ScienceDaily: Top News

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• As smart electric grid evolves, engineers show how to include solar technologies
• NASA Curiosity team pinpoints site for first drive on Mars
• 'Organic' study of live pancreatic tissue yields new opportunities for diabetes research
• Brain's mysterious switchboard operator revealed
• Bats evolved more than one way to drink nectar
• Studies shed light on why species stay or go in response to climate change
• Writing the book in DNA: Geneticist encodes his book in life's language
• New 'microthrusters' could propel small satellites: As small as a penny, these thrusters run on jets of ion beams
• Two new owl species discovered in the Philippines
• Cholesterol test with only a photo of patient's hand
• War is not necessarily the cause of post-traumatic stress disorder
• Urine based 'potion' can act as CO2 absorbent
• Computer-simulated knitting goes right down to the yarn
• Molecular 'movies' may accelerate anti-cancer drug discovery
• Taking the edge off a pipe bomb -- literally
• Iconic Darwin finch genome sequenced
• Aerospace materials used to build 'endless' pipeline
• Spider version of Bigfoot emerges from caves in the Pacific Northwest
• Flu vaccine research: Overcoming 'original sin'
• Constructive conflict in the superconductor
• Hot solar wind: Magnetic turbulence trumps collisions to heat solar wind
• New player in immune response? The strange case of UCP2
• Smoking in pregnancy increases asthma risk in preschool
• What’s your lifetime risk of developing kidney failure?

As smart electric grid evolves, engineers show how to include solar technologies Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:39 PM PDT Scientists have developed an economically feasible way to store solar energy in existing residential power networks.

NASA Curiosity team pinpoints site for first drive on Mars Posted: 17 Aug 2012 02:38 PM PDT The scientists and engineers of NASA's Curiosity rover mission have selected the first driving destination for their one-ton, six-wheeled mobile Mars laboratory. The target area, named Glenelg, is a natural intersection of three kinds of terrain. The choice was described by Curiosity Principal Investigator John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology during a media teleconference on Aug. 17.

'Organic' study of live pancreatic tissue yields new opportunities for diabetes research Posted: 17 Aug 2012 12:15 PM PDT An 'all-natural' method for studying pancreatic islets, the small tissues responsible for insulin production and regulation in the body, has recently been developed to try to track metabolic changes in living tissues in 'real time' and without additional chemicals or drugs.

Brain's mysterious switchboard operator revealed Posted: 17 Aug 2012 12:15 PM PDT Researchers report that a mysterious region deep in the human brain could be where we sort through the onslaught of stimuli from the outside world and focus on the information most important to our behavior and survival.

Bats evolved more than one way to drink nectar Posted: 17 Aug 2012 12:15 PM PDT A team of evolutionary biologists compared the anatomy and genes of bats to help solve a persistent question in evolution: Why do analyses of different features of an organism result in conflicting patterns of evolutionary relationships?

Studies shed light on why species stay or go in response to climate change Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:56 AM PDT Two new studies provide a clearer picture of why some species move -- and where they go -- in response to climate change. One found a dramatic decline in populations of a mountain ground squirrel, except where humans lived. Another paper finds that precipitation is an underappreciated driving force for species' response to climate change.

Writing the book in DNA: Geneticist encodes his book in life's language Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:56 AM PDT Using next-generation sequencing technology and a novel strategy to encode 1,000 times the largest data size previously achieved in DNA, a geneticist encodes his book in life's language.

New 'microthrusters' could propel small satellites: As small as a penny, these thrusters run on jets of ion beams Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:55 AM PDT A penny-sized rocket thruster may soon power the smallest satellites in space. The device bears little resemblance to today's bulky satellite engines, which are laden with valves, pipes and heavy propellant tanks.

Two new owl species discovered in the Philippines Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:55 AM PDT Two new species of owls have been discovered in the Philippines. The first owl, the Camiguin Hawk-owl, is found only on the small island of Camiguin Sur, close to northern Mindanao. The second new discovery was the Cebu Hawk-owl. This bird was thought to be extinct, as the forests of Cebu have almost all been lost due to deforestation.

