ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Mantis shrimp stronger than airplanes: Composite material inspired by shrimp stronger than standard used in airplane frames
• Fat metabolism in animals altered to prevent most common type of heart disease
• Male health linked to testosterone exposure in womb, study finds
• Brain size matters when it comes to animal self-control
• Life stressors trigger neurological disorders, researchers find
• Speed-reading apps may impair reading comprehension by limiting ability to backtrack
• People pay more attention to upper half of field of vision, study shows
• Researchers identify a new variant of Ebola virus in Guinea
• International team sequences rainbow trout genome
• Cloaked DNA nanodevices survive pilot mission
• How are we different and what gave us the advantage over extinct types of humans like the Neanderthals?
• Tarantulas' personality determines whether they copulate with males or cannibalize them
• Red stars and big bulges: How black holes shape galaxies
• Solved: Mysteries of a nearby planetary system
• Sleep behavior disorder linked to brain disease
• 'Upside-down planet' reveals new method for studying binary star systems
• Sleeping away infection: Researchers find link between sleep, immune function in fruitflies
• Today's Antarctic region once as hot as California, Florida
• First Eurasians left Africa up to 130,000 years ago
• Krypton used to accurately date ancient Antarctic ice

Mantis shrimp stronger than airplanes: Composite material inspired by shrimp stronger than standard used in airplane frames Posted: 22 Apr 2014 10:09 AM PDT Inspired by the fist-like club of a mantis shrimp, researchers have developed a design structure for composite materials that is more impact resistant and tougher than the standard used in airplanes. The peacock mantis shrimp, or stomatopod, is a 4- to 6-inch-long rainbow-colored crustacean with a fist-like club that accelerates underwater faster than a 22-calibur bullet.

Fat metabolism in animals altered to prevent most common type of heart disease Posted: 22 Apr 2014 09:10 AM PDT Working with mice and rabbits, scientists have found a way to block abnormal cholesterol production, transport and breakdown, successfully preventing the development of atherosclerosis, the main cause of heart attacks and strokes and the number-one cause of death among humans. The condition develops when fat builds inside blood vessels over time and renders them stiff, narrowed and hardened, greatly reducing their ability to feed oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle and the brain.

Male health linked to testosterone exposure in womb, study finds Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:34 AM PDT Men's susceptibility to serious health conditions may be influenced by low exposure to testosterone in the womb, new research suggests. Understanding why some men have less of the hormone than others is important because testosterone is crucial for life-long health. Low levels of the hormone have been linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Brain size matters when it comes to animal self-control Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:34 AM PDT Chimpanzees may throw tantrums like toddlers, but their total brain size suggests they have more self-control than, say, a gerbil or fox squirrel, according to a new study of 36 species of mammals and birds ranging from orangutans to zebra finches.

Life stressors trigger neurological disorders, researchers find Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:34 AM PDT When mothers are exposed to trauma, illness, alcohol or other drug abuse, these stressors may activate a single molecular trigger in brain cells that can go awry and activate conditions such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and some forms of autism. Until now, it has been unclear how much these stressors have impacted the cells of a developing brain. Past studies have shown that when an expectant mother exposes herself to alcohol or drug abuse or she experiences some trauma or illness, her baby may later develop a psychiatric disorder later in life. But the new findings identify a molecular mechanism in the prenatal brain that may help explain how cells go awry when exposed to certain environmental conditions.

Speed-reading apps may impair reading comprehension by limiting ability to backtrack Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:34 AM PDT To address the fact that many of us are on the go and pressed for time, app developers have devised speed-reading software that eliminates the time we supposedly waste by moving our eyes as we read. But don't throw away your books, papers, and e-readers just yet -- research suggests that the eye movements we make during reading actually play a critical role in our ability to understand what we've just read.

People pay more attention to upper half of field of vision, study shows Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:33 AM PDT People pay more attention to the upper half of their field of vision, a study shows, a finding that could have ramifications for traffic signs to software interface design. "It doesn't mean people don't pay attention to the lower field of vision, but they were demonstrably better at paying attention to the upper field," the lead researcher says.

Researchers identify a new variant of Ebola virus in Guinea Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:33 AM PDT In a new article, researchers have published their initial findings on the characteristics of the Ebola virus discovered in Guinea. Initial virological investigations enabled them to identify Zaire ebolavirus as the pathogen responsible for this epidemic.

International team sequences rainbow trout genome Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:33 AM PDT An international team of researchers has mapped the genetic profile of the rainbow trout, a versatile salmonid whose relatively recent genetic history opens a window into how vertebrates evolve. The investigators focused on the rate at which genes have evolved since a rare genome doubling event occurred in the rainbow trout approximately 100 million years ago.

