ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Lost in translocation? How bird song could help save species
• Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales
• Bird's playlist could signal mental strengths and weaknesses
• Drawing closer to Alzheimer’s magic bullet? Drugs found to both prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease in mice
• Engineers devise new way to produce clean hydrogen
• Climate change and wildfire
• Allosaurus fed more like a falcon than a crocodile: Engineering, anatomy work reveals differences in dinosaur feeding styles
• Better understanding of water's freezing behavior at nanoscale
• Aggressive behavior linked specifically to secondhand smoke exposure in childhood
• Low population immunity to new bird flu virus H7N9 in humans
• Origins of human culture linked to rapid climate change
• Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lane
• Fourteen closely related crocodiles existed around 5 million years ago
• Vitamin C can kill drug-resistant TB
• Visual search function: Where scene context happens in our brain
• Clouds in the head: New model of brain's thought processes

Lost in translocation? How bird song could help save species Posted: 21 May 2013 08:00 PM PDT Translocation – or moving animals to safer places – is a vital tool for saving species from extinction. Many factors influence the success of these new populations, including habitat quality, predators, capture and release techniques, the number and sex of individuals, and their genetic diversity. Now new research, the first of its kind suggests bird song could also be important.

Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales Posted: 21 May 2013 04:42 PM PDT Using a "patient monitoring" device attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale's diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed how fishing gear hinders whales' ability to eat and migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for months or years, and can result in a slow death.

Bird's playlist could signal mental strengths and weaknesses Posted: 21 May 2013 04:41 PM PDT Having the biggest playlist doesn't make a male songbird the brainiest of the bunch, a new study shows.

Drawing closer to Alzheimer’s magic bullet? Drugs found to both prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease in mice Posted: 21 May 2013 12:39 PM PDT Imagine a pharmaceutical prevention, treatment or even cure for Alzheimer's disease. It is almost impossible to overstate how monumental a development that would be and how it would answer the prayers of millions. Though science isn't there yet, a new study offers a tantalizing glimpse of potential solutions.

Engineers devise new way to produce clean hydrogen Posted: 21 May 2013 12:39 PM PDT Engineers have developed a novel method for producing clean hydrogen, which could prove essential to weaning society off of fossil fuels and their environmental implications.

Climate change and wildfire Posted: 21 May 2013 12:26 PM PDT Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

Allosaurus fed more like a falcon than a crocodile: Engineering, anatomy work reveals differences in dinosaur feeding styles Posted: 21 May 2013 12:26 PM PDT The mighty T. rex may have thrashed its massive head from side to side to dismember prey, but a new study shows that its smaller cousin Allosaurus was a more dexterous hunter and tugged at prey more like a modern-day falcon.

Better understanding of water's freezing behavior at nanoscale Posted: 21 May 2013 12:24 PM PDT The results of a new study provide direct computational evidence that nucleation of ice in small droplets is strongly size-dependent, an important conclusion in understanding water's behavior at the nanoscale.

Aggressive behavior linked specifically to secondhand smoke exposure in childhood Posted: 21 May 2013 10:21 AM PDT Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke in early childhood are more likely to grow up to physically aggressive and antisocial, regardless of whether they were exposed during pregnancy or their parents have a history of being antisocial.

Low population immunity to new bird flu virus H7N9 in humans Posted: 21 May 2013 09:15 AM PDT The level of immunity to the recently circulating H7N9 influenza virus in an urban and rural population in Vietnam is very low, according to the first population level study to examine human immunity to the virus, which was previously only found in birds. The study has implications for planning the public health response to this pandemic threat.

Origins of human culture linked to rapid climate change Posted: 21 May 2013 09:14 AM PDT Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research.

Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lane Posted: 21 May 2013 09:14 AM PDT Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role. Shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.

Fourteen closely related crocodiles existed around 5 million years ago Posted: 21 May 2013 09:13 AM PDT Today, the most diverse species of crocodile are found in northern South America and Southeast Asia: As many as six species of alligator and four true crocodiles exist, although no more than two or three ever live alongside one another at the same time. It was a different story nine to about five million years ago, however, when a total of 14 different crocodile species existed and at least seven of them occupied the same area at the same time, paleontologists say.

Vitamin C can kill drug-resistant TB Posted: 21 May 2013 09:12 AM PDT In a striking, unexpected discovery, researchers have determined that vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in laboratory culture. The finding suggests that vitamin C added to existing TB drugs could shorten TB therapy, and it highlights a new area for drug design.

Visual search function: Where scene context happens in our brain Posted: 21 May 2013 07:57 AM PDT Though a seemingly simple and intuitive strategy, visual search function -- a process that takes mere seconds for the human brain -- is still something that a computer can't do as accurately. Over the millennia of human evolution, our brains developed a pattern of search based largely on environmental cues and scene context. It's an ability that has not only helped us find food and avoid danger in humankind's earliest days, but continues to aid us today. Where this -- the search for objects using scene and other objects -- occurs in the brain is little understood, and is for the first time discussed in a new paper.

Clouds in the head: New model of brain's thought processes Posted: 21 May 2013 07:54 AM PDT A new model of the brain's thought processes explains the apparently chaotic activity patterns of individual neurons. They do not correspond to a simple stimulus/response linkage, but arise from the networking of different neural circuits.

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