ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Scientists have identified the neural mechanisms through which sound blunts pain in mice. The findings could inform development of safer methods to treat pain.

After blue whales, fin whales are the largest whales in the world -- and human beings have hunted both species to near-extinction. After the ban on commercial whaling in 1976, the stocks of these long-lived, but slow-growing creatures are rebounding: researchers have witnessed large groups of up to 150 southern fin whales in their historical feeding areas -- more than has ever been documented before using modern methods. Given these whales' key role in nutrient recycling, other species in the Antarctic ecosystem, like the krill, could also benefit from their rebounding numbers.

An international team has discovered a new big, meat-eating dinosaur, dubbed Meraxes gigas, that provides clues about the evolution and anatomy of predatory dinosaurs such as the Carcharodontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Meraxes measured around 36 feet from snout to tail tip and weighed approximately 9,000 pounds.

In a new paper, researchers challenge the longstanding view that the force of natural selection in humans must decline to zero once reproduction is complete. They assert that a long post-reproductive lifespan is not just due to recent advancements in health and medicine. The secret to our success? Our grandparents.

Researchers have entangled two quantum memories over a 33-kilometer-long fiber optic connection -- a record and an important step toward the quantum internet.

Physicists have now observed electron whirlpools. Theorists have long predicted electrons should exhibit this hallmark of fluid flow; the findings could inform the design of more efficient electronics.