ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Secondhand smoke exposure linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes
• DNA test better than standard screens in identifying fetal chromosome abnormalities
• Our memory for sounds is significantly worse than our memory for visual or tactile things
• Climate change: No warming hiatus for extreme hot temperatures
• Why breastfed babies are so smart: Moms who breastfeed are often responsive and read to their babies
• NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds
• Pine forest particles appear seemingly out of thin air, influence climate
• Physicists discover 'quantum droplet' in semiconductor
• Photopharmacology: Optoswitches turn pain off and sight on
• Sunburns strike twice by altering pigment cells, harming surrounding tissue
• Decline of bronze age 'megacities' linked to climate change
• Replicating motions of the heart: Artificial muscles that do the twist set the stage for soft robotics
• Causal link found between vitamin D, serotonin synthesis and autism in new study
• Offshore wind farms could tame hurricanes before they reach land
• How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars
• 'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough
• Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter
• Climate change causes high but predictable extinction risks
• Mass strandings of marine mammals blamed on toxic algae: Clues unearthed in ancient whale graveyard
• 'Team of rivals' approach works for sparrows defending territories
• Study of jaw mechanics sheds new light on early tetrapod feeding habits
• New approach to chip design could yield light speed computing
• Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead
• Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?
• New neurons generated in brains, spinal cords of living adult mammals
• Psychological side-effects of anti-depressants worse than thought
• New record set for data-transfer speeds: Existing technology for short-range data transmission may be fast enough for years to come
• Discovery of a 'conductor' in muscle development could impact on the treatment of muscular diseases
• Reciprocity and parrots: Griffin the grey parrot appears to understand benefits of sharing, study suggests
• 3-D printer creates transformative device for heart treatment
• How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw?
• Ventriloquist delight: Scientists twist sound with metamaterials so sound appears to come from somewhere else
• Water detected in a planet outside our solar system
• Use of acetaminophen during pregnancy linked to ADHD in children, researchers say
• Now in 3-D: Video of virus-sized particle trying to enter cell
• As hubs for bees, pollinators, flowers may be crucial in disease transmission

Secondhand smoke exposure linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes Posted: 26 Feb 2014 06:12 PM PST Secondhand smoking is linked with pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth and tubal ectopic pregnancy, according to new research. The study findings mark a significant step toward clarifying the risks of secondhand smoke exposure.

DNA test better than standard screens in identifying fetal chromosome abnormalities Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:46 PM PST A new study potentially has significant implications for prenatal testing for major fetal chromosome abnormalities. The study found that in a head-to-head comparison of noninvasive prenatal testing using cell free DNA (cfDNA) to standard screening methods, cfDNA testing (verifi prenatal test, Illumina, Inc.) significantly reduced the rate of false positive results and had significantly higher positive predictive values for the detection of fetal trisomies 21 and 18.

Our memory for sounds is significantly worse than our memory for visual or tactile things Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:44 PM PST Remember that sound bite you heard on the radio this morning? The grocery items your spouse asked you to pick up? Chances are, you won't. Researchers have found that when it comes to memory, we don't remember things we hear nearly as well as things we see or touch.

Climate change: No warming hiatus for extreme hot temperatures Posted: 26 Feb 2014 01:53 PM PST While there are claims that there has been a hiatus in global average temperatures, no such hiatus has occurred at the extreme end of the temperature spectrum. New research shows extremely hot temperatures over land have dramatically and unequivocally increased in number and area despite claims that the rise in global average temperatures has slowed over the past 10 to 20 years.

Why breastfed babies are so smart: Moms who breastfeed are often responsive and read to their babies Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:56 PM PST Research has shown that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests and perform better in school, but the reason why remained unclear. Now a new study shows that two parenting skills deserve the credit. Responsiveness to children's emotional cues boosts kids' math and reading skills. Reading to children as early as 9 months of age also significantly improves school readiness. These two skills can give kids an extra 2-3 months' worth of brain development.

