ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Shrinking helped dinosaurs and birds to keep evolving
• Examining broken bones in 150 million-year-old predatory dinosaur
• Climate change is affecting every region of the U.S. and key sectors of the economy, federal report finds
• Small birds capitalize on weather patterns during epic migrations
• Redescription of the oldest-known dolphin skull sheds light on their origins and evolution
• International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers
• Magnetic fingerprint of our galaxy revealed
• Do we yawn to cool the brain? Yawning frequencies of people vary with temperature of the season
• Chimpanzees Show Similar Personality Traits to Humans
• Novel antioxidant makes old arteries seem young again, study shows
• 'Laughter Guy' dissects features of counterfeit chortling
• Galaxy's biggest telescope harnesses most precise measurement of spinning star
• Climate change threatens to worsen U.S. ozone pollution

Shrinking helped dinosaurs and birds to keep evolving Posted: 06 May 2014 04:07 PM PDT Although most dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, one dinosaur lineage survived and lives on today as a major evolutionary success story – the birds. A study that has 'weighed' hundreds of dinosaurs suggests that shrinking their bodies may have helped the group that became birds to continue exploiting new ecological niches throughout their evolution, and become hugely successful today.

Examining broken bones in 150 million-year-old predatory dinosaur Posted: 06 May 2014 04:06 PM PDT Scientists have used state-of-the-art imaging techniques to examine the cracks, fractures and breaks in the bones of a 150 million-year-old predatory dinosaur. The research sheds new light, literally, on the healing process that took place when these magnificent animals were still alive.

Climate change is affecting every region of the U.S. and key sectors of the economy, federal report finds Posted: 06 May 2014 02:23 PM PDT The U.S. Global Change Research Program has released the Third National Climate Assessment, the most comprehensive, authoritative, transparent scientific report on U.S. climate change impacts ever generated. The report confirms that climate change is affecting every region of the country and key sectors of the U.S. economy and society, underscoring the need to combat the threats climate change presents and increase the preparedness and resilience of American communities.

Small birds capitalize on weather patterns during epic migrations Posted: 06 May 2014 10:55 AM PDT In one of the greatest feats of endurance in the biological world, millions of tiny songbirds -- many weighing less than an ounce -- migrate thousands of miles to Central and South America each year. Now scientists are finding out how these featherweights do it: using elliptical routes that take advantage of prevailing wind patterns to save calories.

Redescription of the oldest-known dolphin skull sheds light on their origins and evolution Posted: 06 May 2014 10:04 AM PDT Dolphins are the most diverse family of living marine mammals and include species such as the bottlenose dolphin and the killer whale. However, their early evolution and fossil record has been steeped in mystery due to lack of good specimens. A new article re-describes the oldest species of dolphin with a new name: Eodelphis kabatensis.

International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers Posted: 06 May 2014 09:02 AM PDT Glaciologists have mapped virtually all of the world's glaciers -- including their locations and sizes -- allowing for calculations of their volumes and ongoing contributions to global sea rise as the world warms.

Magnetic fingerprint of our galaxy revealed Posted: 06 May 2014 09:02 AM PDT Astrophysicists have released an unprecedented map of the entire sky that charts the magnetic field shaping our Milky Way Galaxy. The map reveals magnetic field lines running parallel to the plane of the Galaxy, as well as great loops and whorls associated with nearby clouds of gas and dust.

Do we yawn to cool the brain? Yawning frequencies of people vary with temperature of the season Posted: 06 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT Why do we yawn? We tend to yawn before sleep and after waking, when we are bored or under stimulated. We yawn in the anticipation of important events and when we are under stress. What do all of these have in common? Researchers highlight a link with thermoregulation, and in particular, brain cooling.

Chimpanzees Show Similar Personality Traits to Humans Posted: 06 May 2014 08:56 AM PDT Chimpanzees have almost the same personality traits as humans, and they are structured almost identically, according to new work. The research also shows some of those traits have a neurobiological basis, and that those traits vary according to the biological sex of the individual chimpanzee.

Novel antioxidant makes old arteries seem young again, study shows Posted: 06 May 2014 06:49 AM PDT An antioxidant that targets specific cell structures -- mitochondria -- may be able to reverse some of the negative effects of aging on arteries, reducing the risk of heart disease, according to a new study. When the research team gave old mice -- the equivalent of 70- to 80-year-old humans -- water containing an antioxidant known as MitoQ for four weeks, their arteries functioned as well as the arteries of mice with an equivalent human age of just 25 to 35 years.

'Laughter Guy' dissects features of counterfeit chortling Posted: 06 May 2014 06:49 AM PDT Ever wonder how often you fool your boss or in-laws by pretending to laugh at their dumb jokes? The answer is probably around one-third of the time, according to new research by a communication expert who conducted research on fake laughs. When your fake laughs fall short of convincing, tiny subtleties of your breathing are probably giving you away, suggests one researcher.

Galaxy's biggest telescope harnesses most precise measurement of spinning star Posted: 06 May 2014 04:44 AM PDT An international team of astronomers has made a measurement of a distant neutron star that is one million times more precise than the previous world's best. The researchers were able to use the interstellar medium, the 'empty' space between stars and galaxies that is made up of sparsely spread charged particles, as a giant lens to magnify and look closely at the radio wave emission from a small rotating neutron star.

Climate change threatens to worsen U.S. ozone pollution Posted: 05 May 2014 10:05 AM PDT Ozone pollution across the continental United States will become far more difficult to keep in check as temperatures rise, according to new research. The detailed study shows that Americans face the risk of a 70 percent increase in unhealthy summertime ozone levels by 2050. This is because warmer temperatures and other changes in the atmosphere related to a changing climate, including higher atmospheric levels of methane, spur chemical reactions that lead to ozone.

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