Science News
Headlines
. Curiosity helps in learning
. A Jurassic Park-like discovery in Gujarat
. Too many walruses on the beach
. Jupiter's icy moon has plate tectonics
. Ebola: some signs of hope

Read more about these below.

. Curiosity helps in learning
Have we all not heard this many times? We see this in children, don't we? Children are always curious, asking questions, wanting to know more. But how does curiosity precisely help the brain in learning? Neuroscientists have found how, in a recent research study.
In the Neuron journal, a researcher has stated that somehow, curiosity was preparing the brain for learning about the topic as well as often causing improvement in long term memory. When they were conducting the test, brain activity in certain sections was enhanced, stimulating the production of dopamine, which is responsible for controlling the consciousness of pleasure and reward. What the experiment suggests is that the brain was already asking its reward system before a response to one of the curiosity engaging questions was received.
The team made three main discoveries. The first was that the more curious the question made people, the better they were at learning the information. Second, if curiosity was encouraged, the brain circuit that is connected to the reward showed more activity. Lastly, it was shown that if learning was motivated by curiosity, the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that creates new memories, had increased movement.
This improved understanding of the brain could have significant medical implications; are you not curious what they might be?

. A Jurassic Park-like discovery in Gujarat
Scientists have chanced upon a 52-million-year-old amber encased fossil of a beetle in Gujarat. This beetle, which thrived in ant colonies, provides the oldest known example of social parasitism among insects.
Termed as 'Protoclaviger trichodens' by scientists, the fossil was discovered from Tadkeshwar lignite mine in Gujarat by a team of scientists from Lucknow-based Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany and American Museum of Natural History in New York.
These beetles were unique because they bypassed security in ant colonies and thrive by eating their eggs and utilising their resources. How they do it is still being researched. 
The discovery not only gives details of evolution of such beetles, but also about the ants that their nests were big enough and resource-rich enough to be worthy of exploitation by these super-specialised insects. The site from where this fossil was extracted was once a rain-forest environment where thousands of specimens were preserved in ambers giving an insight into evolution of insects and environment.
There are 370 recorded species of these ant-loving parasite beetles, which are about 1-3 millimetres in length. Scientists suggest that although fossils show a body which is similar to modern Clavigeritae beetles some of its characteristics are clearly more primitive. Protoclaviger's abdominal segments are still distinct, whereas in modern beetles they are fused together into a single shieldlike segment.

. Too many walruses on the beach
Recently a huge herd of thousands of Pacific walruses `hauled out' on to a beach near Point Lay, Alaska. That is a site on the northwest Arctic coast across the Bering Strait from Russia.
Scientists first spotted the animals on September 13, 2014. At that time, researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that nearly 10,000 of the animals had congregated. By September 27, this group -- known as a haul out -- had grown to more than 35,000 animals! (In the photo, the fuzzy patch in the centre to the left of the sea, is the group of walruses!)
Majestic as the sight was, these walruses are not supposed to be on any beach at all at this time of year. During the summer and early autumn, walruses usually live on ice. That is because floating rafts of sea ice are closer to the animals' feeding grounds than is the land. So the animals haul out on to chunks of sea ice to rest between bouts of searching for food. Once rested, they dive back down to the shallow seafloor. There, walruses dine on mollusks, tube worms and other bottom-dwelling creatures.
But the Arctic climate has been warming in recent years -- more than anywhere else on Earth. That has resulted in less sea ice in the summer and autumn. Without sea ice near their normal feeding grounds, walruses are forced to swim farther away from their food buffet and haul out on beaches when they need to rest. Instead of eating and sleeping close to where the food is -- at what we can call floating oceanic hotels -- they now must forage for food and then swim long distances to rest on land. This commuting takes energy. So the animals must eat more if they are to develop the large fat stores that will carry them through the harsh winter.
A large haul out can be dangerous for walruses. Predators such as polar bears and people easily scare the herds. Loud noises also disturb them, such as the sound of a low-flying plane. When frightened, walruses can stampede. In the chaos, smaller walruses, especially calves, may be trampled to death. Now people are working to ensure no one disturbs these beach-dwelling walruses.

. Jupiter's icy moon has plate tectonics
Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, looks nothing like Earth. It has an icy surface covered with cracks and ridges. But a new study finds that Europa shares at least one important feature with our home planet. Its surface slides around, ferried by tectonic plates. In this case, the plates are huge slabs of ice that fit together like giant pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
On many moons in our solar system, features such as volcanoes or geysers shape the surface. But the new study is the first to find drifting plates on a foreign world. Many scientists believe Europa could be a good place to look for extraterrestrial life because it has an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. The moon's shifting plates may help ferry nutrients from the surface to the ocean. 
Two years ago, scientists spotted something odd on Europa. They had been studying maps of the moon taken in 1998 by Galileo, a NASA spacecraft. They noticed that criss-crossing ridges on Europa did not line up. A swath of the moon's surface looked as though a piece had been torn out of it, with another piece laid on top.
This mismatch marks the spot where two giant slabs collided, researchers say in a recent article in the journal Nature. One of those slabs is sliding beneath the other. The sinking slab submerges into Europa's interior and combines with warmer interior ice. They measured the intersection of the two segments. It appears to be more than 1,700 kilometers long. In their study, they suggest that similar segments may cover Europa's entire surface.
Their finding may help explain a puzzle about this moon. It formed more than 4 billion years ago with the rest of the solar system. However, the moon's surface is only 40 million to 90 million years old. Astronomers have long wondered why it appears so young. The new study suggests that older segments of the surface slid down into Europa's subsurface ocean. By their estimate, Europa's entire surface may renew itself at least once every 90 million years.
Everything we have discovered about Europa makes it more and more Earth-like and exciting for the potential of life beyond our planet.

. Ebola: some signs of hope
The world has never seen an outbreak of the Ebola virus as bad as the one that is now ravaging West Africa. The often fatal disease first struck humans nearly 40 years ago, in 1976. However, the current epidemic has claimed far more lives than in other years. As of September 12, 2014, more than 4,780 people had been infected, of which 2,400 had died. New studies are pointing to medicines and vaccines that might finally slow its spread.
A group of 50 researchers, from four countries, studied virus samples from 78 people. Collecting the virus from them proved dangerous. Indeed, five of the researchers died from Ebola before their new data were published. They isolated 99 Ebola viruses from the infected people. 
A genome is the collection of all the genetic material in an organism. By studying the Ebola genomes, researchers learned that the virus circulating among people in West Africa has 341 genetic changes never before seen in this germ. The quick-changing nature of Ebola's genes may be important. If drugs or vaccines are developed to treat earlier forms of the virus, there is a chance they might not work against later versions. 
There is no known cure for Ebola. There also are no approved vaccines to prevent the disease. The best doctors can do now is treat the symptoms. For instance, they may pump fluids into a patient's veins to curb dehydration.
Scientists have now developed one new vaccine by adding Ebola genes to a virus that gives chimpanzees the common cold. Researchers injected four animals with one form of the vaccine. Eight weeks later, they gave the monkeys a booster shot with a slightly different form of the vaccine. Ten months after that, they exposed each monkey to Ebola. None developed the disease.
Whether this will work on humans is unclear as yet, but scientists have begun safety studies. Meanwhile scientists also have just reported success with one of several new experimental treatments for Ebola. Such drugs might offer a cure. But conditions in West Africa are very bad now, every positive development offers hope.
Sources: The Diabetes Insider, Business Standard, The Hindu, Nature, Nature Medicine, Society for Science.