For those who missed them, here are last week's most important announcements and discoveries from the world of science

Oct 5, 2014 20:57 GMT  ·  By
This week, scientists announced that a man in Texas, US, had been diagnosed with Ebola
   This week, scientists announced that a man in Texas, US, had been diagnosed with Ebola

I hate to break it to you, but yet another week has gone by. That's right, you are older than you were last Sunday. Quite a bummer, right?

The good news is that with old age comes knowledge. The even better news is that, if you're looking to get even knowledgefuller (I know this isn't an actual word but, guess what, I've just made it one), all you have to do is have a look at the top 10 scientific announcements of the week.

10. 120 million years ago, beasts snacked on beasts

This week, paleontologists announced the discovery of a 210-million-year-old fossilized tooth belonging to a long-lost aquatic monster known to the scientific community as a phytosaur.

What's interesting is that this tooth was found embedded in the hip bone of yet another top predator that this monster shared its natural habitat with. This second ancient beast was identified as a rauisuchid.

Having discovered this tooth deep inside the rauisuchid's thigh bone, researchers concluded that, as fierce and as massive as this extinct creature was, it still had to keep an eye open for phytosaurs, or risk becoming dinner.

9. Alcohol droplets made to navigate mazes

In one really cool series of experiments, scientists used salt to get alcohol droplets to navigate fairly complex mazes as if they had a mind of their own. Pretty neat, right?

By the looks of it, alcohol is very much attracted to salt. Hence, when salt was introduced to the mazes created by the scientists behind this research project, the alcohol droplets could not help but move towards it.

This is yet to be confirmed, but chances are that this deep love that alcohol has for salt also explains why we do shots the way we do: salt, sip, lemon.

8. 2,000-year-old skull found to have brain imprints

While carrying out excavations in Egypt, archaeologists came across a 2,000-year-old skull best described as downright funky. Long story short, what makes this human skull so very special is the fact that is has brain imprints on the inside.

Specialists who have had the chance to examine it say that these prints, most of which are easily noticeable with the naked eye, were left behind by blood vessels in the meninges, which is the membrane that covers and protects the brain.

Mind you, the blood vessels did not leave imprints in the skull per se. On the contrary, the imprints were cast into a layer of preservative substances that were introduced into the skull during the mummification process.

7. Red algae could serve to make clothes that don't stink

For those unaware, human sweat is not all that bad when it leaves the body. It's microorganism that live on our skin and in our clothes that give it an unpleasant odor when they start snacking on it.

Hence, researchers believe that, were they to create antibacterial textiles, the clothes made from them would not stink. As it turns out, it's red algae that seem to hold the key to making stench-free clothing.

Thus, specialists say that a compound whose scientific name is lanosol and that is extracted from red algae has strong antibacterial properties. They have even used this compounds to make antibacterial fibers, and hope that it will not be long until they make actual T-shirts and socks.

6. Massive poisonous cloud documented on Titan

Data obtained with the help of NASA's Cassini spacecraft helped astronomers map a massive poisonous cloud hovering over the south pole of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

In a paper in the journal Nature, scientists explain that this cloud comprises frozen particles of a highly toxic chemical compound dubbed hydrogen cyanide. The presence of these particles indicates that this moon is much colder than assumed.

The ginormous toxic cloud now obscuring Titan's south pole from view is believed to have formed due to seasonal changes that Titan goes through once every 7 years. The cloud is estimated to have formed at an altitude of about 200 miles (300 kilometers).

5. Dracula's dungeon discovered in Turkey

A bunch of archaeologists exploring a castle in northern Turkey announced the discovery of Dracula's dungeon. Since Dracula is no more and no less than the offspring of Bram Stoker's imagination, it goes without saying that they did not actually find his dungeon.

What they did find, however, were two underground prison cells that might have served as a home for Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler and his brother for several years in a row. These cells were found under Turkey's Tokat Castle.

Young Vlad the Impaler and his brother ended up living in these dungeons after their father entrusted them to Ottoman Sultan Murad II as political prisoners. Since Vlad the Impaler served as an inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel, the archaeologists decided to refer to the prison cells as Dracula's dungeon.

4. Thousands of uncharted mountains found on the ocean floor

They might strike people as high and mighty and all-knowing, but the truth is that scientists are far from knowing everything there is to know about our planet. This week, they announced the discovery of thousands of previously uncharted mountains on the global seafloor.

These new underwater mountains, known as seamounts, were documented with the help of the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite and NASA's Jason-1 satellite, which made it possible for researchers to map the ocean floor in unprecedented detail.

Using information provided by these satellites, scientists managed to put together a new map of the global seafloor. This map is said to be twice as accurate as the one created nearly 2 decades ago.

3. Turmeric found to encourage brain cells growth

Experiments carried out on laboratory rats indicate that it might be possible to use turmeric, which is one of the spices used to make curry, to either slow down or halt the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Thus, it appears that a compound found in turmeric, i.e. aromatic turmerone, encourages the growth of new brain cells. Specifically, it promotes the production of neutral stem cells, which later grow to become neurons, and increase the size of brain areas known to serve as neuron nurseries.

It will probably be a while until this find revolutionizes the treatment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Still, specialists say that, were the human brain to respond to turmeric in a manner similar to the one documented in rats, this find stands to make a difference.

2. Android smartphones turned into cosmic ray detectors

A bunch of scientists introduced the world to an innovative app that essentially turns Android smartphones into cosmic ray detectors. More precisely, the app, dubbed DECO, enables such gadgets to detect high energy particles known as muons.

In case anyone was wondering, cosmic rays are defined as high-energy subatomic particles. They originate from black holes and stellar explosions, and myriads of them eventually work their way to our planet. We don't see them, but this does not change the fact that they travel through us all the time.

The scientists who created this app that turns Android smartphones into cosmic ray detectors say that DECO is first and foremost intended for educational purposes. Thus, it was created for people who are passionate about particle physics and want to observe cosmic rays themselves.

1. The US got its first Ebola case

This week, specialists with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a person kept in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas had been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola disease.

The patients, whose identity and gender have not yet been shared with the general public, it is understood to have contracted the virus while visiting Liberia. They did not show any symptoms when traveling back to the US, and only got sick a few days after returning home to friends and family.

As mentioned, this first Ebola patient in the US is currently kept in strict isolation. Experts are now doing their best to contact the people that this person came in contact with before being hospitalized and make sure that they are not carrying the virus in their body.

Admittedly, this piece of news is by no means cool. Still, it's by far the most important announcement of the week, hence the fact that it landed the first spot in this week's top 10.

If you're looking to stay informed, be sure to check this page again next Sunday. The 10 most important scientific announcements and discoveries of the week will be waiting for you, as always.