ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Controlling your computer with your eyes
• Messy experiment cleans up cornstarch and water mystery
• First ever videos of snow leopard mother and cubs in dens recorded in Mongolia
• Early human ancestor, Australopithecus sediba, fossils discovered in rock
• Large, medically important class of proteins starts to yield its secrets
• Antarctica at risk from human activities
• Vaccines backfire: Veterinary vaccines found to combine into new infectious viruses
• Discovery of chemical that affects biological clock offers new way to treat diabetes
• Attacking biofilms that cause chronic infections
• Solar system ice: Source of Earth's water
• As old as Clovis sites, but not Clovis: Paisley Caves, Oregon yields Western Stemmed points, more human DNA
• Highest resolution ever for human protein
• Study: Wolverines need refrigerators
• Newly isolated 'beige fat' cells could help fight obesity
• Physicists invent 'spintronic' LED
• Peering into the heart of a supernova: How to detect a rapidly spinning stellar core
• Viruses may be causing coral bleaching and decline around the world
• Fossil egg links dinosaurs to modern birds

Controlling your computer with your eyes Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:46 PM PDT Millions of people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes, thanks to a new device that costs less than £40. Composed from off-the-shelf materials, the new device can work out exactly where a person is looking by tracking their eye movements, allowing them to control a cursor on a screen just like a normal computer mouse.

Messy experiment cleans up cornstarch and water mystery Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:45 PM PDT Most people buy cornstarch to make custard or gravy, but two scientists have used it to solve a longstanding physics problem with a substance known to generations of Dr. Seuss readers as "Oobleck," and to scientists as a non-Newtonian liquid.

First ever videos of snow leopard mother and cubs in dens recorded in Mongolia Posted: 12 Jul 2012 01:27 PM PDT For the first time, the den sites of two female snow leopards and their cubs have been located in Mongolia's Tost Mountains, with the first known videos taken of a mother and cubs, located and recorded.

Early human ancestor, Australopithecus sediba, fossils discovered in rock Posted: 12 Jul 2012 01:27 PM PDT A large rock containing significant parts of a skeleton of an early human ancestor has just been discovered. The skeleton is believed to be the remains of "Karabo," the type skeleton of Australopithecus sediba, discovered at the Malapa site in the Cradle of Humankind in 2009.

Large, medically important class of proteins starts to yield its secrets Posted: 12 Jul 2012 01:27 PM PDT New research illuminates a large and medically important family of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

Antarctica at risk from human activities Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:31 PM PDT The continent of Antarctica is at risk from human activities and other forces, and environmental management is needed to protect the planet's last great wilderness area, say experts.

Vaccines backfire: Veterinary vaccines found to combine into new infectious viruses Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:47 AM PDT Two different vaccine viruses -- used simultaneously to control the same condition in chickens -- have combined to produce new infectious viruses. The research found that when two different ILT vaccine strains were used in the same populations, they combined into two new strains (a process known as recombination), resulting in disease outbreaks.

Discovery of chemical that affects biological clock offers new way to treat diabetes Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:47 AM PDT Biologists have discovered a chemical that offers a completely new and promising direction for the development of drugs to treat metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes. Their discovery initially came as a surprise because the chemical they isolated does not directly control glucose production in the liver, but instead affects the activity of a key protein that regulates the internal mechanisms of our daily night and day activities, which scientists call our circadian rhythm or biological clock.

Attacking biofilms that cause chronic infections Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:47 AM PDT Using super-resolution microscopy and continuous fluorescent imaging, scientists have for the first time revealed the structure of bacterial biofilms, which are responsible for the tenacious nature of bacterial diseases such as cholera, chronic sinusitis and lung infections in CF patients. The picture of bacterial apartment buildings provides new targets for the development of drugs that can tear down these structures and expose them to antibiotics.

Solar system ice: Source of Earth's water Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:47 AM PDT Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite were the sources of early Earth's volatile elements. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life. New research focuses on ice that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System. The team's findings contradict prevailing theories and suggest that meteorites are the most-likely sources of the Earth's water.

As old as Clovis sites, but not Clovis: Paisley Caves, Oregon yields Western Stemmed points, more human DNA Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:19 AM PDT Western Stemmed projectile points dating to at least 13,200 calendar years ago have been uncovered in Oregon's Paisley Caves. Researchers report the discovery and provide substantial new documentation that confirms the human DNA pulled earlier from dried feces in the caves also dates to the same time period.

Highest resolution ever for human protein Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:18 AM PDT Never has a crystal structure of a human protein molecule in a cell wall been so crystal clear. Researchers have achieved the most detailed crystal structure ever of a target protein for medicines.

Study: Wolverines need refrigerators Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:15 AM PDT The distribution of wolverines in the wild relates to the species' ability to store and "refrigerate" their food supply through tough times. The cold caches play a particularly important role in wolverine reproductive success, as they provide a source of nutrition for lactating females while they are nursing young.

Newly isolated 'beige fat' cells could help fight obesity Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:15 AM PDT Scientists have isolated a new type of energy-burning fat cell in adult humans which they say may have therapeutic potential for treating obesity.

Physicists invent 'spintronic' LED Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:15 AM PDT University of Utah physicists invented a new "spintronic" organic light-emitting diode that promises to be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the kinds of LEDs now used in television and computer displays, lighting, traffic lights and numerous electronic devices.

Peering into the heart of a supernova: How to detect a rapidly spinning stellar core Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:15 AM PDT Using computer simulations, researchers have determined that if the interior of a dying star is spinning rapidly just before it explodes in a magnificent supernova, two different types of signals emanating from that stellar core will oscillate together at the same frequency. This could be a piece of "smoking-gun evidence" that would lead to a better understanding of supernovae.

Viruses may be causing coral bleaching and decline around the world Posted: 12 Jul 2012 06:26 AM PDT Scientists have discovered two viruses that appear to infect the single-celled microalgae that reside in corals and are important for coral growth and health, and they say the viruses could play a role in the serious decline of coral ecosystems around the world.

Fossil egg links dinosaurs to modern birds Posted: 12 Jul 2012 06:24 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a series of dinosaur eggs with a unique characteristic: they are oval in shape. The discovery supports the theory that birds and non-avian theropods, dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period, could have a common ancestor.

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