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:33 PM PST NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system. Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

Pine forest particles appear seemingly out of thin air, influence climate Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:29 AM PST Pine forests are especially magical places for atmospheric chemists. Coniferous trees give off pine-scented vapors that form particles, very quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. New research elucidates the process by which gas wafting from coniferous trees creates particles that can reflect sunlight or promote formation of clouds.

Physicists discover 'quantum droplet' in semiconductor Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:29 AM PST Physicists have used an ultra-fast laser to discover a new semiconductor quasiparticle -- a handful of smaller particles that briefly condense into a liquid-like droplet. The discovery improves understanding of how electrons interact in various situations, including in optoelectronic devices.

Photopharmacology: Optoswitches turn pain off and sight on Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:28 AM PST Photoreactive compounds developed by scientists directly modulate nerve-cell function, and open new routes to the treatment of neurological diseases, including chronic pain and certain types of visual impairment. All modes of sensory perception are based on communication between nerve cells. Both the response to the primary stimulus and the transmission of the resulting signal depend on the function of specialized receptor proteins that are associated with the surface membranes of neurons. Many sensory neurons respond only to a single sensory modality, such as mechanical stimulation or temperature. However, researchers have developed a method which, in principle, enables all types of neuroreceptors to be controlled by light.

Sunburns strike twice by altering pigment cells, harming surrounding tissue Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:28 AM PST Melanoma is particularly dangerous because it can form metastases in vital organs such as the lungs, liver or brain. UV radiation is considered to be the most significant triggering factor. An interdisciplinary team of researchers has now discovered that sunburns contribute to the development of this malignant disease not only through direct alteration of pigment cell genomes but also indirectly through inflammatory processes in the surrounding tissue.

Decline of bronze age 'megacities' linked to climate change Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:08 AM PST Scientists have demonstrated that an abrupt weakening of the summer monsoon affected northwest India 4,100 years ago. The resulting drought coincided with the beginning of the decline of the metropolis-building Indus Civilization, which spanned present-day Pakistan and India, suggesting that climate change could be why many of the major cities of the civilization were abandoned.

Replicating motions of the heart: Artificial muscles that do the twist set the stage for soft robotics Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:08 AM PST Researchers have developed a low-cost, programmable soft actuated material that they used to replicate the complex motion of the heart, along with a matching 3-D computer model. The advance sets the stage for new possibilities in the emerging field of soft robotics.

Causal link found between vitamin D, serotonin synthesis and autism in new study Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:08 AM PST Serotonin and vitamin D have been proposed to play a role in autism, however, no causal mechanism has been established. Now, researchers show that serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin, three brain hormones that affect social behavior related to autism, are all activated by vitamin D hormone. Supplementation with vitamin D and tryptophan would be a practical and affordable solution to help prevent autism and possibly ameliorate some symptoms of the disorder.

Offshore wind farms could tame hurricanes before they reach land Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:50 AM PST Computer simulations have shown that offshore wind farms with thousands of wind turbines could have sapped the power of three real-life hurricanes, significantly decreasing their winds and accompanying storm surge, and possibly preventing billions of dollars in damages. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the computer model revealed that an array of 78,000 wind turbines off the coast of New Orleans would have significantly weakened the hurricane well before it made landfall.

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST New images provide the most detailed view yet of stellar nurseries within the Snake nebula. These images offer new insights into how cosmic seeds can grow into massive stars. Stretching across almost 100 light-years of space, the Snake nebula is located about 11,700 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST In the last 20 years the search for Earth-like planets around other stars has accelerated, with the launch of missions like the Kepler space telescope. Using these and observatories on the ground, astronomers have found numerous worlds that at first sight have similarities with the Earth. A few of these are even in the 'habitable zone' where the temperature is just right for water to be in liquid form and so are prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. New results suggest that for some of the recently discovered super-Earths, such as Kepler-62e and -62f, being in the habitable zone is not enough to make them habitats.

Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST Astrophysicists may have identified a trace of dark matter that could signify a new particle: the sterile neutrino. Another research group reported a very similar signal just a few days before.

