ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Mars: Meteorites yield clues to Red Planet's early atmosphere
• Crucial new information about how the ice ages came about
• Warm U.S. West, cold East: 4,000-year pattern; Global warming may bring more curvy jet streams during winter
• Research reveals what your sleeping position says about your relationship
• New study outlines 'water world' theory of life's origins
• Brain changes associated with casual marijuana use in young adults: More 'joints' equal more damage
• Astronomers: 'Tilt-a-worlds' could harbor life
• SSRI use during pregnancy linked to autism and developmental delays in boys
• Lifestyle determines gut microbes: Study with modern hunter-gatherers tells tale of bacteria co-evolution
• Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light
• Thermoelectric generator on glass fabric for wearable electronic devices
• Sunlight generates hydrogen in new porous silicon
• New gene mutation associated with congenital myopathy

Mars: Meteorites yield clues to Red Planet's early atmosphere Posted: 16 Apr 2014 11:33 AM PDT Geologists analyzed 40 meteorites that fell to Earth from Mars to understand the history of the Martian atmosphere. Their new article shows the atmospheres of Mars and Earth diverged in important ways early in the solar system's 4.6 billion year evolution.

Crucial new information about how the ice ages came about Posted: 16 Apr 2014 10:33 AM PDT Scientists have discovered new relationships between deep-sea temperature and ice-volume changes to provide crucial new information about how the ice ages came about. The researchers found, for the first time, that the long-term trends in cooling and continental ice-volume cycles over the past 5.3 million years were not the same. In fact, for temperature the major step toward the ice ages that have characterized the past two to three million years was a cooling event at 2.7 million years ago, but for ice-volume the crucial step was the development of the first intense ice age at around 2.15 million years ago. Before these results, these were thought to have occurred together at about 2.5 million years ago.

Warm U.S. West, cold East: 4,000-year pattern; Global warming may bring more curvy jet streams during winter Posted: 16 Apr 2014 06:03 AM PDT Last winter's curvy jet stream pattern brought mild temperatures to western North America and harsh cold to the East. A new study shows that pattern became more pronounced 4,000 years ago, and suggests it may worsen as Earth's climate warms.

Research reveals what your sleeping position says about your relationship Posted: 15 Apr 2014 05:37 PM PDT Scientists have discovered what people's preferred sleeping position reveals about their relationships and personality. The research revealed the most popular sleep positions for couples, with 42% sleeping back to back, 31% sleeping facing the same direction and just 4% spending the night facing one another. In addition, 12% of couples spend the night less than an inch apart whilst 2% sleep over 30 inches apart.

New study outlines 'water world' theory of life's origins Posted: 15 Apr 2014 04:57 PM PDT Life took root more than four billion years ago on our nascent Earth, a wetter and harsher place than now, bathed in sizzling ultraviolet rays. What started out as simple cells ultimately transformed into slime molds, frogs, elephants, humans and the rest of our planet's living kingdoms. How did it all begin?

Brain changes associated with casual marijuana use in young adults: More 'joints' equal more damage Posted: 15 Apr 2014 03:11 PM PDT The size and shape of two brain regions involved in emotion and motivation may differ in young adults who smoke marijuana at least once a week, according to a new study. The findings suggest that recreational marijuana use may lead to previously unidentified brain changes, and highlight the importance of research aimed at understanding the long-term effects of low to moderate marijuana use on the brain.

Astronomers: 'Tilt-a-worlds' could harbor life Posted: 15 Apr 2014 12:37 PM PDT A fluctuating tilt in a planet's orbit does not preclude the possibility of life, according to new research. In fact, sometimes it may help. That's because such "tilt-a-worlds," as astronomers sometimes call them -- turned from their orbital plane by the influence of companion planets -- are less likely than fixed-spin planets to freeze over, as heat from their host star is more evenly distributed.

SSRI use during pregnancy linked to autism and developmental delays in boys Posted: 15 Apr 2014 12:37 PM PDT In a study of nearly 1,000 mother-child pairs, researchers found that prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a frequently prescribed treatment for depression, anxiety and other disorders, was associated with autism spectrum disorder and developmental delays in boys.

Lifestyle determines gut microbes: Study with modern hunter-gatherers tells tale of bacteria co-evolution Posted: 15 Apr 2014 10:39 AM PDT The intestinal bacteria of present-day hunter-gatherers has for the first time been deciphered by an international team of researchers. Bacterial populations have co-evolved with humans over millions of years, and have the potential to help us adapt to new environments and foods. Studies of the Hadza offer an especially rare opportunity for scientists to learn how humans survive by hunting and gathering, in the same environment and using similar foods as our ancestors did.

Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT During the age of the dinosaurs, the arrival of flowering plants as competitors could have spelled doom for primitive ferns. Instead, ferns diversified and flourished under the new canopy -- using a mysterious gene that helped them adapt to low-light environments. Scientists have now pinpointed the curious origins of this gene and determined that it was transferred to ferns from a group of unassuming, mossy plants called hornworts.

Thermoelectric generator on glass fabric for wearable electronic devices Posted: 10 Apr 2014 10:14 AM PDT Wearable computers or devices have been hailed as the next generation of mobile electronic gadgets, from smart watches to smart glasses to smart pacemakers. For electronics to be worn by a user, they must be light, flexible, and equipped with a power source, which could be a portable, long-lasting battery or no battery at all but a generator. How to supply power in a stable and reliable manner is one of the most critical issues to commercialize wearable devices. Scientists have now proposed a solution to this problem by developing a glass fabric-based thermoelectric (TE) generator that is extremely light and flexible and produces electricity from the heat of the human body.

Sunlight generates hydrogen in new porous silicon Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:12 AM PDT Porous silicon manufactured in a bottom up procedure using solar energy can be used to generate hydrogen from water, according to mechanical engineers who also see applications for batteries, biosensors and optical electronics as outlets for this new material.

New gene mutation associated with congenital myopathy Posted: 25 Jul 2012 11:25 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a new cause of congenital myopathy: a mutation in a previously uncharacterized gene.

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