ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Super-charged tropical trees: Borneo’s productive trees vitally important for global carbon cycling
• Regenerating plastic grows back after damage
• Extinct kitten-sized hunter discovered
• 'Electrosmog' disrupts orientation in migratory birds, scientists show
• Higher-yielding crop plants? Plant hormone has dual role in triggering flower formation
• Exploring the magnetism of a single atom
• Scientists find solution to two long-standing mysteries of cuprate high-temperature superconductivity
• New insight into star cluster formation: Stars on the outskirts actually are the oldest
• Humans may benefit from new insights into polar bear's adaptation to high-fat diet
• Spurt of heart muscle cell division seen in mice well after birth: Implications for repair of congenital heart defects
• What vigilant squid can teach us about the purpose of pain
• Free radicals: What doesn't kill you may make you live longer
• Mummy-making wasps discovered in Ecuador
• Common drug restores blood flow in deadly form of muscular dystrophy: Results from 10-patient case study
• Spanish, Japanese centenarians reveal genetic key to longevity
• NASA telescopes coordinate best-ever flare observations
• New order of marine creatures discovered among sea anemones
• Scientists link Africanized honeybees' changing roles throughout their lives to brain chemistry
• Energy device for flexible electronics packs a lot of power
• Rosetta space probe: Landing on a comet to observe nucleus and environment

Super-charged tropical trees: Borneo’s productive trees vitally important for global carbon cycling Posted: 08 May 2014 04:23 PM PDT A team of scientists has found that the woody growth of forests in north Borneo is half as great again as in the most productive forests of north-west Amazonia, an average difference of 3.2 tons of wood per hectare per year.

Regenerating plastic grows back after damage Posted: 08 May 2014 02:23 PM PDT Looking at a smooth sheet of plastic in a laboratory, no one would guess that an impact had recently blasted a hole through it. Researchers have developed materials that not only heal, but regenerate. Until now, self-repairing materials could only bond tiny microscopic cracks. The new regenerating materials fill in large cracks and holes by regrowing material.

Extinct kitten-sized hunter discovered Posted: 08 May 2014 02:22 PM PDT Researchers have discovered an ancient kitten-sized predator that lived in Bolivia about 13 million years ago -- one of the smallest species reported in the extinct order Sparassodonta. The species has the features of a tenacious hunter that could feed on animals its own size, the scientists say.

'Electrosmog' disrupts orientation in migratory birds, scientists show Posted: 08 May 2014 01:36 PM PDT For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that the magnetic compass of robins fails entirely when the birds are exposed to AM radio waveband electromagnetic interference -- even if the signals are just a thousandth of the limit value defined by the World Health Organization as harmless.

Higher-yielding crop plants? Plant hormone has dual role in triggering flower formation Posted: 08 May 2014 11:18 AM PDT A plant hormone once believed to promote flower formation in annual plants also plays a role in inhibiting flowers from forming. The dual role of this hormone, gibberellin, could be exploited to produce higher-yielding crop plants.

Exploring the magnetism of a single atom Posted: 08 May 2014 11:18 AM PDT Scientists have shown for the first time the maximum theoretical limit of energy needed to control the magnetization of a single atom. The fundamental work can have great implications for the future of magnetic research and technology.

Scientists find solution to two long-standing mysteries of cuprate high-temperature superconductivity Posted: 08 May 2014 11:17 AM PDT Scientists seeking to understand the intricacies of high-temperature superconductivity -- the ability of certain materials to carry electrical current with no energy loss -- have been particularly puzzled by a mysterious phase that emerges as charge carriers are added that appears to compete with superconductivity. It's also been a mystery why, within this "pseudogap" phase, the movement of superconducting electrons appears to be restricted to certain directions. Detailed studies of a material as it transforms from an insulator through the "pseudogap" into a full-blown superconductor links two "personality" changes of electrons at a critical point.

New insight into star cluster formation: Stars on the outskirts actually are the oldest Posted: 08 May 2014 10:29 AM PDT Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and infrared telescopes, astronomers have made an important advance in the understanding of how clusters of stars come into being. Researchers studied two clusters where sun-like stars currently are forming -- NGC 2024, located in the center of the Flame Nebula, and the Orion Nebula Cluster. From this study, they discovered the stars on the outskirts of the clusters actually are the oldest.

Humans may benefit from new insights into polar bear's adaptation to high-fat diet Posted: 08 May 2014 09:13 AM PDT The polar bear diverged from the brown bear, or grizzly, as recently as several hundred thousand years ago, according to a genome comparison by American, Chinese and Danish researchers. They pinpointed genes that underwent extreme selection over time, specifically genes that deal with fat metabolism and apparently allowed the bear to adapt to a diet unusually high in fat. These genes could provide clues to help humans deal with health problems caused by high-fat diets.

