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Wednesday, March 2, 2016

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Leonardo DiCaprio Is Kind of Right About Less Snow

Snow might not be as hard to come by as Leonardo DiCaprio suggested it was during his Oscar acceptance speech Sunday night (Feb. 28), but climate trends do suggest that the actor is onto something, experts said. "Making 'The Revenant' was about man's relationship to the natural world," DiCaprio said at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The answer is yes, but only during the spring, said David Robinson, a professor in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Station crew heading home after record-long U.S. spaceflight

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko began their return to Earth on Tuesday after nearly a year aboard the International Space Station, ending a record-long U.S. spaceflight intended to pave the way for human travel to Mars. The men, accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, sealed themselves into a Russian Soyuz capsule that was scheduled to depart the station at 8:02 p.m. EST (0102 GMT Wednesday). Kelly and Kornienko have been aboard the space station for 340 days, about twice as long as previous crews.

Essure Birth Control Controversy: 5 Things You Should Know

A permanent birth-control implant called Essure will need to be labeled with a stronger warning that lists potentially serious risks of the device, the Food and Drug Administration announced this week. The action comes after the FDA received more than 5,000 reports of complications from the device, including chronic pain, bleeding and allergic reactions, since the device was approved in 2002. What is Essure and who gets the device?

Genetics of the Unibrow Revealed

Some people have thin arched eyebrows, while others sport a furry unibrow. Some men have a 2 o'clock shadow, while others have been working on their facial sprouts for years, to no avail.

Station crew heads home after record U.S. spaceflight

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko headed back toward Earth on Tuesday after nearly a year aboard the International Space Station, ending a record-long U.S. spaceflight intended to pave the way for human travel to Mars. The men, accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, strapped themselves inside a Russian Soyuz capsule and departed the station at 8:02 p.m. EST (0102 GMT on Wednesday). Kelly and Kornienko have been aboard the space station for 340 days, about twice as long as previous crews.

Fifty shades of gray (or more): gene for graying hair identified

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - They may not have settled the enduring debate over whether gray hair makes a person look distinguished or just plain old, but scientists have identified for the first time a gene behind graying hair. Researchers said on Tuesday an analysis of DNA from more than 6,300 people from five Latin American countries enabled them to pinpoint a gene that affects a person's likelihood of getting gray hair. The gene, called IRF4, is involved in regulating melanin, the pigment responsible for hair color as well as the color of the skin and eyes.

Parts of Great Barrier Reef face permanent destruction due to El Nino - scientists

By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef face permanent destruction if the current El Nino, one of the strongest in two decades, does not ease this month, scientists said on Wednesday. The El Nino is a result of a warming of the ocean in the western Pacific -- ideal conditions for coral bleaching, where coral expels living algae, causing it to calcify. The scientists said areas of the Great Barrier Reef, a world heritage site, are experiencing the worst bleaching in 15 years.

Parts of Great Barrier Reef face permanent destruction due to El Nino: scientists

New satellite program aims to cut down illegal logging in real time

By Chris Arsenault TORONTO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taken from outer space, the satellite images show illegal loggers cutting a road into a protected area in Peru, part of a criminal enterprise attempting to steal millions of dollars worth of ecological resources. With the launch of a new satellite mapping system on Wednesday, governments and environmentalists will have access to hard evidence of these types of crimes almost in real time as part of a push by scientists to improve monitoring of tropical deforestation. Prior to the launch of the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) alerts, researchers would have to manually track images of logging in specific areas.

Experts to Congress: Gravitational Waves Discovery Will Help Science, Humanity

On Feb. 18, members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) testified before Congress about the Feb. 11 announcement that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) had directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. "The window to this new world of gravitational waves has just been cracked open," said David Shoemaker, project leader for Advanced LIGO and director of the LIGO Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

T. Rex Was Likely an Invasive Species

Tyrannosaurus rex, king of the dinosaur age, wasn't a North American native as many experts had previously thought, a new study suggests. Instead, the giant tyrannosaur was likely an invasive species from Asia that dispersed into western North America once the opportunity presented itself, paleontologists said. "It's possible that T. rex was an immigrant species from Asia," said study co-researcher Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Unilever CEO: Why Sustainability Is No Longer a Choice (Op-Ed)

