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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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Fresh Magma Could Help Power Geothermal Plants

While drilling for sources of geothermal energy in northeastern Iceland in 2009, geologists unexpectedly hit fresh magma and went on to create the first-ever magma-enhanced geothermal energy system. Geothermal power plants generally gather heat from fissures in the Earth's solid crust, not directly from the molten rock below that produces that heat. Geologists and industry representatives with the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) set out to drill an exploratory well about 2.5 to 3 miles (4 to 5 kilometers) deep within Iceland's Krafla caldera in search of heat-yielding fissures, but stopped short when they hit fresh magma only 1.3 miles (2.1 km) down. Drilling into molten rock is rare, since only a small portion of the crust contains plumes of magma close enough to the surface to reach with a drill, and only one other case of hitting magma in a borehole has ever been recorded — in Hawaii, in 2007.

Boeing Tests Mammoth Hydrogen-Powered Drone

A massive unmanned spy plane being developed by Boeing completed its sixth test flight in mid-December, setting a new prototype endurance record by flying for more than five hours, company officials said.

Pesticide DDT Linked with Alzheimer's Disease

Exposure to the pesticide DDT, which was banned in the United States in the 1970s but is still found in the environment, may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests. Among the people with the highest levels of DDE, those who carried a gene known to increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease scored lower on a test of mental abilities than those without the gene. Further, exposing brain cells in a dish to either DDT or DDE increased the production of a protein involved in the formation of amyloid plaques, the brain plaques that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. If future studies confirm the findings, doctors may one day use patients' DDE levels along with their genes to identify those people at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, the researchers said.

Pesticide DDT Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

British scientists seek go-ahead for GM 'Omega-3' crop trial

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have applied for permission to run an open-air field trial of a genetically modified (GM) crop they hope may one day become a sustainable and environmentally friendly source of healthy Omega-3 fats. The proposed trial - likely to generate controversy in a nation where GM foods have little public support - could start as early as May and will use Camelina plants engineered to produce seeds high in Omega-3 long chain fatty acids. No GM crops are currently grown commercially in Britain and only two - a pest-resistant type of maize and a potato with enhanced starch content - are licensed for cultivation in the European Union (EU). But scientists at Britain's agricultural lab Rothamsted Research have developed Camelina plants to produce Omega-3 fats that are known to be beneficial to health but normally found only in oils in increasingly limited fish stocks.

Black Carbon Soot Greater in China, India Than Thought

New global estimates of black carbon emissions — a major component of soot — suggest that certain regions of China and India experience two to three times greater levels of this pollutant than previous models have suggested, a new study reports. Black carbon is an aerosol (or small particle suspended in the air) produced when fossil fuels, biofuels or agricultural waste do not burn completely during combustion due to an insufficient oxygen supply. The pollutant is harmful to human health when inhaled, and has been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Existing estimates of global human exposure to black carbon have been relatively poorly defined, often taking whole countries into account as single entities, rather than recognizing how different regions of countries may differ in exposure levels.

Cosmonauts Repeat Spacewalk to Add Earth-viewing Cameras to Space Station

It was 'take two' for the installation of commercial video cameras on the outside the International Space Station Monday (Jan. 27), as Russian cosmonauts ventured out on a second spacewalk to add the two Earth-viewing cameras to the orbiting outpost's exterior. But despite getting both of the cameras properly installed again, the two cosmonauts had to return inside the space station without one of the cameras returning a good signal. Expedition 38 commander Oleg Kotov and flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy opened the hatch to the station's Pirs docking compartment at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT), starting their second spacewalk in a month aimed at installing the cameras for Vancouver, Canada-based UrtheCast Corp. Kotov's and Ryazanskiy's earlier outing on Dec. 27, which set a Russian duration recordof 8 hours and 7 minutes, ended with the two UrtheCast cameras being brought back inside the space station due to connectivity issues.

NASA puts out call for commercial lunar landers

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Under a new program called Lunar Catalyst, U.S. space agency NASA will provide free technical expertise, equipment, facilities and software to help selected companies develop lunar landers, officials said on Monday. "The intent of this initiative is to stimulate and help commercialization," Jason Crusan, who oversees NASA's advanced exploration programs, said during a conference call with prospective bidders on Monday. Development of commercial lunar landers would join a growing list of space transportation services that have attracted interest from U.S. companies, including Boeing Co and Alliant Techsystems Inc. NASA already has turned over cargo deliveries to the International Space Station to privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, and Orbital Sciences Corp. The companies hold NASA flight services contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion. NASA wants a balanced approach in which its contributions will help accelerate the development of industry projects, Crusan said during a follow-on conference call with reporters.

