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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

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'Cave of the Skulls' Robbers Get Prison Term in Israel

A band of antiquities thieves were sentenced to 18 months in prison after being caught red-handed looting an ancient cave in Israel. The six thieves were caught plundering the 2,000-year-old archaeological site known as the "Cave of the Skulls." In the process, they destroyed some of the cliffside where the cave was located. The looters pled guilty to damaging an ancient site, excavating an ancient site without a permit, conspiring to commit a crime, and unlawfully residing in Israel, according to a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Dinosaur fossils preserve apparent red blood cells, collagen

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - They looked, as one researcher said, like "rubbish," eight seemingly inconsequential Cretaceous Period dinosaur fossils that sat in a London museum's collection for more than a century after being found in Canada's Alberta province. Tests showed that these had striking similarities to blood cells from an emu, a large Australian flightless bird.

Oh, You Deer: Newborn Mini Fawn Is Seriously Cute

A baby deer you can hold in one hand, of course. Belonging to one of the world's smallest deer species, this southern pudu deer (Pudu puda) will grow to be just 12 to 18 inches (30 to 46 cm) tall at the shoulder, according to zoo officials. There are two distinct species of pudu — the southern pudu that inhabit the lower Andes of Chile and southwest Argentina, and the northern pudu (Pudu mephistophiles) that inhabit the lower Andes of Ecuador, northern Peru and Colombia.

Huge Supersonic Parachute Ripped to Shreds in NASA 'Flying Saucer' Test

A gigantic supersonic parachute that NASA is developing to help land heavy payloads on Mars was torn apart during yesterday's "flying saucer" test flight over Hawaii, agency officials said. The 100-foot-wide (30 meters) parachute — the biggest such chute ever deployed — unfurled well and apparently inflated fully, or nearly fully, Monday (June 8) before being ruptured by the fast-rushing air during the second flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project. "At some point at or near full inflation, the parachute was damaged, and the damage propagated further until the parachute could no longer survive the harsh supersonic environment," LDSD principal investigator Ian Clark, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said during a news conference today (June 9).

China's big biotech bet starting to pay off

By Alexandra Harney and Ben Hirschler SHANGHAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Years of pouring money into its laboratories, wooing scientists home from overseas and urging researchers to publish and patent is starting to give China a competitive edge in biotechnology, a strategic field it sees as ripe for "indigenous innovation." The vast resources China can throw at research and development - overall funding more than quadrupled to $191 billion in 2005-13 and the Thousand Talents Program has repatriated scientists - allow China to jump quickly on promising new technologies, often first developed elsewhere. CRISPR, which allows scientists to edit virtually any gene they target, is akin to a biological word-processing program that finds and replaces genetic defects.

Brain-computer interface reverses paralysis in stroke victims

By Ben Gruber St. Louis, Missouri - After three strokes that left the right side of his body paralyzed, Rick Arnold told his wife Kim that he had just one wish. In the very beginning, it was to hold her hand," said Arnold, a paramedic firefighter from Missouri who suffered the first of three paralyzing strokes in 2009. These days Arnold can hold his wife's hand again thanks in part to a new device that could potentially change the rules on how well stroke victims recover. Arnold is using brain-machine interface technology developed by Eric Leuthardt, a neurosurgeon at Washington University in St. Louis.

Chimps Get Drunk on Palm Wine

Humans' closest living relatives may have a drinking habit: Scientists spied intoxicated wild chimps soaking up palm wine with leaves and squeezing it into their mouths. Alcohol consumption is seen across nearly all modern human cultures that have access to fermentable materials. This prevalence led scientists to suggest what is known as the "Drunken Monkey Hypothesis" — that alcohol consumption might have provided a benefit of some kind to the ancestors of humanity, and perhaps also to the ancestors of chimpanzees, humanity's closest living relatives.

Frozen Ovarian Tissue Works a Decade Later: Woman Gives Birth

A 27-year-old woman in Belgium is now a mom after giving birth to a baby more than a decade after her ovarian tissue was removed and frozen, according to a new study. The woman had her ovarian tissue frozen in her early teens, before she underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat her sickle cell anemia. Such transplants involve drugs that can destroy the ovaries.

