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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

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Stephen Hawking: Human Aggression Could 'Destroy Us All'

Stephen Hawking may be getting some Hollywood love for "The Theory of Everything," a biopic about his life that earned actor Eddie Redmayne the best actor Oscar at last night's Academy Awards. Human aggression threatens to destroy us all, Hawking said during a tour of London's Science Museum last week. Hawking called for greater empathy, and added that human space exploration is necessary as "life insurance" for humanity.

Deepest Ocean Water Teems With Life

A few years ago, film director James Cameron spent hours scouring the world's deepest ocean canyon for any sign of life. He found a few bizarre animals, but it turns out the real action in the Mariana Trench happens beyond the reach of a submersible's camera.

Scientists find peanut-eating prevents allergy, urge rethink

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - In research that contradicts years of health advice, scientists said on Monday that babies at risk of developing a childhood peanut allergy can avoid it if they are given peanuts regularly during their first 11 months. The study, the first to show that eating certain foods is an effective way of preventing allergy, showed an 80 percent reduction in the prevalence of peanut allergies among high-risk children who ate peanuts frequently from infanthood, compared to those who avoided them. "This is an important clinical development and contravenes previous guidelines," said Gideon Lack, who led the study at King's College London. "New guidelines may be needed to reduce the rate of peanut allergy in our children." Rates of food allergies have been rising in recent decades, and peanut allergy now affects between 1 and 3 percent of children in Western Europe, Australia and the United States.

Peanut Allergy Prevention? Peanut Butter Snacks Could Help

If children are at high risk for a peanut allergy, having them eat peanut butter frequently from an early age may help protect them from developing the allergy, a new study suggests. The children were randomly assigned to either consume 6 grams (0.2 ounces) of a snack made from peanut butter per week or to avoid peanuts altogether, until they were 5 years old. Overall, about 17 percent of children who avoided peanuts ended up developing a peanut allergy by the end of the study, compared with just 3 percent of those who consumed the peanut butter snack.

Fist-Clinching Fury Raises Heart Attack Risk

Feeling really angry or anxious can greatly increase your risk of having a heart attack, especially if you feel so tense that you clench your fists, a new study reports. People's heart attack risk is 9.5 times higher during the two hours following elevated levels of anxiety (higher than the 90th percentile on an anxiety scale) than during times of lower anxiety levels, according to the study. The findings support anecdotal stories and earlier studies that suggested that anger may trigger heart attacks, and underscores the need for researchers to find ways to protect people who are most at risk for heart attacks, the researchers wrote in their study, published online today (Feb. 23) in the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care. For the study, the researchers looked at 313 patients who had heart attacks and were treated at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia, from 2006 to 2012.

Scientists find peanut-eating prevents allergy, urge rethink

Boeing, ULA Break Ground on New Astronaut Access Tower for Atlas Launches

Fifty-three years to the day after John Glenn ascended an access tower to become the first U.S. astronaut to ride an Atlas rocket into orbit, officials with United Launch Alliance and Boeing broke ground for the next gantry that will support Atlas crewed launches. The groundbreaking ceremony on Friday (Feb. 20) marked the beginning of construction on the first new crew access structure at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in decades. The tower will enable the Atlas V pad at Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) to host astronauts and their support personnel for flight tests and missions to the International Space Station. "Fifty-three years ago today, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, launching on an Atlas just a few miles from here," Jim Sponnick, the vice president of ULA's Atlas and Delta rocket programs, said at Friday's event.

Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream, Scientists Say

NASA researchers think they understand why comets have a hard, crispy outside and a cold but soft inside — just like fried ice cream. Two NASA spacecraft have interacted with a comet surface, and both found a crunchy exterior and somewhat softer, more porous interior. They think they can explain the process that makes a comet not unlike a flying hunk of fried ice cream. To create amorphous ice, water vapor molecules must be flash-frozen at a temperature of about minus 405 degrees Fahrenheit (243 degrees Celsius).

