ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• NASA Cassini images may reveal birth of a Saturn moon
• We're over the hill at 24, study says
• Fire and drought may push Amazonian forests beyond tipping point
• Plugging an ozone hole: Extreme Antarctic ozone holes have not been replicated in Arctic
• Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light
• Air pollution over Asia influences global weather and makes Pacific storms more intense
• Cosmic slurp: Supercomputers help astronomers understand and predict how black holes swallow stars
• Neuroscientists: Brain activity may mark beginning of memories
• Wolves at the door: Study finds recent wolf-dog hybridization in Caucasus region
• Teaching to optimize learning or control misbehavior? Scale of disruptive behavior in schools seriously underestimated
• Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating
• Does germ plasm accelerate evolution?
• How a Silly Putty ingredient could advance stem cell therapies

NASA Cassini images may reveal birth of a Saturn moon Posted: 14 Apr 2014 03:03 PM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of the planet's known moons.

We're over the hill at 24, study says Posted: 14 Apr 2014 02:22 PM PDT It's a hard pill to swallow, but if you're over 24 years of age you've already reached your peak in terms of your cognitive motor performance, according to a new study. In one of the first social science experiments to rest on big data, the researchers investigate when we start to experience an age-related decline in our cognitive motor skills and how we compensate for that.

Fire and drought may push Amazonian forests beyond tipping point Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Future simulations of climate in the Amazon suggest a longer dry season leading to more drought and fires. Scientists have published a new study on the impacts of fire and drought on Amazon tree mortality. Their article found that prolonged droughts caused more intense and widespread wildfires, which consumed more forests in Amazonia than previously understood.

Plugging an ozone hole: Extreme Antarctic ozone holes have not been replicated in Arctic Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, scientists, policymakers, and the public have wondered whether we might someday see a similarly extreme depletion of ozone over the Arctic. But a new study finds some cause for optimism: Ozone levels in the Arctic haven't yet sunk to the extreme lows seen in Antarctica, in part because international efforts to limit ozone-depleting chemicals have been successful.

Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT During the age of the dinosaurs, the arrival of flowering plants as competitors could have spelled doom for primitive ferns. Instead, ferns diversified and flourished under the new canopy -- using a mysterious gene that helped them adapt to low-light environments. Scientists have now pinpointed the curious origins of this gene and determined that it was transferred to ferns from a group of unassuming, mossy plants called hornworts.

Air pollution over Asia influences global weather and makes Pacific storms more intense Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT In the first study of its kind, scientists have compared air pollution rates from 1850 to 2000 and found that anthropogenic (human-made) particles from Asia impact the Pacific storm track that can influence weather over much of the world.

Cosmic slurp: Supercomputers help astronomers understand and predict how black holes swallow stars Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:08 PM PDT A 'tidal disruption' occurs when a star orbits too close to a black hole and gets usurped. Researchers are using supercomputers to simulate tidal disruptions to better understand the dynamics of the process. Doing so will help astronomers find many more possible candidates of tidal disruptions in sky surveys and reveal details of how stars and black holes interact.

Neuroscientists: Brain activity may mark beginning of memories Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:35 AM PDT By tracking brain activity when an animal stops to look around its environment, neuroscientists can mark the birth of a memory. The hippocampus is the brain's warehouse for long- and short-term processing of episodic memories, such as memories of a specific experience like a trip to Maine or a recent dinner. What no one knew was what happens in the hippocampus the moment an experience imprints itself as a memory. New research is lending clues to what they call "spatial mapping functions" in the brain.

Wolves at the door: Study finds recent wolf-dog hybridization in Caucasus region Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:21 AM PDT Hybridization of wolves with shepherd dogs in the Caucasus region might be more common, and more recent, than previously thought, according to new research. Scientists found recent hybrid ancestry in about ten percent of the dogs and wolves sampled. About two to three percent of the sampled wolves and dogs were identified as first-generation hybrids.

Teaching to optimize learning or control misbehavior? Scale of disruptive behavior in schools seriously underestimated Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:20 AM PDT The true extent of poor pupil behavior in schools is seriously underestimated, according to an academic. The research raises the question of the extent to which there is a right to learn in classrooms. The researcher argues that behavior cannot be interpreted as satisfactory if some pupils are impeding the learning of others and if teachers are not able to teach the class in a way that focuses primarily on optimizing pupil learning rather than on control issues.

Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:20 AM PDT The meeting between a Neanderthal and one of the first humans, which we used to picture in our minds, did not happen on the Iberian Peninsula. That is the conclusion reached by an scientists after redoing the dating of the remains in three caves located on the route through the Pyrenees of the first beings of our species: L'Arbreda, Labeko Koba and La Viña.

Does germ plasm accelerate evolution? Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT Scientists have challenged a long held belief about the way certain species of vertebrates evolved. They found that genes evolve more rapidly in species containing germ plasm. The results came about as they put to the test a novel theory that early developmental events dramatically alter the vertebrate body plan and the way evolution proceeds.

How a Silly Putty ingredient could advance stem cell therapies Posted: 13 Apr 2014 10:59 AM PDT The sponginess of the environment where human embryonic stem cells are growing affects the type of specialized cells they eventually become, a study shows. The researchers coaxed human embryonic stem cells to turn into working spinal cord cells more efficiently by growing the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty.

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