Catherine Griffin : Science World Report

Jun 13, 2013 01:45 PM EDT

World Population Explodes: UN Predicts Number of Humans to Reach 11 Billion in a Century

The world's population is exploding. We've already passed the 7 billion mile marker, but now it turns out that we're scheduled to shoot way past estimates by the end of the century. Although previous assessments had us evening out at 10.1 billion, it turns out that we'll probably reach 11 billion.

Jun 13, 2013 12:32 PM EDT

Flying Reptiles Ruled England's Skies: Pterosaur Diversity Revealed

About 110 million years ago, flying reptiles soared across the skies of England. Yet it wasn't just one species, and they didn't all look the same by any stretch of the imagination. Researchers have now discovered the huge diversity of the creatures that once lived in England.

Jun 13, 2013 11:47 AM EDT

Purple Sea Urchin Combats Ocean Acidification with 'Evolutionary' Weapon

Ocean acidification is one of the huge issues of climate change. Yet at least one species is fighting back. It turns out that a certain purple sea urchin is learning how to adapt to combat climate change with its own weapon--evolution

Jun 13, 2013 11:05 AM EDT

Mars Temperature Mystery Solved: NASA Discovers Water-Ice Clouds to Blame

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has discovered something else about the Red Planet. While Earth experiences rises and falls in temperatures once a day, it turns out that the Martian atmosphere actually feels these rises and falls twice daily. The culprit? Water-ice clouds.

Jun 13, 2013 10:27 AM EDT

New Material Defies Laws of Physics by Expanding When Squeezed

When you squeeze something, it usually gets smaller. Now it seems that scientists have defied these laws of physics, creating a new material that expands when it's squeezed.

Jun 13, 2013 09:47 AM EDT

Dad's Stress Changes His Sperm: Brain Development of Future Children Affected

Is Dad stressed? It may not be a good thing for your future children. It turns out that sperm is affected by stress, whether experienced as a preadolescent or adult, and could give any sons or daughters a blunted reaction to stress--a response is associated with several mental disorders.

Jun 13, 2013 08:57 AM EDT

Algal Blooms for Carbon Sequestration: Gluttonous Diatom May Gobble All of the Iron

Scientists took a look at the possibility of fertilizing algal blooms with iron in the hopes that they can trap carbon dioxide and offset rising global levels. What they found, though, was a gluttonous diatom.

Jun 13, 2013 08:12 AM EDT

Altitude Shapes the Sound of Language: Mountains Affect Way We Speak

What happens when you have to use less effort to speak, like at high altitudes? It turns out that our very language changes. A new study has revealed that there is a link between geographical elevation and the way language is spoken.

Jun 12, 2013 06:08 PM EDT

X-rays Reveal What the Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs Looked Like: 'Dinobird' Plumage

Archaeopteryx is known as the "link" between dinosaurs and birds. Now scientists have conducted the first complete chemical analysis of feathers from the species in order to find out exactly what this "dinobird" might have looked like.

Jun 12, 2013 05:41 PM EDT

DNA Reveals Enormous Adaptive Potential of Marine Microalga

Scientists may have discovered why one microalga has had such global success. They've sequenced the genome of the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi and have learned more about its enormous adaptive potential through its DNA.

Jun 12, 2013 05:17 PM EDT

Bonanza of Black Holes Discovered in Nearby Andromeda Galaxy by NASA

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has made a new discovery. It's found a veritable bonanza of black holes in the Andromeda Galaxy, one of the nearest galaxies to our own Milky Way.

Jun 12, 2013 08:54 AM EDT