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Friday, January 3, 2014

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Venus and Moon Share Last Night Sky Encounter Tonight for Nearly a Year

Venus and the moon, the two brightest objects in the night sky, will pair up in the sky tonight (Jan. 2), marking the last time for nearly a year that the two brilliant objects shine near each other for stargazers to enjoy. Venus will only be around for about 30 minutes tonight before it sinks down below the horizon. Venus is in the final days of its reign as the dazzling "evening star," with a transition into the morning sky coming very soon.

La Niña Influences Melt of Major Antarctic Glacier

Though typically thought of as a tropical climate pattern, the influence of La Niña (the cold counterpart to El Niño) spreads as far as Antarctica, significantly slowing the melting rate of one of the continent's largest glaciers, according to a new study. Pine Island Glacier, which makes up about 10 percent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, empties into the Amundsen Sea.

New Heart Rate Trackers: Is Knowing Your Pulse Useful?

Several new fitness trackers, along with heart rate monitors, allow users to constantly measure their heart rate throughout the day. Heart rate monitors geared toward athletes have been available for years, but recently, fitness trackers aimed at the general public have started to include heart rate as a measure to track along with steps taken, calories burned, distanced walked and sleep. For example, the Withings Pulse includes a sensor that lets you check your heart rate using your finger, and the Basis B1 has heart rate monitor built into the wristband itself, allowing you to know your rate at any time. (The Basis also graphs this information, so users can see how their heart rate changed during the day or night.)

US Drivers Distracted 10 Percent of Time on Road

A team of researchers based at the National Institutes of Health and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used video recorders and in-vehicle sensors to measure the activity of about 150 individuals while they drove in regions of Washington, D.C., and southwestern Virginia. "But our study shows these distracting practices are especially risky for novice drivers, who haven't developed sound safety judgment behind the wheel."

Scientists, tourists rescued from Antarctic ship begin long journey home

By Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian icebreaker with 52 passengers rescued from a Russian ship trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve began the long journey home on Friday. "The passengers seem very glad to now be with us and they are settling in to their new accommodation," Jason Mundy, Australian Antarctic Division Acting Director who is on board the ice breaker Aurora Australis, said on Friday morning. A helicopter from the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon ferried the 52 scientists and tourists in small groups from the ice-bound Akademik Shokalskiy and transferred them to the Antarctic supply ship Aurora Australis late on Thursday. The Aurora Australis is now sailing towards open water and will then head towards an Antarctic base to complete a resupply before returning to Australia.

First Meteor Shower of 2014 Peaks Friday, but Sun Interferes

Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor shower provides one of the most intense annual celestial fireworks displays, with a brief, sharp peak lasting only a few hours. That peak occurs Friday (Jan. 3), but this year the sun will spoil the show for stargazers in North America. The 2014 Quadrantid meteor shower will peak Friday at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), in the middle of the day for most of North America, so the best meteor views will be in other parts of the world, where night has already fallen. At its best, the Quadrantids can dazzle observers with between 60 and 120 meteors an hour.

Quirky Quarks: 'Charming' Particle Mixes with Bizarre Cousin

An experiment that offers a peek inside the behavior of subatomic particles called quarks could help answer questions about why the universe is made of matter, and might even be evidence of new, previously unseen particles. At the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois, an international team of scientists published the first observation of a charm quark (quarks come in several "flavors") decaying into its antiparticle, a phenomenon called "mixing," first predicted in 1974. "There was some evidence back in 2007 that this was happening," said Paul Karchin, professor of physics at Wayne State University, and a co-author of the study detailed Dec. 18 in the journal Physical Review Letters. Atoms are made of protons and neutrons, which in turn are made of even smaller pieces called quarks.

