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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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Solar powered car racers set off in Australian challenge

BARROW CREEK, Australia - More than 40 racing teams from two dozen countries left Darwin on Sunday to race across Australia to the southern city of Adelaide in the 2015 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The 3,000 kilometer (1,864 mile) trek is one of the most prestigious solar car races. The biannual event first began in 1987 and is based on the original notion that a 1000 watt car would complete the trip from Darwin to Adelaide in 50 hours.

Ancient crystal suggests life on Earth appeared 4.1 billion years ago

(Reuters) - An ancient zircon crystal unearthed in Western Australia may hold evidence that life appeared on the planet 4.1 billion years ago, or about 300 million years earlier than previously thought, according to a team of U.S. researchers. Scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles said they recently collected some 10,000 multibillion year-old zircons in Jack Hills, Australia, including one believed to contain a carbon deposit that is 4.1 billion years old, give or take 10 million years.

Obama, budding astronomers look at moon, dream of Mars at White House

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama got a guided tour of the moon on Monday, peering at its craters through a large reflective telescope set up on the South Lawn of the White House to promote science and technology careers at "Astronomy Night." Obama was joined by budding young scientists who checked out a moon rock and took selfies with NASA astronauts and other science celebrities. Chief among the selfie targets: Ahmed Mohamed, better known as "clock boy. ...

Puzzling Reaction: Sudoku Brainteasers Trigger Man's Seizures

Sudoku puzzles can be brainteasers, but one man's brain had an unusual response to solving the numerical grid puzzles: He developed seizures. The 25-year-old German man didn't always react this way to Sudoku, according to a new report of his case.

'Herbal Viagra' and Lamar Odom: What's in These Supplements?

Former NBA championship winner and reality TV star Lamar Odom awoke from a coma on Friday (Oct. 16) after he was found unconscious earlier in the week at the Love Ranch brothel in Nevada. Odom took a diet supplement touted as "herbal Viagra" before falling unconscious, and while it isn't clear exactly what happened to the 35-year-old athlete, federal agencies and researchers have warned that such supplements may contain hidden drug ingredients, and cause severe side effects. Authorities reported that Odom had also used several drugs, including cocaine and opiates, before losing consciousness.

Meet Jane, the Most Complete Adolescent T. Rex Ever Found

An adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex named Jane may settle a dispute more than 70 years in the making: Whether small carnivorous dinosaurs are younger versions of T. rex, or another species altogether, a new study finds. The authors of the new study contend that small and slender Jane is a young, 11-year-old T. rex. Before Jane, there was a critical gap between juvenile and adult T. rex dinosaur specimens, and it was unclear how their body structures changed over time, said study lead researcher Thomas Carr, an associate professor of biology at Carthage College in Wisconsin.

Bloody Ancient Arrowhead Reveals Maya 'Life Force' Ceremony

An ancient arrowhead with human blood on it points to a Maya bloodletting ceremony in which a person's "life force" fed the gods, two researchers say. The ceremony took place around 500 years ago in Guatemala at a temple at the site of Zacpetén. "The general consensus (among scholars) is that bloodletting was 'feeding' the gods with the human essential life force," said Prudence Rice, a professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Chasing Wormholes: The Hunt for Tunnels in Space-Time

Science fiction literature is full of stories in which tunnels in space-time — known as wormholes — are used for time travel. Scientists are looking at ways to use traversable wormholes (if they exist) to travel faster than the speed of light — and even to travel through time itself. "A traversable wormhole is a hyperspace tunnel, also called a throat, that connects together two remotely distant regions within our universe, or two different universes — if other universes exist — or two different periods in time, as in time travel, or different dimensions of space," physicist Eric Davis told Space.com by email.

Mars Water Discovery Sparks Exploration Debate

The revelation that dark streaks flowing downhill on Mars are signs of present-day liquid water has sparked debate on how best to investigate the Red Planet features. These dark streaks, called Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL), flow down steep slopes during warm seasons and fade when the weather is cooler. The streaks are caused by liquid water laden with salts, scientists announced last month.

20 Years On, Future Bright for Exoplanet Science

On Oct. 6, 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory announced the discovery of the huge, scorching-hot 51 Pegasi b, the first alien planet ever found around a sunlike star.

