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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Cyberbullying on Social Media Linked to Teen Depression

Cyberbullying on social media is linked to depression in teenagers, according to new research that analyzed multiple studies of the online phenomenon. Victimization of young people online has received an increasing level of scrutiny, particularly after a series of high-profile suicides of teenagers who were reportedly bullied on various social networks. Social media use is hugely common among teenagers, said Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics at the University of Alberta, but the health effects of cyberbullying on social media sites is largely unknown.

Unhealthy Teens Face College and Job Obstacles

Researchers found that teens with either mental health or chronic physical health conditions were less likely to graduate high school or finish college, and were more likely to be unemployed or have lower-income jobs as adults compared with healthy teens. The analysis also showed that teens with mental health problems fared worse than those with physical health issues in terms of economic and academic outcomes as young adults. "Mental health conditions may be more detrimental than physical health conditions, because they are linked with social isolation and exclusion, which are both linked with poor employment and education outcomes," said Daniel Hale, co-author of the study and a research associate in children's health policy at University College London.

More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Are Overweight or Obese

Researchers analyzed data gathered from 2007 through 2012 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which included more than 15,000 men and women age 25 and older. When compared with an analysis conducted nearly 20 years before this study, the results show that more people are now overweight and obese, said Lin Yang, an epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a co-author of the study, published today (June 22) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Yang said she sees the findings as a wake-up call to create policies designed to combat excessive weight gain and obesity, which burden the American health care system and society.

Blue Origin Offers Tantalizing Preview of Private Space Trips (Video)

A video released last week by the private spaceflight company Blue Origin offers a tantalizing look at the private space trips the company plans to offer. The two-minute Blue Origin video features Jeff Ashby, the company's chief of mission assurance and a former NASA astronaut, describing what the private trips will be like, as well as the life-changing experience of going to space. The video also features a computer animation showing passengers floating weightless inside the rather roomy Blue Origin space capsule, and staring out its wide windows when they reach suborbital altitudes above the Earth.

Construction of Giant Telescope Pushes on Despite Protests

The group building a huge telescope on Hawaii's tallest mountain plans to restart construction this week, ending a two-month delay caused by protestors opposed to the ambitious project. Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano — work that was halted in April after a series of protests—will resume on Wednesday (June 24), project representatives said in a statement issued over the weekend. "Our period of inactivity has made us a better organization in the long run," Henry Yang, chair of the TMT International Observatory Board, said in the statement.

European satellite blasts off to provide new color view of Earth

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Vega rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Monday to put a sophisticated Earth-watching satellite into orbit, a European Space Agency webcast showed. Flying for the fifth time, the four-stage Vega rocket, lifted off at 9:52 p.m. EDT (0152 GMT) carrying Europe's Sentinel-2A satellite, the newest member of the multibillion-euro Copernicus Earth-observation project. From its orbital perch 488 miles (786 km) above Earth, Sentinel-2A is designed to take high-resolution, color and infrared images for a wide array of environmental initiatives, including crop forecasting and monitoring natural disasters.

Kazakh cosmonaut to replace singer Sarah Brightman for space flight

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - A rookie Kazakh cosmonaut will take over British singer Sarah Brightman's seat on a Russian Soyuz capsule heading to the International Space Station in September, officials said on Monday. In addition, a Japanese businessman training as Brightman's backup signed a contract to fly to the orbital outpost when another Soyuz seat opens up in the next two- to four years, said Space Adventures, a U.S.-based travel agency that has brokered eight privately paid flights to the station. Last month, Brightman, 54, pulled out of training for a 10-day taxi flight, citing personal family reasons.

In twist, scientists join tobacco companies to fight cancer

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists who have devoted years developing medicines to cure disease are now working for tobacco companies to make e-cigarettes. Philip Morris International Inc has hired more than 400 scientists and technical staff at its research facility in Neuchatel, Switzerland, including toxicologists, chemists, biologists, biostatisticians and regulatory affairs experts. Altria Group Inc, makers of Marlboro, has recruited dozens of scientific and healthcare experts, as have independent e-cigarette companies such as NJOY. "If you have a product that prevents cancer in the first place you can have a much bigger impact on public health." The goal is to improve the current generation of e-cigarettes and, where possible, provide evidence that they reduce the risk of disease.

'Iron Man' Laser: Beams Can Shape Electrical Discharges

In real life lasers might be the way to do it. Turns out, laser beams can control the shape and direction of electrical discharges, physicists have found. A team, led by Matteo Clerici, who was at Quebec's National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) at the time, showed that a laser beam fired in a certain way could shape an electrical spark as it jumped between two electrodes, taking on different shapes, and even bending around an object that is in the way.

