|  Surprise! The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than Scientists Thought  | The universe is expanding 5 to 9 percent faster than astronomers had thought, a new study suggests. "This surprising finding may be an important clue to understanding those mysterious parts of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and don't emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter and dark radiation," study leader Adam Riess, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement. Riess — who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that the universe's expansion is accelerating — and his colleagues used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study 2,400 Cepheid stars and 300 Type Ia supernovas.
| Read More » Scientists propose project that includes making human DNA NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists proposed a long-term project Thursday that involves creating DNA blueprints for making human beings, a prospect some observers find troubling. Read More » Scientists propose project to build synthetic human genome  | By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 25 scientists on Thursday proposed an ambitious project to create a synthetic human genome, or genetic blueprint, in an endeavour that is bound to raise concerns over the extent to which human life can or should be engineered. A synthetic human genome potentially could make it possible to create humans who lack biological parents - raising the spectre, for instance, of made-to-order human beings with special genetic enhancements. The project aims to build such a synthetic genome and test it in cells in the laboratory within 10 years.
| Read More » Astronomers say universe expanding faster than predicted  | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The universe is expanding faster than previously believed, a surprising discovery that could test part of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, a pillar of cosmology that has withstood challenges for a century. The discovery that the universe is expanding 5 percent to 9 percent faster than predicted, announced in joint news releases by NASA and the European Space Agency, also stirs hypotheses about what fills the 95 percent of the cosmos that emits no light and no radiation, scientists said on Thursday. "Maybe the universe is tricking us," said Alex Filippenko, a University of California, Berkeley astronomer and co-author of an upcoming paper about the discovery.
| Read More » Clean fuel from 'bionic leaf' could ease pressure on farmland - scientists  | By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, Harvard University researchers said on Thursday. Dubbed "bionic leaf 2.0", the technology uses solar panels to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Science. Once separated, hydrogen is moved into a chamber where it is consumed by bacteria, and with help from a special metal catalyst and carbon dioxide, the process generates liquid fuel.
| Read More » Mexican 'Spiderman' weaves web of knowledge for science students  | By Edgard Garrido MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican science teacher has come up with a novel way to get his students' attention - giving lessons dressed as Spiderman. Moises Vazquez, 26, said he was inspired to pull on the tight blue and red suit of the superhero after reading in comics that the Marvel character behind the mask, Peter Parker, worked as a science teacher after his time as a freelance photographer. When giving class at the National Autonomous University of Mexico as the superhero, Vazquez leaves home in eastern Mexico City with his mother's blessing, and rides in public transport to the prestigious seat of learning dressed as the Avenger.
| Read More » Schrodinger's Cat Arrives? Quantum Weirdness Gets Life Size  | The quantum absurdity that leads to the notion of Schrodinger's cat — in which a cat can exist in two states simultaneously — could finally be tested in an object visible to the naked eye, a new study demonstrates. Scientists have created a pendulum-like membrane that is so perfectly isolated from friction and heat "that it would just keep going for 10 years with a single push," said study co-author Simon Gröblacher, a physicist at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. This tiny, flea-size swing could allow scientists to finally test whether the quantum effects behind the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment do indeed exist at large scales.
| Read More » Greek underwater formation isn't 'lost city,' scientists say ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Scientists say a collection of structures discovered in shallow waters off the Greek island of Zakynthos were actually formed by natural process. Read More » New FDA Salt Targets: Which Foods Would Change Most? If these target sodium levels are reached over the next 10 years, some of the biggest sodium drops in packaged foods could be in certain sauces and frozen breakfast foods, according to Live Science's calculations. The sodium targets, from the Food and Drug Administration, could help reduce sodium intake for the average American by more than 1,000 milligrams per day — from 3,400 mg per day to 2,300 mg per day, the FDA said. The guidelines are voluntary, but many food companies have already taken steps to lower the amounts of sodium in their products, the FDA noted. Read More » Teen Birthrates Reach Another Record Low, CDC Says The teen birth rate has declined almost continuously over the past two decades, according to the federal statistics. The 2015 birthrate was a 64 percent decrease from the rate's peak in 1991, at 62 births per 1,000 teens, according to the report, published today (June 2) by researchers at the CDC's Center for National Health Statistics. In the report, the researchers broke down the rate further, by smaller age groups: Among 15- to 17-year-olds, the birthrate decreased from 11 births per 1,000 teens in 2014 to 10 births per 1,000 in 2015. Read More » Black-Death Survey Reveals Incredible Devastation Wrought by Plague  | The devastation wrought by the Black Death plague pandemic in medieval England has been revealed in a uniquely detailed archaeological study carried out for more than a decade with the help of thousands of village volunteers. Although some historians have played down the impact of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the 1300s, new research shows that the Black Death was as deadly as described in writings that have survived from the time, with some villages suffering an almost 80 percent drop in population after the plague. The study gathered and analyzed data about broken pieces of domestic pottery found in more than 2,000 test pits measuring 11 square feet (1 square meter) at the surface and up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) deep that were dug in 55 villages in eastern England.
| Read More » 19th-Century White House Garden Aligns with Solstice Sun  | A 19th-century garden just north of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington, D.C., was designed so that its statues align with the rising and setting sun on the summer and winter solstices, a physics professor has found. Using satellite imagery and astronomical software, Amelia Sparavigna, of Politecnico di Torino in Italy, discovered the phenomenon. The solstice sun aligns with the center of the garden, which contains a statue of President Andrew Jackson, and the endings of four walkways that now contain four statues of generals from the American Revolutionary War, the physicist found.
| Read More » Mexican 'Spider-Man' weaves web of knowledge for science students  | By Edgard Garrido MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican science teacher has come up with a novel way to get his students' attention - giving lessons dressed as Spider-Man. Moises Vazquez, 26, said he was inspired to pull on the tight blue and red suit of the superhero after reading in comics that the Marvel character behind the mask, Peter Parker, worked as a science teacher after his time as a freelance photographer. When giving class at the National Autonomous University of Mexico as the superhero, Vazquez leaves home in eastern Mexico City with his mother's blessing, and rides in public transport to the prestigious seat of learning dressed as the Avenger. Vazquez's family originally thought that pretending to be Spider-Man could hurt his career when he started donning the suit for class a year and a half ago - but instead the unusual turn has gone down well with students and other teachers, he said.
| Read More » | |
