ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Humanity's most common male ancestor emerged earlier than thought: 209,000 years ago, study finds
• Herschel telescope detects water on dwarf planet in asteroid belt
• 'Love hormone' oxytocin carries unexpected side effect
• Engineers create light-activated 'curtains'
• E-whiskers: Highly sensitive tactile sensors developed for robotics and other applications
• How the genetic blueprints for limbs came from fish
• Air pollution from Asia affecting world's weather
• New infection control recommendations could make white coats obsolete
• Mechanism identified in Alzheimer's-related memory loss
• Here comes the sun to lower your blood pressure

Humanity's most common male ancestor emerged earlier than thought: 209,000 years ago, study finds Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST Our most common male ancestor emerged some 209,000 years ago -- earlier than many scientists previously thought, according to new research.

Herschel telescope detects water on dwarf planet in asteroid belt Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:25 AM PST Scientists using the Herschel space observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapor on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres. Plumes of water vapor are thought to shoot up periodically from Ceres when portions of its icy surface warm slightly. Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet, a solar system body bigger than an asteroid and smaller than a planet.

'Love hormone' oxytocin carries unexpected side effect Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:26 AM PST Some psychologists are keen to prescribe oxytocin off-label, in order to treat mild social unease in those who don't suffer from a diagnosed disorder. Not such a good idea, say researchers.

Engineers create light-activated 'curtains' Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:26 PM PST Forget remote-controlled curtains. A new development could lead to curtains and other materials that move in response to light, no batteries needed.

E-whiskers: Highly sensitive tactile sensors developed for robotics and other applications Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:14 PM PST From the world of nanotechnology we've gotten electronic skin, or e-skin, and electronic eye implants or e-eyes. Now we're on the verge of electronic whiskers. Researchers have created tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles similar to the highly sensitive whiskers of cats and rats. These new e-whiskers respond to pressure as slight as a single Pascal, about the pressure exerted on a table surface by a dollar bill. Among their many potential applications is giving robots new abilities to "see" and "feel" their surrounding environment.

How the genetic blueprints for limbs came from fish Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:34 PM PST Our first four-legged land ancestor came out of the sea some 350 million years ago. Watching a lungfish, our closest living fish relative, crawl on its four pointed fins gives us an idea of what the first evolutionary steps on land probably looked like. However, the transitional path between fin structural elements in fish and limbs in tetrapods remains elusive. Both fish and land animals possess clusters of Hoxa and Hoxd genes, which are necessary for both fin and limb formation during embryonic development. Scientists compared the structure and behavior of these gene clusters in embryos from mice and zebrafish. The researchers discovered similar 3-dimensional DNA organization of the fish and mouse clusters, which indicates that the main mechanism used to pattern tetrapod limbs was already present in fish.

Air pollution from Asia affecting world's weather Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST Extreme air pollution in Asia is affecting the world's weather and climate patterns, according to a new study. Using climate models and data collected about aerosols and meteorology over the past 30 years, researchers found that air pollution over Asia -- much of it coming from China -- is impacting global air circulations.

New infection control recommendations could make white coats obsolete Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:27 AM PST In a move to reduce health care associated infections, certain attire for health care professionals, including the traditional white coat, could become a thing of the past.

Mechanism identified in Alzheimer's-related memory loss Posted: 19 Jan 2014 11:24 AM PST Researchers have identified a protein in the brain that plays a critical role in the memory loss seen in Alzheimer's patients, according to a study.

Here comes the sun to lower your blood pressure Posted: 17 Jan 2014 06:01 AM PST Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure and thus cut the risk of heart attack and stroke, a study published suggests. Research shows that sunlight alters levels of the small messenger molecule, nitric oxide (NO) in the skin and blood, reducing blood pressure.

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