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Wednesday, July 8, 2015

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From Sputnik to Spock: Crowdsourced Names for Pluto Map Submitted

Researchers working on NASA's New Horizons mission have submitted for official approval a long list of crowdsourced names that will help fill out the first-ever maps of Pluto and its five moons. New Horizons team members submitted names generated by the "Our Pluto" campaign to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) today (July 7), one week before the probe makes history's first flyby of the faraway dwarf planet. The July 14 close encounter — in which New Horizons will zoom within 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of Pluto — will reveal many different surface features, such as craters and mountains, on the dwarf planet and its satellites (Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx).

'Not Yet Explored' No More: New Horizons Flying Stamp to Pluto

They are three words that, after next week, will never be used to describe the dwarf planet Pluto again. The phrase, which first appeared in 1991 along the bottom of a 29-cent U.S. postage stamp depicting Pluto, is now affixed — in the form of one those 24-year-old stamps — on NASA's New Horizons robotic probe, which as of Tuesday (July 7) is just one week out from flying by the mysterious dwarf planet. Not only is it thought to be the first time that a U.S. postage stamp has been present for the event that effectively made its design outdated, but it is also the farthest that any stamp has ever traveled before.

People Who Can Imagine Aromas Vividly Tend to Weigh More

Previous research has shown that food cravings are associated with obesity, and that the intensity of people's food cravings is related to the vividness of their mental images of food, said the new study's lead researcher, Barkha Patel, a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry at Yale University. To investigate, the researchers gave 25 people three questionnaires asking them to rate their mental-imagery abilities, including the vividness of their visual imagery, olfactory imagery and food imagery. In fact, olfactory imagery was the best predictor of BMI out of all the measures, the researchers considered, including visual imagery and food imagery, they found.

Smartphone App Tells You When to Stop Drinking

There are smartphone apps that can help you keep track of healthy habits, like how much exercise you do and the number of steps you take in a day. The app is aimed at helping drinkers better manage their alcohol intake, the researchers said. The developers noted that researchers have found that apps that promise to track users' blood alcohol content are highly unreliable.

Spidey Senses Tingling! Arachnids Feel Sex

The male uses the palpal organ to transfer sperm into the female. Several studies of the palpal organ had found no evidence of nerve tissue, suggesting the spider mating apparatus was totally numb. "Put it simply, males of this spider species are likely able to outsmart females," Lipke and Michalik wrote in an email to Live Science.

Why Matisse's Vibrant Painting of Nudes Is Fading

Scientists are peeling back layers of paint to get to the root of an enduring plague that is threatening century-old art by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. By studying the yellow paint from Matisse's "The Joy of Life" — a vibrantly colored land- and seascape dotted with several nude figures — researchers have found the chemical process that weakens the brilliant sunflowerlike color, called cadmium yellow, to a milky-gray hue in this and other artworks. "We can finally see across several different countries, across several different artists and several different paintings, we can see the same mechanism going on.

Starry Vortex Takes Top Spot in Nightscapes Photo Contest

Winner Eric Nathan, a self-taught freelance photographer, stacked more than 900 30-second exposures to create the image, which shows star trails caused by the rotation of the Earth. "The play of light patterns here, with the circling stars set against the urban labyrinths, makes this image a delight to explore, while at the same time showing the power of city lights to dominate the natural world," contest judge James Richardson, a National Geographic photographer, said in a statement. The overall contest theme was "Dark Skies Importance." Light pollution at night is such a problem that even the most remote telescopes are having trouble breaking through the glare.

How Asteroid Mining Could Open Up the Solar System (Podcast Transcript)

Asteroid mining is considered by many to be a key to the colonization of outer space, the space equivalent of California's Gold Rush. NASA is planning missions to advance asteroid mining — OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security and Regolith Explorer) — in partnership with two leading private industries: Planetary Resources, Inc. and Deep Space Industries. Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine, and conducts research in plasma turbulence and astrophysics.

As Ancient Livestock Disappear, Frozen Embryos Restore Ancient Breeds

Recently, deposits of this genetic material have increased to an unusual bank, the SVF Foundation, with vaults containing not cash and gold, but cryopreserved animal embryos, semen and blood. Fueling the increase is one of the first successful applications of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for rare livestock breeds anywhere in the United States, if not the world, according to Dorothy Roof, SVF's laboratory supervisor.

