ScienceDaily: Top Science News

---

• Living against the clock; Does loss of daily rhythms cause obesity?
• 'Nano machine shop' shapes nanowires, ultrathin films
• Rare find: Feathered dinosaur feasted on flying food
• Flu is transmitted before symptoms appear, study in ferrets suggests
• California heatwaves to move toward coastal areas: Researchers reassess heatwaves against the backdrop of rising temperatures
• Hope of greater global food output, less environmental impact of agriculture
• Eyeless Australian fish have closest relatives in Madagascar
• Walls of lunar crater may hold patchy ice
• Bonanza of black holes, hot DOGs: NASA's WISE survey uncovers millions of black holes
• Hot spots pinpointed as earthquake trigger points: Small droplets of friction-generated melts can lead to 'megaquakes'
• Synchronized lasers measure how light changes matter: Effects of light at atomic scale probed by mixing x-ray and optical light waves
• Large methane reservoirs beneath Antarctic ice sheet, study suggests
• Single gene has major impact on gaits in horses and in mice
• Math ability requires crosstalk in the brain
• 'Anternet' discovered: Behavior of harvester ants as they forage for food mirrors protocols that control Internet traffic
• Biologists create first predictive computational model of gene networks that control development of sea-urchin embryos
• Building blocks of life found around young star
• Lunar 'hit-and-run': New research eclipses existing theories on formation of the moon
• Earphones potentially as dangerous as noise from jet engines, researchers find

Living against the clock; Does loss of daily rhythms cause obesity? Posted: 29 Aug 2012 04:51 PM PDT When Thomas Edison tested the first light bulb in 1879, he could never have imagined that his invention could one day contribute to a global obesity epidemic. Electric light allows us to work, rest and play at all hours of the day, and a new article suggests that this might have serious consequences for our health and for our waistlines.

'Nano machine shop' shapes nanowires, ultrathin films Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:21 PM PDT A new "nano machine shop" that shapes nanowires and ultrathin films could represent a future manufacturing method for tiny structures with potentially revolutionary properties.

Rare find: Feathered dinosaur feasted on flying food Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:19 PM PDT Researchers found evidence that a feathered, but flightless dinosaur was able to snag and consume small flying dinosaurs.

Flu is transmitted before symptoms appear, study in ferrets suggests Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:18 PM PDT New research examining influenza transmission in ferrets suggests that the virus can be passed on before the appearance of symptoms. If the finding applies to humans, it means that people pass on flu to others before they know they're infected, making it very difficult to contain epidemics.

California heatwaves to move toward coastal areas: Researchers reassess heatwaves against the backdrop of rising temperatures Posted: 29 Aug 2012 12:12 PM PDT A new study suggests that the nature of California heatwaves is changing due to global warming. Climate researchers have detected a trend toward more humid heatwaves that are expressed very strongly in elevated nighttime temperatures, a trend consistent with climate change projections. Moreover, relative to local warming, the mid-summer heatwaves are getting stronger in generally cooler coastal areas.

Hope of greater global food output, less environmental impact of agriculture Posted: 29 Aug 2012 12:12 PM PDT Can we have enough to eat and a healthy environment, too? Yes -- if we're smart about it, suggests a new study.

Eyeless Australian fish have closest relatives in Madagascar Posted: 29 Aug 2012 12:12 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that two groups of blind cave fishes on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean are each other's closest relatives. Through comprehensive DNA analysis, the researchers determined that these eyeless fishes, one group from Madagascar and the other from similar subterranean habitats in Australia, descended from a common ancestor before being separated by continental drift nearly 100 million years ago.

Walls of lunar crater may hold patchy ice Posted: 29 Aug 2012 12:11 PM PDT Scientists have estimated the maximum amount of ice likely to be found inside a permanently shadowed lunar crater located near the moon's south pole. As much as 5 to 10 percent of material, by weight, could be patchy ice, according to astronomers.

