ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Animals learn to fine-tune their sniffs
• Smart as a bird: Flying rescue robot will autonomously avoid obstacles
• Empathy represses analytic thought, and vice versa: Brain physiology limits simultaneous use of both networks
• Mars like Hawaii? NASA rover's first soil studies help fingerprint Martian minerals
• Exoskeleton of advanced design promises new degree of independence for people with paraplegia
• Researchers engineer cartilage from pluripotent stem cells

Animals learn to fine-tune their sniffs Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:00 PM PDT Animals use their noses to focus their sense of smell, much the same way that humans focus their eyes. Researchers found that rats adjust their sense of smell through sniffing techniques that bring scents to receptors in different parts of the nose. The sniffing patterns changed according to what kind of substance the rats were attempting to detect.

Smart as a bird: Flying rescue robot will autonomously avoid obstacles Posted: 30 Oct 2012 02:30 PM PDT Researchers have created an autonomous flying robot that is as smart as a bird when it comes to maneuvering around obstacles.

Empathy represses analytic thought, and vice versa: Brain physiology limits simultaneous use of both networks Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:14 PM PDT When the brain's analytic network is engaged, our ability to appreciate the human cost of our action is repressed, researchers have found. The study shows for the first time that we have a built-in neural constraint on our ability to be both empathetic and analytic at the same time.

Mars like Hawaii? NASA rover's first soil studies help fingerprint Martian minerals Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:42 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. The minerals were identified in the first sample of Martian soil ingested recently by the rover. Curiosity used its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) to obtain the results, which are filling gaps and adding confidence to earlier estimates of the mineralogical makeup of the dust and fine soil widespread on the Red Planet.

Exoskeleton of advanced design promises new degree of independence for people with paraplegia Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:13 AM PDT Engineers have developed a powered exoskeleton that enables people with severe spinal cord injuries to stand, walk, sit and climb stairs. Its light weight, compact size and modular design promise to provide users with an unprecedented degree of independence.

Researchers engineer cartilage from pluripotent stem cells Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:43 PM PDT Researchers have engineered cartilage from induced pluripotent stem cells that were successfully grown and sorted for use in tissue repair and studies into cartilage injury and osteoarthritis.

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