ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• 3-D bioprinting builds a better blood vessel
• Australia's deadly eruptions were reason for the first mass extinction
• Can narcissists be moved to show empathy?
• Smells like deceit: A record number of species use the same odor to exploit each other
• Domestication of dogs may explain mammoth kill sites and success of early modern humans
• NASA missions let scientists see moon's dancing tide from orbit
• Skin grafts from genetically modified pigs may offer alternative for burn treatment

3-D bioprinting builds a better blood vessel Posted: 30 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT The tangled highway of blood vessels that twists and turns inside our bodies, delivering essential nutrients and disposing of hazardous waste to keep our organs working properly has been a conundrum for scientists trying to make artificial vessels from scratch. Now a team has made headway in fabricating blood vessels using a three-dimensional bioprinting technique.

Australia's deadly eruptions were reason for the first mass extinction Posted: 30 May 2014 09:43 AM PDT Ancient volcanic eruptions in Australia 510 million years ago significantly affected the climate, causing the first known mass extinction in the history of complex life. Scientists used radioactive dating techniques to precisely measure the age of the eruptions of the Kalkarindji volcanic province.

Can narcissists be moved to show empathy? Posted: 30 May 2014 09:43 AM PDT Researchers have investigated whether narcissists can elicit empathy for another person's suffering. It has been well documented that narcissists lack empathy, but why is that the case, and do they have the capacity to change that behavior? New research suggests that with the right focus, people with narcissistic tendencies can feel empathy for another person's suffering.

Smells like deceit: A record number of species use the same odor to exploit each other Posted: 29 May 2014 03:26 PM PDT Ecologists discover a fascinating story of hijacked signals, deceit, stowaways, and eavesdropping in the natural world. It involves the citrus tree, an infectious plant disease called huánglóngbìng, a sap-sucking plant louse, and a predatory wasp -- all communicating with each other through a single odor.

Domestication of dogs may explain mammoth kill sites and success of early modern humans Posted: 29 May 2014 12:41 PM PDT A new analysis of European archaeological sites containing large numbers of dead mammoths and dwellings built with mammoth bones has led to a new interpretation of these sites -- that their abrupt appearance may have been due to early modern humans working with the earliest domesticated dogs to kill the now-extinct mammoth.

NASA missions let scientists see moon's dancing tide from orbit Posted: 29 May 2014 11:25 AM PDT Scientists combined observations from two NASA missions to check out the moon's lopsided shape and how it changes under Earth's sway -- a response not seen from orbit before. The lopsided shape of the moon is one result of its gravitational tug-of-war with Earth. The mutual pulling of the two bodies is powerful enough to stretch them both, so they wind up shaped a little like two eggs with their ends pointing toward one another. On Earth, the tension has an especially strong effect on the oceans, because water moves so freely, and is the driving force behind tides.

Skin grafts from genetically modified pigs may offer alternative for burn treatment Posted: 27 May 2014 08:49 AM PDT A specially-bred strain of miniature swine lacking the molecule responsible for the rapid rejection of pig-to-primate organ transplants may provide a new source of skin grafts to treat seriously burned patients. A key component in the treatment of major burns is removing the damaged skin and covering the injury, preferably with a graft of a patient's own tissue. When insufficient undamaged skin is available for grafting, tissue from deceased donors is used as a temporary covering. But deceased-donor skin grafts are in short supply and expensive.

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