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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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These NASA Photos of Space Station Crew Landing Are Simply Amazing

NASA captured some amazing photos of three International Space Station crewmembers returning to Earth after a 167-day space mission. A second photo shows the sun backlighting both the Soyuz and the clouds as the spacecraft gently descends under a parachute towards its landing site in Kazakhstan. The shots were taken by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls, who regularly journeys to Kazakhstan to capture crew landings.

SpaceX says boosting output, on track for 13 rocket launches this year

By Andrea Shalal and Irene Klotz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is rapidly increasing production of the engines that power its Falcon 9 rocket and expects to meet its target of 13 launches and two test flights this year, President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters. SpaceX, the technology upstart founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is stepping up hiring of engineers and other workers to help boost production, including many from other sectors such as the automotive industry and the military, company officials said. This year, the company expects to produce at least 180 engines, with that number set to increase to 240 next year, and 400 in 2017, Shotwell told Reuters in an interview late last week. Shotwell said increasing production put the company on track to complete 13 launches this year.

China to open moon exploration program to private firms

The Chinese government will open up its ambitious moon exploration program to private companies rather than simply relying on the state-owned sector as before, hoping to boost technological breakthroughs, a major newspaper said on Tuesday. The next mission to the moon, to be carried out by the Chang'e 4 probe in the next two years or so, will serve as a platform "for technological research and development, product tests as well as data application" for private companies, the official China Daily said, citing a government statement. "The move will help break the monopoly in the space field, accelerate technological innovation, reduce the government's investment and improve efficiency," added the statement, released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, which oversees the space program. The English-language newspaper cited an unnamed source as saying China should learn from the example of the United States, which has shown the "obvious" benefits of private enterprise getting involved.

Cervantes remains found in Madrid convent, investigators believe

Investigators said on Tuesday they believe remains found under a Madrid convent include those of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of "Don Quixote" and considered the father of the modern novel. "Everything coincides to lead us to believe that Cervantes is there," forensics export Francisco Etxeberria told a news conference. Investigators may never be able to guarantee with absolute certainty that it was his body, Exteberria added, even though DNA tests are to be carried out. Cervantes - whose masterpiece about an errant, daydreaming knight and his faithful servant Sancho Panza has delighted readers around the world - had requested to be buried in the convent.

Oldest Roman Fort Protected Soldiers from 'Infamous Pirates'

Using airborne laser scanners, researchers have discovered ancient fortifications in Italy that make up the oldest known Roman military camp, where soldiers may have fought pirates more than 2,000 years ago. This camp may help reveal clues about how the Romans developed their army, and the structures might have served as the foundations of the modern Italian city of Trieste, the researchers said in the new study. A key factor behind the strength of the Roman army was the art of building orderly military camps. The origin of the Roman military camp remains unclear, the researchers said.

Zodiacal Light and Meteors Light Up the Night (Photo)

The ghostly zodiacal light offers an ethereal glow to this stunning night sky scene peppered by meteors as seen by a veteran night sky photographer observing in Florida. Photographer Jeffrey Berkes capturd this striking night sky image while visiting the Florida Keys in 2012 and recent shared it with Space.com. "I captured 2 quadrantid meteors in this 30-second exposure. To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

17-Million-Year-Old Whale Skull Helps Place Humanity's First Steps

A 17-million-year-old beaked whale fossil is helping researchers solve a puzzle about the likely birthplace of humanity in East Africa, a new study finds. The whale (Ziphiidae) lived when the East African plateau was substantially lower and covered by dense forests, the researchers said. Scientists have long tried to figure out when the uplift occurred, because when it did, the moisture from the Indian Ocean could no longer reach the trees and vegetation, and the area turned into a savannah, research suggests. Extinct ancestors to modern humans may have lived in trees in East Africa, but after the area turned into grassland, these early humans gradually began walking on two feet, researchers suggest.

