Παρασκευή 30 Νοεμβρίου 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Scientists discover water ice on Mercury: Ice and organic material may have been carried to the planet by passing comets

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 12:13 PM PST

Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, revolves around the sun in a mere 88 days, making a tight orbit that keeps the planet incredibly toasty. Surface temperatures on Mercury can reach a blistering 800 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot enough to liquefy lead.

Precisely engineering 3-D brain tissues

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:34 AM PST

Borrowing from microfabrication techniques used in the semiconductor industry, engineers have developed a simple and inexpensive way to create three-dimensional brain tissues in a lab dish.

The beginning of everything: New paradigm shift for the infant universe

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:34 AM PST

A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed. The new paradigm shows, for the first time, that the large-scale structures we now see in the universe evolved from fundamental fluctuations in the essential quantum nature of "space-time," which existed even at the very beginning of the universe.

Body language, not facial expressions, broadcasts what's happening to us

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:33 AM PST

If you think that you can judge by examining someone's facial expressions if he has just hit the jackpot in the lottery or lost everything in the stock market -- think again. Researchers have discovered that -- despite what leading theoretical models and conventional wisdom might indicate -- it just doesn't work that way.

More solid measure of melting in polar ice sheets: Planet's two largest ice sheets losing ice fast

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:33 AM PST

Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland over the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet's two largest continental ice sheets.

Grand Canyon as old as the dinosaurs: Dates for carving of western Grand Canyon pushed back 60 million years

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:33 AM PST

An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago -- a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim, says a new study.

Nanobiotechnology: Versatile 3-D nanostructures using DNA 'bricks'

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:32 AM PST

Researchers have created more than 100 three-dimensional nanostructures using DNA building blocks that function like Lego bricks -- a major advance from the two-dimensional structures the same team built a few months ago.

Oceanic crust breakthrough: Solving a magma mystery

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:06 AM PST

Oceanic crust covers two-thirds of Earth's solid surface, but scientists still don't entirely understand the process by which it is made. Analysis of more than 600 samples of oceanic crust reveals a systemic pattern that alters long-held beliefs about how this process works, explaining a crucial step in understanding Earth's geological deep processes.

Too much dark matter in galaxy cluster? 'Dark core' may not be so dark after all

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:06 AM PST

Astronomers were puzzled earlier this year when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope spotted an overabundance of dark matter in the heart of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. This observation was surprising because dark matter and galaxies should be anchored together, even during a collision between galaxy clusters.

First-ever hyperspectral images of Earth's auroras: New camera provides tantalizing clues of new atmospheric phenomenon

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 08:18 AM PST

Hoping to expand our understanding of auroras and other fleeting atmospheric events, a team of space-weather researchers designed and built a new camera with unprecedented capabilities that can simultaneously image multiple spectral bands, in essence different wavelengths or colors, of light. The camera produced the first-ever hyperspectral images of auroras -- commonly referred to as "the Northern (or Southern) Lights"-- and may already have revealed a previously unknown atmospheric phenomenon.

Making music together connects brains

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 06:34 AM PST

Anyone who has ever played in an orchestra will be familiar with the phenomenon: the impulse for one's own actions does not seem to come from one's own mind alone, but rather seems to be controlled by the coordinated activity of the group. And indeed, interbrain networks do emerge when making music together – this has now been demonstrated. Scientists used electrodes to trace the brain waves of guitarists playing in duets. They also observed substantial differences in the musicians' brain activity, depending upon whether musicians were leading or following their companion.

Thought-controlled prosthesis changing lives of amputees

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:34 AM PST

The world's first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts is being developed. The first operations on patients will take place this winter.

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