ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

---

• Cassini spacecraft reveals 101 geysers and more on icy Saturn moon
• Global warming amplifier: Rising water vapor in upper troposphere to intensify climate change
• New meaning to refrigerator magnets: Magnets may act as wireless cooling agents
• Glow in space is evidence of a hot bubble in our galaxy
• Potential 'universal' blood test for cancer discovered
• Building 'invisible' materials with light
• Dinosaurs fell victim to perfect storm of events, study shows
• 'Holy grail' of battery design achieved: Stable lithium anode
• New brain pathways for understanding type 2 diabetes and obesity uncovered
• Experiences at every stage of life contribute to cognitive abilities in old age
• Leaf-mining insects destroyed with the dinosaurs, others quickly appeared
• Maltreatment affects the way children's genes are activated
• Hubble finds three surprisingly dry exoplanets: 'Hot Jupiters' had only one-tenth to one one-thousandth the amount of water predicted
• Spinach could lead to alternative energy more powerful than Popeye
• How much magma is hiding beneath our feet? Mysteries of Earth's crust pierced
• How stress hormones promote brain's building of negative memories
• Life expectancy gains threatened as more older Americans suffer from multiple medical conditions
• Can strong parental bond protect infants down to their DNA?
• How cannabis compound could slow tumor growth
• Short sleepers at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, study finds

Cassini spacecraft reveals 101 geysers and more on icy Saturn moon Posted: 28 Jul 2014 04:15 PM PDT Scientists using mission data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have identified 101 distinct geysers erupting on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Their analysis suggests it is possible for liquid water to reach from the moon's underground sea all the way to its surface.

Global warming amplifier: Rising water vapor in upper troposphere to intensify climate change Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:39 PM PDT A new study from scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and colleagues confirms rising levels of water vapor in the upper troposphere -- a key amplifier of global warming -- will intensify climate change impacts over the next decades. The new study is the first to show that increased water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere are a direct result of human activities.

New meaning to refrigerator magnets: Magnets may act as wireless cooling agents Posted: 28 Jul 2014 07:47 AM PDT The magnets cluttering the face of your refrigerator may one day be used as cooling agents, according to a new theory. A magnetically driven refrigerator would require no moving parts, unlike conventional iceboxes that pump fluid through a set of pipes to keep things cool.

Glow in space is evidence of a hot bubble in our galaxy Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT A recent study shows that the emission is dominated by the local hot bubble of gas -- 1 million degrees -- with, at most, 40 percent of emission originating within the solar system. The findings should put to rest the disagreement about the origin of the X-ray emission and confirm the existence of the local hot bubble.

Potential 'universal' blood test for cancer discovered Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT A simple blood test that can be used to diagnose whether people have cancer or not has been devised by researchers. The test will enable doctors to rule out cancer in patients presenting with certain symptoms, saving time and preventing costly and unnecessary invasive procedures such as colonoscopies and biopsies being carried out. Alternatively, it could be a useful aid for investigating patients who are suspected of having a cancer that is currently hard to diagnose.

Building 'invisible' materials with light Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:07 AM PDT A new technique which uses light like a needle to thread long chains of particles could help bring sci-fi concepts such as cloaking devices one step closer to reality.

Dinosaurs fell victim to perfect storm of events, study shows Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:05 AM PDT Dinosaurs might have survived the asteroid strike that wiped them out if it had taken place slightly earlier or later in history, scientists say. They found that in the few million years before a 10km-wide asteroid struck what is now Mexico, Earth was experiencing environmental upheaval. This included extensive volcanic activity, changing sea levels and varying temperatures. At this time, the dinosaurs' food chain was weakened by a lack of diversity among the large plant-eating dinosaurs on which others preyed.

'Holy grail' of battery design achieved: Stable lithium anode Posted: 27 Jul 2014 01:57 PM PDT Researchers report that they have taken a big step toward accomplishing what battery designers have been trying to do for decades -- design a pure lithium anode. All batteries have three basic components: an electrolyte to provide electrons, an anode to discharge those electrons, and a cathode to receive them. The nanosphere layer of a newly created battery design resembles a honeycomb: it creates a flexible, uniform and non-reactive film that protects the unstable lithium from the drawbacks that have made it such a challenge.

