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Thursday, March 27, 2014

ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

ScienceDaily: Most Popular News


Paleontologists assemble giant turtle bone from fossil discoveries made centuries apart

Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT

A broken fossil turtle bone discovered by an amateur paleontologist in 2012 turned out to be the missing half of a bone first described in 1849. The surprising puzzle discovery has led paleontologists to revise conventional wisdom of how long fossils can survive exposed to surface conditions. It also provides insight into one of the largest turtle species ever known.

Exploding stars prove Newton's law of gravity unchanged over cosmic time

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:02 PM PDT

Australian astronomers have combined all observations of supernovae ever made to determine that the strength of gravity has remained unchanged over the last nine billion years. Newton's gravitational constant, known as G, describes the attractive force between two objects, together with the separation between them and their masses. It has been previously suggested that G could have been slowly changing over the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. But researchers have now analyzed the light given off by 580 supernova explosions in the nearby and far Universe and have shown that the strength of gravity has not changed.

Einstein's 'spooky' theory may lead to ultra-secure Internet

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 07:45 PM PDT

Einstein's skepticism about quantum mechanics may lead to an ultra-secure Internet, a new paper suggests. In 1935, Einstein and researchers highlighted a 'spooky' theory in quantum mechanics, which is the strange way entangled particles stay connected even when separated by large distances. In the new research, the authors show that entangled messages "can be shared between more than two people and may provide unprecedented security for a future quantum Internet."

Life lessons: Children learn aggressive ways of thinking and behaving from violent video games, study finds

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 03:12 PM PDT

Children who repeatedly play violent video games are learning thought patterns that will stick with them and influence behaviors as they grow older, according to a new study. The effect is the same regardless of age, gender or culture. The lead researcher says it is really no different than learning math or to play the piano.

Shock-absorbing 'goo' discovered in bone

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PDT

New findings show that much of the mineral from which bone is made consists of 'goo' trapped between tiny crystals, allowing movement between them. It is this flexibility that stops bones from shattering. Latest research shows that the chemical citrate -- a by-product of natural cell metabolism -- is mixed with water to create a viscous fluid that is trapped between the nano-scale crystals that form our bones. This fluid allows enough movement, or 'slip', between these crystals so that bones are flexible, and don't shatter under pressure. It is the inbuilt shock absorber in bone that, until now, was unknown.

NASA's Spitzer Telescope brings 360-degree view of galaxy to our fingertips

Posted: 22 Mar 2014 06:45 AM PDT

Touring the Milky Way now is as easy as clicking a button with NASA's new zoomable, 360-degree mosaic. The star-studded panorama of our galaxy is constructed from more than 2 million infrared snapshots taken over the past 10 years by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Plankton make scents for seabirds and a cooler planet

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 09:55 AM PDT

The top predators of the Southern Ocean, far-ranging seabirds, are tied both to the health of the ocean ecosystem and to global climate regulation through a mutual relationship with phytoplankton, according to newly published work from the University of California, Davis.

Animals losing migratory routes? Devasting consequences of scarcity of 'knowledgeable elders'

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 08:19 AM PDT

Small changes in a population may lead to dramatic consequences, like the disappearance of the migratory route of a species. Scientists have created a model of the behavior of a group of individuals on the move (like a school of fish, a herd of sheep or a flock of birds, etc.) which, by changing a few simple parameters, reproduces the collective behavior patterns observed in the wild.

How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Posted: 28 Mar 2008 07:43 AM PDT

The Aztecs, Mayans and ancient Egyptians were three very different civilizations with one very large similarity: pyramids. However, of these three ancient cultures, the Egyptians set the standard for what most people recognize as classic pyramid design: massive monuments with a square base and four smooth-sided triangular sides, rising to a point. The Aztecs and Mayans built their pyramids with tiered steps and a flat top.

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