ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Baby's life saved with groundbreaking 3-D printed device that restored his breathing
• Top 10 new species of 2012
• Tests lead to doubling of fuel cell life
• Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows
• Magnetic field misbehavior in solar flares explained: The culprit is turbulence
• Innovation could bring flexible solar cells, transistors, displays
• Small, speedy plant-eater extends knowledge of dinosaur ecosystems
• Mosquito behavior may be immune response, not parasite manipulation
• Forecast for Saturn's moon Titan: Wild weather could be ahead
• Overeating learned in infancy, study suggests
• Promising new approach to treatment of lung cancer
• Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmos
• Model of Sun's magnetic field created
• Largest genetic sequencing study of human disease
• First genomic survey of human skin fungal diversity
• Norway spruce genome sequenced: Largest ever to be mapped
• How immune system peacefully co-exists with 'good' bacteria
• Schizophrenia symptoms eliminated in animal model
• Vast methane-based ecosystem uncovered
• Addiction to unhealthy foods could help explain the global obesity epidemic, research suggests
• Bee and wild flower biodiversity loss slows
• Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time
• Polymer breakthrough inspired by trees and ancient celtic knots
• Phthalates -- chemicals widely found in plastics and processed food -- linked to elevated blood pressure in children and teens

Baby's life saved with groundbreaking 3-D printed device that restored his breathing Posted: 22 May 2013 03:01 PM PDT A bioresorbable splint has been created and used for first time at the University of Michigan, where doctors implanted the device in an infant and stopped a life-threatening condition called tracheobronchomalacia.

Top 10 new species of 2012 Posted: 22 May 2013 01:39 PM PDT An amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by a global committee of taxonomists.

Tests lead to doubling of fuel cell life Posted: 22 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT Researchers working to improve durability in fuel cell powered buses have discovered links between electrode degradation processes and bus membrane durability. The team is quantifying the effects of electrode degradation stressors in the operating cycle of the bus on the membrane lifetime.

Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows Posted: 22 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT A new study shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report investigates whether training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion.

Magnetic field misbehavior in solar flares explained: The culprit is turbulence Posted: 22 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT When a solar flare erupts from the sun, its magnetic fields sometime break a widely accepted rule of physics. Why? Now we know.

Innovation could bring flexible solar cells, transistors, displays Posted: 22 May 2013 11:20 AM PDT Researchers have created a new type of transparent electrode that might find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics and future "optoelectronic" circuits for sensors and information processing.

Small, speedy plant-eater extends knowledge of dinosaur ecosystems Posted: 22 May 2013 11:20 AM PDT Dinosaurs are often thought of as large, fierce animals, but new research highlights a previously overlooked diversity of small dinosaurs. Paleontologists have now described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur species known from Canada.

Mosquito behavior may be immune response, not parasite manipulation Posted: 22 May 2013 11:20 AM PDT Malaria-carrying mosquitoes appear to be manipulated by the parasites they carry, but this manipulation may simply be part of the mosquitoes' immune response, according to entomologists.

Forecast for Saturn's moon Titan: Wild weather could be ahead Posted: 22 May 2013 10:32 AM PDT Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.

Overeating learned in infancy, study suggests Posted: 22 May 2013 10:12 AM PDT Research shows that clinical obesity at 24 months of age strongly traces back to infant feeding patterns.

Promising new approach to treatment of lung cancer Posted: 22 May 2013 10:12 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that allows inhalation of chemotherapeutic drugs to help treat lung cancer, and in laboratory and animal tests it appears to reduce the systemic damage done to other organs while significantly improving the treatment of lung tumors -- the tumors virtually disappeared.

Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmos Posted: 22 May 2013 10:11 AM PDT Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to new research.

Model of Sun's magnetic field created Posted: 22 May 2013 10:11 AM PDT Researchers have uncovered an important mechanism behind the generation of astrophysical magnetic fields such as that of the Sun.

Largest genetic sequencing study of human disease Posted: 22 May 2013 10:11 AM PDT Researchers have completed the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.

First genomic survey of human skin fungal diversity Posted: 22 May 2013 10:11 AM PDT In the first study of human fungal skin diversity, researchers sequenced the DNA of fungi at skin sites of healthy adults to define the normal populations across the skin and to provide a framework for investigating fungal skin conditions.

Norway spruce genome sequenced: Largest ever to be mapped Posted: 22 May 2013 10:10 AM PDT Scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) -- a species with huge economic and ecological importance -- and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans.

How immune system peacefully co-exists with 'good' bacteria Posted: 22 May 2013 10:09 AM PDT The human gut is loaded with helpful bacteria microbes, yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye. Now, researchers know how this friendly truce is kept intact. Innate lymphoid cells directly limit the response by inflammatory T cells to commensal bacteria in the gut of mice. Loss of this ILC function effectively puts the immune system on an extended war footing against the commensal bacteria a condition observed in multiple chronic inflammatory diseases.

Schizophrenia symptoms eliminated in animal model Posted: 22 May 2013 09:31 AM PDT Overexpression of a gene associated with schizophrenia causes classic symptoms of the disorder that are reversed when gene expression returns to normal, scientists report. They genetically engineered mice so they could turn up levels of neuregulin-1 to mimic high levels found in some patients then return levels to normal.

Vast methane-based ecosystem uncovered Posted: 22 May 2013 09:30 AM PDT A marine research expedition has led to the discovery of perhaps the world's largest methane cold seep. The seep lies deep in the western North Atlantic Ocean, far from the life-sustaining energy of the sun. Mussels blanketing the the seep rely on bacteria that use the methane to make energy. The process, known as chemosynthesis, forms the basis for life in the harsh environment and could help scientists better understand how organisms can survive under these types of extreme conditions.

Addiction to unhealthy foods could help explain the global obesity epidemic, research suggests Posted: 22 May 2013 06:58 AM PDT New research shows that high-fructose corn syrup can cause behavioral reactions in rats similar to those produced by drugs of abuse such as cocaine. These results suggest food addiction could explain, at least partly, the current global obesity epidemic.

Bee and wild flower biodiversity loss slows Posted: 22 May 2013 05:54 AM PDT Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers found evidence of dramatic reductions in the diversity of species in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands between the 1950s and 1980s. But the picture brightened markedly after 1990, with a slowdown in local and national biodiversity losses among bees, hoverflies and wild plants.

Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time Posted: 22 May 2013 05:53 AM PDT Tropical plants flower at supra-annual irregular intervals. In addition, mass flowering is typical for the tropical forests in Borneo and elsewhere, where hundreds of different plant timber species from the Dipterocarpaceae family flower synchronously. This phenomenon is all the more puzzling because both temperature and day length are relatively constant all year round due to geographical proximity to the equator.

Polymer breakthrough inspired by trees and ancient celtic knots Posted: 22 May 2013 05:53 AM PDT A new slow-motion method of controlling the synthesis of polymers, which takes inspiration from both trees and Celtic knots, opens up new possibilities in areas including medical devices, drug delivery, elastics and adhesives.

Phthalates -- chemicals widely found in plastics and processed food -- linked to elevated blood pressure in children and teens Posted: 22 May 2013 05:50 AM PDT Plastic additives known as phthalates are odorless, colorless and just about everywhere: They turn up in flooring, plastic cups, beach balls, plastic wrap, intravenous tubing and the bodies of most Americans. Once perceived as harmless, phthalates have come under increasing scrutiny. A growing collection of evidence suggests dietary exposure to phthalates (which can leech from packaging and mix with food) may cause significant metabolic and hormonal abnormalities, especially during early development. Now, new research suggests that certain types of phthalates could pose another risk to children: compromised heart health.

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