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Wednesday, May 6, 2015

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This Galaxy Far, Far Away Is the Farthest One Yet Found

The galaxy EGS-zs8-1 lies 13.1 billion light-years from Earth, the largest distance ever measured between Earth and another galaxy. The universe is thought to be about 13.8 billion years old, so galaxy EGS-zs8-1 is also one of the earliest galaxies to form in the cosmos. Further studies could provide a glimpse at how these early galaxies helped produce the heavy elements that are essential for building the diversity of life and landscapes we see on Earth today. EGS-zs8-1 is one of the brightest objects observed in this region, which is around 13 billion light-years from Earth.

SpaceX to Launch Dummy on Rocket Escape Test Wednesday: Watch It Live

SpaceX's Dragon astronaut taxi will blast off with a dummy on board Wednesday (May 6) in a crucial safety test, and you can watch all of the action live. An unmanned but dummy-carrying Dragon test vehicle is scheduled to launch Wednesday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT), though the window extends to 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT). The Dragon pad abort test, as it is called, is designed to see how a SpaceX crew capsule would perform in the event of a launch emergency. You can watch the SpaceX test launch live on Space.com beginning at 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. The agency awarded SpaceX and Boeing $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively, last September to finish their development work on the vehicles.

'Albert Einstein Font' Lets You Write Like Physics Genius

Few people can hope to achieve the feats of genius Albert Einstein, but now, there may at least be a way to write like the famous physicist, thanks to a font styled after his handwriting. The "Albert Einstein Font," which is based on hundreds of letters written by Einstein himself, lets you "write like a genius," its creators say. Through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, the project has already raised more than $7,000 of its $15,000 goal. "Einstein's equations were beautiful, so it makes sense that their presentation should be as well," said Phil Marshall, an astrophysicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in California, according to the Kickstarter site.

Dave Goldberg Death: Treadmills Linked with 3 Fatalities Yearly

The death of 47-year-old Dave Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey and husband of Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, shows that serious and even fatal accidents can happen while you're using exercise equipment. Last Friday, Goldberg was exercising at a gym in a private resort in Mexico, where he and his family were on vacation, according to the New York Times. Goldberg appeared to have fallen off the treadmill he was using, and later died from head trauma and blood loss. "This is a severe example or case where [a treadmill injury] cost him his life," said Dr. Michael Jonesco, a primary care sports medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who was not involved in Goldberg's case.

Inmarsat's GlobalXpress being used in Nepal ahead of global launch

(Reuters) - The first of Inmarsat's high-capacity GlobalXpress satellites is being used in Nepal after the country was hit by an earthquake and ahead of a global launch for the technology set for later this year, the company said on Wednesday. "We were able to rush terminals into Nepal, and the feedback from that has been great," Chief Executive Rupert Pearce said following release of the British satellite maker's first-quarter earnings. He said worldwide commercial service would start in August or September, slightly later than planned due to launch timings.

Same-Sex Marriage in History: What the Supreme Court Missed

Several U.S. Supreme Court Justices asked for a history lesson on same-sex marriage last week, but the answers they got were far from complete, experts say. Three of the nine justices asked for a legal precedence of same-sex marriage, when they listened on April 28 to arguments on whether the institution should be, in essence, legal and recognized countrywide. Chief Justice John Roberts raised the question of precedence, saying, "Every definition that I looked up, prior to about a dozen years ago, defined marriage as unity between a man and a woman as husband and wife," according to court transcripts. Justice Samuel Alito added, "as far as I'm aware, until the end of the 20th century, there was never a nation or a culture that recognized marriage between two people of the same sex." He later added, "There have been cultures that did not frown on homosexuality," such as ancient Greece, but they still didn't accept gay marriage, as far as he knew.

Bawdy Bard: Shakespeare Play's Lost Lines Reveal Sexual Mocking

A lost section of "Love's Labour's Lost," a comedy written by William Shakespeare, has been rediscovered, revealing a song mocking the sexual inadequacy of one of the play's male characters. The song refers to a penis that is "too soft and too small," and would have been sung by Moth to mock Armado's sexual inadequacy.

