ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• NASA scientists find evidence of water in meteorite, reviving debate over life on Mars
• New fast and furious black hole found
• Big step for next-generation fuel cells and electrolyzers
• Fragile X syndrome: Trigger for most common form of intellectual disability and autism uncovered
• 10,000 years on the Bering Land Bridge: Ancestors of Native Americans paused en route from Asia
• Study uncovers why autism is more common in males
• Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird
• Why dark chocolate is good for your heart
• Water filter from the sapwood in pine tree branches
• Our memory for sounds is significantly worse than our memory for visual or tactile things
• Father's age tied to higher rates of psychiatric, academic problems in kids
• Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter
• First contagious airborne WiFi virus discovered
• Microbes on floating ocean plastics: Uncovering the secret world of the 'Plastisphere'
• How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built?

NASA scientists find evidence of water in meteorite, reviving debate over life on Mars Posted: 28 Feb 2014 07:32 AM PST A team of scientists has found evidence of past water movement throughout a Martian meteorite, reviving debate in the scientific community over life on Mars. In 1996, a group of scientists reported biogenic evidence in the Allan Hills 84001(ALH84001) meteorite. In this new study, researchers focused on structures deep within a 30-pound (13.7-kilogram) Martian meteorite known as Yamato 000593 (Y000593). The team reports that newly discovered different structures and compositional features within the larger Yamato meteorite suggest biological processes might have been at work on Mars hundreds of millions of years ago.

New fast and furious black hole found Posted: 28 Feb 2014 05:06 AM PST Astronomers have been studying nearby galaxy M83 and have found a new superpowered small black hole, named MQ1, the first object of its kind to be studied in this much detail. Astronomers have found a few compact objects that are as powerful as MQ1, but have not been able to work out the size of the black hole contained within them until now.

Big step for next-generation fuel cells and electrolyzers Posted: 27 Feb 2014 01:45 PM PST Researchers have discovered a highly promising new class of nanocatalysts for fuel cells and water-alkali electrolyzers that are an order of magnitude higher in activity than the target set by the US Department Of Energy for 2017.

Fragile X syndrome: Trigger for most common form of intellectual disability and autism uncovered Posted: 27 Feb 2014 11:26 AM PST The most common genetic form of mental retardation and autism occurs because of a mechanism that shuts off the gene associated with the disease, new research concludes. The findings also show that a drug that blocks this silencing mechanism can prevent fragile X syndrome -- suggesting similar therapy is possible for 20 other diseases that range from mental retardation to multisystem failure. Fragile X syndrome occurs mostly in boys, causing intellectual disability as well as telltale physical, behavioral and emotional traits.

10,000 years on the Bering Land Bridge: Ancestors of Native Americans paused en route from Asia Posted: 27 Feb 2014 11:18 AM PST Genetic and environmental evidence indicates that after the ancestors of Native Americans left Asia, they spent 10,000 years on a land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska. Archaeological evidence is lacking because it drowned when sea levels rose.

Study uncovers why autism is more common in males Posted: 27 Feb 2014 09:52 AM PST Males are at greater risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, than females, but the underlying reasons have been unclear. A large cohort study provides compelling evidence in support of the 'female protective model,' which proposes that females require more extreme genetic mutations than do males to push them over the diagnostic threshold for neurodevelopmental disorders. Researchers found that females diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder or ASD had a greater number of harmful CNVs than did males diagnosed with the same disorder. Moreover, females diagnosed with ASD had a greater number of harmful SNVs than did males with ASD. These findings suggest that the female brain requires more extreme genetic alterations than does the male brain to produce symptoms of ASD or neurodevelopmental disorders.

Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:24 AM PST The closest and brightest supernova in decades, SN 2014J, brightens faster than expected for Type Ia supernovae, the exploding stars used to measure cosmic distances, according to astronomers. Another recent supernova also brightened faster than expected, suggesting that there is unsuspected new physics going on inside these exploding stars. The finding may also help physicists improve their use of these supernovae to measure cosmic distance.

Why dark chocolate is good for your heart Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:21 AM PST It might seem too good to be true, but dark chocolate is good for you and scientists now know why. Dark chocolate helps restore flexibility to arteries while also preventing white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels. Both arterial stiffness and white blood cell adhesion are known factors that play a significant role in atherosclerosis. What's more, the scientists also found that increasing the flavanol content of dark chocolate did not change this effect.

Water filter from the sapwood in pine tree branches Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:45 PM PST If you've run out of drinking water during a lakeside camping trip, there's a simple solution: Break off a branch from the nearest pine tree, peel away the bark, and slowly pour lake water through the stick. The improvised filter should trap any bacteria, producing fresh, uncontaminated water. In fact, scientists have discovered that this low-tech filtration system can produce up to four liters of drinking water a day -- enough to quench the thirst of a typical person. The researchers demonstrate that a small piece of sapwood can filter out more than 99 percent of the bacteria E. coli from water.

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.

Father's age tied to higher rates of psychiatric, academic problems in kids Posted: 26 Feb 2014 01:53 PM PST Advancing paternal age can lead to higher rates of psychiatric and academic problems in offspring than previously estimated. Compared to a children born to a 24-year-old father, children born to a 45-year-old father are 3.5 times more likely to have autism, 13 times more likely to have ADHD, twice as likely to have psychotic disorders and 25 times more likely to have bipolar disorder.

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.

First contagious airborne WiFi virus discovered Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:29 AM PST Researchers have shown for the first time that WiFi networks can be infected with a virus that can move through densely populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans.

Microbes on floating ocean plastics: Uncovering the secret world of the 'Plastisphere' Posted: 24 Feb 2014 02:16 PM PST Scientists are revealing how microbes living on floating pieces of plastic marine debris affect the ocean ecosystem, and the potential harm they pose to invertebrates, humans and other animals.

How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built? Posted: 28 Mar 2008 07:43 AM PDT The Aztecs, Mayans and ancient Egyptians were three very different civilizations with one very large similarity: pyramids. However, of these three ancient cultures, the Egyptians set the standard for what most people recognize as classic pyramid design: massive monuments with a square base and four smooth-sided triangular sides, rising to a point. The Aztecs and Mayans built their pyramids with tiered steps and a flat top.

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