ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Indo-European languages originated in Anatolia, research suggests
• Collective motion in schools of fish can evolve as finely tuned defense against attack from predators: Virtual fish simulation
• More exoplanets discovered: 41 new transiting planets in Kepler field of view
• Learning one of cancer's tricks: Chemists determine one way tumors meet their growing needs
• Novel technique to synthesize nanocrystals that harvest solar energy
• Link found between cold European winters and solar activity
• Supernovae of the same brightness, cut from vastly different cosmic cloth
• Engineers achieve longstanding goal of stable nanocrystalline metals
• Human lungs brush out intruders
• Human-chimp genetic differences: New insights into why humans are more susceptible to cancer and other diseases
• One-molecule-thick material has big advantages
• Scientists produce hydrogen for fuel cells using an inexpensive catalyst under real-world conditions
• Spacetime: A smoother brew than we knew
• Primate of the opera: What soprano singing apes on helium reveal about the human voice
• Cloud control could tame hurricanes, study shows
• Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state
• Are the eyes the key to a new test for Alzheimer's disease?

Indo-European languages originated in Anatolia, research suggests Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:54 PM PDT The Indo-European languages belong to one of the widest spread language families of the world. For the last two millenia, many of these languages have been written, and their history is relatively clear. But controversy remains about the time and place of the origins of the family. New research links the origins of Indo-European with the spread of farming from Anatolia 8,000 to 9,500 years ago.

Collective motion in schools of fish can evolve as finely tuned defense against attack from predators: Virtual fish simulation Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:24 PM PDT Researchers have designed a video game for predatory fish that has unraveled some lingering evolutionary questions about group formation and movement in animals.

More exoplanets discovered: 41 new transiting planets in Kepler field of view Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:04 PM PDT Two newly submitted studies verify 41 new transiting planets in 20 star systems. These results may increase the number of Kepler's confirmed planets by more than 50 percent: to 116 planets hosted in 67 systems, over half of which contain more than one planet.

Learning one of cancer's tricks: Chemists determine one way tumors meet their growing needs Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:38 AM PDT Researchers have shown for the first time that a specific sugar, known as GlcNAc ("glick-nack"), plays a key role in helping cancer cells grow rapidly and survive under harsh conditions. The finding suggests new potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

Novel technique to synthesize nanocrystals that harvest solar energy Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:38 AM PDT A new video protocol focuses on the liquid phase synthesis of two nanocrystals that produce hydrogen gas or an electric charge when exposed to light.

Link found between cold European winters and solar activity Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:38 AM PDT Scientists have long suspected that the Sun's 11-year cycle influences climate of certain regions on Earth. Yet records of average, seasonal temperatures do not date back far enough to confirm any patterns. Now, armed with a unique proxy, an international team of researchers show that unusually cold winters in Central Europe are related to low solar activity – when sunspot numbers are minimal.

Supernovae of the same brightness, cut from vastly different cosmic cloth Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT Astronomers have presented the first-ever direct observations of a Type 1a supernova progenitor system. Astronomers have collected evidence indicating that the progenitor system of a Type 1a supernova contains a red giant star. They also show that the system previously underwent at least one much smaller nova eruption before it ended its life in a destructive supernova. By comparison, indirect observations of another Type 1a supernova progenitor system showed no evidence of a red giant star. Taken together, these observations unequivocally show that just because Type 1a supernovae look the same, that doesn't mean they are all born the same way.

Engineers achieve longstanding goal of stable nanocrystalline metals Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT Most metals -- from the steel used to build bridges and skyscrapers to the copper and gold used to form wires in microchips -- are made of crystals: orderly arrays of molecules forming a perfectly repeating pattern. In many cases, the material is made of tiny crystals packed closely together, rather than one large crystal. The crystals tend to merge and grow larger if subjected to heat or stress. Now, researchers have found a way to avoid that problem. They've designed and made alloys that form extremely tiny grains -- called nanocrystals -- that are only a few billionths of a meter across.

Human lungs brush out intruders Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT A new study helps to explain how human airways clear mucus out of the lungs. The findings may give researchers a better understanding of what goes wrong in many human lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

Human-chimp genetic differences: New insights into why humans are more susceptible to cancer and other diseases Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:27 AM PDT Ninety-six percent of a chimpanzee's genome is the same as a human's. It's the other 4 percent, and the vast differences, that has intrigued researchers. For instance, why do humans have a high risk of cancer, even though chimps rarely develop the disease? In a new study, scientists have looked at brain samples of each species. They found that differences in certain DNA modifications, called methylation, may contribute to phenotypic changes. The results also hint that DNA methylation plays an important role for some disease-related phenotypes in humans, including cancer and autism.

One-molecule-thick material has big advantages Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:29 AM PDT New research suggests that a whole family of two-dimensional materials may open up possibilities for applications that could change many aspects of modern life.

Scientists produce hydrogen for fuel cells using an inexpensive catalyst under real-world conditions Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:29 AM PDT Scientists have produced hydrogen, a renewable energy source, from water using an inexpensive catalyst under industrially relevant conditions (using pH neutral water, surrounded by atmospheric oxygen, and at room temperature).

Spacetime: A smoother brew than we knew Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:15 AM PDT Spacetime may be less like beer and more like sipping whiskey. Or so an intergalactic photo finish would suggest. Physicists reached this heady conclusion after studying the tracings of three photons of differing wavelengths that were recorded by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in May 2009. Photons from a gamma-ray burst jetted 7 billion light years across the universe and arrived at Earth in a dead heat, calling into question just how foamy the universe may be.

Primate of the opera: What soprano singing apes on helium reveal about the human voice Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:09 AM PDT Have you ever heard an opera singing ape? Researchers in Japan have discovered that singing gibbons use the same vocal techniques as professional soprano singers. The study explains how recording gibbons singing under the influence of helium gas reveals a physiological similarity to human voices.

Cloud control could tame hurricanes, study shows Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:09 AM PDT They are one of the most destructive forces of nature on Earth, but now environmental scientists are working to tame the hurricane. Scientists now propose using cloud seeding to decrease sea surface temperatures where hurricanes form. Theoretically, the team claims the technique could reduce hurricane intensity by a category.

Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT Scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

Are the eyes the key to a new test for Alzheimer's disease? Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:17 AM PDT A simple eye tracking test could hold the key to earlier Alzheimer's diagnosis, according to new research.

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