ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• How our brains store recent memories, cell by single cell
• Antarctic species dwindle as icebergs batter shores year-round
• Giant telescopes pair up to image near-Earth asteroid
• Herschel sees budding stars and a giant, strange ring
• Bacteria evade human immune system with a burst of mutations during initial infection
• Bionic pancreas controls blood sugar levels in adults, adolescents with type 1 diabetes
• Nanoscale composites improve MRI: Magnetic particles merged to detect, fight disease
• High-mass stars are rarely solitary: Binary stars are more common than thought
• Arctic warming linked to fewer European and U.S. cold weather extremes, new study shows
• Are female hormones playing a key role in obesity epidemic?
• Western Amazon under threat from oil pollution

How our brains store recent memories, cell by single cell Posted: 16 Jun 2014 12:13 PM PDT Confirming what neurocomputational theorists have long suspected, researchers report that the human brain locks down episodic memories in the hippocampus, committing each recollection to a distinct, distributed fraction of individual cells.

Antarctic species dwindle as icebergs batter shores year-round Posted: 16 Jun 2014 10:08 AM PDT As the planet has warmed, massive losses of sea ice in winter have left icebergs along the Antarctic free to roam for most of the year. As a result, boulders on the shallow seabed -- once encrusted with a rich assemblage of species in intense competition for limited space -- now mostly support a single species. The climate-linked increase in iceberg activity has left all other species so rare as to be almost irrelevant.

Giant telescopes pair up to image near-Earth asteroid Posted: 16 Jun 2014 07:07 AM PDT NASA scientists using Earth-based radar have produced sharp views of a recently discovered asteroid as it slid silently past our planet. Captured on June 8, 2014, the new views of the object designated "2014 HQ124" are some of the most detailed radar images of a near-Earth asteroid ever obtained.

Herschel sees budding stars and a giant, strange ring Posted: 16 Jun 2014 06:57 AM PDT The Herschel Space Observatory has uncovered a weird ring of dusty material while obtaining one of the sharpest scans to date of a huge cloud of gas and dust, called NGC 7538. The observations have revealed numerous clumps of material, a baker's dozen of which may evolve into the most powerful kinds of stars in the universe. Herschel is a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions.

Bacteria evade human immune system with a burst of mutations during initial infection Posted: 16 Jun 2014 06:36 AM PDT Bacteria that cause ulcers launch a burst of mutations during the initial stages of infection, allowing them to evade the human immune system, new research reveals. The study shows, for the first time, and in real-time, the interplay between the human immune system and invading bacteria that allows the bacteria to counter the immune response by quickly evolving.

Bionic pancreas controls blood sugar levels in adults, adolescents with type 1 diabetes Posted: 16 Jun 2014 06:36 AM PDT The latest version of a bionic pancreas device has been successfully tested in two five-day clinical trials -- one in adults, the other in adolescents -- that imposed minimal restrictions on patient activities.

Nanoscale composites improve MRI: Magnetic particles merged to detect, fight disease Posted: 16 Jun 2014 06:36 AM PDT Submicrometer particles that contain even smaller particles of iron oxide could make magnetic resonance imaging a far more powerful tool to detect and fight disease. Medical researchers are creating composite particles that can be injected into patients and guided by magnetic fields. Once in position, the particles may be heated to kill malignant tissues or trigger the release of drugs at the site. The "nanoconstructs" should fully degrade and leave the body within a few days, they reported.

High-mass stars are rarely solitary: Binary stars are more common than thought Posted: 16 Jun 2014 05:21 AM PDT High-mass stars are rarely solitary, according to new research. For several years, astronomers observed 800 celestial objects that are up to one hundred times heavier than our sun. More than 90 per cent have turned out to be multiple systems. These data support the theory that heavy stars are already formed as twins.

Arctic warming linked to fewer European and U.S. cold weather extremes, new study shows Posted: 15 Jun 2014 11:38 AM PDT Climate change is unlikely to lead to more days of extreme cold, similar to those that gripped the United States in a deep freeze last winter, new research has shown. The Arctic amplification phenomenon refers to the faster rate of warming in the Arctic compared to places further south. It is this phenomenon that has been linked to a spike in the number of severe cold spells experienced in recent years over Europe and North America.

Are female hormones playing a key role in obesity epidemic? Posted: 13 Jun 2014 07:15 AM PDT An imbalance of female sex hormones among men in Western nations may be contributing to high levels of male obesity, according to new research. Scientists suggest that obesity among Western men could be linked with exposure to substances containing the female sex hormone estrogen -- substances that are more often found in affluent societies, such as soy products and plastics.

Western Amazon under threat from oil pollution Posted: 12 Jun 2014 06:25 PM PDT A new study of pollution records indicates that the Western Amazon, an area of unparalleled biological and cultural diversity, may have been contaminated by widespread oil pollution over a 30-year period. researchers have compiled a database of chemical analyses taken from the western Amazon area, over the 1983 to 2013 period. These analyses come from a variety of sources, including Peruvian public agencies and oil companies. Though the results need to be reinforced by further study, they raise some significant concerns.

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