ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• From friend to foe: How benign bacteria evolve into virulent pathogens
• Programming smart molecules: Machine-learning algorithms could make chemical reactions intelligent
• Sniffing out danger: Fearful memories can trigger heightened sense of smell
• Aquatic comb jelly floats into new evolutionary position
• Noble gas molecule discovered in space
• Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code
• Revolutionizing solar energy: Quantum waves found at the heart of organic solar cells
• Rapid evolution of novel forms: Environmental change triggers inborn capacity for adaptation
• Fast radio bursts might come from nearby stars
• Surprise: Duck-billed dinosaurs had fleshy 'cocks comb'
• Combining mutants results in 5-fold lifespan extension in C. elegans
• First step of metastasis halted in mice with breast cancer
• Hubble Space Telescope sees evidence of water vapor venting off Jupiter moon
• Collapse of the universe is closer than ever before
• New species of horse, 4.4 million years old
• Revolutionary method for gluing gels and biological tissues
• Brain structure shows affinity with numbers
• Controlling PCs and tablets with hand movements
• What the past tells us about modern sea-level rise
• Novel bio-inspired method to grow high-quality graphene for high-end electronic devices

From friend to foe: How benign bacteria evolve into virulent pathogens Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:58 PM PST Bacteria can evolve rapidly to adapt to environmental change. When the "environment" is the immune response of an infected host, this evolution can turn harmless bacteria into life-threatening pathogens. A new study provides insight into how this happens.

Programming smart molecules: Machine-learning algorithms could make chemical reactions intelligent Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:03 PM PST Computer scientists have shown that an important class of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms could be implemented using chemical reactions. In the long term, they say, such theoretical developments could open the door for "smart drugs" that can automatically detect, diagnose, and treat a variety of diseases using a cocktail of chemicals that can perform AI-type reasoning.

Sniffing out danger: Fearful memories can trigger heightened sense of smell Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:22 AM PST Neuroscientists studying the olfactory -- sense of smell -- system in mice have discovered that fear reaction can occur at the sensory level, even before the brain has the opportunity to interpret that the odor could mean trouble.

Aquatic comb jelly floats into new evolutionary position Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST In a study that compares the genomes of aquatic life forms, researchers have found evidence to shuffle the branches of the tree of life. The cornerstone of the study is the researchers' sequencing, assembly, annotation and analysis of the genome of Mnemiopsis leidyi, a comb jelly native to the coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.

Noble gas molecule discovered in space Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST A molecule containing a noble gas has been discovered in space. The molecule, argon hydride, was seen in the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded 1,000 years ago.

Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST Scientists have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. The second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease. Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages. One describes how proteins are made, and the other instructs the cell on how genes are controlled. One language is written on top of the other.

Revolutionizing solar energy: Quantum waves found at the heart of organic solar cells Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:20 AM PST Researchers have been able to tune 'coherence' in organic nanostructures due to the surprise discovery of wavelike electrons in organic materials, revealing the key to generating "long-lived charges" in organic solar cells - material that could revolutionize solar energy.

Rapid evolution of novel forms: Environmental change triggers inborn capacity for adaptation Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:19 AM PST In the classical view of evolution, species experience spontaneous genetic mutations that produce various novel traits—some helpful, some detrimental. Nature then selects for those most beneficial, passing them along to subsequent generations. It's an elegant model. It's also an extremely time-consuming process likely to fail organisms needing to cope with sudden, potentially life-threatening changes in their environments. Scientists now report that, at least in the case of one variety of cavefish, one agent of evolutionary change is the heat shock protein known as HSP90.

Fast radio bursts might come from nearby stars Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:34 AM PST First discovered in 2007, "fast radio bursts" continue to defy explanation. These cosmic chirps last for only a thousandth of a second. The characteristics of the radio pulses suggested that they came from galaxies billions of light-years away. However, new work points to a much closer origin -- flaring stars within our own galaxy.

Surprise: Duck-billed dinosaurs had fleshy 'cocks comb' Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST A rare, mummified specimen of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosauraus regalis shows for the first time that those dinosaurs' heads were adorned with a fleshy comb, most similar to the roosters' red crest.

Combining mutants results in 5-fold lifespan extension in C. elegans Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST What are the limits to longevity? Scientists combined mutations in two pathways well-known for lifespan extension and report a synergistic five-fold lifespan extension in the nematode C. elegans. The worms lived to the human equivalent of 400 to 500 years. The research introduces the possibility of combination therapy for aging and could help explain why scientists are having a difficult time identifying single genes responsible for long lives in human centenarians.

First step of metastasis halted in mice with breast cancer Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:32 AM PST Cell biologists have identified a unique class of breast cancer cells that lead the process of invasion into surrounding tissues. Because invasion is the first step in the deadly process of cancer metastasis, the researchers say they may have found a weak link in cancer's armor and a possible new target for therapy.

Hubble Space Telescope sees evidence of water vapor venting off Jupiter moon Posted: 12 Dec 2013 08:33 AM PST NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed water vapor above the frigid south polar region of Jupiter's moon Europa, providing the first strong evidence of water plumes erupting off the moon's surface. Previous scientific findings from other sources already point to the existence of an ocean located under Europa's icy crust. Researchers are not yet fully certain whether the detected water vapor is generated by erupting water plumes on the surface, but they are confident this is the most likely explanation.

Collapse of the universe is closer than ever before Posted: 12 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST Maybe it happens tomorrow. Maybe in a billion years. Physicists have long predicted that the universe may one day collapse, and that everything in it will be compressed to a small hard ball. New calculations now confirm this prediction -- and they also conclude that the risk of a collapse is even greater than previously thought.

New species of horse, 4.4 million years old Posted: 12 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST Researchers have discovered a new species of fossil horse from 4.4 million-year-old fossil-rich deposits in Ethiopia. About the size of a small zebra, Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli had three-toed hooves and grazed the grasslands and shrubby woods in the Afar Region.

Revolutionary method for gluing gels and biological tissues Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:56 AM PST Researchers have discovered an efficient and easy-to-use method for bonding together gels and biological tissues. Medical researchers have succeeded in obtaining very strong adhesion between two gels by spreading on their surface a solution containing nanoparticles. Until now, there was no entirely satisfactory method of obtaining adhesion between two gels or two biological tissues.

Brain structure shows affinity with numbers Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:55 AM PST The structure of the brain shows the way in which we process numbers. People either do this spatially or non-spatially. A study shows for the first time that these individual differences have a structural basis in the brain.

Controlling PCs and tablets with hand movements Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:55 AM PST Scientists are working to develop interaction between themselves and mobiles/ iPads - which does not require touching the display. They have been able to scroll through pages for some time. Now they are working on selecting and moving objects, or saying stop by raising a hand.

What the past tells us about modern sea-level rise Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:55 AM PST Researchers report that sea-level rise since the industrial revolution has been fast by natural standards and - at current rates - may reach 80cm above the modern level by 2100 and 2.5 meters by 2200. The team used geological evidence of the past few million years to derive a background pattern of natural sea-level rise. This was compared with historical tide-gauge and satellite observations of sea-level change for the 'global warming' period, since the industrial revolution.

Novel bio-inspired method to grow high-quality graphene for high-end electronic devices Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:49 AM PST Researchers have successfully developed an innovative one-step method to grow and transfer high-quality graphene on silicon and other stiff substrates, opening up opportunities for graphene to be used in high-value applications that are currently not technologically feasible.

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