Kids' Vitamins Often Exceed Recommended Doses

Young children who take vitamins may be consuming much greater levels than recommended of the nutrients, a new study suggests. The researchers determined the level of vitamins that children would consume if they used the product as directed. For example, dietary supplements for children ages 1 to 4 contained, on average, about 300 percent of the daily recommended levels of vitamin A, thiamin and riboflavin, 500 percent of the recommended level of vitamin C and more than 900 percent of the recommended level of biotin. Vitamin D was the only vitamin that was present at or below recommended levels for both age groups.

Devastating Plague Strains Arose Twice, Could Return

Many centuries before the Black Death wiped out a third to half of Europe, an equally virulent pandemic called the Plague of Justinian killed upwards of 100 million people in just two short years between 541 and 543 A.D. Now, an international team of researchers analyzing the remains of two people killed by the Plague of Justinian has concluded that the pandemics arose from two distinct strains of the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The strain that caused the Plague of Justinian likely went extinct long before the emergence of the Black Death in the 14th century. The bacterium that causes the bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, resides in the intestines of certain fleas that feed on rodents.

Yoga Holds Benefits for Breast Cancer Survivors

Women who are recovering from breast cancer treatment may have even more reasons to sign up for a yoga class, with a new study suggesting the practice can lessen cancer-related fatigue and reduce inflammation in the body. It's the first exercise trial in breast cancer survivors to show reductions in inflammation, said study researcher Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. To find out whether practicing yoga could affect women's moods, fatigue and levels of inflammation, Kiecolt-Glaser and her colleagues at Ohio State recruited 200 breast cancer survivors. The women ranged in age from 26 to 76, and they had completed treatment for either early or later-stage breast cancer.

Scientists find ancient plague DNA in teeth

LONDON (AP) — Scientists say two of the deadliest pandemics in history were caused by strains of the same plague and warn that new versions of the bacteria could spark future outbreaks.

Black Holes Get Even Weirder with New Stephen Hawking Theory

Black holes may be even weirder than scientists had thought, according to a new paper by famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. In the article, Hawking contends that the notion that even light cannot escape a black hole's gravitational pull once it passes a certain point — known as the event horizon — may not be true. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts the existence of black holes — objects so incredibly massive and dense they pull everything nearby into themselves, and past a point known as the event horizon, not even light cannot escape them. But two years ago, theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and colleagues discovered a wrinkle in the theory, dubbed the Firewall Paradox.

Sperm's 'Swimming Pool' May Affect Health of Offspring

An embryo's development depends on more than just the sperm and egg that formed it — it is also impacted by the interaction between male seminal fluid and the environment in the female reproductive tract, a new study shows. Researchers examined mice that were conceived in a lab from a male whose seminal vessicle gland had been removed, and therefore was not producing seminal fluid. To see the impact of the maternal environment, they also implanted eggs produced normally in females whose mate had its seminal vesicle removed. The finding "shows that the seminal fluid is not just a swimming pool for sperm," said John Eppig, a professor at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, who edited the paper, published online today (Jan. 27) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Preventing and Treating a Cold: What Works?

Washing hands and taking zinc may be the best ways to avoid getting the common cold, and over-the-counter pain relievers are the recommended treatments to alleviate the symptoms, according to a new review. The common cold strikes adults two to three times a year on average, while children under age 2 develop colds about six times a year, according to the study. They detailed their findings today (Jan. 27) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The researchers reviewed 67 randomized, controlled trials looking at cold prevention, and concluded that regularly washing the hands, as well as using alcohol-based disinfectants and gloves, are likely effective in preventing the cold.

Five NASA Earth-Science Missions Blasting Off in 2014

The launch of a precipitation-measuring satellite next month kicks off a busy year for NASA's Earth-observation program. The space agency will launch five Earth-science missions in 2014, starting with the Feb. 27 liftoff of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center. The GPM rain-mapping mission, a joint effort between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will provide near real-time observations of rainfall and snowfall every three hours all over the world, improving scientists' understanding of climate change and the global water cycle, NASA officials said. "The water cycle, so familiar to all school-age young scientists, is one of the most interesting, dynamic, and important elements in our studies of the Earth's weather and climate," NASA science chief John Grunsfeld said in a statement.