Climate change causes high but predictable extinction risks Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:45 AM PST Judging the effects of climate change on extinction may be easier than previously thought, according to a new article. Although widely used assessments of threatened species, such as the IUCN Red List, were not developed with the effects of climate change in mind, a study of 36 amphibian and reptile species endemic to the US has concluded that climate change may not be fundamentally different from other extinction threats in terms of identifying species in danger of extinction.

Mass strandings of marine mammals blamed on toxic algae: Clues unearthed in ancient whale graveyard Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:34 PM PST Modern whale strandings can be investigated and their causes identified. Events that happened millions of years ago, however, are far harder to analyze -- frequently leaving their cause a mystery. Scientists examined a large fossil site in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile -- the first definitive example of repeated mass strandings of marine mammals in the fossil record. It reflected four distinct strandings over time, indicating a repeated and similar cause: toxic algae.

'Team of rivals' approach works for sparrows defending territories Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:34 PM PST A new study of territorial songs used by chipping sparrows to defend their turf reveals that males sometimes will form a "dear enemy" alliance with a weaker neighbor to prevent a stronger rival from moving in. For the first time findings demonstrate the birds' use of a stereotyped, specialized signal, in this case chipping sparrow trills, to establish brief periods of cooperation among neighbor birds who are otherwise rivals.

Study of jaw mechanics sheds new light on early tetrapod feeding habits Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:32 PM PST A study of the jaws of one of the earliest known limbed vertebrates shows the species still fed underwater, not on land. Tetrapods -- the four-legged limbed vertebrates -- evolved from fish and include today's amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Acanthostega is regarded as one of the best known early tetrapods, and has played a key role in debates about tetrapod origins since spectacular new specimens were discovered in Greenland in 1987. Dating back to some 360 million years ago (end of the Devonian period); it has often been seen as a near-perfect fish-tetrapod intermediate.

New approach to chip design could yield light speed computing Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:45 AM PST Researchers are the first to create a device that integrates both optical and electronic signals to perform the most elementary computational operations that could inform 'light speed' computing.

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST Astronomers have discovered massive elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe containing plenty of cold gas, even though the galaxies fail to produce new stars. Comparison with other data suggests that, while hot gas cools down in these galaxies, stars do not form because jets from the central supermassive black hole heat or stir up the gas and prevent it from turning into stars. Giant elliptical galaxies are the most puzzling type of galaxy in the Universe.

Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects? Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST Researchers have studied with computer simulations the long-term global consequences of several 'climate engineering' methods. They show that all the proposed methods would either be unable to significantly reduce global warming if CO2 emissions remain high, or they could not be stopped without causing dangerous climate disruption.

New neurons generated in brains, spinal cords of living adult mammals Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST New nerve cells in the brains and spinal cords of living mammals have been created by researchers without the need for stem cell transplants to replenish lost cells. Although the research indicates it may someday be possible to regenerate neurons from the body's own cells to repair traumatic brain injury or spinal cord damage or to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, the researchers stressed that it is too soon to know whether the neurons created in these initial studies resulted in any functional improvements, a goal for future research.

Psychological side-effects of anti-depressants worse than thought Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST Thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties and emotional numbness as a result of anti-depressants may be more widespread than previously thought, a researcher has found. In a survey of 1,829 people who had been prescribed anti-depressants, the researchers found large numbers of people -- over half in some cases -- reporting on psychological problems due to their medication, which has led to growing concerns about the scale of the problem of over-prescription of these drugs.

New record set for data-transfer speeds: Existing technology for short-range data transmission may be fast enough for years to come Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST Researchers have set a new record for data transmission over a multimode optical fiber, a type of cable that is typically used to connect nearby computers within a single building or on a campus. The achievement demonstrated that the standard, existing technology for sending data over short distances should be able to meet the growing needs of servers, data centers and supercomputers through the end of this decade, the researchers said.