Mummy Found Hiding Inside Ancient Buddha Statue

A Chinese statue of a sitting Buddha has revealed a hidden surprise: Inside, scientists found the mummified remains of a monk who lived nearly 1,000 years ago. The mummy may have once been a respected Buddhist monk who, after death, was worshipped as an enlightened being, one who helped the living end their cycle of suffering and death, said Vincent van Vilsteren, an archaeology curator at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, where the mummy (from inside the Buddha statue) was on exhibit last year. The mysterious statue is now on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest.

Turkish Troops Relocate Historic Tomb in Syria

Turkey staged its first large-scale military mission in Syria over the weekend, sending hundreds of troops and armored tanks across the border not only to rescue a group of stranded soldiers but also to save an 800-year-old skeleton. During the raid in the Syrian village of Karakozak, on the banks of the Euphrates River, Turkish forces recovered the sarcophagus, human remains and other relics from the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I, who founded the Ottoman Empire. "It surprised me that the Turkish government launched this fairly large mission involving several hundred troops to go and do this," said Michael Danti, an archaeologist at Boston University. Danti has been compiling weekly reports on the status of Syria's imperiled archaeological sites as part of a U.S. State Department-funded initiative through the American Schools of Oriental Research.

Rarest Big Cat on Earth Starting to Make a Comeback

Things are starting to look up for the rarest big cat on the planet: The critically endangered Amur leopard, which is indigenous to southeastern Russia and parts of northeastern China, has doubled in population since 2007, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Census data from Russia's Land of the Leopard National Park, which covers about 60 percent of the Amur leopard's habitat, puts the number of these wild cats at 57. Eight to 12 additional cats were also counted in adjacent areas of China during the census, which means the total population of Amur leopards has, in fact, doubled in less than a decade. "Such a strong rebound in Amur leopard numbers is further proof that even the most critically endangered big cats can recover if we protect their habitat and work together on conservation efforts," Barney Long, director of species protection and Asian species conservation for WWF, said in a statement.

26-Year-Old's Heart Attack Linked to Energy Drink

A healthy 26-year-old man in Texas who suffered a heart attack might be able to blame his condition on his daily habit of drinking energy drinks, according to a new report of the case. The man told the health care workers who treated him that on the day of his heart attack he had downed eight to 10 energy drinks — and that he did that on most days, according to the case report. It's possible that the man's excessive energy drink intake caused a blood clot to form that partially blocked a blood vessel near his heart, leading to the heart attack, according to the case report. "Energy drink consumption is a growing health concern due to limited regulation and increasing use, especially in younger demographics," the researchers wrote in the case report.

NASA Europa Mission May Search for Signs of Alien Life

A potential NASA mission to Jupiter's moon Europa may end up hunting for signs of life on the icy, ocean-harboring world. NASA officials have asked scientists to consider ways that a Europa mission could search for evidence of alien life in the plumes of water vapor that apparently blast into space from Europa's south polar region. These plumes, which NASA's Hubble Space Telescope spotted in December 2012, provide a possible way to sample Europa's ocean of liquid water, which is buried beneath the moon's icy shell, researchers say. "This is our chance" to investigate whether or not life exists on Europa, NASA science chief John Grunsfeld said here Wednesday (Feb. 18) during a Europa plume workshop at the agency's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Ancient Artifacts to Space Tech: History of Tools Explored in NYC Exhibit

An exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York juxtaposes tools from throughout human history — from ancient rock tools, to the most cutting-edge instruments being used to explore outer space — and looks for the commonalities among them. The exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt museum titled "Tools," explores this concept by drawing together artifacts and items from nine Smithsonian museums and research centers, including the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Almost everything we do involves a tool," Cara McCarty, curatorial director of the Cooper Hewitt museum and co-curator of the "Tools" exhibition, said as we walked through the third floor of the Cooper Hewitt museum.

