ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Newfound exoplanet may turn to dust: Planet’s dust cloud may explain strange patterns of light from its star
• Attraction or repulsion? New method predicts interaction energy of large molecules
• 'Rare' genetic variants are surprisingly common, life scientists report
• How exercise affects the brain: Age and genetics play a role
• Functional coatings from the plasma nozzle
• New key mechanism in cell division discovered
• Hitting snooze on the molecular clock: Rabies evolves slower in hibernating bats
• Intricate, often invisible land-sea ecological chains of life threatened with extinction around the world
• A cell's first steps: Building a model to explain how cells grow
• Sutureless aortic valve replacement a North American first
• New silicon memory chip may offer super-fast memory
• A crowning success for crayfish
• Measuring transient X-rays with lobster eyes
• Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars
• Chemists merge experimentation with theory in understanding of water molecule
• Google goes cancer: Search engine algorithm finds cancer biomarkers
• Pollination with precision: How flowers do it

Newfound exoplanet may turn to dust: Planet’s dust cloud may explain strange patterns of light from its star Posted: 18 May 2012 04:23 PM PDT Researchers have detected a possible planet, some 1,500 light years away, that appears to be evaporating under the blistering heat of its parent star. The scientists infer that a long tail of debris -- much like the tail of a comet -- is following the planet, and that this tail may tell the story of the planet's disintegration. According to the team's calculations, the tiny exoplanet, not much larger than Mercury, will completely disintegrate within 100 million years.

Attraction or repulsion? New method predicts interaction energy of large molecules Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT Scientists have developed and validated a more accurate method for predicting the interaction energy of large molecules, such as biomolecules used to develop new drugs.

'Rare' genetic variants are surprisingly common, life scientists report Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT A large survey of human genetic variation shows that rare genetic variants are not so rare after all, and offers insights into human diseases. A team of scientists studied 202 genes in 14,002 people -- one of the largest ever in a sequencing study in humans.

How exercise affects the brain: Age and genetics play a role Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT Findings suggest that the effects of exercise on memory depend on the age of the exerciser; underlying genetic mechanisms matter, too.

Functional coatings from the plasma nozzle Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT These coatings offer protection against rust, scratches and moisture and also improve adhesion: Surfaces with a nano coating. A new plasma process enables these coatings to be applied more easily and cost-efficiently -- on an industrial scale.

New key mechanism in cell division discovered Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT Researchers have identified the mechanism by which protein Zds1 regulates a key function in mitosis, the process that occurs immediately before cell division. The research opens the door to developing targeted and direct therapies against cancer.

Hitting snooze on the molecular clock: Rabies evolves slower in hibernating bats Posted: 18 May 2012 10:27 AM PDT The rate at which the rabies virus evolves in bats may depend heavily upon the ecological traits of its hosts, according to new research. Rabies viruses in tropical and sub-tropical bat species evolved nearly four times faster than viral variants in bats in temperate regions.

Intricate, often invisible land-sea ecological chains of life threatened with extinction around the world Posted: 18 May 2012 10:27 AM PDT Intricate, often invisible chains of life are threatened with extinction around the world. A new study quantifies one of the longest such chains ever documented.

A cell's first steps: Building a model to explain how cells grow Posted: 18 May 2012 10:26 AM PDT Physicists and biologists are addressing an important fundamental question in basic cell biology: how do living cells figure out when and where to grow?

Sutureless aortic valve replacement a North American first Posted: 18 May 2012 10:25 AM PDT A surgical milestone was reached on May 1st with a sutureless aortic valve replacement through a thoracic incision just 5 centimeters long. The two patients in their seventies who underwent this innovative procedure were doing well only one week after their operations.

New silicon memory chip may offer super-fast memory Posted: 18 May 2012 10:25 AM PDT The first purely silicon oxide-based "resistive RAM" memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions -- opening up the possibility of new super-fast memory -- has now been developed.

A crowning success for crayfish Posted: 18 May 2012 10:24 AM PDT Australian freshwater crayfish have a tooth enamel very similar to humans. Nature sometimes copies its own particularly successful developments. Scientists have now found that the teeth of the Australian freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus are covered with an enamel amazingly similar to that of vertebrates. Both materials consist of calcium phosphate and are also very alike in terms of their microstructure. This extremely hard substance has apparently developed in freshwater crayfish independently from vertebrates, as it makes the teeth particularly strong.

Measuring transient X-rays with lobster eyes Posted: 18 May 2012 07:27 AM PDT A technology that mimics the structure of a lobster's eyes is now being applied to a new instrument that could help revolutionize X-ray astronomy and keep astronauts safe on the International Space Station.

Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars Posted: 18 May 2012 05:13 AM PDT People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others.

Chemists merge experimentation with theory in understanding of water molecule Posted: 18 May 2012 05:11 AM PDT Using newly developed imaging technology, chemists have confirmed years of theoretical assumptions about water molecules, the most abundant and one of the most frequently studied substances on Earth.

Google goes cancer: Search engine algorithm finds cancer biomarkers Posted: 17 May 2012 04:31 PM PDT The strategy used by Google to decide which pages are relevant for a search query can also be used to determine which proteins in a patient's cancer are relevant for the disease progression.

Pollination with precision: How flowers do it Posted: 17 May 2012 10:20 AM PDT Pollination could be a chaotic disaster. With hundreds of pollen grains growing long tubes to ovules to deliver their sperm to female gametes, how can a flower ensure that exactly two fertile sperm reach every ovule? Biologists report the discovery of how plants optimize the distribution of pollen for successful reproduction.

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