ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Gold nanoparticles give an edge in recycling carbon dioxide
• When scaling the quantum slopes, veer for the straight path
• Why plants usually live longer then animals
• What is it about your face? Researchers provide new insight into why each human face is unique
• Persuading light to mix it up with matter
• Learning how to convert heat directly into power: A thermoelectric materials emulator
• Making hydrogen cheaply? Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts revealed
• Increasing toxicity of algal blooms tied to nutrient enrichment and climate change
• Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks
• Ghostly shape of 'coldest place in the universe' revealed
• Yeast, human stem cells drive discovery of new Parkinson's disease drug targets
• Gene variants in immune system pathways correlated with composition of microbes of human body
• Bee sting allergy could be a defense response gone haywire
• Bees underwent massive extinctions when dinosaurs did
• Unprecedented Arctic warming: Average summer temperatures in last 100 years may be warmest in 120,000 years
• Need different types of tissue? Just print them!
• Unique chemical composition surrounding supermassive black holes

Gold nanoparticles give an edge in recycling carbon dioxide Posted: 24 Oct 2013 03:25 PM PDT It's a 21st-century alchemist's dream: turning Earth's superabundance of carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas -- into fuel or useful industrial chemicals. Researchers have shown gold nanoparticles can be tuned to selectively reduce CO2 into CO, an active carbon molecule that can be used to make alternative fuels and commodity chemicals. The key is maximizing the particles' long edges, which are the active sites for the reaction.

When scaling the quantum slopes, veer for the straight path Posted: 24 Oct 2013 01:05 PM PDT Researchers have found that the "landscape" of quantum control -- a representation of quantum mechanics that allows the dynamics of atoms and molecules to be manipulated -- can be unexpectedly simple, which could allow for ready control of quantum operating devices at the nanoscale.

Why plants usually live longer then animals Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Stem cells are crucial for the continuous generation of new cells. Although the importance of stem cells in fuelling plant growth and development still many questions on their tight molecular control remain unanswered. Plant researchers have now discovered a new step in the complex regulation of stem cells.

What is it about your face? Researchers provide new insight into why each human face is unique Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Researchers have found thousands of gene enhancers -- regulatory sequences of DNA that act to turn-on or amplify the expression of a specific gene -- are involved in the development of the human face. These enhancers help explain why every human face is as unique as a fingerprint.

Persuading light to mix it up with matter Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Scientists have documented a never-before-seen coupling of photons with electrons on the surface of an exotic crystal.

Learning how to convert heat directly into power: A thermoelectric materials emulator Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Converting heat directly into power could be a major source of renewable energy. A novel approach to study this so called thermoelectricity may help to design new materials that are highly efficient. In an experiment with cold atoms trapped by lasers an international group of physicists precisely simulates the behavior of thermoelectric materials.

Making hydrogen cheaply? Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts revealed Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Making hydrogen easily and cheaply is a dream goal for clean, sustainable energy. Bacteria have been doing exactly that for billions of years, and now chemists are revealing how they do it, and perhaps opening ways to imitate them.

Increasing toxicity of algal blooms tied to nutrient enrichment and climate change Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Nutrient enrichment and climate change are posing yet another concern of growing importance: an apparent increase in the toxicity of some algal blooms in freshwater lakes and estuaries around the world, which threatens aquatic organisms, ecosystem health and human drinking water safety.

Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT By re-creating conditions in the solar nebula, the swirl of gas that coalesced to form our star, the planets and the remnant rocky debris that circles the Sun as asteroids, the researchers demonstrated that a simple chemical reaction, governed by known physical principles, can generate silicate dust with oxygen anomalies that match those found in the oldest rocks in the solar system.

Ghostly shape of 'coldest place in the universe' revealed Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:31 AM PDT Astronomers have taken a new look at the Boomerang Nebula, the so-called "coldest place in the Universe" to learn more about its frigid properties and determine its true shape, which has an eerily ghost-like appearance.

Yeast, human stem cells drive discovery of new Parkinson's disease drug targets Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:31 AM PDT Using a discovery platform whose components range from yeast cells to human stem cells, scientists have identified a novel Parkinson's disease drug target and a compound capable of repairing neurons derived from Parkinson's patients.

Gene variants in immune system pathways correlated with composition of microbes of human body Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:18 AM PDT Human genes in immunity-related pathways are likely associated with the composition of an individual's microbiome, which refers to the bacteria and other microbes that live in and on the body.

Bee sting allergy could be a defense response gone haywire Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:14 AM PDT Scientists are providing an evolutionary explanation for severe allergic reactions. Researchers show that mice injected with a small dose of bee venom were later resistant to a potentially lethal dose of the same venom. The study is the first experimental evidence that the same immune response involved in allergies may have evolved to serve a protective role against toxins.

Bees underwent massive extinctions when dinosaurs did Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:11 AM PDT For the first time ever, scientists have documented a widespread extinction of bees that occurred 65 million years ago, concurrent with the massive event that wiped out land dinosaurs and many flowering plants. Their findings could shed light on the current decline in bee species.

Unprecedented Arctic warming: Average summer temperatures in last 100 years may be warmest in 120,000 years Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:22 AM PDT Average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic during the last 100 years are higher now than during any century in the past 44,000 years and perhaps as long ago as 120,000 years, says a new study.

Need different types of tissue? Just print them! Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:20 AM PDT What sounds like a dream of the future has already been the subject of research for a few years: simply printing out tissue and organs. Now scientists have further refined the technology and are able to produce various tissue types.

Unique chemical composition surrounding supermassive black holes Posted: 24 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Astronomers have captured a detailed image of high density molecular gas around an active galactic nucleus harboring a supermassive black hole. The observations at the highest ever achieved reveal a unique chemical composition characterized by enhancement of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) around the black hole. An research team thought a high temperature affected by the black hole caused this peculiar chemical properties. The team expect that this unique chemical properties can be used to find black holes hidden behind dust.

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