Driving with a Marijuana High: How Dangerous Is It?

Most Americans think that driving while high on marijuana isn't that dangerous, according to a recent Gallup poll. About 70 percent of people polled said that people who drive while impaired by marijuana are "not much of a problem" or only a "somewhat serious problem," whereas just 29 percent said it was a very serious problem. But is it really safe to drive while high on marijuana?

The Illusion of Time: What's Real?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of "Closer To Truth," a public television and multimedia program featuring the world's leading thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions regarding the cosmos, consciousness and a search for meaning. Kuhn is co-editor (with John Leslie) of The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything At All? Kuhn contributed this article, based on two recent "Closer To Truth" episodes (produced/directed by Peter Getzels), to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Only Climate Action Can Save Polar Bears

Margaret Williams, managing director of the Arctic program at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Living in Alaska, I have seen firsthand that the Arctic is rapidly changing. This environment has also put the Arctic's unique wildlife in trouble, particularly ice-dependent species such as polar bears.

How to Find Pluto in the Night Sky: July 8

On July 14, a NASA spacecraft will make a close flyby of Pluto, sending back the first up-close images of the dwarf planet's surface. In anticipation of the New Horizons flyby, this sky chart can help you find Pluto in the night sky (with the assistance of a high-power telescope). The chart shows the positions of Pluto and New Horizons as seen through a high-power telescope eyepiece with a field of view of 15 arc minutes.

Israeli life science firms seek help to follow Teva's lead

By Tova Cohen TEL AVIV (Reuters) - As Israel's biggest company Teva strives to get even bigger by swallowing up rival Mylan for more than $40 billion, further down the food chain a raft of upstart life science firms are struggling to climb onto the global ladder. Now the government is starting to take notice, urged on by influential advocates, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' own boss, who says the country's economic future depends on replicating his company's success. Israel has a burgeoning life science industry comprising around 1,380 mostly very small companies.

Tar Balls from California Oil Spill Litter Beach in NASA Photo

Spotting dark, gooey and flammable tar on the beach — remnants from an oil spill in Southern California in May — just got a lot easier, thanks to NASA. The agency recently captured a light-sensitive image of tar-seeped sand and water in Santa Barbara to help officials study and respond to the spill. "Mapping tar on beaches using high-resolution imaging spectroscopy techniques that can identify tar of this type has never been done before, and is a natural extension of oil-on-water remote sensing," Ira Leifer, principle investigator of the oil spill and an environmental consultant, said in a statement.

Neptune's Strange Magnetic Field Stretches Arms in New Model (Video)

Scientists knew Neptune's magnetic field was strange — just not this strange. Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun, has vivid blue clouds and fierce windstorms, but also a badly behaved magnetic field. The field is 27 times more powerful than Earth's and sits at an angle on the planet, changing chaotically as it interacts with the solar wind.

Futuristic Jetpack Will Go on Sale for $200,000 Next Year

It's a firefighter wearing a jetpack!" That could be something you find yourself saying as early as next year. A company in New Zealand recently announced that its futuristic product — a fan-propelled, personal flying machine— will be commercially available during the second half of next year. The company sees the pack as a tool for "saving human lives," and some of the potential applications listed on its website include fire services, border patrol and search-and-rescue operations.

Technical solutions alone can't fix climate change - scientists

By Laurie Goering PARIS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Dealing with climate change and its risks will require not only technical responses like drought-resilient crops and higher sea walls but also reshaping economic and political incentives that are driving global warming, scientists said on Wednesday. "The biggest risk of all that we face is that we're addressing the wrong problem," University of Oslo sociologist Karen O'Brien told a week-long conference of climate researchers in Paris.

Technical solutions alone can't fix climate change: scientists

Gene therapy for deafness moves a few steps closer

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Gene therapy for deafness is moving closer to reality, with new research on Wednesday showing the technique for fixing faulty DNA can improve responses in mice with genetic hearing loss. Separately, a clinical trial backed by Novartis is under way to help a different group of people who have lost their hearing through damage or disease. After missteps in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when safety scares set back research, gene therapy is enjoying a renaissance, with positive clinical results recently in conditions ranging from blood diseases to blindness.

