GoogleTrends

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

(Sponsor this newsletter)

New Space Station Crew Will Launch Into Orbit Tonight: Watch Live

Three new crewmembers will blast off toward the International Space Station late tonight (Sept. 1) and you can watch the liftoff live online. NASA will begin live coverage of the launch at 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 GMT) and you can watch the broadcast on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.

The Brightest Planets in September's Night Sky: How to See Them (and When)

Eye-popping Venus, low-riding Mercury and stealthy Saturn will all make appearances among the bright objects in September's night sky, and this day-by-day description shows how to find them. This month, Mercury might be glimpsed very low near the west-southwest horizon while Saturn gets lower each evening in the southwest at dusk. Meanwhile Mars, Jupiter and Venus have crossed into the morning sky, but only dazzling Venus is readily seen at dawn as it rapidly rises higher each morning.

King of clubs: intriguing tale of the 'tank' dinosaur's tail

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the most impressive weapons to appear during the dinosaur arms race of the Cretaceous Period was the big bony tail club wielded by some members of a group of tank-like plant-eaters. A new study provides a step-by-step account of the evolution of this distinctive feature possessed by the heavily armored dinosaur Ankylosaurus and its cousins, a bludgeon that may have given even the ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex reason to worry. The researchers studied fossils of the group called ankylosaurs including early, primitive species with no tail club and later ones with a fully developed one.

Medical specialists urge more debate on gene-editing technology

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Medical researchers called on Wednesday for detailed, thoughtful debate on future use of new genetic technology that has the potential to create "designer babies". The technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, allows scientists to edit virtually any gene they target, including in human embryos, enabling them to find and change or replace genetic defects. Describing CRISPR as "game-changing", the Wellcome Trust global medical charity and four other leading British research organizations urged the scientific community to proceed considerately, allowing time and space for ethical debate.

Russian Rocket Launches International Crew of 3 Toward Space Station

Three new crewmembers launched toward the International Space Station early Wednesday morning, embarking on a mission that will boost the orbiting lab's population to a level not seen in nearly two years. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency and Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov blasted off atop a Soyuz rocket Wednesday (Sept. 2) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:37 a.m. EDT (0437 GMT). It was 10:37 a.m. local time in Baikonur at launch time.

Rocket with 'Denmark's Gagarin' lifts off to space station

By Shamil Zhumatov BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a three-man international crew, including Denmark's first astronaut, roared off on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, beginning a two-day journey to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew is commanded by veteran Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, joined by rookie Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Aidyn Aimbetov, another first-time space flyer from Kazakhstan's space agency Kazcosmos. ESA dubbed Mogensen "Denmark's Gagarin", a reference to the Soviet cosmonaut and first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

How 'Starshades' Could Aid Search for Alien Life

The next step in the exoplanet revolution may be an in-space "starshade" that lets alien worlds step out of a blinding glare. The starshade, also known as an "external occulter," would block the light from a star while allowing the scope to spot emissions from much dimmer orbiting planets. Scientists are conducting desert tests of the technology on Earth.

United Launch Alliance rocket blasts off with military satellite

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Wednesday to put a next-generation communications satellite into orbit for the U.S. military. The 20-story tall rocket, manufactured and launched by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 a.m. EDT. Perched on top of the rocket was the fourth satellite in the U.S. Navy's $7.3 billion Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, network, which is intended to provide 3G-cellular technology to vehicles, ships, submarines, aircraft and troops on the move.

US Military Launches Advanced Tactical Communications Satellite Into Orbit

An unmanned Atlas V rocket carrying the Navy's fourth Mobile User Objective System satellite, or MUOS-4, lit up the pre-dawn sky in a dazzling display as it lifted off from a launchpad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 a.m. EDT (1018 GMT). The mission, which was overseen by the U.S. launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) was originally scheduled for Aug. 31, but delayed due to bad weather. The satellite is the fourth installment in the MUOS communications system, which is "designed to significantly improve ground communications for U.S. forces on the move," according to a statement from Lockheed Martin, is building a total of five MUOS satellites for the U.S. military.

Ride Along on New Horizons Probe's Epic Pluto Flyby (Video)

An amazing new video takes viewers along for the ride during a NASA spacecraft's epic July flyby of Pluto. The Pluto flyby video gives a probe's-eye view of the historic July 14 encounter, during which the New Horizons spacecraft zoomed within just 7,800 miles (12,550 kilometers) of the dwarf planet's frigid surface. The short video stitches together real images captured by New Horizons, showing a dramatically sped-up depiction of the probe's approach and close Pluto flyby, as well as its passage out into the dark depths of the faraway Kuiper Belt.