Magnificent Orion Nebula Captured by Amateur Astronomer (Photo)

The famed Orion Nebula is the star attraction of this gorgeous night sky photo sent in to SPACE.com recently by an amateur astronomer. Astrophotographer Chuck Manges of Hooversville, Pa., captured this photo of the Orion Nebula, which is also known as Messier 42 or NGC 1976. An Orion ED102T CF telescope mounted on an Orion Sirius was used to view the nebula from October to November 2012. To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by SPACE.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

Mock Mars Mission: Utah Habitat Simulates Life on Red Planet

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), which is run by the nonprofit Mars Society, aims to help humanity prepare for the rigors and challenges of life on the Red Planet. It was designed in line with Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin's "Mars Direct" settlement approach, which sees crews living off the land as much as possible, MDRS director Shannon Rupert told SPACE.com. "The idea was a small crew on these kind of preplanned set of missions that would allow astronauts to get there and have a functioning habitat in place," Rupert said. Reading through an unofficial "geology guide" to MDRS (published by past visitors) reveals a dry landscape shaped by wind — a similar environment to many areas of the modern-day Red Planet.

Jars of Prego Traditional Italian Sauce Recalled

Some jars of the popular Italian sauce Prego are being recalled because of their potential to spoil.

Life After Brain Death: Is the Body Still 'Alive'?

A 13-year-old girl in California continues to be on a ventilator after being declared brain-dead by doctors. A person is considered brain-dead when he or she no longer has any neurological activity in the brain or brain stem — meaning no electrical impulses are being sent between brain cells. Doctors perform a number of tests to determine whether someone is brain-dead, one of which checks whether the individual can initiate his or her own breath, a very primitive reflex carried out by the brain stem, said Dr. Diana Greene-Chandos, an assistant professor of neurological surgery and neurology at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. "It's the last thing to go," Greene-Chandos said.

King Tut's Mummified Erect Penis May Point to Ancient Religious Struggle

Egypt's King Tutankhamun was embalmed in an unusual way, including having his penis mummified at a 90-degree angle, in an effort to combat a religious revolution unleashed by his father, a new study suggests. The pharaoh was buried in Egypt's Valley of the Kings without a heart (or a replacement artifact known as a heart scarab); These anomalies have received both scholarly and media attention in recent years, and a new paper in the journal Études et Travaux by Egyptologist Salima Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo, proposes a reason why they, and other Tutankhamun burial anomalies, exist. The mummified erect penis and other burial anomalies were not accidents during embalming, Ikram suggests, but rather deliberate attempts to make the king appear as Osiris, the god of the underworld, in as literal a way as possible.

Man-Made Flood Could Help Revive Colorado River Wetlands

An artificial flood could surge down a dry riverbed from the United States into Mexico either this spring or an upcoming one — a technique researchers hope will help them find out if renewing water in this landscape might rejuvenate life in the area. "This could mark a new era of collaboration among users of the river's water — one that benefits the environment," said Karl Flessa, a conservation biologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and one of many people involved in the effort. After decades of dams and diversions, only a tenth of that amount of water crosses the border into Mexico each year, and all of it is diverted for use in Mexican agriculture and cities. Only about 10 percent of the Colorado River Delta's original wetland and riverbank areas now remain, with less than 3 percent of the native cottonwood and willow forests surviving.

Major Blizzard Visible from Space

The winter storm that lashed the Midwest and Northeast over the last couple of days and has left a blanket of snow in its wake also brought with it sub-zero, bone-chilling winds that are keeping the snow fresh and frozen. The storm's huge expanse across nearly two-thirds of the country was clearly visible in NASA satellite imagery. "One storm was moving from the west to east with some limited moisture and atmospheric energy and as that storm was moving across the country, it was basically transferring energy to a brand new storm that has taken over and has been strengthening overnight," Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service, told LiveScience. The National Weather Service commonly uses satellite imagery to track the path and extent of storms and to collect atmospheric data that they use to produce storm forecasts.

Photos Show Beauty of California's King Tides

The tide hit a high point — a very high point — today along the California coast, as seen in gorgeous photographs taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey. The extreme tide is known as a "king tide," a seasonal phenomenon caused by the interaction of the gravity of the sun and moon with weather. Tides are caused by the gravitational interaction of the sun, moon and Earth. The Earth orbits the sun in an elliptical path, just as the moon's journey around the Earth is not perfectly circular.

