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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

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To the Cold, Bed Bugs Say 'Bite Me'

To survive in cold environments, the bugs use "freeze-intolerant" strategies, such as lowering the freezing point of their bodily fluids. In the study, researchers measured the supercooling point (the temperature below the normal freezing point at which supercooled liquids become solid) and lower lethal temperature (the body temperature below which an organism cannot survive) for bed bugs of all life stages, from egg through several nymph forms to adult. The team also studied the bugs' ability to feed after being exposed to sublethal temperatures. A minimum exposure of 80 hours at 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 16 degrees Celsius) was needed to kill 100 percent of the bed bugs, the researchers found.

Tea Kettles Stop Whistling In The Dark

More than a century after relativity, physics can now explain how a tea kettle whistles. Wayt Gibbs reports.

New Device Bypasses Destroyed Area in Rat's Brain

A device called a "neural prosthesis" can bypass an injured part of the brain, and connect two distant brain regions, according to new research. In experiments, the device allowed rats with brain injuries to regain the ability to move their forelimbs, said the researchers who conducted the proof-of-concept study. The researchers mimicked traumatic brain injury in 16 rats by severing communication across the communication hub between the motor and sensory areas that control the limb movements. The prosthesis is a microchip connected to microelectrodes that are implanted in the two disconnected brain regions.

Drugs Used in Newborns Need Better Study, Docs Say

Many medications commonly given to newborns still have not been officially approved for use in this very young population, despite recent law changes encouraging the study of drugs in children, a new study finds. That means that drug labels often do not have information about the correct dose that should be used in newborns, and doctors instead must use their best guesses based on their experience and information from adults and older children, said study researcher Dr. Matthew Laughon, an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. But researchers must find a way around such obstacles, because such studies are critical to understanding how to most effectively use drugs in newborns, Laughon said. Children and babies have a unique physiology and will not necessarily respond to drugs the way adults do, Laughon said.

Moon May Outshine Geminid Meteor Shower Peak This Week

This week marks the peak of what is usually considered the most satisfying of all annual meteor displays: the Geminid meteor shower. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the moon will turn full on Dec. 17, and as such, will seriously hamper viewing the peak of the Geminids, predicted to occur in the overnight hours of Dec. 13 to 14. Bright moonlight will flood the sky through much of that night, playing havoc with any serious attempts to observe the usually spectacular meteor shower.

Does Age Bring Death? Not For All Species

"Evolution has come up with a huge diversity of different ways of arranging one's demographic schedule," said study researcher Owen Jones, a biologist at the University of Southern Denmark. The findings are intriguing, Jones told LiveScience, because classical evolutionary theory explains only one of these ways of aging.

Coldest Places on Earth Found, In Antarctica, Of Course

SAN FRANCISCO — Where is the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth? "It's in Antarctica of course," Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., said here today (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Healthier Fatty Acids Found in Organic Milk

Organic milk contains a healthier balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids compared with milk from cows raised on conventionally managed dairy farms, according to a new study. The healthier fatty acid profile of organic milk is likely a result of cows foraging on grass, the researchers said. The scientists took 400 samples of organic and conventional milk from multiple regions in the United States over an 18-month period, and looked for the levels of various fatty acids in the milk. In particular, they looked for the balance between omega-6 and omega-3 contents , essential fatty acids that the human body cannot make from other raw materials and needs to obtain from diet.

Record low temperature recorded in Antarctica: scientists

By Irene and Klotz SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Arctic air blasting the eastern United States is positively balmy compared to the record minus 136 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 93 degrees Celsius) temperature measured in Antarctica in August 2010, according to research released on Monday. Scientists made the discovery while analyzing 32 years of global surface temperatures recorded by satellites. They found that a high ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau contains pockets of trapped air that dipped as low as minus 136 Fahrenheit on August 10, 2010, researchers said at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. The previous record low was minus 128.6 F (minus 89.2 C), set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica, said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Nearly 1 in 4 Women Are Obese Before Pregnancy

Nearly 1 in 4 women now are obese when they becomes pregnant, according to a new study that includes information from most of the United States.

New Orchid Species Found on 'Lost World' Volcano in the Azores

For years, there was only one formally recognized species of orchid on the Azores, a cluster of volcanic islands west of Spain, though some claimed there were two species. However, a recent, three-year study to describe these Azorean flowers found that three species of orchids exist on the islands, including two that are newly recognized. One of the new species was found atop a remote volcano and is arguably Europe's rarest orchid, said Richard Bateman, a botanist at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Researchers were surprised to find the new species atop the volcano, which had "a really 'Lost World' feel to it," he told LiveScience.

