|  Florida's Rat-Saving Labors Aren't Paying Off  | A new study warns that Florida's efforts to breed endangered Key Largo woodrats in captivity are doomed. Critters brought up at a Tampa zoo and at Orlando's Disney World don't have as many babies as they do in the wild, and when released back into their natural habitat, the rats are more vulnerable to predators like hawks and feral cats. "When we kept looking at the data, what we found was that you really couldn't breed enough woodrats to make it a viable strategy for population recovery," Robert McCleery, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida, said in a statement. It might be hard to imagine conservationists rallying around rats, often considered disease-spreading invaders that have no problem keeping their population numbers high.
| Read More » Obama Honors Fallen Astronauts of NASA Spaceflight Disasters  | U.S. President Barack Obama recalled the heroism of Americans who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration to mark NASA's somber memorial today (Jan. 31) for three spaceflight disaster anniversaries this week. "On this Day of Remembrance, we join the American people in honoring the men and women of NASA who have given their lives in our nation's space program," Obama said in a statement. NASA's Day of Remembrance is an annual time of reflection for the U.S. space agency to recall and honor the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire of 1967, Challenger space shuttle accident of 1986 and Columbia shuttle tragedy of 2003. The anniversaries of all three disasters occur within a week-long period, a time in which NASA reflects on the disasters and other sacrifices among the NASA family. [NASA's Fallen Astronauts: A Photo Memorial]
| Read More » NASA Video Captures Stunning Volcano Eruption View from Space  | On June 12, 2009, the International Space Station happened to be passing over the Sarychev Volcano just as it was beginning to erupt. Sarychev Peak, which rises to a height of 4,908 feet (about 1,500 meters), is the tallest peak on Matua Island in the northern part of the Kuril Islands, a Russian archipelago in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, erupted in 1989, 1986, 1976 and 1946. "The plume was so immense that it cast a large shadow on the island," according to NASA Earth Observatory.
| Read More » Moon Myths and Facts for the Lunar New Year  | How long does a full moon last? We could then say that the moon is officially "full" for only one minute! The full moon of Jan. 15, for instance, occurred at 11:52 p.m. EST. And yet, to most casual observers, the moon might appear to be full for a couple of days before and after the official full moon date! But is a full moon really "full?"
| Read More » NASA Moon Camera Claimed to Be Used by Apollo Astronaut Up for Auction  | A 70-millimeter Hasselblad Electric Data Camera (EDC), described by the WestLicht Gallery in Vienna as having flown to the moon and back on NASA's Apollo 15 mission, is included in the gallery's March 22 auction of vintage and collectible cameras. The lunar-flown Hasseblad is said to have been used by astronaut James Irwin, as identified by the registration number "38" on a small plate found inside the camera. "[The plate number] is 100-percent proof that this camera is the real thing and really was on the moon," Peter Coeln, owner of the Westlicht Gallery, told the AFP wire service. Among the other claims made by the WestLicht Gallery is that the Hasselblad EDC camera for sale is the only lunar-surface-used camera to return to Earth.
| Read More » Advocates for Humane Treatment Welcome Scrutiny, If It's Honest (Op-Ed)  | Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation, where the content ran before appearing in LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. This is one of the reasons for my disappointment in the tone of coverage given to The HSUS by more than a few members of the agricultural press over the last several years. Some writers with industry trade journals and other information outlets in the sector have settled into an unquestioning reliance upon false claims about The HSUS, including those being spun by public-relations operative Rick Berman, who's fought the medical community on tanning beds and trans fats, Mothers Against Drunk Driving on alcohol use and automobiles, unions on minimum wage issues, and anti-smoking groups on behalf of major tobacco companies.
| Read More » Does Polar Vortex Mean 'So Much for Global Warming?' (Op-Ed)  | Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University and was recognized in 2007, with other IPCC authors, for contributing to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a lead author on the "Observed Climate Variability and Change" chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report. Mann contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Over the past couple of months, the United States has seen the return of something many believed had been lost for good: cold weather. Although the current temperatures in the eastern United States may seem unusually cold, in the context of our history they really aren't.
| Read More » EPA: New Mine Threatens Half World's Wild Sockeye Salmon (Op-Ed)  | Christina Swanson, is director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)'s Science Center and past president of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society. She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As a fish biologist who has worked for years to protect and restore California's beleaguered salmon fisheries, I have always been awed by — and a bit envious of — Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed. It is truly one of the last places on earth where pristine aquatic habitats, robust salmon populations and thriving commercial and recreational fisheries still exist.
