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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

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Amy's Kitchen Recall: Some Products May Be Contaminated with Listeria

The organic food company Amy's Kitchen is recalling a number of its frozen food products because the spinach in them may be contaminated with Listeria bacteria, according to a press release from the company. Amy's Kitchen said it was notified by one of its suppliers that some of the spinach the company received may have been contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. The company said it is so far not aware of anyone becoming sick after eating one of the recalled products. A full list of recalled products, along with their UPC codes, can be found on the Food and Drug Administration's website.

U.S., SpaceX focus on second stage engine to wrap up certification

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Monday it was on track to certify privately held SpaceX to launch U.S. military and spy satellites by June, with the final efforts focused on qualifying the second stage engine and structure of its Falcon 9 rocket. The Air Force said it had worked closely with Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to map out the "relatively small amount of work" that needs to be done before completing the certification process. Once certified, SpaceX will be allowed to compete for some of the launches now carried out solely by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, the two largest U.S. weapons makers. Officials also are looking at contamination control as they wrap up the SpaceX certification process, the Air Force said.

'Cereal Fibers' May Help You Live Longer

Whole grains are known to be good for you, but it may be the part of those grains that researchers call "cereal fiber" that is particularly important for reducing the risk the risk of disease and early death, a new study suggests. People in the group that consumed the most whole grains were 17 percent less likely to die over a 14-year period, compared with those who ate the least amount of whole grains. But the people who consumed the most cereal fiber were 19 percent less likely to die during the study period, compared with those who ate the least cereal fiber. The results "indicate that intake of whole grains and cereal fiber may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and death from chronic diseases," the researchers said.

Car-Size Salamander with Toilet-Seat Head Ruled Ancient Rivers

An international team of scientists found several skulls and various other bones — including those of the arm, shoulder and backbone of the amphibian, now called Metoposaurus algarvensis — in an ancient lake bed in southern Portugal. This creature, along with most metoposaurids and half of Earth's species, died out at the end of the Triassic period, about 201 million years ago.

From Rocket Science to Low Rider: Former Engineer Builds Adult Big Wheels

Now, a Big Wheel-style bike is available for adults, thanks to the work of a former aerospace engineer. As a kid, Matt Armbruster dreamed of being an astronaut. It may not seem quite as noble as building things that expand humanity's understanding of the universe, but Armbruster said the power of these trikes — which look like adult-size versions of the Marx Big Wheel for kids — is something to behold. "The original Marx Big Wheel was kind of like the best toy ever for entire generations," Armbruster said.

How Real-Life AI Rivals 'Ex Machina': Passing Turing

From the Turing-bashing "Ex Machina" to old friends R2-D2 and C-3PO, and new enemies like the Avengers' Ultron, sentient robots will demonstrate a number of human and superhuman traits on-screen. In this five-part series Live Science looks at these made-for-the-movies advances in machine intelligence. The Turing test, a foundational method of AI evaluation, shapes the plot of April's sci-fi/psychological thriller "Ex Machina." But real-life systems can already, in some sense, pass the test. In fact, some experts say AI advances have made the Turing test obsolete.

Robot racing sparks scientific enthusiasm in U.S. students

The robots, designed by student teams at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will be racing a lineup ranging from commercial available machines weighing hundreds of pounds to remote control cars jerry-rigged by teenage hobbyists. The 100-meter out-and-back course, where the robots will accept a cup full of confetti at the turnaround, has no ambitions of attracting competitors on par with those in the U.S. Defense Department-funded Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge, where some of the world's top minds in the field will show off creations that cost tens of millions of dollars. Rather, the competition sponsored by robotics company Vecna Technologies is part of a growing breed of lower-key robot races sprouting up across the United States that experts contend could play a powerful role in attracting young students into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I'm all for it," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate professor Russ Tedrake, who helped lead the school's fourth-place DARPA team in 2014.

