|  FDA Limit on 23andMe Genetic Tests Called Unwarranted The Food and Drug Administration's recent action to stop the sale of genetic tests by the company 23andMe is unwarranted, according to scholars who argue that recent research shows such tests do not cause people distress, or encourage risky behavior. In November, the FDA asked 23andMe to stop marketing its DNA testing kits, saying that the kits are medical devices that require FDA approval. Shortly after the FDA's request, 23andMe said it would stop providing health information to customers along with their test results. But today, some legal and genetic experts are calling the FDA's approach overcautious. Read More » New Theory: Alexander the Great Poisoned by Flowering Herb?  | On June 11, 323 B.C., the famed Alexander the Great died, felled by a mysterious illness that left him too weak to move. Now, research finds that if poison killed Alexander the Great, the toxin may well have come from an unassuming plant called white hellebore (Veratrum album) that may have been slipped into his wine. Alexander was the son of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and Olympias, one of Philip II's five to seven wives. Upon inheriting the throne, Alexander began an ambitious military campaign that would extend the borders of his empire from modern-day Greece to the Himalayan Mountains.
| Read More » Fitness Trackers May Trigger Rashes in People Allergic to Nickel  | Fitness tracker maker Fitbit has issued an apology and is offering refunds and replacements to some users of its popular fitness tracker who have experienced rashes on their wrists. The company suspects that nickel in the metal parts of the fitness tracker may be causing skin irritations for some. "We are looking into reports from a very limited number of Fitbit Force users who have been experiencing skin irritation, possibly as a result of an allergy to nickel, an element of surgical-grade stainless steel used in the device," a Fitbit spokesperson said in a statement. A Fitbit Force user told Consumerist this week that he developed an irritation near the spot where the band's battery and charging port sits on the wrist.
| Read More » Smallest Full Moon of 2014 Rises Tonight: Here's Why  | The smallest full moon of 2014 rises in the night sky tonight (Jan. 15), and there's some interesting science behind the lunar sight. Two years ago, there was a great flurry in the media about a so-called "Supermoon," which was to occur on March 19, 2011. Supermoon was a term invented by astrologer Richard Nolle many years earlier to refer to the coincidence between two astronomical events: a full moon and lunar perigee, when the moon is at its closest point to Earth. A "Minimoon," like the one rising this week, is a full moon at apogee, or its farthest point from the planet.
| Read More » New Genital Herpes Treatment Shows Promise A new drug appears to combat the virus that causes genital herpes, suggesting it could one day be used as a treatment for people with the condition, according to a new study. In the study, the drug pritelivir reduced the replication of herpes simplex virus type 2 (which causes genital herpes) in patients with the condition, as well as the number of days patients experienced genital lesions. More studies are needed to further assess the effectiveness of pritelivir, and compare it with existing drugs for genital herpes, the researchers said. The new findings are good news, said Dr. Richard Whitley, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was not involved in the study. Read More » What Fetal Genome Screening Could Mean for Babies and Parents What Fetal Genome Screening Could Mean for Babies and Parents Read More » Gene Therapy Improves Vision for Some with Rare Disease Two adults with a rare disease that causes gradual loss of eyesight had their vision improved after being treated with a new gene therapy, according to preliminary results from a new study. "Those genes that they're injecting essentially have the ability to make the correct protein" that is unavailable in patients with defective genes, Fromer said. Read More » Alligators Stalk, Crush & Swallow Prey on Candid Camera An inconspicuous — albeit with a camera on its back — alligator slithers through a lake stalking and capturing nearby prey, then surfaces to crush and swallow it. This gator is one of a group of camera-toting American alligators that are revealing some surprising insights about their foraging behaviors in two coastal regions in Florida, scientists report in a new study. "We discovered that alligators forage at all times of the day, but increasingly during the night and evening hours, however they were most successful in the morning and while attacking prey below the surface," said the researchers, James Nifong from the University of Florida and colleagues, in a statement. In the past, scientists have relied on stomach contents of alligators, direct observations of captured animals or indirect methods such as calculating metabolic needs of the animal to understand their preying behavior and the potential impact they have on their surrounding ecosystem. Read More » China confirms hypersonic missile carrier test China has flight-tested a hypersonic missile delivery vehicle in a move that was scientific in nature and not targeted at any country, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. They are beefing up military spending and ties with Washington. "Our planned scientific research tests conducted in our territory are normal," the Beijing Defence Ministry said in a faxed response to Reuters. "These tests are not targeted at any country and at any specific goals." The statement confirmed a report by the online Washington Free Beacon newspaper that the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) was detected flying at 10 times the speed of sound over China last week. Read More » Amazing Auroras Shimmer Over Norway in Incredible Video  | Multicolored cosmic lights dance over mountains, bridges and lakes in an amazing new video that highlights the beauty of the northern lights as seen from Norway. The spectacular video of Norway's northern lights — entitled "Sixth Element" and produced by the production company Level 4 — runs nearly five minutes in duration and showcases the aurora borealis in the sky near Nordeisa, Troms, Norway, with an ethereal musical score setting the mood. "Quite a bit of time was spent finding the right music to go along with it, we did quite a few rough cuts with different music just to see how the video panned out, and when we finally found 'Promise' by Thomas Bergersen the rough cut was quite close to the finished version," Level 4's Tommy Richardsen told SPACE.com via email. Particularly striking images from the video include meteors streaming overhead as green northern lights flow through the sky.