Bacterial Paintings? New Art Uses Tiny Life Forms

More and more artists are harnessing living creatures to make political statements or illuminate the underpinnings of the modern world, researchers said here Friday (March 13) at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival. The urge to turn life into other things is ancient, said Daniel Grushkin, a freelance journalist and co-founder of Genspace, a community laboratory in New York City. Life imitates art? The artwork highlights the fact that there are trillions of bacteria in our body, said Wythe Marschall, a doctoral candidate in the history of science at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cough Medicine Ingredient May Aid Diabetes Fight

An ingredient in many over-the-counter cough suppressants seems to improve the release of insulin in humans, a discovery that may lead to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes. Doctors at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, found that the drug dextromethorphan increased the release of insulin from the pancreas in a series of studies conducted first in mice, then in human pancreatic tissue samples, and then in a small sample of people with diabetes. Dextromethorphan, often indicated by the letters DM on the labels of cold medications, has few serious side effects, particularly in comparison to the current arsenal of drugs used to treat people with Type 2 diabetes, the researchers noted. Type 2 diabetes affects about 350 million people globally, according to the World Health Organization.

Diet Soda Linked to Increased Belly Fat in Older Adults

Older adults who drink diet soda may experience greater increases in their waist size over a decade than those who do not drink diet soda, according to a new study. Researchers found that the average increase in waist circumference among the people in the study who drank diet soda daily was more than triple that of the people who did not drink diet soda. Among the people who drank diet soda only occasionally, the increase was more than double that of those who did not drink diet soda. "The more people drank diet sodas, the more their waistlines expanded," said study author Sharon Fowler, a researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Powdered Alcohol Is Now Legal — But Is It Safe?

Lawmakers are expressing concern that Palcohol could be more easily transported than liquid alcohol, and thus sneaked into places where alcohol is not allowed. "There are very serious concerns about the illegal use of powdered alcohol by young people, possibly even bringing it into schools or other events and locations that prohibit alcohol consumption," New York State Senator Joseph Griffo, said in a statement last year. But a packet of Palcohol is much harder to conceal" than liquid alcohol, the company making Palcohol says on its website. A packet of the substance measures 4 inches by 6 inches (10.2 centimeters by 15.2 cm), which is five times bigger than a 50-milliliter (1.7 ounces) bottle of liquid alcohol.

Aspirin's colon-cancer benefits backfire for some DNA types: study

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Although numerous studies have shown that regular use of aspirin or related drugs can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by about 30 percent, scientists have found an important exception: The medicines can actually increase the risk in people with certain genetic variants, new research shows. The result, published on Tuesday, is yet another step on the road to "precision medicine," which aims to match treatments to patients' genetic make-up. If confirmed, it could alter recommendations for preventing colorectal cancer, which is projected to kill 49,700 people in the United States this year. In an editorial accompanying a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Richard Wender of the American Cancer Society and Thomas Jefferson University called the discovery "scientifically noteworthy." "I anticipate the time when genome sequencing to determine a lifelong (colorectal-cancer) prevention and screening strategy is a reality, although it's some time off," he said in an interview.

Aspirin's colon-cancer benefits backfire for some DNA types - study

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Monday, March 16, 2015

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Horse dung has scientists on scent of antibiotic success

Chemists around the world are involved in a race against time to find a solution to the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. It's a major threat to the health of the global population, which had long assumed that antibiotics would always be available to cure bacterial illness. The scientific community hopes to be able to develop a new range of antibiotics to replace those that are increasingly losing their ability to work against infections like Tuberculosis (TB). A research team led by Markus Aebi, Professor of Mycology at ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich), believe they may have found the answer.

When Will Virtual-Reality Headsets Stop Making People Sick?

From the Oculus Rift headsets to the new HTC Vive, virtual-reality devices will soon be flooding the gaming market. Companies have long known that virtual-reality headsets, 3D movies and related types of technology can cause "cybersickness," which has symptoms similar to motion sickness. In the real world, a person processes input from multiple senses that are all in perfect agreement, said Mayank Mehta, a neuroscientist at UCLA who studies how VR affects the brains of rats. Perhaps the best-known virtual-reality product on the horizon is the Oculus Rift headset, made by Facebook-owned Oculus VR, a company based in Irvine, California.

Superconductors Could Help Physicists Find 'Gravity Particles'

It may be possible to draw energy from a vacuum using gravity, a theoretical physicist says. "The most exciting thing about these results is that they can be tested with current technology," study author James Quach, a theoretical physicist at the University of Tokyo, told Live Science. Showing that gravitons exist would help scientists who have long sought to develop a "theory of everything" that can describe the workings of the cosmos in its entirety. Whereas quantum mechanics can explain the behavior of all the known particles, general relativity describes the nature of space-time and gravity.