Sun Unleashes Most Powerful Solar Flare of 2015 (Video)

The sun unleashed its most intense flare of the year Tuesday (May 5), a monstrous blast that caused temporary radio blackouts throughout the Pacific region. The X-class solar flare — the most powerful category of sun storm — erupted Tuesday from a sunspot called Active Region 2339 (AR2339), peaking at 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT). NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured a gorgeous video of the solar flare, recording it in multiple wavelengths of light. Despite the radio blackouts, the blast is unlikely to cause major issues here on Earth, researchers said.

Open wide and say 'ah': secret of gaping whale mouths revealed

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the fin whale gets ready to eat, Earth's second-largest animal opens its mouth so wide that it can gulp an amount of water larger than the volume of its own body as it filters out meals of tiny fish and shrimp-like krill. The force of water rushing into the mouth during "lunge feeding" turns the tongue upside down and expands the bottom of the oral cavity into a huge pouch between the body wall and the overlying skin and blubber.

SpaceX puts Dragon passenger spaceship through test run

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies' passenger spaceship made a quick debut test flight on Wednesday, shooting itself off a Florida launch pad to demonstrate a key emergency escape system. The 20 foot- (6 meter) tall Dragon capsule, a modified version of the spacecraft that flies cargo to the International Space Station, fired up its eight, side-mounted thruster engines at 9 a.m. EDT/1300 GMT to catapult itself nearly one mile (1.6 km) up and over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight ended less than two minutes later with the capsule's parachute splash-down about 1.4 miles (2.6 km) east of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site. SpaceX plans to refly the capsule later this year aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to test an abort maneuver at supersonic speed and high altitude.

Toxic Gut Bacteria: New Treatment Could Prevent Repeat Infections

In people who become infected with the difficult-to-treat gut bacteria called C. diff, the infection often comes back after treatment.

Why Fructose-Laden Drinks May Leave You Wanting More

The type of sugar in your drink may affect how much food you want to eat, according to a new study. Researchers found that people wanted to eat more high-calorie foods when they had a drink containing fructose, compared with when their drink contained glucose. In the study, 24 people were given drinks sweetened with 75 grams of fructose on one day, and the same amount of glucose in a drink on another day. After consuming fructose, the participants reported feeling hungrier and expressed a greater desire to eat the foods pictured than when they consumed glucose.

Probiotics May Help Relieve Seasonal Allergies

Probiotics, or "good bacteria," may be helpful to people with seasonal allergies, a new review suggests. Researchers analyzed the results from more than 20 previous studies and found that hay fever sufferers may get some benefits from using probiotics, improving their symptoms and quality of life. But the jury is still out about whether probiotics are actually an effective treatment for people with seasonal allergies, said lead author Dr. Justin Turner, an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Additional high-quality studies are needed before doctors would recommend for or against using probiotics to help treat people with seasonal allergies, Turner said.

Opportunity Rover Sees Rock Spire in Mars Crater (Photo)

A new photo captured by NASA's Mars rover Opportunity shows a rocky spire in a shallow crater on the Red Planet. The mosaic, which combines images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera on March 29 and March 30, depicts a shallow Mars crater called Spirit of St. Louis. The crater is "about 110 feet (34 meters) long and about 80 feet (24 meters) wide, with a floor slightly darker than surrounding terrain," NASA officials wrote April 30 in a description of the image. Spirit of St. Louis lies along the western rim of a much larger crater called Endeavour, which Opportunity has been exploring since August 2011.

Failed Russian spacecraft expected to burn up Friday

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An unmanned Russian spacecraft on a failed resupply run to the International Space Station is heading back toward Earth faster than original predictions, with a fiery demise in the atmosphere expected early on Friday, U.S. Air Force tracking data shows. The Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center, which tracks satellites and junk orbiting Earth, found 44 pieces of debris near the Progress and its discarded upper-stage booster, a possible indication that an explosion or other problem occurred just before or during spacecraft separation. Unable to raise its altitude, the Progress capsule is being pulled back toward Earth.

