ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Looking back to the cradle of our universe: Astronomers spot what may be one of most distant galaxies known
• Pacific trade winds stall global surface warming ... for now
• Cochlear implant with no exterior hardware can be wirelessly recharged
• Breakthrough approach to quickly identify new drug candidates from genome sequence
• Largest evolutionary study of sponges sheds new light on animal evolution

Looking back to the cradle of our universe: Astronomers spot what may be one of most distant galaxies known Posted: 09 Feb 2014 02:31 PM PST NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes have spotted what might be one of the most distant galaxies known, harkening back to a time when our universe was only about 650 million years old (our universe is 13.8 billion years old). The galaxy, known as Abell2744 Y1, is about 30 times smaller than our Milky Way galaxy and is producing about 10 times more stars, as is typical for galaxies in our young universe.

Pacific trade winds stall global surface warming ... for now Posted: 09 Feb 2014 12:24 PM PST Heat stored in the western Pacific Ocean caused by an unprecedented strengthening of the equatorial trade winds appears to be largely responsible for the hiatus in surface warming observed over the past 13 years. The strongest trade winds have driven more of the heat from global warming into the oceans; but when those winds slow, that heat will rapidly return to the atmosphere causing an abrupt rise in global average temperatures, scientists say.

Cochlear implant with no exterior hardware can be wirelessly recharged Posted: 09 Feb 2014 12:24 PM PST Cochlear implants -- medical devices that electrically stimulate the auditory nerve -- have granted at least limited hearing to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who otherwise would be totally deaf. Existing versions of the device, however, require that a disk-shaped transmitter about an inch in diameter be affixed to the skull, with a wire snaking down to a joint microphone and power source that looks like an oversized hearing aid around the patient's ear. Researchers have now developed a new, low-power signal-processing chip that could lead to a cochlear implant that requires no external hardware.

Breakthrough approach to quickly identify new drug candidates from genome sequence Posted: 09 Feb 2014 12:23 PM PST In research that could ultimately lead to many new medicines, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have developed a potentially general approach to design drugs from genome sequence.

Largest evolutionary study of sponges sheds new light on animal evolution Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:38 AM PST Most genes involved in complex processes are present in sponges, new research shows. Sponges or Porifera -- there are over 8,000 species currently recognised -- are the most basal phylum of metazoans. They represent a rich animal diversity found throughout the world, from tropical climates to the arctic poles, and they are an excellent model to study metazoan evolution.

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