ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Charging portable electronics in 10 minutes: New architecture for lithium-ion battery anodes far outperform the current standard
• Earth is around 60 million years older than previously thought -- and so is the moon, new research finds
• A life well spent: Consume now (in case you die early)
• Malaria-carrying mosquitoes wiped out in lab with genetic method that creates male-only offspring
• Human stem cells used to create light-sensitive retina in a dish
• Seafarers brought Neolithic culture to Europe, gene study indicates
• Bees can be more important than fertilizer
• First atlas of Inuit Arctic trails launched
• Cell phones negatively affect male fertility, new study suggests
• Does 'free will' stem from brain noise?
• Water found to provide blueprints for root architecture
• To recover consciousness, brain activity passes through newly detected states
• Major West Antarctic glacier melting from geothermal sources
• Parent and child must get enough sleep to protect against child obesity
• 'Hello, world!' NASA beams video from space station via laser
• Nanoparticle thin films that self-assemble in one minute
• Dark side of the moon: 55-year-old mystery solved
• Echoes of ancient Earth identified by scientists?

Charging portable electronics in 10 minutes: New architecture for lithium-ion battery anodes far outperform the current standard Posted: 10 Jun 2014 11:47 AM PDT Researchers have developed a three-dimensional, silicon-decorated, cone-shaped carbon-nanotube cluster architecture for lithium ion battery anodes that could enable charging of portable electronics in 10 minutes, instead of hours.

Earth is around 60 million years older than previously thought -- and so is the moon, new research finds Posted: 10 Jun 2014 11:46 AM PDT The timing of the giant impact between Earth's ancestor and a planet-sized body occurred around 40 million years after the start of solar system formation. This means that the final stage of Earth's formation is around 60 million years older than previously thought, according to new research.

A life well spent: Consume now (in case you die early) Posted: 10 Jun 2014 09:20 AM PDT An early death constitutes a serious loss that should imply compensation to the deceased person. But how – when the person is dead? A team of economists argues that a 'life well spent' might entail consuming more and working less earlier in life. They construct a mathematical model to measure the economic losses associated with an early death.

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes wiped out in lab with genetic method that creates male-only offspring Posted: 10 Jun 2014 08:24 AM PDT Scientists have modified mosquitoes to produce sperm that will only create males, pioneering a fresh approach to eradicating malaria. Since 2000, increased prevention and control measures have reduced global malaria mortality rates by 42 per cent, but the disease remains a prevalent killer especially in vulnerable sub-Saharan African regions. Malaria control has also been threatened by the spread of insecticide resistant mosquitoes and malaria parasites resistant to drugs.

Human stem cells used to create light-sensitive retina in a dish Posted: 10 Jun 2014 08:23 AM PDT Using a type of human stem cell, researchers say they have created a three-dimensional complement of human retinal tissue in the laboratory, which notably includes functioning photoreceptor cells capable of responding to light, the first step in the process of converting it into visual images.

Seafarers brought Neolithic culture to Europe, gene study indicates Posted: 10 Jun 2014 07:20 AM PDT Genetic evidence in modern populations suggests that Neolithic farmers from the Levant traveled mostly by sea to reach Europe. By 7,000 B.C., they were introducing their ideas and their genes to the native Paleolithic people, who had migrated to the continent 30,000 to 40,000 years before.

Bees can be more important than fertilizer Posted: 10 Jun 2014 07:15 AM PDT Insects play a key role in the pollination of cultivated plants, and a new study suggests that they can be even more important than fertilizer. In the study, fertilization and watering only had an effect on harvest yield in combination with pollination manipulations. Results led the scientists to the conclusion that an almond tree can compensate for a lack of nutrients and water in the short term by directing stored nutrients and water to the fruits but cannot compensate for insufficient pollination.

First atlas of Inuit Arctic trails launched Posted: 10 Jun 2014 07:13 AM PDT A new digital resource brings together centuries of cultural knowledge for the first time, showing that networks of trails over snow and sea ice, seemingly unconnected to the untrained eye, in fact span a continent – and that the Inuit have long-occupied one of the most resource-rich and contested areas on the planet.

Cell phones negatively affect male fertility, new study suggests Posted: 09 Jun 2014 05:56 PM PDT Men who keep a cell phone in their pant pocket could be inadvertently damaging their chances of becoming a father, according to a new study. Previous research has suggested that radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) emitted by the devices can have a detrimental effect on male fertility. Most of the global adult population own mobile phones, and around 14% of couples in high and middle income countries have difficulty conceiving.

Does 'free will' stem from brain noise? Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:35 PM PDT Our ability to make choices -- and sometimes mistakes -- might arise from random fluctuations in the brain's background electrical noise, according to a recent study. New research shows how arbitrary states in the brain can influence apparently voluntary decisions.

Water found to provide blueprints for root architecture Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:34 PM PDT Soil is a microscopic maze of nooks and crannies that hosts a wide array of life. Plants explore this environment by developing a complex branched network of roots that tap into scarce resources such as water and nutrients. How roots sense which regions of soil contain water and what effect this moisture has on the architecture of the root system has been unclear until now.

To recover consciousness, brain activity passes through newly detected states Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:34 PM PDT Research shows that recovery from deep anesthesia is not a smooth, linear process but is instead a dynamic journey with specific states of activity the brain must temporarily occupy on the way to full recovery.

Major West Antarctic glacier melting from geothermal sources Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:34 PM PDT New research on the Thwaits Glacier will help ice sheet modeling efforts needed to determine when the collapse of the glacier will begin in earnest and at what rate the sea level will increase as it proceeds.

Parent and child must get enough sleep to protect against child obesity Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:33 PM PDT Is sleep one of your most important family values? A new study suggests that it should be, reporting that more parental sleep is related to more child sleep, which is related to decreased child obesity. And the effects of sleeplessness go beyond just being tired the next day.

'Hello, world!' NASA beams video from space station via laser Posted: 09 Jun 2014 11:09 AM PDT The high-definition video via laser transmission from space to ground, stating 'Hello, World!' was the first of its kind for the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science from the International Space Station.

Nanoparticle thin films that self-assemble in one minute Posted: 09 Jun 2014 11:09 AM PDT A technique whereby self-assembling nanoparticle arrays can form a highly ordered thin film over macroscopic distances in one minute has been designed by scientists. Nanoparticles function as artificial atoms with unique optical, electrical and mechanical properties. If nanoparticles can be induced to self-assemble into complex structures and hierarchical patterns, similar to what nature does with proteins, it would enable mass-production of devices a thousand times smaller those used in today's microtechnology.

Dark side of the moon: 55-year-old mystery solved Posted: 09 Jun 2014 09:20 AM PDT The Man in the Moon appeared when meteoroids struck the Earth-facing side of the moon creating large flat seas of basalt that we see as dark areas called maria. But no "face" exists on farside of the moon and now, astrophysicists think they know why. This mystery is called the Lunar Farside Highlands Problem and dates back to 1959, when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 transmitted the first images of the "dark" side of the moon back to Earth.

Echoes of ancient Earth identified by scientists? Posted: 09 Jun 2014 08:33 AM PDT A previously unexplained isotopic ratio may represent the echoes of the ancient Earth, which existed prior to the proposed Theia collision 4.5 billion years ago. A research team has analyzed the ratios of noble gas isotopes from deep within Earth's mantle, and has compared these results to isotope ratios closer to the surface. The found that 3He to 22Ne ratio from the shallow mantle is significantly higher than the equivalent ratio in the deep mantle.

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