Paul Polman has been CEO of Unilever since January 2009. In 2016, the U.N. Secretary-General asked Polman to be a member of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group, tasked with promoting action on the 2030 Agenda. Polman contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Man Gets Rare Strain of HIV Despite Taking Antiviral Pills

In the first documented case of its kind, a man taking an effective antiviral medication still contracted a drug-resistant strain of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a new report finds. The 43-year-old man in Canada was taking Truvada, the medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce HIV risk among HIV-negative people, according to the FDA. The case suggests that people taking Truvada can still get HIV if they're exposed to a strain of the virus that is resistant to the two antiviral medications contained in the pills — tenofovir and emtricitabine, the researchers said.

Hope for Overeaters? Feeling Full May Have a Chemical 'Switch'

It may be possible to flip a chemical "switch" to turn on a feeling of fullness, a new study in mice suggests. In the study, researchers found that a certain enzyme plays a role in how the brain responds to the hormone leptin, which normally signals that the body has consumed enough food and we should stop eating, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Communications on Monday (Feb. 29). Leptin is a hormone that is released by fat tissue and binds to leptin receptors in the brain.

Why Did Ancient Europeans Just Disappear 14,500 Years Ago?

Some of Europe's earliest inhabitants mysteriously vanished toward the end of the last ice age and were largely replaced by others, a new genetic analysis finds. The genetic turnover was likely the result of a rapidly changing climate, which the earlier inhabitants of Europe couldn't adapt to quickly enough, said the study's co-author, Cosimo Posth, an archaeogenetics doctoral candidate at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Europe has a long and tangled genetic legacy.

Robot roaches to the rescue

"In order to understand how they can go in these little spaces we actually did CT scans to look inside and we found no hard part," said Full. "Exoskeletons in general are composed of stiff but not too stiff plates and tubes connected by compliant membranes and those can all be compressed but still function effectively," he added. According to study leader Kaushik Jayaram, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, roaches can run nearly full speed, even when squeezing through an area that compresses their body down to half of its size. A fancy name for what basically amounts to a robotic roach. "It's palm sized, it's bigger so it can contain more payload, sensors and things in the future and it can be compressed in and it can still run in that confined space much like what we see in the animal," said Full. 'Ick' factor aside.

Ignore the Bad Advice — All Kids Need Autism Screening (Op-Ed)

Alycia Halladay is the chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation. Universal screening for autism improves the lives of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disorders. This practice needs to continue uninterrupted, despite a statement the United States Preventative Services Task Force made recently in JAMA.

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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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Scientists find Zika increases risk of rare neurological illness

French scientists say they have proved a link between the Zika virus and a nerve syndrome called Guillain-Barre, suggesting countries hit by the Zika epidemic will see a rise in cases of the serious neurological condition. Guillain-Barre (GBS) is a rare syndrome in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system. In a retrospective study analyzing data from a Zika outbreak in French Polynesia during 2013 and 2014, researchers led by Arnaud Fontanet of France's Institut Pasteur calculated the estimated risk of developing Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) at 2.4 for every 10,000 people infected by Zika.

Lockheed unit to help design quieter supersonic passenger jet: NASA

(Reuters) - NASA on Monday announced a contract award to Lockheed Martin Corp's unit for the preliminary design of a "low boom" flight demonstration aircraft. NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project had asked industry teams to submit design concepts for a test aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds, creating a supersonic "heartbeat" - a soft thump rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.

Really? Millennials Probably Not Too Lazy to Eat Cereal

Millennials may not be eating cereal, but it's not because they're lazy. Internet outrage erupted last week after a New York Times food column on cereal reported that 40 percent of millennials said cereal is an inconvenient food because it requites cleanup after eating.

New Scans of King Tut's Tomb May Reveal Hidden Burial Chamber

On April 2, a new series of radar scans will be performed on King Tutankhamun's tomb to search for hidden chambers that may contain an undiscovered royal burial, Egypt's antiquities ministry has announced. The announcement comes after stories were published in numerous media outlets last week claiming that Egypt's tourism minister, Hisham Zazou, had told the Spanish news outlet ABC that the chambers had been proven to exist and contain numerous treasures. Last year, University of Arizona Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves published findings suggesting that there are hidden chambers behind a wall in Tutankhamun's tomb.

