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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

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Mini Mammals: Ancient Warming Pared Body Size, Study Suggests

With this new finding, there are two known instances of rising temperatures linked to decreasing body sizes, suggesting that rather than a fluke this phenomenon may be a general rule for mammals, the researchers said. "There might be a relationship between the size of a hypothermal event and the extent of mammalian dwarfism," said Abigail D'Ambrosia, an earth sciences doctoral candidate at the University of New Hampshire, who presented her findings Nov. 1 at the 73rd annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. Last year, researchers reported in the journal Science that during a slightly earlier, bigger global warming event, mammals decreased in size by about 30 percent. But it wasn't clear whether this tie between warming and shrinking mammals was a trend.

Brain damage concussion fears seep into rugby and football

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Rugby and football players who suffer multiple knocks to the head during their careers are at added risk of brain damage that could lead to dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, brain scientists are warning. Just as some American football players and boxers have been found to have long-term cognitive deficits after suffering repeated head blows or concussions during play, so football and rugby players must be made aware of the same dangers. "What happens is that when you have a big impact, your skull twists one way but your brain stays in the same place," said John Hardy, chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London's Institute of Neurology. These injuries, he said, common among boxers, American National Football League (NFL) and ice hockey players, as well as football and rugby players, can cause damage to the brain similar to abnormalities found in people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Brain damage concussion fears seep into rugby and soccer

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Rugby and soccer players who suffer multiple knocks to the head during their careers are at added risk of brain damage that could lead to dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, brain scientists are warning. Just as some American football players and boxers have been found to have long-term cognitive deficits after suffering repeated head blows or concussions during play, so soccer and rugby players must be made aware of the same dangers. "What happens is that when you have a big impact, your skull twists one way but your brain stays in the same place," said John Hardy, chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London's Institute of Neurology. These injuries, he said, common among boxers, American National Football League (NFL) and ice hockey players, as well as soccer and rugby players, can cause damage to the brain similar to abnormalities found in people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

New World's Oldest Tomatillo Discovered

A fossilized tomatillo, still in its papery shell, is the earliest fruit from the tomato family ever found in South America, researchers reported Oct. 30 at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Denver. "It's quite amazing," said Peter Wilf, a paleobotanist at Penn State University. Both fossil and genetic evidence suggests that Solanaceae plants originated and diversified in South America. But until now, only fossil seeds attributed to Solanaceae plants have been discovered in South America — most of the family's early fossil history comes from Europe.

Dinosaur's Klutz Moment Preserved in Time

A series of tracks in the Oklahoma panhandle near where the state borders Colorado and New Mexico reveal where a dinosaur slipped and caught itself before continuing on. The klutzy dinosaur was a theropod, according to research presented Oct. 28 here at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. Researchers aren't sure what species created the tracks in Oklahoma, but the fossils do capture "a frozen moment in time," said study researcher J. Seth Hammond, a graduate student in geosciences at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan. The tracks cross the bed of Carrizo Creek, a seasonal stream north of Kenton, Okla. The paleontologist who first described the tracks in the 1980s reported 47 footprints in a row, Hammond told LiveScience, but because of erosion, only 14 are visible today.

India blasts off in race to Mars with low-cost mission

By Sruthi Gottipati NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India launched its first rocket to Mars on Tuesday, aiming to reach the red planet at a much lower cost than successful missions by other nations, positioning the emerging Asian giant as a budget player in the latest global space race. Probes to Mars have a high failure rate and a success would be a boost for Indian national pride, especially after a similar mission by China failed to leave Earth's orbit in 2011. "The ISRO team will fulfill the expectations that the nation has in them," said K. Radhakrishnan, head of the state-run Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), after the spacecraft was successfully placed into orbit around Earth. The challenging phase is coming." India's space program began 50 years ago and developed rapidly after Western powers imposed sanctions in response to a nuclear weapons test in 1974, spurring its scientists to build advanced rocket technology.

Incredible Technology: Laser Space Communications for Interplanetary Travel

Since the dawn of the space age, NASA probes have beamed data home to Earth using radio-frequency communication. The space agency is working hard to develop laser-based space communications systems, which officials say are key to ensuring rapid and accurate transmission of information from spacecraft around the solar system. "With missions developing more highly detailed science and larger volumes of data, radio-based communication links can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data being pushed to the ground, providing a need for higher data rates that can only be achieved with optical communication," NASA officials wrote in a description of the agency's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration mission (LCRD), which is slated to lift off in December 2017. Demonstrating laser communications

NASA Spacecraft Finds Bounty of Alien Planets, Including 104 Potentially Habitable Worlds

The search for other Earth-like planets in the galaxy got a major boost today (Nov. 4) with the discovery of hundreds of newfound alien planets identified by NASA's Kepler spacecraft, a haul that includes 104 strange, new worlds that could potentially support life. Scientists with NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission announced the discovery of 833 new planet candidates during a press conference today, bringing the total number of candidate worlds to 3,538. "We're opening a new era of exploration of our galaxy," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., where scientists are discussing the latest exoplanet discoveries during the second Kepler Science Conference this week. The new planet count expands the number of worlds Kepler has identified by 29 percent since the last update in January, representing a 78 percent increase in the number of Earth-size planets.

