ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• No peak in sight for evolving bacteria
• Dogs likely originated in Europe more than 18,000 years ago, biologists report
• Distant artificial atoms cooperate by sharing light: Future applications in advanced quantum devices
• Quantum world record smashed: Quantum state survives at room temperature for 39 minutes
• Hydrogen fuel from sunlight? Low-cost, long-lasting water splitter made of silicon and nickel
• First detailed map of global forest change
• World's most irreplaceable protected areas identified
• Toward new quantum possibilities: Seeing a photon without absorbing it
• Large graphene crystals with exceptional electrical properties created
• Why seedlings always grow towards the light
• Jupiter mystery solved: Why the giant planet's mysterious Great Red Spot has not disappeared
• Hubble views an old and mysterious cluster
• Hubble reveals first scrapbook pictures of Milky Way's formative years
• Accidental discovery dramatically improves electrical conductivity
• Single-atom bit forms smallest memory in the world

No peak in sight for evolving bacteria Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:22 AM PST There's no peak in sight -- fitness peak, that is -- for the bacteria being studied in one American lab. Scientists there have been running an evolutionary bacteria experiment for 25 years, generating more than 50,000 generations. In a paper published, the author compares it to hiking.

Dogs likely originated in Europe more than 18,000 years ago, biologists report Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST Wolves likely were domesticated by European hunter-gatherers more than 18,000 years ago, and gradually evolved into dogs that became household pets, biologists report.

Distant artificial atoms cooperate by sharing light: Future applications in advanced quantum devices Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST Scientists have shown for the first time that atoms can work collectively rather than independently of each other to share light. Quantum physicists have long discussed such an effect, but it has not been seen before in an experiment.

Quantum world record smashed: Quantum state survives at room temperature for 39 minutes Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST A normally fragile quantum state has been shown to survive at room temperature for a world record 39 minutes, overcoming a key barrier towards building ultrafast quantum computers.

Hydrogen fuel from sunlight? Low-cost, long-lasting water splitter made of silicon and nickel Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST Scientists have created a silicon-based water splitter that is both low-cost and corrosion-free. The novel device -- a silicon semiconductor coated in an ultrathin layer of nickel -- could help pave the way for large-scale production of clean hydrogen fuel from sunlight.

First detailed map of global forest change Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST Scientist have created the first high-resolution global map of forest extent, loss and gain, a resource that greatly improves our ability to understand human and naturally-induced forest changes and the local to global implications of these changes on environmental, economic and other natural and societal systems, members of the team say.

World's most irreplaceable protected areas identified Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST A new scientific study has identified the protected areas most critical to preventing extinctions of the world's mammals, birds and amphibians. Resulting from an international collaboration, this analysis provides practical advice for improving the effectiveness of protected areas in conserving global biodiversity.

Toward new quantum possibilities: Seeing a photon without absorbing it Posted: 14 Nov 2013 11:19 AM PST Scientists can detect an optical photon twice. Light is of fundamental importance. It allows us to see the world around us and record pictures of our environment. It enables communication over long distances through optical fibers. All current methods of detecting light share a common property: absorption and thus destruction of a photon. It has been a long-standing dream to be able to watch individual photons fly by without absorbing them. Scientists have now for the first time realized a device which leaves the photon untouched upon detection. This provides new possibilities for using single photons in quantum communication and quantum information processing.

Large graphene crystals with exceptional electrical properties created Posted: 14 Nov 2013 10:24 AM PST Researchers are using oxygen to grow large single graphene crystals on copper. Large single-crystal graphene is of great interest because the grain boundaries in polycrystalline material have defects, and eliminating such defects makes for a better material.

Why seedlings always grow towards the light Posted: 14 Nov 2013 10:21 AM PST Scientists have discovered how cells in the stems of seedlings use blue light to grow towards the light. During earlier research the discovery was made that the cells in the seedling stems responded to blue light used in the microscope. The scientists have now discovered how the blue light causes small structures in the cell, the microtubules, to grow perpendicular to their normal growth direction.

Jupiter mystery solved: Why the giant planet's mysterious Great Red Spot has not disappeared Posted: 14 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST Based on what scientists understand about fluid dynamics, Jupiter's Great Red Spot should have disappeared centuries ago. Astronomers now think they can explain why. Their work also provides insight into persistent ocean eddies and vortices that contribute to star and planet formation.

Hubble views an old and mysterious cluster Posted: 14 Nov 2013 09:22 AM PST The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best ever image of the globular cluster Messier 15, a gathering of very old stars that orbits the center of the Milky Way. This glittering cluster contains over 100 000 stars, and could also hide a rare type of black hole at its center.

Hubble reveals first scrapbook pictures of Milky Way's formative years Posted: 14 Nov 2013 08:36 AM PST NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the first visual evidence showing how our home galaxy, the Milky Way, assembled itself into the majestic pinwheel of stars we see today. Perusing Hubble's deep-sky surveys, astronomers traced 400 galaxies similar to our Milky Way at various stages of construction over a time span of 11 billion years.

Accidental discovery dramatically improves electrical conductivity Posted: 14 Nov 2013 06:49 AM PST Quite by accident, researchers have achieved a 400-fold increase in the electrical conductivity of a crystal simply by exposing it to light. The effect, which lasted for days after the light was turned off, could dramatically improve the performance of devices like computer chips.

Single-atom bit forms smallest memory in the world Posted: 14 Nov 2013 06:48 AM PST One atom equals one bit: According to this design principle, we would like to construct magnetic data memories in the future. Presently, a compound of several million atoms is needed to stabilize a magnetic bit in a way that hard disk data are secure for several years. However, researchers have just made a big step towards a single-atom bit: They fixed a single atom on a surface such that the magnetic spin remained stable for ten minutes.

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