Spinal Injuries Increasing Among Older Adults

Although the rate of traumatic spinal cord injuries has remained relatively stable in the United States for nearly two decades, there has been a significant increase in these injuries among people ages 65 and older, according to a new study. The study included more than 63,000 patients ages 16 and older who suffered acute traumatic spinal cord injuries between 1993 and 2012.

Can a Pill Increase a Woman's Libido? 5 Things That Affect Female Sex Drive

Last week, an expert panel voted to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve a drug called flibanserin, which is touted as boosting women's desire for sex. If the FDA decides the drug is safe and effective, it could soon find its way into bedrooms across the United States. However, sexual desire is complicated, and some experts aren't sure that a pill is really the cure for an ailing female mojo.

Marijuana Exposure Among Kids Under 6 Rises Sharply

The rich aromas of freshly baked chocolate brownies may lead children to inadvertently consume marijuana, researchers say. In a new study, the researchers found that the rate of marijuana exposure in young children increased significantly from 2003 to 2013. As more states look to legalize marijuana, the risk for exposure to the drug can rise among children, the researchers said.

NASA Aiming for Multiple Missions to Jupiter Moon Europa

NASA's highly anticipated mission to Europa in the next decade may be just the beginning of an ambitious campaign to study the ocean-harboring Jupiter moon. In the early to mid-2020s, NASA plans to launch a mission that will conduct dozens of flybys of Europa, which many astrobiologists regard as the solar system's best bet to host life beyond Earth. Space agency officials hope this effort paves the way for future missions to Europa — including one that lands on the icy moon to search for signs of life.

Showering in Space: Astronaut Home Video Shows Off 'Hygiene Corner'

Staying clean in space is a challenge, something that Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti knows well after spending several months on the International Space Station (ISS). In two videos, Cristoforetti showed off the shower aboard the station, a spot that she called the "hygiene corner," as well as one of the two toilets. "This is the place where I wash, brush my teeth or, after workouts, take a shower ISS-style," Cristoforetti said in a video produced by the European Space Agency.

Woman's Tattoos Mistaken for Cancer on Imaging Test

When a California woman with cervical cancer underwent a body image scan, doctors noticed bright areas in her lymph nodes, suggesting her cancer had spread. The 32-year-old woman with four children had recently been diagnosed with cervical cancer. In November 2012, her doctors requested the imaging scan to check to see if the cancer had spread (metastasized) to other parts of her body.

Biggest Ring Around Saturn Just Got Supersized

A giant ring around Saturn is even larger than thought, spanning an area of space nearly 7,000 times larger than Saturn itself, researchers say. "We knew it was the biggest ring, but know we find it's even bigger than we thought, new and improved," the study's lead author, Douglas Hamilton, a planetary scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park, told Space.com. The immense ring was discovered around Saturn in 2009.

'Celestial Butterfly' Nebula Spreads Its Wings in Photos, Video

The celestial view, captured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, is actually the result of dust spit out of a dying star that is then shaped by a stellar companion to form what looks like a bipolar planetary nebula with symmetrical wings. ESO scientists also created a video view of the butterfly-like nebula to showcase the new images. In this case, it looks like the transition is just getting started, ESO officials explained.

Will Dreadnoughtus Dinosaur Lose Its Heavyweight Title?

Dreadnoughtus — the immense, long-necked dinosaur recently uncovered in Patagonia — may not be as heavy as scientists once thought, a new study suggests. Instead of weighing a whopping 60 tons, Dreadnoughtus schrani likely weighed between 30 and 40 tons, the researchers who published the new study said, although not everyone agrees on this estimate. However, Kenneth Lacovara, the paleontologist who discovered the dinosaur, isn't convinced.

Your Birth Month May Predict Your Risk for Certain Diseases

In the study, researchers found that people's birth months were linked with the risk of getting one or more of 55 different diseases. Overall, people in the study who were born in May were least likely to get a birth-month-related disease, whereas people born in October were most likely to get one. "This data could help scientists uncover new disease risk factors," Nicholas Tatonetti, the senior author of the study and an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University, said in a statement.

