants, like humans, can change their priorities Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST For the first time, researchers have discovered that at least in ants, animals can change their decision-making strategies based on experience. They can also use that experience to weigh different options.

Bio patch that can regrow bone Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST Researchers have created an implantable bio patch that regrows bone in a living body, using existing cells. The team created a scaffold seeded with plasmids containing the genetic information for producing bone. The plasmids are absorbed by bone cells already in the body, spurring new growth. Potential applications extend to dentistry.

New light on dark energy, cosmic speed-up: Big Bang afterglow shows Earth has no special place in expanding universe Posted: 07 Nov 2013 06:46 AM PST Astronomers have ruled out a controversial theory that the accelerating expansion of the universe is an illusion. While the findings don't explain the cosmic speed-up, they eliminate one provocative possibility that our planet, solar system and galaxy are at the center of the universe and that there is no dark energy.

Organizing programmed nanoparticles into highly complex nanostructures Posted: 07 Nov 2013 06:40 AM PST A new principle for the self-assembly of patterned nanoparticles may have important implications for nanotechnology and future technologies.

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