Oldest Nervous System Found in 520-Million-Year-Old Fossil

Fossils of an ancient creature resembling a shrimp with an armored head contain the oldest and best-preserved nervous system ever found, which could help scientists decipher the evolution of nervous systems in animals alive today, according to a new study. The remarkable remains belonged to Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis, a crustaceanlike creature that lived 520 million years ago in what is now South China. The fossils revealed a long "ropelike" central nerve cord that extended throughout the body, with visible clusters of nerve tissue arranged along the cord, like beads strung on a thread.

Moving Ink: Cool Animation Tech Brings Tattoos to Life

In July 2015, Oskar & Gaspar, a collective of multimedia and visual artists based in Portugal, staged a landmark event in Lisbon, Portugal, called "Ink Mapping" that used projection mapping to transform tattoos into dynamic works of art. Projection mapping combines traditional projection technology with software that conforms the projected media to fit within the boundaries of a three-dimensional surface — like a building façade — rather than a flat, rectangular screen. This allows artists to design motion sequences that follow a unique pathway of planes, curves and crevices, embracing the architecture and structure of the projection surface as part of the visual story.

Zika Virus Linked to Guillain-Barré in New Study

A new study from French Polynesia provides the strongest evidence to date of a link between the Zika virus and the rare neurological condition Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), researchers said. In GBS, a person's own immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness, and sometimes, paralysis in adults and children. In the new study, researchers analyzed blood samples from 42 adults who were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré between November 2013 and February 2014 during the Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia.

How to Start Exercising Again After Pregnancy

But with a new bundle of joy, finding the time to exercise can be challenging. But postpartum physical activity doesn't have to drain your time — here are four tips to get back in action after having a baby. Gone are the days when doctors commonly recommended bed rest for pregnant women.

Aerojet on track to complete work on AR1 rocket engine by 2019 - CEO

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc is on track to complete development of its AR1 rocket engine by 2019 as a replacement for the Russian-built RD-180 engine after receiving a funding "booster shot" from the U.S. Air Force on Monday, Chief Executive Officer Eileen Drake told Reuters on Tuesday. Drake said the Air Force's $115-million contract for work on the AR1 prototype, along with options that could increase the government's investment to $501 million in coming years, moved the U.S. military a step closer to ending its reliance on Russian engines for national space launches.

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Monday, February 29, 2016

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Musk's SpaceX rocket launch canceled at final countdown

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - At the last second, Elon Musk's SpaceX scrubbed plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday, again delaying an attempt to put an satellite into orbit and then land the vehicle's first stage intact on a sea platform, a step that may eventually slash costs. The 23-story rocket, carrying a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES SA, was less than two minutes from blast-off at 6:47 p.m. when the launch team aborted the countdown, SpaceX said during a webcast. Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, said that Air Force safety officers stopped the countdown after a boat strayed into a restricted zone east of SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site.

Minds Everywhere: 'Panpsychism' Takes Hold in Science

Is consciousness nothing more than the firing of neurons in the brain? Many objects people think of as conscious may not be, while some that are considered inanimate may in fact have much greater consciousness than previously thought, Koch said.

Earth's Early Ocean Was No Scalding Sea

Rocks from the deep past, some 3.5 billion years ago when life first appeared on the planet, were deposited on a deep, cold ocean floor, not in a scalding sea, a new study suggests. "This is the first evidence that over the entire 3.5 billion years, Earth has operated within a temperature range that suits life," said lead study author Maarten de Wit, a professor at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. To take the temperature of Earth's ancient ocean, the researchers trekked to the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa.

5D Black Holes Could Break Relativity

Ring-shaped, five-dimensional black holes could break Einstein's theory of general relativity, new research suggests. "Here we may have a first glimpse that four space-time dimensions is a very, very good choice, because otherwise, something pretty bad happens in the universe," said Ulrich Sperhake, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge in England. From the beginning, Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes how matter warps space-time, predicted its own demise.

