American Scientist Online

Far Side of the Moon Filmed by NASA Spacecraft

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:45:00 EST

One whole face of the Moon can never be seen from Earth because it constantly faces away from our planet. But now one of the twin GRAIL spacecraft launched by NASA last September has returned its first video of the Moon's hidden side after being pulled into orbit at New Year...

from the Telegraph (UK)

Alzheimer's Disease Jumps Across Brain Cells to Spread Like Infection

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:43:00 EST

Alzheimer's disease spreads through the brain like an infection, jumping from one cell to another, according to a new study...

from CBS News

Seagrass 'Tens of Thousands of Years Old'

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:40:00 EST

Meadows of seagrass found in the Mediterranean Sea are likely to be thousands of years old, a study shows...

from BBC News Online

African Land Grabs Hinder Sustainable Development

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:38:00 EST

A scramble to buy African land is threatening the continent's sustainable development, according to reports launched today at the Royal Society in London...

from Nature News

Human Brains Wire Up Slowly but Surely

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:35:00 EST

As the father-to-son exchange in the old Cat Stevens song advised, "take your time, think a lot, ... think of everything you've got." Turns out the mellow '70s folkie had stumbled upon what may explain a key feature of our brains that sets us apart from our closest relatives: We unhurriedly make synaptic connections through much of our early childhoods, and this plasticity enables us to slowly wire our brains based on our experiences...

from ScienceNOW Daily News

Bird Flu Leaves Tracks in Brain

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:32:00 EST

After surviving a bout of virulent bird flu, mice's brains show short-term reductions of a key brain chemical and long-lasting signs of infection, a new study finds. The research suggests this type of flu might leave people more vulnerable to brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease...

from Science News

'Supergiant' Crustacean Found in Deepest Ocean

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:30:00 EST

A huge crustacean has been found lurking 7km down in the waters off the coast of New Zealand. The creature--called a supergiant--is a type of amphipod, which are normally around 2-3cm long.But these beasts... were more than 10 times bigger: the largest found measured in at 34cm...

from BBC News Online

Prehistoric "Shield"-Headed Croc Found

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:26:00 EST

A new prehistoric croc sporting an odd head "shield" has been found in Morocco, according to a study published Tuesday. Dubbed ShieldCroc, the animal's head appendage was surrounded by blood vessels and covered with a sheath like those seen in frilled dinosaurs, including Triceratops...

from National Geographic News

The Enigmatic Membrane

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:23:00 EST

Cells live longer than their internal components. To keep their cytoplasm clear of excess or damaged organelles, as well as invading pathogens, or to feed themselves in time of nutrient deprivation, cells degrade these unwanted or potentially harmful structures, and produce needed food and fuel, using a process they have honed over millions of years...

from the Scientist (Registration Required)

Telomeres and Longevity in Zebra Finches

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:20:00 EST

A telomere is like an aglet. Aglets are those plastic or metal tubular thingies at the end of your shoe laces that keep the end of the shoelace from becoming frayed and facilitate inserting the lace into the eyelet. A telomere is a sequence of base pairs at the end of a chromosome...

from Smithsonian Magazine

Closer Look at the Quantity of Climate Coverage in 2011

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:12:00 EST

Just how scarce was climate-change coverage in 2011? It's hard to get a fix on the details, but the broad conclusion that it was even scarcer than in the year before seems to hold up...

from the Columbia Journalism Review

We're Living in a Space Cloud

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:08:00 EST

A NASA robotic probe sampling particles flowing into our solar system from the galactic neighborhood shows we're living in a cloud--and likely to stay that way for hundreds or even thousands of years...

from Discovery News

It Wasn't the Vaccine--So Why Did Baby Have Seizures?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:05:00 EST

"Men in Black" was flickering on the screen, and Laura Cossolotto and her husband were enjoying a rare night at the movies in their home town of Centerville, Iowa, when her brother-in-law rushed into the darkened theater.

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

Science Decodes 'Internal Voices'

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:02:00 EST

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients' brains.

from BBC News Online

First Land Plants May Have Caused a Series of Ice Ages

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:59:00 EST

The first plants to take root on dry land may have cooled the Earth enough to bring on a series of ice ages, scientists claim. As plants spread across the continents, they extracted minerals from the rocks they clung to and drew down levels of atmospheric carbon, causing temperatures to drop markedly, the researchers say.

from the Guardian (UK)

Vaccine Development: Man vs. MRSA

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:56:00 EST

Over the years, Robert Daum has learned to respect his adversary. In 1995, he and his co-workers at the University of Chicago children's hospital in Illinois were investigating infections that had affected two dozen children in their emergency department...

from Nature News

Massage's Mystery Mechanism Unmasked

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:52:00 EST

Massage's healing touch may have more to do with DNA than with good hands. A new study has revealed for the first time how kneading eases sore muscles--by turning off genes associated with inflammation and turning on genes that help muscles heal. The discovery contradicts popular claims that massage squeezes lactic acid or waste products out of tired muscles and could bring new medical credibility to the practice.

from ScienceNOW

Big Storms Roil Even the Deep Ocean

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:48:00 EST

Sebastian the crab may have been wrong about the deep sea. In Disney's The Little Mermaid, the orange crustacean famously touted the tranquility of life well below the waves, singing "it's better down where it's wetter." But the ocean's depths can get stormy, too, researchers say. New observations taken from a canyon in the Mediterranean Sea during an epic storm reveal that surface weather can shake up even the bottom-most ocean habitats.

from ScienceNOW

Big Volcanoes Wake Up Fast

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:44:00 EST

Long-slumbering volcanoes can jolt to life faster than students drinking Red Bull, a new study suggests...

from Science News

"Solar Systems" Common Across the Galaxy

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:40:00 EST

Last week NASA's Kepler mission added 26 new planets in 11 star systems to the roster of confirmed extrasolar planets, or exoplanets. The find tripled the number of known planet systems with multiple worlds that transit--or pass in front of--their stars...

from National Geographic News