Cholesterol test with only a photo of patient's hand Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:55 AM PDT Researchers have developed a total cholesterol test that uses a digital camera to take a snapshot of the back of the patient's hand rather than a blood sample. The image obtained is cropped and compared with images in a database for known cholesterol levels.

War is not necessarily the cause of post-traumatic stress disorder Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:55 AM PDT Surprisingly, the majority of soldiers exhibiting symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome were suffering from poor mental health before they were posted to a war zone, new research suggests.

Urine based 'potion' can act as CO2 absorbent Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:54 AM PDT Absorbing the large quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases present in cities would require millions of tons of some naturally occurring substance. Urine could be the reactive agent. As a resource available across all human societies, it is produced in large quantities and is close to the pollution hubs of large cities.

Computer-simulated knitting goes right down to the yarn Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:53 AM PDT A new method for building computer-simulated knitted fabric out of an array of individual stitches has just been developed. The innovation creates a 3-D model of a single stitch and then combine multiple copies into a mesh, like tiles in a mosaic.

Molecular 'movies' may accelerate anti-cancer drug discovery Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Using advanced computer simulations, researchers have produced moving images of a protein complex that is an important target for anti-cancer drugs.

Taking the edge off a pipe bomb -- literally Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT A new device for dismantling pipe bombs may look like a tinkerer's project, but it's sophisticated enough to do the job and preserve the forensic evidence.

Iconic Darwin finch genome sequenced Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Scientists have sequenced the genome of one of the iconic Galapagos finches first described by Charles Darwin. he genome of the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) is among the first of a planned 100 genomes of vertebrate species to be sequenced and released by an international collaboration.

Aerospace materials used to build 'endless' pipeline Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Carbon fiber fabric and lightweight honeycomb materials, plus a mobile manufacturing platform, make infinite pipeline technology cheaper and greener while boosting local economies.

Spider version of Bigfoot emerges from caves in the Pacific Northwest Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:26 AM PDT The forests of the coastal regions from California to British Columbia are renowned for their unique and ancient animals and plants, such as coast redwoods, tailed frogs, mountain beavers and the legendary Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch). Whereas Bigfoot is probably just fiction, a huge, newly discovered spider is very real.

Flu vaccine research: Overcoming 'original sin' Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:25 AM PDT Scientists studying flu vaccines have identified ways to overcome an obstacle called "original antigenic sin," which can impair immune responses to new flu strains.

Constructive conflict in the superconductor Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:40 AM PDT Charge density waves improve our understanding of the zero-resistance transport of electricity and could explain an unusual interplay of superconducting and magnetic materials.

Hot solar wind: Magnetic turbulence trumps collisions to heat solar wind Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:40 AM PDT New research has provided significant insight into how the solar wind heats up when it should not.  The solar wind rushes outwards from the raging inferno that is our Sun, but from then on the wind should only get cooler as it expands beyond our solar system since there are no particle collisions to dissipate energy.  However, the solar wind is surprisingly hotter than it should be, which has puzzled scientists for decades.  Two new articles may have solved that puzzle.

New player in immune response? The strange case of UCP2 Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:40 AM PDT Uncoupling proteins present a paradox.  They are found within mitochondria and serve to prevent the cell's powerhouses from exploiting the charge differential across their membranes to generate ATP, which the body uses as an energy source.  When uncoupling proteins are active, mitochondria produce heat instead of ATP.  This may be useful under certain circumstances, such as when an animal is hibernating, but it seems unlikely that helping bears through the winter is the only function of uncoupling proteins, especially as non-hibernating animals also have them.

Smoking in pregnancy increases asthma risk in preschool Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:39 AM PDT Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with wheeze and asthma in preschool children, even among children who were not exposed to maternal smoking late in pregnancy or after birth, according to a new study.

What’s your lifetime risk of developing kidney failure? Posted: 16 Aug 2012 05:14 PM PDT Kidney failure is on the rise and currently afflicts 2 million people worldwide.

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