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Saturday, January 31, 2015

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Scientists abandon highly publicized claim about cosmic find

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists who made headlines last March by announcing that they'd found long-sought evidence about the early universe are now abandoning that claim.

Evidence for Cosmic Inflation Theory Bites the (Space) Dust

Two groups of scientists announced today (Jan. 30) that a tantalizing signal — which some scientists claimed was "smoking gun" evidence of dramatic cosmic expansion just after the birth of the universe — was actually caused by something much more mundane: interstellar dust. In the cosmic inflation announcement, which was unveiled in March 2014, scientists with the BICEP2 experiment, claimed to have found patterns in light left over from the Big Bang that indicated that space had rapidly inflated at the beginning of the universe, about 13.8 billion years ago. But in a statement today, scientists with the European Space Agency said that data from the agency's Planck space observatory has revealed that interstellar dust caused more than half of the signal detected by the Antarctica-based BICEP2 experiment. "Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm that the signal is an imprint of cosmic inflation," Jean-Loup Puget, principal investigator of the HFI instrument on Planck at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay, France, said in the statement.

Americans Will Vote for Climate-Loving Politicians, New Poll Suggests

Most Americans support government action to combat the effects of global warming and will likely vote for candidates who put forth a promising stance on environmental issues, a new poll has found. The telephone poll — conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and the nonpartisan environmental research group Resources for the Future — surveyed 1,006 adults across the nation from Jan. 7 to 22. Participants were asked questions such as whether they think climate change is human-caused, if global warming is perceived as a serious threat and if they have strong opinions on the matter. Respondents were also probed about government-related issues, including whether they think the government should limit greenhouse gases and how a candidate's opinion on climate change affects their vote.

NASA satellite to map soil moisture poised for launch

An unmanned Delta 2 rocket is being prepared for launch on Saturday to put a NASA satellite into orbit that is expected to improve drought monitoring and flooding forecasts. The 127-foot-tall (39-metre) rocket, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:20 a.m. PST (1420 GMT). Launch originally was planned for Thursday but was delayed 24 hours due to high winds, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, postponed the flight for one more day so that technicians could repair insulation on the rocket that had become detached during Thursday's launch attempt.

Mars Fossils? Curiosity Rover Team Questions Report on Potential Microbe Traces

Scientists on the Curiosity team have brought into question a recent report about potential trace fossils in the NASA Mars rover's images of the Gillespie rock outcrop. Astrobiology Magazine reached out to the team and to the study's author for further comments. In a paper published last month in the journal Astrobiology, geobiologist Nora Noffke drew attention to features in Martian rocks that she suggested bore striking resemblance to trace fossils of microbial mats on Earth. As Curiosity's project scientist Ashwin Vasavada explained to other news outlets (including Space.com), the team had evaluated the features as non-biological, likely having been shaped by erosion or the transport of sand in water.

Super Bowl in Space: Astronauts May Watch the Big Game in Orbit

When more than 100 million people on Earth tune in for the Super Bowl kick-off this Sunday, NASA's astronauts in space will probably be sleeping. But two the American astronauts living and working on the International Space Station are football fans, and at least one of them says he hopes to wake up in time to see the end of the Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots or the Seattle Seahawks. "Regrettably, our bedtime, or at least my bed time is quite early," the station's commander, NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, said in an interview with reporters earlier this week. There are no microwaves or ovens on the space station, and definitely no grills.

Fugitive Shipwreck Hunter Captured After 2 Years on the Lam

Tommy Thompson — a famous shipwreck hunter who located a Gold Rush-era wreck, and then became embroiled in a long legal drama over the spoils — has been captured in Florida after more than two years in hiding. "I haven't been out of Florida since 2005 because I'm sensitive to materials that are north," Thompson said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Who's Who? Centuries-Old Owl Mix-Up Fixed

Once mistaken for another species of owl, the golden-eyed "desert tawny owl" is now finally getting its due. In a new report, researchers examined the plumage and body shape of owl specimens from museums around the world that had previously been thought to be members of a species called Hume's owl. The researchers also analyzed the owls' mitochondrial DNA, and found it was about 10 percent different from that of the Hume's owl, which is properly known as species Strix butleri. "We reinvestigated it using all techniques available to us, and realized — especially based on the fact that there were massive genetic differences between Hume's type and specimens from elsewhere — that it was pretty obvious that there were two species involved," said Guy Kirwan, a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and co-author of the new report.