Ancient Receipt Proves Egyptian Taxes Were Worse Than Yours

But just how much was 90 talents worth in ancient Egypt? Instead people made up the sum using coins that were worth varying amounts of drachma. It "would have taken 150 of these coins to make a talent, and 13,500 of them to equal 90 talents," Lorber told Live Science in an email. What likely happened is that one or more tax farmers (people charged with collecting certain types of taxes) got 90 talents' worth of coins from the individuals paying this tax, the researchers said.

Coral Pyramids in Micronesia Date Back to Middle Ages

The royal tombs are tucked away in an artificially built ancient city called Leluh just off the mainland of Kosrae, a Micronesian island. Leluh was home to Kosraean high chiefs (as well as some lower chiefs and commoners, too) from about 1250 until the mid-1800s, when foreign whalers, traders and missionaries started to arrive on the island. With impressive canals and walled compounds built from basalt, Leluh is often considered a companion city to the more famous Micronesian settlement of Nan Madol, on the nearby island of Pohnpei. While the tiny islets of Nan Madol were built on top of a coral reef, at Leluh, coral was actually incorporated into the construction material of many buildings, including the royal tombs.

Forged in a Flash: Volcanic Lightning Forms Glass Balls

Inside towering clouds of volcanic ash, stunning lightning storms can create tiny crystal balls, a new study reports. Researchers recently discovered smooth glass spheres in ash from explosive volcanic eruptions. Kimberly Genareau, a volcanologist at the University of Alabama, first spotted the orbs while scanning ash from Alaska's 2009 Mount Redoubt eruption with a powerful microscope. Both volcanoes blasted out billowing ash clouds that triggered spectacular displays of volcanic lightning.

Will the Apple Watch Catch On?

Apple's newest product — the souped-up timepiece called the Apple Watch — is bound to become a cultural phenomenon that millions of people will buy, according to marketing experts not affiliated with the company. "It's got the Apple name and mystique behind it," said Scott Thorne, a marketing professor at Southeast Missouri State University in Jefferson City. "I'm not sure if it will be quite the game-changer that, say, the iPhone was, because it's really hard to capture the proverbial lightning in the bottle twice," Thorne told Live Science. Samsung, LG, Pebble, Asus and other manufacturers already produce smartwatches, most of which cost far less than even the lowest-priced Apple Watch, and these other devices have failed to catch on.

Chilean Volcano Coated in Ash After Eruption, New Images Show

New images of the recent eruption of one of Chile's most active volcanoes reveal how powerful blasts of lava and ash blanketed the mountain's side with volcanic material. The Villarrica volcano erupted in the early morning hours of March 3, 2015, forcing thousands of people to evacuate the region, according to reports from Chile's National Geology and Mining Service. Two NASA satellites snapped photos of the volcano, one before and one after the eruption. In the first image, snow surrounds the volcano, but in the second, a large amount of volcanic material, called tephra, coats the volcano's eastern side.

Confirmed: Disneyland Measles Outbreak Linked to Low Vaccination Rates

Low vaccination rates are likely responsible for the large measles outbreak that began at Disneyland in California last December, a new analysis suggests. The researchers estimated that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rate among the people who were exposed to measles in that outbreak may be as low as 50 percent, and is likely no higher than 86 percent. Since the beginning of this year, 127 cases of measles in the United Stateshave been linked to the Disneyland outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because measles is such a highly contagious virus, vaccination rates of 96 percent to 99 percent are necessary to prevent outbreaks, Majumder said.

Seven strategies for keeping women in STEM fields

Now an academic panel has developed a seven-point plan for achieving gender equity in so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. The 28-member Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering Working Group hopes to "ensure that women not just enter science, but remain, compete, and truly excel in scientific careers." Women account for half the college-educated American workforce but only 28 percent of science and engineering workers, according to the National Science Board. Susan Solomon, CEO of the New York Stem Cell Foundation, who convened the panel, says STEM fields are too critical to leave behind half the nation's brainpower. Co-author Paola Arlotta, a Harvard University professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, won such an award at Massachusetts General Hospital, where the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award helps sustain research productivity during child-rearing years.