Bald Eagles in Utah Died of West Nile

Wildlife experts in Utah have found the culprit behind an unusual string of bald eagle deaths: West Nile virus. Laboratory tests confirmed that the virus was responsible for the deaths of 27 bald eagles in the state in recent weeks, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). The rash of deaths was at first mysterious: The bald eagles appeared to be dying of some type of disease, instead of blunt injuries, which are the usual cause of death of bald eagles in the state, according to the Washington Post. And West Nile virus typically affects birds only in the summer months, when the mosquitoes that spread the disease are active.

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Thursday, January 2, 2014

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Smarter, Deadlier Drones Mapped Out in Defense Plan

Drones that can decide for themselves how best to complete a pre-programmed mission — that's just one of the many advanced capabilities the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) wants to develop over the next 25 years as part of its Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap. But drones definitely get pride of place in the document, with the DoD exploring such technologies as precision navigation, swarming munitions and increased autonomy. Unmanned aircraft currently depend on GPS for navigation. Addressing this problem, the roadmap cites the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) ongoing work with so-called pinpoint inertial guidance systems that are jam-proof.

Relapse of 'cured' HIV patients spurs AIDS science on

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists seeking a cure for AIDS say they have been inspired, not crushed, by a major setback in which two HIV positive patients believed to have been cured found the virus re-invading their bodies once more. True, the news hit hard last month that the so-called "Boston patients" - two men who received bone marrow transplants that appeared to rid them completely of the AIDS-causing virus - had relapsed and gone back onto antiretroviral treatment. "It's a setback for the patients, of course, but an advance for the field because the field has now gained a lot more knowledge," said Steven Deeks, a professor and HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco. He and other experts say the primary practical message is that current tests designed to detect even very low levels of HIV present in the body are simply not sensitive enough.

Relapse of "cured" HIV patients spurs AIDS science on

Incredible Technology: How to Mine Water on Mars

The bone-dry desert of present-day Mars may seem like the last place you would look for water, but the Red Planet actually contains a wealth of water locked up in ice. Evidence that Mars once supported liquid water has been mounting for years, and exploratory missions have found that water ice still exists on the planet's poles and just beneath its dusty surface. Accessing that water could require digging it up and baking it in an oven, or beaming microwaves at the soil and extracting the water vapor. Now, the Netherlands-based organization Mars One, which wants to establish a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet, is planning to send an unmanned lander to Mars in 2018 that would carry an experiment to demonstrate that water extraction is possible.

UrtheCast, Russia Investigate Space Station HD Cameras After Spacewalk Glitch

The Canadian company UrtheCast and its Russian partners are investigating what went wrong when its new Earth-watching cameras suffered a glitch shortly after being installed outside the International Space Station last week. In an eight-hour spacewalk on Friday (Dec. 27), Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy installed UrtheCast's two powerful cameras on the orbiting outpost only to have to remove and return the devices to storage after an unspecified data connection problem. UrtheCast officials announced Monday (Dec. 30) that the Earth-watching cameras were installed properly, but mission controllers were unable to confirm the cameras were receiving power from the space station, so the devices were removed as a safety precaution. George Tyc, UrtheCast's Chief Technology Officer, said the fact that neither camera could communicate with Russia's Mission Control Center just outside of Moscow suggests the root of the problem is inside the space station.

3D Brain Maps Guide Doctors — via iPhone

The phones have started to fulfill this role, in part, thanks to the thousands of 3D brain images, produced by Dr. Albert Rhoton at the University of Florida, that are freely available online. "I've had young surgeons from Africa, Brazil and other countries tell me they're pulling the images into the operating room" and using them during surgery, said Rhoton, head of the Neuro-Microanatomy Lab at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute. The images are "our small contribution to making what is a delicate, awesome experience for neurosurgery patients more accurate, gentler and safer," Rhoton told LiveScience. Rhoton has collected images of brain anatomy for as long as he's been teaching surgery — 50 years — and began moving to 3D technology 25 years ago.