Bonanza of black holes, hot DOGs: NASA's WISE survey uncovers millions of black holes Posted: 29 Aug 2012 11:45 AM PDT NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission has led to a bonanza of newfound supermassive black holes and extreme galaxies called hot DOGs, or dust-obscured galaxies. Images from the telescope have revealed millions of dusty black hole candidates across the universe and about 1,000 even dustier objects thought to be among the brightest galaxies ever found. These powerful galaxies, which burn brightly with infrared light, are nicknamed hot DOGs.

Hot spots pinpointed as earthquake trigger points: Small droplets of friction-generated melts can lead to 'megaquakes' Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT Scientists have come a step closer to deciphering some of the basic mysteries and mechanisms behind earthquakes and how average-sized earthquakes may evolve into massive earthquakes. Scientists describe new information gleaned from laboratory experiments mimicking earthquake processes. The researchers discovered how fault zones weaken in select locations shortly after a fault reaches an earthquake tipping point.

Synchronized lasers measure how light changes matter: Effects of light at atomic scale probed by mixing x-ray and optical light waves Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT How matter responds to light lies at the core of vision, photosynthesis, solar cells, and many other fields of scientific and practical import. But until now, it hasn't been possible to see just how light does it. Now, scientists have demonstrated for the first time that x-ray and optical wave mixing reveals both structure and evolving charge states on the atomic scale.

Large methane reservoirs beneath Antarctic ice sheet, study suggests Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT The Antarctic Ice Sheet could be an overlooked but important source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to a new report.

Single gene has major impact on gaits in horses and in mice Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:15 AM PDT A mutation in a single gene in horses that is critical for the ability to perform ambling gaits, for pacing and that has a major effect on performance in harness racing, new research shows. Experiments on this gene in mice have led to fundamental new knowledge about the neural circuits that control leg movements. The study is a breakthrough for our understanding of spinal cord neuronal circuitry and its control of locomotion in vertebrates.

Math ability requires crosstalk in the brain Posted: 29 Aug 2012 07:35 AM PDT Scientists have found that the strength of communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain predicts performance on basic arithmetic problems. The findings shed light on the neural basis of human math abilities and suggest a possible route to aiding those who suffer from dyscalculia-- an inability to understand and manipulate numbers.

'Anternet' discovered: Behavior of harvester ants as they forage for food mirrors protocols that control Internet traffic Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:42 AM PDT An ant biologist and a computer scientist has revealed that the behavior of harvester ants as they forage for food mirrors the protocols that control traffic on the Internet.

Biologists create first predictive computational model of gene networks that control development of sea-urchin embryos Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:21 AM PDT As an animal develops from an embryo, its cells take diverse paths, eventually forming different body parts -- muscles, bones, heart. In order for each cell to know what to do during development, it follows a genetic blueprint, which consists of complex webs of interacting genes called gene regulatory networks. Biologists have spent the last decade or so detailing how these gene networks control development in sea-urchin embryos. Now, for the first time, they have built a computational model of one of these networks.

Building blocks of life found around young star Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:48 AM PDT A team of astronomers has spotted sugar molecules in the gas surrounding a young Sun-like star. This is the first time sugar been found in space around such a star, and the discovery shows that the building blocks of life are in the right place, at the right time, to be included in planets forming around the star.

Lunar 'hit-and-run': New research eclipses existing theories on formation of the moon Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:48 AM PDT A new study highlights a novel perspective on how the moon was formed. The moon is believed to have formed from a collision, 4.5 billion years ago, between Earth and an impactor the size of Mars, known as "Theia." Over the past decades scientists have simulated this process and reproduced many of the properties of the Earth-moon system; however, these simulations have also given rise to a problem known as the Lunar Paradox: the moon appears to be made up of material that would not be expected if the current collision theory is correct. A recent study proposes a new perspective on the theory in answer to the paradox.

Earphones potentially as dangerous as noise from jet engines, researchers find Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:47 AM PDT Turning the volume up too high on your headphones can damage the coating of nerve cells, leading to temporary deafness, scientists have shown. Earphones or headphones on personal music players can reach noise levels similar to those of jet engines, the researchers said.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610