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[NEWS] Two new expert commentaries released in the September 16 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience spotlight the increasingly violent animal rights attacks and the need for an educated public and engaged research community to ensure the safety of animals and researchers, as well as the continuation of health advances. The commentaries, written by Jeffery H. Kordower, and by Dario L. Ringach and J. David Jentsch, outline the strong efforts by The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the research community …

Using tourist photos downloaded from the Web, computer scientists created a digital version of Rome in about a day.

Scientists in China are reporting the 'intriguing' discovery that a natural plant hormone, applied to crops, can help plants eliminate residues of certain pesticides.

Scientists often become immersed in their data, and sometimes even lost. The AlloSphere , a unique virtual reality environment at the University of California, Santa Barbara, makes this easier by turning large data sets into immersive experiences of sight and sound. Inside its three-story metal sphere researchers can interpret and interact with their data in new and intriguing ways, including watching electrons spin from inside an atom or "flying" through an MRI scan of a patient's brain as blood density levels play as music. [More]

Researchers have identified a new biological process that spurs the growth of new blood vessels. Vascular networks form and expand by "sprouting," similar to the way trees grow new branches. The process allows fresh oxygen and nutrients to be delivered to tissues, whether in a developing embryo or a cancerous tumor. Up until now, scientists thought that the molecular signals to form new sprouts came from outside the vessel. But new research has shown that signals can also come from within the blood vessel, pushing new blood vessel sprouts outward.

From polite petitions to fierce fires, activists opposed to animal research have made their position clear in the U.S. and abroad for many years. But now, medical researchers are being encouraged to press on--and speak out. [More]

Today's stories on newscientist.com, at a glance - including hitch-hiking emotions, a marathon lightning storm and the usefulness of a flying Armadillo

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A team of scientists studying rock samples in Africa has shown a strong link between falling carbon dioxide levels and the formation of Antarctic ice sheets 34 million years ago.

In all the discussions about the K/T Extinction Event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, it's seldom remarked that the Chicxulub crater--the remnant of that famous asteroid impact--lies smack in the middle of what was once Mayan territory. Like the dinosaurs, the Mayans eventually, and mysteriously, disappeared about 1,000 years ago, for reasons that archeologists have been unable to piece together. (One shouldn't take the analogy too far, though--unlike the dinosaurs, millions of people of Mayan ancestry have survived to the present day.) Now, a team of American, English and Swiss scientists believe that the remnants of the K/T meteor impact may shed light on the fate of the Mayans. It seems that the slow erosion of the crater's rim, as marked by deposits of the radioactive element strontium, may help experts to recreate the Mayan terrain of centuries past--and in turn help to delineate patterns of habitation and agriculture. With any luck, the demise of the dinosaurs wi

(PhysOrg.com) -- Generally, scientists prefer to avoid the concept of perpetual motion. The idea of a machine that could produce movement that goes on forever, and using that movement to generate an endless stream of energy, is usually considered more science fiction than science. But recently, physicist Pavel Ivanov has investigated previous speculation that an exotic fluid with unusual properties could cause energy to flow continuously between different regions of space, resulting in a runaway transfer of energy. If an advanced civilization were able to construct a device to capture this energy, it might finally possess its own 'perpetuum mobile' -- or perpetual motion.