ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• How sleep helps brain learn motor task
• Epic ocean voyages of coral larvae revealed
• 'Groovy' hologram creates strange state of light
• The Vikings were not the first colonizers of the Faroe Islands
• Starbirth surprisingly energetic: New insights into protostars
• Anthropologists study the genesis of reciprocity in food sharing
• Möbius strip ties liquid crystal in knots to produce tomorrow's materials and photonic devices
• Neurologists report unique form of musical hallucinations
• Building better brain implants: The challenge of longevity
• Free-floating planets may be born free

How sleep helps brain learn motor task Posted: 20 Aug 2013 03:56 PM PDT Sleep helps the brain consolidate what we've learned, but scientists have struggled to determine what goes on in the brain to make that happen for different kinds of learned tasks. In a new study, researchers pinpoint the brainwave frequencies and brain region associated with sleep-enhanced learning of a sequential finger tapping task akin to typing, or playing piano.

Epic ocean voyages of coral larvae revealed Posted: 20 Aug 2013 10:50 AM PDT A computer simulation has revealed the epic, ocean-spanning journeys traveled by millimeter-sized coral larvae through the world's seas. The model is the first to recreate the oceanic paths along which corals disperse globally, and will eventually aid predictions of how coral reef distributions may shift with climate change.

'Groovy' hologram creates strange state of light Posted: 20 Aug 2013 10:50 AM PDT A new three-in-one optical element can control light's amplitude, phase, and polarization through a wedding of old-fashioned holograms and state-of-the-art nanoscale features. An unusual state of light, a radially polarized beam, which is important for microscopy and particle manipulation, has been created by sending conventional laser light through this holographic plate.

The Vikings were not the first colonizers of the Faroe Islands Posted: 20 Aug 2013 07:25 AM PDT The Faroe Islands were colonized much earlier than previously believed, and it wasn't by the Vikings, according to new research.

Starbirth surprisingly energetic: New insights into protostars Posted: 20 Aug 2013 07:24 AM PDT Astronomers have obtained a vivid close-up view of material streaming away from a newborn star. By looking at the glow coming from carbon monoxide molecules in an object called Herbig-Haro 46/47, they have discovered that its jets are even more energetic than previously thought. The very detailed new images have also revealed a previously unknown jet pointing in a totally different direction.

Anthropologists study the genesis of reciprocity in food sharing Posted: 20 Aug 2013 06:46 AM PDT When you share your lunch with someone less fortunate or give your friend half of your dessert, does that act of generosity flow from the milk of human kindness, or is it a subconscious strategy to assure reciprocity should you one day find yourself on the other side of the empty plate?

Möbius strip ties liquid crystal in knots to produce tomorrow's materials and photonic devices Posted: 20 Aug 2013 06:44 AM PDT Scientists have shown how to tie knots in liquid crystals using a miniature Möbius strip made from silica particles.

Neurologists report unique form of musical hallucinations Posted: 20 Aug 2013 06:44 AM PDT Neurologists report a unique case of a woman who hears music, as if a radio were playing in the back of her head. The case raises "intriguing questions regarding memory, forgetting and access to lost memories."

Building better brain implants: The challenge of longevity Posted: 20 Aug 2013 06:44 AM PDT A new technique accommodates two challenges inherent in brain-implantation technology: gauging the property changes that occur during implantation and measuring them on a micro-scale.

Free-floating planets may be born free Posted: 20 Aug 2013 05:36 AM PDT Tiny, round, cold clouds in space have all the right characteristics to form planets with no parent star. New observations show that not all free-floating planets were thrown out of existing planetary systems. They can also be born free.

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