Cloaked DNA nanodevices survive pilot mission Posted: 22 Apr 2014 07:00 AM PDT By mimicking a viral strategy, scientists have created the first cloaked DNA nanodevice that survives the body's immune defenses. Their success opens the door to smart DNA nanorobots that use logic to spot cancerous tissue and manufacture drugs on the spot to cripple it, as well as artificial microscopic containers called protocells that detect pathogens in food or toxic chemicals in drinking water.

How are we different and what gave us the advantage over extinct types of humans like the Neanderthals? Posted: 22 Apr 2014 05:47 AM PDT In parallel with modern man (Homo sapiens), there were other, extinct types of humans with whom we lived side by side, such as Neanderthals and the recently discovered  Denisovans of Siberia. Yet only Homo sapiens survived. What was it in our genetic makeup that gave us the advantage?

Tarantulas' personality determines whether they copulate with males or cannibalize them Posted: 22 Apr 2014 05:47 AM PDT Sexual cannibalism in spiders – the attack and consumption of males by females before or after copulation – is very widespread. A new investigation analyses the reason behind such extreme behavior, at times even before the females have ensured the sperm's fertilization of their eggs.

Red stars and big bulges: How black holes shape galaxies Posted: 22 Apr 2014 05:46 AM PDT The universe we can see is made up of thousands of millions of galaxies, each containing anywhere from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of billions of stars. Large numbers of galaxies are elliptical in shape, red and mostly made up of old stars. Another (more familiar) type is the spiral, where arms wind out in a blue thin disk from a central red bulge. On average stars in spiral galaxies tend to be much younger than those in ellipticals. Now a group of astronomers has found a (relatively) simple relationship between the color of a galaxy and the size of its bulge: the more massive the bulge, the redder the galaxy.

Solved: Mysteries of a nearby planetary system Posted: 22 Apr 2014 05:46 AM PDT Mysteries of one of the most fascinating nearby planetary systems now have been solved. A new study presents the first viable model for the planetary system orbiting one the first stars discovered to have planets - the star named 55 Cancri. Numerous studies since 2002 had failed to determine a plausible model for the masses and orbits of two giant planets located closer to 55 Cancri than Mercury is to our Sun. Astronomers had struggled to understand how these massive planets orbiting so close to their star could avoid a catastrophe such as one planet being flung into the star, or the two planets colliding with each other.

Sleep behavior disorder linked to brain disease Posted: 22 Apr 2014 05:45 AM PDT A sleep disorder that causes people to act out their dreams is the best current predictor of brain diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, research suggests. In this disorder, the disturbance occurs during the rapid-eye-movement (REM) stage of sleep and causes people to act out their dreams, often resulting in injury to themselves and/or bed partner. In healthy brains, muscles are temporarily paralyzed during sleep to prevent this from happening.

'Upside-down planet' reveals new method for studying binary star systems Posted: 21 Apr 2014 06:13 PM PDT What looked at first like a sort of upside-down planet has instead revealed a new method for studying binary star systems. Astronomers confirmed the first "self-lensing" binary star system -- one in which the mass of the closer star can be measured by how powerfully it magnifies light from its more distant companion star. Though our sun stands alone, about 40 percent of similar stars are in binary (two-star) or multi-star systems, orbiting their companions in a gravitational dance.

Sleeping away infection: Researchers find link between sleep, immune function in fruitflies Posted: 21 Apr 2014 06:13 PM PDT When we get sick it feels natural to try to hasten our recovery by getting some extra shuteye. Researchers found that this response has a definite purpose, in fruitflies: enhancing immune system response and recovery to infection. "These studies provide new evidence of the direct and functional effects of sleep on immune response and of the underlying mechanisms at work. The take-home message from these papers is that when you get sick, you should sleep as much as you can -- we now have the data that supports this idea," researchers conclude.

Today's Antarctic region once as hot as California, Florida Posted: 21 Apr 2014 01:43 PM PDT Parts of ancient Antarctica were as warm as today's California coast, and polar regions of the southern Pacific Ocean registered 21st-century Florida heat, according to scientists using a new way to measure past temperatures.

First Eurasians left Africa up to 130,000 years ago Posted: 21 Apr 2014 01:42 PM PDT Scientists have shown that anatomically modern humans spread from Africa to Asia and Europe in several migratory movements. The first ancestors of today's non-African peoples probably took a southern route through the Arabian Peninsula as early as 130,000 years ago, the researchers found.

Krypton used to accurately date ancient Antarctic ice Posted: 21 Apr 2014 12:19 PM PDT Scientists have successfully identified the age of 120,000-year-old Antarctic ice using radiometric krypton dating -- a new technique that may allow them to locate and date ice that is more than a million years old. This will allow them to reconstruct the climate much farther back into Earth's history and potentially understand the mechanisms that have triggered the planet to shift into and out of ice ages.

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