ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Artificial leaf jumps developmental hurdle
• Wings, tails, fins: Study looks at how animals propel themselves
• Bats inspire 'micro air vehicle' designs: Small flying vehicles, complete with flapping wings, may now be designed
• New light shed on habitat of early apes
• World's most powerful terahertz laser chip
• Asian elephants reassure others in distress: First empirical evidence of consolation in elephants
• Single chip device to provide real-time 3-D images from inside the heart, blood vessels
• Solar-induced hybrid fuel cell produces electricity directly from biomass
• Theory on origin of animals challenged: Some animals need extremely little oxygen
• How evolution shapes the geometries of life
• Why does the brain remember dreams?
• Discovery may help to explain mystery of 'missing' genetic risk, susceptibility to common diseases
• Interactive map of human genetic history revealed

Artificial leaf jumps developmental hurdle Posted: 18 Feb 2014 09:44 AM PST Scientists report advances toward perfecting a functional artificial leaf. Designing an artificial leaf that uses solar energy to convert water cheaply and efficiently into hydrogen and oxygen is an important goal. Hydrogen is an important fuel in itself and serves as an indispensible reagent for the production of light hydrocarbon fuels from heavy petroleum feed stocks. Society requires a renewable source of fuel that is widely distributed, abundant, inexpensive and environmentally clean. Society needs cheap hydrogen.

Wings, tails, fins: Study looks at how animals propel themselves Posted: 18 Feb 2014 09:44 AM PST The wonder of animal movement – from the tiniest of insects to the largest fish in the sea – has been a subject of mystery for ages. But when it comes to animal propulsion, there are almost infinite kinds, but also limits that can't be pushed or breakdowns will occur, according to an unusual study.

Bats inspire 'micro air vehicle' designs: Small flying vehicles, complete with flapping wings, may now be designed Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:42 AM PST By exploring how creatures in nature are able to fly by flapping their wings, researchers hope to apply that knowledge toward designing small flying vehicles known as "micro air vehicles" with flapping wings.

New light shed on habitat of early apes Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:40 AM PST An international team of anthropologists has discovered definitive evidence of the environment inhabited by the early ape Proconsul on Rusinga Island, Kenya. The findings provide new insights into understanding and interpreting the connection between habitat preferences and the early diversification of the ape-human lineage.

World's most powerful terahertz laser chip Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:07 AM PST Researchers have built the world's most powerful terahertz laser chip. The new laser chip has exceeded a 1 Watt output power from a quantum cascade terahertz laser. The new record more than doubles landmarks set last year. Terahertz waves, which lie in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared and microwaves, can penetrate materials that block visible light and have a wide range of possible uses including chemical analysis, security scanning, medical imaging, and telecommunications. Widely publicised potential applications include monitoring pharmaceutical products, the remote sensing of chemical signatures of explosives in unopened envelopes, and the non-invasive detection of cancers in the human body.

Asian elephants reassure others in distress: First empirical evidence of consolation in elephants Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:10 AM PST Asian elephants console others who are in distress, using physical touches and vocalizations, new research shows. The findings are the first empirical evidence of consolation in elephants. Consolation behavior is rare in the animal kingdom, with empirical evidence previously provided only for the great apes, canines and certain corvids.

Single chip device to provide real-time 3-D images from inside the heart, blood vessels Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST Researchers have developed the technology for a catheter-based device that would provide forward-looking, real-time, three-dimensional imaging from inside the heart, coronary arteries and peripheral blood vessels.

Solar-induced hybrid fuel cell produces electricity directly from biomass Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST Researchers have developed a new type of low-temperature fuel cell that directly converts biomass to electricity with assistance from a catalyst activated by solar or thermal energy.

Theory on origin of animals challenged: Some animals need extremely little oxygen Posted: 17 Feb 2014 01:11 PM PST One of science's strongest dogmas is that complex life on Earth could only evolve when oxygen levels in the atmosphere rose to close to modern levels. But now studies of a small sea sponge fished out of a Danish fjord shows that complex life does not need high levels of oxygen in order to live and grow.

How evolution shapes the geometries of life Posted: 17 Feb 2014 01:11 PM PST An interdisciplinary team re-examined Kleiber's Law, a famous 80-year-old equation that accurately describes many biological phenomena, although scientists don't agree on why it works. The team shows that Kleiber's Law captures the physics and mathematics underlying the evolution of plants' and animals' different, but equally efficient forms.

Why does the brain remember dreams? Posted: 17 Feb 2014 05:59 AM PST Some people recall a dream every morning, whereas others rarely recall one. In a new study, research shows that the temporo-parietal junction, an information-processing hub in the brain, is more active in high dream recallers. Increased activity in this brain region might facilitate attention orienting toward external stimuli and promote intrasleep wakefulness, thereby facilitating the encoding of dreams in memory.

Discovery may help to explain mystery of 'missing' genetic risk, susceptibility to common diseases Posted: 13 Feb 2014 03:49 PM PST A new study could help to answer an important riddle in our understanding of genetics: why research to look for the genetic causes of common diseases has failed to explain more than a fraction of the heritable risk of developing them.

Interactive map of human genetic history revealed Posted: 13 Feb 2014 11:22 AM PST A global map detailing the genetic histories of 95 different populations across the world, showing likely genetic impacts of European colonialism, the Arab slave trade, the Mongol Empire and European traders near the Silk Road mixing with people in China, has been revealed for the first time.

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