ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Otzi Iceman had genetic predisposition for atherosclerosis: Much the same in ancient peoples as it is today
• Pesticide DDT linked to slow metabolism, obesity and diabetes, mouse study finds
• Antarctic ice sheet is result of carbon dioxide decrease, not continental breakup
• Deep-sea octopus broods eggs for over four years -- longer than any known animal
• Scientists reproduce evolutionary changes by manipulating embryonic development of mice
• Tidal forces gave moon its shape early in its history, new analysis finds
• Double star with weird and wild planet-forming discs
• Finding quantum 'lines of desire': Physicists track quantum system's wanderings through quantum state space
• Exploring 3-D printing to make organs for transplants
• Decades-old amber collection offers new views of a lost world: Tiny grasshopper encased in amber
• Mercury's bizzare magnetic field tells scientists how its interior is different from Earth's
• Climate extremes are here to stay: Expect more heat waves and cold snaps
• Chinese mosquitoes on the Baltic Sea: Ancient insect inclusions in East-Asian amber
• Fossils found in Siberia suggest all dinosaurs could have been feathered
• A blood test for suicide risk? Alterations to a single gene could predict risk of suicide attempt
• Five daily portions of fruit and vegetables may be enough to lower risk of early death
• Huge waves measured for first time in Arctic Ocean

Otzi Iceman had genetic predisposition for atherosclerosis: Much the same in ancient peoples as it is today Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:37 PM PDT While prevalence and types of risk factors for atherosclerosis have varied over time from ancient times to modern society -- such as levels of obesity, physical activity -- genetic predisposition/risk for the condition today appears to be very similar to that in ancient times.

Pesticide DDT linked to slow metabolism, obesity and diabetes, mouse study finds Posted: 30 Jul 2014 12:17 PM PDT A new study in mice is the first to show that developmental exposure to DDT increases the risk of females later developing metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of conditions that include increased body fat, blood glucose, and cholesterol.

Antarctic ice sheet is result of carbon dioxide decrease, not continental breakup Posted: 30 Jul 2014 11:10 AM PDT Climate modelers have shown that the most likely explanation for the initiation of Antarctic glaciation during a major climate shift 34 million years ago was decreased carbon dioxide levels. The finding counters a 40-year-old theory suggesting massive rearrangements of Earth's continents caused global cooling and the abrupt formation of the Antarctic ice sheet. It will provide scientists insight into the climate change implications of current rising global carbon dioxide levels.

Deep-sea octopus broods eggs for over four years -- longer than any known animal Posted: 30 Jul 2014 11:09 AM PDT Researchers have observed a deep-sea octopus brooding its eggs for four-and-a-half years -- longer than any other known animal. Throughout this time, the female kept the eggs clean and guarded them from predators.

Scientists reproduce evolutionary changes by manipulating embryonic development of mice Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:32 AM PDT By modifying the embryonic development of mice, scientists have reproduced in the laboratory the changes in teeth shape which, in mammals, took millions of years of evolution to take place.

Tidal forces gave moon its shape early in its history, new analysis finds Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:31 AM PDT The shape of the moon deviates from a simple sphere in ways that scientists have struggled to explain. A new study shows that most of the moon's overall shape can be explained by taking into account tidal effects acting early in the moon's history. The results provide insights into the moon's early history, its orbital evolution, and its current orientation in the sky.

Double star with weird and wild planet-forming discs Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:29 AM PDT Astronomers have found wildly misaligned planet-forming gas discs around the two young stars in the binary system HK Tauri. These new observations provide the clearest picture ever of protoplanetary discs in a double star. The new result also helps to explain why so many exoplanets — unlike the planets in the Solar System — came to have strange, eccentric or inclined orbits.

Finding quantum 'lines of desire': Physicists track quantum system's wanderings through quantum state space Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:24 AM PDT What paths do quantum particles, such as atoms or photons, follow through quantum state space? Scientists have used an "artificial atom" to continuously and repeatedly record the paths through quantum state space. From the cobweb of a million paths, a most likely path between two quantum states emerged, much as social trails emerge as people round off corners or cut across lawns between buildings.

Exploring 3-D printing to make organs for transplants Posted: 30 Jul 2014 07:41 AM PDT Printing whole new organs for transplants sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the real-life budding technology could one day make actual kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs for patients who desperately need them. Scientists are reporting new understanding about the dynamics of 3-D bioprinting that takes them a step closer to realizing their goal of making working tissues and organs on-demand.

Decades-old amber collection offers new views of a lost world: Tiny grasshopper encased in amber Posted: 30 Jul 2014 07:41 AM PDT Scientists are searching through a massive collection of 20-million-year-old amber found in the Dominican Republic more than 50 years ago, and the effort is yielding fresh insights into ancient tropical insects and the world they inhabited. Perhaps the most striking discovery thus far is that of a pygmy locust, a tiny grasshopper the size of a rose thorn that lived 18- to 20-million years ago and fed on moss, algae and fungi.

Mercury's bizzare magnetic field tells scientists how its interior is different from Earth's Posted: 30 Jul 2014 06:43 AM PDT Mercury's interior is different from the Earth's interior in a way that explains Mercury's bizarre magnetic field, planetary physicists report. Measurements from NASA's Messenger spacecraft have revealed that Mercury's magnetic field is approximately three times stronger at its northern hemisphere than its southern one.

Climate extremes are here to stay: Expect more heat waves and cold snaps Posted: 30 Jul 2014 06:40 AM PDT Researchers show how they've used advanced computational data science tools to demonstrate that despite global warming, we may still experience severe cold snaps due to increasing variability in temperature extremes.

Chinese mosquitoes on the Baltic Sea: Ancient insect inclusions in East-Asian amber Posted: 30 Jul 2014 06:38 AM PDT The analysis of the roughly 3,000 pieces is still in its infant stage. But it is already evident that the results will be of major significance. The Baltic amber comes from the Baltic Sea region, which is almost 10,000 kilometers from Fushun. Sites rich in finds are, e.g., the coastal regions of Mecklenburg, Poland and Belarus. The pieces from the Baltic region are slightly younger than the ones from Fushun–according to estimates, about 40 to 50 million years.

Fossils found in Siberia suggest all dinosaurs could have been feathered Posted: 30 Jul 2014 02:05 AM PDT The first ever example of a plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales has been discovered in Russia. Previously only flesh-eating dinosaurs were known to have had feathers, so this new find raises the possibility that all dinosaurs could have been feathered.

A blood test for suicide risk? Alterations to a single gene could predict risk of suicide attempt Posted: 30 Jul 2014 01:34 AM PDT Researchers say they have discovered a chemical alteration in a single human gene linked to stress reactions that, if confirmed in larger studies, could give doctors a simple blood test to reliably predict a person's risk of attempting suicide.

Five daily portions of fruit and vegetables may be enough to lower risk of early death Posted: 29 Jul 2014 07:49 PM PDT Eating five daily portions of fruit and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death from any cause, particularly from cardiovascular disease, but beyond five portions appears to have no further effect, finds a new study.

Huge waves measured for first time in Arctic Ocean Posted: 29 Jul 2014 12:29 PM PDT The first measurements of waves in the middle of the Arctic Ocean recorded house-sized waves during a September 2012 storm. More sensors are going out this summer to study waves in newly ice-free Arctic waters.

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