ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Sleep after learning strengthens connections between brain cells and enhances memory
• New isotopic evidence supporting moon formation via Earth collision with planet-sized body
• First 3-D pterosaur eggs found with their parents
• Chemical element bromine is essential to life in humans and other animals, researchers discover
• Human stem cells successfully transplanted, grown in pigs
• Quantum criticality observed in new class of materials
• Finding the lost art of Angkor Wat: Paintings hidden for 500 years
• Black hole 'batteries' keep blazars going and going
• 60-year-old prediction of atomic behavior confirmed: New experimental path to superfast quantum computing
• Medieval manholes: plumbers led the way in utility maintenance
• Could spiders be the key to saving our bees?
• Success for scientists in the academic job market is highly predictable
• Harsh space weather may doom potential life on red-dwarf planets
• Amplification of cosmic magnetic fields replicated
• Environmental influences may cause autism in some cases, study shows
• NASA’s Dirty Secret: Moon Dust

Sleep after learning strengthens connections between brain cells and enhances memory Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:18 AM PDT Researchers show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet.

New isotopic evidence supporting moon formation via Earth collision with planet-sized body Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:15 AM PDT A new series of measurements of oxygen isotopes provides increasing evidence that the moon formed from the collision of the Earth with another large, planet-sized astronomical body, around 4.5 billion years ago.

First 3-D pterosaur eggs found with their parents Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:14 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the first three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur eggs in China. The eggs were found among dozens, if not hundreds, of pterosaur fossils, representing a new genus and species (Hamipterus tianshanensis). The discovery reveals that the pterosaurs -- flying reptiles with wingspans ranging from 25 cm to 12 m -- lived together in gregarious colonies.

Chemical element bromine is essential to life in humans and other animals, researchers discover Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:00 AM PDT Twenty-seven chemical elements are considered to be essential for human life. Now there is a 28th: bromine. In a new paper, researchers establish for the first time that bromine, among the 92 naturally-occurring chemical elements in the universe, is the 28th element essential for tissue development in all animals, from primitive sea creatures to humans.

Human stem cells successfully transplanted, grown in pigs Posted: 04 Jun 2014 07:55 AM PDT A new line of genetically modified pigs will host transplanted cells without the risk of rejection, opening the door for future stem cell therapy research. One of the biggest challenges for medical researchers studying the effectiveness of stem cell therapies is that transplants or grafts of cells are often rejected by the hosts.

Quantum criticality observed in new class of materials Posted: 04 Jun 2014 07:55 AM PDT Quantum criticality, the strange electronic state that may be intimately related to high-temperature superconductivity, is notoriously difficult to study, but the first findings of a 'quantum critical point' in a category of materials known as 'oxypnictides' could lead to a broader understanding of the quantum phenomenon.

Finding the lost art of Angkor Wat: Paintings hidden for 500 years Posted: 04 Jun 2014 07:54 AM PDT Long-lost paintings have been discovered on the walls of Cambodia's ancient Angkor Wat temple. The ancient paintings date back almost 500 years and depict deities, animals, boats and the temple itself, giving historians a new understanding of life in a relatively unknown period of Cambodia's history.

Black hole 'batteries' keep blazars going and going Posted: 04 Jun 2014 06:41 AM PDT Astronomers studying two classes of black-hole-powered galaxies have found evidence that they represent different sides of the same cosmic coin. By unraveling how these objects, called blazars, are distributed throughout the universe, the scientists suggest that apparently distinctive properties defining each class more likely reflect a change in the way the galaxies extract energy from their central black holes.

60-year-old prediction of atomic behavior confirmed: New experimental path to superfast quantum computing Posted: 04 Jun 2014 06:39 AM PDT Researchers have used a super-cold cloud of atoms that behaves like a single atom to see a phenomenon predicted 60 years ago and witnessed only once since. The phenomenon takes place in the seemingly otherworldly realm of quantum physics and opens a new experimental path to potentially powerful quantum computing.

Medieval manholes: plumbers led the way in utility maintenance Posted: 04 Jun 2014 06:35 AM PDT The story of the medieval plumbers who maintained a complex water supply system, which was centuries ahead of its time, has been revealed by a historian. A unique network of subterranean tunnels, partly dating back to the 14th century, still lies beneath the streets of Exeter, Devon. These once channeled fresh drinking-water from springs outside the town-walls to public fountains at the heart of the city. "People from all social backgrounds relied on the system to provide their drinking water, so it was vital to keep it running smoothly. The city retained a plumber to carry out regular maintenance," said the author.

Could spiders be the key to saving our bees? Posted: 03 Jun 2014 04:39 PM PDT A novel bio-pesticide created using spider venom and a plant protein has been found to be safe for honeybees - despite being highly toxic to a number of key insect pests. New research has tested the insect-specific Hv1a/GNA fusion protein bio-pesticide -- a combination of a natural toxin from the venom of an Australian funnel web spider and snowdrop lectin.

Success for scientists in the academic job market is highly predictable Posted: 02 Jun 2014 10:22 AM PDT The number of scientists in training vastly exceeds the number that will successfully land a faculty position at an academic institution. Now, researchers report that an individual scientist's chances are very predictable based solely on his or her publication record.

Harsh space weather may doom potential life on red-dwarf planets Posted: 02 Jun 2014 08:58 AM PDT Life in the universe might be even rarer than we thought. Recently, astronomers looking for potentially habitable worlds have targeted red dwarf stars because they are the most common type of star, composing 80 percent of the stars in the universe. But a new study shows that harsh space weather might strip the atmosphere of any rocky planet orbiting in a red dwarf's habitable zone.

Amplification of cosmic magnetic fields replicated Posted: 01 Jun 2014 12:06 PM PDT Astrophysicists have established that cosmic turbulence could have amplified magnetic fields to the strengths observed in interstellar space. "Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the universe," said one of the researchers. "We're pretty sure that the fields didn't exist at the beginning, at the Big Bang. So there's this fundamental question: how did magnetic fields arise?"

Environmental influences may cause autism in some cases, study shows Posted: 29 May 2014 03:16 PM PDT Some cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can result from environmental influences rather than gene mutations, research has shown. The findings shed light on why older mothers are at increased risk for having children with ASD, and could pave the way for more research into the role of environment on ASD.

NASA’s Dirty Secret: Moon Dust Posted: 24 Sep 2008 04:15 PM PDT The Apollo Moon missions of 1969-1972 all share a dirty secret. "The major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust," says one researcher. Fine as flour and rough as sandpaper, Moon dust caused 'lunar hay fever,' problems with space suits, and dust storms in the crew cabin upon returning to space.

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