ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Gone, but not forgotten: Scientists recall EP, perhaps the world’s second-most famous amnesiac
• Fish was on the menu for early flying dinosaur
• Geochemical method finds links between terrestrial climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide
• Special E. coli bacteria produce diesel on demand
• Antibody transforms stem cells directly into brain cells
• Physicists find right (and left) solution for on-chip optics: Nanoscale router converts and directs optical signals efficiently
• Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good
• Can the friend of my friend be my enemy? Choice affects stability of the social network, animal study shows
• Grains of sand from ancient supernova found in meteorites: Supernova may have been the one that triggered the formation of the solar system
• Study shows reproductive effects of pesticide exposure span generations
• Long-lost giant fish from Amazon rediscovered
• Earth's current warmth not seen in the last 1,400 years or more, says study
• Ant family tree constructed: Confirms date of evolutionary origin, underscores importance of Neotropics
• Cocktail of multiple pressures combine to threaten the world's pollinating insects
• Prehistoric metalwork discovered at Iron Age site, along with gaming pieces
• Lost your keys? Your cat? The brain can rapidly mobilize a search party

Gone, but not forgotten: Scientists recall EP, perhaps the world’s second-most famous amnesiac Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Neuroscientists have described for the first time, in exhaustive detail, the underlying neurobiology of an amnesiac who suffered from profound memory loss after damage to key portions of his brain.

Fish was on the menu for early flying dinosaur Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT New research reveals that Microraptor, a small flying dinosaur, was a complete hunter -- able to swoop down and pick up fish.

Geochemical method finds links between terrestrial climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Scientists used a new chemical technique to measure the change in terrestrial temperature associated with a major shift in global atmospheric CO2 concentrations nearly 34 million years ago. Their results provide further evidence that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and Earth's surface temperature are inextricably linked.

Special E. coli bacteria produce diesel on demand Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT It sounds like science fiction but scientists have developed a method to make bacteria produce diesel on demand. While the technology still faces many significant commercialization challenges, the diesel, produced by special strains of E. coli bacteria, is almost identical to conventional diesel fuel and so does not need to be blended with petroleum products as is often required by biodiesels derived from plant oils.

Antibody transforms stem cells directly into brain cells Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:47 PM PDT In a serendipitous discovery, scientists have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.

Physicists find right (and left) solution for on-chip optics: Nanoscale router converts and directs optical signals efficiently Posted: 22 Apr 2013 11:33 AM PDT Scientists have created a new type of nanoscale device that converts an optical signal into waves that travel along a metal surface. Significantly, the device can recognize specific kinds of polarized light and accordingly send the signal in one direction or another.

Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:30 AM PDT An investigation of the ways bacteria engage in collective decision-making has led researchers to suggest new principles for collective decisions that allow both random behavior by individuals and nonrandom outcomes for the population as a whole. The research suggests that the principles governing bacterial decisions could be relevant for the study of cancer tumorigenesis and collective decision-making by humans.

Can the friend of my friend be my enemy? Choice affects stability of the social network, animal study shows Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:29 AM PDT Just as humans can follow complex social situations in deciding who to befriend or to abandon, it turns out that animals use the same level of sophistication in judging social configurations, according to a new study that advances our understanding of the structure of animal social networks.

Grains of sand from ancient supernova found in meteorites: Supernova may have been the one that triggered the formation of the solar system Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:12 AM PDT Scientists have discovered two tiny grains of silica (SiO2; the most common constituent of sand) in meteorites that fell to earth in Antarctica. Because of their isotopic composition these two grains are thought to be pure samples from a massive star that exploded before the birth of the solar system, perhaps the supernova whose explosion is thought to have triggered the collapse of a giant molecular cloud, giving birth to the Sun.

Study shows reproductive effects of pesticide exposure span generations Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:12 AM PDT Researchers studying aquatic organisms called Daphnia have found that exposure to a chemical pesticide has impacts that span multiple generations -- causing the so-called "water fleas" to produce more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring.

Long-lost giant fish from Amazon rediscovered Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:11 AM PDT Scientists have put aside nearly a century and a half of conventional wisdom with the rediscovery of a species of giant Amazonian fish whose existence was first established in a rare 1829 monograph only to be lost to science some 40 years later.

Earth's current warmth not seen in the last 1,400 years or more, says study Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:13 AM PDT Fueled by industrial greenhouse gas emissions, Earth's climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years, according to new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents.

Ant family tree constructed: Confirms date of evolutionary origin, underscores importance of Neotropics Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:12 AM PDT Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the higher species numbers in the tropics, but these hypotheses have never been tested for the ants, which are one of the most ecologically and numerically dominant groups of animals on the planet. New research is helping answer these questions.

Cocktail of multiple pressures combine to threaten the world's pollinating insects Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:11 AM PDT A new review of insect pollinators of crops and wild plants has concluded they are under threat globally from a cocktail of multiple pressures, and their decline or loss could have profound environmental, human health and economic consequences.

Prehistoric metalwork discovered at Iron Age site, along with gaming pieces Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:09 AM PDT Archaeologists from the University of Leicester in the UK have uncovered one of the biggest groups of Iron Age metal artefacts to be found in the region -- in addition to finding dice and gaming pieces.

Lost your keys? Your cat? The brain can rapidly mobilize a search party Posted: 21 Apr 2013 12:38 PM PDT A contact lens on the bathroom floor, an escaped hamster in the backyard, a car key in a bed of gravel: How are we able to focus so sharply to find that proverbial needle in a haystack? Scientists have discovered that when we embark on a targeted search, various visual and non-visual regions of the brain mobilize to track down a person, animal or thing.

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