ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Spiders: Survival of the fittest group
• Swirling cloud at Titan's pole is cold and toxic
• Why wet feels wet: Understanding the illusion of wetness
• Gut bacteria are protected by host during illness
• Solving the mystery of the 'Man in the Moon': Volcanic plume, not an asteroid, likely created the moon's largest basin
• Genetic secrets of the monarch butterfly revealed
• Support for controversial Darwin theory of 'jump dispersal'
• New drug-delivery capsule may replace injections
• Nature collides with James Bond: Newly discovered ant species hides in plain sight
• Geneticists solve 40-year-old dilemma to explain why duplicate genes remain in the genome

Spiders: Survival of the fittest group Posted: 01 Oct 2014 03:44 PM PDT Researchers have uncovered the first-ever field-based evidence for a biological mechanism called 'group selection' contributing to local adaptation in natural populations. Evolutionary theorists have been debating the existence and power of group selection for decades. Now two scientists have observed it in the wild.

Swirling cloud at Titan's pole is cold and toxic Posted: 01 Oct 2014 11:00 AM PDT Scientists analyzing data from NASA's Cassini mission have discovered that a giant, toxic cloud is hovering over the south pole of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, after the atmosphere there cooled dramatically. The scientists found that this giant polar vortex contains frozen particles of the toxic compound hydrogen cyanide, or HCN.

Why wet feels wet: Understanding the illusion of wetness Posted: 01 Oct 2014 10:34 AM PDT Though it seems simple, feeling that something is wet is quite a feat because our skin does not have receptors that sense wetness. UK researchers propose that wetness perception is intertwined with our ability to sense cold temperature and tactile sensations such as pressure and texture.

Gut bacteria are protected by host during illness Posted: 01 Oct 2014 10:34 AM PDT To protect their gut microbes during illness, sick mice produce specialized sugars in the gut that feed their microbiota and maintain a healthy microbial balance. This protective mechanism also appears to help resist or tolerate additional harmful pathogens, and its disruption may play a role in human diseases such as Crohn's disease.

Solving the mystery of the 'Man in the Moon': Volcanic plume, not an asteroid, likely created the moon's largest basin Posted: 01 Oct 2014 10:30 AM PDT New data obtained by NASA's GRAIL mission reveals that the Procellarum region on the near side of the moon -- a giant basin often referred to as the "man in the moon" -- likely arose not from a massive asteroid strike, but from a large plume of magma deep within the moon's interior.

Genetic secrets of the monarch butterfly revealed Posted: 01 Oct 2014 10:30 AM PDT Sequencing the genomes of monarch butterflies from around the world, a team of scientists has made surprising new insights into the monarch's genetics. They identified a single gene that appears central to migration -- a behavior generally regarded as complex -- and another that controls pigmentation. The researchers also shed light on the evolutionary origins of the monarch.

Support for controversial Darwin theory of 'jump dispersal' Posted: 01 Oct 2014 07:27 AM PDT More than one hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin hypothesized that species could cross oceans and other vast distances on vegetation rafts, icebergs, or in the case of plant seeds, in the plumage of birds. Though many were skeptical of Darwin's 'jump dispersal' idea, a new study suggests that Darwin might have been correct.

New drug-delivery capsule may replace injections Posted: 01 Oct 2014 07:27 AM PDT A pill coated with tiny needles can deliver drugs directly into the lining of the digestive tract, researchers have found, suggesting that the end of injections may be near.

Nature collides with James Bond: Newly discovered ant species hides in plain sight Posted: 01 Oct 2014 07:26 AM PDT A new species of ant has been discovered that uses social parasitism to access host ant species' food sources and foraging trails: Cephalotes specularis, commonly known as the mirror turtle ant. Mirror turtle ants are the first-known ant species to use visual mimicry to parasitize another ant species. They have mastered the movements of C. ampla and are careful to dodge the host ants to avoid them detecting C. specularis' scent. By mimicking C. ampla, the mirror turtle ants can access their food and follow their foraging trails to food sources. In spy terms, this new form of social parasitism allows ants to steal food from an enemy.

Geneticists solve 40-year-old dilemma to explain why duplicate genes remain in the genome Posted: 30 Sep 2014 06:22 PM PDT After 40 years of wondering why, scientists have discovered that duplicate genes confer 'mutational robustness' in individuals, which allows them to adapt to novel, potentially dangerous environments.

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