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Thursday, April 23, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Scientists: Over 143M Americans live in quake-prone areas

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists say more than 143 million Americans in the Lower 48 states now live in earthquake-prone areas.

Kermit the Frog Look-Alike Discovered in Costa Rica

Already dubbed a real-life Kermit, a new species of frog has been identified in the rainforests of Costa Rica. The inch-long creature, scientifically named Hyalinobatrachium dianae, joins Costa Rica's 13 other glass frogs, named for their translucent bodies through which you can view their organs. One of the characteristics that sets the new species apart from other glass frogs is the advertisement call males use to attract females. Study leader Brian Kubicki told CBS News that this frog "sounds more like an insect than most other frogs," which might be why it went unnoticed for so long.

'Safest bike ever' devised by British entrepreneur

Crispin Sinclair and his team have created the Babel Bike, which they are seeking to fund via crowd-sourcing website Indigoego. According to Sinclair, the Babel's protective cage positioned around the rider, combined with a double seatbelt and host of other safety features make it very safe. In large cities like London one of the biggest dangers for cyclists is being struck by a lorry, often without the lorry driver even being aware that a collision has occurred. In addition to the protective cage stopping the cyclist from being crushed against railings or another vehicle, the Babel's automatic horn - as loud as a car horn - alerts a lorry driver to the accident.

Abandoned Baby Tiger Triplets Thrive with Zoo's Aid

Three male Amur tiger cubs were born Tuesday (April 21) at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, Ohio. The baby tigers each weighed 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms) at birth, which falls within the typical range of 1.5 to 3 pounds (0.7 to 1.4 kg) for tiger cubs, according to zoo staff. The cubs are now in an incubator, but they are feeding vigorously and are already looking strong, zoo officials said. At such an old age and with one undersized ovary, "there were a number of strikes against her," said Harry Peachey, curator of Asia Quest at the Columbus Zoo.

Traces of Ancient Earthquakes Hidden in Cave Rocks

Shattered cave formations in the central United States may preserve one of the longest records of powerful earthquakes in this region. Historical records from European settlers provide vivid accounts of deadly earthquakes in states such as Missouri, Tennessee and Illinois. For instance, in 1811 and 1812, people saw the ground ripple like ocean waves when the New Madrid Fault Zone unleashed earthquakes thought to be greater than magnitude 8. Geologist John Tinsley says smashed cave formations could provide a new way to fill in the seismic gap.

Blue Bell's Listeria Scare: How It Grows in Ice Cream

With news that Blue Bell Creameries is recalling all of its products because they may be tainted with Listeria bacteria, many are wondering exactly what Listeria is, and how it could raise questions about the food safety of a company's entire product line. In the most recent outbreak, Listeria infections linked with Blue Bell sickened at least five people in Kansas, three of whom died. But just what is Listeria, and how did it get into frozen ice cream? We asked an expert to explain what the bacterium is, how it grows, and what consumers can do to protect themselves from listeriosis, which is the disease caused by Listeria.

Cancer Tech: New Devices Could Speed Up Treatment

Treating cancer is sometimes a process of trial and error, because any given drug or drug combination does not work the same for all patients. Now, two research teams say they have found ways to speed up the process by allowing doctors to try multiple treatments at once: One is an implantable device, and the other is a special injection device. In Seattle, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the company Presage Biosciences designed a device called CIVO that includes up to eight needles arranged in an array. "Ordinarily, when I write a prescription, I have no way to know if the cancer is resistant" to the drug that's being prescribed, said Dr. James Olson, a pediatric oncologist at Fred Hutchinson and the senior author of the CIVO report, published today (April 22) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Women Who Received HPV Vaccine May Need Another Shot

Women who receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be more likely to be infected with certain high-risk strains of the virus than women who do not get the vaccine, according to a new study. The findings suggest that, although the vaccine is effective in protecting against four strains of HPV, women who received it may still benefit from getting another, recently approved HPV vaccine that protects against nine strains of the virus, the researchers said. "Vaccinated women who got the quadrivalent [four-strain] vaccine may get the nine-valent [strain] vaccine as further protection for them," said Fangjian Guo, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch and one of the researchers on the new study. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that girls and young women ages 9 to 26 get any HPV vaccine to protect against cervical cancer, as some strains of HPV have been linked to cervical cancer.