Massive 'Magnet' May Have Powered Monster Cosmic Explosion

Scientists suspect that there are at least two different sources of gamma-ray bursts. A new study looking at one of the longest and most intense bursts ever detected suggests there may be another source: a magnetic hunk of material only a few tens of miles across, but with a magnetic field 5,000 trillion times that of Earth. Gamma-ray bursts are traditionally divided into two groups — long and short — depending on whether they last more or less than 2 seconds.

Frills and Whistles: Triceratops Relative Had Bizarre Head of Horns

The 79-million-year-old bones of four pickup truck-size horned dinosaurs have been unearthed in Alberta, Canada, and the discovery reveals how the distant relatives of Triceratops got their horns, a new study finds. Wendy Sloboda, a renowned fossil hunter, discovered the fossils in 2010 while walking her German shepherds in the badlands of southern Alberta, just north of Montana. "She said, 'I found some ceratopsian material,' which she knows I love," said co-author Michael Ryan, the curator and head of vertebrate paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Pluto's 'Heart' Spied by New Horizons Spacecraft (Photo)

The image, which New Horizons took yesterday (July 7) when it was less than 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) from Pluto, shows a large, heart-shaped feature on the dwarf planet's surface. The bright "heart" is about 1,200 miles (2,000 km) wide, NASA officials said. New Horizons should get much better looks at both of these intriguing features in the coming days — especially during its July 14 flyby, when the probe will zoom within 7,800 miles (12,500 km) of Pluto's surface.

Who is Wendy and why is this dinosaur named after her?

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's not every day a dinosaur gets named after you, so Canadian fossil hunter Wendy Sloboda celebrated in a unique way. It is pretty exciting for me," said Sloboda, who first spotted the fossils of the dinosaur now named Wendiceratops in southern Alberta's remote badlands. Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of Wendiceratops, a 20-foot-long (6-meter) two-ton beast with a prominent, upright horn atop its nose and a series of short, forward-curling hooks adorning a bony, shield-like frill at the back of its head.

Staying in School Would Help People Live Longer, Study Suggests

Staying in school has not only financial advantages, but also health benefits: A new study estimates that more than 145,000 deaths per year could be averted in the United States if everyone who didn't finish high school had earned their high school degrees. People with higher levels of education may live longer for many reasons, including that they tend to have higher incomes, healthier behaviors and better psychological well-being, the researchers said.

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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Pluto's Odd Dark Spots Continue to Puzzle Scientists (Photos)

The images reveal a great deal of variation and complexity across Pluto's surface — including the four large dark patches near the equator first spotted by New Horizons late last month. "This object is unlike any other that we have observed," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said during a news briefing today (July 6). New Horizons captured the new photos last Wednesday (July 1) and Friday (July 3), shortly before suffering a glitch that sent it into a precautionary "safe mode" on Saturday (July 4).

How to See The Scorpion in July's Night Sky

Only Orion (the Hunter), the staple of the wintertime sky, has more bright stars. From around 40 degrees north latitude — for cities such as Philadelphia, Denver and Reno — the entire figure of Scorpius just manages to clear the southern horizon. The most noteworthy object in Scorpius is Antares, a distinctly reddish star of the 1st magnitude that marks the heart of the Scorpion.

Is Mars Humid Enough to Support Life?

Mars may appear to be dry and desolate, but the Red Planet can be surprisingly humid — perhaps humid enough to support life, some scientists say. "The conditions on Mars, where the relative humidity is high and the available water vapor is approximately 100 precipitable microns, is the equivalent of the drier parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile," John Rummel, of East Carolina University, told Space.com by email.

What's Inside Saturn Moon Enceladus? Geyser Timing Gives Hints

The geysers that burst from the surface of Enceladus indicate that this Saturnian satellite is more than just a ball of ice. Previous work has suggested that the geysers are caused by the tidal pull of Saturn on Enceladus, but the timing of those explosions with the motions of the two bodies doesn't quite line up based on models. The new research provides insight into what kind of internal arrangement might be responsible for the timing of the geysers.

