Science News And ResearchInteresting science news, research tidbits and science discussion.Microbe Colonies Show Sophisticated Learning Behaviors- (Found June 19, 2008 ) A cross-disciplinary team of biologists and engineers investigating how simple biochemical networks can perform sophisticated computational tasks have observed bacterial colonies anticipating coming changes in their environment and adjusting their behaviors accordingly...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080518214753data_trunc_sys.shtml The Food Crisis Wildcard: Ozone- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Ozone, a pollutant which can damage plants and reduce crop yields, will likely exacerbate the current global food crisis, says a scientist who believes that the new EPA standards to combat rising ozone levels will not be enough to protect plants...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080508234022data_trunc_sys.shtml ADHD A Benefit In The Wild- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been placed neatly into a natural selection context thanks to a fascinating new study that suggests that ADHD may be beneficial to nomadic African tribesmen, although it may also trigger malnourishment in their cousins who live in settlements...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080509225554data_trunc_sys.shtml Omega-6 Intake Can Determine Offspring Gender- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Researchers at the University of Missouri have established that maternal diet can influence the gender of offspring in sheep, and a diet enriched with omega-6 fats offers a significantly higher chance of male offspring...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080510192326data_trunc_sys.shtml Fifteen-Thousand-Foot Fossil Find Flummoxes Fossickers- (Found June 19, 2008 ) High up on the desolate Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, an international research team has found thick layers of lake sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils typical of far lower elevations and warmer, wetter climates. The fossils are relatively young (around 2 million years), leading the researchers to ponder what could have caused such a sudden and massive die-off...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080512002744data_trunc_sys.shtml Physicists Create Quantum-Entangled Images- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Using a technique known as "four-wave mixing," researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute and the University of Maryland have created "quantum images," pairs of information-rich visual patterns whose features are entangled so that changes in one image are instantaneously replicated in the other image, regardless of the distance separating them...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080512195313data_trunc_sys.shtml DNA Precursors In Meteorite Confirmed As Extraterrestrial- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Scientists examining pieces of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969, say that the nucleobases found in the fragments are almost certainly extraterrestrial in origin, leading them to believe that these important building blocks for DNA and RNA may be common throughout the cosmos...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080515225806data_trunc_sys.shtml Climatologists Mull Side-Effects Of Ozone Hole Closure- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Climatologists modeling possible weather patterns that may occur when the ozone hole closes - projected to be sometime in the second half of this century - say that its closure may significantly affect the climate in the Southern Hemisphere, with flow-on effects that will be felt all over the planet...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080516214555data_trunc_sys.shtml Male Homosexuality Placed In Darwinian Context- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Italian researchers say that male homosexuality in humans can be explained by a model based on sexually antagonistic selection; where genetic factors spread in the population by giving a reproductive advantage to one sex while disadvantaging the other...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080517183252data_trunc_sys.shtml Moon Dust Could Be Key Ingredient For Giant Lunar Telescope- (Found June 19, 2008 ) A cocktail of nanotubes, moon dust and epoxy forms a concrete-like substance that NASA researchers say would be ideal for fabricating a (relatively) low-cost mirror telescope on the moon that would allow the direct imaging of extrasolar planets...http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080505192140data_trunc_sys.shtml |