Megalodon Mystery: What Killed Earth's Largest Shark?

LOS ANGELES — Megalodon, the most massive shark ever to prowl the oceans, may have gotten so big that it was prone to extinction. Although it's not clear why the behemoths were getting bigger over evolutionary time, their big size may have made them more vulnerable to extinction, said study co-author Catalina Pimiento, a biology doctoral candidate at the University of Florida and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Megalodon could grow up to 60 feet (18 meters) long and had a bite more powerful than that of a Tyrannosaurus rex. "This species is not as successful as we think," Pimiento said.

8 Apps That Turn Citizens into Scientists

Mysterious disease turning starfish to 'slime' on U.S. West Coast

By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Scientists are struggling to find the trigger for a disease that appears to be ravaging starfish in record numbers along the U.S. West Coast, causing the sea creatures to lose their limbs and turn to slime in a matter of days. Marine biologists and ecologists will launch an extensive survey this week along the coasts of California, Washington state and Oregon to determine the reach and source of the deadly syndrome, known as "star wasting disease." "It's pretty spooky because we don't have any obvious culprit for the root cause even though we know it's likely caused by a pathogen," said Pete Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab. Starfish have suffered from the syndrome on and off for decades but have usually been reported in small numbers, isolated to Southern California and linked to a rise in seawater temperatures, which is not the case this time, Raimondi said.

One in five Milky Way stars hosts potentially life-friendly Earths: study

One out of every five sun-like stars in the Milky Way galaxy has a planet about the size of Earth that is properly positioned for water, a key ingredient for life, a study released on Monday showed. The analysis, based on three years of data collected by NASA's now-idled Kepler space telescope, indicates the galaxy is home to 10 billion potentially habitable worlds. The number grows exponentially if the count also includes planets circling cooler red dwarf stars, the most common type of star in the galaxy. "Planets seem to be the rule rather than exception," study leader Erik Petigura, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, said during a conference call with reporters on Monday.

Science in Space: Contest Selects Experiments Headed for Space Station

Calling all citizen scientists! The nonprofit organization that manages American-led research aboard the International Space Station announced the winners of its public contest to design experiments to send to the orbiting outpost. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) held a month-long contest, called "What Would You Send to the ISS?" to cultivate interest in the orbiting laboratory, and to solicit ideas for how to use the facility to benefit humans on Earth. The grand prize winner, Elizabeth MacDonald, proposed flying a geo-tagged video camera to the International Space Station to record real-time images of the northern and southern lights. The aurora images could be posted on the Aurorasaurus website, a citizen science project that aims to build accurate, easy-to-use and real-time maps of aurora sightings.

Scientists fear renewed threat to white pine trees

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A fungus targeting white pine forests has mutated and poses new threats more than a century after it first hit the United States, American and Canadian scientists said Thursday.

New dolphin species spotted swimming off Australian coast

A newly discovered species of humpback dolphin has been seen swimming off the northern Australia coast, an international team of scientists reported this week. All humpback dolphins have a characteristic hump just below the dorsal fin, but there are several distinct species in this family of marine mammals, the scientists found. While the Atlantic humpback dolphin has been recognized as a species, the latest research offers the best evidence yet that the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin should be split into three species, including one that is new to science. Researchers examined the humpback dolphin family's evolutionary history using both physical features and genetic data, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement about the discovery.

Planet hunters find Earth-like twin beyond the solar system

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - For the first time, scientists have found a planet beyond the solar system that not only is the same size as Earth, but has the same proportions of iron and rock, a key step in an ongoing quest to find potentially habitable sister worlds. Kepler-78b was discovered last year with NASA's now-idled Kepler space telescope, which detected potential planets as they circled in front of their parent stars, blocking a bit of light. That measurement not only revealed that Kepler-78b was relatively small, with a diameter just 20 percent larger than Earth's, but that it was practically orbiting on the surface of its host star. In two papers in this week's journal Nature, the teams report that not only were they successful, but that they came to the same conclusion: Kepler-78b has roughly the same density as Earth, suggesting that it also is made primarily of rock and iron.