Discovery of a 'conductor' in muscle development could impact on the treatment of muscular diseases Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST A 'conductor' has been discovered in the development of muscle tissue. The discovery could have an important impact on the treatment of muscular diseases such as myopathies and muscular dystrophies. The fusion of myoblasts is a critical step in the formation of embryonic muscle fibers as it determines muscle size, among other things. This process is also important in adult life because muscle stem cells fuse with existing fibers to achieve muscle growth and help regenerate damaged muscles. However, until now, fusion remained a poorly understood step within the scientific community.

Reciprocity and parrots: Griffin the grey parrot appears to understand benefits of sharing, study suggests Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:23 AM PST A study into whether grey parrots understand the notion of sharing suggests that they can learn the benefits of reciprocity. The research involved a grey parrot called Griffin, who consistently favoured the option of 'sharing' with two different human partners.

3-D printer creates transformative device for heart treatment Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:22 AM PST Using an inexpensive 3-D printer, biomedical engineers have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could transform treatment and prediction of cardiac disorders. The 3-D elastic membrane is made of a soft, flexible, silicon material that is precisely shaped to match the heart's outer layer of the wall. Current technology is two-dimensional and cannot cover the full surface of the epicardium or maintain reliable contact for continual use without sutures or adhesives. The team can then print tiny sensors onto the membrane that can precisely measure temperature, mechanical strain and pH, among other markers, or deliver a pulse of electricity in cases of arrhythmia.

How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw? Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:19 AM PST Did the universe begin with a hot Big Bang or did it slowly thaw from an extremely cold and almost static state? A physicist has developed a theoretical model that complements the nearly 100-year-old conventional model of cosmic expansion. According to the new theory, the Big Bang did not occur 13.8 billion years ago -- instead, the birth of the universe stretched into the infinite past. This view holds that the masses of all particles constantly increase. The scientist explains that instead of expanding, the universe is shrinking over extended periods of time.

Ventriloquist delight: Scientists twist sound with metamaterials so sound appears to come from somewhere else Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:18 AM PST A Chinese-U.S. research team is exploring the use of metamaterials -- artificial materials engineered to have exotic properties not found in nature -- to create devices that manipulate sound in versatile and unprecedented ways. They now report a simple design for a device, called an acoustic field rotator, which can twist wave fronts inside it so that they appear to be propagating from another direction.

Water detected in a planet outside our solar system Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST Water has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system with a new technique that could help researchers to learn how many planets with water, like Earth, exist throughout the universe. The team of scientists that made the discovery detected the water in the atmosphere of a planet as massive as Jupiter that is orbiting the nearby star tau Boötis.

Use of acetaminophen during pregnancy linked to ADHD in children, researchers say Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:16 AM PST Taking acetaminophen during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with a higher risk in children of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Hyperkinetic Disorders, new research indicates. Acetaminophen, found in over-the-counter products such as Excedrin and Tylenol, provides many people with relief from headaches and sore muscles. Over recent decades, the drug has become the medication most commonly used by pregnant women for fevers and pain, as it was believed to be harmless to the fetus. Now, a long-term study has raised concerns about the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.

Now in 3-D: Video of virus-sized particle trying to enter cell Posted: 24 Feb 2014 02:17 PM PST Tiny and swift, viruses are hard to capture on video. Now researchers have achieved an unprecedented look at a virus-like particle as it tries to break into and infect a cell. The technique they developed could help scientists learn more about how to deliver drugs via nanoparticles -- which are about the same size as viruses -- as well as how to prevent viral infection from occurring.

As hubs for bees, pollinators, flowers may be crucial in disease transmission Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:04 AM PST Like a kindergarten or a busy airport where cold viruses and other germs circulate freely, flowers are common gathering places where pollinators such as bees and butterflies can pick up fungal, bacterial or viral infections that might be as benign as the sniffles or as debilitating as influenza. A recent survey of scientific literature has identified this issue as a promising area for future research: how floral traits influence pathogen transmission. 'Given recent concerns about pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens, the role of floral traits in mediating pathogen transmission is a key area for further research,' authors of the new article conclude.

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