| Read More » Indian Satellite Launch Marks Big Success for New Rocket Engine  | India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle put a 2.1-ton communications satellite in orbit this month, boosting prospects for the medium-class launcher after a spate of mishaps in recent years. Although it carried a costly communications satellite, India's space agency officially considered the launch a test flight for the GSLV and its indigenous hydrogen-fueled third stage. The 161-foot-tall rocket blasted off at 1048 GMT (5:48 a.m. EST) on Jan. 5, darting through a clear afternoon sky over the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's east coast, where it was 4:18 p.m. local time. The GSLV's second stage assumed control of the flight for more than two minutes, then yielded to the rocket's Indian-built cryogenic engine, which failed at the moment of ignition during a previous demonstration launch in April 2010.
| Read More » American Peter Molnar wins Crafoord science prize STOCKHOLM (AP) — American scientist Peter Molnar has been awarded the 2014 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences for a groundbreaking contribution to the understanding of the driving forces behind plate motions and the place of continents in earth's evolution. Read More » Spacewalking Cosmonauts to Install Earth-Watching Cameras on Space Station This Month  | Two Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station this month in a second bid to install two high-definition cameras on the exterior of the orbiting lab, the Vancouver-based company UrtheCast announced Monday (Jan. 13). During a long spacewalk on Dec. 27, 2013, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy successfully installed UrtheCast's two cameras outside the space station. But before the cosmonauts went back inside the orbiting lab, they had to remove and return the cameras to storage because mission controllers in Moscow were unable to confirm the devices were receiving power from the space station due to a cabling problem. The cameras arrived at the space station in November as part of the unmanned Russian Progress 53 cargo delivery.
| Read More » NY State Assembly to Hold Public Hearing on Illegal Ivory Trade  | NEW YORK — Lawmakers will gather here in Manhattan tomorrow (Jan. 16) to examine the effectiveness of New York State's restrictions on the sale of ivory. The Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation will hold a public hearing Thursday at 11 a.m. EST at the Assembly Hearing Room in Lower Manhattan to discuss the laws in place to curb the illegal sale of ivory and protect endangered species. Despite the existence of these laws, New York is one of the largest markets for illegal ivory in the United States, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which is based in the city. In 2012, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, together with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, seized more than $2 million worth of ivory in New York City.
| Read More » 'Polar Vortex' Event Paltry Compared to Past Freezes  | Was the crisp bite of frozen air during this month's polar vortex a remembrance of winters past for Americans? The cold snap triggered by the polar vortex, the low-pressure weather pattern that rammed into the United States from the Arctic the week of Jan. 5, was pretty paltry compared to cold waves in the past four decades, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "If you look at the number of days it stayed cold all day and all night, this cold wave was much briefer than past cold waves," Henson told LiveScience. He worked with data provided by colleague Brandt Maxwell of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.
| Read More » New Zealand's Tallest Mountain Shrinks by 100 Feet  | New Zealand's stunning Aoraki/Mount Cook, the country's tallest peak, is officially 98 feet (30 meters) shorter than previously thought, researchers with the University of Otago announced today (Jan. 15). While currently officially listed as 12,316 feet (3,754 meters) tall, GPS data from an Otago-led climbing expedition reveal that Aoraki/Mount Cook is actually only 12,217 feet (3,724 m) high, the scientists said today. Since the avalanche, the ice crown has continued to collapse, the University of Otago scientists recently discovered. "When it broke, the top of the ice cap was not in balance with the shape underneath," said Pascal Sirguey, a research scientist at the university and project leader for the research.
