ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Astronomers detect vast amounts of gas and dust around black hole in early universe
• Bacteria use chat to play the 'prisoner's dilemma' game in deciding their fate
• New evidence that comets deposited building blocks of life on primordial Earth
• Competition-linked bursts of testosterone are fundamental aspect of human biology, study of Amazonian tribe suggests
• Transparent, flexible '3-D' memory chips may be the next big thing in small memory devices
• Elusive Bururi long-fingered frog found after 62 years
• West Antarctic ice shelves tearing apart at the seams
• Most extensive full face transplant to date
• Researchers discover a new path for light through metal
• Living human gut-on-a-chip: Tiny device simulates structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine
• Air pollution from trucks and low-quality heating oil may explain childhood asthma hot spots
• Engineers set their sights on asteroid deflection
• A planetary system from the early Universe
• New dimension for solar energy: Innovative 3-D designs more than double the solar power generated per area
• 'Ordinary' black hole discovered 12 million light years away
• Jupiter helps Halley’s Comet give us more spectacular meteor displays
• Evidence stacks up that monolith at Gardom's Edge is astronomically aligned
• Signs of thawing permafrost revealed from space
• Regular chocolate eaters are thinner, evidence suggests
• New plastics 'bleed' when cut or scratched -- and then heal like human skin
• New 'electronic skin' patches monitor health wirelessly
• Using viruses to beat superbugs

Astronomers detect vast amounts of gas and dust around black hole in early universe Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:57 PM PDT Astronomers have discovered a large reservoir of gas and dust in a galaxy that surrounds the most distant supermassive black hole known. Light from the galaxy, called J1120+0641, has taken so long to reach us that the galaxy is seen as it was only 740 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 1/18th of its current age.

Bacteria use chat to play the 'prisoner's dilemma' game in deciding their fate Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:57 PM PDT When faced with life-or-death situations, bacteria -- and maybe even human cells -- use an extremely sophisticated version of "game theory" to consider their options and decide upon the best course of action. Scientists said microbes "play" a version of the classic "Prisoner's Dilemma" game.

New evidence that comets deposited building blocks of life on primordial Earth Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:56 PM PDT New research provides further support for the idea that comets bombarding Earth billions of years ago carried and deposited the key ingredients for life to spring up on the planet.

Competition-linked bursts of testosterone are fundamental aspect of human biology, study of Amazonian tribe suggests Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:55 PM PDT Though Tsimane men have a third less baseline testosterone compared with U.S. men, Tsimane show the same increase in testosterone following a soccer game, suggesting that competition-linked bursts of testosterone are a fundamental aspect of human biology.

Transparent, flexible '3-D' memory chips may be the next big thing in small memory devices Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:55 PM PDT New memory chips that are transparent, flexible enough to be folded like a sheet of paper, shrug off 1,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures -- twice as hot as the max in a kitchen oven -- and survive other hostile conditions could usher in the development of next-generation flash-competitive memory for tomorrow's keychain drives, cell phones and computers, scientists say.

Elusive Bururi long-fingered frog found after 62 years Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:28 PM PDT Herpetologists have discovered a single specimen of the Bururi long-fingered frog during a research expedition to Burundi in December 2011. The frog was last seen by scientists in 1949 and was feared to be extinct after decades of turmoil in the tiny East African nation.

West Antarctic ice shelves tearing apart at the seams Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:43 AM PDT A new study examining nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, potentially amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea.

Most extensive full face transplant to date Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:49 AM PDT The most extensive full face transplant ever performed has just been completed. It included both jaws, teeth, and tongue. The 36-hour operation occurred on March 19-20, 2012 and involved a multi-disciplinary team of faculty physicians and a team of over 150 nurses and professional staff.

Researchers discover a new path for light through metal Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:49 AM PDT Researchers have coaxed a thin film of titanium nitride into transporting plasmons, tiny electron excitations coupled to light that can direct and manipulate optical signals on the nanoscale. Titanium nitride's addition to the short list of surface-plasmon-supporting materials, formerly comprised only of metals, could point the way to a new class of optoelectronic devices with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

Living human gut-on-a-chip: Tiny device simulates structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:48 AM PDT Researchers have created a gut-on-a-chip microdevice lined by living human cells that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestine -- even supporting the growth of living microbes within its luminal space. As a more accurate alternative to conventional cell culture and animal models, the microdevice could help researchers gain new insights into intestinal disorders and evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential treatments.

