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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

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Insight - MERS, Ebola, bird flu: Science's big missed opportunities

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Anyone who goes down with flu in Europe this winter could be asked to enrol in a randomised clinical trial in which they will either be given a drug, which may or may not work, or standard advice to take bedrest and paracetamol. Scientists are largely in the dark about how to stop or treat the slew of never-seen-before global health problems of recent years, from the emergence of the deadly MERS virus in Saudi Arabia, to a new killer strain of bird flu in China and an unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa. "Research in all of the epidemics we have faced over the past decade has been woeful," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health foundation and an expert on infectious diseases.

The Active Sun: US Unveils Plan to Deal with Space Weather

On Thursday (Oct. 29), the White House released two documents that together lay out the nation's official plan for mitigating the negative impacts of solar flares and other types of "space weather," which have the potential to wreak havoc on power grids and other key infrastructure here on Earth. The new "National Space Weather Strategy" outlines the basic framework the federal government will pursue to better understand, predict and recover from space-weather events, while the "National Space Weather Action Plan" details specific activities intended to help achieve this broad goal. "The efforts undertaken to achieve the objectives of this strategy will establish a national approach to the security and resilience in the face of our improved understanding of the seriousness of the space-weather risk, and the steps we must take to prepare for it," Suzanne Spaulding, undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Protection and Programs Directorate, said Thursday during an event hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) that discussed the new documents.

New 'Star Trek' TV Series Warps Into Action in 2017

The folks at CBS Television Studios announced today (Nov. 2) that a new "Star Trek" series will launch in January 2017, with the premiere episode airing on CBS's television network. The rest of the episodes to the as-yet unnamed series will air first on CBS All Access, the studio's digital streaming arm. Alex Kurtzman, a co-writer and producer on the Trek reboot films "Star Trek" (2009) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013), will serve as executive producer of the new TV series alongside Heather Kadin.

Low-hanging fruit - scientists unlock pineapple's genetic secrets

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pineapple, the tropical fruit enjoyed by people worldwide in slices, chunks, juice, upside-down cakes, jam, tarts, ice cream, yogurt, stir-fry dishes, piña coladas, glazed ham and even Hawaiian pizza, is finally giving up its genetic secrets. Scientists on Monday said they have sequenced the genome of the pineapple, learning about the genetic underpinning of the plant's drought tolerance and special form of photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert light into chemical energy. The genome provides a foundation for developing cultivated varieties that are improved for disease and insect resistance, quality, productivity and prolonged shelf life, University of Illinois plant biologist Ray Ming said.

Low-hanging fruit: scientists unlock pineapple's genetic secrets

Micro Mollusk Breaks Record for World's Tiniest Snail

An itsy-bitsy mollusk in Borneo is the new record holder for the world's smallest known snail, a new study finds.

Cannibal Tyrannosaurs: Proof May Be in a Gnawed Bone

Sixty-six million years ago, a tyrannosaur may have sunk its sharp and serrated teeth into the bones of another tyrannosaur, new research suggests. The gnawed bone may provide evidence that tyrannosaurs ate their own kind, the researchers said. "We were out in Wyoming digging up dinosaurs in the Lance Formation," paleontologist Matthew McLain of Loma Linda University in California said in a statement.

Space revolution hatching in a New Zealand paddock

By Charlotte Greenfield AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Reuters) - The next revolution in space, making humdrum what was long the special preserve of tax-funded giants like NASA, will be launching next year from a paddock in New Zealand's remote South Island. The rocket launch range is not just New Zealand's first of any kind, but also the world's first private launch range, and the rocket, designed by Rocket Lab, one of a growing number of businesses aiming to slash the cost of getting into space, will be powered by a 3D-printed rocket engine - another first. The 16-meter carbon-cased rocket being assembled in a small hangar near Auckland Airport will weigh just 1,190 kilograms, and with fuel and payload will be only about a third the weight of SpaceX's Falcon 1, the first privately developed launch vehicle to go into orbit back in 2008.

