| Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors: 54 light-years away Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:17 PM PDT Astronomers discovered a planetary system orbiting a nearby star that is only 54 light-years away. All three planets orbit their star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun, completing their orbits in just five, 15, and 24 days.  |
| Weighing -- and imaging -- molecules one at a time Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:17 PM PDT Building on their creation of the first-ever mechanical device that can measure the mass of individual molecules, one at a time, scientists have created nanodevices that can also reveal their shape.  |
| Dive discovers missing aircraft hangar of sunken WW II-era Japanese submarine Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:17 PM PDT A recent survey of newly discovered submarine wreck successfully located, mapped and captured on video for the first time not only the submarine's hangar and conning tower (navigation platform), and the submarine's bell. The massive aircraft hangar, large enough to launch three float-plane bombers, was the defining feature of the I-400.  |
| Switching on one-shot learning in the brain Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:14 PM PDT Most of the time, we learn only gradually, incrementally building connections between actions or events and outcomes. But there are exceptions--every once in a while, something happens and we immediately learn to associate that stimulus with a result. Scientists have discovered that uncertainty in terms of the causal relationship -- whether an outcome is actually caused by a particular stimulus -- is the main factor in determining whether or not rapid learning occurs.  |
| Electron chirp: Cyclotron radiation from single electrons measured directly for first time Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:13 PM PDT Scientists and engineers have reported the direct detection of cyclotron radiation from individual electrons. They used a specially developed spectroscopic method that allowed them to measure the energy of electrons, one single electron at a time. The method provides a new way to potentially measure the mass of the neutrino, a subatomic particle that weighs at most two-billionths of a proton.  |
| Unmasking the secrets of Mercury, in color Posted: 28 Apr 2015 01:51 PM PDT The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the solar system's innermost planet. MESSENGER's highly successful orbital mission is about to come to an end, as the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury near the end of April 2015.  |
| Polygamy increases risk of heart disease by more than 4-fold Posted: 28 Apr 2015 11:19 AM PDT Polygamy increases the risk of heart disease by more than 4-fold, reveals new research. The risk and severity of heart disease increased with the number of wives.  |
| Water could have been abundant in first billion years after the Big Bang Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:54 AM PDT How soon after the Big Bang could water have existed? Not right away, because water molecules contain oxygen and oxygen had to be formed in the first stars. Then that oxygen had to disperse and unite with hydrogen in significant amounts. New theoretical work finds that despite these complications, water vapor could have been just as abundant in pockets of space a billion years after the Big Bang as it is today.  |
| Salty aquifer, previously unknown microbial habitat discovered under Antarctica Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:52 AM PDT Many view Antarctica as a frozen wasteland. Turns out there are hidden interconnected lakes underneath its dry valleys that could sustain life and shed light on ancient climate change. Microbiologists detected extensive salty groundwater networks in Antarctica using a novel airborne electromagnetic mapping sensor system. The findings shed new light on ancient climate change on Earth and provide evidence that a similar briny aquifer could support microscopic life on Mars.  |
| Tracking exploding lithium-ion batteries in real-time Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:52 AM PDT What happens when lithium-ion batteries overheat and explode has been tracked inside and out for the first time using sophisticated 3-D imaging. Understanding how Li-ion batteries fail and potentially cause a dangerous chain reaction of events is important for improving their design to make them safer to use and transport, say the scientists behind the study.  |
| Bacteria in medical implants on purpose? Opening the way to living implants Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:50 AM PDT Supramolecular chemistry is the science that is concerned with molecular self-assembly: chemical building blocks which, when you combine them, naturally form larger ordered structures. Researchers have now found a method that allows them to ensure that living cells - in this case bacteria from the human body - can be incorporated in materials while maintaining their mobility. This opens the way to a wide range of new applications, for example as part of medical implants. Examples include stents equipped with bacteria on which endothelial cells can grow, or bacteria that can release medicines in specific parts of the body.  |
| NFL drafts: NFL players with an arrest record but no charges did well Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:47 AM PDT Scientists analyzed five years of NFL draft data and discovered that the performance of NFL players who had an arrest record but no charges was better than those without an arrest and those arrested and charged performed as well as those with clean records - but they cost less.  |
| Transparent light shutters: Windows that act like an LCD screen Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:38 AM PDT The secret desire of urban daydreamers staring out their office windows at the sad brick walls of the building opposite them may soon be answered thanks to transparent light shutters. A novel liquid crystal technology allows displays to flip between transparent and opaque states -- hypothetically letting you switch your view in less than a millisecond from urban decay to the Chesapeake Bay.  |
| Rubber from dandelions: Key components in formation of rubber identified Posted: 28 Apr 2015 08:00 AM PDT Dandelions deliver a desirable product: rubber. This is why the robust and undemanding plant has become the focus of attention of the rubber-producing industry. But how is rubber, contained in the plant's white milky fluid, actually formed? A team of scientists has now identified proteins, which play a key role in the production of rubber in the plant. Thus a biotechnological production of rubber comes closer.  |
| Quantum particles at play: Game theory elucidates the collective behavior of bosons Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:59 AM PDT Quantum particles behave in strange ways and are often difficult to study experimentally. Using mathematical methods drawn from game theory, physicists have shown how bosons, which like to enter the same state, can form multiple groups.  |
| Framing time in days instead of years could spur action toward goals Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:59 AM PDT People starting to plan for retirement or other big goals should pull out a calculator and multiply the years ahead by 365. Measuring time in days instead of months, or months instead of years, can make future events seem closer and thus more urgent, according to new research.  |
| Human hunting weapons may not have caused the demise of the Neanderthals Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:58 AM PDT The demise of Neanderthals may have nothing to do with innovative hunting weapons carried by humans from west Asia, according to a new study. The researchers say their findings mean that we may need to rethink the reasons humans survived Neanderthals - and that we may not have behaved as differently as we thought. The researchers looked at innovative stone weapons used by humans about 42,000-34,000 years ago. Traditionally, anthropologists believed that innovation in weapons enabled humans to spread out of Africa to Europe. However, the new study suggests that the innovation was not a driving force for humans to migrate into Europe as previously thought - they were no better equipped than the Neanderthals.  |
| Breast milk sharing among friends, relatives likely increasing, but still risky Posted: 28 Apr 2015 06:16 AM PDT A new study offers insight into the attitudes around the growing -- and unregulated -- practice of breast milk sharing. Results indicate that friends and relatives are sharing breast milk with each other, but that many may not be aware of the risks, even when the milk is from someone they know. The study also found that healthcare practitioners are being left out of the milk-sharing dialogue-- and that there are untapped opportunities to encourage women to donate desperately needed, extra breast milk for premature babies.  |
| Text messaging reduces pain medicine requirements during surgery Posted: 27 Apr 2015 08:26 AM PDT Patients who text messaged a stranger just before minor surgeries required less supplemental pain relief than patients receiving standard therapy or distraction techniques, according to a study. While both texting conditions reduced the need for pain management better than standard surgery, only texting a stranger reduced it beyond the distraction method of playing a mobile phone game, investigators say.  |
