ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons
• Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died
• Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue
• Comets forge organic molecules in their dusty atmospheres
• Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months
• Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years
• All-you-can-eat at the end of the universe: How early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun
• 2010 Chilean earthquake causes icequakes in Antarctica
• Water tractor beam: Complex waves generate flow patterns to manipulate floating objects
• Carbon dioxide 'sponge' could ease transition to cleaner energy

• Regular marijuana use bad for teens' brains, study finds

Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT Scientists hunting for life beyond Earth have discovered more than 1,800 planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, in recent years, but so far, no one has been able to confirm an exomoon. Now, physicists believe following a trail of radio wave emissions may lead them to that discovery.

Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT A bizarre group of uniquely shaped organisms known as rangeomorphs may have been some of the earliest animals to appear on Earth, uniquely suited to ocean conditions 575 million years ago. A new model has resolved many of the mysteries around the structure, evolution and extinction of these 'proto animals.'

Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Weather extremes in the summer -- such as the record heat wave in the United States that hit corn farmers and worsened wildfires in 2012 -- have reached an exceptional number in the last ten years. Human-made global warming can explain a gradual increase in periods of severe heat, but the observed change in the magnitude and duration of some events is not so easily explained.

Comets forge organic molecules in their dusty atmospheres Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Scientists have made incredible 3D images of the ghostly atmospheres surrounding comets ISON and Lemmon. These new observations provided important insights into how and where comets forge new chemicals, including intriguing organic compounds.

Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Bioengineers have created three-dimensional brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain and that can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months. The tissue could provide a superior model for studying normal brain function as well as injury and disease, and could assist in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction.

Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:49 AM PDT Scientists have found between Greenland and Spitsbergen the scours left behind on the sea bed by gigantic icebergs. "Whenever icebergs run aground, they leave scours on the seabed. Depending on their depth and location, those markings may continue to exist over long periods of time," explained the lead author. Found at a depth of 1,200 metres, the newly found five lineaments are the deepest iceberg scours found to date in the Arctic. The scours are as much as four kilometres long and 15 metres in depth.

All-you-can-eat at the end of the universe: How early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:48 AM PDT A new model shows how early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun. These giant bodies -- quasars -- feed on interstellar gas, swallowing large quantities of it non-stop. Thus they reveal their existence: The light that is emitted by the gas as it is sucked in and crushed by the black hole's gravity travels for eons across the Universe until it reaches our telescopes. Looking at the edges of the Universe is therefore looking into the past. These far-off, ancient quasars appear to us in their "baby photos" taken less than a billion years after the Big Bang: monstrous infants in a young Universe.

2010 Chilean earthquake causes icequakes in Antarctica Posted: 10 Aug 2014 06:42 PM PDT In March of 2010, the ice sheets in Antarctica vibrated a bit more than usual because of something more than 3,000 miles away: the 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake. A new study is the first to indicate that Antarctica's frozen ground is sensitive to seismic waves from distant earthquakes. Some of the icequakes were quick bursts and over in less than one second. Others were long duration, tremor-like signals up to 10 seconds. They occurred in various parts of the continent, including seismic stations along the coast and near the South Pole.

Water tractor beam: Complex waves generate flow patterns to manipulate floating objects Posted: 10 Aug 2014 06:42 PM PDT Physicists have created a tractor beam on water, providing a radical new technique that could confine oil spills, manipulate floating objects or explain rips at the beach.

Carbon dioxide 'sponge' could ease transition to cleaner energy Posted: 10 Aug 2014 09:42 AM PDT A plastic sponge that sops up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) might ease our tranisition away from polluting fossil fuels to new energy sources like hydrogen. A relative of food container plastics could play a role in President Obama's plan to cut CO2 emissions. The material might also someday be integrated into power plant smokestacks.

Regular marijuana use bad for teens' brains, study finds Posted: 09 Aug 2014 11:14 AM PDT Frequent marijuana use can have a significant negative effect on the brains of teenagers and young adults, including cognitive decline, poor attention and memory, and decreased IQ, according to psychologists. "It needs to be emphasized that regular cannabis use, which we consider once a week, is not safe and may result in addiction and neurocognitive damage, especially in youth," said one expert.

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