The EDGE: ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Sunday, August 12, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Sunday, August 12, 2012

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NASA conducts airborne study of Colorado landslide (August 11, 2012) -- NASA's C-20A (Gulfstream III) Earth science aircraft, carrying a specially designed synthetic aperture radar, recently completed the latest in a series of data collection flights over Colorado's centuries-old Slumgullion landslide. The goal of the research flights, funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is to aid scientists' understanding of the mechanisms controlling landslide motion. ... > full story

Hubble's close encounter with the Tarantula (August 11, 2012) -- Turning its eye to the Tarantula Nebula, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a close-up of the outskirts of the main cloud of the Nebula. ... > full story

Prenatal whole genome sequencing: Just because we can, should we? (August 10, 2012) -- With whole genome sequencing quickly becoming more affordable and accessible, we need to pay more attention to the massive amount of information it will deliver to parents -- and the fact that we don't yet understand what most of it means, concludes a new article. ... > full story

Of mice and melodies: Research on language gene seeks to uncover the origins of the singing mouse (August 10, 2012) -- Singing mice are unique rodents that use song to communicate. An important underlying gene that is thought to influence the singing behavior is a transcription factor called FOXP2, sometimes called the 'language gene' because it has been linked to speech disorders in humans. This information could help researchers find areas of the human FOXP2 gene that are associated with autism. ... > full story

Research shows gene defect's role in autism-like behavior (August 10, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered how a defective gene causes brain changes that lead to the atypical social behavior characteristic of autism. The research offers a potential target for drugs to treat the condition. ... > full story

Daily aspirin usage linked to lower cancer mortality (August 10, 2012) -- A new study provides additional support for a potential benefit of daily aspirin use for cancer mortality, but the authors say important questions remain about the size of the potential benefit. ... > full story

NASA Curiosity Mars rover installing smarts for driving (August 10, 2012) -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth. ... > full story

Quantum cryptography theory has a demonstrated security defect (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have just demonstrated the incompleteness and limit of the security theory in quantum key distribution. The present theory cannot guarantee unconditional security. ... > full story

Influence of heating techniques on red palm oil carotene levels (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have studied carotene and antibacterial effects of microwave heated and conventional heated red palm oil (RPO). They discovered that conventional heating reduced its carotene levels but microwave heating retained a higher carotene content. ... > full story

Study of fruit fly chromosomes improves understanding of evolution and fertility (August 10, 2012) -- New research explores the evolution of sperm structure and function, through an analysis of Drosophila genes and gene products. The research has important implications for the study of human infertility as well. ... > full story

USDA: Ongoing drought causes significant crop yield declines (August 10, 2012) -- Corn production will drop 13 percent to a six-year low, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Aug. 10, confirming what many farmers already knew -- they are having a very bad year. ... > full story

NOAA raises hurricane season prediction despite expected El Niño (August 10, 2012) -- This year's Atlantic hurricane season got off to a busy start, with 6 named storms to date, and may have a busy second half, according to the updated hurricane season outlook issued Aug. 9, 2012 by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service. The updated outlook still indicates a 50 percent chance of a near-normal season, but increases the chance of an above-normal season to 35 percent and decreases the chance of a below-normal season to only 15 percent from the initial outlook issued in May. ... > full story