Discovery News

Newborns Pick Up Language in the Womb

human

Nov. 6, 2009 -- Comparing the gurgles, coos and cries of French and German newborns, a team of scientists from both countries found that baby talk is not, as previously assumed, universal.

Earlier research showed that human fetuses start to memorize sounds from the external world by the third trimester, and are especially keyed in to the melodic qualities of music and speech.

Previous studies also showed that newborns prefer the voice of their mothers, and can decipher different emotional content -- anger, joy -- from the intonation of maternal speech.

Bright Bacteria Wins Synthetic Biology Competition

tech

Nov. 6, 2009 -- Bacteria bright enough to see with the naked eye won the coveted BioBrick at this year's International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition.

The annual contest brings together teams of undergraduate students from across the globe and showcases some of the newest and most unique ideas in synthetic biology.

"We saw some incredible projects this year," said iGEM organizer Randy Rettberg. "We are training the next generation of synthetic biologists."

Can Humans Infect Pets With H1N1?

animals

Nov. 6, 2009 -- Until this week, many veterinarians asserted that it was a myth that house cats could catch the deadly H1N1 flu from their owners.

Those veterinarians, along with other health experts, are revising their views after an Iowa Department of Public Health announcement Wednesday that the virus has been confirmed in an indoor 13-year-old cat, which likely contracted the illness from two flu-sick humans in its home.

Although all of the victims have since recovered, this latest H1N1 animal case puts the focus on humans as the primary carriers of the illness, which experts don't even want to call "swine" flu anymore.

Experts see 'youngest' neutron star

space#topic

Astronomers have observed the youngest known neutron star - the super-dense core of a stellar explosion - for the first time.

In 1999, they identified the 12.4 mile-wide object as a powerful X-ray source. Now they have identified it as an infant neutron star 11,000 light years from Earth in the middle of the supernova Cassiopeia A.

Having appeared only 330 years ago, it is the youngest object of its kind to have been discovered. All other known neutron stars are much older.

Dead Star Encased in Diamond Shroud

space

Nov. 5, 2009 -- Astronomers have just solved a decade-old mystery that explains the unusual behavior of a neutron star -- the dense, hot corpse left behind after a massive stellar explosion -- at the center of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant.

It wasn't the X-rays streaming from the center of the supernova remnant that astronomers found puzzling. It's why the beams weren't pulsating as expected. Now the scientists know why: The neutron star is covered with a thin atmosphere of carbon, which acts like a giant bulb to smooth light in all directions.

The findings help to illustrate the extreme nature of these entities.

'Cosmic Web' of Galaxies Holds Universe Together

space

Nov. 5, 2009 -- Astronomers have for the first time seen part of the "cosmic web" of galaxies that holds together the known universe, some seven billion light-years from Earth.

Viewed through the world's most powerful telescopes, the discovery "is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed," according to a statement by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

The assembly of galaxies form filaments "millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the universe," it says.

Speedy Germ Detector Works in Minutes

tech

Nov. 5, 2009 -- NASA scientists have developed a speedy new technology that can detect pathogens in 15 minutes flat.

Developed by chemist Adrian Ponce for the planetary science division at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the new device is designed to minimize contamination of other worlds by ensuring outgoing spacecraft are clear of earthly germs.

"The technology works on the timescale of 15 minutes, from sampling to results," Ponce told Discovery News. That compares to two to three days for NASA’s standard technique, which involves culturing, Ponce said.

Unmanned Planes Converted to Climate Scouts

earth

Nov. 5, 2009 -- In a modern-day rendition of beating swords into plowshares, a pair of unmanned military aircraft have been turned over to NASA for research on Earth's environment.

Test flights on a Northrop Grumman Global Hawk aircraft are under way at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California in preparation for a new mission called Global Hawk Pacific, or GloPac.

NASA has staged environmental research flights from aircraft previously, but none have the reach and duration of Global Hawk, a high-altitude, unmanned aircraft with a range of more 3,400 miles and which can stay aloft for more than a day.

Sea Lion Brain Mapped to Study Toxins' Effects

animals

Nov. 4, 2009 -- The first detailed anatomical atlas of a living wildlife species has been constructed by researchers.

Mapping the California sea lion's (Zalophus californianus) brain with a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volumetric measuring, scientists want to better understand how toxins in the water are causing neurological damage among marine mammal populations.

Eric Montie, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of South Florida, spearheaded the study, which was published in The Anatomical Record in October.

Gamma Ray 'Race' Proves Einstein Right Again

space

Nov. 4, 2009 -- Timing is everything, especially to physicists seeking to unite the mechanics of gravity with the quantum world of particles.

So when the opportunity came to measure if gamma rays of different energies traveled at the same speed, a team of physicists stepped up to the challenge.

At stake was nothing less than a foundation of modern physics -- Einstein's theory of relativity, which posits that all electromagnetic radiation travels at the same speed, whether low-energy radio waves, high-energy X-rays or gamma rays, or any wavelength in between.