Mars Rover Curiosity Eyes Next Science Target

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is sizing up its next scientific target — the first rocks the car-size robot will reach out and touch in more than a month. On Monday (Oct. 28), the 1-ton Curiosity rover took some scouting photos of a rocky outcrop called "Cooperstown" from about 262 feet (80 meters) away. Mission researchers plan to investigate Cooperstown with Curiosity's arm-mounted instruments soon, putting this science gear to such use for the first time since Sept. 22. Curiosity has been making tracks over the last month or so, chewing up ground as it heads from a spot near its landing site called Yellowknife Bay to the rover's main science destination, a 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) massif called Mount Sharp.

Search for dark matter comes up empty so far

LEAD, S.D. (AP) — Nearly a mile underground in an abandoned gold mine, one of the most important quests in physics has so far come up empty in the search for the elusive substance known as dark matter, scientists announced Wednesday.

Dark Matter Eludes Scientists in 1st Results from Super-Sensitive Detector

But the first results from the high-tech instrument have turned up empty in its search for elusive dark matter, scientists announced today (Oct. 30). Although the powerful dark matter detector has just completed its first run, LUX has not yet found conclusive evidence of the elusive substance. "The universe's mysterious dark sector presents us with two of the most thrilling challenges in all of physics," Saul Perlmutter, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics, said in a statement. Scientists think that dark matter makes up the majority of the matter in the universe;

Earth's Largest Dinosaur 'Walks' in New Computer Simulation

The Argentinosaurus is one of the largest known dinosaurs, but scientists were unsure how exactly the massive creature plodded across the Cretaceous Earth, until now. Using sophisticated computer models, researchers have digitally reconstructed the Argentinosaurus, enabling them to "watch" the dinosaur take its first steps in over 94 million years. A team of researchers led by Bill Sellers, a professor of computational and evolutionary biology at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, used lasers to scan a 131-foot-long (40 meters) skeleton of the Argentinosaurus huinculensis. The scientists then created advanced computer models to digitally recreate how the dinosaur walked and ran.

U.S. Dream Chaser space taxi soars on test flight, skids after landing

By Irene Klotz (Reuters) - A privately owned prototype space plane aced its debut test flight in California but was damaged after landing when a wheel did not drop down, developer Sierra Nevada Corp said on Tuesday. The Dream Chaser is one of three space taxis under development in partnership with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. ...

Scientist's Quest: Save Forgotten US Missile Sites

DENVER — The Nike missiles were a key part of the U.S. national defense system from 1954 to the 1970s. At close to 300 sites around the country, supersonic surface-to-air missiles sat ready to launch, protected by soldiers and German shepherds. Some missiles carried nuclear warheads, even though they were next to homes in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago.

The Scientist Who Helped Save New York's Subways from Sandy

The water just kept flowing. It streamed through the streets of lower Manhattan, pouring into subway entrances, cascading into ventilation grates and pooling inside tunnels.

Comet ISON Photo Contest for Amateur Astronomers Launched by National Science Foundation

The much-anticipated Comet ISON is now within sight of amateur astronomers as it plunges toward the sun. And the National Science Foundation (NSF) is appealing to the public for pictures of the icy wanderer, which could put on one of the brightest comet shows in years.

Scientists dig for fossils in LA a century later

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Surrounded by a gooey graveyard of prehistoric beasts, a small crew diligently wades through a backlog of fossil finds from a century of excavation at the La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of Los Angeles.

After Floods, Colorado Scientists Improve Forecasts

Six weeks after devastating floods swept through the Colorado Front Range, scientists are already working to improve their response for next time.

Some Obscure, All Extraordinary: Historical Women in Science Honored

NEW YORK — In April 1749, Émilie du Châtelet's was 42 years old, pregnant, living with her ex-lover Voltaire in her husband's chateau and working 17 hours a day to finish the mathematical commentary for her French translation of Isaac Newton's "Principia."

Scientists Higgs, Englert given Spanish awards

MADRID (AP) — Scientists Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, and the European CERN laboratory, have received Spain's Prince of Asturias awards from Prince Felipe at a ceremony in northern Spain.

Scientist who sought to predict quakes dies at 92

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vladimir Keilis-Borok, a seismologist who believed earthquakes could be predicted months in advance, has died. He was 92.

Genomics Pioneer Craig Venter Envisions Future of Synthetic Life

NEW YORK — Life is a DNA software system, genome scientist Craig Venter told a packed auditorium here at the American Museum of Natural History Monday night (Oct. 21). In his talk, Venter offered a longsighted view of the creation and digitization of synthetic life.