Why Creative Geniuses Are Often Neurotic

Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of gravity, built telescopes and delved into mathematical theories. Whatever the truth behind these prominent men's mental health, multiple studies have found a link between creativity and neuroticism — a tendency toward rumination and negative thinking. Now, British researchers have proposed a possible reason for the connection: Creativity and neuroticism could be two sides of the same coin.

Iguana Relative Shows How Lizards Spread Worldwide

"This fossil is an 80-million-year-old specimen of an acrodontan in the New World," study co-author Michael Caldwell, a biological sciences professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, said in a statement.

Why 'Denali?' Explaining Mount McKinley's New (Old) Name

North America's tallest mountain peak just got a new name. Or, more accurately, the mountain formerly known as Mount McKinley just got its old name back. On Sunday (Aug. 30), during a trip to Alaska, President Obama said the name of the state's 20,237-foot (6,168 meters) mountain would officially be changed to Denali, which is what many Alaskans have called the peak all along.

Daily Marijuana Use Among College Students Reaches 30-Year High

The percentage of U.S. college students who say they smoke marijuana daily or nearly every day is at its highest in more than three decades, according to a new survey. In 2014, 5.9 percent of college students said they smoked marijuana 20 or more times in the prior month. In fact, in 2014, near-daily use of marijuana was more common than daily cigarette use for the first time, the researchers found.

Cycling Injuries Increasing Among Middle-Age & Older Adults

More U.S. adults, particularly those older than 45, are visiting the emergency room for bicycle-related injuries in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers examined emergency room visits for bicycle-related injuries between 1998 and 2013. In 1998-1999, people in this age group accounted for 23 percent of ER visits for bike injuries, but in 2012-2013, they accounted for 42 percent of these ER visits.

Living Small: The Psychology of Tiny Houses

Tiny houses can make big dreams come true. The teensy living spaces, which are usually 500 square feet or less, are often perched on the wheels of a flatbed trailer, legally making them recreational vehicles (RVs), and easy to move. Tiny houses appeal to home buyers who are not interested in "living large" and would never give a McMansion a second thought.

Medical specialists urge more debate on gene-editing technology

20 kilometer high space elevator tower planned

By Jim and Drury Ambitious plans to build a twenty kilometer (12.4 miles) tall space elevator tower have been announced by a Canadian space technology firm. Although this distance is a mere fraction of that reached in space missions, Thoth Technology says its ThothX Tower will make a major cost reduction in space flights by helping navigate the difficult first 50 kilometers (31 miles) of travel that traditionally requires rockets. In addition to needing to carry sufficient fuel to get a payload into orbit, they need extra fuel in order to carry the required fuel to reach that point in the first place. Despite first being proposed more than a century ago, the idea of a space elevator has always appeared fanciful. Thoth Technology has been granted a United States (US) patent for the elevator, which is pneumatically pressurized and actively-guided over its base.

This Photo of Saturn's Moon Dione Crossing the Planet Is Simply Jaw-Dropping

The photo, which Cassini took on May 21, shows the moon Dione crossing Saturn's disk. Careful study of such "transits" can help astronomers better understand the orbits of Dione and other moons in the solar system, NASA officials said. Parts of Dione are heavily cratered, and the satellite's trailing side features mysterious ice cliffs and fractures that run for tens or hundreds of kilometers.

Prawn Nebula View Offers Stunning Glimpse of 'Cosmic Recycling' (Video)

A new view of the Prawn Nebula shows "cosmic recycling" at work: Glowing clusters of newborn stars illuminate surrounding gas, expelled from an earlier stellar generation, which will eventually form into even newer stars. The 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Obsevatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile snapped a choice section of the reddish nebula studded by young blue stars in a newly released image. The nebula, also called Gum 56 and IC 4628, is hard to see with the naked eye although it's around 250 light-years across — it is very faint, and mostly emits light at wavelengths not visible to humans.

Regeneron scientists discover key to excess bone growth in rare disease

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists at U.S. biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals researching a rare genetic disease that traps sufferers in a second skeleton have discovered a treatment that shuts down excessive bone growth in mice engineered to develop the illness. Company scientists said on Wednesday the protein Activin-A, which normally blocks bone growth, triggers hyperactive bone growth in patients with a genetic mutation that causes the disease. The disease is known as Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, or FOP.

