ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Earth can sustain more terrestrial plant growth than previously thought, analysis shows
• Exposure to toxins makes great granddaughters more susceptible to stress, rat study shows
• Haven't my neurons seen this before? What happens in the brain with familiar pictures?
• Feeling bad at work can be a good thing (and vice versa)
• Water and sunlight: The formula for sustainable fuel
• 3-D printers used to create custom medical implants that deliver drugs, chemo
• Blue-eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor
• Whales Descended From Tiny Deer-like Ancestors

Earth can sustain more terrestrial plant growth than previously thought, analysis shows Posted: 26 Aug 2014 07:08 AM PDT A new analysis suggests the planet can produce much more land-plant biomass -- the total material in leaves, stems, roots, fruits, grains and other terrestrial plant parts -- than previously thought. The study recalculates the theoretical limit of terrestrial plant productivity, and finds that it is much higher than many current estimates allow.

Exposure to toxins makes great granddaughters more susceptible to stress, rat study shows Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT Male and female rats are affected differently by ancestral exposure to a common fungicide, vinclozolin, new research shows. Female rats whose great grandparents were exposed to vinclozolin become much more vulnerable to stress, becoming more anxious and preferring the company of novel females to familiar females.

Haven't my neurons seen this before? What happens in the brain with familiar pictures? Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT The world grows increasingly more chaotic year after year, and our brains are constantly bombarded with images. A new study reveals how neurons in the part of the brain responsible for recognizing objects respond to being shown a barrage of images. Researchers found that when subjects were exposed to familiar and unfamiliar images in a rapid succession, their neurons -- especially the inhibitory neurons -- fired much more strongly and selectively to images the subject had seen many times before.

Feeling bad at work can be a good thing (and vice versa) Posted: 21 Aug 2014 07:24 AM PDT Contrary to popular opinion, it can be good to feel bad at work, whilst feeling good in the workplace can also lead to negative outcomes, researchers say. The commonly-held assumption that positivity in the workplace produces positive outcomes, while negative emotions lead to negative outcomes, may be in need for reconsideration.

Water and sunlight: The formula for sustainable fuel Posted: 21 Aug 2014 06:07 AM PDT Scientists have replicated one of the crucial steps in photosynthesis, opening the way for biological systems powered by sunlight which could manufacture hydrogen as a fuel.

3-D printers used to create custom medical implants that deliver drugs, chemo Posted: 21 Aug 2014 06:06 AM PDT An innovative method for using affordable, consumer-grade 3D printers and materials has been developed to fabricate custom medical implants that can contain antibacterial and chemotherapeutic compounds for targeted drug delivery. "It is truly novel and a worldwide first to be 3D printing custom devices with antibiotics and chemotherapeutics," said one researcher.

Blue-eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor Posted: 30 Jan 2008 02:03 PM PST New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. Scientists have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6,000-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

Whales Descended From Tiny Deer-like Ancestors Posted: 20 Dec 2007 07:02 PM PST Scientists since Darwin have known that whales are mammals whose ancestors walked on land. But one critical step was missing: The identity of the land ancestors of whales. Researchers have now discovered the skeleton of a 48-million-year-old mammal called an Indohyus. It is a fox-sized mammal that looked something like a miniature deer and is the closest known fossil relative of whales. Because Indohyus itself is not a whale, but a close cousin, the discovery suggests that the first whales were themselves aquatic, rather than evolving aquatic habits after they took to the water.

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