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Why do planets farthest from sun have highest winds? Team closes in on answer

The planets beyond Mars exhibit the highest winds speeds of any other planets in the solar system. It's a puzzle, because less energy from the sun is available there to drive higher winds.
Blue crabs in Maine? Something fishy about global warming.

Warming oceans are changing the mix of species in the world's fisheries, according to a new study. Marine-ecosystem models have indicated that this could be an effect from global warming.
Colossal hydrogen bridge between galaxies could be fuel line for new stars

Researchers studying a filament of hydrogen between the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies found rotating clumps of gas the size of dwarf galaxies. But questions remain.
Cicadas return: How do they know when it's time to emerge? (+video)

17-year cicadas spend almost their whole lives burrowed under the ground, suckling on the roots of trees. How do they keep track of the time?
Flight of the RoboBee: Tiny hovering robot creates buzz

The successful controlled flight of the tiny RoboBee – designed by a team at Harvard – represents a key step in the development of insect-size drones with a range of potential uses.
Plant gases help curb global warming, finds study

Plants respond to warming temperatures by emitting vapors that help reflect sunlight, a team of scientists have discovered.
Earth's cooling came to sudden halt in 1900, study shows

An international study used tree rings and pollen to build the first record of global climate change, continent by continent, over 2,000 years.
Primitive fish may shed light on evolution of limbs

Once thought to be extinct, the coelacanth (through its DNA) is aiding scientists in their growing understanding of evolution. When inserted into mice, the fish's DNA causes the mammals to grow limbs. In the fish the same DNA codes for fins, not limbs.
Antarctic ice tells conflicting story about climate change's role in big melt

Two different areas of Antarctica tell two very different stories about how climate change might be affecting ice melt. The data appear to confirm that climate change impacts can be very local.
Fast-growing dinosaurs kicked inside eggs, say scientists

Researchers used new ancient fossil finds to learn about dinosaurs' early development. The evidence suggests dinosaurs wiggled inside their eggs and grew faster than any birds or mammals living today.
Fasten seatbelts, air passengers. Climate change ahead.

Transatlantic flights will be bumpier by 2050 because of rising CO2 emissions, a new study finds. Turbulent episodes could double and the average strength of turbulence would also rise 10 to 40 percent.
Clouds blamed for record ice melt in Greenland

The 2012 summer witnessed the largest ice loss ever in Greenland since scientists started recording melt rates there in 1979, and new research indicates that clouds might be the cause.
Global warming mystery: Are North and South really polar opposites?

Two studies, one about plants covering previously frozen landscapes in the Arctic, the other about expanding winter sea ice in Antarctica, appear to say different things about global warming.
Spread of Antarctic ice: no longer a global warming paradox?

While Arctic ice shrinks to record lows, Antarctic ice has been increasing in winter. New study suggests summer melt in Antarctic is creating a surface layer of freshwater that freezes more readily in winter.
Earthquake gold: Earthquake movements turn water into gold

Earthquake gold: Water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold, according to a model published in the March 17 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
Milky Way's neighbor galaxy closer than thought

Astronomers in Chile announced that they are able to measure more accurately the distance to Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy adjacent to the Milky Way.
Camels evolved in the Arctic, say scientists

The ancestors of modern camels roamed forests in northern Canada, a new fossil discovery suggests.
How did those wolves get to the Falkland Islands? Scientists may have an answer.

Australian scientists believe that they now understand how a reddish, dog-sized carnivore could have wound up on the Falkland Islands, 285 miles from the nearest mainland, some 16,000 years ago.
Humongous camels once roamed the Arctic, say scientists

Paleontologists in Canada's northernmost province have unearthed the shinbone of what they say was a giant camel.
Scientists link rat brains via Internet

Electrical impulses generated in one rat's brain can be decoded by another, found researchers who used electrodes to connect the motor cortices of rodents thousands of miles apart.
How did supermassive black holes get so big? New data give a clue.

Scientists have now measured the spin of a supermassive black hole, describing the rate in terms of the energy needed to sustain the spin. These black holes are thought to occupy the center of virtually every galaxy.
Mind meld rats? Scientists link rat brains via the Internet.

Mind meld rats: Researchers have demonstrated that electrical signals generated in the brain of one rat can be decoded by the brain of another, in an experiment involving rodents that are thousands of miles apart.
Astronomers clock supermassive black hole's spin for first time

How fast does a supermassive black hole spin? For the first time, scientists have made a reliable measurement of these behemoths, thought to be at the center of most, if not all, galaxies.
Francis Crick's Nobel Prize medal to be auctioned

The family of Francis Crick, one of three men who received the Nobel Prize for discovering DNA structure, announced a plan to auction his 23-carat gold medal. Part of the proceeds are to be offered to research institutions.
Ultra-stretchy battery to power bionic life

An experimental type of tiny lithium-based batteries promised to wirelessly charge wearable gadgets, implantable brain-wave monitors, or other bionic devices.