Cockroach robot uses shell to overcome obstacles

US-based researchers have created a robot that can use its body shape to move through a densely cluttered environment. The team from the University of California, Berkeley based the robot on the humble cockroach and hope their design could be used to inspire future robot designs for use in monitoring the environment and search and rescue operations. The Berkeley team, led by postdoctoral researcher Chen Li, designed the shell so it could perform a roll maneuver to slip through gaps between grass-like vertical beam obstacles without the need for additional sensors or motors.

Alien-Like Worm Invades US

A bizarre invasive worm with its mouth in the middle of its belly has been found in the United States for the first time, according to new research. The New Guinea flatworm (Platydemus manokwari) is only a couple of millimeters thick but grows to be up to 2.5 inches (65 millimeters) long. As an invasive species, it's a threat to native snails — so much so that the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it among the 100 worst invasive species in the world.

Ancient Greek 'Antikythera' Shipwreck Still Holds Secrets

Greek authorities have approved a five-year extension for an international team of explorers to continue probing the remains of a 2,085-year-old shipwreck known for holding what is considered the world's oldest computer. The ship, which likely sank between 70 B.C. and 60 B.C. as it trekked west from Asia Minor to Rome, holds plenty of treasure: During the first phase of the project "Return to Antikythera," which ended in October 2014, undersea explorers found tableware, a lead anchor, a giant bronze spear that may have been part of a statue of a warrior or the goddess Athena, and other artifacts. In preparation for this second phase, slated to begin at the end of summer, researchers sent an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to digitally survey the shipwreck from June 9 to 19.

Art-ificial Intelligence? Algorithm Sorts Paintings Like a Person

A team of researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) program that can classify famous works of art based on their style, genre or artist — tasks that normally require a professional art historian. "We're definitely not replacing art historians, but with a growing number of paintings in online collections, we need an automatic tool" for organizing them, said study researcher Babak Saleh, a computer scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. A human can look at a painting and easily draw inferences from it, such as whether it's a portrait or a landscape, whether the style is impressionist or abstract, or who the artist was.

Teen Dies of Plague: What Are the Symptoms of the Deadly Disease?

A Colorado high school student died of the plague in early June, the first person since 1999 to get the plague in Larimer County, in northern Colorado, health authorities said. The 16-year-old, Taylor Gaes, was an avid baseball and football player, according to the Coloradoan. It's tragic but not surprising that Gaes' symptoms were misinterpreted, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior associate at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Health Security, who was not involved in Gaes' treatment.

Curious Case of Muscle, Nerve Damage from Skinny Jeans

A woman in Australia who spent long hours squatting while wearing skinny jeans experienced muscle damage in her legs that was so severe it impaired her ability to walk, according to the new report of her case. "We believe it was the combination of squatting and tight jeans that caused the problem," said Dr. Thomas Kimber, of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Department of Medicine in Adelaide, South Australia, who treated the woman. The case happened about six months ago, Kimber told Live Science.

Sun Storm Supercharges Northern Lights, Wowing Skywatchers (Photos)

The auroras were seen as far south as Philadelphia and northern New Jersey last night (June 22), and gave astronauts aboard the International Space Station a stunning celestial light show. The solar storm that caused the auroras was declared a level G4 (severe), with a maximum possible ranking of G5 (extreme). Auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights, are caused by bursts of powerful particles ejected from the sun that collide with Earth's atmosphere.

Medical Marijuana: Review Shows Pot Helps These Conditions

Medical marijuana may provide some benefit for patients with chronic nerve pain or cancer pain, as well as people who have multiple sclerosis and experience muscle spasms, according to a new review study. However, there is not much evidence supporting the use of medical marijuana for other reasons, such as sleep disorders, Tourette syndrome and anxiety disorders. Still, many of the studies done to date that found that marijuana had little or no effect were small, or lacked a rigorous design, the researchers said.

No difference in kids with same-sex, opposite-sex parents: study

By Shelby Sebens PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Scientists agree that children raised by same-sex couples are no worse off than children raised by parents of the opposite sex, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Oregon professor. The new research, which looked at 19,000 studies and articles related to same-sex parenting from 1977 to 2013, was released last week, and comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule by the end of this month on whether same-sex marriage is legal. "Consensus is overwhelming in terms of there being no difference in children who are raised by same-sex or different- sex parents," University of Oregon sociology professor Ryan Light said on Tuesday.

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