Huge Underwater Canyon Is Home to Amazing Deep-Sea Creatures

A two-week-long seafaring mission off the coast of western Australia has helped illuminate a deep and dark underwater abyss the size of the Grand Canyon. During the trip to Perth Canyon, researchers encountered countless deep-sea organisms, including Venus flytrap anemones and golden coral. They then used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore the underwater canyon, which extends from the continental shelf for more than 2.5 miles (4 km) to the ocean floor. Back then, it appears that an ancient river cut the canyon during rifting that separated western Australia from India.

Mars Rover Opportunity Gets Memory Fix Ahead of Marathon Milestone

Engineers have troubleshot the memory issue affecting NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, just in time for the long-lived robot to complete its Red Planet marathon. A software upgrade has restored the use of Opportunity's flash memory — the kind that can store data even when the power is off — NASA officials announced Monday (March 23). The Opportunity rover had been doing without flash memory since late 2014 in the wake of a glitch. "Opportunity can work productively without use of flash memory, as we have shown for the past three months, but with flash we have more flexibility for operations," Opportunity Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

Robot stays on its feet despite punishment

It's another day of abuse for this poor robot named Atrias. If not being kicked around, Atrias spends hours being pummeled by balls. Unlike most bipedal robots which are designed to move like humans, engineers from the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University modeled Atrias on a bird, creating what is basically a robotic ostrich that conserves energy while maximizing agility and balance. Atrias is fitted with two constantly moving pogo stick-like legs made of carbon fiber.

Want an affordable earthquake warning system? Use animals, scientists say

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Wild animals can predict earthquakes several weeks before they strike, and motion-activated cameras that track their movements could be adopted in quake-prone countries as an affordable early warning system, scientists said on Tuesday. Scientists using a series of cameras in an Amazon region of Peru noticed changes in animal behavior three weeks before a 7.0 magnitude quake hit the area in 2011, according to a study published in the journal Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. Scientists have long believed that animals can predict earthquakes, but have until now relied on anecdotal evidence of changes in animal behavior, they said. Rachel Grant, lead author of the report and lecturer in Animal and Environmental Biology at Britain's Anglia Ruskin University, said the study was the first to document a fall in animal activity before an earthquake.

Your Ideas Wanted to Help Name Parts of Pluto

You can help put names on the Pluto maps that scientists will draw up after the first-ever flyby of the dwarf planet this summer. Researchers working on NASA's New Horizons mission, which will zoom through the Pluto system on July 14, are asking the public to propose and vote on names for geological features the probe will identify on Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. "Pluto belongs to everyone," New Horizon science team member Mark Showalter, of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California, said in a statement. The SETI Institute is leading the "Our Pluto" naming campaign.

Solid Gold: Poop Could Yield Precious Metals

Instead of flushing millions down the toilet, humans could be mining their poop for gold. That's at least what some researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) think. When poop arrives at a wastewater treatment plant, it is separated into biosolids and treated water. There are two good reasons to try to pull these metals out of poop, according to Smith, who's presenting her research on the subject at an American Chemical Society meeting this week.

Want an affordable earthquake warning system? Use animals, scientists say

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Wild animals can predict earthquakes several weeks before they strike, and motion-activated cameras that track their movements could be adopted in quake-prone countries as an affordable early warning system, scientists said on Tuesday. Scientists using a series of cameras in an Amazon region of Peru noticed changes in animal behaviour three weeks before a 7.0 magnitude quake hit the area in 2011, according to a study published in the journal Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. Scientists have long believed that animals can predict earthquakes, but have until now relied on anecdotal evidence of changes in animal behaviour, they said. Rachel Grant, lead author of the report and lecturer in Animal and Environmental Biology at Britain's Anglia Ruskin University, said the study was the first to document a fall in animal activity before an earthquake.

