|  Stephen Hawking Warns of Planetary Doom (Again)  | Stephen Hawking has once again warned that humanity could wipe itself out before it has a chance to establish far-flung space colonies. At a recent talk in England, the famed physicist singled out nuclear war, genetically engineered viruses and global warming as likely culprits. According to Hawking, the odds of a planetary disaster in the next millennia are high.
| Read More » Transgenic mosquito ready to join Brazil's war on Zika virus  | By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - A genetically modified mosquito has helped reduce the proliferation of mosquitoes spreading Zika and other dangerous viruses in Brazil, its developers said on Tuesday. The self-limiting strain of the Aedes aegypti mosquito was developed by Oxitec, the U.K.-subsidiary of U.S. synthetic biology company Intrexon. Oxitec, which produces the mosquitoes in Campinas, announced it will build a second facility in nearby Piracicaba, Sao Paulo state, following strong results there in controlling the population of the Aedes vector that also carries the dengue virus.
| Read More » Transgenic mosquito ready to join Brazil's war on Zika virus  | A genetically modified mosquito has helped reduce the proliferation of mosquitoes spreading Zika and other dangerous viruses in Brazil, its developers said on Tuesday. The self-limiting strain of the Aedes aegypti mosquito was developed by Oxitec, the UK-subsidiary of U.S. synthetic biology company Intrexon. Oxitec, which produces the mosquitoes in Campinas, announced it will build a second facility in nearby Piracicaba, Sao Paulo state, following strong results there in controlling the population of the Aedes vector that also carries the dengue virus.
| Read More » Biodegradable bodies for more eco-friendly robots By Matthew Stock Scientists from the Italian Institute of Technology are developing 'smart materials' that could lead to robots that will decompose like a human body once they've reached the end of their life-span. Bioplastics are made from plant material, but are more energy-intensive to produce. Read More » Last year was hottest on record globally: U.S. science agencies By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year's global average temperature was the hottest ever by the widest margin on record, two U.S. government agencies said on Wednesday, adding to pressure for deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts scientists say are needed to arrest warming that is disrupting the global climate. Data from U.S. space agency NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that in 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average, surpassing 2014's previous record by 0.29 F (0.16 C). This was the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century, the agencies said in a summary of their annual report. "2015 was remarkable even in the context of the larger, long-term warming trend," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Read More » Sorry, Spider-Man! You're Too Big to Scale That Wall  | Like spiders, a variety of critters can scurry up walls, including some species of cockroach, lizard and beetle. "If a human, for example, wanted to walk up a wall the way a gecko does, we'd need impractically large, sticky feet — our shoes would need to be a European size 145 or a U.S. size 114," study senior author Walter Federle, a professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. In fact, humans would need adhesive pads covering 40 percent of their body, or about 80 percent of their front, in order to climb up a vertical wall, the researchers said.
| Read More » Hundreds of Tiny Bugs Are Probably Hiding in Your Home  | Entomologists from North Carolina State University conducted an investigation to find out just how many different arthropods — insects, spiders and other invertebrates that have segmented bodies and jointed legs — might share homes with people. Many arthropod species — like termites, bedbugs and roaches — are known to live alongside humans, and to seek out these living spaces, generally bringing a measure of discomfort and inconvenience to their hosts. The researchers visited and sampled homes within a 30-mile (48 kilometers) radius of Raleigh, North Carolina, collecting any living or dead arthropod that they found in attics, basements, bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms and common areas.
| Read More » Raging Fires in Australia Visible from Space  | Australia rang in the new year with dangerous tidings: Parts of Western Australia have been battling large bushfires since the beginning of the month. The blazes seem to be easing off, but an Earth-observing satellite captured a dramatic view of the fires earlier this month, showing thick clouds of smoke hugging the nation's southwestern coast. Last week, NASA's Earth Observatory posted a photo taken Jan. 7 by the Suomi NPP satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).