Brain technology patents soar as companies get inside people's heads

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - From ways to eavesdrop on brains and learn what advertisements excite consumers, to devices that alleviate depression, the number of U.S. patents awarded for "neurotechnology" has soared since 2010, according to an analysis released on Wednesday. Most surprising, concluded market-research firm SharpBrains, is that patents have been awarded to inventors well beyond those at medical companies. The leader in neurotechnology patents, according to the report, is consumer-research behemoth Nielsen. Patents for neurotechnology bumped along at 300 to 400 a year in the 2000s, then soared to 800 in 2010 and 1,600 last year, SharpBrains reported.

Oregon's Mysterious 'Disappearing Lake' Explained

During the rainy fall and winter, most Oregonians probably don't give much thought to Lost Lake, a shallow lake surrounded by pine trees that sits near a highway. "The lakebed begins to fill in the late fall, when the amount of rain coming in starts exceeding the ability of the lava tubes to drain off the water," said Jude McHugh, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. As the rainy season peters out, the 9-foot-deep (2.7 meters) lake loses its water source, and water disappears down the lava tubes until it's gone, McHugh said.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Crash! How India Slammed into Eurasia at Record Speed

Two super-fast conveyor belts of sinking crust explain why India set a continental speed record as it crashed into Eurasia, according to a new study. The Indian Plate slammed into Eurasia 40 million years ago, raising the Himalayas and Mount Everest, the study's researchers explained. The new analysis suggests India raced toward the collision starting 80 million years ago because of two short subduction zones, one in front of the other, that emerged between the tectonic plates. "The collision scenario between India and Eurasia is more complex and protracted than most people think," said the study's lead author, Oliver Jagoutz, a geologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Pocket-sized fingerprint scanner could solve healthcare bottleneck

British postgraduate students have devised a pocket-sized fingerprint scanner designed to help patients in the developing world get improved access to healthcare. Toby Norman, Daniel Storisteanu, and Alexandra Grigore hooked up with Toby's brother Tristram to create Simprints, a scanner that gives health workers easy access to the medical records of patients in the developing world.

New self-cleaning paint offers stain and damage-free future

By Matthew Stock A self-cleaning paint that can withstand contact with substances such as oil, even after being scratched or scuffed with sandpaper, has been developed by British and Chinese researchers. The coating was devised by University College London (UCL) researcher Yao Lu and his supervisor, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry Claire Carmalt, and can be applied to clothes, paper, glass and steel. When combined with adhesives, its self-cleaning properties remain, in spite of attempts to scratch or scuff it. Self-cleaning surfaces work by being extremely repellent to water but are often rendered useless once damaged or exposed to strong substances like oil.

Size of the Milky Way Upgraded, Solving Galaxy Puzzle

Two ringlike structures of stars wrapping around the Milky Way's outer disk now appear to belong to the disk itself. Roughly 15 years ago, Heidi Newberg, an astronomer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and her colleagues found a group of stars beyond the disk's outermost edge. The so-called Monoceros Ring is about 60,000 light-years from the galactic center (just beyond where the disk was thought to end at 50,000 light-years). Over the years, astronomers were divided into two camps regarding the origins of the ring.

This Is Your Brain in Deep Space: Could Cosmic Rays Threaten Mars Missions?

Mice zapped with cosmic rays can incur brain damage, suggesting that astronauts' mental performance could suffer over time on deep-space missions to Mars and beyond, researchers say. "There is now cause for concern that cosmic rays can lead to cognitive deficiencies, and this effect is likely to occur in humans as well as rodents," study co-author Charles Limoli, a radiation biologist and neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, told Space.com. As NASA plans for the first manned spaceflight to Mars in two decades or so, scientists want to know what happens to the brains of astronauts exposed to space radiation. "NASA wants to make sure that astronaut minds are up to performing at the best of their capabilities," Limoli said.

How Do Tesla's Home Batteries Work?

Last week, Tesla Motors announced an ambitious new product line: batteries to power homes or businesses. The idea is that homes and businesses powered by solar panels could harvest and store energy during the day that could be used to run homes at night, or be used as a backup during a power outage. Although the exact technology involved in the battery, called Powerwall, is a closely guarded secret, it probably isn't based on revolutionary concepts, said Jordi Cabana, a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies new battery materials. Tesla's newly unveiled system includes the $3,500 Powerwall, a home-based battery pack that can store 10 kilowatt-hours of power.