Electric fault delays relaunch of CERN collider after two-year refit

By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have had to postpone the imminent relaunch of their refitted 'Big Bang' machine, the Large Hadron Collider, because of a short-circuit in the wiring of one of the vital magnets. "Current indications suggest a delay of between a few days and several weeks," a statement from the world's leading particle physics research center said on Tuesday. Engineers had been expected to start on Wednesday pumping proton beams in opposite directions all the way round the two 27-km (17-mile) underground tubes in the LHC, closed down for the past two years for a refit. The smashing-together of particles inside the LHC is designed to mimic conditions just after the Big Bang at the dawn of the universe.

Electric fault delays relaunch of CERN collider after two-year refit

By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's CERN research centre have had to postpone the imminent relaunch of their refitted 'Big Bang' machine, the Large Hadron Collider, because of a short-circuit in the wiring of one of the vital magnets. "Current indications suggest a delay of between a few days and several weeks," a statement from the world's leading particle physics research centre said on Tuesday. Engineers had been expected to start on Wednesday pumping proton beams in opposite directions all the way round the two 27-km (17-mile) underground tubes in the LHC, closed down for the past two years for a refit. The smashing-together of particles inside the LHC is designed to mimic conditions just after the Big Bang at the dawn of the universe.

Astronaut Scott Kelly Will Test His Limits on Epic One-Year Space Mission

An American astronaut is about to embark on a mother of a space mission. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is counting down to launch to the International Space Station Friday (March 27) for a yearlong mission that will test his endurance like never before. Usually, space station missions last about six months, so Kelly's one-year mission will present a unique set of challenges for the astronaut. "On a six-month flight, your mindset is you're going to go up there, and you're going to be up there for a period of time, and you're going to come home," Kelly said in January.

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Monday, March 23, 2015

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Humans Butchered Elephants 500,000 Years Ago, Ancient Tool Suggests

Stone tools that are half a million years old have been unearthed in Israel — and they still have traces of elephant fat clinging to them. Though anthropologists had strongly suspected that early humans used tools to break down a carcass for its muscle, fat and marrow, "there was no smoking gun to show that the stone tools were, indeed, used for these kinds of tasks," said study co-author Ran Barkai, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Rosetta Spacecraft Makes Nitrogen Discovery on Comet

A peculiar mix of molecular nitrogen on the comet target of Europe's Rosetta spacecraft may offer clues to the conditions that gave birth to the entire solar system. Molecular nitrogen was one of the key ingredients of the young solar system. Its detection in Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, which Rosetta is currently orbiting, suggests that the comet formed under low-temperature conditions (a requirement to keeping nitrogen as ice), according to officials with the European Space Agency. "Its detection is particularly important since molecular nitrogen is thought to have been the most common type of nitrogen available when the solar system was forming," ESA officials wrote in a statement.

How Real-Life AI Rivals 'Chappie': Robots Get Emotional

Artificial Intelligence will rule Hollywood (intelligently) in 2015, with a slew of both iconic and new robots hitting the screen. From the Turing-bashing "Ex Machina" to old friends R2-D2 and C-3PO, and new enemies like the Avengers' Ultron, sentient robots will demonstrate a number of human and superhuman traits on-screen. In this five-part series Live Science looks at these made-for-the-movies advances in machine intelligence. Outside of Hollywood, engineers are working to more fully integrate emotional and artificial intelligence.

Weird 'Water Tongue' Lets Fish Feed on Land

A fish that uses water as a sort of tongue to feed on land could shed light on how animals with backbones first invaded land, researchers say. These fish evolved into the first tetrapods (four-legged land animals), which ultimately gave rise to amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Amazon's FAA Approval May Not Give Commercial Drones a Lift

After threatening to take its drone development abroad, Amazon got approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week to test its much-hyped Prime Air delivery drones on private property in the United States. But this certificate might not be what Amazon had hoped for, and this latest development could spell bad news for the rest of the burgeoning commercial drone business. "I view it as a setback for the industry," said Brendan Schulman, an attorney and expert in drone policy. Under the terms of the FAA certificate, Amazon drone operators will be able to test their aircraft during the day, up to an altitude of 400 feet (122 meters).

