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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

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Genome offers clues on thwarting reviled, disease-carrying ticks

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have unlocked the genetic secrets of one of the least-loved creatures around, the tick species that spreads Lyme disease, in research that may lead to new methods to control these diminutive arachnids that dine on blood. The researchers said on Tuesday they have sequenced the genome of Ixodes scapularis, known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick, which transmits Lyme and other diseases by chomping through the skin of people and animals and releasing infected saliva as they devour blood. "They are so persistent, resilient and tenacious," said Purdue University entomologist Catherine Hill, who led the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Genome offers clues on thwarting reviled, disease-carrying ticks

Potent Pot: Marijuana Is Stronger Now Than It Was 20 Years Ago

When the researchers looked at the ratio of THC to CBD, they found that marijuana in 1995 had a THC level that was 14 times its CBD level. "We can see that the ratio of THC to CBD has really, really increased and climbed so much higher," said lead study author Mahmoud A. ElSohly, a professor of pharmaceutics at the University of Mississippi. The researchers also found that, among the cannabis plant material seized over the last four years of the study, there had been an increase in the samples of sinsemilla, which is a type of cannabis that is much more potent than other types of the drug, according to the study, published Jan. 19 in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Your Brain May Work Differently in Winter Than Summer

Researchers found that when people in the study did certain cognitive tasks, the ways that the brain utilizes its resources to complete those tasks changed with the seasons. Although people's actual performance on the cognitive tasks did not change with the seasons, "the brain activity for the ongoing process varie[d]," said study author Gilles Vandewalle, of the University of Liege in Belgium.

5 Things to Know About Zika Virus

The outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus throughout parts of the Americas has raised international concern because of the virus's possible connection to a neurological birth defect called microcephaly. In response to the outbreak, two doctors writing today (Feb. 8) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal have compiled a concise list of things that people should know about the virus, which is carried by certain mosquitoes in the Aedes group — mainly, the species Aedes aegypti. "The spread of this virus is highly dependent upon the mosquito population — we know that this Aedes aegypti is really distributed through really large swaths of the Americas," Dr. Derek MacFadden, one of the authors of the article and an infectious-disease physician at the University Health Network in Toronto, said in a podcast posted on the journal's website.

Indian scientists express doubt over meteorite death attribution

By Andrew MacAskill NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian scientists have expressed doubt that a man in Tamil Nadu was the first person to have been confirmed killed by a meteorite strike, as the state's top official has declared. "It is highly improbable, but we will only be absolutely sure after a chemical analysis," said V. Adimurthy, a senior scientist at India's space agency. The mysterious event has triggered an international debate about whether a meteorite, space debris, leftover explosives or even frozen waste from a plane passing overhead may have killed the man.

Indian scientists express doubt over meteorite death attribution

By Andrew MacAskill NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian scientists have expressed doubt that a man in the southern state of Tamil Nadu was the first person to have been confirmed killed by a meteorite strike, as the state's top official has declared. "It cannot be a meteorite," he said.

Maths link to future locust dispersal

A mathematical model of locust swarms could help in the development of new strategies to control their devastating migration, according to British researchers. Mathematicians at the universities of Bath, Warwick, and Manchester analyzed the movements of different group sizes of locusts that had been filmed by colleagues at the University of Adelaide. By studying the interactions between individual locusts they were able to create a mathematical model mimicking the pest's collective behavior.

What Caused This Weird Crack to Appear in Michigan?

A strange and sudden buckling of the earth in Michigan five years ago is now being explained as a limestone bulge, researchers reported today (Feb. 9). The upheaved rock and soil was discovered after a deep boom thundered through the forest near Birch Creek on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, north of Menominee.

Asian scientists race to make Zika test kit, but lack of live sample a challenge

By Aditya Kalra and Rujun Shen NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Scientists in Asia are racing to put together detection kits for the Zika virus, with China on Thursday confirming its first case, but the researchers are challenged by the lack of a crucial element - a live sample of the virus. Zika, suspected of causing brain defects in more than 4,000 newborns in Brazil after spreading through much of the Americas, is a particular worry in South and Southeast Asia, where mosquito-borne tropical diseases such as dengue fever are a constant threat. India is working on diagnostic kits for the virus, as there is no testing kit commercially available in the world's second populous country, but the lack of a live virus sample is hindering its efforts.

Asian scientists race to make Zika test kit, but lack of live sample a challenge

India, Singapore scientists race to make Zika test kit, but lack of live sample a challenge

World's top scientists pledge to share all findings to fight Zika

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Thirty of the world's leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders pledged on Wednesday to share for free all data and expertise on the Zika virus as soon as they have it. "The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been) ... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks," the agreement by an unprecedented number of signatories in the Americas, Japan, Europe and elsewhere said. "In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combatting the crisis," the signatories wrote.

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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

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Snug as a bug: the hated cockroach inspires a helpful robot

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People use a lot of words to describe the reviled cockroach: disgusting, ugly, sneaky and repulsive, to name a few. Scientists said on Monday they have built a small search-and-rescue robot, inspired by the ability of cockroaches to squeeze through tiny crevices, designed to navigate through rubble to find survivors after natural disasters or bombings. "We feel strongly that cockroaches are one of nature's most revolting animals, but they can teach us important design principles," University of California, Berkeley integrative biology professor Robert Full said.