Stunning Total Solar Eclipse Observed Over the Arctic (Photos)

A stark black disc haloed by streaks of light — a team of scientists captured this image of a total solar eclipse over the Arctic in March. The international Solar Wind Sherpas team, led by astronomer Shadia Habbal at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, observed the March 20 solar eclipse from Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, located northeast of Greenland. The researchers had to contend with constantly changing weather predictions, temperatures of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) and the danger of polar bears. At both sites, the team set up six digital SLR cameras fitted with lenses of different focal lengths, and four astrophotography cameras with special filters, to view the different colors of light given off by ionized iron atoms which are found in the hot outer layers of the corona.

Eerie 'X-Files' Sounds Recorded from the Edge of Space

Daniel Bowman, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, designed and built the equipment. "It sounds kind of like 'The X-Files,'" Bowman told Live Science. The infrasound sensors were dangling from a helium balloon that flew above New Mexico and Arizona on Aug. 9, 2014. The experiment was one of 10 payloads flown last year on the High Altitude Student Platform (HASP).

Real-life Star Trek 'replicator' prepares meal in 30 seconds

It's a revolution in food technology that could deliver your food fantasy to your plate in less than a minute. The Genie, similar in size and appearance to a coffee maker, can produce an unlimited variety of meals using pods, that contain natural dehydrated ingredients. Developed by Israeli entrepreneurs Ayelet Carasso and Doron Marco from White Innovation company, the device uses a mobile app to operate. "We're using only natural ingredients, we're not using any preservatives or anything that people add to their meals," she added.

New Test for Ovarian Cancer Finds More Cases

A new screening test for ovarian cancer can detect more women with the disease than previous methods, a new study from the United Kingdom suggests. Overall, the new screening method detected ovarian cancer in 86 percent of the women in the study who had the disease. The researchers created a computer program to assess a woman's risk of ovarian cancer based on a number of factors, including how her levels of CA125 changed over the years. In contrast, current methods used to screen for ovarian cancer involve checking to see whether CA125 levels are above a certain threshold at a single point in time.

Financial Stress Can Take a Toll on Women's Hearts

It's well-known that stress and heart attacks are linked, but it's not clear whether any particular kind of stress carries a greater risk for heart health. Using data from the Women's Health Study, a long-term survey that followed participants for an average of nine years, the researchers analyzed the stressful experiences of 267 women, whose average age was 56, who had suffered a heart attack sometime over the study period. For comparison, they also examined 281 women with similar risk factors, like age and smoking habits, who did not experience heart attack. It turned out that financial problems doubled women's risk of having a heart attack, and that women making less than $50,000 per year were especially susceptible to the effects of stressful events across the board.

Amazing Photo Shows SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Just Before Crash

An amazing new photo shows the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket just before it hit the deck of a robotic ship in the Atlantic Ocean during a bold landing attempt last month. The near-miss was the second in the span of three months for SpaceX, which also tried to bring a Falcon 9 rocket first stage down on the ship — which is named "Just Read the Instructions," after a sentient colony vessel in the novels of sci-fi writer Iain M. Banks — on Jan. 10. Developing rapidly reusable rockets is a priority for SpaceX and its billionaire founder and CEO, Elon Musk, who has said that such technology could revolutionize spaceflight by dramatically reducing its cost. Ocean landings, however, are just an intermediate step for SpaceX.

Cinco de Mayo Meteor Shower Rains Halley's Comet Bits on Earth: Watch It Tonight

When asked to name a comet, most people will remember Halley's. Tonight (May 5), the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, produced by debris from Halley's Comet, will peak in the night sky, and you can watch live coverage of this Cinco de Mayo meteor shower online. Late tonight (May 5) and during the early morning hours tomorrow (May 6), skywatchers will have a chance of sighting a few pieces of Halley's Comet – "comet litter," if you will – zipping through our atmosphere in the form of meteors.

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