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Friday, March 18, 2016

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One boy, two girls win Intel U.S. Talent Search

The winners in three categories - basic research, global good and innovation - will each receive $150,000, it said in a statement. Amol Punjabi, 17, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, won the basic research category for developing software that may help drug makers to create new cancer and heart disease therapies.

Drone meets blimp for crowd-friendly UAV

By Matthew Stock A new breed of unmanned aerial vehicle that is safe to fly at close proximity to crowds has been developed by a spin-off team from Swiss university ETH Zurich. The helium-filled flying machine, known as Skye, combines the manoeuvrability of a traditional quadcopter with the energy efficiency of a blimp. The makers say their safe and 'friendly' drone offers a new and innovative way for brands to interact with their audiences in public settings.

Frigid Pluto is home to more diverse terrain than expected

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The most detailed look at Pluto's surface to date has revealed an unexpected range of mountains, glacial flows, smooth plains and other landscapes, according to studies released on Thursday. The interplanetary space probe made the first-ever visit to Pluto and its five moons last July. Another scientist described the diversity of landscapes as "astonishing." How the varied terrain came to be remains a mystery for the distant Pluto, which has an average surface temperature of minus 380 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 229 degrees Celsius).

Cat stem cell trial could lead to human treatments

By Ben Gruber Davis, CA (Reuters) - The past five years of Smokey's life have been unbearable. "Chronic stomatitis is a common disease in the cat. Cats with FCGS usually have all their teeth removed, clearing up the inflammation in some but not all cases.

Blame Methane Blasts for Sea Craters, But Not for the Bermuda Triangle

A number of media outlets took that to mean that similar explosive methane activity in the Bermuda Triangle region of the Atlantic Ocean could be blamed for unexplained disappearances. Since the inexplicable 1945 disappearance of "Flight 19" — five U.S. military aircraft — a number of ships and airplanes containing hundreds of people have been reported missing after passing through or over waters in the Triangle, which is bounded by points in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico. In an abstract published online March 2016 following its submission to the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, the scientists detailed a number of craters in the Barents Sea, an area in the Arctic Ocean with a basin shared by Norway and Russia.

Here Are the US Cities at Highest Risk for Zika Transmission

Miami, Houston and Orlando, Florida, are the cities within the continental U.S. that have some of the highest risk of having "local transmission" of the Zika virus, meaning the virus will spread to people from mosquitoes in the local area, new research suggests. Overall, the southeast part of the country faces the highest risk, the Eastern Seaboard faces a moderate risk and the western U.S. has a lower risk. However, evidence from similar viruses suggests that if Zika does begin spreading locally, the spread even in the highest-risk cities will be limited, affecting dozens of people at most, said study co-author Andrew Monaghan, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Brain Stimulation Could Speed Stroke Recovery

For people who've had a stroke, a treatment that involves applying an electric current to the brain may help boost recovery of their mobility, a small clinical trial found. Stroke is the most common cause of severe, long-term disability. Rehabilitation training, which helps patients re-learn how to use their bodies, can help some patients recover their ability to move.

Russia slashes space funding by 30 percent as crisis weighs

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed to slash funding for Russia's space program by 30 percent on Thursday, an effort to reign in state spending in the face of a deepening economic crisis. Approving a plan submitted by Russian space agency Roscosmos in January, Medvedev ordered Russia's space program budget for 2016-2025 to be cut from 2 trillion rubles ($29.24 billion) to 1.4 trillion rubles. "It is a large program, but we need such big programs, even in circumstances when all is not well with the economy," TASS news agency quoted Medvedev as saying.

Monster Mystery: Scientists Solve Decades-Long Puzzle of Alienlike Creature

In 1958, amateur fossil collector Francis Tully found a prehistoric creature so strange that even scientists called it a monster. The beast has perplexed researchers ever since, with some calling the so-called "Tully monster" a worm and others classifying it as a shell-less snail. But now, an analysis of more than 1,200 Tully monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) fossils has uncovered the monster's true identity.