Binge Drinking Rates Lower in States with Strong Alcohol Policies

States with lower rates of binge drinking have stronger policies toward alcohol, a new study suggests. This is the first study to relate alcohol policies within each U.S. state to the levels and likelihood of binge drinking in adults. "We found that states with stronger and more effective alcohol policies had less binge drinking than states with weaker alcohol policies," said study researcher Dr. Timothy Naimi, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University's Schools of Medicine and of Public Health. "Most states could be doing a lot better to address a leading cause of preventable deaths," Naimi said.

Elusive Dark Matter May Have Already Been Found

The mysterious dark matter that makes up most of the matter in the universe may already have been detected with superconducting circuits, researchers say. The scientific consensus right now is that dark matter is composed of a new type of particle, one that interacts very weakly at best with all the known forces of the universe, except gravity. As such, dark matter is invisible and nearly completely intangible, mostly only detectable via the gravitational pull it exerts. A number of ongoing experiments based on massive sensor arrays buried underground are attempting to identify the weak signals dark matter is expected to give off when it experiences a rare collision with other particles.

Orbital Sciences Names Next Private Space Station Freighter for NASA Astronaut

The next U.S. private spacecraft to fly to the International Space Station has been named for Gordon Fullerton, the late NASA astronaut who helped to deploy air-launched rockets built by the company behind the space freighter. Orbital Sciences Corp. is preparing to launch its second Cygnus unmanned spacecraft to the station Dec. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Continuing a 25-year company tradition, Orbital's officials named their maiden Cygnus after someone who played an early role in its success. "We named our first Cygnus spacecraft to go to the space station the G. David Low, in honor of a former astronaut, a classmate of mine and former Orbital employee who was involved in the early days of COTS [Commercial Orbital Transportation Services] from the very beginning and who we lost a few years ago unfortunately," Frank Culbertson, Orbital executive vice president and former astronaut, said in a media briefing.

Private Mars Colony Project Unveils 1st Private Robotic Mission to Red Planet

WASHINGTON — An ambitious project that aims to send volunteers on a one-way trip to Mars unveiled plans for the first private unmanned mission to the Red Planet today (Dec. 10), a robotic vanguard to human colonization that will launch in 2018. The non-profit Mars One foundation has inked deals with Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to draw up mission concept studies for the private robotic flight to Mars. Under the plan, Lockheed Martin will build the Mars One lander, and SSTL will build a communications satellite, the companies' representatives announced at a news conference here today. "We're very excited to have contracted Lockheed Martin and SSTL for our first mission to Mars," Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp said in a statement.

Why Eerie Green Lightning Zapped an Erupting Volcano

SAN FRANCISCO — A storm of charged particles coursing through a volcanic ash cloud sparked the spectacular green lightning seen at Chile's Chaiten Volcano in 2008, a researcher said here Monday (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. "It probably occurs in all thunderstorms, but you never see it," Few said.

Bacterial Bubble Hitchhikers Could Help Keep Greenhouse Gas in Check

SAN FRANCISCO — Seafloor-dwelling bacteria may hitch a ride on methane bubbles seeping from deep-sea vents, preventing the methane from reaching the atmosphere by eating it up, new research suggests. The findings, presented here today (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, could help explain how such huge amounts of the greenhouse gas methane are belched from the ocean floor, yet somehow never reach the atmosphere. "Above these methane seeps, you have these bubbles released from the sediment and you can see a higher abundance of these microbes in the water column," said study co-author Oliver Schmale, a geologist and marine chemist at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Germany. "The microbes consume methane from these seeps before it escapes into the atmosphere." [Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points]

Forests Recover Quickly After Bark Beetles Attack

SAN FRANCISCO — A forest ravaged by the "red hand of death" — also known as a bark beetle attack — recovers quickly with little ecosystem damage, scientists said here today (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. A species called the mountain pine beetle is one of the primary culprits, leaving large swaths of forest dying of a fungus carried by the tiny insects. Forests look awful after a beetle attack, but the wound isn't as terrible as it looks, according to two separate studies by researchers from the University of Wyoming and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). In Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest, botanist Brent Ewers of the University of Wyoming examined whether tree deaths sent more water into streams (because there is less vegetation to suck up precipitation), as well as released additional carbon and nitrogen from dead, decaying trees.

Floating Seismic Devices Peer Deep Beneath Ocean Floor

The idea, described here Monday (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, is to place hundreds of floating seismic devices into the seas to measure the vibrations of earthquakes coming from the seafloor. And the floating seismic stations have now passed their first tests on two real excursions, showing they can distinguish the sounds of relatively small-magnitude earthquakes from the din of whale calls, ships passing and other ocean noise. Though seismologists track earthquakes from thousands of devices on land, just a few permanent island stations record earthquakes at sea. As a result, when waves from a deep earthquake travel through the Earth's mantle and core, most of a wave's path goes unrecorded, hidden in the depths of the ocean.