| Read More » Wart Removers Catch Fire and Hurt 10, FDA Reports Some wart removers are highly flammable, and consumers should not use them around any source of heat, the Food and Drug Administration is warning today (Jan. 16) after receiving several reports of these products catching fire and harming people. The real number of incidents that go unreported is likely higher, according to the FDA. In the reports, 10 consumers described injuries such as burnt hair and skin, and blisters, according to information on the agency's website from FDA nurse consultant Karen Nast. "This is extremely concerning, especially because people may not be aware that everyday household items like curling irons and straight irons can be hot enough to be an ignition source for these products," Nast said in a statement. Read More » Attack! How Falcons Stalk Their Prey in Flight  | When a falcon swoops through the air and spots a flock of birds, these crafty predators use a special aerial attack strategy to capture prey in midflight, according to a new study. To gain insight into the hunting practices of falcons, researchers at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa., outfitted falcons across the United States and Europe with miniature helmet- and backpack-mounted video cameras to record footage of raptor attacks in action.
| Read More » Cold Facts: Does Winter Weather Cause More Deaths?  | Cold weather, it's often assumed, causes more deaths overall than hot weather. And the recent polar vortex that broke low-temperature records across North America provides some evidence: At least 21 deaths have been blamed on that cold-weather event, according to CBC News. But scientific research presents a more complex picture, and for a number of reasons, cold weather-related deaths have to be analyzed in a different way than deaths linked to hot weather. In cold weather, people with cardiovascular disease should be careful to avoid exertion, like walking through deep snow or shoveling a driveway, according to the American Heart Association.
| Read More » How Much Does It Really Cost to Have a Baby? Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, surveyed cost data for more than 109,000 hospital deliveries across the state in 2011. All of the cases involved women with private health insurance, and all were uncomplicated vaginal deliveries or uncomplicated Cesarean-section births. The results showed a wild — and completely unsubstantiated — variation in costs throughout California, from $3,296 for a vaginal delivery to a high of $37,227. "This is unfortunately the appalling state of affairs of health care in the United States," said lead study author Dr. Renee Y. Hsia, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF and a faculty member of the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies. Read More » Nearly 6,000 Natural Gas Leaks Found in Washington, D.C.  | Aging pipelines under the streets of Washington, D.C., are to blame for nearly 6,000 natural gas leaks, including 12 that could have caused dangerous explosions, a new study finds. Researchers from Duke University and Boston University mapped 1,500 road miles (2,400 kilometers) of underground infrastructure that delivers fuel to power homes and businesses in the nation's capital. Using a high-precision device to detect methane — the chief component of natural gas — the scientists discovered more than 5,893 natural gas leaks throughout the city. The scientists also found some manholes with methane concentrations nearly 10 times greater than the threshold at which explosions can occur.
| Read More » Ocean Radioactivity from Fukushima Leak to be Tracked  | Since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, concerns have spread among the public that water with traces of radioactive material might be traveling in a plume across the Pacific Ocean toward the west coast of North America. Experts say the radiation levels reaching the U.S. coast and Hawaiian Islands will be too low to threaten human health or marine life, but no U.S. government or international agency is actually monitoring radiation in these places. Now, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts is launching a new citizen science project to measure levels of radioactive cesium in water washing up along the West Coast. "The levels of cesium in the ocean we expect of the west coast of North America are not of concern for our own exposure or fisheries," said WHOI marine chemist Ken Buesseler, who is leading the project.
| Read More » Massive Antarctic Glacier Uncontrollably Retreating, Study Suggests  | The glacier that contributes more to sea level rise than any other glacier on Antarctica has hit a tipping point of uncontrollable retreat, and could largely collapse within the span of decades, a new study suggests. Pine Island Glacier accounts for about 20 percent of the total ice flow on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet — an amalgam of glaciers that covers roughly 800,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers) and makes up about 10 percent of the total ice on Antarctica. Many researchers think that, given the size of Pine Island Glacier, its demise could have a domino effect on surrounding glaciers and ultimately — over the course of many years — lead to the collapse of the entire ice sheet, which would raise average global sea level by between 10 and 16 feet (3 and 5 meters). The glacier is not only massive, but also one of the least stable of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ice flows.
| Read More » Climate Change Disbelief Rises in America  | The number of Americans who believe global warming isn't happening has risen to 23 percent, up 7 percentage points since April 2013. The proportion of people who do believe in climate change has been steady since April 2013, but the proportion of those who say they "don't know" whether climate change is happening dropped 6 percentage points between April and November 2013, suggesting that many "don't knows" moved into the "not happening" category. "People who prior said don't know are increasingly saying they don't believe it," said Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, which released the new results today (Jan. 16). The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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