Scientists trace deadly piglet virus hitting U.S. farms to China

By P.J. Huffstutter CHICAGO (Reuters) - A virus deadly to baby pigs that has roiled the U.S. pork industry likely originated in the Anhui Province of China and may have evolved from a virus seen in bats, according to a report by veterinary researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. The report should help diagnostic researchers and federal officials, who have been trying to trace the origin of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) since it was first identified in the United States this past spring. ...

How Virgin Galactic Private SpaceShipTwo Will Launch Science Flights

Soon, Virgin Galactic could be ferrying more than tourists to space on its suborbital flights.

European science satellite to tumble back to Earth

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A European satellite that spent four years mapping Earth's gravity ran out of fuel on Monday and will plunge back into the atmosphere in about two weeks, officials said. The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, had been operating about 139 miles (224 km) above Earth - lower than any other science satellite - to map variations in the planet's gravity. ...

Global Warming Forecast for Amazon Rain Forest: Dry and Dying

The Amazon rain forest's dry season lasts three weeks longer than it did 30 years ago, and the likely culprit is global warming, a new study finds.

Argentine scientists tap cow burps for natural gas

By Maximiliano Rizzi BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine scientists have found a way to transform the gas created by the bovine digestive system into fuel, an innovation that could curb greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank. ...

How Science Figured Out the Age of the Earth

U.S. nuclear arms modernization plan misguided: scientists' group

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Obama administration plan to spend $60 billion over the next 25 years to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal is misguided and violates the spirit of its pledge not to develop new nuclear arms, a Union of Concerned Scientists report said on Thursday. The 81-page report by the independent nonprofit said the $60 billion for upgrading warheads is a fraction of what Washington plans to spend on its nuclear deterrent in the coming decades, on top of billions for new manufacturing facilities and billions more for delivery systems like submarines. ...

Shutdown Over: Science Agencies Send Celebratory 'Back to Work' Tweets

The two-week government shutdown is finally over, and thousands of federal employees have gone back to work, including the folks who operate the Twitter feeds for the numerous science-oriented agencies, national parks and museums.

Science Gets Graphic in New Comic Books

NEW YORK — Amid the superheroes, cult TV shows and video games at New York Comic Con 2013, an observer might consider a panel on science out of place.

Watch Live: Polar Bears Wait for Ice to Form at Hudson Bay

Every fall, thousands of polar bears gather on the southwest banks of Hudson Bay, in Canada, to wait for sea ice to form so they can hunt. In Hudson Bay, the ice melts completely during the summer, and re-forms in October or November. But due to climate change, the ice is forming later and melting earlier each year, threatening the existence of these iconic, majestic animals. "Studies suggest they're losing nearly 2 lbs. [1 kilogram] a day while on land," said Steven Amstrup, chief scientist for the conservation group Polar Bears International, "and they aren't dieting intentionally."

Montreal Fireball: Spectacular Flash Explained

A massive fireball roared through a section of Montreal last Friday (Nov. 1), sparking worldwide interest after a dramatic amateur video of the event went viral. The fireball burned along an overhead utility line shortly after the Montreal area was battered by an intense windstorm that toppled trees and caused region-wide power outages. Huw Griffiths — a resident of Lachine, the borough of Montreal where the fireball was spotted — captured video of the spectacular flash. It was the second such event to occur that evening, which is why Griffiths was ready to record the incident, the Montreal Gazette reports.

For Parents of Difficult Toddlers, Group Training May Help

Parents of difficult toddlers can benefit from group training sessions, where parents learn the skills needed to deal with temper tantrums and other disruptive behaviors alongside other parents, researchers say. In a new study, researchers looked at 150 parents of children ages 2 to 4, and randomly assigned them to either groups of six to 12 parents who received training, or to a control group, on a waiting list group for the training sessions. The sessions included group discussion and role-playing, and were held at a pediatrician's office. A year later, the results from parents' reports and videotaped observations suggested children of parents in the training groups showed less disruptive behavior compared with the beginning of the study.

Longboarders at Higher Risk for Injury Than Skateboarders

The study included information from 824 people (whose average age was 19) who were treated for injuries from either longboarding or skateboarding at a trauma center in Utah between 2006 and 2011, researchers reported here today (Nov. 5) at a public health research meeting. More than half, or 57.5 percent, were injured from longboarding — which uses a longer, wider board than a skateboard —while 42.5 percent were injured from skateboarding. Longboarders were at much greater risk of head fracture, traumatic brain injury and bleeding inside the skull (intracranial hemorrhage) than skateboarders. Among longboarders, 8 percent had a head fracture, 31 percent had a traumatic brain injury and 14 percent had an intracranial hemorrhage.

