ScienceDaily: Top Science News |
- Researchers harness sun's energy during day for use at night
- How electricity helps spider webs snatch prey and pollutants
- Starchy food led to rotten teeth in ancient hunter-gatherers
- Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats
- Younger people have 'high definition' memories
- Physical reason for chromosome's cylindrical shape discovered
- First plastic cell with working organelle
- What lies beneath: Giant trench under Antarctic Ice, deeper than Grand Canyon
- How could dinosaurs weigh up to 80 tons? New research on sauropod gigantism
- Primate growing up with half the calories: New understanding about human health and longevity
- How fruit flies detect sweet foods
| Researchers harness sun's energy during day for use at night Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:42 AM PST Solar energy has long been used as a clean alternative to fossil fuels such as coal and oil, but it could only be harnessed during the day when the sun's rays were strongest. Now researchers have built a system that converts the sun's energy not into electricity but hydrogen fuel and stores it for later use, allowing us to power our devices long after the sun goes down.  |
| How electricity helps spider webs snatch prey and pollutants Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:33 AM PST Spider webs actively spring towards prey thanks to electrically-conductive glue spread across their surface, scientists have discovered. The researchers found that the electrostatic properties of the glue that coats spider webs causes them to reach out to grab all charged particles, from pollen and pollutants to flying insects. They also showed that the glue spirals can distort Earth's electric field within a few millimetres of the web, which may enable insects to spot the webs with their antennae 'e-sensors'.  |
| Starchy food led to rotten teeth in ancient hunter-gatherers Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST A diet rich in starchy foods may have led to high rates of tooth decay in ancient hunter-gatherers, according to a new study that challenges the long-held view that dental disease was linked to the advent of farming. The research shows widespread tooth decay occurred in a hunter-gathering society in Morocco several thousand years before the dawn of agriculture.  |
| Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats Posted: 14 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST Empathy-driven behavior has been observed in rats who will free trapped companions from restrainers. This behavior also extends toward strangers, but requires prior, positive social interactions with the type (strain) of the unfamiliar individual, report scientists. The findings suggest that social experiences, not genetics or kin selection, determine whether an individual will help strangers out of empathy.  |
| Younger people have 'high definition' memories Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:18 AM PST It's not that younger people are able to remember more than older people. Their memories seem better because they are able to retrieve them in higher definition. So says a researcher, in a study that sheds light on how differences in the behavioral and neural activity of younger and older adults influence the different generations' ability to store and recall memories.  |
| Physical reason for chromosome's cylindrical shape discovered Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:18 AM PST Researchers have determined why metaphase chromosomes have their characteristic elongated cylindrical shape. The results show that this morphology is related to the chromosome's self-organizing structure.  |
| First plastic cell with working organelle Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:17 AM PST For the first time, chemists have successfully produced an artificial cell containing organelles capable of carrying out the various steps of a chemical reaction.  |
| What lies beneath: Giant trench under Antarctic Ice, deeper than Grand Canyon Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:08 AM PST A massive ancient subglacial trough -- deeper than the Grand Canyon -- has been discovered by a team of scientists. The researchers charted the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands -- an ancient mountain range buried beneath several kilometers of Antarctic ice -- by combining data from satellites and ice-penetrating radars towed behind snowmobiles and on-board small aircraft.  |
| How could dinosaurs weigh up to 80 tons? New research on sauropod gigantism Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:08 AM PST Sauropods, the largest land animals in Earth's history, are still mightily puzzling the scientists. These plant-eating dinosaurs with their long necks and small heads could reach a height of 10 meters or more and dominated all other land vertebrates in terms of size. They could weigh up to 80 tons, more than any other known land vertebrate. One question that has been intensely debated is how these giants of the animal kingdom regulated their own body temperature.  |
| Primate growing up with half the calories: New understanding about human health and longevity Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:38 PM PST New research shows that humans and other primates burn 50 percent fewer calories each day than other mammals. The study suggests that these remarkably slow metabolisms explain why humans and other primates grow up so slowly and live such long lives.  |
| How fruit flies detect sweet foods Posted: 13 Jan 2014 12:42 PM PST Using the common fruit fly, researchers have performed a study that describes just how the fly's taste receptors detect sweet compounds. Even though these taste receptors were discovered more than a decade ago, how they recognize diverse chemicals remained an enigma and an unmet challenge -- until now. Understanding the mechanisms by which the fly tastes and ingests sweet substances may offer tools to control insect feeding, the researchers say.  |
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