'Baboon Syndrome': An Unusual Complication of Antibiotics

A 40-year-old man with a sore throat and fever was diagnosed with tonsillitis, and was prescribed penicillin, a common antibiotic. But several days later, the man developed a rash over his armpits, groin and buttocks — an unusual condition known as "baboon syndrome." The condition, more formally called symmetrical drug-related intertriginous and flexural exanthema (SDRIFE), is known as baboon syndrome because the rash on the patient's buttocks resembles the red hindquarters of some monkeys. The condition is usually caused by an allergic reaction to penicillin drugs, but can also be caused by exposure to mercury or nickel, said Dr. Andreas Bircher, a dermatologist at University Hospital of Basel in Switzerland.

Lost 'Biblical Blue' Dye Possibly Found in Ancient Fabric

"The importance of this fabric is extremely significant as there are practically no parallels for it in the archaeological record," Israel Antiquities Authority officials say in a statement, referring to the blue color. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, thousands of textile bits from the Roman period have been found in this desert region, but only two fabrics before actually bore traces of the richly colored snail dye, which makes the new discovery all the more remarkable. "There were times when the masses were forbidden from dressing in purple clothing, which was reserved for only the emperor and his family," officials with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement. Na'ama Sukenik, a researcher with the IAA, turned up the three murex-dyed fabrics while conducting a chemical analysis of 180 textiles specimens from the Judean Desert caves for her doctoral dissertation at Bar Ilan University.

Mission shortlists over a thousand candidates for life on Mars

Mars One was set up in 2011 by two Dutch men with the goal of establishing permanent human life on Mars in 2025. The 1,058 candidates who got through to the first round come from all over the world. They must now undergo rigorous tests, including simulations of life on Mars and coping with isolation, co-founder Bas Lansdorp said.

Hubble Telescope Reveals Super-Planets Covered in Alien Clouds

Two teams of researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of the two exoplanets. One of the alien planets is a so-called "super-Earth" larger than the Earth, while the other has been dubbed a "warm Neptune." Studying both types of worlds can help scientists learn to classify the atmospheres on other Earth-like planets in the future. It is classified as a "warm Neptune" because its orbit is closer to its parent star than the distance between Neptune and the sun in our solar system. As GJ 436b and the super-Earth GJ 1214b pass in front of their parent stars, the atmosphere creates a bloated sphere that precedes the body of the planet in the front and follows it in the back.

States Take National Lead in Regulating Fracking (Op-Ed)

They contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. In the absence of additional federal action to regulate hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), states have increasingly adopted policies to govern the technology that has opened up large reserves of previously inaccessible natural gas and oil. California, Illinois and Colorado have recently released draft fracking regulations, adding to an already significant body of existing rules and pending legislation at the state level. It can be challenging to irrefutably link a particular instance of pollution with a particular oil and gas operation, but evidence is accumulating that environmental damages from fracking are occurring : examples include methane contamination of groundwater supplies, toxic wastewater flooding nearby landsand air pollutant leakage at the well site.

Why Cities are Adopting Open Cloud Technology (Op-Ed)

Dixon leads IBM's vision, strategy and operations for teams active in cities around the world. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. With cloud computing, smaller cities have an opportunity to leapfrog giant metropolises, gaining a competitive advantage in efficiency and innovation — even without large information technology (IT) departments and vast data centers. Cloud computing is a means for cities to share a wealth of valuable data with citizens in new ways, wherever they are located, via smartphones and tablets.

Six Science-Based Strategies to Beat Holiday Bloat (Op-Ed)

Tallmadge contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. So, when served larger portions, we adjust our level of satiety to accommodate greater calorie intakes. Fortunately, studies have also found that the reverse is true.

'Jumping Genes' Linked to Schizophrenia

Some so-called jumping genes that copy and paste themselves throughout the genome may be linked to schizophrenia, new research suggests. The new study, published today (Jan. 2) in the journal Neuron, suggests these jumping genes may alter how neurons (or nerve cells in the brain) form during development, thereby increasing the risk of schizophrenia, study co-author Dr. Tadafumi Kato, a neurobiologist at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, wrote in an email. Earlier studies had found that a certain type of jumping gene, known as long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1), was active in human brain cells. To find out, the team conducted a post-mortem analysis of 120 human brains, 13 from patients who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Is Genetics Key to Climate Change Solutions? (Op-Ed)

Thomas Whitham is a regents' professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the executive director of the Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research at Northern Arizona University. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. One important part of the puzzle, however, involves unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants to identify those species and populations best able to cope with changing conditions. Just as researchers have used genetics to improve food production, it can also provide solutions that maintain biodiversity and protect the services provided by native ecosystems.

