ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Ground breaking technique offers DNA GPS direct to your ancestor's home 1,000 years ago
- Frog eggs help researchers find new information on grapevine disease
- Neanderthals were not inferior to modern humans, study finds
- Length of exoplanet day measured for first time: Spin of Beta Pictoris b measured
- Entire star cluster thrown out of its galaxy
- Water-based 'engine' propels tumor cells through tight spaces in body
- 'Charismatic' organisms still dominating genomics research
- Females prefer lovers not fighters, at least in beetles
| Ground breaking technique offers DNA GPS direct to your ancestor's home 1,000 years ago Posted: 30 Apr 2014 04:27 PM PDT Tracing where your DNA was formed over 1,000 years ago is now possible due to a revolutionary technique. The ground breaking Geographic Population Structure tool works similarly to a satellite navigation system as it helps you to find your way home, but not the one you currently live in -- but rather your actual ancestor's home from 1,000 years ago.  |
| Frog eggs help researchers find new information on grapevine disease Posted: 30 Apr 2014 10:31 AM PDT Vitis vinifera are common grapevines and are the world's favorite wine-producing varietal. However, research has shown that grapevines are susceptible to powdery mildew, a plant disease, which contributes to significant crop loss for most commercial wine varietals that are cultivated each year. Now, researchers have used frog eggs to determine the cause of this disease, and have found that a specific gene in the varietal Cabernet Sauvingon, contributes to its susceptibility.  |
| Neanderthals were not inferior to modern humans, study finds Posted: 30 Apr 2014 10:30 AM PDT If you think Neanderthals were stupid and primitive, it's time to think again. The widely held notion that Neanderthals were dimwitted and that their inferior intelligence allowed them to be driven to extinction by the much brighter ancestors of modern humans is not supported by scientific evidence.  |
| Length of exoplanet day measured for first time: Spin of Beta Pictoris b measured Posted: 30 Apr 2014 10:28 AM PDT Observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have, for the first time, determined the rotation rate of an exoplanet. Beta Pictoris b has been found to have a day that lasts only eight hours. This is much quicker than any planet in the planetary system — its equator is moving at almost 100,000 kilometers per hour. This new result extends the relation between mass and rotation seen in the solar system to exoplanets.  |
| Entire star cluster thrown out of its galaxy Posted: 30 Apr 2014 09:11 AM PDT The galaxy known as M87 has a fastball that would be the envy of any baseball pitcher. It has thrown an entire star cluster toward us at more than two million miles per hour. The newly discovered cluster, which astronomers named HVGC-1, is now on a fast journey to nowhere. Its fate: to drift through the void between the galaxies for all time.  |
| Water-based 'engine' propels tumor cells through tight spaces in body Posted: 30 Apr 2014 09:10 AM PDT Researchers have discovered how cancer cells spread through extremely narrow three-dimensional spaces in the body, identifying a propulsion system based on water and charged particles. The finding uncovers a novel method the deadly cells use to migrate through a cancer patient's body. The discovery may lead to new treatments that help keep the disease in check. The work also points to the growing importance of studying how cells behave in three dimensions, not just atop flat two-dimensional lab dishes.  |
| 'Charismatic' organisms still dominating genomics research Posted: 30 Apr 2014 07:20 AM PDT Decades after the genomics revolution, half of known eukaryote lineages still remain unstudied at the genomic level -- with the field displaying a research bias against 'less popular', but potentially genetically rich, single-cell organisms. This lack of microbial representation leaves a world of untapped genetic potential undiscovered, according to an exhaustive survey of on-going genomics projects.  |
| Females prefer lovers not fighters, at least in beetles Posted: 29 Apr 2014 05:58 PM PDT It's official (in the horned beetle world at least), females prefer courtship over competitiveness -- and it doesn't matter about the size of your mandibles either. An international study investigated the complicated sexual conflict over mating in Gnatocerus cornutus, the horned flour-beetle. Female mate choice and male-male competition are the typical mechanisms of sexual selection. However, these two mechanisms do not always favor the same males, research showed.  |
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