Hippo's 'Shrunken' Ancestor Was Hardly Bigger Than a Sheep

The first hippos may have been about the size of overgrown sheep. Fossils from an ancient ancestor to hippos, part of a family of creatures known as anthrocotheres, have been unearthed in a rock bed in Kenya. "They are slender hippos, very thin hippos," said study co-author Fabrice Lihoreau, a paleontologist at the University of Montpellier in France. What's more, the new study reveals the hippo ancestor, Epirigenys lokonensis, first evolved in Africa.

Mysterious East Coast Flooding Caused by Weird Wind Patterns

Mysterious flooding and high tides along the East Coast in 2009 and 2010 now have an explanation: a major change in the Atlantic Ocean's wind patterns and warm-water currents. Now, researchers know why the ocean was flooding beaches and barrier islands: Sea levels temporarily jumped by up to 2 feet (61 centimeters) above the high tide mark, as measured by tide gauges along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. Over the two-year period, coastal sea levels rose an average of 4 inches (10 cm) from New York to Newfoundland, Canada, researchers reported today (Feb. 24) in the journal Nature Communications. "This extreme sea level rise is unprecedented in tide gauge records," said study co-author Jianjun Yin, a University of Arizona geosciences professor who specializes in climate modeling.

Spacewalking Astronaut Snaps the Ultimate Selfie (Photo)

A NASA astronaut snapped a truly out-of-this-world selfie during a spacewalk over the weekend. Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander of the International Space Station's current Expedition 42, took a photo of himself during a spacewalk on Saturday (Feb. 21) that captured a gloriously blue, cloud-studded ocean in the background. Fellow spacewalking NASA astronaut Terry Virts also appears in the shot, reflected in Wilmore's visor. "The spacewalks are designed to lay cables along the forward end of the U.S. segment to bring power and communication to two International Docking Adapters slated to arrive later this year," NASA officials wrote in a description of Wilmore's spacewalk selfie.

Bavarian Nordic vaccine helps prolong life in prostate cancer trial

An experimental therapeutic vaccine from Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic helped significantly extend survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer, according to results of a small early-stage trial conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Shares of Bavarian Nordic closed up almost 12 percent in Copenhagen after the company released the data on Tuesday. The study involved 30 patients with prostate cancer that had failed to benefit from standard treatments that reduce levels of testosterone, the male hormone that fuels the cancer. Patients were treated with the company's Prostvac vaccine, in addition to escalating doses of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Yervoy, an approved injectable treatment for advanced melanoma that works by taking the brakes off the body's immune system.

Weed Is Legal in Alaska Now

Alaska joins Colorado and Washington today (Feb. 24) as the third U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Marijuana was actually decriminalized in the state in 1975, with an Alaska Supreme Court decision that ruled privacy protections in Alaska's Constitution gave adults the right to use and possess a small amount of pot for personal use. Alaska has high rates of marijuana use compared with the rest of the United States. Alaska also led the nation in the share of pot users who grew their own weed: 4.1 percent, according to the NSDUH data.

US oyster, clam farms face economic blow from acidification: study

By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. shellfish producers in the Northeast and the Gulf of Mexico will be most vulnerable to an acidification of the oceans linked to climate change that makes it harder for clams and oysters to build shells, a study said on Monday. In the first study of acidification on shellfish producers nationwide, the scientists found that: "the most socially vulnerable communities are spread along the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico." The scientists - in the United States, France, Australia and the Netherlands - examined ocean acidification as well as factors including rivers, which can aggravate acidification with pollution, opportunities for shellfish workers to find new jobs if needed and local research into more resilient molluscs. Still, producers in the warm water Gulf of Mexico were at risk - partly because of dependence on a single species, the eastern oyster. Taking ocean acidification in isolation from factors like river pollution, the study said the Pacific Northwest and Alaska were "expected to be exposed soonest ... now or in coming decades".

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