Take a Trip to Comet 67P in This Awesome Video from the Philae Lander

As the Philae lander plunged down to land on a comet in 2014, it captured a view of the great comet closer than any had ever seen. Now a new video lets viewers ride along, showing exactly what the lander saw as it descended. The European Space Agency put together the video to celebrate the one-year anniversary of choosing Philae's prime landing site.

BRIEF-Shenghua Biok Biology to acquire info tech firm for 1.6 bln yuan

Oct 20 (Reuters) - Zhejiang Shenghua Biok Biology Co Ltd * Says to acquire information technology firm for 1.6billion yuan ($252.05 million) via cash, share issue * Says plans to raise up to 1.5 billion yuan in privateplacement of shares to fund acquisition, project Source text in Chinese: http://bit.ly/1QOBD1d Further company coverage: ($1 = 6.3480 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Hong Kong and Singapore newsrooms)

Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun

The search for signs of life in a mysterious star system hypothesized to potentially harbor an "alien megastructure" is now underway. Astronomers have begun using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a system of radio dishes about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, to hunt for signals coming from the vicinity of KIC 8462852, a star that lies 1,500 light-years from Earth. NASA's Kepler space telescope found that KIC 8462852 dimmed oddly and dramatically several times over the past few years.

Chasing Wormholes: The Hunt for Tunnels in Space-Time

Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun

Orionid Meteor Shower Promises Bright Sky Show This Week

Now, one of the more reliable meteor showers — sort of a junior version of the Perseids — is set to reach its maximum before sunrise on Thursday morning (Oct. 22). This upcoming display is known as the Orionids, because the meteors seem to fan out from a region to the north of the constellation Orion's second-brightest star, ruddy Betelgeuse. Currently, Orion appears to be ahead of Earth as the planet journeys around the sun, and the constellation has not completely risen above the eastern horizon until after 11:00 p.m. local daylight time.

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Monday, October 19, 2015

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Unusual Parasite from Organ Donor Sickens 3 People

Three people who received organ transplants from the same donor all developed serious brain problems shortly after their operations. The mysterious symptoms turned out to be due to a little-understood parasite that infected the donor before she died, according to a new report of the case. Doctors were concerned that the man had contracted an infection from the donor, which happens in about 1 to 2 percent of U.S. transplants.

Canada's frozen north feels financial burn of global warming

By Chris Arsenault YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories, Canada (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Climate change is taking a heavy economic toll on Canada's far north, with buildings collapsing as melting permafrost destroys foundations, rivers running low and wildfires all a drain on the region's limited finances, senior government officials said. A sprawling area spanning the Arctic Circle with a population of less than 50,000, Canada's Northwest Territories has spent more than $140 million in the last two years responding to problems linked to global warming, the territory's finance minister said. "Our budgets are getting squeezed dramatically from climate change," Finance and Environment Minister J. Michael Miltenberger told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Prawn sex-change boosts male yields, say scientists

By Ori Lewis and Elana Ringler An Israeli-developed method to enhance prawn yields without resorting to genetic modification has started to take hold in Asia, the researcher who has developed the technology said. Male prawns can grow up to 60 percent larger than females and a breakthrough by a team of researchers at Ben Gurion University in creating all-male prawn populations is significantly increasing income for farmers. "This technology is using a cutting-edge scientific approach called temporal gene silencing through RNA interference and the idea is that if we use this technology we can produce an all male population that is for the benefit of the end user, the grower," Professor Amir Sagi, who heads the research group, told Reuters.

For Pregnant Women, Absolutely No Drinking, Docs Say

There is no amount of alcohol that is safe to drink during any trimester of pregnancy, advises a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. And all forms of alcohol — including beer, wine and liquor — pose a similar risk to the developing fetus, according to the report from the nation's largest group of pediatricians. Women who binge drink when they are not pregnant may be more likely to consume alcohol during pregnancy, the researchers noted in their report published online today (Oct. 19) in the journal Pediatrics.

Gay Conversion Therapy Harms Minors, Government Says

A supposed treatment, called gay conversion therapy, that aims to change the same-sex attractions of gay people should not be offered to minors as it can cause serious psychological harm, according to a newly released federal agency report. Advocates of such conversion therapy hold that people can change their sexual orientation. But the new report, which was released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, concludes that the technique is based on the faulty premise that there is something wrong with being gay or lesbian.