China-Brazil satellite launch fails, likely fell back to Earth

A Chinese-Brazilian satellite launched by China on Monday failed to reached its planned orbit and likely fell back to Earth, Brazil's Ministry of Science said. The satellite was the fourth in a series designed to monitor land use in Brazil, including forest cover in the Amazon basin. Brazil's space program is seeking to reduce the country's dependence on U.S. and European space equipment and launch vehicles and expand the domestic aerospace industry, already the world's No. 3 producer of commercial jet aircraft. The CBERS-3 satellite developed by China and Brazil was carried to space on Monday morning aboard a Long March 4B rocket from China's Taiyuan satellite launch center, the Brazilian ministry said in a statement.

Spinning Trap Measures 'Roundness' of an Electron

A new technique could one day provide the most precise measurement yet of the roundness of an electron, scientists say. That measurement, in turn, could help scientists test extensions of the standard model, the reigning particle physics model that describes the behavior of the very small, said study co-author Eric Cornell, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the JILA Center for Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics in Boulder, Colo. An electron's shape comes from a cloud of virtual particles surrounding a dimensionless point; Past measurements have suggested the positive and negative charges are at equal distances from the center of the electron, Cornell said.

NASA Mars rover finds evidence of life-friendly ancient lake

By Irene Klotz SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Scientists have found evidence of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars well suited to support microbial life, the researchers said Monday. The lake, located inside Gale Crater where the rover landed in August 2012, likely covered an area 31 miles long and 3 miles wide, though its size varied over time. Analysis of sedimentary deposits gathered by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the lake existed for at least tens of thousands of years, and possibly longer, geologist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told reporters at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. Analysis of clays drilled out from two rock samples in the area known as Yellowknife Bay show the freshwater lake existed at a time when other parts of Mars were dried up or dotted with shallow, acidic, salty pools ill-suited for life.

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Monday, December 9, 2013

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Means Scorching US Summers

Thirty years of shrinking Arctic sea ice has boosted extreme summer weather, including heat waves and drought, in the United States and elsewhere, according to a study published today (Dec. 8) in the journal Nature Climate Change. The new study — based on satellite tracking of sea ice, snow cover and weather trends since 1979 — links the Arctic's warming climate to shifting weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere's midlatitudes. "The results of our new study provide further support and evidence for rapid Arctic warming contributing to the observed increased frequency and intensity of heat waves," said study co-author Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Changes in the Arctic can perturb midlatitude weather in such regions as the United States, Europe and China because temperature differences between the two zones drive the jet stream, the fast-moving river of air that circles the Northern Hemisphere, explained lead study author Qiuhong Tang, an atmospheric scientist at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in Beijing.

Short-cut to produce hydrogen seen as step to cleaner fuel

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists have produced hydrogen by accelerating a natural process found in rocks deep below the Earth's surface, a short-cut that may herald the wider use of what is a clean fuel, a study showed on Sunday. Used in rockets and in battery-like fuel cells, hydrogen is being widely researched as a non-polluting fuel, but its use is so far hampered by high costs. A few hydrogen vehicles are already on the roads, such as the Honda FXC Clarity and Mercedes-Benz F-Cell, and more are planned. Researchers in France said aluminum oxide speeded up a process by which hydrogen is produced naturally when water meets olivine, a common type of rock, under the high temperatures and pressures found at great depths.

Small steps to Mars are a big leap for Indian companies

By Shyamantha Asokan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian companies that built most of the parts for the country's recently launched Mars mission are using their low-cost, high-tech expertise in frugal space engineering to compete for global aerospace, defence and nuclear contracts worth billions. India's Mangalyaan spacecraft was launched last month and then catapulted from Earth orbit on December 1, clearing an important hurdle on its 420 million mile journey to Mars and putting it on course to be the first Asian mission to reach the red planet. The venture has a price tag of just 4.5 billion rupees ($72 million), roughly one-tenth the cost of Maven, NASA's latest Mars mission. Those firms with proven space know-how will find themselves with the advantage as India, the world's biggest arms importer, shells out $100 billion over a decade to modernise its military with the country favouring local sources.