Testosterone Treatments Linked with Risk of Heart Problems, Deaths

Men with signs of heart problems who take injections of testosterone or use gel containing the hormone may have an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, a new study finds. The findings call for more cautious prescribing of testosterone, doctors say. In 2011, 5.3 million prescriptions for testosterone were written in the United States. Testosterone therapy is often prescribed to men in order to counteract the age-related decline in the hormone and improve sex drive, bone density and muscle mass.

Launching to Heaven: Space Burial Company to Send Human Ashes Into Orbit

That's the vision of Elysium Space, a company that aims to launch portions of cremated human remains into space. Under Elysium Space's plan, human ashes will launch into space and orbit the Earth for several months before burning up in the atmosphere as a "shooting star." The company has already launched a mobile app to track ashes in orbit, and hopes to launch its first memorial flight in 2014. "A memorial spaceflight is a unique experience for family and friends to make a memory and remember a loved one," said Elysium Space founder Thomas Civeit, a former NASA engineer. Elysium Space isn't the first company to offer memorial spaceflights for the deceased.

Stargazing Astronaut Photographs Famed Constellations in Space (Images)

Constellations seen from Earth inspire wonder in many skywatchers, but what do they look like when viewed from space? One astronaut on the International Space Station beamed down her special cosmic views to Earth via social media. NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg posted Twitter updates during her time aboard the orbiting outpost including a few special photos of familiar star patterns as seen from her perspective. The Big Dipper, a common sight in Earth's northern skies, takes on a new majesty when seen from the International Space Station.

Feeling Blue: Gender-Bending Lady Lizards Miss Out on Love

For female fence lizards, it's just not easy being blue. "Nobody's ever looked for the cost of these male-associated traits before," said study researcher Tracy Langkilde, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University. Lindsey Swierk, a doctoral candidate at Pennsylvania State University, was researching fence lizard reproductive strategies when she noticed that males were avoiding females with blue markings, also known as badges. She and Langkilde decided to find out why.

Factbox: Governments meet on climate after scientists' warnings

(Reuters) - Almost 200 nations will meet in Warsaw from November 11-22 to work on a deal due to be agreed in 2015 to fight climate change. Following are the main findings of a report in September by leading scientists - the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - that are meant to guide the talks: HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY - The panel raised the probability that human activities, led by the burning of fossil fuels, are the dominant cause of global warming since the mid-20th century to "extremely likely", or at least 95 percent, from "very likely" (90 percent) in its previous report in 2007 and "likely" (66 percent) in 2001. PROJECTED WARMING - The panel said temperatures were likely to rise by between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (0.5 to 8.6 Fahrenheit) by the late 21st century. CARBON BUDGET - The report said cumulative carbon emissions needed to be limited to about 1 trillion tonnes to give a likely chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times.

Mummy's Colorful Collar Found in Egyptian Tomb

A collar with "almost pristine" colors that would have been worn by a mummy has been discovered in small pieces in an Egyptian tomb in Thebes and put back together again. People in ancient Egypt wore collars called "wesekhs" made of beads when they were alive. Dating back around 2,300 years ago and found in modern-day Luxor, the collar is painted in a vivid array of colors, designs and images that show elements of ancient Egyptian religion.

Spectacular Photo of Saturn and Its Rings Captured by NASA Spacecraft

Saturn and its dazzling rings glow in an amazing new portrait captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft high above the gas giant planet. Crowning the top of Saturn in the image is a strange hexagon-shaped feature that surrounds the planet's north pole. Cassini arrived in orbit around Saturn in 2004, during the northern winter, when more of the northern hemisphere appeared bluish in color. At the time, golden tones characterized the southern hemisphere, then in the throes of southern summer.

New Hypersonic Spy Plane Being Developed by Lockheed Martin

A new hypersonic spy plane, capable of flying up to six times faster than the speed of sound, is being developed by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp., according to company officials. The new aircraft, known as the SR-72, is the unmanned successor to Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird, a twin-engine, two-seater, supersonic aircraft that was developed in the 1960s. The hypersonic SR-72 also will be able to fly to any location within an hour, which could be revolutionary for the military, said Brad Leland, Lockheed Martin's program manager for hypersonics. Furthermore, Lockheed is designing the spy plane using existing technology, which could help the company develop a prototype in five or six years for under $1 billion, he added.

Ancient Baby Shark's Last Meal: Baby Turtle

LOS ANGELES — More than 70 million years ago, a baby shark may have bitten off more than it could digest. A fossilized hunk of poop from an ancient baby shark has revealed the tiny predator's last meal: a baby turtle. "It's a case where a newborn shark ate a newborn turtle and died," said study co-author David Schwimmer, a paleontologist at Columbus State University in Georgia.