What is a Tully Monster? Scientists finally provide an answer

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For more than half a century, scientists have scratched their heads over the nature of an outlandishly bizarre creature dubbed the Tully Monster that flourished about 307 million years ago in a coastal estuary in what is now northeastern Illinois. "I would rank the Tully Monster just about at the top of the scale of weirdness," said paleontologist Victoria McCoy of Britain's University of Leicester, who conducted the study while at Yale University. "I've always loved detective work, and in paleontology it doesn't get much better than this," said paleontologist James Lamsdell of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

What is a Tully Monster? Scientists finally provide an answer

Trees adapt to higher temperatures, limiting global warming impact

By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Trees can adapt to rising temperatures and limit their natural emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a study published on Wednesday that suggests plants may have a smaller than expected role in stoking man-made global warming. As temperatures rise, trees use more energy in respiration and emit more carbon dioxide from their leaves. "Plant respiration results in an annual flux of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that is six times as large as that due to the emissions from fossil fuel burning, so changes in either will impact future climate," scientists wrote in the journal Nature.

Scientists develop new human stem cells with half a genome

By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists for the first time have generated a type of embryonic stem cell that carries a single copy of the human genome rather than the usual two, a development that could advance research in gene editing, genetic screening and regenerative medicine. Derived from a female egg, the stem cells are the first human cells known to be capable of cell division with just one copy of the parent cell's genome, according to a study appearing on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Human cells are considered diploid because they inherit two sets of chromosomes, 23 from the mother and 23 from the father.

The Gravitational Wave Crests: Big Discoveries are Worth the Wait (Op-Ed)

Fleming Crim is assistant director for the NSF Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Crim leads a staff of nearly 180 and oversees an annual budget of $1.3 billion, with the directorate supproting core research in astronomy, chemistry, physics, material science and mathematics. Late last month, I testified before the U.S. Congress alongside three leading physicists about a topic largely unknown on Capitol Hill: gravitational waves .

These Spiders Like Some Greens with Their Insects

Spiders are known as clever predators, trapping and stalking their insect prey. Spiders chow down on everything from nectar to sap to small fruiting bodies, wrote the study's leader, Martin Nyffeler, a research fellow in conservation biology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, and colleagues. "Such a large diversity of plant types, plant taxa and plant materials being used as food by spiders is novel," Nyffeler told Live Science.

Watch 6 Teensy Robots Pull a 2-Ton Car

"They use a synthetic gecko adhesive that is turned on when a shear force is applied, and then turned off as soon as it released," said David Christensen, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate at Stanford University in California, who helped design the robots. The "μ-tugs" (pronounced MicroTugs) are named after the Greek letter "mu" that denotes the coefficient of friction in physics. The robots' adhesive force "behaves more like friction from a user perspective, except the force available is much, much, much larger than friction would be," Christensen told Live Science in an email.

Marijuana May Help Cancer Patients, But Questions Remain

Marijuana could potentially help cancer patients who have nausea or pain, and could possibly even be used as a treatment for certain cancers, but much more research is needed before any of these uses could be recommended, a new review article said. There is promising research on marijuana use in the field of cancer medicine, but many of the studies that have been done are outdated, looked at only a small number of people or were conducted in animals, said Dr. Tina Rizack, a co-author of the review and an oncologist at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. For now, the drug isn't recommended as a first-line treatment for any cancer or cancer-related side effect, but as legalization of, access to and research on marijuana increases, this may change, the researchers said.

Living with Your Partner? No Problem, More Americans Say

The survey reflects changes in behavior that have been going on for some time, said Paula England, a professor of sociology at New York University. Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, agreed. These results are not entirely surprising, because they're following general trends, Manning told Live Science.

Do Sit-Stand Desks Improve Workers' Fitness?

Desks that let you sit down or stand up to work may be a trendy piece of office furniture, but the health benefits of these desks are largely unproven, a new Cochrane Review study suggests. The researchers found that there's not yet much high-quality evidence to support the widespread use of these popular desks, which let you adjust the height of the work surface so that you can either sit or stand. From the six studies done on sit-stand desks included in the review, the researchers concluded that workers who used them logged from 30 minutes to 2 hours less sitting time per day than their colleagues who used conventional desks.

Drawn to Safety: Doodles Could Secure Your Phone

Soon, you might be able to ditch all of them and unlock your phone, apps and accounts with a doodle. Researchers have found that doodle passwords created on touch screens using free-form gestures were easier to remember than typed-out passwords. Researchers tested software that allowed users to create passwords by drawing any type of shape on their phones' touch screens, using either one or two fingers.

