Science X Newsletter Week 07

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 07:

	Mystery 'hobbits' not humans like us: study Diminutive humans that died out on an Indonesian island some 15,000 years ago were not Homo sapiens but a different species, according to a study published Monday that dives into a fierce anthropological debate.
	Five-dimensional black hole could 'break' general relativity Researchers have shown how a bizarrely shaped black hole could cause Einstein's general theory of relativity, a foundation of modern physics, to break down. However, such an object could only exist in a universe with five or more dimensions.
	Neuroscientists reverse autism symptoms Autism has diverse genetic causes, most of which are still unknown. About 1 percent of people with autism are missing a gene called Shank3, which is critical for brain development. Without this gene, individuals develop typical autism symptoms including repetitive behavior and avoidance of social interactions.
	Eternal 5D data storage could record the history of humankind Scientists at the University of Southampton have made a major step forward in the development of digital data storage that is capable of surviving for billions of years.
	Physicists discover easy way to measure entanglement—on a sphere (Phys.org)—Quantum entanglement—which occurs when two or more particles are correlated in such a way that they can influence each other even across large distances—is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but occurs in various degrees. The more a quantum state is entangled with its partner, the better the states will perform in quantum information applications. Unfortunately, quantifying entanglement is a difficult process involving complex optimization problems that give even physicists headaches.
	Disbelieve it or not, ancient history suggests that atheism is as natural to humans as religion People in the ancient world did not always believe in the gods, a new study suggests – casting doubt on the idea that religious belief is a "default setting" for humans.
	New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat In the largest study of its kind, an international team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has shown that both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products.
	Scientists record first video of the 100-nm space under an impacting Leidenfrost droplet (Phys.org)—There are many cool videos showing the Leidenfrost effect, which occurs when water droplets levitate and skid around on top of a very hot surface, rather than immediately evaporating like they do at temperatures that are not quite as hot. The effect occurs because the bottom of the droplet rapidly vaporizes as it approaches the hot surface, causing the droplet to levitate on top of its own vapor.
	Electrical engineers develop device to diagnose cancer rapidly at the cellular level, improve early detection The key to fighting cancer in many cases is early detection, and earlier detection at the cellular level could mean survival for many cancer patients.
	Three gravitational wave projects unveiled in China Chinese scientists have unveiled three separate projects to investigate gravitational waves, state media said Wednesday, days after earthshaking US discoveries that confirmed Einstein's century-old predictions.
	NASA to simulate growing potatoes on Mars in Peru Do Peru's potatoes have the right stuff?
	Unlocking one of the great secrets of Earth's evolution An international team including scientists at the University of St Andrews has unlocked the secret of one of the great events of Earth's evolution – the Cambrian explosion.
	How many holes need to be drilled to collapse a wooden cube? (Phys.org)—It may sound like a simple riddle, but a team of scientists is intrigued with the answer because it could lead to a better understanding of percolation, the process that occurs when a liquid trickles through small holes in a filter. Percolation models have applications in unexpected areas, such as understanding cancer metastasis and in distributed computing.
	DNA rice breakthrough raises 'green revolution' hopes Rice-growing techniques learned through thousands of years of trial and error are about to be turbocharged with DNA technology in a breakthrough hailed by scientists as a potential second "green revolution".
	Sweet discovery in leafy greens holds key to gut health A critical discovery about how bacteria feed on an unusual sugar molecule found in leafy green vegetables could hold the key to explaining how 'good' bacteria protect our gut and promote health.
	Moving electrons around loops with light: A quantum device based on geometry While a classical bit found in conventional electronics exists only in binary 1 or 0 states, the more resourceful quantum bit, or 'qubit' is represented by a vector, pointing to a simultaneous combination of the 1 and 0 states. To fully implement a qubit, it is necessary to control the direction of this qubit's vector, which is generally done using fine-tuned and noise-isolated procedures.
Researchers demonstrate 'quantum surrealism' New research demonstrates that particles at the quantum level can in fact be seen as behaving something like billiard balls rolling along a table, and not merely as the probabilistic smears that the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests. But there's a catch - the tracks the particles follow do not always behave as one would expect from "realistic" trajectories, but often in a fashion that has been termed "surrealistic."
	An idea for allowing the human eye to observe an instance of entanglement (Phys.org)—A trio of physicists in Europe has come up with an idea that they believe would allow a person to actually witness entanglement. Valentina Caprara Vivoli, with the University of Geneva, Pavel Sekatski, with the University of Innsbruck and Nicolas Sangouard, with the University of Basel, have together written a paper describing a scenario where a human subject would be able to witness an instance of entanglement—they have uploaded it to the arXiv server for review by others.
	Physicists zoom in on gluons' contribution to proton spin By analyzing the highest-energy proton collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle collider at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, nuclear physicists have gotten a glimpse of how a multitude of gluons that individually carry very little of the protons' overall momentum contribute to the protons' spin. The data described in a recently published paper indicate that these glue-like particles—named for their role in binding the quarks that make up each proton—play a substantial role in determining the intrinsic angular momentum, or spin, of these building blocks of matter.
	Trapped in amber: Flower identified as new species A Rutgers scientist has identified a flower trapped in ancient amber as belonging to a species completely new to science.

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