|  U.S. approves biotech apple that resists browning U.S. regulators on Friday approved two genetically engineered apple varieties designed to resist browning, rejecting efforts by the organic industry and other GMO critics to block the new fruit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved the new apples, developed by the Canadian biotech company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., as "unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agriculture." Okanagan plans to market the apples as Arctic® Granny and Arctic® Golden, and says the apples are identical to their conventional counterparts except that they will not turn brown. Okanagan President Neal Carter, called the USDA approval a "a monumental occasion." "It is the biggest milestone yet for us, and we can't wait until they're available for consumers," he said in a statement. Carter said Arctic apples will first be available in late 2016 in small quantities, and it will take many years before the apples are widely distributed. Read More » Hidden Faults Explain Earthquakes in Fracking Zones  | Oklahoma, Ohio and Arkansas have experienced an unusually large number of earthquakes in recent years. In Oklahoma, hidden faults beneath the surface are primed to pop, reports a study published Jan. 27 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Some of these faults were previously unknown and threaten critical structures, such as huge oil-storage facilities, said lead study author Daniel McNamara, a U.S. Geological Survey research geophysicist based in Golden, Colorado. In the first study, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) analyzed more than 3,600 recent Oklahoma earthquakes to precisely locate known and unknown faults.
| Read More » All About Me: Powerful People Inspire Themselves During his 2014 Oscar acceptance speech for best actor, Matthew McConaughey recalled that a woman asked him as a teenager, "Who's your hero?" He replied, "You know who it is? It's me in 10 years." McConaughey, one of Time Magazine's most influential people of 2014, described how he needed a role model for inspiration and motivation, and he found those in his future self. A new study on how powerful people find inspiration shows that McConaughey is not alone. "Powerful people draw inspiration from their own experiences, not from those of others," said Gerben van Kleef, the lead researcher of the study and a professor of social psychology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Read More » The Nanotech View of the Microbiome (Kavli Roundtable)  | Alan Brown, writer and editor for the Kavli Foundation, edited this roundtable for Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. One might grow better at higher temperatures, another if temperatures drop.
| Read More » Why 'Fifty Shades' Could Give Dangerous Message to Teens (Op-Ed)  | Dr. Andrew Adesman is chief of the Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Center (CCMC) of New York and recently co-authored aresearch review article on the adverse impact of violent video games and pornography on teenagers.
| Read More » Wayward Grand Canyon Wolf Was Killed in Utah, DNA Confirms  | DNA tests have confirmed that an endangered gray wolf killed in Utah in December was the same lone wolf that had been spotted and photographed near Arizona's Grand Canyon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced this week. Gray wolves hadn't been seen in Arizona since the 1940s, but this past fall, wildlife officials began tracking a wayward wolf near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A coyote hunter shot the wolf near the south end of the Tushar Mountains near Beaver, Utah, on Dec. 28. When the hunter realized his kill was a wolf and not a coyote, he alerted state officials and FWS began investigating the case.
| Read More » Climate of Opportunity: New School Divests From Fossil Fuels (Op-Ed) Benjamin Silverman is a recent graduate from The New School, where he was heavily involved as a student leader in the fossil fuel divestment campaign. The crisis of climate change presents us with daily reminders of how the world's runaway temperatures are getting worse. But in these trying times a new and positive trend is emerging: Human beings are rising to meet the challenges of climate change. If the hottest flames make the hardest steel, then the adversity of climate change has the potential to bring out the best in us at all levels. Read More » Gimme Shelter: A Blueprint for Living in Extreme Environments (Op-Ed)  | Stacey Severn is a science enthusiast and blogger whose writing and photos appear in StarTalk, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, Space.com and other platforms. She is the community manager for Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk Radio, and advisor to the Space Advisory Committee at The Explorer's Club. Dave Irwin, founder of Terra Projects, is an energetic, talented young architect whose designs merge with the Earth's natural environment. Irwin was part of the collective behind a nature-inspired installation, Rhizome, in New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park, and a number of endeavors pairing the artistic with the environment.
| Read More » Valentine's Science: How Mouth Germs Shape Attraction  | The human body is home to 100 trillion microbes, known collectively as the microbiome. In recent years, scientists have found that these communities of organisms are crucial for human metabolism and immune system function. "So it shouldn't be surprising that [the microbiome] has effects not only on metabolic processes, but on the way we look at things ... and even in sexual attraction," said Dr. William Miller, a retired physician, evolutionary biologist and author of the book "The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome" (Universal Publishers, 2013). For example, microbes may be invisible musicians in the complex orchestra of human attraction.
| Read More » European Cargo Ship Leaves Space Station for Final Time  | The European Space Agency's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) has left the International Space Station ahead of a planned plunge into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday (Feb. 15).
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