Wow! Astronauts Watch Fiery Death of Space Station Cargo Ship (Photos)

A robotic spacecraft filled with waste from the International Space Station meets its fiery end in a series of newly released photos. The amazing new images captured by an astronaut onboard the station depict the European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) — named the Albert Einstein — dramatically disintegrating high above an uninhabited part of the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 2. After delivering supplies to the space station, ATV cargo ships are designed to break up in Earth's atmosphere. "Each ATV mission ends with the spacecraft burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere," ESA officials wrote in an image description.

Are Ocean Conditions Ripe for a Jellyfish Takeover?

It was certainly a bloom that Australian jellyfish researcher Lisa-ann Gershwin won't forget. While most blooms are not quite that big, Gershwin's survey of research on jellyfish from the last few decades indicate that populations are most likely on the rise, and that this boom is taking place in an ocean that is faced with overfishing, acid rain, nutrient pollution from fertilizers and climate change, among other problems.

Denali National Park Gets 'Google Street View' Treatment

DENVER — You won't find the panoramas on Google Maps, but Alaska's Denali National Park has gotten the do-it-yourself Google Street View treatment. Using a homemade, Subaru-mounted platform of four GoPro cameras, geologist Ron Karpilo, a research associate at Colorado State University who lives in Anchorage, snapped more than half a million photos of Denali's Park Road.

Antarctic Ice Core Could Hold 1.5 Million Years of Climate History

Regions of Antarctica could hold 1.5-million-year-old ice that would reveal key parts of Earth's ancient climate history, new research suggests. But finding high sheets of ice isn't enough.

4 Seasonal Vegetables to Eat Now

I enjoy eating seasonal produce because, to me, it just feels right. Depending on where you live, your local seasonal produce may vary. Pumpkin: Just one cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin will deliver more than 200 percent of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A. Pumpkins are rich in beta carotene (which is where they get that beautiful orange color), and the body converts beta carotene to vitamin A. Brussels Sprouts: Not every one loves Brussels sprouts, but if you do, now's the time to enjoy them.

Robot Detects Breast Cancer With Space-Grade Tech

The same technology designed for huge robotic arms that help astronauts in space is being brought back to Earth to do some heavy lifting in cancer treatment — in the form of a surgical robot. Its inventors say the robot could take breast biopsies with remarkable precision and consistency. The new machine is called IGAR, which is short for Image-Guided Autonomous Robot. NASA officials say it descends from a long line of robotic arms built for the Canadian Space Agency, such as Canadarm, which helped build the space station, service satellites and sometimes gave astronauts a lift during spacewalks, and Dextre, a maintenance robot on the space station.

World's 10 Worst Polluted Places Named

Remote industrial towns, e-waste processing centers and the site of an infamous nuclear disaster top 2013's worst polluted places, according to a new list from the New York-based nonprofit Blacksmith Institute. The toxic locations are not ranked, but they include Chernobyl, Ukraine, which is still suffering the consequences of a radioactive meltdown that occurred in 1986; the Niger River Delta in Nigeria, where each year 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled; and Hazaribagh, Bangladesh, where carcinogens enter the water supply from more than 200 tanneries concentrated in a small area of the city.

New 'King of Gore' Dinosaur Reveals T. Rex Lineage

A new narrow-snouted species of tyrannosaur discovered in Utah reveals that the isolation of an ancient island continent may have spurred incredible dinosaur diversity some 80 million years ago. Paleontologists Mark Loewen and Randall Irmis, of the Natural History Museum of Utah, in Salt Lake City, were eating lunch together when they got the call about the discovery. "Immediately, we were super-excited, because no fossils had been found in rocks quite that age, the 80-million-year-old rocks, so we knew there was a good chance it could be something new," Irmis told LiveScience. Indeed, the fossil — about half of a skull and a half-dozen or so of bones from the body — is of a previously unknown species of tyrannosaurid, a group that includes the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.

Early Earth Had Layered Lava Oceans

Young Earth's molten lava ocean was layered like a pudding cake, according to a study published today (Nov. 6) in the journal Nature. Now, thanks to an experiment that brought basalt rock to the highest pressures ever tested, scientists think this lava sea was stratified, separated into lighter and denser layers. But a lively debate exists regarding the size of the magma ocean and how long it took the magma ocean to cool. Little evidence remains from this ferocious period of Earth's history, so scientists rely on experiments and computer modeling to recreate the past.