Quantum Experiment Helps Prove Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Building a quantum computer can sometimes yield unexpected benefits — like providing the right environment to demonstrate that Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity is, in fact, correct. The experiment used partially entangled atoms that were a byproduct of an attempt to build quantum computers. Special relativity is a cornerstone of modern physics, and was formulated by Einstein in 1905. Since relativity says the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, space should look the same in every direction, no matter what.

NASA Launches Satellite to Get the Dirt on Earth's Dirt

NASA launched its newest Earth-observing mission Saturday (Jan. 31), sending a satellite to the ultimate height to study the dirt below our feet. The space agency's new Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) satellite successfully launched to space atop an unmanned United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California at 9:22 a.m. EST (1422 GMT). SMAP is designed to map the moisture levels in topsoil around the world to help scientist better predict droughts, floods and other weather factors. The spacecraft soared into space and deployed its solar arrays after a flawless launch, NASA officials said.

Rocket blasts off with NASA satellite to track climate change

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 2 rocket lifted off from California on Saturday carrying a NASA satellite to measure how much water is in Earth's soil, information that will help weather forecasting and tracking of global climate change. The tiny amount of soil moisture links the planet's overall environmental systems – its water, energy and carbon cycles - as well as determines whether particular regions are afflicted with drought or flooding. "It's the metabolism of the system," NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory lead scientist Dara Entekhabi told reporters at a prelaunch news conference.

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Friday, January 30, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Evolution Deniers Believe in 'Smorgasbord' of Science

Well-educated religious people are just as scientifically literate as their more secular counterparts — yet most still overwhelmingly reject theories of human evolution and the Big Bang, new research finds. These well-educated believers have positive views of science, in general, and understand the scientific method, but selectively reject certain theories that conflict with their religious beliefs, said study lead author Timothy O'Brien, a sociologist at the University of Evansville in Indiana. "Folks are taking almost like a cafeteria approach or a smorgasbord approach," O'Brien told Live Science.

Rare Red Fox Reappears in Yosemite Park

The elusive and rare Sierra Nevada red fox has been spotted in Yosemite National Park for the first time in nearly a century, park officials said yesterday (Jan. 28). The cameras were set up by wildlife biologists hoping to spot the red fox and the Pacific fisher, Yosemite National Park's rarest mammals. The ongoing study is funded by the Yosemite Conservancy. There hasn't been a verified sighting of the Sierra Nevada red fox inside Yosemite National Park since 1916, said Ben Sacks, director of the University of California, Davis Veterinary School's Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit.

Poll finds gaping chasm in views between U.S. public, scientists

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American scientists and the general public hold vastly different views on key scientific issues including the role of people in causing climate change, the safety of genetically modified food, and evolution, a poll released on Thursday showed. Eighty-seven percent of scientists questioned by the Pew Research Center said human activity was the main cause of global climate change, compared with 50 percent of the public. The issue has become increasing divisive, with some leading conservatives expressing doubt that human activity like the burning of fossils fuels that release greenhouse gases is driving a global warming trend. There was an even bigger chasm over genetically modified foods, with 88 percent of the scientists saying they were safe to eat, compared with 37 percent of the public.

Scientist-Artist Ed Belbruno Stars in Award-Winning Film

This story is a central part of the new documentary, and it's a good example of the ways that art and science intertwine in Belbruno's life – a life that is both unexpected and sometimes unexplainable. Director Jacob Okada, along with producers Adam Morrow and Carylanna Taylor, say they are planning a public release of the film in April. "Painting the Way to the Moon" features interviews with leading astrophysicists who speak highly of Ed Belbruno's scientific work on ballistic orbits (meaning those that use only gravity, rather than fuel, to move around the solar system). From 1985 to 1990, Ed Belbruno was a mathematician working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

US Spike in Measles Cases Due to People Skipping Vaccinations

The sharp rise in measles cases in the U.S. is due to some people not being vaccinated against the disease, officials say. This is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The CDC is continuing to investigate the outbreak of measles that began at Disneyland in California.