Wanted: Private Robot Moon Lander Ideas for NASA

NASA is looking for innovative new ideas for robotic missions to the moon, and the space agency hopes private spaceflight companies may have the right stuff to help out. This month, the space agency rolled out its new Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown initiative (dubbed Lunar CATALYST for short) to give private companies a chance to develop robotic moon landers with help from NASA. While the space agency won't provide any funding for the commercial projects, private companies selected for the program will have access to a range of NASA perks.

Holy Snow Rollers! Strange Snowballs Invade the US

A strange and rare winter weather marvel appeared overnight in Eastern states blasted by blustery winds — snow sculpted into fanciful shapes such as doughnuts and hollow tubes. They were a social media phenomenon today (Jan. 27), sweeping Twitter and Facebook as people from Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania posted images of their yards dotted with strange snowballs. According to the National Weather Service, snow rollers need just the right combination of light, sticky snow, strong (but not too strong) winds and cold temperatures to form. It's been about 10 years since snow rollers were reported in western Pennsylvania, but snow rollers appeared in near Spokane, Wash., in 2009.

Science: Yep. Rebound Sex Is Real

In a study that may not surprise anyone who has ever experienced a breakup, researchers found that up to one-third of college students who had recently been in a breakup had sex to "rebound" from their relationship within a month of the split. "People really do use sex as a way to get over or get back at their ex-partner in the aftermath of a breakup," said study researcher Lynne Cooper, a psychologist at the University of Missouri. "Google 'rebound' or 'revenge sex,'" she told LiveScience. She and Lindsay Barber, a master's student in psychology, recruited 170 college students who had been through a breakup in the last eight months.

$1.7 Million Personal Submarine Lets You 'Fly' Underwater

The DeepFlight Super Falcon, developed by California-based Hawkes Ocean Technologies, is a two-seater, winged submersible that can take passengers on undersea joyrides. The custom-built underwater vehicles are designed to dive below the surface, swim amongst marine animals, deftly navigate through underwater canyons, and even perform aquatic barrel rolls, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. "It is like an airplane with wings upside down," Graham Hawkes, founder and chief technical officer of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, told the Chronicle. The submersible can carry two or three passengers, depending on the configuration of the vehicle, and can dive to a depth of about 394 feet (120 m).

Humans Managed Rainforests of Southeast Asia for Thousands of Years

The "untouched" rainforests of Southeast Asia may have been more manhandled than previously thought. In present-day Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Thailand and Vietnam, humans started burning and managing forests to make way for food-bearing plants as early as 11,000 years ago, soon after the end of the last ice age, a new study suggests. "It has long been believed that the rainforests of the Far East were virgin wildernesses, where human impact has been minimal," study researcher Chris Hunt, a paleoecologist at Queen's University Belfast, said in a statement. Ancient people of Southeast Asia didn't exactly replace their tropical forests with rows of cereal crops and pens of domesticated animals — the features that are typically associated with the dawn of agriculture, at least in the Eurocentric view, Hunt and colleagues explained in the Journal of Archaeological Science last month.

Unusual Coral Reef Thrives in Acidified Waters

The growing acidity of the world's oceans is a worrying threat to coral reefs, which support an amazing array of marine life, and are generally harmed as ocean acidity rises. But a vibrant reef in the western Pacific Ocean is bucking this trend: Researchers have found that the coral there thrives, rather than suffers, in locally acidic conditions. Coral reefs grow by extracting calcium and carbonate ions from seawater and combining them to form calcium carbonate, the same hard mineral found in clam and snail shells. Given this basic chemistry, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were recently surprised to find a healthy, expansive coral reef ecosystem in the western Pacific islands of Palau thriving in acidity levels that laboratory studies have shown to slow or even stunt growth in other corals.

300,000-Year-Old Caveman 'Campfire' Found in Israel

A newly discovered hearth full of ash and charred bone in a cave in modern-day Israel hints that early humans sat around fires as early as 300,000 years ago — before Homo sapiens arose in Africa. The finds could shed light on a turning point in the development of culture "in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point — a sort of campfire — for social gatherings," said archaeologist Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "They also tell us something about the impressive levels of social and cognitive development of humans living some 300,000 years ago," Shahack-Gross added in a statement. The centrally located fire pit is about 6.5 feet (2 meters) in diameter at its widest point, and its ash layers suggest the hearth was used repeatedly over time, according to the study, which was detailed in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Jan. 25.

