This week we get Mars in opposition and a bright red planet, but next week is a treat for space enthusiasts also. In the early morning hours of April 15th, north Americans can expect the moon to look a little different.

A total lunar eclipse is expected at this time, a phenomenon that occurs when the Earth, moon and sun are in perfect alignment, blanketing the moon in the Earth's shadow.

Researchers writing in Cell Communication and Signaling say that abnormal levels of lipid molecules in the brain can affect the interaction between two key neural pathways in early prenatal brain development, which can trigger autism.

Environmental causes such as exposure to chemicals in some cosmetics and common over-the-counter medication can affect the levels of these lipids, according to the researchers.

Comprehensive genomic analysis of low-grade brain tumors using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) brain tumor studies sorts them into three categories, one of which has the molecular hallmarks and shortened survival of glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal of brain tumors, researchers reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2014.

Brain tumors arise in the glia, or supportive cells, of the brain and now are classified by their histology – characteristics visible via microscopy – and their cell of origin, either astrocytes or oligodendrocytes.

Scholars from the University of Pittsburgh and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center are associating binge drinking in both adults and teens with liking, owning and identifying a certain kind of music.

The weak observational results are published in Alcoholism: Clinical&Experimental Research and are certain to cause a buzz in mainstream media because the finding is based on a national randomized survey of over 2,541 people ages 15 to 23 and says that musicians who make alcohol brand references in popular music are to blame if kids get drunk.

In February, the University of California, Los Angeles held its 11th Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe - "Dark Matter 2014" was aimed at discussing the latest progress in the quest to identify dark matter, the umbrella term for the unknown stuff that makes up more than a quarter of the universe yet remains a mystery.

So where does the hunt stand? Between sessions, three leading physicists at the conference spent an hour discussing the search for dark matter on several fronts.

An unusual hexagonal shape surrounding Saturn's north pole was spotted on the planet for the first time thirty years ago and nothing similar, with such a regular geometry, has been found on any other (non-Earth, obviously) planet in the Solar System. 

That's not the only mystery. Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System whose rotation time remains unknown.  

Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, the University of the Basque Country Planetary Sciences Group has now been able to study and measure the phenomenon and, among other achievements, establish its rotation period. What is more, this period could be the same as that of the planet itself.