U.S. proposes effort to analyze DNA from 1 million people

By Toni Clarke and Sharon Begley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has proposed analyzing genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers as part of a new initiative to understand human disease and develop medicines targeted to an individual's genetic make-up. At the heart of the initiative, to be announced on Friday by President Barack Obama, is the creation of a pool of people - healthy and ill, men and women, old and young - who would be studied to learn how genetic variants affect health and disease. The near-term goal is to create more and better treatments for cancer, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

Asteroid Miners May Get Help from Metal-Munching Microbes

Asteroid mining may become a multispecies affair. The asteroid-mining firm Deep Space Industries (DSI) is investigating the feasibility of injecting bioengineered microbes into space rocks far from Earth, to get a jump on processing their valuable resources. "You could come back [to the asteroids] in 10 to 20 years and have a preprocessed pile of materials," Joseph Grace, of DSI and NASA's Ames Research Center, told Space.com last month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. Over time, the microbes — genetically engineered to process metals efficiently — would break down harmful compounds within the asteroid and/or transform resources into different chemical states that are more amenable to extraction.

UK to launch 100,000 genomes project as Obama backs DNA drive

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Gene research is getting a boost on both sides of the Atlantic, with scientists in England set to launch a project on Feb. 2 to analyse 100,000 entire human genomes and U.S. President Barack Obama backing a big new DNA data drive. Obama will announce the U.S. plan to analyse genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers on Friday as a central part of an initiative to promote so-called precision medicine, officials said. The 100,000 genomes project in England, meanwhile, was first unveiled by the British government two years ago -- but the 11 centres charged with collecting samples will only begin full-scale recruitment from next week. Such large-scale genomic research has become possible because the cost of genome sequencing has plummeted in recent years to around $1,000 per genome.

UK to launch 100,000 genomes project as Obama backs DNA drive

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Gene research is getting a boost on both sides of the Atlantic, with scientists in England set to launch a project on Feb. 2 to analyze 100,000 entire human genomes and U.S. President Barack Obama backing a big new DNA data drive. Obama will announce the U.S. plan to analyze genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers on Friday as a central part of an initiative to promote so-called precision medicine, officials said. The 100,000 genomes project in England, meanwhile, was first unveiled by the British government two years ago -- but the 11 centers charged with collecting samples will only begin full-scale recruitment from next week. Such large-scale genomic research has become possible because the cost of genome sequencing has plummeted in recent years to around $1,000 per genome.

Could Super Bowl Outcome Be Influenced By Biological Clocks?

Football fans, take note: The outcome of this weekend's Super Bowl, along with other major sporting events, may depend on whether the players are night owls or early birds, a new study suggests. "Even 1 percent makes the difference between winning a race and losing it," said Roland Brandstaetter, a biologist at the University of Birmingham in England and co-author of the study published today (Jan. 29) in the journal Current Biology. The findings could have big implications for the timing of major sporting events, and how athletes train for them, the researchers said. Previous studies have always found that athletes perform their personal best in the evening, but nobody considered body-clock types properly, Brandstaetter told Live Science.

Lightning Electrifies Cyclone's Eye in Dramatic Space Photo

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this jaw-dropping photo on Jan. 12, at the exact moment when lightning struck the eye of Cyclone Bansi. The International Space Station was passing east of Madagascar as the cyclone churned below over the Southern Indian Ocean. Cyclone Bansi's eye extended 20 to 40 miles (32 to 64 kilometers) across before it hit the so-called eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms.

Electric vs. Fuel Cell Vehicles: 'Green' Auto Tech Explained

Battery-powered electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have both seen advances in their development, and one or both of these technologies may represent the future of "green" automobiles. Both technologies offer a cleaner alternative to internal combustion engines, and both use electric motors powered by electrochemical devices. For one, electric vehicles use energy stored in a battery, whereas fuel cell vehicles have stored fuel that reacts to produce energy. Whereas conventional vehicles burn fuel in an internal combustion engine, battery-powered electric vehicles don't have an engine.