Solar Wind Creates Water in Star Dust, Implications for Life

Solar wind can form water on interplanetary dust, potentially adding to the primordial soup that gave rise to life on Earth, scientists say. The creation of water via the solar wind could help explain the presence of water on the moon and on asteroids. The wind could also have formed water on interplanetary dust, which, in turn, could have rained water down on Earth and other rocky planets. "Interplanetary dust continually lands on the Earth and other solar system bodies," said study co-author Hope Ishii, an astromaterials scientist at the University of Hawaii.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

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7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

An ancient European hunter-gatherer man had dark skin and blue eyes, a new genetic analysis has revealed. The analysis of the man, who lived in modern-day Spain only about 7,000 years ago, shows light-skin genes in Europeans evolved much more recently than previously thought. The findings, which were detailed today (Jan. 26) in the journal Nature, also hint that light skin evolved not to adjust to the lower-light conditions in Europe compared with Africa, but instead to the new diet that emerged after the agricultural revolution, said study co-author Carles Lalueza-Fox, a paleogenomics researcher at Pompeu Fabra University in Spain. The hunter-gatherer's dark skin pushes this date forward to only 7,000 years ago, suggesting that at least some humans lived considerably longer than thought in Europe before losing the dark pigmentation that evolved under Africa's sun.

Dark Matter Mystery Could Be Solved in Next 10 Years

Dark matter — the mysterious stuff that is thought to make up most of the matter in the known universe — may reveal itself during the next decade, one prominent scientist predicts. When the moment comes, it will result in "a pivotal paradigm shift in physics," Gianfranco Bertone, a physicist with the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, said in a talk on dark matter research at a Royal Society Frontiers of Astronomy conference in London in November. The elusive substance may show itself as researchers set out to test "the existence of some of the most promising dark matter candidates, with a wide array of experiments, including the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and a new generation of astroparticle experiments underground and in space," Bertone said. So far, the only evidence of dark matter's existence comes from the gravitational effects it exerts on visible matter.

Marijuana Use During Pregnancy Affects Baby's Brain

Using marijuana during pregnancy could affect a baby's brain development by interfering with how brain cells are wired, a new study in mice and human tissue suggests. Researchers studied marijuana's effects on mice and brain tissue from human fetuses, and found that the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, interferes with the formation of connections between nerve cells in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher thinking skills and forming memories. "Our advice is that [pregnant] mothers should avoid marijuana,"said neuroscientist Tibor Harkany of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and the Medical University of Vienna, in Austria, who led a study detailed today (Jan. 27) in the EMBO Journal.

Source of Galapagos Volcanism Not Where Scientists Thought

The volcanic plume that gave birth to the Galapagos Islands is not where scientists thought it was, a new study finds. Three-dimensional seismic images suggest the plume lies southeast of the chain's Fernandina Island, the spot where computer models place it. What's more, the plume is not being bent eastward by the migrating Nazca tectonic plate (atop which the Galapagos Islands sit), but appears to be moving northward. "Having the plume relocated helped explain why [many of] the Galapagos volcanoes are active," said Douglas Toomey, a geologist at the University of Oregon and leader of the study, detailed online Jan. 19 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

China Moon Rover Hits Snag in Big Lunar Science Mission

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover may have stubbed its lucky foot. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that China's Yutu moon rover(the name means Jade Rabbit) "has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs." It is not clear how serious the abnormality, but the news agency said the moon rover's malfunction occurred due to the "complicated lunar surface environment," citing the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

Dead Plants Hold Earthquake Secrets

With a few tricks borrowed from the oil industry, scientists are hoping to one day better understand why earthquakes start and stop. An easier alternative is to study faults exposed on Earth's surface, and look at "fossilized" earthquakes preserved along the faults. "That was the gold standard," said Heather Savage, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. Just as rubbing your hands warms them on a winter's day, earthquakes heat the Earth when two sides of a fault slide past each other during a quake.)