(Sponsor this newsletter)

Delievered to you by Feedamail.
Unsubscribe

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

(Sponsor this newsletter)

New guidelines for cancer doctors aim to make sense of gene tests

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has issued guidelines on how cancer doctors should approach the use of new genetic tests that screen for multiple cancer genes at the same time, including counseling patients about genes whose contribution to cancer is still poorly understood. The guidelines aim to educate doctors about the risks and benefits of new genetic tests, argue for regulation to assure quality and call for more equitable reimbursement of the cost of the tests from private and public insurers. The falling price of genome sequencing has made it possible for cancer doctors to cheaply test for a wide variety of mutated genes that could guide treatment or predict a person's risk for cancer.

LEGO to Launch: Astronaut from Denmark Taking Danish Toys to Space Station

Denmark's first astronaut is launching to the International Space Station with a Danish toy that is famous worldwide. Andreas Mogensen will fly to the space station with LEGO minifigures bearing the official logo of his mission for the European Space Agency (ESA). "ESA and LEGO Education have partnered together for this mission," Mogensen wrote as part of an AMA, or "Ask Me Anything," on the website Reddit in reply to a question submitted by collectSPACE.

Yearlong Mock Mars Mission Will Test Mental Toll of Isolation

In the confines of a 36-foot-wide (11 meters) and 20-foot-high (6 m) solar-powered dome in a remote location on the island of Hawaii, the six team members will have to live together for 365 days. "We hope that this upcoming mission will build on our current understanding of the social and psychological factors involved in long-duration space exploration," Kim Binsted, principal investigator for HI-SEAS, said in a statement from the University of Hawaii.

'Galaxy Quest' Movie May Become TV Show

A favorite of many science fiction fans, the 1999 movie "Galaxy Quest" is about a group of actors who play space explorers on a "Star Trek"-like TV series. Last April, entertainment outlets reported that Paramount Television was interested in selling the project, and last Thursday (Aug. 27), Entertainment Weekly reported that the studio had found a buyer.

'How We'll Live on Mars': Q&A with Author Stephen Petranek

Stephen Petranek, an award-winning journalist and technology forecaster, thinks people will be living on Mars within 20 years. Petranek states his case in a new book called "How We'll Live on Mars" (Simon & Schuster/TED, 2015). Complementing Petranek's TED talk of the same name, the book paints a picture of humanity's first journey to the Red Planet, which he sets in 2027, and describes the key technologies needed to reach, survive and thrive on the planet and exactly how that process would play out.

Titanic's Last Lunch Menu Up for Auction

Before the RMS Titanic plunged into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, passengers aboard the storied passenger ship may have feasted on corned beef, potted shrimp and dumplings, according to an unusual artifact from the doomed ship — a lunch menu dated April 14, 1912, the day before the tragic sinking. The menu, along with several other items from the Titanic's final days afloat, will be put up for auction Sept. 30 in New York City. The crumpled menu is expected to sell for at least $50,000, according to Lion Heart Autographs, the online auction house handling the sale.

Robots on the Run! 5 Bots That Can Really Move

Earlier this month, the Google-owned robotics company Boston Dynamics released a video of its humanoid robot running through a forest. Boston Dynamics has a handful of bots that run just as well as Atlas, and researchers from other institutions are also building machines that can ramble about in the real world. If you need proof, check out the blooper reel from this year's DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a humanoid-robot competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Fossils Show How Ancient Seafloor Gave Rise to Life

Signs of 125-million-year-old life lurk in rocks drilled from deep under the seafloor near Spain and Portugal, new research finds. The rocks date to a time when the Earth's mantle, the viscous layer just below the outer crust, was exposed to seawater. Scientists have long suspected that this mix of deep-Earth rocks and ocean water could have created conditions ripe for life.

First Dane goes into space -- to test bike gear

Denmark will send its first man into space on Wednesday and in keeping with the country's love of all things cycling, one of his jobs will be to test new equipment on Danish-made exercise bikes at the International Space Station. Dubbed "Denmark's Gagarin" by European Space Agency officials after the first man in space, Andreas Mogensen will lift off at 0437 GMT (12:37 a.m. EDT) accompanied by Russian Sergei Volkov and Kazakh Aidyn Aimbetov on ESA's 10-day "sprint" mission. The aim is to test equipment in areas of telerobotics and communications as well as monitoring the impact of space travel on Mogensen himself as his short voyage is unique in missions that normally last several months, according to ESA.