Space Station Crew Celebrates 15-Year Streak of Humans in Orbit

Yesterday (Nov. 2) marked 15 years since humans took up permanent residence in the International Space Station, and the six crewmembers on board took some time to talk about what the station means for the future of human spaceflight, and how it's holding up after more than one and a half decades in space. Construction began on the $100 billion International Space Station in 1998, with the launch of the Russian Zarya module. "We've learned a lot from this space station that is very, very important to our future exploration beyond our local space environment," said NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during the news conference yesterday.

Are Americans Eating Healthier? Take This Study with a Grain of Salt

People in the United States have been eating healthier — in fact, a new study finds that improved diets have prevented 1.1 million premature deaths over a 14-year period. However, the overall quality of the American diet remains poor, the researchers said. In the study, the researchers looked at trends in people's diets, pulling data from another study of about 34,000 U.S. adults who were each surveyed twice between 1999 and 2012.The researchers applied a scoring system to the participants' diets called the Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010, which takes into account people's intake of fruit, vegetables and whole grains, as well as their consumption of unhealthy foods such as sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats.

Tomb Tells Tale of Family Executed by China's 1st Female Emperor

A 1,300-year-old tomb, discovered in Xi'an city, China, holds the bones of a man who helped the nation's only female emperor rise to power. The epitaphs in the tomb describe how she then executed him and his entire family. Located within a cave, the tomb contains the remains of Yan Shiwei and his wife, Lady Pei.

How a Family Dog May Lower a Child's Asthma Risk

Children who are raised in households with dogs or farm animals during their first year of life may have a lower risk of asthma a few years later, a new study suggests. Among the school-age kids in the study, those who had been exposed to dogs during their first year of life were 13 percent less likely to have asthma at age 6, compared with the school-age kids who had not been exposed to dogs in their first year of life, the researchers found. Based on the new findings, researchers can confidently "say that Swedish children with dogs in their homes are at lower risk of asthma at age 6, and that this risk reduction is seen also in children to parents with asthma," said study author Tove Fall, an associate professor of Uppsala University in Sweden.

Codswallop! Ancient British 'Sea Monster' Mislabeled for 200 Years

"There were some rich gentry in the area who would buy them from quarrymen, prepare them and put them in these big wooden frames," said study co-researcher Judy Massare, a professor of geology at SUNY College at Brockport in New York. At the time, fossil experts assigned the Street specimens to the same species — Ichthyosaurus communis, a common species found in rock layers dating to the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods in Street, as well as elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The project began when Dean Lomax, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester, found an ichthyosaur skeleton in the collections of the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery in the United Kingdom.

As scientists worry about warming world, US public doesn't

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are hot but not too bothered by global warming.

Planets on Parade in the November Sky: How and When to See Them

To entice you out of your warm bed are Venus, Jupiter and Mars, along with a lovely crescent moon early in the month. The brightest stars are equal to first or zero magnitude, while the very brightest objects (Venus, the moon and the sun) are of negative magnitude. Today (Nov. 3), Venus is the dazzling "Morning Star," rising more than 3.5 hours before sunup all month (more than 2 hours before the first light of dawn).

Can Rocker Grace Potter Induce the 'Overview Effect'? (Video)

Steve Spaleta, Space.com senior producer, and Dave Brody, Space.com executive producer, contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. But traveling to space may not be the only way to achieve a state of higher consciousness, according to Grammy-nominated musician Grace Potter, a self-avowed science and space enthusiast. Potter recently told Space.com that she experiences "a sense of universality" while performing with her band on some of the world's largest stages.

When Robots Colonize the Cosmos, Will They Be Conscious? (Op-Ed)

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of "Closer to Truth," a public television series and online resource that features the world's leading thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions. Kuhn is co-editor with John Leslie, of "The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything at All?" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).

Rare Earthquake Trio Shakes Phoenix: What Happened?

