ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• NASA probe observes meteors colliding with Saturn's rings
• Scientists image nanoparticles in action
• Longer days bring 'winter blues' -- for rats, not humans
• Missing link in Parkinson's disease found: Discovery also has implications for heart failure
• Earth's center is 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought, synchrotron X-ray experiment shows
• Whales are able to learn from others: Humpbacks pass on hunting tips
• 'When in Rome': Monkeys found to conform to social norms
• Archeologists unearth new information on origins of Maya civilization
• Einstein's gravity theory passes toughest test yet
• 'Taxels' convert mechanical motion to electronic signals
• Vaterite: Crystal within a crystal helps resolve an old puzzle
• How trees play role in smog production
• With wave of the hand, researchers create touch-based interfaces
• First edition of a bookworm's genome
• Key cellular organelle involved in gene silencing identified
• Entire galaxies feel the heat from newborn stars: Bursts of star birth can curtail future galaxy growth
• Autism risk spotted at birth in abnormal placentas

NASA probe observes meteors colliding with Saturn's rings Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:46 AM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn's rings. These observations make Saturn's rings the only location besides Earth, the moon and Jupiter where scientists and amateur astronomers have been able to observe impacts as they occur. Studying the impact rate of meteoroids from outside the Saturnian system helps scientists understand how different planet systems in our solar system formed.

Scientists image nanoparticles in action Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:24 AM PDT Scientists have invented a technique for imaging nanoparticle dynamics with atomic resolution as these dynamics occur in a liquid environment. The results will allow, for the first time, the imaging of nanoscale processes, such as the engulfment of nanoparticles into cells.

Longer days bring 'winter blues' -- for rats, not humans Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:24 AM PDT Biologists have found that rats experience more anxiety and depression when the days grow longer. More importantly, they discovered that the rat's brain cells adopt a new chemical code when subjected to large changes in the day and night cycle.

Missing link in Parkinson's disease found: Discovery also has implications for heart failure Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Researchers have described a missing link in understanding how damage to the body's cellular power plants leads to Parkinson's disease and, perhaps surprisingly, to some forms of heart failure.

Earth's center is 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought, synchrotron X-ray experiment shows Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT The temperature near Earth's center is 6,000 degrees Celsius, 1,000 degrees more than given in an experiment 20 years ago. This experiment with synchrotron X-rays confirms geophysical models that explain Earth's magnetic field and the creation and intense activity of hot-spot volcanoes. The scientists also established why the earlier experiment had produced lower temperature figures.

Whales are able to learn from others: Humpbacks pass on hunting tips Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Humpback whales are able to pass on hunting techniques to each other, just as humans do, new research has found.

'When in Rome': Monkeys found to conform to social norms Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT The human tendency to adopt the behavior of others when on their home territory has been found in non-human primates. Researchers observed 'striking' fickleness in male monkeys, when it comes to copying the behavior of others in new groups. The study has been hailed by leading primate experts as rare experimental proof of 'cultural transmission' in wild primates to date.

Archeologists unearth new information on origins of Maya civilization Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT A new study challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient Maya civilization began, suggesting its origins are more complex than previously thought. The findings are based on seven years of archaeological excavations at the ancient Maya site of Ceibal in Guatamala.

Einstein's gravity theory passes toughest test yet Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:22 AM PDT A strange stellar pair nearly 7,000 light-years from Earth has provided physicists with a unique cosmic laboratory for studying the nature of gravity. The extremely strong gravity of a massive neutron star in orbit with a companion white dwarf star puts competing theories of gravity to a test more stringent than any available before.

'Taxels' convert mechanical motion to electronic signals Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:22 AM PDT Using bundles of vertical zinc oxide nanowires, researchers have fabricated arrays of piezotronic transistors capable of converting mechanical motion directly into electronic controlling signals. The arrays could help give robots a more adaptive sense of touch, provide better security in handwritten signatures and offer new ways for humans to interact with electronic devices.

Vaterite: Crystal within a crystal helps resolve an old puzzle Posted: 25 Apr 2013 11:22 AM PDT With the help of a solitary sea squirt, scientists have resolved the longstanding puzzle of the crystal structure of vaterite, an enigmatic geologic mineral and biomineral.

How trees play role in smog production Posted: 25 Apr 2013 10:28 AM PDT After years of scientific uncertainty and speculation, researchers have shown exactly how trees help create one of society's predominant environmental and health concerns: air pollution.

With wave of the hand, researchers create touch-based interfaces Posted: 25 Apr 2013 10:28 AM PDT Researchers previously have shown that a depth camera system, such as Kinect, can be combined with a projector to turn almost any surface into a touchscreen. Now researchers have demonstrated how these touch-based interfaces can be created almost at will, with the wave of a hand. For instance, the new system enables someone to rub the arm of a sofa to "paint" a remote control for her TV.

First edition of a bookworm's genome Posted: 25 Apr 2013 10:28 AM PDT The tiny nematode Panagrellus redivivus, often called the beer-mat worm or the microworm, has emerged from relative obscurity with the publication of its complete genetic code. Further study of this worm is expected to shed new light on many aspects of animal biology.

Key cellular organelle involved in gene silencing identified Posted: 25 Apr 2013 10:26 AM PDT How exactly microRNAs repress target gene expression is not well understood. Geneticists have now conducted a study on plants that shows that the site of action of the repression of target gene expression occurs on the endoplasmic reticulum, a cellular organelle that is an interconnected network of membranes -- essentially, flattened sacs and branching tubules -- that extends like a flat balloon throughout the cytoplasm in plant and animal cells.

Entire galaxies feel the heat from newborn stars: Bursts of star birth can curtail future galaxy growth Posted: 25 Apr 2013 07:33 AM PDT Astronomers have shown for the first time that bursts of star formation have a major impact far beyond the boundaries of their host galaxy. These energetic events can affect galactic gas at distances of up to twenty times greater than the visible size of the galaxy -- altering how the galaxy evolves, and how matter and energy is spread throughout the Universe.

Autism risk spotted at birth in abnormal placentas Posted: 25 Apr 2013 06:16 AM PDT Researchers have figured out how to measure an infant's risk of developing autism by looking for abnormalities in his/her placenta at birth, allowing for earlier diagnosis and treatment for the developmental disorder.

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