Earth at Higher Risk of Asteroid Impact, Russian Meteor Explosion Reveals

The risk of asteroid impacts like the meteor explosion that devastated a Russian city earlier this year may be 10 times greater than previously thought, several new studies on the meteor's origin and power reveal. It was the largest airburst on the planet since the famed Tunguska event in 1908, also in Russia. Divers recovered a coffee-table-size chunk of the Chelyabinsk meteoriteweighing about 1,430 pounds (650 kilograms), the largest fragment unearthed yet, from the bottom of Russia's Lake Chebarkul on Oct. 16. To learn more about the Chelyabinsk meteor, research teams visited more than 50 villages in the region and investigated hundreds of videos people recorded of the meteor, often through vehicle dash-cams and security cameras.

Contaminated Minds: Why Some People Feel Perpetually Unclean

In Shakespeare's "Macbeth," after Lady Macbeth helps to murder King Duncan, she laments that no matter how much she scrubs, her hands will "ne'er be clean." Like Lady Macbeth, many patients feel unclean, even when no physical contaminant exists. "We see compulsive washing a lot, mostly as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but also in people who have suffered a physical or emotional trauma," psychologist Stanley Rachman wrote in an editorial published today (Nov. 6) in the journal Nature. But sometimes, fear of contamination doesn't stem from any real contaminant — a condition Rachman calls "mental contamination."

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Cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain: the servant of many masters

Giampietro Schiavo, Linda Greensmith, Majid Hafezparast, Elizabeth M.C. Fisher.

• The cytoplasmic dynein complex is the main retrograde motor in all eukaryotic cells.
• This complex is built around a dimer of cytoplasmic dynein heavy chains (DYNC....

Central regulation of body-fluid homeostasis

Masaharu Noda, Hiraki Sakuta.

• We review recent progress in the identification of brain sensors to monitor body-fluid conditions.
• The Na-level sensor, Na_x, is expressed in glial cell....

Rhodopsin homeostasis and retinal degeneration: lessons from the fly

Bo Xiong, Hugo J. Bellen.

• Rhodopsin are universal light sensors and are very abundant in photoreceptors.
• Disruption of rhodopsin homeostasis causes retinal degeneration in flies and humans....

Perinatal programming of adult hippocampal structure and function; emerging roles of stress, nutrition and epigenetics

Paul J. Lucassen, Eva F.G. Naninck, Johannes B. van Goudoever, Carlos Fitzsimons, Marian Joels, Aniko Korosi. Early-life stress lastingly affects adult cognition and increases vulnerability to psychopathology, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In this Opinion article, we propose that early nut....

Towards a 'systems'-level understanding of the nervous system and its disorders

Irfan A. Qureshi, Mark F. Mehler.

• Unanticipated interconnections exist between the nervous system and the immune system, energy homeostasis, and the gut microbiome.
• Crosstalk between these systems....

NMNATs, evolutionarily conserved neuronal maintenance factors

Yousuf O. Ali, David Li-Kroeger, Hugo J. Bellen, R. Grace Zhai, Hui-Chen Lu.

• Neurons require a 'maintenance plan' that enables them to endure daily wear and tear.
• NMNATs function as NAD synthesizing enzymes and chaperones.
• Loss of NM....

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Monday, November 4, 2013

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Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse Occurs Today: Watch It Live Online

The moon and sun will team up to create a rare event Sunday (Nov. 3): a hybrid solar eclipse that could amaze eclipse chasers across eastern North America, the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. The online Slooh community observatory will provide a free webcast of Sunday's hybrid solar eclipse beginning at 6:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT). Slooh host Paul Cox will provide live views of the eclipse from the Kenya countryside in Africa, with other feeds expected from Gabon, Africa, and the Canary Islands off Africa's western coast. Meanwhile, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from the U.S. East Coast and parts of Canada, as well as southern Europe and most of Africa, weather permitting.

Rare Solar Eclipse Wows Skywatchers Across Atlantic, Africa (Photos)

A rare solar eclipse that began as a "ring of fire" and transformed into a spectacular total eclipse of the sun amazed skywatchers from North America to Africa today (Nov. 3), and they captured the photos to prove it. The Sunday eclipse was a rare hybrid solar eclipse, which began over the Atlantic Ocean as an annular eclipse and transitioned into a full total solar eclipse for observers along the narrow path of totality in the eastern Atlantic and over parts of Africa. Observers along the U.S. East Coast and parts of Canada, meanwhile, awoke to a partial solar eclipse at sunrise. "We witnessed totality here, and it was stunning," said Paul Cox, who hosted a live webcast of the solar eclipse from Kenya for the online community observatory Slooh.com.

Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Remembered at Colorado Funeral

The second American astronaut to orbit the Earth was remembered by family and friends at a funeral service in his Colorado hometown. On Saturday (Nov. 2), a private family funeral was followed by a public memorial held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder. "It's fitting we say goodbye to Scott in Boulder," said Tom Stoever, Carpenter's son-in-law, as reported by The Daily Camera newspaper. John Glenn, who preceded Carpenter into orbit by several months in 1962, delivered a eulogy for his fellow Mercury astronaut.