| Read More » Super Bowl Ads Symbolize A Positive Cultural Shift for Animals (Op-Ed) Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation, where the content ran before appearing in LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. One is the creative, and often provocative, advertising on display not only during the Super Bowl, but in advance — where companies and ad agencies push out their creative content in traditional and social media and get a national discussion going about their brands. Each year, it used to infuriate me to see baby or juvenile chimps dressed up and featured in commercials, because I knew what those chimpanzees would endure throughout their lives — and I also knew that the trainers would discard those chimps once they got big and leave it to the animal welfare community to pay for their care for the expected duration of their lives, sometimes as long as another half century. Read More » Atlas and Delta Rockets Have Packed 2014 Launch Schedule  | It's one completed, 14 flights to go this year for United Launch Alliance and its fleet of Atlas and Delta rocket families. "This year we have a very busy manifest in 2014," said Vern Thorp, ULA's manager of NASA missions. The year began successfully Thursday night as an Atlas 5 deployed the 7,600-pound Tracking and Data Relay Satellite for NASA from Cape Canaveral.
| Read More » Super Bowl in Space: How Astronauts Celebrate the Big Game in Orbit (Video)  | Super Bowl Sunday is an exciting day for football fans all over the United States, but NASA astronauts in space are also looking forward to the big game. While astronauts on the International Space Station may not be able to throw a Super Bowl watch party like Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks fans on Earth, that doesn't mean they aren't interested in the biggest professional football game of the season. NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio won't be able to watch the Super Bowl live on Sunday (Feb. 2), but he's still planning on participating in the football festivities, and he doesn't want to hear any game-ruining spoilers. "Hopefully Houston will uplink a version of it [the Super Bowl] the next day or within a few days and we'll get to watch it," Mastracchio told Space.com during a live interview today (Jan. 31).
| Read More » Extradition: Will Amanda Knox Be Returned to Italy? In one of the most sensational murder trials — and retrials — in recent memory, an Italian court has found U.S. citizen Amanda Knox guilty of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. The guilty verdict, however, has raised a thicket of thorny legal issues, including whether Knox will be extradited to Italy to serve a prison term for a crime she was found guilty of in her initial 2009 trial (that verdict was overturned on appeal in 2011, but a subsequent appeal declared her guilty once again this month). Despite the operatic convolutions of the Italian justice system, there are some experts who believe the legal framework surrounding the extradition process may work in Knox's favor. The ancient pharaohs of Egypt were known to negotiate the extradition of criminals from neighboring Hittite territories. Read More » Color-Changing 'Sea Chameleons' Could Inspire New Military Camouflage  | Cuttlefish are sometimes known as the "chameleons of the sea," for their ability to change colors rapidly and blend in to their surroundings. Researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., studied the chemical, biological and optical mechanisms that enable the cuttlefish to disguise itself from predators. "Nature solved the riddle of adaptive camouflage a long time ago," study co-author Kevin Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said in a statement. Cuttlefish have special pigment-containing cells, called chromatophores, which allow them to change the color and pattern of their skin in response to visual information, the researchers said.
| Read More » Colorado's Highest Peaks Re-Named After Super Bowl Team  | Colorado's highest mountains are getting new names in honor of the Super Bowl — at least temporarily. Colorado boasts 53 "14ers." peaks that rise above 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). Colorado's Super Bowl-bound football team, the Denver Broncos, boasts a roster of 53 active players. Putting two and two together, Governor John Hickenlooper announced today (Jan. 29) that on Super Bowl Sunday, each of Colorado's 14ers will go by the name of a Broncos player.
| Read More » Super Bowl Science: How Cold Weather Could Affect the Big Game Football fans hoping for a snowy Super Bowl on Sunday (Feb. 2) may be out of luck, but temperatures for the Big Game could still dip to chilly lows, meaning players and spectators should take care to protect themselves from the wintry conditions, experts say. While football games have been played in freezing-cold conditions before, Sunday's game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be the first-ever outdoor, cold-weather championship game. Despite early talk that a big storm could blow through the area, the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., is predicting relatively calm conditions for the Sunday matchup, with a high near 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) and a low near 28 F (minus 2 C). "Despite all the hype, the latest Arctic outbreak looks to be gone by Super Bowl Sunday," Art DeGaetano, director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center, said in a statement. Read More » Top 10 Workplace Trends for 2014 More flexible work environments, an increase in workplace efficiency and more reliance on Big Data are all in store for businesses in 2014, according to new research. A recent poll of nearly 8,000 industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologists by the The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) uncovered the top 10 workplace trends for 2014. I-O psychologists study workplace issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance and work-life balance. They expect to see the following workplace trends in 2014: Read More » Warning: Business Bank Accounts Aren't Safe from Cybertheft Waking up one day to find all the money drained from their small business bank account is every entrepreneur's worst nightmare. While entrepreneurs may think their money is secure in a small business account at their local bank, the truth is, they aren't protected from one of the fastest-growing crimes: cybertheft. Unlike personal bank accounts, by law small businesses accounts are not insured by banks, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, when money is stolen by cyberthieves. Marc Kramer, president of the Commercial Deposit Insurance Agency — the first company to offer small businesses cybertheft insurance — said this comes as a shock to most business owners, since many see signs posted all around their bank regarding the money being insured by the FDIC. Read More » | |
