ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Head-on collisions between DNA-code reading machineries accelerate gene evolution
• Picking apart photosynthesis: New insights could lead to better catalysts for water splitting
• Decimation of critically endangered forest elephant detailed
• DNA: How to unravel the tangle
• Acoustic time delay could improve phased array systems
• Robotic ants successfully mimic real colony behavior

Head-on collisions between DNA-code reading machineries accelerate gene evolution Posted: 29 Mar 2013 09:53 AM PDT The bacteria Bacillus subtilis places some of their genes in prime collision paths for the moving molecular machineries that read the DNA code. This spatial-organization tactic to evolve and adapt might be imitated in harmful Gram-positive bacteria to strengthen their virulence.

Picking apart photosynthesis: New insights could lead to better catalysts for water splitting Posted: 29 Mar 2013 09:53 AM PDT Chemists believe they can now explain one of the remaining mysteries of photosynthesis. The finding suggests a new way of approaching the design of catalysts that drive the water-splitting reactions of artificial photosynthesis.

Decimation of critically endangered forest elephant detailed Posted: 29 Mar 2013 09:53 AM PDT African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A new study shows that a staggering 62 percent of all forest elephants have been killed across their range in central Africa, for their ivory over the past decade.

DNA: How to unravel the tangle Posted: 29 Mar 2013 09:44 AM PDT A chromosome is rarely found in the shape we are used to seeing in biology books, that is to say the typical double rod shape (the X pattern, to put it simply). It is usually "diluted" in the nucleus and creates a bundle that under the microscope appears as a messy tangle. In the last few years such chaos, however, has been "measured" and scientists have unveiled their secret: the genes in the tangle are actually arranged in regions that may perform a functional role.

Acoustic time delay could improve phased array systems Posted: 29 Mar 2013 09:43 AM PDT Researchers have developed an ultra-compact passive true time delay device that could help reduce the size, complexity, power requirements and cost of phased array designs. The device uses the difference in speed between light and sound to create nanosecond signal delays.

Robotic ants successfully mimic real colony behavior Posted: 29 Mar 2013 06:06 AM PDT Scientists have successfully replicated the behavior of a colony of ants on the move with the use of miniature robots.

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