Defying the odds, Hubble telescope still going strong after 25 years

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA on Thursday marked the silver anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope with fireworks, of a celestial kind, conveyed by the orbiting observatory itself. To commemorate Hubble's launch on April 24, 1990, NASA selected a picture of a stellar nursery located about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina.

NASA Unveils Spectacular Photo for Hubble Telescope's 25th Birthday

The colorful gas cloud to the left of the star cluster is a hotbed of stellar birth known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina. You can take a video tour of the new Hubble image, courtesy of NASA. "Hubble has completely transformed our view of the universe, revealing the true beauty and richness of the cosmos," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement from NASA. The anniversary image was revealed today (April 23) during a Hubble celebration event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Speakers at the event included NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate John Grunsfeld, Hubble Senior Project Scientist Jennifer Wiseman and Space Telescope Science Institute Interim Director Kathryn Flanagan.

Genome study reveals lonely end for the world's woolly mammoths

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most complete genetic information assembled on woolly mammoths is providing insight into their demise, revealing they suffered two population crashes before a final, severely inbred group succumbed on an Arctic Ocean island. Scientists unveiled on Thursday the first two full genomes of these mighty elephant relatives emblematic of the Ice Age, showing they experienced an extensive loss of genetic diversity before perishing roughly 4,000 years ago. Well-preserved DNA came from two mammoths: a 45,000-year-old calf carcass from Siberia, and a 4,300-year-old molar from a mammoth in the last population isolated on remote Wrangel Island, off the Russian mainland. Inbreeding was detected in the Wrangel Island mammoth.

Beyond Hubble: Future Space Observatories Will Carry Telescope's Legacy Forward

Few researchers could have predicted the diversity of the Hubble Space Telescope's workload when the iconic observatory launched into orbit a quarter-century ago this week. For example, Hubble helps scientists search for exoplanets, which were first discovered two years after the famous telescope's April 24, 1990, launch. Hubble also charts the universe's accelerating expansion, a surprise discovery the instrument helped make in 1998. Also astounding, from a technological perspective, is that Hubble continues to work perfectly, 25 years after launch, thanks to five different servicing missions astronauts performed between 1993 and 2009.

First experiment 'editing' human embryos ignites ethical furor

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Biologists in China reported carrying out the first experiment to alter the DNA of human embryos, igniting an outcry from scientists who warn against altering the human genome in a way that could last for generations. The study from China appeared last weekend in an obscure online journal called Protein & Cell. In an interview published on Wednesday on the news site of the journal Nature, lead author Junjiu Huang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou said both Nature and Science had rejected the paper, partly for ethical reasons. "There have been persistent rumors" of this kind of research taking place in China, said Edward Lanphier, chief executive of California-based Sangamo BioSciences Inc and part of a group of who called last month for a global moratorium on such experiments.

Fossil Teeth Suggest Humans Played Role in Neanderthal Extinction

Ancient teeth from Italy suggest that the arrival of modern humans in Western Europe coincided with the demise of Neanderthals there, researchers said. This finding suggests that modern humans may have caused Neanderthals to go extinct, either directly or indirectly, scientists added. Neanderthals are the closest extinct relatives of modern humans. Recent findings suggest that Neanderthals, who once lived in Europe and Asia, were closely enough related to humans to interbreed with the ancestors of modern humans — about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the DNA of anyone outside Africa is Neanderthal in origin.

First experiment 'editing' human embryos ignites ethical furore

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Biologists in China reported carrying out the first experiment to alter the DNA of human embryos, igniting an outcry from scientists who warn against altering the human genome in a way that could last for generations. The study from China appeared last weekend in an obscure online journal called Protein & Cell. In an interview published on Wednesday on the news site of the journal Nature, lead author Junjiu Huang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou said both Nature and Science rejected the paper, partly for ethical reasons. "There have been persistent rumours" of this kind of research taking place in China, said Edward Lanphier, chief executive of California-based Sangamo BioSciences Inc and part of a group of scientists who called last month for a global moratorium on such experiments.

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