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Thursday, August 27, 2015

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Watch the Milky Way Shine Over California's King Range in This Awesome Video

Robert Wick, photographer for the BLM, contributed this video to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The King Range is one of more than 800 units of the National Conservation Lands, special areas managed for conservation by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. For further information on these spectacular lands visit the BLM special areas site.

Cosmic Forensics Pinpoint Stellar Suspects in Supernovae (Kavli Roundtable)

Adam Hadhazy, writer and editor for The Kavli Foundation, contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. For brief periods, Type Ia supernovae can outshine an entire galaxy of billions of stars. Astrophysicists want to understand the origins of supernovae because they are integral to the evolution of galaxies and the study of dark energy.

Does Marijuana Change the Brain?

The effects of marijuana on the brain may be more complicated than experts previously thought, and may depend on factors related to the person using the drug, such as their genetics, two new studies suggest. Marijuana use does not lead to smaller brain size in teens, one of the new studies found. But in people who are genetically prone to schizophrenia, marijuana could alter their brain development in potentially negative ways, according to the other new study.

Forget the 'Supermoon': What's Actually Happening at Lunar Perigee

A full moon is when the sun, Earth and moon line up, with the Earth in the middle. As seen from the surface of the Earth, the moon is fully illuminated. Because the Earth is constantly revolving around the sun and the moon is constantly revolving around the Earth, a full moon is an instantaneous event, occurring when the moon is exactly opposite the sun.

New NASA Model Maps Sea Level Rise Like Never Before (Video)

A new NASA model is showing just how fast sea levels are rising around the world as a result of climate change. At a news conference today (Aug. 26), NASA officials described a new computer visualization of sea level change incorporating data collected by satellites since 1992 — it reveals that sea levels are rising quickly but unevenly across the globe. "Sea level rise is one of the most visible signatures of our changing climate, and rising seas have profound impacts on our nation, our economy and all of humanity," Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said at the news conference.

NASA Crashes Plane to Test Emergency Beacons (Video)

NASA sent a small airplane plummeting to Earth today (Aug. 26), for safety's sake. Scientists and engineers at the space agency's Langley Research Center in Virginia dropped a Cessna 172 from a height of 100 feet (30 meters), in a crash test that was captured on video. Two dummies were aboard the 1974 airplane, which was outfitted with a number of cameras and sensors, as well as five emergency locator transmitters (ELTs).

Baby Panda Twin Dies at National Zoo

One of giant panda Mei Xiang's twin cubs died today (Aug. 26), just five days after its birth, the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., reported. The cub showed no signs of decline until this morning, after spending the night with its mother Mei Xiang (may-SHONG), while its twin stayed in an incubator, said Dr. Donald Neiffer, the chief veterinarian of the National Zoo. This arrangement was set up to help Mei Xiang care for the twins.

NASA: Rising Sea Levels More Dangerous Than Thought

The consequences of global sea level rise could be even scarier than the worst-case scenarios predicted by the dominant climate models, which don't fully account for the fast breakup of ice sheets and glaciers, NASA scientists said today (Aug. 26) at a press briefing. The open question, NASA scientists say, is just how quickly the seas will rise in the future. "When heat goes under the ocean, it expands just like mercury in a thermometer," Steve Nerem, lead scientist for NASA's Sea Level Change Team at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said in the press briefing.

FDA wants food companies to hand over their pathogens

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Investigations into foodborne illness are being radically transformed by whole genome sequencing, which federal officials say is enabling them to identify the source of an outbreak far more quickly and prevent additional cases. Previously, samples from sick patients were sent to state and federal labs, where disease detectives ran tests to see if the infections were caused by the same bug. When enough matches emerged, typically a dozen or so, epidemiologists interviewed sick people, looking for a common food that was causing the outbreak.

'Star Trek: Renegades' Fan Film Warps Online on YouTube

A new (but unofficial) "Star Trek" film is out there now for the world to see — for free.

No, Mars Won't Be As Big as the Moon in the Sky Tonight

Sorry, skywatchers: Despite what you may have heard, Mars won't look as big as the moon overhead tonight (Aug. 27). The unknown sender of that message was trying to get people excited about an unusually close approach of Mars to Earth in late August 2003. "The encounter will culminate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles (55,763,108 kilometers) of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky," one paragraph of the email reads.