Spurt of heart muscle cell division seen in mice well after birth: Implications for repair of congenital heart defects Posted: 08 May 2014 09:13 AM PDT The entire heart muscle in young children may be capable of regeneration. In young mice 15 days old, cardiac muscle cells undergo a precisely timed spurt of cell division lasting around a day. This previously unobserved phenomenon contradicts the long-held idea that cardiac muscle cells do not divide after the first few days of life.

What vigilant squid can teach us about the purpose of pain Posted: 08 May 2014 09:13 AM PDT Most of us have probably felt that lasting sense of anxiety or even pain after enduring some kind of accident or injury. Now, researchers have the first evidence in any animal that there may be a very good reason for that kind of heightened sensitivity. Squid that behave with extra vigilance after experiencing even a minor injury are more likely to live to see another day, according to a report.

Free radicals: What doesn't kill you may make you live longer Posted: 08 May 2014 09:12 AM PDT What is the secret to aging more slowly and living longer? Not antioxidants, apparently. Many people believe that free radicals, the sometimes-toxic molecules produced by our bodies as we process oxygen, are the culprit behind aging. Yet a number of studies in recent years have produced evidence that the opposite may be true. A team of researchers discovered that free radicals -- also known as oxidants -- act on a molecular mechanism that, in other circumstances, tells a cell to kill itself.

Mummy-making wasps discovered in Ecuador Posted: 08 May 2014 08:10 AM PDT Field work in the cloud forests of Ecuador has resulted in the discovery of 24 new species of Aleiodes wasps that mummify caterpillars. Among the 24 new insect species described by Shimbori and Shaw, several were named after famous people including the comedians and television hosts Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as the Ecuadorian artist Eduardo Kingman, American poet Robert Frost, and Colombian singer and musician, Shakira.

Common drug restores blood flow in deadly form of muscular dystrophy: Results from 10-patient case study Posted: 08 May 2014 07:03 AM PDT Researchers have found that a commonly prescribed drug restores blood flow to oxygen-starved muscles of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle-wasting disease that rarely is seen in girls but affects one in 3,500 male babies, profoundly shortening life expectancy. It is the most common fatal disease that affects children.

Spanish, Japanese centenarians reveal genetic key to longevity Posted: 08 May 2014 06:54 AM PDT The genes of 894 men and women over the age of one hundred in Spain and Japan have revealed that the secret to longevity, at least in southern Europe, lies in a variant on chromosome 9p21.3, which had already been associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. Centenarians live at least fifteen years longer than the average person in the West. This exceptional longevity is partially genetic, and it appears that there are a number of gene variants that may hold the key to a healthy old age life.

NASA telescopes coordinate best-ever flare observations Posted: 07 May 2014 06:23 PM PDT On March 29, 2014, an X-class flare erupted from the right side of the sun ... and vaulted into history as the best-observed flare of all time. The flare was witnessed by four different NASA spacecraft and one ground-based observatory -- three of which had been fortuitously focused in on the correct spot as programmed into their viewing schedule a full day in advance.

New order of marine creatures discovered among sea anemones Posted: 07 May 2014 06:22 PM PDT A deep-water creature once thought to be one of the world's largest sea anemones, with tentacles reaching more than 6.5 feet long, actually belongs to a new order of animals. The finding is part of a new DNA-based study that presents the first tree of life for sea anemones, a group that includes more than 1,200 species.

Scientists link Africanized honeybees' changing roles throughout their lives to brain chemistry Posted: 07 May 2014 06:59 AM PDT Scientists have been linking an increasing range of behaviors and inclinations from monogamy to addiction to animals', including humans', underlying biology. To that growing list, they're adding division of labor -- at least in killer bees. A new report presents new data that link the amounts of certain neuropeptides in these notorious bees' brains with their jobs inside and outside the hive.

Energy device for flexible electronics packs a lot of power Posted: 07 May 2014 06:59 AM PDT While flexible gadgets such as 'electronic skin' and roll-up touch screens are moving ever closer to reality, their would-be power sources are either too wimpy or too stiff. But that's changing fast. Scientists have developed a new device that's far thinner than paper, can flex and bend, and store enough energy to provide critical back-up power for portable electronics.

Rosetta space probe: Landing on a comet to observe nucleus and environment Posted: 07 May 2014 06:53 AM PDT In March 2004, the Rosetta orbiter was launched into space to analyse and observe the nucleus and environment of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Little research has been done on comets and they still hold many secrets. One theory is that comets brought water (and thus possibly even life) to Earth. Although space probes have been able to carry out isolated investigations, this has only been while the comets were flying past. At least until now. This will be the first probe not only to collect measurement data "en passant" as it were, but to accompany the comet -- and even to land on it.

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