|  First round-the-world solar flight takes off from UAE  | Two pilots attempting the first flight around the world in a solar-powered plane began the maiden leg of their voyage on Monday, the mission's official website said. Solar Impulse 2 took off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates en route to the Omani capital Muscat at the start of a five-month journey of 35,000 km (22,000 miles) organized to focus the world's attention on sustainable energy. "Solar Impulse wants to mobilize public enthusiasm in favor of technologies that will allow decreased dependence on fossil fuels, and induce positive emotions about renewable energies," said the mission website, which maps out the plane's location and broadcasts audio from the cockpit in real time. The flight will make stopovers in India, Myanmar and China before crossing the Pacific Ocean and flying across the United States and southern Europe to arrive back in Abu Dhabi.
| Read More » Electric 'noise' treats Parkinson's symptoms A wearable device that stimulates the sense of balance with electric "noise" could help Parkinson's disease patients, according to Swedish scientists. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy have developed a portable pocket-sized vestibular, or balance, stimulation device in a bid to improve the lives of Parkinson's sufferers. The research was led by Associate Professor Filip Bergquist, who said the simple device was similar to the TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) therapy which is used for pain relief, for example in child birth. So you do not get the impression that the world is moving or that you are moving, you actually do not feel anything," Bergquist explained. Read More » NASA Finds Likely Source of Mars Rover Curiosity's Short Circuit  | The short circuit that has stalled some of the science work by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity apparently originated in the robot's rock-boring drill, mission team members say. Those diagnostic tests have been productive, Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said Friday (March 6). A brief short occurred during a test on Thursday (March 5) that used the drill's percussive action, NASA officials explained. Curiosity may start moving its arm again as early as next week, NASA officials said.
| Read More » These 3 Student Inventions May Make Life Easier  | Some of those dreams might become reality, thanks to a few engineering students at The Cooper Union in New York City, who, as part of a college competition, came up with a host of products that could save both time and energy. "Every [kind of] tape has a different dispenser, and a lot don't even have a dispenser," Marshall told Live Science.
| Read More » 6 Ways Albert Einstein Fought for Civil Rights  | Albert Einstein earned international fame for his general theory of relativity, which was published 100 years ago. Most people know that Einstein was an anti-war activist, but after moving to the United States in 1933 and becoming a U.S. citizen, the iconic scientist also confronted American racism. According to the authors of "Einstein on Race and Racism," (Rutgers University Press, 2006), Einstein was keenly aware of the similarities between American segregation and the treatment of Jews in Germany. Before moving to Princeton, New Jersey, Einstein was harassed and denounced by the Nazis.
| Read More » Secret Hideout Helped Penguins Survive the Ice Age  | Earth's last ice age was so cold that even Antarctica's emperor penguins had trouble with the chill, a new study finds. Just three populations of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) likely survived the last ice age, which occurred from about 19,500 to 16,000 years ago, with one such population likely setting up a refuge in the Ross Sea, an Antarctic body of water southeast of New Zealand, the researchers said. In the study, the researchers examined how climate change affected emperor penguins during the past 30,000 years. They looked at the genetic diversity of modern and ancient populations of emperor penguins in Antarctica, and estimated how it had changed over time.
| Read More » Beyond Relativity: Albert Einstein's Lesser-Known Work | Einstein's breakthroughs in 20th-century physics made him the world's most famous scientist. In the 1870s, British chemist Sir William Crookes developed a neat little curiosity called the radiometer, or the light mill. The contraption was made up of a glass bulb with most of the air sucked out, with several metal, rectangular pieces aligned inside, like a windmill. He even convinced his niece Edith Einstein to focus on the topic for her research, said Daniel Kennefick, a physicist at the University of Arkansas and author of "Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves" (Princeton University Press, 2007).
| Read More » 25 Robots Set to Compete in Ambitious Contest This Summer  | Fourteen new teams from around the world, including participants from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea and the United States, have joined 11 previously selected teams to compete in the June event, hosted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Pomona, California. The winning three teams will take home a combined $3.5 million in cash prizes, DARPA officials said. "We are trying to make robots and human beings work together," Gill Pratt, program manager for the contest, said Thursday (March 5) in a news conference. In December 2013, 16 teams competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials, to compete for funding to take part in the Robotics Finals.
| Read More » Marijuana May Trigger Allergies in Some People Just like ragweed and birch trees, marijuana plants may trigger allergic reactions in some people, according to a new review of previous studies. And because of the increasing use and cultivation of marijuana that has followed in the wake of legalization in some places, allergies to marijuana may be on the rise, experts say. "Although still relatively uncommon, allergic disease associated with [marijuana] exposure and use has been reported with increased frequency," wrote the authors of the review, published March 3 in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. In fact, allergies to marijuana have likely gone underreported, because of marijuana's illegal status, said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist of the Allergy & Asthma Network, a nonprofit organization that promotes allergy research and education. Read More » Alcohol Intake Peaks at Age 25, But Continues into Old Age Men generally drink more alcohol than women, but the genders go through similar changes in their drinking habits over their lifetimes, a new study on people in the United Kingdom finds. Both men and women in the study reported a sharp uptick in alcohol intake during adolescence that peaked in early adulthood, plateaued in midlife and then declined into older age. But the researchers also found that, although younger guys drank the largest quantities of alcohol, it was older men who drank the most often, "with lots of men drinking on a daily basis in later life," said lead researcher Annie Britton, a senior lecturer of epidemiology at University College London. It could mean that they are becoming dependent on alcohol, she told Live Science. Read More » High-Fiber Diet May Help Prevent Allergies From overly clean dishes to skyrocketing rates of cesarean-section births, scientists have proposed dozens of explanations for the sharp rise in food allergies in recent years. Now, several new studies suggest another factor that could play a role in food allergies: dietary fiber. This notion is based on the idea that bacteria in the gut have the enzymes needed to digest dietary fiber, and when these bacteria break down fiber, they produce substances that help to prevent an allergic response to foods, said Charles Mackay, an immunologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Up to 15 million Americans have food allergies — a number that increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011, according to Food Allergy Research & Education, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people with food allergies. Read More » Fitness Trackers May Boost Weight Loss Fitness trackers may help some people get more out of using a weight loss app, a new survey suggests. The survey, which involved more than 5,000 people who use the popular weight loss app Lose It!, found that 60 percent of users said they lost more weight when they paired a fitness tracker with the app, compared with when they didn't use a tracker. In fact, 96 percent of the responders said they were using an activity tracker along with the app. Adding a fitness tracker to the app may provide "another level of accountability" for users, said Charles Teague, CEO of Lose It! "Motivation is a major factor in helping our members lose weight and it was exciting to see the role connecting an activity tracker to Lose It! can play," Teague told Live Science. Read More » Solar-Powered Plane Takes Off on Epic Round-the-World Flight  | A solar-powered plane, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, took flight today (March 8), embarking on the historic first leg of a planned journey around the world. The aircraft, which can fly without using any fuel, took off from Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, shortly after 11:10 p.m. EDT (7:10 a.m. local time on March 9). After journeying across the Atlantic Ocean, the plane will make a stopover either in southern Europe or North Africa before returning to Abu Dhabi, according to company officials. If successful, Solar Impulse 2 will become the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the globe.
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