SpaceX rocket grounded for 'couple more months,' company says

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - SpaceX plans to keep its Falcon 9 rocket grounded longer than planned following a launch accident in June that destroyed a space station cargo ship, the company president said on Monday. The privately held company, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, previously had slated Falcon 9's next flight for no earlier than September. "We're taking more time than we originally envisioned, but I don't think any one of our customers wants us to race to the cliff and fail again," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a webcast panel discussion at the AIAA Space 2015 conference in Pasadena, California.

Another Fatal Brain Disease May Come from the Spread of 'Prion' Proteins

What's more, the researchers say that the prion they believe causes MSA, called alpha-synuclein, is the first new prion to be discovered in half a century. "Based on these findings, we conclude that MSA is a prion disorder, and that alpha-synuclein is the first new bona fide prion to be discovered, to our knowledge, in the last 50 years," the researchers, from the University of California, San Francisco, wrote in the Aug. 31 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because prion diseases can be transmitted through certain types of contact with infected tissue, the findings suggest a potential concern for doctors and researchers who work with tissue from MSA patients, the researchers said.

Ouch! Volunteers Get Tick Bites for Science

We all know that some ticks bite, but just how eager certain species are to feed on humans, and how quickly people react to their bites, is less clear in some cases. Lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) are common in the Southern United States, although they are also found in the Eastern and South-Central U.S., and they are known to bite people. Ten ticks were placed on the inside of a bottle cap, and each participant had two bottle caps secured to his or her body (one on each arm), for a total of 20 ticks per participant.

'Gray Swan' Hurricanes Could Strike Unexpected Places

"Gray swan" hurricanes — storms with impacts more extreme than history alone would predict — could ravage cities in Florida, Australia and the Persian Gulf, researchers say. By the end of the century, climate change could dramatically increase the chance of damage from these unexpected storms, scientists added. Rare, unpredictable events with major impacts have been called "black swans." In contrast, what Ning Lin, a climate scientist at Princeton University, and her colleagues dub "gray swans" are events with impacts beyond what might be thought of as likely based on the historical record alone.

'Bizarre,' Human-Size Sea Scorpion Found in Ancient Meteorite Crater

About 460 million years ago, a sea scorpion about the size of an adult human swam around in the prehistoric waters that covered modern-day Iowa, likely dining on bivalves and squishy eel-like creatures, a new study finds. The ancient sea scorpions are eurypterids, a type of arthropod that is closely related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs. The findings — which include at least 20 specimens — are the oldest eurypterid fossils on record by about 9 million years, said study lead researcher James Lamsdell, a postdoctoral associate of paleontology at Yale University.

'Lego-Stacking' Technique Could Help Scientists Grow Human Organs

The advance may enable scientists to test customized medicines before injecting them into a patient and, ultimately, to grow whole human organs, the scientists say. The main difficulty scientists have faced in building organs is properly positioning the many cell types that constitute any given organ tissue. Gartner said scientists are still years away from growing whole organs to replace diseased ones.

Primordial sea beast resembled ancient Greek warship

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the earliest big predators to prowl Earth's primordial waters was a sea scorpion nearly 6 feet (1.7 meters) long whose body looked a bit like an ancient Greek warship. "Pentecopterus was an incredibly bizarre animal, with a long head that looked somewhat like the prow of a ship, a narrow body and massively enlarged limbs that it used to capture prey," Yale University paleontologist James Lamsdell said. Pentecopterus was named after a type of galley used by the ancient Greeks known as a penteconter, which the creature resembles with its narrow body and long head, Lamsdell said.

Unearthing NASA's 'Worm': Reissue of Manual Celebrates Retired NASA Logo

A 40-year-old book that gave rise to one of NASA's most iconic logos is being relaunched as a limited edition reprint on Kickstarter. The NASA Graphics Standards Manual, first published in January 1976, defined a new graphic identity for the U.S. space agency. As designed by Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn, the guide introduced a stark logotype, on which the letters "N-A-S-A" were "reduced to their simplest form, replacing the red, white and blue circular emblem with the white block letters," as Danne's original introduction to the book described.

Deaf mice cured with gene therapy

In a laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital a cure for genetic deafness is taking shape. Lead researcher Jeff Holt says that if all goes as planned, children of the future who lose their ability to hear due to genetic mutation will never go deaf. To test their treatment protocol, Holt and his team used two types of deaf mice that model the dominant and recessive genetic mutations of TMC1 in humans.

(Sponsor this newsletter)

Delievered to you by Feedamail.
Unsubscribe