Total Solar Eclipse of 2015 Occurs This Week: How to See It

This week, the moon will completely cover the disk of the sun, creating a solar eclipse that only a small part of the world can see. The shadow will then pass over the Danish-owned Faroe Islands, the sparsely inhabited Norwegian island group of Svalbard and then it will hook counterclockwise toward the northwest, where it leaves the Earth's surface just short of the North Pole. If you don't have the chance to see the solar eclipse in person, you can catch it live online as well. The Faroes are an island group consisting of 18 major islands with a total area of approximately 540 square miles (1,400 square kilometers) and a population of almost 50,000 people.

XCOR Aerospace Picks Ex-Air Force Official as New CEO

The private spaceflight company XCOR Aerospace is getting a new CEO. Representatives with XCOR Aerospace — the company responsible for developing the Lynx space plane — announced today (March 16) that John "Jay" Gibson will lead the commercial spaceflight company. The former CEO, Jeff Greason, will remain with the company as chief technology officer and focus on helping to develop Lynx and other projects, according to XCOR. "After a thorough search for the ideal candidate, we decided on Jay Gibson," Greason said in a statement.

Yeti Debate Swirls: Study Reveals Origin of Mysterious Hairs

The yeti, a legendary shaggy, bipedal beast from the Himalayas, made headlines last year when a geneticist said he had solved the mystery of its origins. "There is essentially no reason to believe that they [the hairs] belong to a species other than the brown bear," said one the new study's researchers, Eliécer Gutiérrez, a postdoctoral fellow of evolutionary biology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

El Niño Can Predict Tornado Season's Severity

This year's El Niño may not only bring a bit of drought relief to parched Western states, but also could deliver a quiet tornado season, a new study finds. Much of the southeastern United States faces a lower risk of tornadoes during El Niño years, the new research shows. The effects are strongest in Oklahoma, Arkansas and northern Texas. Damaging hail is also less likely during a strong El Niño, researchers report today (March 16) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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Saturday, March 14, 2015

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Mars Rover Curiosity Hits the Road Again After Short Circuit

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is back in action for the first time after suffering a glitch late last month. The 1-ton Curiosity rover transferred powdered rock sample from its robotic arm to an analytical instrument on its body on Wednesday (March 11), and then drove about 33 feet (10 meters) toward the southwest on Thursday (March 12), NASA officials said. Curiosity had been stationary since Feb. 27, when it experienced a short circuit while attempting to transfer the sample, which the rover had collected from a rock dubbed Telegraph Peak. "That precious Telegraph Peak sample had been sitting in the arm, so tantalizingly close, for two weeks.

SpaceX sees U.S. approval for rocket launches by June

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies expects the U.S. Air Force to certify it to compete to launch national security satellites by June, President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters on Friday. Shotwell said the company's relationship with the Air Force was better than ever after the two sides in January settled a lawsuit filed by SpaceX. SpaceX, founded by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, had accused the Air Force of dragging its feet in ending the current launch monopoly held by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. Air Force and Pentagon officials credit SpaceX with energizing the government rocket launch market and pushing ULA to lower its prices, even before the privately held company has been certified to compete for rocket launches.

Celebrate Pi Day of the Century with NASA Math Challenge

Who said math couldn't be fun? In honor of the Pi Day of the century, 3.1415 (March 4, 2015), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has created a dizzying math challenge. Hint: every solution will use the mathematical constant pi: the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.

Pi, Anyone? The Secret to Memorizing Tens of Thousands of Digits

This year, the event is even more special because, for the first time in a century, the date will represent the first five digits of pi: 3.14.15. The current Guinness World Record is held by Lu Chao of China, who, in 2005, recited 67,890 digits of pi. For many of these memory champions, the ability "to remember huge numbers of random digits, such as pi, is something they train themselves to do over a long period of time," said Eric Legge, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Math Nerds Celebrate 'Pi Day of the Century' at SXSW Festival

The date and time spelled the first 10 digits of pi: 3.141592653. Revelers here at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival celebrated the event with free mini-pi(e)s, selfies with giant pi symbols, and a countdown to the big moment. Though we all know the famous number as pi, it was actually only given its dessert-sounding name about 300 years ago, when William Jones, a Welsh mathematician, began initially using the symbol π in a mathematical textbook in 1711 to refer to the perimeter of a circle. This morning, as the time approached, Stephen Wolfram, founder and CEO of Illinois-based software company Wolfram Research, explained some of the history of the ancient number.

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