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U.S. Air Force 'close' to certifying new satellite launch provider
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday it was close to certifying a second company to launch military and intelligence satellites into space, and announced a review of the process used to vet new entrants. Currently, the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, is the only company certified to launch large military and intelligence satellites. ...
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8 Newfound Alien Worlds Could Potentially Support Life
 | All eight newfound alien planets appear to orbit in their parent stars' habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that may allow liquid water to exist on a world's surface — and all of them are relatively small, researchers said. A glitch ended the spacecraft's original planet hunt in May 2013, but researchers are still combing through Kepler's huge database.
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Whale Genes Offer Hints to Longer Life Spans
 | In a search for genes that fight off aging, researchers have now charted the bowhead whale genome. The scientists' search turned up several interesting genetic targets worthy of further study, said senior study author Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, a biologist and expert in aging science at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. The mutations in this gene could provide protection against cancer, Magalhaes said. The gene is associated with cell growth and DNA repair, and the duplication could slow aging, Magalhaes said.
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Renaissance-Era Italian Warlord Was Poisoned, Mummy Reveals
 | Forensic scientists in Italy have uncovered a mummy murder mystery. Scientists say they've found traces of digitalis, or foxglove — a beautiful but potentially heart-stopping plant — in the digestive tract of Cangrande della Scala of Verona. At the time of his death, Cangrande had a grip on an impressive chunk of northern Italy.
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CES 2015: New Tech Gadgets Galore, But Why Do They Matter?
 | A seemingly endless assortment of fitness trackers, smart appliances and self-driving cars are on display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show — some 20,000 tech products in total. There's a real sense that the 3D printer in one row is somehow related to the Wi-Fi-connected dog bowl in another. In a talk here yesterday (Jan. 5), Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), explained the underlying similarities between technologies that, at first glance, don't appear to have much in common. "We're taking something that's happening in the physical space and digitizing it," DuBravac said.
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Lake Erie Dead Zone: Don't Blame the Slime!
 | Lake Erie's ecological calamities occur under different conditions, a new study finds. The lake's central dead zones are most strongly linked to drought years, when rivers that bring water into the lake run lower, researchers reported today (Jan. 6) in the journal Environmental Science & Toxicology. Conversely, the toxic algae blooms in west Lake Erie algae form more readily during wet years, and especially when intense spring storms wash fertilizer from farms into the lake. Last year, dangerous levels of one algal toxin shut down the drinking water supply of the city of Toledo, Ohio, for three days in August 2014.
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Hubble Telescope Captures Spectacular New Views of 'Pillars of Creation'
 | A famous deep-space object imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope 20 years ago has been reborn in an amazing new photo. Scientists pointed the telescope at the iconic Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16 (M16), capturing the famous "Pillars of Creation" in sharper and wider view. The new and improved image was possible thanks to upgrades made to the Hubble Space Telescope over the past 25 years. You can see the new Pillars of Creation image in detail in a breathtaking new video of the Hubble views as well.
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Let in the Light: Ancient Roman Fort Designed for Celestial Show
 | The gateways of an ancient Roman fort in Britain are roughly aligned with the light from the sun during the summer and winter solstices — a design that would have resulted in a striking scene on the shortest and longest days of the year, a researcher says. During the winter solstice, the sun would rise in line with the fort's southeastern and northwestern gates, and set in line with the fort's southwestern and northeastern gates. "Moreover, the four towers of the garrison seem aligned to cardinal directions," Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a physics professor at the Politecnico di Torino (Polytechnic University of Turin) in Italy, wrote in the study, published Dec. 17 in the journal Philica. Built during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138, the structure was part of a series of fortifications that once guarded the Roman frontier in Britain.
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What If Every Volcano on Earth Erupted at Once?
Whether it's glowing lava snaking into the sea or lightning blooming in billowing ash clouds, the sight of an erupting volcano inspires awe and wonder. Not likely, said Parv Sethi, a geologist at Radford University in Virginia. The two big hazards from a worldwide volcanic cataclysm are ash and volcanic gases. The ash would linger in the atmosphere for up to 10 years, he added.
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Scientists find antibiotic that kills bugs without resistance
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a new antibiotic, teixobactin, that can kill serious infections in mice without encountering any detectable resistance, offering a potential new way to get ahead of dangerous evolving superbugs. Researchers said the antibiotic, which has yet to be trialled in humans, could one day be used to treat drug-resistant infections caused by the superbug MSRA, as well as tuberculosis, which normally requires a combination of drugs that can have adverse side effects. ...
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Limiting global warming means forgoing vast fuel reserves - study
 | By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - A third of the world's oil reserves, half of gas reserves and 80 percent of current coal reserves should not be used in the coming decades if global warming is to stay below an agreed 2 degree Celsius target, scientists said on Wednesday. In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers said the vast majority of coal reserves in China, Russia and the United States should stay in the ground, as well as more than 260,000 million barrels of oil reserves in the Middle East, equivalent to all of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. ...
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