Death by Meteorite? India Tragedy May Be 1st in Recorded History

The incident happened Saturday (Feb. 6) when an object, thought to be a meteorite, hit a college campus in Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India, the Wall Street Journal reported. The impact killed a man and injured three others, the WSJ said. Officials found a 4-feet-deep (1.2 meters) crater in the ground that contained "bluish black" rock fragments, G. Baskar, the college's principal in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district, told the WSJ.

Snug as a bug: the hated cockroach inspires a helpful robot

Scientists study whether meteorite killed man in south India

NEW DELHI (AP) — Scientists are analyzing a small blue rock that plummeted from the sky and killed a man in southern India to determine if it is a meteorite.

'Moon Glint' Magic: Astronaut's Photo Reveals Dreamy Patterns

When an astronaut aboard the International Space Station trained a camera on a picturesque view of the northern Mediterranean Sea, the space flyer instead captured a unique effect created by the reflection of the moon on the surface of the water. The astronaut's "moon glint" photo shows the twinkling lights of coastal Italian towns and islands of the northern Mediterranean obscured by what looks like dark brushstrokes reminiscent of sweeping clouds. This glare is something that scientists call "sun glint," and it happens according to a mathematical concept called the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In a Tight Spot? Robo-Roach Can Flatten Itself to Help

Robots that mimic the way cockroaches can scuttle through teeny-tiny cracks might one day help first responders locate and rescue disaster victims trapped in debris, researchers say. Specifically, the researchers have patterned robots after insects for decades — after all, insects are some of the most successful animals on the planet, comprising about 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity. Robert Full, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues often use roaches to inspire their robot designs.

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Monday, February 8, 2016

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Zika Sexual Transmission in US Prompts Health Warning

After a person in Dallas was confirmed to have contracted the Zika virus through sex, U.S. health officials are warning men who travel to countries where Zika is spreading to take steps to prevent spreading the virus through sex. If a man has a pregnant partner, and has traveled to any of the more than 20 countries where Zika virus is spreading, he should either abstain from sex, or use condoms, until the end of his partner's pregnancy, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today (Feb. 5). The warning comes because health officials are concerned about a strong link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and face lifelong cognitive impairments.

Super Bowl Teams' Cities See Spike in Flu Deaths

Football fans in Denver and Charlotte might want to be extra vigilant about hand washing during the Big Game this Sunday — a new study finds that cities whose teams play in the Super Bowl have an increase in deaths due to flu that year. It found that counties that had teams advance to the Super Bowl had an 18 percent increase in flu deaths among people over age 65, compared to counties that didn't have a team in the Super Bowl that year. The researchers suspect that Super Bowl parties and other social events that bring people together for the game lead to an increase in flu transmission, particularly for those areas that have teams playing.

Electric Patch Helps Some People with PTSD in Small Study

People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could someday be treated with the help of an electric patch worn on their head when they are sleeping, researchers say. In the small new study, 12 people who had been suffering from PTSD and depression for an average of 30 years — and were already being treated with psychotherapy, medication or both — wore the patch each night while sleeping, over an eight-week period. The researchers found that the severity of the participants' PTSD decreased by an average of more than 30 percent, and the severity of their depression dropped by an average of more than 50 percent, over the study period.

Scientists investigate suspected meteorite death in southern India

By Sandhya Ravishankar CHENNAI (Reuters) - Indian scientists are investigating whether a man was killed by a meteorite, which if confirmed would be the first recorded death from falling fragments of space rock in almost 200 years.Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has said a bus driver at a college in her state was killed by the meteorite and awarded 100,000 rupees ($1,470) in compensation to his family."A meteorite fell within the college premises," Jayalalithaa said. Jayalalithaa, a former film star, left tight-lipped local officials struggling to explain the mystery blast at the engineering college that left a small crater and broke windows.

New dinosaur species offers evolutionary clues

By Jim Drury Paleontologists say a 201-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found two years ago on a Welsh beach could offer vital clues to understanding the evolution from the late Triassic to the early Jurassic Period. Dracoraptor hanigani has been classified as a new species. It's one of the oldest Jurassic dinosaurs ever found, and among the most complete specimens from the time period. The early Jurassic period is crucial in the evolutionary history of dinosaurs. It followed an extinction event in the late Triassic era that wiped out more than half the species on Earth and may have created the subsequent global dominance of the dinosaurs, led by the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor. According to Cindy Howells, palaeontology curator at the National Museum of Wales where the fossil is on display, "it's an important find in the early Jurassic because at that time dinosaurs were just starting to diversify.

Scientists investigate suspected meteorite death in southern India

By Sandhya Ravishankar CHENNAI (Reuters) - Indian scientists are investigating whether a man was killed by a meteorite, which if confirmed would be the first recorded death from falling fragments of space rock in almost 200 years. Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has said a bus driver at a college in her state was killed by the meteorite and awarded 100,000 rupees ($1,470) in compensation to his family. "A meteorite fell within the college premises," Jayalalithaa said.