Dutch Buzz: Bees Get Smaller, Men Taller

A team of scientists took a closer look at declining bee populations in the Netherlands and discovered something unexpected — it wasn't just the bee populations that were shrinking. Over nearly a century and a half, big-bodied female bee species in the Netherlands have reduced in size by about 7 percent, according to a new study, the first to investigate variations in Dutch bee size over time.

Ancient Stubby-Legged Reptiles with Tiny Heads Were World Travelers

Before dinosaurs roamed the planet, tanklike herbivores called pareiasaurs — barrel-chested and stubby-legged turtle relatives — reigned as Earth's first large plant-eaters. With tiny heads and bony knobs studding their skulls and bodies, pareiasaurs wouldn't have won many beauty contests. Pareiasaurs lived during the Permian era, about 266 million to 252 million years ago.

Obama encouraging young people to learn math, science

President Barack Obama is launching a version of "take your child to work day" that's focused on America's science laboratories instead of its corporate workspaces. It's part of Obama's effort ...

At Least 9 Pregnant Women in US Infected with Zika: CDC

Nine pregnant women in the U.S. have now been confirmed to have had Zika virus infections that they contracted through travel to places where the virus is spreading, U.S. health officials said today. Among the nine cases in the pregnant women, three babies have been born, including two who showed no signs of illness and one who had severe microcephaly, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two women are continuing their pregnancies, and so far, there have been no signs of problems with the fetuses.

Checking Embryo Viability? Give It a Good Squeeze

In fact, the technique of gently squeezing a series of embryos appears to be the most accurate way for researchers to figure out which one to select for implantation, according to the study published Wednesday (Feb. 24) in the journal Nature Communications. Tests that involve implanting embryos chosen this way into human patients may start soon, the researchers said.

How to Gain Weight During Pregnancy, the Healthy Way

Gaining weight during pregnancy is both natural and essential. Women may think that "being pregnant gives them the license to eat anything," said Katherine Tallmadge, a registered dietitian and an op-ed contributor to Live Science. Indeed, studies show that the amount of weight a woman gains during pregnancy plays a major role in how much she'll lose after giving birth.

Funeral Feast? Butchered Turtles in Ancient Grave Hint at Ritual

In an ancient settlement on the banks of the Tigris River in Turkey, archaeologists have made a strange discovery: 17 butchered soft-shelled turtles in the grave of a woman and child. As there are no marks of trauma or injuries, it's not clear how the two people buried with the turtles died.

'Mojoe' on the Go: New Thermos Doubles as Portable Coffeemaker

Hyman first dreamed up what would become the mojoe when he was a college student studying late at night in the library. The mojoe is the first of its kind, Hyman said, because unlike other portable coffeemakers on the market, the mojoe does not require you to heat water before brewing, and it can withstand superhot temperatures. To create a self-contained coffee-brewing system within a travel mug, Hyman and his team figured out how to combine aspects of drip brewing with vacuum brewing in a small, light and durable device.

Physics of Skipping Stones Could Make Bounceable Naval Weapons

"A text titled 'The Art of Shooting [in] Great Ordnaunce' by William Bourne was likely published in 1578, and is the first known account to mention that if cannonballs are fired at a sufficiently low angle they will ricochet across the water surface," said study co-author Tadd Truscott, a fluid dynamicist at Utah State University in Logan. "This bomb was made to spin at a great rate before impact, enabling it to move along the water surface and avoid torpedo nets on its way to destroy key German dams," Truscott told Live Science. "Water impact has been heavily studied for the past 100 years, with motivations ranging from understanding the physics of seaplane landing to, more commonly, a simple desire to better understand the world in which we live," Truscott said.

Bill Gates 'Discovers' 14-Year-Old Formula on Climate Change

Bill Gates just released a climate science equation that explains how the world can lower carbon dioxide emissions "down to zero," according to the 2016 edition the annual letter he and his wife, Melinda, published. But instead of grilling Gates about the origins of the formula, climate scientists are glad he's talking about it, said Michael Mann, a distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University. The genesis of Gates' equation might remain a mystery for now — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation didn't return Live Science's requests for comment.

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