Inflammation Linked to Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

Inflammation in a man's prostate may indicate he has a lower risk of developing prostate cancer in the future, according to a new study. Researchers looked at signs of inflammation in prostate tissue samples from 6,200 men who were having biopsies to check for cancer. At a follow-up biopsy two years later, prostate cancer was detected in 900 participants (14 percent). Men with signs of acute inflammation or chronic inflammation at the original biopsy were 25 percent or 35 percent, respectively, less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Did Volcano on Mercury Erupt for a Billion Years? (Op-Ed)

Olympus Mons, a treble Everest soaring above Mars' Northern Hemisphere, is the largest volcano in the solar system; Since Mariner 10 first revealed its surface in the 1970s, conspicuously smooth plains — reminiscent of the lunar mare— suggested that in places, the impact craters had once been resurfaced by giant lava flows. And now, NASA's latest mission to the inner solar system — the MESSENGER satellite, currently in orbit around Mercury — has begun to shed new light on its volcanic past; When MESSENGER performed its first flyby of Mercury in early 2008, it sent back a hazy image of a feature, from somewhere in the planet's Northern hemisphere, showing what its discoverers called a "kidney-shaped depression." This strange formation was clearly very different from the ubiquitous, uniform impact craters.

9,400 Kids Injured in High Chairs Every Year

Every year, about 9,400 young children in the U.S. are injured falling off high chairs, a new study finds. Doctors warn that despite the chairs' perceived safety, children in high chairs can be harmed if a chair is not used properly. Head injuries were the most common type of injury associated with high chairs, followed by bumps or bruises and cuts, according to the study. "Maybe even more concerning, the rate of head injuries has increased by almost 90 percent between 2003 and 2010, and I think it begs the question, what's going on?" said study researcher Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

How Elephant Seals Know Who's Boss

SAN FRANCISCO — Male elephant seals recognize the unique calls of their rivals, helping them know when to fight or flee, new research suggests. The findings, presented here at the 166th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, suggest that in the seals' hypercompetitive mating market, recognizing their rivals' calls to avoid senseless fights can be a good strategy. "If you can call at your rival and save yourself from having to fight again, that's really good," said study co-author Caroline Casey, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Odd Work Hours Could Weaken Family Bonds

"Research indicates that approximately one in five workers works a nonstandard schedule and we need support systems — such as after-school programs — to accommodate the needs of those families," Toby Parcel, a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University, said in a statement. The researchers looked at the work schedules of the kids' parents, the kids' own reports about delinquent behavior (such as vandalism and cutting school) and the kids' reports about their relationship with their parents. Children living with single moms working nonstandard hours, however, reported both weaker bonds with their parents and higher levels of delinquent behavior, the researchers said. "They also reported lower levels of delinquent behavior.

Distinct Humpback Whale Populations Found in North Pacific

Five distinct humpback whale populations have been identified across the North Pacific Ocean in the most comprehensive genetic study of the mammals in this region yet, a new study reports. and an additional West Pacific population whose range has yet to be determined more specifically. Humpback whales are found in all oceans of the world, but the North Pacific humpbacks are genetically isolated enough to be considered a subspecies of other humpbacks, of which the new populations are further subclassifications, study co-author Scott Baker, a professor of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University, said in a statement. "The Mexico population, for example, has 'discrete' sub-populations off the mainland and near the Revillagigedo Islands, but because their genetic differentiation is not that strong, these are not considered 'distinct' populations."

Formula 1 Racing Loud Enough to Damage Hearing

SAN FRANCISCO — Formula 1 racing is so loud that fans would have to wear both earplugs and earmuffs in order to enjoy the spectacle at safe noise levels, new research suggests. "Noise levels at Formula 1 races are loud enough to potentially cause hearing loss," Craig Dolder, a doctoral candidate in acoustical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, said at a news conference Wednesday (Dec. 4) here at the 166th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

Cold-Loving Asian Cockroach Invades New York

A new species of cockroach that can withstand freezing temperatures has taken up residence in New York, scientists confirmed. The resilient critter, Periplaneta japonica, had never been seen in the United States until an exterminator spotted some strange-looking roach carcasses last year on the High Line, a mile-long park built on an old elevated railway in Manhattan. Researchers confirmed the identity of the species, which is native to Asia and notable for its ability to thrive in cold climates, unlike the American cockroaches that populate New York and take shelter indoors when winter comes. "About 20 years ago colleagues of ours in Japan reared nymphs of this species and measured their tolerance to being able to survive in snow," Rutgers insect biologist Jessica Ware said in a statement.

Ancient Mars Lake Could Have Supported Life, Curiosity Rover Shows

NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of an ancient Martian lake that could have supported life as we know it for long stretches — perhaps millions of years. This long and skinny freshwater lake likely existed about 3.7 billion years ago, researchers said, suggesting that habitable environments were present on Mars more recently than previously thought. "Quite honestly, it just looks very Earth-like," said Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "You've got an alluvial fan, which is being fed by streams that originate in mountains, that accumulates a body of water," Grotzinger told SPACE.com.

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