Getting a Head Start on Autism

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/getting-head-start-autism

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have designed Russell the robot (background). It helps teach kids with autism, like this young boy, how to imitate people and to interact with them. 

Vanderbilt University

The Quake That Shook Up Geology

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/quake-shook-geology-Alaska-1964

The 1964 Great Alaska Quake caused several downtown areas of Anchorage to collapse. Here, that 11-foot (3.4 meter) drop — or subsidence — took a line of parked cars with it. Before the event, the sidewalk (left) had been as high as the street (far right).

U.S. Army 1964, USGS.gov

Brain Size Matters When it Comes to Animal Self-Control

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140422113437.htm

Screenshot of video illustrating squirrel inhibition failure.

Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Berkeley

NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon

Brought to you by Mr. Brennan

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-112&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=cassini20140414

The disturbance visible at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft results from gravitational effects on ring particles by an object that may be replaying the birth process of icy moons. Cassini's narrow-angle camera recorded this view on April 15, 2013.

Into the Deep: Expedition Seeks Life in Ocean Trench

Brought to you by Angela

http://www.livescience.com/44772-kermadec-trench-expedition-planned.html

A fish investigating a baited camera on the Atlantic's deep seafloor.
Credit: RSS James Cook Cruise 62

Exploring Other Dimensions - TED Talk

Brought to you by Arthur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6kn6nXMWF0

A computer-generated rendering of a possible six-dimensional geometry similar to those studied by UW-Madison physicist Gary Shiu.

Image: courtesy Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University

Artists Have Structurally Different Brains, Study Finds

Brought to you by Juliet

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/04/17/artistsdifferentbrains

 _DJ_@flickr adapted under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Deadly H5N1 Bird Flu Needs Just 5 Mutations to Spread Easily in People

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-bird-flu-five-mutations-20140410,0,6818032.story?track=lat-email-healthreport

                                             Health workers slaughtered chickens at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong after three dead chickens tested positive for "bird flu" in 2008. New research shows the H5N1 flu virus could become easily transmissible among people if it acquired just five genetic mutations. 

(Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

Small Microbes Almost Killed All Life on Earth, Study Suggests

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-permian-extinction-microbes-20140401,0,818600.story?track=lat-email-healthreport

      MIT professor of geophysics Daniel Rothman stands next to part of the Xiakou formation in China. His right hand rests on the layer that marks the time of the end-Permian mass extinction event. Samples from this formation provided evidence for large amounts of nickel that were spewed from volcanic activity at this time, 252 million years ago. 

  (Dan Rothman)

Possible New Target to Attack Flu Virus Identified

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140410153626.htm

This region of the NS1 viral protein binds the host protein DDX21, making it a potential target for new antivirals against the influenza virusBetter antiviral drugs could help the millions of people annually infected by flu, which kills up to 500,000 people each year.

Credit: Image Courtesy of University of Texas at Austin

First 'Exomoon' Around Alien Planet Possibly Found

http://www.space.com/25438-exomoon-around-alien-planet-discovery.html

Researchers have detected the first potential "exomoon" candidate, a moon orbiting an alien planet beyond our solar system. This artist's illustration shows a possible view of the exomoon (left) and a version of the system if it is actually a star and planet.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A 'Wedding Ring' in Space

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/%E2%80%98wedding-ring%E2%80%99-space

The expanding shell of gas shown here, called Abell 33, glows blue. It’s the remnant of a dying star. The bright star that appears to sit on the ring’s edge actually is nowhere near that shell of gas. 

ESO

Kangaroos Have 'Green' Farts

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/kangaroos-have-green-farts

Microbes from the digestive tract of Eastern gray kangaroos (like the one shown here with her joey) appear to explain the climate-friendly flatulence of these animals. 

JohnCarnemolla/iStockphoto

Fruit Flies, Fighter Jets Use Similar Nimble Tactics When Under Attack

Brought to you by Samantha

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140410141745.htm

Time lapse images from a high speed video shows how a fruit fly startled by a looming shadow (off camera at the bottom right) performs a rapid roll to bank away from the threat.

Credit: F. Muijres, University of Washington