Mean Machines: US & Japan Mega-Robots to Battle

Two huge, Transformer-type bots — one from Japan, the other from the United States — could soon be facing off in the ultimate futuristic duel. Last week, the geeks over at MegaBots — a Boston-based startup devoted to the art of robot combat — challenged their one and only competitor, Suidobashi Heavy Industry of Japan, to a duel in a YouTube video.

The future of travel? A tube called Hyperloop

This was originally the brainchild of billionaire U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk, who envisioned being able to whisk passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under half an hour. Two years after unveiling plans for a futuristic, high-speed Hyperloop transportation system, Musk has now announced plans for building a test track in southern California and a competition for prototype pods. Several companies subsequently announced plans for pilot projects in California, Texas and other locations, but Musk and his companies, which include privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, and Tesla Motors Inc electric car company, were not involved.

Cause of Falcon rocket accident still eludes SpaceX, CEO says

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - SpaceX is still homing in on why its Falcon 9 rocket exploded after liftoff last week, unable to resolve conflicting data radioed back to the ground before the explosion, CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday. SpaceX plans to take its findings to the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees U.S. commercial launches, NASA and some customers to see if an outside eye can help resolve the conundrum.

Teaching old dogs new tricks with 'smart harness'

(This July 6 story is refiled to correct name in paragraph 12) North Carolina State University researchers have developed new technology designed to improve communication between dogs and humans. Researchers at North Carolina State University are combining their love for dogs with their love of technology. A joint project between the computer science and electrical and computer engineering departments and the College of Veterinary Medicine has developed new technology designed to improve communication between dogs and humans.

US scientists: Warm oceans cause concern of coral bleaching

HONOLULU (AP) — Abnormally warm ocean temperatures are creating conditions that threaten to kill coral across the equatorial Pacific, north Pacific and western Atlantic oceans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

When Did Women Start to Outlive Men?

It's well known that women live longer than men do, but this wasn't always the case: A new study finds that differences between men and women's life expectancies began to emerge in the late 1800s. They found that over this time period, death rates decreased among both men and women. For example, among people born before 1840, death rates were about the same for men and women of a given age.

Low Testosterone May Raise Depression Risk

Men with lower levels of testosterone may be at increased risk of depression, a new study finds. Researchers found that more than half of the men in the study who had lower levels of testosterone had a diagnosis of depression, or showed symptoms of the condition, while a quarter of participants were taking medication for the disease. The vast majority of male participants in the new George Washington University study also were found to be overweight or obese, and so for comparison, the researchers pointed to a recent survey of U.S. adults finding that 6 percent of those overweight or obese were depressed.

Child's Mysterious Paralysis Tied to New Virus

So far, more than 100 children in 34 states have suddenly developed muscle weakness or paralysis in their arms or legs, a condition known as acute flaccid myelitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, researchers linked a virus called enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), which can cause respiratory illness similar to the common cold, with some of these cases. In the new study, researchers say that one case of paralysis, in a 6-year-old girl, is linked with another strain of enterovirus, called enterovirus C105.

'Direct From Pluto': Science Channel to Air New Horizons' Flyby Images

With less than nine days to go in its nine-year journey to Pluto, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on the verge of delivering the first up-close images of the mysterious dwarf planet. And when those historic images arrive on Earth, they are set to star in a new hour-long special, "Direct from Pluto: The First Encounter," premiering on the Science Channel on Wednesday, July 15, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. "Science Channel viewers will see the very first close-up images of Pluto's surface and its moons, and learn more as leading experts discuss the previous planet's status as well as uncover some surprising research," the channel described in a release shared with collectSPACE.com.

Painkiller Abuse Tied to Skyrocketing Heroin Use in US

People who are addicted to opioids are 40 times more likely than others to abuse heroin, making the abuse of prescription opioid painkillers the strongest risk factor for heroin use, according to a new report. "Heroin use is increasing at an alarming rate in many parts of society, driven by both the prescription opioid epidemic and cheaper, more available heroin," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who are addicted to opioids are primed for heroin addiction because opioids are essentially "the same chemical, with the same impact on the brain, as heroin," Frieden said at a news conference today.

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