India's 1st Mars Probe Captures Stunning 3D View of Huge Chasm

India's first mission to Mars has captured a stunning new 3D view of a vast chasm, revealing gullies shaped by erosive forces on the Red Planet. The images, sent back by India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), show Ophir Chasma, a portion of the massive Valles Marineris system that stretches across much of the planet's equator. According to NASA, the chasm is the northernmost connected valley in Valles Marineris, which is about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) long.

What's Blue with Legs All Over? New 3D Avatar Millipede

The 1.5-inch-long (3.8 centimeters) millipede was discovered in Andalusia in Spain, in 2005. It lives in the dirt underneath stones and leaf litter — a decomposer that "acts as an important component of soil fauna," said study lead researcher Nesrine Akkari, the curator of the Myriapoda Collection at the Museum of Natural History in Vienna. The researchers placed the jar containing the millipede in the machine, which then took X-rays of the specimen from different angles.

Why America Is Prone to Mass Shootings

A strange paradox is emerging in America: Overall violent-crime rates are down, but active shooter events — in which a person is trying to kill multiple people in a populated area — appear to be on the rise, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics. Meanwhile, a just-released study finds that although the United States has just about 5 percent of the world's population, the country has 31 percent of the world's mass shooters. The reasons for these numbers are complex, researchers say, but the data suggest that the availability of guns, and perhaps the American obsession with fame, may be to blame.

What Household Dust Says About You

Menageries of microscopic life — veritable zoos with extraordinary diversity — lurk hidden in household dust, and scientists now find that these tiny communities can differ greatly from each other depending of where a person lives, what pets a person has, and how many people in the house are male or female, researchers say. "Our homes are ecosystems," said study co-author Noah Fierer, a microbial ecologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This research could shed light on the impact that dust microbes can have on human health, scientists added.

Mars Hoaxes: Why We Believe

Any emails or Facebook messages to the contrary are, alas, nothing but a hoax. Rumors that Mars would appear as large as the moon first emerged in 2003, when the Red Planet was actually passing closer than usual to Earth. Since then, the hoax has circulated every year and is going around yet again, despite multiple attempts by NASA to debunk this myth.

Mars Hoaxes! 6 Stubborn Red Planet Conspiracy Theories

Every year in August, the same Mars message circulates across the Internet: The Red Planet will appear "as big as the full moon" in the sky, as seen with the naked eye. The so-called Mars Hoax (which started in 2003 after a real-life close approach of Mars to the Earth) is just one of a series of false claims concerning the Red Planet. Readers apparently missed the line saying that it would take a 75-power magnification in a telescope to make Mars appear as big as the full moon.

Why Knut the Polar Bear Died So Suddenly

He spawned millions of fuzzy toys, garnered media attention on everything from his cod-liver diet to his lack of mates and even inspired his own song before his untimely death in 2011. He was Knut the polar bear, the star of the Berlin Zoo. It turns out that Knut was killed by an autoimmune disorder called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a kind of brain inflammation.

Insecure Men May Be More Prone to Violence

Although it's often assumed that males who feel they are "manly" men are more likely to engage in violence than those who are less concerned about their masculinity, men who feel they don't meet perceived masculine gender norms and are stressed about it may be equally prone to violent acts, a new study finds. "These findings suggest prevention of discrepancy stress may likewise prevent acts of violence with the greatest consequences and costs to the victim, offender and society," the researchers wrote in the study.

'McWhopper' Mega-Burger Would Have Mega-Calories

Burger King is proposing a one-day truce with its fast-food competitor McDonald's to create the "McWhopper," a combination of the Big Mac and the Whopper, the most popular burgers at the respective chains. Neither restaurant has released information about the exact nutritional value of the hypothetical mega-burger, which Burger King wants to sell in honor of World Peace Day in September. According to the Burger King proposal, the McWhopper would be 6 parts Big Mac and 6 parts Whopper.

Birth Order Peril: Firstborn Women More Likely to Be Obese

Second-born siblings may argue that firstborns get all the glory, but there may be a health benefit to coming in second: Firstborn women may be more likely to be overweight or obese than their later-born sisters, according to a new study in Sweden. Firstborn women in the study were 29 percent more likely to be overweight, and 40 percent more likely to be obese, compared with their second-born sisters, according to the researchers. In the study, researchers looked at data from the Swedish Birth Register on nearly 13,500 pairs of sisters. The data included the participants' weight when they were born, as well as their weight and height during their first pregnancies, at their first prenatal visit.

