ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Strongest evidence yet of two distinct human cognitive systems
• Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant
• Archaeologists discover earliest complete example of a human with cancer, from 3,000 years ago
• Knowing whether food has spoiled without even opening the container
• Chicken bones tell true story of pacific migration
• Tremors of the Big Bang: First direct evidence of cosmic inflation
• Back to life after 1,500 years: Moss brought back to life after 1,500 years frozen in ice
• Stress undermines empathic abilities in men but increases them in women
• Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors
• Eat more, die young: Why eating a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan
• Why did humans replace Neanderthals? Paleo diet didn't change, the climate did
• Time out: Spanking babies is surprisingly common, U.S. study finds
• Do elephants call 'human!'? Low rumble alarm call in response to the sound of human voices
• Honey offers new approach to fighting antibiotic resistance
• New fossil species: Origin of toothed whale echolocation
• How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Strongest evidence yet of two distinct human cognitive systems Posted: 18 Mar 2014 11:07 AM PDT Cognitive scientists may have produced the strongest evidence yet that humans have separate and distinct cognitive systems with which they can categorize, classify, and conceptualize their worlds. The systems also may have different courses of decline in cognitive aging, which would have ramifications for remediation and compensation in dementia.

Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:38 AM PDT Evolutionary and developmental biologists have discovered that sea anemones display a genomic landscape with a complexity of regulatory elements similar to that of fruit flies or other animal model systems. This suggests that this principle of gene regulation is already 600 million years old and dates back to the common ancestor of human, fly and sea anemone.

Archaeologists discover earliest complete example of a human with cancer, from 3,000 years ago Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:22 AM PDT Archaeologists have found the oldest complete example in the world of a human with metastatic cancer in a 3,000 year-old skeleton. The skeleton of the young adult male was found in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013 and dates back to 1200BC. Analysis has revealed evidence of metastatic carcinoma, cancer which has spread to other parts of the body from where it started, from a malignant soft-tissue tumour spread across large areas of the body, making it the oldest convincing complete example of metastatic cancer in the archaeological record.

Knowing whether food has spoiled without even opening the container Posted: 17 Mar 2014 02:06 PM PDT A color-coded smart tag could tell consumers whether milk has turned sour or green beans have spoiled without opening the containers, say researchers. The tag, appearing on the packaging, also could be used to determine if medications and other perishable products were still active or fresh.

Chicken bones tell true story of pacific migration Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:52 PM PDT Did the Polynesians beat Columbus to South America? Not according to the tale of migration uncovered by analysis of ancient DNA from chicken bones recovered in archaeological digs across the Pacific. The ancient DNA has been used to study the origins and dispersal of ancestral Polynesian chickens, reconstructing the early migrations of people and the animals they carried with them.

Tremors of the Big Bang: First direct evidence of cosmic inflation Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:58 AM PDT Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting fraction of a second, the universe expanded exponentially, stretching far beyond the view of our best telescopes. All this, of course, was just theory. Researchers now announce the first direct evidence for this cosmic inflation. Their data also represent the first images of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time. These waves have been described as the "first tremors of the Big Bang." Finally, the data confirm a deep connection between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Back to life after 1,500 years: Moss brought back to life after 1,500 years frozen in ice Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:50 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated that, after over 1,500 years frozen in Antarctic ice, moss can come back to life and continue to grow. For the first time, this vital part of the ecosystem in both polar regions has been shown to have the ability to survive century to millennial scale ice ages. This provides exciting new insight into the survival of life on Earth.

Stress undermines empathic abilities in men but increases them in women Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:59 AM PDT Stressed males tend to become more self-centered and less able to distinguish their own emotions and intentions from those of other people. For women the exact opposite is true. Stress, this problem that haunts us every day, could be undermining not only our health but also our relationships with other people, especially for men. Stressed women, however, become more "prosocial" according to new research.

Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT A new study of math anxiety shows how some people may be at greater risk to fear math not only because of negative experiences, but also because of genetic risks related to both general anxiety and math skills. The results don't mean that math anxiety can be blamed solely or even mostly on genetic factors, the researchers emphasized. In this study, genetic factors explained about 40 percent of the individual differences in math anxiety.

Eat more, die young: Why eating a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:47 AM PDT A new evolutionary theory claims that consuming a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan in laboratory animals, a finding which could hold clues to promoting healthier aging in humans. Scientists have known for decades that severely restricted food intake reduces the incidence of diseases of old age, such as cancer, and increases lifespan. The most widely accepted theory is that this effect evolved to improve survival during times of famine.

Why did humans replace Neanderthals? Paleo diet didn't change, the climate did Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:46 AM PDT Why were Neanderthals replaced by anatomically modern humans around 40,000 years ago? One popular hypothesis states that a broader dietary spectrum of modern humans gave them a competitive advantage on Neanderthals. Geochemical analyses of fossil bones seemed to confirm this dietary difference. Indeed, higher amounts of nitrogen heavy isotopes were found in the bones of modern humans compared to those of Neanderthals. However, these studies did not look at possible isotopic variation of nitrogen isotopes in the food resource themselves. In fact, environmental factors such as aridity can increase the heavy nitrogen isotope amount in plants, leading to higher nitrogen isotopic values in herbivores and their predators even without a change of subsistence strategy.

Time out: Spanking babies is surprisingly common, U.S. study finds Posted: 16 Mar 2014 06:09 PM PDT The same hands that parents use to lovingly feed, clothe and bathe their babies are also commonly used to spank their bundles of joy. A new study found that 30 percent of 1-year-old children were spanked at least once in the past month by their mother, father or both parents. A long-time topic of debate, spanking children is a common practice among U.S. parents.

Do elephants call 'human!'? Low rumble alarm call in response to the sound of human voices Posted: 16 Mar 2014 10:37 AM PDT African elephants make a specific alarm call in response to the danger of humans, according to a new study of wild elephants in Kenya. Researchers carried out a series of audio experiments in which recordings of the voices of the Samburu, a local tribe from North Kenya, were played to resting elephants. The elephants quickly reacted, becoming more vigilant and running away from the sound whilst emitting a distinctive low rumble.

Honey offers new approach to fighting antibiotic resistance Posted: 16 Mar 2014 10:28 AM PDT Honey, that delectable condiment for breads and fruits, could be one sweet solution to the serious, ever-growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, researchers say. In addition, several studies have shown that honey inhibits the formation of biofilms, or communities of slimy disease-causing bacteria.

New fossil species: Origin of toothed whale echolocation Posted: 12 Mar 2014 12:01 PM PDT A new fossil species, Cotylocara macei, shows evidence of echolocation and the complex anatomy underlying this unique behavior that has evolved in toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises. "Its dense bones and air sinuses would have helped this whale focus its vocalizations into a probing beam of sound, which likely helped it find food at night or in muddy water ocean waters," said the lead author.

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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