Everything's Bigger in Texas: Ancient Supersize Shark Fossils Unearthed

A mega shark that lived 300 million years ago would have made today's great whites look like shrimps, according to fossils of the beast unearthed in Jacksboro, Texas. Scientists have dubbed the newfound fossils the "Texas supershark," and the name is fitting: These supersharks were enormous: more than 26 feet (8 meters) long, or more than half the length of a school bus.

Astronauts Relive Their 'Secret Space Escapes' at NY Comic Con

NEW YORK —When New York Comic Con organizers got wind of what exactly the new Science Channel show "Secret Space Escapes" had in mind for its panel, they decided they'd better get a bigger room. The series, which premiers Nov. 10, features stories from more than 20 astronauts that tell of being trapped, cornered, stranded and even surrounded by fire during space missions and landings, and how they put their exhaustive training to "escape" from life-threatening situations. But Science Channel didn't just tell the audience about those amazing, occasionally terrified, spacefarers during its Comic Con panel Oct. 10.

Syfy's 'The Expanse' Explores a Complicated Future on Far-Flung Worlds

NEW YORK — The future is morally complicated, visually spectacular and set on far-flung worlds — complete with equally far-flung plotlines and awesome special effects — in Syfy's new show "The Expanse," which premieres Dec. 14. At New York Comic Con on Oct. 8, we got a glimpse of how the show's cast and writers pulled together the show's intricate set of worlds. Introducing the Comic Con panel, the moderator asked the creators whether "The Expanse" would have a sort of "Game of Thrones"-in-space vibe to it because of the many plotlines and political elements — they gleefully said they welcomed that particular comparison.

Apple-1 Computer & Rare Enigma Machine Up for Auction

Forget scanning electron microscopes, high-speed centrifuges and computer-controlled telescopes — some of the coolest science tools ever made are totally analog, incredibly old and available for purchase as part of a new online auction. Hosted by Christie's auction house in London, the Seven Centuries of Science sale features some of the coolest scientific instruments from the 14th century onward. The oldest artifact to hit the auction block is a horary quadrant — an instrument used to measure the time of day by calculating the altitude of the sun.

Going Once! WWII-Era 'Grizzly' Tank Sells for $155,000

The tank, officially called a Medium Tank, M4, is more often known as the M4 Sherman (named after William Tecumseh Sherman, an American Civil War general). Sherman tanks were the most commonly used tank by United States troops, as well as certain other Allied troops, during WWII. Known in Canada as Grizzly I cruisers, only 188 of these slightly modified M4 tanks were produced in Canada between 1943 and 1944.

Signal-Scrambling Tech 'Freezes' Drones in Midair

A new device that can detect, target and deter commercial drones could be used to keep the flying robots away from areas where they're not wanted, like government properties, airports or your own backyard. The new Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS) was developed by three tech companies in the United Kingdom. It has a radar detection component, advanced tracking capabilities and a sneaky little onboard device that keeps drones at bay.

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Saturday, October 17, 2015

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Oldest Draft of King James Bible Discovered, Historian Says

The King James Bible, the most widely read book in the English language — from which phrases like "a man after his own heart" emerged — is as storied as it is elusive. Now, a historian claims to have found the oldest known draft of the Christian text, written in messy script, in an obscure archive at the University of Cambridge. The manuscript was hidden among the papers of Samuel Ward, one of the men commissioned by King James I to translate a new version of the Christian text into English in the early 17th century.

Man's Fatal Rabies Mimicked Drug Side Effect

When a man in Missouri contracted rabies, his symptoms mimicked those of a serious drug reaction, making it hard for doctors to figure out the real cause of his illness until it was too late. The case shows that "human rabies is a fatal disease, and we need to think out of the box" to diagnose the condition, said Dr. Bhavana Chinnakotla, a medical resident at the University of Missouri, who treated the patient. Doctors thought he had muscle and joint pain, and gave him a muscle relaxant called cyclobenzaprine.

High-Stress Jobs May Raise Stroke Risk

People who have high-stress jobs may have an increased risk of stroke, according to a new analysis of previous research. In their analysis, researchers looked at six studies that involved a total of nearly 140,000 people ages 18 to 75, and examined the relationship between work stress and people's risk of stroke. The researchers found that people who had high-stress jobs were 22 percent more likely to experience a stroke than those who had low-stress jobs.

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