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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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The Surprising Reason Why Some People Smile More

It turns out, whether you're quick to laugh and smile may be partly in the genes. "One of these big mysteries is why do some people laugh a lot, and smile a lot, and other people keep their cool," said study co-author Claudia Haase, a psychology researcher at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The gene was previously tied to depression and other negative states, but the new study suggests it may be linked to people experiencing more emotional highs and lows, Haase added.

Supersonic Parachute on NASA 'Flying Saucer' Apparently Fails in Test (Video)

NASA's huge supersonic parachute isn't ready to land astronauts on Mars just yet. The 100-foot-wide (30 meters) chute — the biggest supersonic parachute ever deployed — was apparenty torn apart today (June 8) during the second flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) vehicle, which the space agency built as part of an ongoing effort to learn how to get superheavy payloads such as habitat modules down softly on the surface of Mars.

Does MERS Pose a Threat in the US?

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is spreading in South Korea, with dozens of people there infected and thousands more under quarantine because they have had contact with an infected person, according to news reports. That's because it's fairly easy to prevent MERS transmission, once doctors realize they are dealing with the virus, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease physician at the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh. Most doctors in the United States know to take a travel history and isolate people who may harbor a dangerous virus, which are key steps in stopping transmission in its tracks, he said.

Incredible Surgery Gives Man New Lease on Life

Getting a kidney transplant is a big deal. Getting a pancreas transplant is a big deal. Last month, doctors in Texas performed the first-ever multi-organ transplant paired with the transplant of a skull and scalp tissue, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center.

50 US Hospitals That Mark Up Prices the Most

Yet a combination of a lack of regulation, competition and clarity in billing practices enables many hospitals to routinely charge fees to patients that are more than 1,000 percent of the amount that is reimbursable by Medicare, a new study has found. The researchers claim that these markups are largely motivated by profit, not service quality, and that this price-gouging trickles down to nearly all consumers, whether they have health insurance or not, contributing soundly to the high level of U.S. health spending. Topping the list is North Okaloosa Medical Center in Florida, which charges more than 1,200 percent of what Medicare will reimburse for procedures, on average.

Talking Spaceships & Sci-Fi Awesomeness Rule in 2 New SyFy Channel Shows

Spaceships, alien planets, deadly assassins, computers with personalities, and the backdrop of space: the staples of science-fiction drama will be plentiful on the SyFy channel this summer, as the network debuts two original, space-centric shows.

Italian Astronaut Sets New Record for Longest Space Mission by a Woman

Samantha Cristoforetti set the record on Saturday (June 6) at 11:04 a.m. EDT (1504 GMT), surpassing the 194 days, 18 hours and 2 minutes logged by NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams onboard the International Space Station in June 2007. If Cristoforetti's flight home on Thursday (June 11) proceeds as planned, she will have been in space for 199 days, 16 hours and 42 minutes in total — give or take a few minutes based on when her Soyuz spacecraft lands on the steppe of Kazakhstan. The record-setting stay wasn't something that Cristoforetti was anticipating when she lifted off for the space station last year.

Then There Were 5: Inside the Race to Save the Northern White Rhino

Such is the life of Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros on Earth. Now, researchers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Sudan's home, and elsewhere are rushing to save this subspecies, of which only five individuals remain. "It's kind of a race against time," said Richard Vigne, CEO of Ol Pejeta.

Gangnam Style! Robots Dance & Slither at DARPA Challenge

POMONA, Calif. — From robots that scuttle like spiders to ones that dive underwater, a menagerie of amazing machines were on display this weekend at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, a robotics competition hosted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. One of the most popular attractions at the expo was a fleet of mini robots, dancing "Gangnam Style." Made by the company Robotis, based in Irvine, California, the "Darwin-Mini" robots did an adorable impression of the moves of viral Korean pop-singer Psy.

Life on the Serengeti: Thousands of Wild Images Captured by Hidden Cameras

Researchers hope to use the photos to answer questions about how animals interact within their ecosystems, according to a new study. "It might be because they avoid each other," said study researcher Margaret Kosmala, a researcher of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University. With these photos, researchers can get a better view of how different carnivores divide space and time in the Serengeti, Kosmala told Live Science.

