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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

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Ready for Takeoff? New Rules Would Limit Some Uses for Drones

The Obama administration has announced a much-anticipated set of rules to govern the use of commercial drones in the United States. But the proposed regulations would restrict some parts of the burgeoning industry — notably, drone delivery services, like the one being tested by Amazon.

What Would It Be Like to Live on Venus?

Between its desiccated, red-orange landscape and surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, Venus is our solar system's analog to hell. Setting up a livable base on the planet is a feat far beyond our technological capabilities right now, but here's what life would be like if we could actually live on Venus. Venus is often thought of as Earth's twin sister because the size and composition of the two planets are similar. So it should come as no surprise that NASA, the Soviet space program, the European Space Agency (ESA) and others have sent numerous spacecraft to explore the planet second closest to the sun — more than 40 in all since the 1960s.

Earthquake early warning system begins testing in Pacific Northwest

By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - Testing began on Tuesday on the first early warning system to predict earthquakes before they rattle Oregon and Washington, with a group of businesses and hospitals trying out the tool before it is made available to the public, scientists said. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network system will emit a blaring siren and a vocal warning that says "Earthquake. Shaking to begin in ... 15 seconds," the research team from the University of Washington said in a statement. The technology will issue an alert for any earthquakes above magnitude 3, which typically occur somewhere in Washington and Oregon about every two to three weeks, it said.

Russian Supply Ship Makes 6-Hour Delivery Trip to Space Station

A robotic Russian cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (Feb. 17), capping off a busy week of comings and goings at the orbiting lab.

In a first for a fish, Oregon chub removed from endangered list

By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - For the first time, a fish has been removed from U.S. Endangered Species Act protection as federal officials declared on Tuesday that a tiny shimmering minnow found only in an Oregon valley was no longer in danger of extinction. Millions of the two-inch (5-cm) fish, the Oregon chub, once swam in waters surrounding Western Oregon's Willamette River. Fewer than 1,000 remained in just eight wetlands in 1993 when the chub gained protection under the Endangered Species Act. The fish's resurgence shows that habitat improvement and species recovery efforts can succeed even in areas heavily impacted by agriculture and urban development, said Paul Henson, Oregon supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.

Strongest known natural material - spider silk or limpet teeth?

Spider silk may lose its claim as the strongest known natural material after researchers found that limpet teeth have more mettle. Spider silk is hailed by scientists for its strength and structure, but researchers in Britain have discovered that limpets -- snail-like sea creatures with conical shells -- have teeth with structures so strong they could be copied and used in making cars, boats and planes. "Until now we thought that spider silk was the strongest biological material because of its super-strength and potential applications in everything from bullet-proof vests to computer electronics," said Asa Barber, a professor at Portsmouth University's school of engineering, who led the study. "But now we have discovered that limpet teeth exhibit a strength that is potentially higher." Barber's team examined the detailed mechanical behaviour of teeth from limpets with atomic force microscopy, a method used to pull apart materials all the way down to the level of the atom.

Preschoolers Who Nap May Sleep Worse at Night

For parents of young children, nap time can be the best time of the day: The house is quiet, the kids are sleeping and there's finally an hour or two of personal time. But those daytime naps could make young children less likely to sleep as well at night, at least if a new review from researchers in Australia is to be believed. And even if taking daytime naps means young children get less sleep at night, that doesn't mean that parents should ditch their preschooler's afternoon nap, said Dr. Richard Ferber, the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital, and the author of "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" (Touchstone, 2006). "Young children need to nap for optimal performance," Ferber told Live Science.

Scientists unveil map of 'epigenome,' a second genetic code

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists for the first time have mapped out the molecular "switches" that can turn on or silence individual genes in the DNA in more than 100 types of human cells, an accomplishment that reveals the complexity of genetic information and the challenges of interpreting it. Researchers unveiled the map of the "epigenome" in the journal Nature on Wednesday, alongside nearly two dozen related papers. The human genome is the blueprint for building an individual person. The epigenome can be thought of as the cross-outs and underlinings of that blueprint: if someone's genome contains DNA associated with cancer but that DNA is "crossed out" by molecules in the epigenome, for instance, the DNA is unlikely to lead to cancer.