Placenta 'Switch' that Kickstarts Labor May Solve Long-Standing Mystery

As any 40-weeks'-pregnant woman can attest, predicting when labor might start is a dark art — which is to say, basically impossible. Now, a new study suggests that a genetic "switch" in the placenta might kick off the production of the hormones that start labor. "It's 2015, and even now we don't understand how the clock works that governs the length of pregnancy," said study researcher Dr. Todd Rosen, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at the Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Scientists solve mystery of polar bear Knut's death

Knut, the star polar bear who was hand-reared at Berlin zoo after his mother rejected him, had a type of auto-immune inflation of the brain that is found in humans, scientists said on Thursday. Knut, who was just four when he drowned at the zoo in 2011, was reared by his keeper Thomas Doerflein. Knut had an epileptic fit and drowned in a pool in his enclosure.

Scientists solve mystery of polar bear Knut's death

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Starship Enterprise vs. Superman: Who's the Fastest Sci-Fi Spacefarer? (Graphic)

If the fictional USS Enterprise raced the ship from "Battlestar Galactica" to the nearest star system, which would get there first? When leaving Earth on a voyage to Alpha Centauri, it turns out, Galactica would get there in just 29 minutes, traveling at an average speed of 53.4 trillion miles per hour (85.9 trillion kilometers per hour). The USS Enterprise from "Star Trek" would take more than 161 days, at a speed of "just" 6.6 billion mph (10.6 km/h).

Star Tunes: Composer Sets Twinkling Data to Music

The twinkling star is one of two in a binary system called Y Cam whose two stars orbit very close together. The pulsing frequencies that Y Cam A beams toward Earth form the basis of the chords and musical scale used in the composition. Burak Ula?, an astronomer at the Izmir Turk College Planetarium in Turkey, started the project after finding, in an earlier study, that the star Y Cam A's vibrations closely match a particular, unusual musical scale.

'Lonely Mountain' on Dwarf Planet Ceres Shines in Jaw-Dropping Photos

The mountain, with an altitude of 21,120 feet (6,437 meters), is one of many gorgeous features captured in the new images, which Dawn took on Aug. 19. Dawn currently orbits Ceres at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), but in October, the probe will start spiraling down to an orbit just 230 miles (375 km) above the surface. The images show that the "lonely mountain" is not part of any visible mountain range (hence its name).

Has Stephen Hawking Just Solved a Huge Black-Hole Mystery?

Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that the physical information about material gobbled up by a black hole is destroyed, but the laws of quantum mechanics stipulate that information is eternal. Hawking — working with Malcolm Perry, of the University of Cambridge in England, and Harvard University's Andrew Stromberg — has come up with a possible solution: The quantum-mechanical information about infalling particles doesn't actually make it inside the black hole. "I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole, as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon," Stephen Hawking said during a talk today (Aug. 25) at the Hawking Radiation conference, which is being held at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Giant Washington Wildfire Spotted from Space (Photo)

A new satellite photo captures the wildfires raging throughout the American West, including the biggest conflagration in the history of Washington State.

Billionaires Wanted to Fund Private Mars Colony

Could the first Mars colony be called Buffettville, or Zuckerburgh? The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One aims to establish a permanent settlement on the Red Planet, beginning with the touchdown of the first four pioneers in 2027. Mars One "is so ambitious and — I think 'crazy' is the right word — that we might actually get a phone call from a billionaire who says, 'I want to make this happen.

'Panda Swap' Keeps Newborn Twins in Mom's Care

Zookeepers are playing a complicated game of "baby swap" with two new pink and fuzzy panda twins at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The mother, 17-year-old Mei Xiang (may-SHONG), gave birth to the twins on Saturday (Aug. 22), delivering the first at 5:35 p.m. EDT and the second at 10:07 p.m., the zoo reported. But giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) can care for only one cub at a time.

Amazing 'Red Lightning' Photographed from Space

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured two rare photographs of red sprites from above on Aug. 10. Red sprites are strange luminous phenomena that occur alongside more familiar lightning strikes. "They're very exciting to look at, they create these fabulous visual images, but there is a lot that we still don't understand about them," said Ryan Haaland, a professor of physics at Fort Lewis College in Colorado who is involved in an ongoing project studying sprites.