Creativity May Be Genetically Linked with Psychiatric Disorders

There may be an overlap between the genetic components of creativity and those of some psychiatric disorders, according to a new study. In the study, researchers looked at genetic material from more than 86,000 people in Iceland and identified genetic variants that were linked with an increased risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The investigators then looked for these variants in a group of more than 1,000 people who were members of national societies of artists, including visual artists, writers, actors, dancers and musicians in Iceland.

Bird Migrants Offer a Glimpse of the Planet's Health

David Oehler is curator of ornithology for the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) at its Bronx Zoo. During the peak spring migration in May, millions of birds make their way up the U.S. East Coast on the Atlantic Flyway from places as far away as Tierra del Fuego in Chile. As they touch down in the parks of New York City for a rest, the warblers, vireos, thrushes, woodpeckers, ducks and many other birds making the trip ignite the imagination with their beauty and ability to conquer the air.

How a Cell Knows Friend From Foe

This article was provided by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIGMS supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Carolyn Beans is a science writer for NIGMS. The ability of an organism to distinguish its own cells from those of another is called allorecognition, and it is an active area of research.

Predicting El Niño Devastation, Weeks in Advance

We've all seen the headlines: California is struggling with a historic drought that promises to worsen as the summer wears on. Forecasts of an El Niño in 2014 brought hopes of winter precipitation and much needed relief, but El Niño played truant, as it had just two years prior in 2012. With another El Niño predicted this upcoming winter, now is the perfect time to ask: Why have climate scientists' predictions gone wrong?

Neuron Probes are Exposing the Brain as Never Before (Kavli Roundtable)

Lindsay Borthwick, writer and editor for The Kavli Foundation, contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Neural probes are the workhorses of neuroscience, as essential to a neuroscientist as a compass is to a cartographer. The Buzsaki256, named for New York University professor and neural pioneer Gyorgy Buzsaki, was developed by biomedical engineer Daryl Kipke of NeuroNexus.

The Three Reasons So Many People are Getting Cancer (Op-Ed)

Dr. Bhavesh Balar is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist on staff at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, NJ, where he serves as chairman of the hospital's Cancer Committee. As an oncologist, I'm frequently asked why so many people these days are being diagnosed with cancer. Considering the significant inroads we've made over the past 50 years in terms of cancer research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, it doesn't seem to make sense.

Ox Urine to Olive Oil: Fighting Garden Pests Like the Colonists

Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Scientists solve mystery of milky rain in U.S. Pacific Northwest

A multi-disciplinary Washington State University team said they had determined that dust from the dry bed of a shallow lake some 480 miles (772 km) from where the rain fell was to blame for the unusual precipitation. The rain left a trail of powdery residue across a nearly 200-mile (322-km) stretch of eastern parts of Oregon and Washington state earlier this year, leaving scientists and residents perplexed about its origins. All three theories were proven wrong when a Washington State University hydrochemist teamed up with a meteorologist and two geologists at the school to test the chemical composition of rainwater samples and analyze February wind pattern data.

Why Pluto Is a Planet, and Eris Is Too (Op-Ed)

Tim DeBenedictis is the lead developer of the SkySafari line of iOS and Android apps at Simulation Curriculum, the makers of Starry Night, SkySafari and the free Pluto Safari app. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) got it wrong. As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft glides its way to the cold outer reaches of our solar system to take the first-ever up-close look at Pluto, the time is right to revise the International Astronomical Union (IAU)'s 2006 definition of a planet, which resulted in Pluto's "demotion" from planet to ambiguous dwarf-planet status.

NASA's 'Pluto Time' Shows You How Bright It Is on Dwarf Planet

A new NASA Web tool called "Pluto Time" allows people around the world to experience the light levels that prevail at noon on the dwarf planet. NASA is also encouraging users of the tool to take photos during their local Pluto Time and share the images via social media with the hashtag #PlutoTime. "We'll highlight some of the most interesting shots from around the world," NASA officials wrote on the Pluto Time site, which walks people through use of the tool.

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