How Students Discovered New Supernova in Nearby Galaxy

On Tuesday night (Jan. 21), astronomer Steve Fossey was showing undergraduates how to use a telescope at the University of London Observatory when they spotted a star explosion in Messier 82, a nearby galaxy. "The weather was closing in, with increasing cloud, so instead of the planned practical astronomy class, I gave the students an introductory demonstration of how to use the CCD camera on one of the observatory's automated 0.35–metre [13.7-inch] telescopes," Fossey said in a statement form UCL. The galaxy, also called the Cigar Galaxy, is some 12 million light-years away and it is a popular target for small telescopes because it is bright and quite photogenic. Studying the new supernova

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

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Checking Work Email at Night? Here's Why You Should Stop

Using a smartphone to get more work done at night makes employees less productive the next day, new research suggests. Russell Johnson, a Michigan State University assistant professor of management and co-author of the study, said many smartphone owners consider the devices to be among the most important tools ever invented when it comes to increasing productivity of knowledge-based work. Yet, the National Sleep Foundation says only 40 percent of Americans get enough sleep on most nights and a commonly cited reason is smartphone usage for work. Both studies' surveys showed that nighttime smartphone usage for business purposes cut into sleep and sapped workers' energy the next day in the office.

50 Job Interview Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer

The online career site Glassdoor believes one of the best ways for job seekers to get ready for an interview is to practice their responses to any questions that may be asked. To help those who are preparing for an upcoming interview put their best foot forward, Glassdoor sifted through tens of thousands of their interview reviews to find out some of the most common questions candidates are getting asked.

3 Reasons to Interview for a Job You Don't Want

In an economy in which full-time opportunities are scarce, many job seekers have adopted a "take what you can get" attitude, accepting any interview they're offered in the hopes of landing a position rather than holding out for their dream job. "Describe your strengths and what you bring to the table, but also ask a lot of questions about what the employer is looking for in a candidate to fill the position."

Ancient Roman Infanticide Didn't Spare Either Sex, DNA Suggests

A new look at a cache of baby bones discovered in Britain is altering assumptions about why ancient Romans committed infanticide. "Very often, societies have preferred male offspring, so when they practice infanticide, it tends to be the male babies that are kept, and the female babies that are killed," said study researcher Simon Mays, a skeletal biologist for English Heritage, a non-governmental organization that protects historic sites. Though ancient Romans indeed preferred boys, there is no evidence they went as far as infanticide to skew the sex ratio, Mays told LiveScience. Mays and his colleagues used a technique called ancient DNA analysis to study infant bones found at a site called Yewden Villa, near Hambleden, in England.

Body's Response to Disease Has a Smell, Study Suggest

Humans may be able to smell sickness, or at least detect a distinct odor in the sweat of people with highly active immune systems who are responding to infection, a new study from Sweden suggests. In the study, eight healthy people were injected with either lipopolysaccharide, a bacterial toxin that produces a strong immune response, or with salt water (which wasn't expected to have any effect).

Cosmic Lens Caught Bending Bright Gamma-Ray Burst, a Space First

A telescope in space has captured a rare kind of cosmic allignment for the first time. NASA's Fermi telescope has captured the first gamma-ray measurements of a gravitational lens, a rare natural alignment in which a massive body distorts light from a more distant object. A team of international astronomers used the observatory to study the emission from one galaxy as its energetic emissions passed through another spiral galaxy on their way toward Earth. Fermi itself could even serve to identify more of these rare natural telescopes.

NASA Flooded with Ideas for 2020 Mars Rover Science Gear

NASA has received a whopping 58 science-instrument proposals for its next Mars rover, which is slated to launch in 2020 to search for signs of past Red Planet life. The proposals are double the usual number submitted during such instrument competitions, NASA officials said. We truly appreciate this overwhelming response by the worldwide science and technical community and are humbled by the support and enthusiasm for this unique mission," John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science, said in a statement. "We fully expect to be able to select an instrument suite that will return exciting science and advance space exploration at Mars," he added.

Grand Canyon's Age? A Mix As Wild As the West

The Colorado River took the easy route when it carved the Grand Canyon through Arizona's ruddy sandstones and pastel limestones, a new study claims. "I think the Colorado River found low places and paleocanyons and ancient topographies that led to the Grand Canyon," said Karl Karlstrom, lead study author and a geologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. But the study may do little to resolve the heated debate over the age of the Grand Canyon. For the past year, Karlstrom and others have stridently attacked work published Nov. 29, 2012, in the journal Science that suggested the westernmost Grand Canyon was 70 million years old.

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