Libyan Archaeology Threatened by Years of Conflict

When war erupted in Libya in early 2011, Savino di Lernia and several other Italian archaeologists were stranded in the Sahara Desert. They had been studying Libya's prehistory at the Messak plateau in the southwest corner of Libya, which is home to some of the world's oldest rock art. At first, di Lernia and many of his colleagues were optimistic about the future of archaeology in Libya after years of neglect under dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Years after the conflict began, Libya is still unstable.

Birdbrains? Hardly: Baby Chicks Know How to Count

Scientists found that chicks seem to count upwards moving from left to right — they put smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right, the same mental representation of the number line that humans use. "Our results suggest a rethinking of the relationship between numerical abilities and verbal language, providing further evidence that language and culture are not necessary for the development of a mathematical cognition," said study lead author Rosa Rugani, a psychologist at the University of Padova in Italy.

What Makes Bill Gates Feel Stupid

Bill Gates built the world's largest software company, and with his billions, he's also become one of the world's most prolific philanthropists. Studies have shown that learning a new language is good for the brain, and some evidence even suggests it might help stave off Alzheimer's disease.

5 New Species of 'Shimmering' Goblin Spider Discovered

Five new species of tiny, shimmering spiders have been discovered in Madagascar, according to a new study. In the study, researchers looked at 326 spider specimens they had previously collected in Madagascar over the course of a few years. "It is a remarkable discovery — a genus comprising a number of species previously unknown to science, unknown to the world," said study author Charles E. Griswold, curator of arachnology at California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. One of the features that distinguishes the members of the new genus from other goblin spiders is the glistening appearance of their miniscule abdomens.

In Boston and Aurora, Jurors May Risk Mental Health for Justice

In Massachusetts and Colorado right now, thousands of ordinary citizens are answering jury summons, undergoing screenings that will decide if they will sit on the panels that will determine the fate of two young accused killers.

Gorgeous Comet Lovejoy Makes Closest Approach to Sun

The beautiful, green-hued Comet Lovejoy made its closest approach to the sun early Friday morning (Jan. 30) and should put on a dazzling show for skywatchers in another week or so. Comet Lovejoy— known officially as C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) — came within 120 million miles (193 million kilometers) of the sun in Friday's wee hours, or about 1.3 times the Earth-sun distance. The moon will get out of the way beginning on the night of Feb. 5, however, allowing stargazers under dark skies to appreciate Comet Lovejoy in all its green-tinged glory — through binoculars for sure, and perhaps even with the naked eye.

Adidas Launching New Sneakers Inspired by Historic NASA Spacesuits

Aspiring astronauts take note: If you have ever desired to take a "space walk," Adidas will soon have the sneakers for you. The German sports outfitter is set to launch two new pairs of trainers that feature the look and feel of NASA's historic spacesuits this summer. "Inspired by vintage astronaut suits and backpacks, [with] molded and machined details similar to authentic [NASA] closures, zippers and straps are added," Adidas described in a statement. With names like "Response Trail Robot" and "Ozweego Robot," the astronaut-appropriate sports shoes incorporate design elements from NASA's pressurized garments.

New Peanut Allergy Treatment Shows Promise

Children with peanut allergies who tried a new treatment involving probiotics wound up being able to eat peanuts without suffering an allergic reaction, a new study from Australia says. However, there is reason to be cautious about the study's results, said Dr. Donald Leung, head of pediatric allergy and immunology at National Jewish Health hospital in Denver, who was not involved in the study. In the study, about 30 children under age 10 with a peanut allergy were given increasing amounts of peanut protein along with a dose of probiotics (or "good" bacteria) each day, over the course of 18 months. A second group of 30 children with the same allergies received a placebo (or "dummy pills") for 18 months, although doctors and patients involved in the study did not know which children received which treatment.

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Impaired intracellular trafficking defines early Parkinson's disease

PD is a common neurodegenerative disease characterised by insidious deterioration of motor control, often associated with mood, sleep, and cognitive disturbances [1]. Over 1% of all people over the age of 65 suffer from PD [2]. Similarly to other neurodegenerative diseases, age is a key risk factor and by 2030, an estimated 9 million people worldwide will be living with PD [3]. PD carries a significant economic cost, including direct and indirect health care costs, and lost productivity [4], estimated annually at £500 million per year in the UK, and $6 billion in the USA [5,6].

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