New brain pathways for understanding type 2 diabetes and obesity uncovered Posted: 25 Jul 2014 01:35 PM PDT Researchers have identified neural pathways that increase understanding of how the brain regulates body weight, energy expenditure, and blood glucose levels – a discovery that can lead to new therapies for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Experiences at every stage of life contribute to cognitive abilities in old age Posted: 25 Jul 2014 08:09 AM PDT Early life experiences, such as childhood socioeconomic status and literacy, may have greater influence on the risk of cognitive impairment late in life than such demographic characteristics as race and ethnicity, a large study has found. "These findings are important," explained the lead author of the study "because it challenges earlier research that suggests associations between race and ethnicity, particularly among Latinos, and an increased risk of late-life cognitive impairment and dementia.

Leaf-mining insects destroyed with the dinosaurs, others quickly appeared Posted: 24 Jul 2014 11:16 AM PDT After the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous period that triggered the dinosaurs' extinction and ushered in the Paleocene, leaf-mining insects in the western United States completely disappeared. Only a million years later, at Mexican Hat, in southeastern Montana, fossil leaves show diverse leaf-mining traces from new insects that were not present during the Cretaceous, according to paleontologists.

Maltreatment affects the way children's genes are activated Posted: 24 Jul 2014 06:42 AM PDT In a new study, researchers found that maltreatment affects the way children's genes are activated, which has implications for their long-term development and health. The researchers examined DNA methylation, a biomechanical mechanism that helps cells control which genes are turned on or off, in the blood of 56 children ages 11 to 14. Disruptions in this system affect emotional behavior, stress levels, and the immune system. These findings echo those of earlier studies of rodents.

Hubble finds three surprisingly dry exoplanets: 'Hot Jupiters' had only one-tenth to one one-thousandth the amount of water predicted Posted: 24 Jul 2014 06:28 AM PDT Astronomers have gone looking for water vapor in the atmospheres of three planets orbiting stars similar to the Sun -- and have come up nearly dry. The three planets, known as HD 189733b, HD 209458b, and WASP-12b, are between 60 and 900 light-years away from Earth and were thought to be ideal candidates for detecting water vapor in their atmospheres because of their high temperatures where water turns into a measurable vapor.

Spinach could lead to alternative energy more powerful than Popeye Posted: 23 Jul 2014 12:20 PM PDT Spinach gave Popeye super strength, but it also holds the promise of a different power for a group of scientists: the ability to convert sunlight into a clean, efficient alternative fuel. Physicists are using spinach to study the proteins involved in photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert the sun's energy into carbohydrates used to power cellular processes. Artificial photosynthesis could allow for the conversion of solar energy into renewable, environmentally friendly hydrogen-based fuels.

How much magma is hiding beneath our feet? Mysteries of Earth's crust pierced Posted: 23 Jul 2014 10:13 AM PDT Molten rock, or magma, has a strong influence on our planet and its inhabitants, causing destructive volcanic eruptions and generating some of the giant mineral deposits. Our understanding of these phenomena is, however, limited by the fact that most magma cools and solidifies several kilometers beneath our feet, only to be exposed at the surface, millions of years later, by erosion.

How stress hormones promote brain's building of negative memories Posted: 23 Jul 2014 10:12 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a key component to better understanding how traumatic memories may be strengthened in women. Their study's findings suggest that developing clinical treatments that could lower norepinephrine levels immediately following a traumatic event might offer a way to prevent this memory-enhancing mechanism from occurring.

Life expectancy gains threatened as more older Americans suffer from multiple medical conditions Posted: 23 Jul 2014 07:59 AM PDT With nearly four in five older Americans living with multiple chronic medical conditions, a new study finds that the more ailments you have after retirement age, the shorter your life expectancy. The analysis, one of the first to examine the burden of multiple chronic conditions on life expectancy among the elderly, may help explain why increases in life expectancy among older Americans are slowing.

Can strong parental bond protect infants down to their DNA? Posted: 22 Jul 2014 07:19 AM PDT Scientists are launching a groundbreaking study looking at critical periods early in a child's life when exposure to stressors matters most. The goal is to track telomeres – a cellular marker for aging and stress – to discover the biological mechanism for how early trauma gets under the skin, potentially stealing time from a child's biological clock. Can parents create a biological buffer that shields children decades later from disease and toxic stress?

How cannabis compound could slow tumor growth Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:03 AM PDT Scientists have shown how the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, THC, could reduce tumor growth in cancer patients. New research reveals the existence of previously unknown signaling platforms which are responsible for the drug's success in shrinking tumors.

Short sleepers at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, study finds Posted: 07 Sep 2010 07:42 AM PDT People who sleep less than six hours a night may be three times more likely to develop a condition which leads to diabetes and heart disease, according to researchers.

You are subscribed to email updates from Most Popular News -- ScienceDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610