Marijuana munchies are all in the brain, U.S. study finds

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - If recent laws legalizing marijuana in more U.S. states also boost sales of potato chips and brownies, scientists will know why: A study in mice published on Wednesday found, unexpectedly, that the active ingredients in pot essentially make appetite-curbing regions of the brain reverse functions. When that happens, neurons that ordinarily transmit a signal that means, "you're full, stop eating," instead give the brain the munchies, neurobiologists reported in the journal Nature. A 2014 study by neuroscientists in Europe, for instance, found that the active ingredients in marijuana, cannabinoids, affect the olfactory center in the brains of mice. In their study, scientists led by Tamas Horvath of Yale University focused on molecules called receptors that cannabinoids bind to and activate in the brains of both mice and men.

Vast Bed of Metal Balls Found in Deep Sea

The R/V Sonne, a German research ship, was several hundred miles east of Barbados when a mesh net meant to capture marine life instead brought up balls of manganese ore that were bigger than softballs. A remote camera later revealed that the seafloor was littered with these round manganese nodules, some the size of bowling balls. "I was surprised, because this is generally not the place you think of for manganese nodules," said Colin Devey, chief scientist for the expedition and a volcanologist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany. This is the largest patch of manganese nodules ever found in the Atlantic, Devey said.

Sorry, Spiders: Sea Snails Make Strongest Material on Earth

The teeth of the common limpet species (Patella vulgata) are tougher than Kevlar and stronger than spider silk, researchers report in the Feb. 18 issue of The Royal Society journal Interface. "Spider silk has been winning this competition for a long time. I was surprised and excited that limpet teeth beat the winner," said lead study author Asa Barber, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Southampton in England. Though limpets leave behind only scratched rock, no one had ever tested the strength of their teeth, Barber said.

'Mirage Planets' May Complicate Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Some alien worlds might look like they're capable of hosting life as we know it on Earth, but in reality, these "mirage planets" might have burned away those chances for life, scientists think. In the past 20 years or so, astronomers have confirmed the existence of more than 1,800 planets around distant stars, and may soon prove that thousands more of these alien worlds exist. Of special interest are exoplanets in habitable zones, the regions around stars just warm enough for worlds to possess liquid water on their surfaces, as there is life virtually everywhere liquid water is found on Earth. The search for extraterrestrial life often focuses on red dwarfs, also known as M dwarf stars, which are the most common type of star in the universe.

Scientists unveil map of 'epigenome,' a second genetic code

A Fortune in Ancient Gold Coins Found Off Israel

A massive trove of thousand-year-old gold coins has been unearthed in an ancient harbor off the coast of Israel. The hoard, which was first discovered by members of an amateur scuba diving club, is the largest haul of gold coins ever unearthed in Israel. The coins were found off the coast of Caesarea, a harbor city that was built by King Herod the Great about 2,000 years ago. At the time when most of the coins were minted, Caesarea was a bustling port city that was central to the Fatimid Kingdom.

Flu Shot May Give You a Boost Against Bird Flu

Getting a seasonal flu shot may give you a bit of protection against a deadly strain of the bird flu virus, a new study suggests. The study's researchers looked at 28 people who had received annual flu shots since 2007, and measured the levels of their antibodies, which are the proteins in the immune system that bind to pathogens to render them harmless. The researchers specifically looked at 83 antibodies known to bind to H3N2, a common strain of flu that's included in the seasonal flu vaccine. They found that a small portion of these antibodies — around 7 percent — were also able to bind to the H7N9 flu virus, a new strain of bird flu that first emerged in China in 2013.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease May Be from Mom's Bacteria, not DNA

The study found that a mother mouse can pass along to her offspring a susceptibility to intestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, by way of a gut-residing bacterium called Sutterella, the researchers reported in the journal Nature yesterday (Feb. 16). Scientists have long speculated that a mother can transfer beneficial bacteria to her offspring through the birthing process and then through breast-feeding and kissing. "The implications for mouse experiments are profound, and could help us cut through some persistent sources of confusion," in genetic research, said Dr. Thaddeus Stappenbeck, an immunologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a co-author of the new study. Until now, most doctors have thought that IgA deficiency, seen in people with diseases such as chronic diarrhea, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is primarily hereditary, meaning the deficiency is inherited through one's genes.

Mysterious Bright Spots Shine on Dwarf Planet Ceres (Photos)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft will have plenty of mysteries to investigate when it begins orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres next month, as the probe's latest photos attest. "As we slowly approach the stage, our eyes transfixed on Ceres and her planetary dance, we find she has beguiled us but left us none the wiser," Dawn principal investigator Chris Russell of UCLA said in a statement. The new photos, which have a resolution of 4.9 miles (7.8 km) per pixel, are the sharpest ever taken of Ceres, NASA officials said.

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