A rare trio of earthquakes shook central Arizona Sunday (Nov. 1), startling residents in Phoenix and the surrounding areas. It was preceded by a magnitude-3.2 foreshock at 8:59 p.m. and was followed by a magnitude-4.0 aftershock at 11:49 p.m. Smaller aftershocks may follow, said Ryan Porter, a seismologist at Northern Arizona University. Earthquakes are "pretty uncommon for Arizona," Porter told Live Science.

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Monday, November 2, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Fossil unearthed in Spain sheds light on ape evolution

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The well-preserved partial skull and skeleton of a gibbon-like creature that lived 11.6 million years ago in Spain is shedding new light on the evolutionary history of modern apes. The remains include 70 bones or bone fragments including a skull exceptionally complete for a primate from that time.

No Digital Divide: Mobile Media Plentiful in Low-Income Families

Babies and toddlers are spending plenty of time using mobile media devices at their homes, including children whose families are not well-off financially, a new study reveals. The researchers looked at families with children under age 4 in an urban, low-income, minority community, and found that nearly all the children had access to popular electronics, such as televisions, computers, smart phones and tablets. The investigators also found that children's use of these devices began at very early ages.

Third Observatory to Close on Sacred Hawaiian Mountain

A British-built observatory located on Hawaii's tallest mountain announced last week that it would be closing, meeting the request of Hawaii's Gov. David Ige to shut down 25 percent of the telescopes on the mountain, in order to facilitate the construction of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT). The UKIRT observatory, located on the dormant volcano Mauna Kea, "had already been identified in the Mauna Kea management plan … as one of the telescopes that will not be recycled after the end of its productive life," Guenther Hasinger, director of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, which runs the telescope, told Space.com by email.

Star Ships: New Science Cruises Offer Pristine Cosmic Views

Princes Cruises and Discovery Channel have created a line of science-themed cruises called "Discovery at Sea." The excursions feature activities like diving with sharks, spending time with exotic wildlife, looking at auroras and stargazing. For the cruise program, he helped develop the "tour of the sky" that is presented to passengers, he told Space.com.

Next Higgs? Atom Smasher Probes Highest Energies Yet

Scientists at the world's largest atom smasher have made a precise tally of the jumbled cascade of particles produced when two proton beams are smashed together. The results could help researchers discover new types of particles, akin to the now-famous Higgs boson. Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland sent two beams of protons hurtling in opposite directions and crashed them together at the highest energy level yet achieved at the LHC.

Giant Pterosaur Sported 110 Teeth (and 4 Wicked Fangs)

A little more than 200 million years ago, a four-fanged pterosaur flew over the vast desert of Triassic Utah snagging other reptiles with its toothy mouth, until it met its untimely end on the banks of a dried-up oasis, new research finds. The pterosaur had a massive wingspan of about 4.5 feet (1.3 meters) — about as wide as a 10-year-old child is tall — and sported a total of 110 teeth, four of them inch-long (2.5 centimeters) fangs, said study researcher Brooks Britt, an associate professor of geology at Brigham Young University in Utah. Brigham Young University student Scott Meek found the specimen, including its skull and bones from its body, in 2014 when he was excavating bones from a 300-lb. (136 kilograms) chunk of sandstone.

No Crap: Missing 'Mega Poop' Starves Earth

"This broken global cycle may weaken ecosystem health, fisheries and agriculture," study researcher Joe Roman, a biologist at the University of Vermont, said in a statement. As a result, natural poop-fertilization by land animals has dropped to 8 percent of what it was at the end of the last ice age, Roman and his colleagues report today (Oct. 26) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The situation is even worse in the ocean, where nutrient transport via pooping is estimated at a mere 5 percent of historic values.

Ancient Native American 'Twins' Had Different Mothers

Native American "twins" who died 11,500 years ago in the area that's now Alaska actually had different mothers, a new genetic analysis suggests. The genetic lineage of one of the fake twin babies suggests all Native Americans can trace can trace their lineage to a single wave of migrants who crossed the Bering Strait, said study co-author Justin Tackney, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Utah. Native Americans descend from people who first left Siberia and crossed the Bering Strait when sea levels were lower and the region formed a land bridge, sometime between 23,000 and 30,000 years ago.