Air pollution from trucks and low-quality heating oil may explain childhood asthma hot spots Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:48 AM PDT Where a child lives can greatly affect his or her risk for asthma. Neighborhood differences in rates of childhood asthma may be explained by varying levels of air pollution from trucks and residential heating oil. In New York City, where the study was conducted, asthma among school-age children ranges from a low of three percent to a high of 19 percent depending on the neighborhood.

Engineers set their sights on asteroid deflection Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:42 AM PDT Engineers are developing an innovative technique based on lasers that could radically change asteroid deflection technology.

A planetary system from the early Universe Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:41 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered an ancient planetary system that is likely to be a survivor from one of the earliest cosmic eras, 13 billion years ago. The system consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets, which have orbital periods of 290 and 7 days, respectively. Whereas planets usually form within clouds that include heavier chemical elements, the star HIP 11952 contains very little other than hydrogen and helium. The system promises to shed light on planet formation in the early universe – under conditions quite different from those of later planetary systems, such as our own.

New dimension for solar energy: Innovative 3-D designs more than double the solar power generated per area Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:46 AM PDT Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface, or sometimes attached to motorized structures that keep the cells pointed toward the sun as it crosses the sky. Now, a team of researchers has come up with a very different approach: building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations.

'Ordinary' black hole discovered 12 million light years away Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:36 AM PDT Scientists have discovered an 'ordinary' black hole in the 12 million light year-distant galaxy Centaurus A. This is the first time that a normal-size black hole has been detected away from the immediate vicinity of our own Galaxy.

Jupiter helps Halley’s Comet give us more spectacular meteor displays Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:35 AM PDT The dramatic appearance of Halley's comet in the night sky has been observed and recorded by astronomers since 240 BC. Now a study shows that the orbital influences of Jupiter on the comet and the debris it leaves in its wake are responsible for periodic outbursts of activity in the Orionid meteor showers.

Evidence stacks up that monolith at Gardom's Edge is astronomically aligned Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:35 AM PDT Researchers have gathered new evidence that a 4000-year-old monolith was aligned to be an astronomical marker.  The 2.2 meter high monument, located in the Peak District National Park, has a striking, right-angled triangular shape that slants up towards geographic south. The orientation and inclination of the slope is aligned to the altitude of the Sun at mid-summer. The researchers believe that the monolith was set in place to give symbolic meaning to the location through the changing seasonal illuminations.

Signs of thawing permafrost revealed from space Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:31 AM PDT Satellite are seeing changes in land surfaces in high detail at northern latitudes, indicating thawing permafrost. This releases greenhouse gases into parts of the Arctic, exacerbating the effects of climate change. Permafrost is ground that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years and usually appears in areas at high latitudes such as Alaska, Siberia and Northern Scandinavia, or at high altitudes like the Andes, Himalayas and the Alps.

Regular chocolate eaters are thinner, evidence suggests Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:12 AM PDT Katherine Hepburn famously said of her slim physique: "What you see before you is the result of a lifetime of chocolate." New evidence suggests she may have been right. Nutritional experts present new findings that may overturn the major objection to regular chocolate consumption: that it makes people fat.

New plastics 'bleed' when cut or scratched -- and then heal like human skin Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:12 AM PDT A new genre of plastics that mimic the human skin's ability to heal scratches and cuts offers the promise of endowing cell phones, laptops, cars and other products with self-repairing surfaces, scientists have reported. The plastics change color to warn of wounds and heal themselves when exposed to light.

New 'electronic skin' patches monitor health wirelessly Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT Like the colorful temporary tattoos that children stick to their arms for fun, people may one day put thin "electronic skin" patches onto their arms to wirelessly diagnose health problems or deliver treatments. The patches could eliminate the need for patients to stay tethered to large machines for hours of treatment or monitoring.

Using viruses to beat superbugs Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:36 AM PDT Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing antibiotic resistance.

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