HPV Vaccine: One Dose May Be Enough

A single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be enough to protect women against infection with the virus over the long-term, a new study from Costa Rica suggests. In the study, women who received one, two, or the standard three doses of the HPV vaccine all produced antibodies against the virus that remained at stable levels in their bodies for four years after vaccination. In addition, women who received one dose of the vaccine had an immune response that was five to nine times stronger than that seen in women who were infected with HPV naturally. However, women who received only one vaccine dose produced antibodies at levels lower than those of women given two or three doses.

Girls Reaching Puberty Earlier, Study Finds

Many girls in the U.S. may be entering puberty at younger ages now than in previous decades, and obesity appears to be the major factor contributing to this shift, a new study finds. Today's children may be less active, and consume fewer fruits and vegetables than those born in the previous decades.

Origins of Syphilis Still a Mystery, Researchers Say

Syphilis has been infecting people for centuries, and many researchers have tried to pinpoint the part of the world where the bacterium that causes the disease first appeared, before spreading across the globe and becoming the international disease that it is today. Yet, despite researchers delving into studying the disease — looking at it from the angles of history, politics, paleopathology and molecular chemistry — the origin of syphilis remains an enigma, say researchers who recently reviewed the literature about syphilis. The main hypotheses about the origin of syphilis revolve around the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World. Not long afterward, the first recorded epidemic of syphilis happened, during the French invasion of the Italian city of Naples in 1495.

Flying Foxes (Actually Bats) on Remote Island Studied for First Time

Flying foxes are the largest bats on Earth, and consist of more than 60 species that live throughout remote islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well is in parts of continental Asia and Australia. Pteropus pelagicus — a relatively small species of flying fox with a wingspan of about 2 feet (61 centimeters) — inhabits the western Pacific Mortlock Islands within the Federated States of Micronesia. A team of naturalists based at the College of Micronesia has now conducted the first-ever field study of the Mortlock Islands flying fox population in an effort to catalog more details about how this enigmatic creature lives. "We knew virtually nothing about it in terms of ecology other than the fact that it lived on this small set of atolls," study co-author Gary Wiles, a researcher with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Extinct 'Megamouth' Shark Species Finally Identified

LOS ANGELES — Scientists have finally identified a new species of megamouth shark that prowled the oceans about 23 million years ago, nearly 50 years after the first teeth were discovered and then forgotten. "It was a species that was known to be a new species for a long time," said study co-author Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago. Scientists first found shark teeth from the species in the 1960s, but at the time, there were no similar living creatures, so scientists didn't quite know what to make of the find. Then in 1976, scientists discovered the modern megamouth shark, dubbed Megachasma pelagios, which feeds exclusively on shrimplike creatures called plankton.

Fewer Millennials Look to Cars for Mobility (Op-Ed)

Lucian Go is a program assistant for transportation at the NRDC. This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the NRDC blog Switchboard. Go contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. It no longer takes a transportation planner to see the shift occurring in the travel habits of the millennial generation, which is the largest and most diverse in American history.

After Sandy, Lessons from Historic 1993 Flood Resurface (Op-Ed)

Moore contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. While the nation's attention is riveted on the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the record-breaking 1993 flood that inundated homes and farmland across 30,000 square miles of the Mississippi and Missouri River Basins. The massive, 500-year flood inundated parts of the Midwest throughout that summer, and I played a small role in the response while serving in the Illinois National Guard. Since the Great Flood of 1993, the United States has experienced floods that caused tens of billions of dollars of damages — from the Mississippi River (2002, 2008, 2011);

Palm-Size Drones Buzz Over Battlefield

Weighing only 2.1 ounces (16 grams), the Black Hornet looks like a tiny toy helicopter. The PD-100 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System, unveiled to the American public for the first time last week at the Association of the United States Army Expo in Washington, D.C., is a drone (actually, a pair of them) that a soldier can carry and operate as easily as he or she would a radio. Since last year, the British infantrymen in Afghanistan have been using the new Black Hornets on a variety of missions — from scouting routes for possible enemy ambushes to peeking over the walls of a nearby compound. The unmanned air vehicle was designed for small units that required a quick, tactical "stealth" camera in the sky, said Ole Aguirre, vice president of sales and marketing for Prox Dynamics AS, the Norwegian company that produces the Black Hornet.

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Sunday, November 3, 2013

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Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse Occurs Today: Watch It Live Online

Rare Solar Eclipse Wows Skywatchers Across Atlantic, Africa (Photos)

Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Remembered at Colorado Funeral

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