15 Years Later, Space Station Commander Recalls 1st Expedition

A week into taking up residency on board the International Space Station, Bill Shepherd closed out the first entry in his new (space) ship's log with a note to those supporting him and his crewmates on the ground. Now, 15 years later, Shepherd's focus is on the future and how what he helped start might influence what happens next. "What does Space Station mean in the context of the next century, the next millennium?

Rare Case: Man with Brain Disorder Can't Recognize His Reflection

A man who thought he saw a "stranger" in the bathroom mirror, when he was actually looking at his own reflection, turned out to have a rare neurological condition, a new case report finds. Mr. B said that the stranger looked just him, but stayed in the bathroom mirror, according to the authors of the report published online Aug. 25 in the journal Neurocase. "Eventually, the patient told his daughter that the stranger [had] became aggressive, and she decided to drive her father to the hospital," said Dr. Capucine Diard-Detoeuf, a neurologist at the University Hospital of Tours in France, who treated the man and is one of the co-authors of the report.

'Alien Megastructure' Mystery May Soon Be Solved

Astronomers around the world are keeping a close eye on the star KIC 8462852, which has dimmed dramatically numerous times over the past few years, dropping in brightness by up to 22 percent. "As long as one of those events occurs again, we should be able to catch it in the act, and then we'll definitely be able to figure out what we're seeing," said Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University. KIC 8462852 is a large star that lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth.

Is Pumpkin (Everything) Good for You?

The nutritional benefits of eating real pumpkin do not necessary translate to eating pumpkin-flavored food products, according to Suzy Weems, a registered dietitian and professor of nutrition sciences at Baylor University's College of Health and Human Sciences.

Alan Alda issues latest science challenge: What is sound?

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) — Alan Alda says he's "all ears" for scientists to answer a question for him and 11-year-old children around the world: What is sound?

Scientists dispute study touting vocal learning in chimpanzees

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A team of scientists took issue on Monday with a study published in February claiming to demonstrate vocal learning by chimpanzees in their food grunts, saying the researchers offered exaggerated assertions backed by scant evidence. Julia Fischer of the German Primate Center, New York University's James Higham and the University of Kent's Brandon Wheeler, re-analyzing the study for the same journal, questioned its methods and said the researchers misrepresented data and failed to rule out alternative explanations. "This was a pretty drastic example of exaggerated claims based on a thin data set," Fischer said.

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Sunday, November 1, 2015

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Skull-Shaped Halloween Asteroid Zips by Earth, a Treat for Scientists

On Halloween night, while ghouls and goblins did their trick-or-treating, an asteroid that is most likely a dead comet made a close flyby of Earth, with radar images revealing its eerie skull shape. On Saturday (Oct. 31), the asteroid 2015 TB145 passed by Earth at a range of just over 300,000 miles (480,000 kilometers), placing it just outside the orbit of the moon, where it posed no threat to the planet. Unfortunately for skywatching hobbyists, 2015 TB145 was extremely difficult to see from the ground, but the online Slooh Community Observatory hosted a webcast Saturday afternoon that featured updates on the asteroid's path, and discussions about the dangers of near-Earth asteroids.

Virgin Galactic on Road to Recovery After Fatal SpaceShipTwo Crash

It's been one year since Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo space plane broke apart during a test flight, a tragic accident that killed the copilot and seriously injured the pilot. Now, the commercial spaceflight company is moving forward on construction of its next SpaceShipTwo passenger spaceliner as it pursues other projects to become a global competitor in the new frontier of commercial space. Founded in 2004 by billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has made headlines for pre-selling tickets for its private SpaceShipTwo spaceplane at $250,000 a passenger.

New Health Warning Explained: How Processed Meat Is Linked to Cancer

The news for people who eat steaks and other unprocessed red meat was only slightly better. After reviewing data from more than 800 studies that looked at the link between the consumption of red meat or processed meat and the risk of certain cancers, the panel of 22 scientists categorized red meat as probably causing cancer.

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