ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New, unusually large virus kills anthrax agent
• Natural plant compound prevents Alzheimer's disease in mice
• Plague or Black Death could re-emerge: Cause of one of the most devastating pandemics in human history revealed
• Belief in immortality hard-wired? Study examines development of children's 'prelife' reasoning
• River of hydrogen flowing through space observed
• Solving a 30-year-old problem in massive star formation
• Quality of white matter in the brain is crucial for adding and multiplying (but not subracting and dividing)
• Common crop pesticides kill honeybee larvae in the hive
• Silk coat for diamonds makes sleek new imaging, drug delivery tool
• How did we get four limbs? Because we have a belly
• Electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness power of evaporating water
• 300,000-year-old hearth found: Microscopic evidence shows repeated fire use in one spot over time
• Exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered
• Is there an ocean beneath our feet? Ocean water may reach upper mantle through deep sea faults

New, unusually large virus kills anthrax agent Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:38 PM PST From a zebra carcass on the plains of Namibia in Southern Africa, an international team of researchers has discovered a new, unusually large virus (or bacteriophage) that infects the bacterium that causes anthrax. The novel bacteriophage could eventually open up new ways to detect, treat or decontaminate the anthrax bacillus and its relatives that cause food poisoning.

Natural plant compound prevents Alzheimer's disease in mice Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:37 PM PST A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice, scientists have discovered. In experiments on mice that normally develop Alzheimer's symptoms less than a year after birth, a daily dose of the compound -- a flavonol called fisetin -- prevented the progressive memory and learning impairments. The drug, however, did not alter the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, accumulations of proteins which are commonly blamed for Alzheimer's disease.

Plague or Black Death could re-emerge: Cause of one of the most devastating pandemics in human history revealed Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:37 PM PST Scientists have discovered that two of the world's most devastating plagues -- the plague of Justinian and the Black Death, each responsible for killing as many as half the people in Europe -- were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen, one that faded out on its own, the other leading to worldwide spread and re-emergence in the late 1800s. These findings suggest a new strain of plague could emerge again in humans in the future.

Belief in immortality hard-wired? Study examines development of children's 'prelife' reasoning Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST By examining children's ideas about "prelife," the time before conception, researchers found results which suggest that our bias toward immortality is a part of human intuition that naturally emerges early in life. And the part of us that is eternal, we believe, is not our skills or ability to reason, but rather our hopes, desires and emotions.

River of hydrogen flowing through space observed Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST Astronomers have discovered what could be a never-before-seen river of hydrogen flowing through space. This very faint, very tenuous filament of gas is streaming into the nearby galaxy NGC 6946 and may help explain how certain spiral galaxies keep up their steady pace of star formation.

Solving a 30-year-old problem in massive star formation Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST Astrophysicists have found evidence strongly supporting a solution to a long-standing puzzle about the birth of some of the most massive stars in the universe. Young massive stars shine brightly in the ultraviolet, heating the gas around them, and it has long been a mystery why the hot gas doesn't explode outwards. Now, observations have confirmed predications that as the gas cloud collapses, it forms dense filamentary structures that absorb the star's ultraviolet radiation.

Quality of white matter in the brain is crucial for adding and multiplying (but not subracting and dividing) Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST A new study has found that healthy 12-year-olds who score well in addition and multiplication have higher-quality white matter tracts. This correlation does not appear to apply to subtraction and division.

Common crop pesticides kill honeybee larvae in the hive Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:28 AM PST Four pesticides commonly used on crops to kill insects and fungi also kill honeybee larvae within their hives, according to new research. Scientists also found that N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone -- an inert, or inactive, chemical commonly used as a pesticide additive -- is highly toxic to honeybee larvae.

Silk coat for diamonds makes sleek new imaging, drug delivery tool Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST Silk and diamonds aren't just for ties and jewelry anymore. They're ingredients for a new kind of tiny glowing particle that could provide doctors and researchers with a novel technique for biological imaging and drug delivery. A team of researchers describes this new hybrid diamond-silk material in a paper published.

How did we get four limbs? Because we have a belly Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST All of us backboned animals have four fins or limbs, one pair in front and one pair behind. How did our earliest ancestors settle into such a consistent arrangement of two pairs of appendages? Researchers in the Theoretical Biology Department at the University of Vienna and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research have presented a new model for approaching this question in the current issue of the journal Evolution & Development.

Electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness power of evaporating water Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:12 AM PST A new type of electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water, according to new research. Its developers foresee electrical generators driven by changes in humidity from sun-warmed ponds and harbors.

300,000-year-old hearth found: Microscopic evidence shows repeated fire use in one spot over time Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:12 AM PST When did humans really begin to control fire and use it for their daily needs? Scientists discovered in the Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin, the earliest evidence -- dating to around 300,000 years ago -- of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period. These findings help answer the question and hint that those prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structure and intellectual capacity.

Exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:32 AM PST An exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered on Jan. 21 has become the focus of observatories around and above the globe, including several NASA spacecraft. The blast, designated SN 2014J, occurred in the galaxy M82 and lies only about 12 million light-years away. This makes it the nearest optical supernova in two decades and potentially the closest type Ia supernova to occur during the life of currently operating space missions.

Is there an ocean beneath our feet? Ocean water may reach upper mantle through deep sea faults Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:32 AM PST Scientists have shown that deep sea fault zones could transport much larger amounts of water from Earth's oceans to the upper mantle than previously thought.

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