No More Lions and Mammoths: Real Explorers Eat Bugs

To cater the infamous cocktail hour at the 111th Explorers Club Annual Dinner at the American Museum of Natural History, Gordon has a $15,000 budget for the insects and other arthropods alone. "In the old days, the conservationists were hunters," Nichols said.

Astronaut and Cosmonaut to Launch on 1-Year Space Mission This Week

An American astronaut and two cosmonauts are set to fly up to the International Space Station Friday (March 27), and two of those crewmembers won't be back on Earth for about a year on a mission that aims to help open the doorway to deep space for Earthlings. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are due to launch on their yearlong mission to the space station on Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. Kelly and Kornienko's mission will mark the first yearlong mission aboard the station, and the first time an American has spent a continuous year in space.

Tumors grown in dishes could help customize cancer treatment

Experiments conducted at an underground laboratory at Vanderbilt University could prove vital in the fight against cancer. Alex Walsh, a biomedical researcher, is using a laser to make what she calls organoids glow. The organoid is then dosed with a cocktail of cancer drugs and placed under a microscope at which point it is blasted with a laser. Measuring the variations in the intensity of the resulting fluorescence provides a readout of cellular metabolism which, Walsh says, is an accurate and speedy biomarker of drug response.

Marijuana Science: Why Today's Pot Packs a Bigger Punch

The marijuana that is available today may be much more potent than marijuana cultivated in the past, according to the results of new tests. The psychoactive component in the marijuana plant is the chemical THC, and the new tests showed that today's marijuana may contain 30 percent THC, Andy LaFrate, the author of the new report, said in a statement. By contrast, THC levels in marijuana 30 years ago were lower than 10 percent, said LaFrate, who is the president and research director at Charas Scientific, one of eight labs certified by the state of Colorado to conduct marijuana potency testing. At the same time, the marijuana samples tested had very low levels of a compound called cannabidiol, or CBD, that is touted for its medicinal properties.

Kids Whose Ears Stick Out Are Cuter, Science Confirms

The findings show that "protruding ears catch the eye, but not necessarily the imagination in a negative way," said Dr. Ralph Litschel, the lead author of the study. For some kids in the study, "protruding ears may have added to their cuteness," said Litschel, an ear, nose and throat specialist and facial plastic surgeon at Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Can You Really Freshen Up Women's 'Aging' Eggs?

One fertility treatment company claims it can, by rejuvenating women's aging eggs. The company, called OvaScience, says its method aims to improve the health of an egg's mitochondria, which are the tiny powerhouses that give cells the energy to divide and grow. Although some early evidence suggests aging mitochondria could reduce a woman's fertility, expert say, there are no studies that prove the new method will work. "They're quite private and secretive about what they're doing," said Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a San Francisco Bay Area ob-gyn and fertility specialist who has no affiliation to OvaScience.

As Forests Burn, Conservationists Launch Global Wildlife Rescue (Op-Ed)

Jeremy Radachowsky is assistant director for the Latin American and Caribbean Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In 1998, in one of my first real experiences in the tropics, I volunteered as a research assistant to track tapirs in Corcovado National Park. As the months wore on, I watched as the forest understory withered and the creek beds dried up. But that year, the effects of El Niño were more extreme.

Hiding Out of Sight, Are Sharks Self Aware? (Op-Ed)

Ila France Porcher is a self-taught, published ethologist and the author of "The Shark Sessions." A wildlife artist who recorded the behavior of animals she painted, Porcher was intrigued by sharks in Tahiti and launched an intensive study to systematically observe them following the precepts of cognitive ethology. Credited with the discovery of a way to study sharks without killing them, Porcher has been called "the Jane Goodall of sharks" for her documentation of their intelligence in the wild. If you are in the water, and a shark becomes aware of you, on its first appearance it comes only briefly into view at the limit of the visual range (the distance at which a view is obscured, from both you and the shark, by particles in the water). For example, during my ethological study of reef sharks in French Polynesia, young males appeared after sunset in excited bands to mate.