Ravens Know When Food-Thieving Rivals Are Watching

Now scientists have found that ravens seem to know when they're being watched by a rival that might steal from them, and then take steps to hide their food. Previous behavior studies with scrub jays, which are raven relatives, showed that they could interpret other bird's thieving intentions — if they spied another jay watching them while they had food, they hid the food away. But the scientists behind the new study wondered — did the jay with the food really know what the rival bird was "thinking?" Maybe it simply followed the other bird's gaze to conclude that it meant to steal from them.

Baby Frogs Dine on Mom's Unfertilized Eggs

Discovered in wet forests in eastern Taiwan, the frogs are dimorphic, with the females having a slight size advantage, measuring 1.6 inches (41 millimeters) in length, compared with the male's 1.37-inch (35 mm) bodies. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+.

Samurai Secrets: 1888 Martial Arts Manual for Cops Revealed

A newly translated 19th-century book, written by samurai, describes martial arts techniques designed to help police officers of the time. The book, which contains illustrated instructions, was published in 1888, a time when the samurai class had lost many of its privileges and the formally secretive martial art schools that taught the samurai were willing to divulge their secrets. This book drew on the expertise of 16 martial arts schools operating in Japan in 1888.

Scientists investigate suspected meteorite death in Tamil Nadu

By Sandhya Ravishankar CHENNAI (Reuters) - Indian scientists are investigating whether a man was killed by a meteorite, which if confirmed would be the first recorded death from falling fragments of space rock in almost 200 years. Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has said a bus driver at a college in her state was killed by the meteorite and awarded 100,000 rupees ($1,470) in compensation to his family. "A meteorite fell within the college premises," Jayalalithaa said.

Hawking Wants to Power Earth With Mini Black Holes: Crazy or Legit?

If you answered, "Get a mini black hole to orbit Earth," then you and physicist Stephen Hawking may be thinking on the same wavelength. In a lecture on Feb. 2, the famed scientist said tiny black holes, about as massive as the average mountain, could power all of the world's energy needs. "There is nothing technically wrong with this idea, but it is not very practical, at least within the next 10,000 years," said Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, who blogs at backreaction.blogspot.com.

Magnetic 'MoonWalker' Shoes Help You Defy Gravity

The shoe, named "20:16 MoonWalker," relies on N45 neodymium magnets, which are among the most powerful permanent magnets known. As permanent magnets, they create their own force field, without an external current, and work like refrigerator magnets. "There are different levels of magnets, like N40, 42 and 45," said Patrick Jreijiri, a mechanical engineer and designer for the 20:16 MoonWalker.

Early Bird or Night Owl? It May Be in Your Genes

According to a new study by the genetics company 23andMe, the preference for being a "morning person" — someone who enjoys waking up early and going to bed early — rather than being an "evening person," who tends to stay up late at night and desperately reaches for the snooze button when the alarm goes off in the morning, is at least partially written in your genes. "I find it interesting to see how genetics influences our preferences and behaviors," said study co-author David Hinds, a statistical geneticist at 23andMe, a privately held genetic testing company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Circadian rhythms are roughly 24-hour cycles of activity controlled by the brain that tell our bodies when to sleep and help regulate other biological processes.

Feline Friends: Leopard Cats Likely Domesticated in Ancient China

Wild leopard cats may have been domesticated by farmers in China more than 5,000 years ago, according to a new study of feline fossils. Today's pet cats (Felis catus) descend from the wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) native to the Middle East and Southwest Asia. But recent discoveries of cat fossils in China have muddled that narrative.

Antiperspirant May Boost Variety of 'Bugs' Living on Your Armpits

If you're an antiperspirant user, you probably slather on the stuff in order to wipe out odor-causing bacteria. The use of antiperspirants and deodorant alter the skin microbiome, according to a new open-access study published in the journal PeerJ on Tuesday (Feb. 2). Antiperspirants reduce the total number of bacteria dramatically, but seem to leave a more diverse group of survivors than what is seen on the underarms of people who use just deodorant or nothing at all.

Treasures Dug Up by Tomb Robbers Returned to Italy

At least 45 boxes filled with archaeological treasures have been returned to Italy after they were hidden in a Geneva warehouse by a disgraced British art dealer, Swiss authorities said. Swiss investigators suspect that tomb robbers illegally dug up most of these antiquities at ancient cemeteries in central Italy's Umbria and Lazio regions, where the Etruscan civilization thrived 2,500 years ago before the rise of Rome. The Etruscans are particularly famous for producing beautiful sarcophagi, or coffins, carved with reclining life-size human figures.

Whooping Cough Booster Wears Off in Teens

A booster vaccine aimed at protecting teens against whooping cough may wear off over time, a new study suggests. In the study, researchers looked at about 1,200 cases of whooping cough (also called pertussis) that occurred among a population of about 280,000 teens in California between January 2006 and March 2015. Despite high vaccination rates against the disease among teens, there were two major outbreaks in this group in California, in 2010 and 2014.

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