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Thursday, February 11, 2016

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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 have pledged to share for free all data and expertise on Zika to speed up the fight against an outbreak of the viral disease spreading across the Americas. Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learned crucial lessons from West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people and saw scientists scrambling to conduct research to help in the development of potential treatments and vaccines. Zika, a viral disease carried by mosquitoes, is causing international alarm as an outbreak in Brazil has now spread through much of the Americas.

Researchers find new Zika clues to birth defect in fetus study

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Researchers on Wednesday reported new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted fetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil. An autopsy of the fetus showed microcephaly or small head size, as well as severe brain injury and high levels of the Zika virus in fetal brain tissues, exceeding levels of the virus typically found in blood samples, researchers in Slovenia from the University Medical Center in Ljubljana reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings help "strengthen the biologic association" between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, wrote in an editorial that accompanied the paper.

Ripple effect: scientists await word on gravitational waves

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A century ago, Albert Einstein hypothesized the existence of gravitational waves, small ripples in space and time that dash across the universe at the speed of light. On Thursday, at a news conference called by the U.S. National Science Foundation, researchers may announce at long last direct observations of the elusive waves. Such a discovery would represent a scientific landmark, opening the door to an entirely new way to observe the cosmos and unlock secrets about the early universe and mysterious objects like black holes and neutron stars.

NASA delays space station cargo run due to mold on packing bags

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's next cargo run to the International Space Station will be delayed for at least two weeks after black mold was found in two fabric bags used for packing clothing, food and other supplies, the U.S. space agency said on Wednesday. The source of the mold, a common fungal growth in humid climates like Florida's, is under investigation by NASA and Lockheed Martin, which prepares NASA cargo for launch aboard two commercial carriers, Orbital ATK and privately owned SpaceX. An Orbital Cygnus cargo ship was more than halfway packed for the launch, scheduled for March 10, when the mold was found during routine inspections and microbial sampling, NASA spokesman Daniel Huot said.

Ripple effect: scientists await word on gravitational waves

Gravitational Waves: A Black Hole Is Trying to Slap You — Can You Feel It?

Paul Sutter is a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University's Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP). Sutter is also host of the podcasts Ask a Spaceman and RealSpace, and the YouTube series Space In Your Face. Sutter contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Have Gravitational Waves Been Detected? Scientists Provide Update Today (Watch Live)

Scientists are widely expected to announce the first-ever direct detection of elusive gravitational waves this morning, and you can watch the big moment live. Then, at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada, will host its own webcast about the announcement and its implications. Space.com will carry that event live as well, thanks to the Perimeter Institute.

First Migrants to Imperial Rome ID'd by Their Teeth

Three adult men and a young adolescent of unknown gender buried in cemeteries outside Rome were likely migrants to the city, their teeth reveal. The four immigrants all lived during the first to third centuries A.D. They are the first individuals ever to be identified as migrants to the city during the Roman Imperial era, which began around the turn of the millennium and ended in the fourth century. This was a time when Rome was a thriving, complex metropolis, said study researcher Kristina Killgrove, a biological anthropologist at the University of West Florida.

Bacterial Slime Acts As Teensy Eyeball

Slimy microbes called cyanobacteria use their teensy bodies as lenses to collect light and "see," before growing little legs to inch toward those rays, new research suggests. "The idea that bacteria can see their world in basically the same way that we do is pretty exciting," study lead author Conrad Mullineaux, a microbiologist at the Queen Mary University of London, said in a statement. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are some of the most ancient life-forms on the planet.

Fossils Shed New Light on Human-Gorilla Split

Fossils of what may be primitive relatives of gorillas suggest that the human and gorilla lineages split up to 10 million years ago, millions of years later than what has been recently suggested, researchers say. Although the fossil record of human evolution is still patchy, it is better understood than that of great apes such as chimpanzees and gorillas. Since few great ape fossils have been found in Africa so far, "some scientists have forcefully suggested that the ancestors of African apes and humans must have emerged in Eurasia," said study senior author Gen Suwa, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tokyo.

Why Are Millennials Narcissistic? Blame Income Inequality

Millennials have heard it before: People born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s are the most narcissistic, individualistic and self-absorbed generation in recorded history. Researchers reporting in 2013 in the journal Psychological Science found that socioeconomic changes preceded changes in individualism, particularly the change from a blue-collar manufacturing economy to one full of white-collar office workers. Meanwhile, cross-cultural research suggests that countries with greater income inequality tend to have citizens with higher self-regard.

Ripple effect - scientists await word on gravitational waves

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A century ago, Albert Einstein hypothesised the existence of gravitational waves, small ripples in space and time that dash across the universe at the speed of light. On Thursday, at a news conference called by the U.S. National Science Foundation, researchers may announce at long last direct observations of the elusive waves. Such a discovery would represent a scientific landmark, opening the door to an entirely new way to observe the cosmos and unlock secrets about the early universe and mysterious objects like black holes and neutron stars.

Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Vulnerable to Greenhouse Effect

A powerful greenhouse effect can destroy a planet's chances of hosting life, a new study suggests. Until proven otherwise, scientists on Earth assume water is necessary for life to arise on other planets. Inside such a habitable zone, Earth-like planets are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.

Breakthrough: Scientists detect Einstein-predicted ripples

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an announcement that electrified the world of astronomy, scientists said Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago.

To Stop Brain Shrinkage, Start Moving

Couch potatoes beware: Physical fitness during middle age may be a driver of brain health later in life, according to the results of a new study. The brain shrinkage was small but significant enough to raise the participants' risk of memory loss and dementia, the researchers said. The research tapped into data from the Framingham Heart Study, an ongoing program that has followed the lives of thousands of ordinary people over the course of nearly 70 years and three generations.

Jaguar Aims to Make Autonomous Cars Drive More Like Humans

Self-driving cars may represent an important achievement in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, but one car manufacturer is hoping to develop new technologies that could help these autonomous machines drive less like robots and more like, well, humans. British automotive company Jaguar Land Rover is taking part in a new research project, dubbed MOVE-UK, to foster the development of safer and more effective autonomous cars. "Customers are much more likely to accept highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles if the car reacts in the same way as the driver," Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology for Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement.

Einstein's gravitational waves detected in scientific milestone

By Will Dunham and Scott Malone WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientists said on Thursday they have for the first time detected gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in a landmark discovery that opens a new window for studying the cosmos. The researchers said they detected gravitational waves coming from two black holes - extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein - that orbited one another, spiraled inward and smashed together. The scientific milestone, announced at a news conference in Washington, was achieved using a pair of giant laser detectors in the United States, located in Louisiana and Washington state, capping a long quest to confirm the existence of these waves.

Head Case: Henry VIII Beheaded Wives Due to Head Injuries?

England's King Henry VIII is best known for his erratic and sometimes violent behavior — he married six times and had two of his wives beheaded, for example — and now, researchers say the Tudor king's brutal ways may have stemmed from brain injuries he got during several sporting accidents. Henry VIII suffered a series of head injuries, potentially resulting in traumatic brain injury that may explain his boorish behavior, a new study said. In the study, the researchers analyzed historical documents for reports of the king's health and behavior, up to his death, at age 55.

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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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