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Cheats of the bird world -- Cuckoo finches fool host parents

Cuckoo finches that lay more than one egg in their victims' nests have a better chance of bamboozling host parents into fostering their parasitic young, a study has found.

Dr Martin Stevens from the University of Exeter and Dr Claire Spottiswoode from the University of Cambridge, with Dr Jolyon Troscianko at the University of Exeter, demonstrated that when African cuckoo finch females lay more than one egg in the same nest of their African tawny-flanked prinia hosts, the foster parents find it harder to tell their own eggs from the imposter's.

Fusion, anyone?

WASHINGTON D.C. Sept. 24, 2013 -- The dream of igniting a self-sustained fusion reaction with high yields of energy, a feat likened to creating a miniature star on Earth, is getting closer to becoming reality, according the authors of a new review article in the journal Physics of Plasmas.

AGU Journal Highlights -- Sept. 24, 2013

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-D), Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth (JGR-B) and Paleoceanography.

In this release:

New theory for analyzing interacting nuclear spins in solvents

Hardly a spectroscopic method boasts so many different applications as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, better known as "NMR". The approach of NMR spectroscopy is based on monitoring the so-called nuclear spin, namely the angular momentum of atoms, or, more precisely: the magnetic moment associated with them. The atom thus becomes a bar magnet, whose axis is aligned within a magnetic field but is otherwise arbitrarily oriented within its environment. The alignment can be altered by applying electromagnetic radiation in the radio wavelength, typically at several 100 Megahertz.

Underage youth get cigarettes and alcohol from friends and family, survey shows

September 24, 2013 - A survey conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that a majority of those underage students in Ontario, Canada who smoke or drink are getting cigarettes and alcohol from a friend or family member.

Among students in Grades 7-12 who smoked cigarettes, 58 per cent say they received their last cigarette from a friend or family member, while 19 per cent report getting them from a corner store, grocery store, gas station, or bar.

Scientists push closer to understanding mystery of deep earthquakes

LEMONT, Ill. – Scientists broke new ground in the study of deep earthquakes, a poorly understood phenomenon that occurs where the oceanic lithosphere, driven by tectonics, plunges under continental plates – examples are off the coasts of the western United States, Russia and Japan.

Counting on neodymium

This news release is available in German.

Wind and rain belts to shift north as planet warms, says study

As humans continue to heat the planet, a northward shift of Earth's wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter, says a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Global warming is likely to increase severe thunderstorm conditions in US, Stanford research finds

In 2012, 11 weather disasters in the United States crossed the billion-dollar threshold in economic losses. Seven of those events were related to severe thunderstorms.

New climate analyses led by Stanford scientists indicate that global warming is likely to cause a robust increase in the conditions that produce these types of storms across much of the country over the next century.

Severe thunderstorms are one of the primary causes of catastrophic losses in the United States and often exhibit the conditions that generate heavy rainfall, damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.

UCSB researchers make headway in quantum information transfer via nanomechanical coupling

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Fiber optics has made communication faster than ever, but the next step involves a quantum leap –– literally. In order to improve the security of the transfer of information, scientists are working on how to translate electrical quantum states to optical quantum states in a way that would enable ultrafast, quantum-encrypted communications.

Researchers probe the optical properties of a novel kind of magnetism

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Using low-frequency laser pulses, a team of researchers has carried out the first measurements that reveal the detailed characteristics of a unique kind of magnetism found in a mineral called herbertsmithite.

Encouraging outcomes for pediatric brain tumor patients treated with proton therapy

Atlanta, September 22, 2013—When used to treat pediatric patients with intracranial malignant tumors, proton therapy may limit the toxicity of radiation therapy while preserving tumor control, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 55th Annual Meeting.

Proton therapy is a cost-effective treatment for pediatric brain tumor patients

Atlanta, September 22, 2013—Proton therapy, an external beam radiotherapy in which protons deliver precise radiation doses to a tumor and spare healthy organs and tissues, is cost-effective in treating medulloblastomas, fast-growing brain tumors that mainly affect children, when compared to standard photon radiation therapy, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 55th Annual Meeting.

Climate change nothing new in Oz

While we grapple with the impact of climate change, archaeologists suggest we spare a thought for Aboriginal Australians who had to cope with the last ice age.

"The period scientists call the Last Glacial Maximum, or LGM for short, is the most significant climatic event ever faced by humans on this continent," Associate Professor Sean Ulm from James Cook University in Cairns said.

UCLA scientists explain the formation of unusual ring of radiation in space

Since the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, space scientists have believed these belts encircling the Earth consist of two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles — an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions and an outer ring of high-energy electrons.

In February of this year, a team of scientists reported the surprising discovery of a previously unknown third radiation ring — a narrow one that briefly appeared between the inner and outer rings in September 2012 and persisted for a month.