Will We Combat Global Warming, Despite Our Nature? (Op-Ed)

In a recent article (Human Nature May Seal the Planet's Warming Fate), I used the allegory of "Who Moved my Cheese?" to suggest that people's innate biases may in fact be an evolutionary adaption, one that thwarts the changes demanded by climate change. This in contrast to simpler life forms such as mice: They have seemingly lower cognitive abilities, yet adapt far easier and more willingly to changes in their habitat.

Did Cosmic Inflation Really Jump-Start the Universe? (Kavli Hangout)

Kelen Tuttle, writer and editor for The Kavli Foundation, contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The oldest light in the universe, the cosmic microwave background, is a fossil from the Big Bang that fills every square inch of the sky. Researchers working on the Planck satellite — which detects distant light from its orbit 930,000 miles above Earth — released new maps of the cosmic microwave background. In a second publication, scientists on both Planck and the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2 (BICEP2) experiment — which, from its site at the South Pole, studies the cosmic microwave background — announced that previous data, which seemed to offer "smoking gun" evidence of inflation, had been misunderstood.

What Would It Be Like to Live on Jupiter's Moon Europa?

Jupiter's icy moon Europa has long been thought of as a potentially friendly place for life in the solar system. The gas giant has a small rocky core with a mass 10 times less than Earth's, but it's surrounded by dense liquid hydrogen extending out to 90 percent of Jupiter's diameter. If you were to step foot on the planet's core, "you would be crushed by the weight of the liquid hydrogen above," said Robert Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). With its low radiation levels, geologic stability and large amount of water ice, Callisto probably would be the ideal Jovian moon for a settlement, said JPL astrobiologist Steve Vance.

Obama, wowed by young scientists, announces new STEM pledges

WASHINGTON (AP) — The small Lego machine inside the White House whirred, and in a moment it was turning the pages of a story book. One page flipped, then another, ever faster as President Barack Obama marveled at its efficiency.

First (Contraband) Corned Beef Sandwich in Space 50 Years Ago

Just about two hours into the flight of Gemini 3, NASA's first two-man space mission 50 years ago Monday (March 23), pilot John Young reached into his spacesuit's pocket and pulled out a surprise. What Young revealed was the world's first — and possibly last — corned beef sandwich to fly in space. Grissom's fellow Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra, who had a reputation for pulling pranks (he called them "Gotchas"), had purchased the sandwich from Wolfie's Restaurant and Sandwich Shop at the Ramada Inn in Cocoa Beach two days earlier.

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Sunday, March 22, 2015

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The 10 Happiest Countries Are All in Latin America

For the first time in a decade, the top 10 happiest countries in the world are all in Latin America, according to the 2014 Gallup Positive Experience Index. Gallup researchers released the results for the United Nations' third annual International Day of Happiness today (March 20).

This Zero Gravity Cocktail Glass Could Be Out This World

Astronauts hoping to sip drinks in style may soon have an open-top cocktail glass to look forward to. Called the Zero Gravity Cocktail Project, the idea is to create an open-top cocktail glass that can be used in space. The creators of the glass design, called the Cosmic Lifestyle Corp., are currently seeking funding for the project on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com. With the Zero Gravity Cocktail glass, astronauts would be able to drink from something that's more like the drinking glasses used on Earth.

See Venus and the Crescent Moon Shine Together Tonight

As darkness falls tonight (March 22), be sure to take a look low toward the western part of the sky for yet another beautiful celestial tableau formed by a lovely crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus. Weather permitting, you will see Venus will appear to hover to the right of and just a bit above the moon. Indeed, if Venus were stationary and did not appear to move against the star background, then a Venus-moon encounter would occur every 27 days, 7 hours and 43 minutes. Since Venus and the moon were together (along with much fainter Mars) on Feb. 20, we might have expected a return engagement this past Thursday (March 19) if we tried to apply this "sidereal month rule" to this schedule. Of course that rule didn't work because Venus is not stationary, but moving in its own orbit around the sun.

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