The Koch Brothers Are Still Trying to Break Wind (Op-Ed)

Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). As Congress dithers for the umpteenth time over extending a key subsidy for wind energy, the fate of the industry once again is up in the air. Given that the planet needs to transition as quickly as possible away from coal and natural gas to carbon-free energy to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, who would be against renewing wind's tax credit? Never mind the fact that the oil and gas industry has averaged — in federal tax breaks and subsidies — four times what the wind tax credit is worth, annually, for the last 95 years.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly, or Not: Tips for Coping with Holiday Blues

She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As a mood disorders specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, I often treat people who are suffering from the "holiday blues." Sometimes these so-called holiday blues may be caused in part by seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is a biologically driven condition that occurs throughout the winter months when people's daily body rhythms are out of sync with the sun.

Exercise Improves Depression in People with Parkinson's

She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Not only can exercise help with the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but a new pilot study that I recently completed showed that patient participation in exercise — in earlier stages of the disease — can improve depression in patients. The study, at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, also found that long-term group exercise programs are feasible for people with Parkinson's disease. Each year, about 60,000 Americans are newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Wolves Must Not Lose Their Endangered Status (Op-Ed)

Andrew Wetzler is director of the Land & Wildlife Program at the NRDC. This Op-Ed originally appeared on the NRDC blog Switchboard. Wetzler contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Tuesday marked the official end of the public comment period on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed nation-wide regulation removing the gray wolf from the federal list of endangered species.

Ignoring Nature No More: The State of the Animals 2013 (Op-Ed)

Marc Bekoff, emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists, a Guggenheim Fellow, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Denise Herzing's recently gave a TED talk entitled "If We Could Talk To the Animals" about the clearly smart and emotional dolphins she and her team study.

What Does Your Dog Want for Christmas? (Op-Ed)

Brian Hare is an Associate Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke Universityand the founder of Dognition, a Web-based service that helps people find the genius in their dogs. Hare contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Who's to Blame for Climate Change? (Op-Ed)

Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Negin contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The Climate Accountability Institute's new study documenting that just 90 companies are responsible for two-thirds of manmade carbon emissions since the Industrial Revolution triggered some pushback in the blogosphere. Blame the likes of BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell for global warming ?

New Agreement Slashing Set-Top Box Energy to Save $1 Billion Annually (Op-Ed)

Noah Horowitz is a senior scientist and director of the Center for Energy Efficiency at the NRDC. This Op-Ed is adapted from a post to the NRDC blog Switchboard. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The signatories include NRDC and other energy-efficiency advocacy groups and companies in the pay-TV industry that include household names such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DIRECTV, AT&T and Motorola.

Bottlenose Dolphins Oiled By Deepwater Horizon Spill are Dying (Op-Ed)

The dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are sick and dying. Captain Lori DeAngelis told me this last Christmas. She is more commonly known as the Dolphin Queen by the folks in Orange Beach, Ala., because she captains a boat named the Dolphin Queen and is so conversant with the local dolphins that, when she's on the water, she greets them individually by name. A study published this week in the journal Environmental Science & Technology compared bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, La., that were oiled by the Deepwater Horizon spill with ones in Sarasota Bay, Fla., that did not come into direct contact with the oil spill and found that the Louisiana dolphins were sicker.

Brooklyn and Naythyn Among First Babies of 2014

The Y's have it in 2014, if the first baby names of the year are anything to go on. Brooklyn, Layla, Rylee and Naythyn were among the first babies born in the United States on New Year's Eve, according to baby-naming website Name Candy, which tracks the first babies in each state. Naythyn, born at 12:09 a.m., hails from Oregon, while Rylee (a boy) was born at 6:34 a.m. in West Virginia. The New Year welcomed two new Brooklyns, one at 12:03 a.m. in Colorado and another in Maryland at 12:07 a.m.

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