| Read More » Last year was hottest on record globally - U.S. science agencies  | By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year's global average temperature was the hottest ever by the widest margin on record, two U.S. government agencies said on Wednesday, adding to pressure for deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts scientists say are needed to arrest warming that is disrupting the global climate. Data from U.S. space agency NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that in 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average, surpassing 2014's previous record by 0.29 F (0.16 C). "2015 was remarkable even in the context of the larger, long-term warming trend," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
| Read More » In global warming bets, record 2015 heat buoys mainstream science By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - For British climate expert Chris Hope, new data showing that 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded is not just confirmation he's been right all along that the planet is getting warmer. It also won the Cambridge University researcher a 2,000 pound sterling ($2,830) wager made five years ago against a pair of scientists who reject man-made global warming and bet Hope that the Earth would be cooling by now. NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Met Office said on Wednesday that 2015 was the warmest year recorded since 1880, boosted by a long-term build-up of greenhouse gases and a natural El Nino event warming the Pacific Ocean. Read More » In global warming bets, record 2015 heat buoys mainstream science By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - For British climate expert Chris Hope, new data showing that 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded is not just confirmation he's been right all along that the planet is getting warmer. It also won the Cambridge University researcher a 2,000 pound sterling ($2,830) wager made five years ago against a pair of scientists who reject man-made global warming and bet Hope that the Earth would be cooling by now. NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Met Office said on Wednesday that 2015 was the warmest year recorded since 1880, boosted by a long-term build-up of greenhouse gases and a natural El Nino event warming the Pacific Ocean. Read More » Last year was hottest on record globally - U.S. science agencies  | By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year's global average temperature was the hottest ever by the widest margin on record, two U.S. government agencies said on Wednesday, adding to pressure for deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts scientists say are needed to arrest warming that is disrupting the global climate. Data from U.S. space agency NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that in 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average, surpassing 2014's previous record by 0.29 F (0.16 C). "2015 was remarkable even in the context of the larger, long-term warming trend," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
| Read More » Scientists: Good evidence for 9th planet in solar system CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists reported Wednesday they finally have "good evidence" for Planet X, a true ninth planet on the fringes of our solar system. Read More » Russian space agency scales back plans as crisis shrinks budget  | By Dmitry Solovyov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will spend 30 percent less on its space program in the next decade and scale back a slew of projects to save money in the face of tanking oil prices and a falling rouble, a plan presented by the country's space agency showed on Wednesday, According to the blueprint, presented to Russian media by Igor Komarov, head of space agency Roscosmos, the space program budget for 2016-2025 will be cut to 1.4 trillion roubles ($17.36 billion), down from 2 trillion roubles. "Russia is certain to implement this project, but at the moment the launch of a booster rocket with a reusable first stage is not economically viable," local media cited Komarov as saying. Russia's Cold War-era rival, the United States, has already successfully tested similar vehicles.
| Read More » India launches satellite, moves closer to its own GPS India successfully launched the fifth of a constellation of navigation satellites on Wednesday, as part of a program that will reduce dependency on the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS) and other networks. India's plan is to have seven satellites that will provide navigational information over the country and upto 1,500 kilometers (932.06 miles) around the mainland, Indian Space Research Organisation said. China is also building its own global positioning system, known as Beidou or COMPASS. Read More » In global warming bets, record 2015 heat buoys mainstream science By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - For British climate expert Chris Hope, new data showing that 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded is not just confirmation he's been right all along that the planet is getting warmer. It also won the Cambridge University researcher a 2,000 pound sterling ($2,830) wager made five years ago against a pair of scientists who reject man-made global warming and bet Hope that the Earth would be cooling by now. NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Met Office said on Wednesday that 2015 was the warmest year recorded since 1880, boosted by a long-term build-up of greenhouse gases and a natural El Nino event warming the Pacific Ocean. That puts last year ahead of 2014, the previous warmest, as well as 2010, 2005 and 1998, when a strong El Nino marked, for a time, a peak in temperature rises. Read More » Researchers find possible ninth planet beyond Neptune  | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The solar system may host a ninth planet that is about 10 times bigger than Earth and orbiting far beyond Neptune, according to research published on Wednesday. Computer simulations show that the mystery planet, if it exists, would orbit about 20 times farther away from the sun than Earth, said astronomers with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting," astronomer Mike Brown said in a statement.
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