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Thursday, July 14, 2016

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

7 Weird Facts About Balance

Your inner ear plays an important role in balance. Several structures in the inner ear, together called the vestibular system, send signals to the brain that help you orient yourself and maintain balance. Many balance problems stem from conditions that affect the inner ear.

Microsoft Mines 'Minecraft' to Study Artificial Intelligence

In the pixelated cube world of "Minecraft," players can create almost anything their hearts desire. Now, Microsoft is using the popular world-building game to build and test artificial intelligence in the fictional environment. Microsoft has made a platform for artificial intelligence (AI) research using a modified version of "Minecraft" that will become available to the public following a limited release to select researchers.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defence

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. missile defence system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. The ground-based midcourse missile defence system, which has deployed 30 interceptors in Alaska and California, has been tested under highly scripted conditions only nine times since being deployed in 2004, and failed to destroy its target two-thirds of the time, the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report. "After nearly 15 years of effort to build the GMD homeland missile defence system, it still has no demonstrated real-world capability to defend the United States," said Laura Grego, a UCS physicist who co-authored the report.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. missile defense system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. The ground-based midcourse missile defense system, which has deployed 30 interceptors in Alaska and California, has been tested under highly scripted conditions only nine times since being deployed in 2004, and failed to destroy its target two-thirds of the time, the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report. "After nearly 15 years of effort to build the GMD homeland missile defense system, it still has no demonstrated real-world capability to defend the United States," said Laura Grego, a UCS physicist who co-authored the report.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

Men with Long Work Hours Cause Families to Suffer

"The job demands of men affect women, but we didn't find any evidence that the opposite was the case," said study co-author Lyn Craig, a sociologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Though men have dramatically increased the time they spend at home and with the family sincethe 1960s there's still no contest: Women, on average, spend nearly 5 more hours a week on household chores than men do and spend double the amount of time tending to young childrens' physical needs, according to the 2015 American Time Use Survey. To get a better understanding of those couple dynamics, Craig and her colleagues looked at the 2006 Australian Time Use Survey, which included 756 Australian couples with children at home.

'Demon Orchid' Has a 'Devil Head' and Claw-Like Petals

A new species of orchid is in a league of its own — not just because it's relatively rare, but also because scientists say it looks like the devil.

1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Reveal Human Ancestor Walked Like Us

The human ancestor Homo erectus may have walked similarly to the way modern humans do today, new research shows. In 2009, paleontologists discovered human-like footprints near the eastern shores of Lake Turkana in Ileret, Kenya. The fossilized tracks suggested similarities to modern human feet, including an arch, a rounded heel and a big toe aligned parallel with the other toes.

New Dinosaur Had the T. Rex Look: Tiny Arms

Like its distant relative, T. rex, a newly identified dinosaur, named Gualicho shinyae, sported small arms and hands with two clawed fingers. "We're slowly getting more information on this sort of pattern of limb reduction, and getting at this question of why tyrannosaurs and some other theropods shortened their forelimbs," said study corresponding author Peter Makovicky, curator of dinosaurs at the Field Museum in Chicago.

How Many Types of Trees Grow in the Amazon? (Hint: It's A LOT)

The new tally is the first time anyone has tried to accurately count how many species of trees live in the Amazon, the most diverse place for trees on Earth, the researchers said. "The Amazon is a truly rich place in terms of biodiversity," said the study's lead researcher, Hans ter Steege, a senior research fellow at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. In 2013, ter Steege and his colleagues estimated that there were approximately 16,000 tree species living in the Amazon.

Why the Olympics Actually Won't Cause Zika to Spread Everywhere

With the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil less than a month away, concerns are mounting that the international event may spread the Zika virus to more countries around the world. Indeed, global travel has been contributing to the spread of virus in the Western Hemisphere since at least 2015, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the new report, released today (July 13), should help quell fears for many countries that do not currently have the Zika virus: The CDC predicted that the Olympics will put only four countries at risk for importing Zika.

Souring on Artificial Sweeteners: Substances May Boost Appetite

Artificial sweeteners have gone from diet darlings — touted for allowing people to get a hit of sweetness without the calories of sugar — to a more maligned ingredient, as evidence mounts suggesting a complicated net effect on calorie consumption. Now, a new study done in fruit flies and mice offers insights into how zero-calorie sweeteners may actually increase appetite. Previous studies in both humans and animals have suggested that artificial sweeteners might promote weight gain, but that research is controversial, said Greg Neely, an associate professor of genomics at the University of Sydney in Australia and the senior author of the new study.

Meet Your Muscles: 6 Remarkable Human Muscles

The human body has more than 600 muscles, which help people walk, run, eat and even smile. The biggest muscle in the human body is the gluteus maximus, or the buttock muscles, also known as "the glutes." These muscles (there is one on each side) help move the hips and thighs, and keep the trunk of the body upright. If you consider the muscle that pulls in a single direction with the most force to be the strongest, then the calf muscle, known as the soleus, would be the winner, according to the Library of Congress.

For the first time, scientists to sequence genes in space

By Irene Klotz and Julie Steenhuysen CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Given her background in researching some of the deadliest pathogens on Earth, including Ebola, colleagues of newly arrived astronaut Kate Rubins had expected her to want to do "crazy science fiction" on the International Space Station. Instead, Rubins pushed for carefully controlled experiments with a mix of a bacteria, a common virus and mouse cells, all already repeatedly sequenced and safe for testing in the space station's closed-loop environment. Rubins, a trained microbiologist who arrived at the space station on Saturday, will be using the samples to put Oxford Nanopore's MinION sequencer - a pocket-sized DNA sequencer - through its paces.

For the first time, scientists to sequence genes in space

Women doctors, scientists, welders among 11 new emojis

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Women professionals will soon be better represented in emoji form.

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