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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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These NASA Photos of Space Station Crew Landing Are Simply Amazing

NASA captured some amazing photos of three International Space Station crewmembers returning to Earth after a 167-day space mission. A second photo shows the sun backlighting both the Soyuz and the clouds as the spacecraft gently descends under a parachute towards its landing site in Kazakhstan. The shots were taken by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls, who regularly journeys to Kazakhstan to capture crew landings.

SpaceX says boosting output, on track for 13 rocket launches this year

By Andrea Shalal and Irene Klotz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is rapidly increasing production of the engines that power its Falcon 9 rocket and expects to meet its target of 13 launches and two test flights this year, President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters. SpaceX, the technology upstart founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is stepping up hiring of engineers and other workers to help boost production, including many from other sectors such as the automotive industry and the military, company officials said. This year, the company expects to produce at least 180 engines, with that number set to increase to 240 next year, and 400 in 2017, Shotwell told Reuters in an interview late last week. Shotwell said increasing production put the company on track to complete 13 launches this year.

China to open moon exploration program to private firms

The Chinese government will open up its ambitious moon exploration program to private companies rather than simply relying on the state-owned sector as before, hoping to boost technological breakthroughs, a major newspaper said on Tuesday. The next mission to the moon, to be carried out by the Chang'e 4 probe in the next two years or so, will serve as a platform "for technological research and development, product tests as well as data application" for private companies, the official China Daily said, citing a government statement. "The move will help break the monopoly in the space field, accelerate technological innovation, reduce the government's investment and improve efficiency," added the statement, released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, which oversees the space program. The English-language newspaper cited an unnamed source as saying China should learn from the example of the United States, which has shown the "obvious" benefits of private enterprise getting involved.

Cervantes remains found in Madrid convent, investigators believe

Investigators said on Tuesday they believe remains found under a Madrid convent include those of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of "Don Quixote" and considered the father of the modern novel. "Everything coincides to lead us to believe that Cervantes is there," forensics export Francisco Etxeberria told a news conference. Investigators may never be able to guarantee with absolute certainty that it was his body, Exteberria added, even though DNA tests are to be carried out. Cervantes - whose masterpiece about an errant, daydreaming knight and his faithful servant Sancho Panza has delighted readers around the world - had requested to be buried in the convent.

Oldest Roman Fort Protected Soldiers from 'Infamous Pirates'

Using airborne laser scanners, researchers have discovered ancient fortifications in Italy that make up the oldest known Roman military camp, where soldiers may have fought pirates more than 2,000 years ago. This camp may help reveal clues about how the Romans developed their army, and the structures might have served as the foundations of the modern Italian city of Trieste, the researchers said in the new study. A key factor behind the strength of the Roman army was the art of building orderly military camps. The origin of the Roman military camp remains unclear, the researchers said.

Zodiacal Light and Meteors Light Up the Night (Photo)

The ghostly zodiacal light offers an ethereal glow to this stunning night sky scene peppered by meteors as seen by a veteran night sky photographer observing in Florida. Photographer Jeffrey Berkes capturd this striking night sky image while visiting the Florida Keys in 2012 and recent shared it with Space.com. "I captured 2 quadrantid meteors in this 30-second exposure. To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

17-Million-Year-Old Whale Skull Helps Place Humanity's First Steps

A 17-million-year-old beaked whale fossil is helping researchers solve a puzzle about the likely birthplace of humanity in East Africa, a new study finds. The whale (Ziphiidae) lived when the East African plateau was substantially lower and covered by dense forests, the researchers said. Scientists have long tried to figure out when the uplift occurred, because when it did, the moisture from the Indian Ocean could no longer reach the trees and vegetation, and the area turned into a savannah, research suggests. Extinct ancestors to modern humans may have lived in trees in East Africa, but after the area turned into grassland, these early humans gradually began walking on two feet, researchers suggest.

Bacterial Paintings? New Art Uses Tiny Life Forms

More and more artists are harnessing living creatures to make political statements or illuminate the underpinnings of the modern world, researchers said here Friday (March 13) at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival. The urge to turn life into other things is ancient, said Daniel Grushkin, a freelance journalist and co-founder of Genspace, a community laboratory in New York City. Life imitates art? The artwork highlights the fact that there are trillions of bacteria in our body, said Wythe Marschall, a doctoral candidate in the history of science at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cough Medicine Ingredient May Aid Diabetes Fight

An ingredient in many over-the-counter cough suppressants seems to improve the release of insulin in humans, a discovery that may lead to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes. Doctors at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, found that the drug dextromethorphan increased the release of insulin from the pancreas in a series of studies conducted first in mice, then in human pancreatic tissue samples, and then in a small sample of people with diabetes. Dextromethorphan, often indicated by the letters DM on the labels of cold medications, has few serious side effects, particularly in comparison to the current arsenal of drugs used to treat people with Type 2 diabetes, the researchers noted. Type 2 diabetes affects about 350 million people globally, according to the World Health Organization.

Diet Soda Linked to Increased Belly Fat in Older Adults

Older adults who drink diet soda may experience greater increases in their waist size over a decade than those who do not drink diet soda, according to a new study. Researchers found that the average increase in waist circumference among the people in the study who drank diet soda daily was more than triple that of the people who did not drink diet soda. Among the people who drank diet soda only occasionally, the increase was more than double that of those who did not drink diet soda. "The more people drank diet sodas, the more their waistlines expanded," said study author Sharon Fowler, a researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Powdered Alcohol Is Now Legal — But Is It Safe?

Lawmakers are expressing concern that Palcohol could be more easily transported than liquid alcohol, and thus sneaked into places where alcohol is not allowed. "There are very serious concerns about the illegal use of powdered alcohol by young people, possibly even bringing it into schools or other events and locations that prohibit alcohol consumption," New York State Senator Joseph Griffo, said in a statement last year. But a packet of Palcohol is much harder to conceal" than liquid alcohol, the company making Palcohol says on its website. A packet of the substance measures 4 inches by 6 inches (10.2 centimeters by 15.2 cm), which is five times bigger than a 50-milliliter (1.7 ounces) bottle of liquid alcohol.

Aspirin's colon-cancer benefits backfire for some DNA types: study

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Although numerous studies have shown that regular use of aspirin or related drugs can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by about 30 percent, scientists have found an important exception: The medicines can actually increase the risk in people with certain genetic variants, new research shows. The result, published on Tuesday, is yet another step on the road to "precision medicine," which aims to match treatments to patients' genetic make-up. If confirmed, it could alter recommendations for preventing colorectal cancer, which is projected to kill 49,700 people in the United States this year. In an editorial accompanying a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Richard Wender of the American Cancer Society and Thomas Jefferson University called the discovery "scientifically noteworthy." "I anticipate the time when genome sequencing to determine a lifelong (colorectal-cancer) prevention and screening strategy is a reality, although it's some time off," he said in an interview.

Aspirin's colon-cancer benefits backfire for some DNA types - study

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