Vigorous Flossing Caused Woman's Knee Infection in Strange Case

A woman in Wisconsin got a nasty bacterial infection in her knee, but the infection's source was an unexpected culprit: her vigorous tooth-flossing regimen. About 1 percent of people who undergo joint-replacement surgery develop an infection in the joint during the first several months after surgery (although the rate is slightly higher in smokers and people with diabetes), Hepinstall said.

Compounds in Flax & Sesame Seeds May Prevent Weight Gain

Eating a plant-based diet is known to be good for your waistline, but now a new study has zeroed in on specific plant compounds — found in foods such as flax and sesame seeds — that may help prevent or slow weight gain. The study found that women who consumed high levels of these compounds, called lignans, tended to weigh less and gain less weight over time, compared with women who didn't consume these compounds in high amounts. Earlier studies in animals have suggested that lignans may play a role in regulating weight.

Plague Cases in US Are Unusually High This Year

There's been an unusually high number of plague cases in the United States this year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since April 1, there have been 11 cases of plague in six states, the report said. In 2014, there were 10 plague cases, and in 2013 and 2012, there were four cases each year.

Nearly 1 in 5 Children and Teens Are Obese

More than one-third of American adults are obese, and now, a new report shows that children and teens aren't far behind. The report, released today (Aug. 25) by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that 17.5 percent of children and adolescents ages 3 to 19 are now obese. But the researchers also found that the prevalence of childhood obesity has leveled off in the past decade, with an increase of only 0.9 percent since the 2001-2004 study period.

Women's Sexuality May Depend on Romantic Options

Women's sexual orientation may be partly influenced by their romantic options, new research suggests. In addition, the study confirmed that women tend to be more flexible than men in their sexual orientation, with women in the study being nearly three times more likely than men to experience a change in their orientation during the study. That doesn't mean that lesbians or bisexual women are settling for the ladies because the "good men" are all taken, said study author Elizabeth Aura McClintock, a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame in North Bend, Indiana.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

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Sun Unleashes Medium-Strength Solar Flare (Photo)

The sun fired off a midlevel solar flare early this morning (Aug. 24) while a NASA satellite watched. The space agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of the flare, which erupted at 3:33 a.m. EDT (0733 GMT) this morning from an Earth-facing sunspot known as Active Region 2403. This morning's outburst registered as an M5.6, NASA scientists said.

Farewell Dione: Cassini Snaps Last Close Photos of Saturn Moon

The Cassini spacecraft recently got its last close views of Dione, a small icy moon orbiting Saturn, and the results are astounding. Images returned from the Aug. 17 flyby show a mottled surface of craters and ice. The closest approach brought the spacecraft to within 295 miles (474 kilometers) of the moon's surface.You can see more of Cassini's amazing Dione photos in our full gallery.

'8 Days or Bust' +50: Gemini 5 Made History with 1st Crew Mission Patch

Fifty years ago on Monday (Aug. 24), two NASA astronauts were more than one-third of the way through what was destined to be the world's longest space mission at the time. Gordon Cooper and Charles "Pete" Conrad, seated snugly in the U.S. space agency's third-manned Gemini capsule, had launched atop a Titan II rocket from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 21, 1965. Cooper, who two years earlier had flown on the longest of NASA's one-man Mercury missions, was now the first person to fly into orbit twice.

Why Does Comet 67P Sing? Scientists Think They Know

The sound waves picked up by Rosetta are moving through the comet's magnetic field. In space, no one can hear you scream — that's because on Earth, sound waves move through the air, and there is no atmosphere in space. In empty space, there is no atmosphere, so the sound waves don't have a material to travel through.

Origins of 'Gospel of Jesus's Wife' Begin to Emerge

The truth may be finally emerging about the "Gospel of Jesus's Wife," a highly controversial papyrus suggesting that some people, in ancient times, believed Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Debate about the credibility of the "gospel" began as soon as Harvard University professor Karen King reported her discovery of the papyrus in September 2012. Written in Coptic (an Egyptian language), the papyrus fragment contains a translated line that reads, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife …'" and also refers to a "Mary," possibly Mary Magdalene.

High-Res NASA Video of Hurricane Katrina Could Improve Forecasting

Ten years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, NASA has helped scientists better understand why the storm was so devastating, and how to save lives in the future. A new video, created by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, shows a high-resolution simulation of Hurricane Katrina as the storm moved across the Atlantic Ocean, then the Gulf of Mexico, and finally collided with the southern United States. You can see watch the hurricane video here, courtesy of NASA.

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