Alien of the Deep: 'Winged' Green-Eyed Creature Stuns Fishermen

Some fish look odd, but a mysterious, green-eyed fish recently pulled out of Nova Scotia's waters is downright bizarre. Scott Tanner was about 30 days into a 42-day fishing trip when he spotted the freaky fish. "Everybody was just like, 'Wow, that's weird, never seen one of those before,'" said Tanner, who is a fisherman from Nova Scotia.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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John Grisham book turns spotlight on futuristic cancer treatment

A new book by bestselling author John Grisham is giving new impetus to a handful of companies striving to develop what they say could be a trailblazing treatment for cancer and Alzheimer's disease. "The Tumor" is a fictional account of a 35-year-old man with brain cancer who, a decade into the future, is treated with focused ultrasound - a real-life technology that is currently being researched as a potential cure for more than 50 diseases. Focused ultrasound uses soundwaves to destroy damaged tissue deep within the body, doing away with the need for incisions or radiation therapy.

From wee rex to T. rex: modest forerunner to huge predator found

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils unearthed in northern Uzbekistan's remote Kyzylkum Desert of a smaller, older cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex are showing that the modest forerunners of that famous brute had already acquired the sophisticated brain and senses that helped make it such a horrifying predator. Researchers said on Monday the horse-sized Cretaceous Period dinosaur, named Timurlengia euotica, that roamed Central Asia 90 million years ago sheds new light on the lineage called tyrannosaurs that culminated with T. rex, which stalked North America more than 20 million years later. The make-up of the inner ear indicated Timurlengia, like T. rex, excelled at hearing lower frequency sounds.

Trump's Broken Speech Appeals to the Masses

But there may be a good reason why this seeming incoherence hasn't hurt Trump in the Republican run for the presidential nomination: Trump's talk mirrors typical conversation, bolstering his status as an honest outsider. "[Trump's] unique rhetorical style may come off as incoherent and unintelligible when we compare it with the organized structure of other candidates' answers," Georgetown University linguist Jennifer Sclafani told Live Science. In a December post, Liberman excerpted a sample of an interview with Trump in which he was asked how to defeat the Islamic State group.

Toad-Eating Spider Named for Famed Physicist

A spindly toad-eating spider that creates vibrational waves on the water's surface in order to navigate and capture prey has been discovered in Brisbane, Australia, scientists announced at the World Science Festival last week. They named the fish-eating spider Dolomedes briangreenei after theoretical physicist Brian Greene, who is also co-founder of the World Science Festival where the spider was described. "It's wonderful that this beautiful native spider, which relies on waves for its very survival, has found a namesake in a man who is one of the world's leading experts in exploring and explaining the effects of waves in our universe," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in an emailed statement, referring to gravitational waves, or ripples in the very fabric of space-time.

From Brains to Brawn: How T. Rex Became King of the Dinosaurs

The skull of a horse-size dinosaur, a distant relative of the colossal Tyrannosaurus rex, suggests that braininess was behind the beast's rise to dominance millions of years ago. The dinosaur fossils, discovered in the desert of Uzbekistan, suggest that although early tyrannosaurs were small animals, they had advanced brains, said study lead researcher Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. "Tyrannosaurs got smart before they got big, and they got big quickly right at the end of the time of the dinosaurs," Brusatte told Live Science.

Spines and Genital Warfare: How Neil deGrasse Tyson Got Sex Wrong

On March 11, astrophysicist and "Cosmos" host Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted what was perhaps meant as an amusing quip, but instead served up a dismaying animal biology fail. "If there were ever a species for whom sex hurt, it surely went extinct long ago," Tyson tweeted. The idea that sex must be pleasurable in order for a species to be successful is, quite simply, not how evolution works, as a number of science writers and biologists on Twitter were quick to point out.

Squirrels show flexibility and persistence when foraging

University of Exeter researchers have found that grey squirrels foraging for food are happy to take their time if it means getting a more nourishing meal. The study showed that the medium-sized rodents demonstrate persistence and flexibility in order to find nourishment, while higher behavioural selectivity - the proportion of effective behaviours used - is directly related to more efficient problem solving among the creatures. Study authors suggest that the squirrels demonstrate distinct personality traits in their food finding behaviour. Co-author Dr Lisa Leaver told Reuters the successful invasion of the grey squirrel across Europe make it a fascinating creature for animal behaviourists to observe. "They're interesting to us because they have particular specialisations for catching food," she said.

Drone meets blimp for crowd-friendly

A new breed of unmanned aerial vehicle that is safe to fly at close proximity to crowds has been developed by a spin-off team from Swiss university ETH Zurich. The helium-filled flying machine, known as Skye, combines the manoeuvrability of a traditional quadcopter with the energy efficiency of a blimp. The makers say their safe and 'friendly' drone offers a new and innovative way for brands to interact with their audiences in public settings. Where current advertising is often limited to displays and billboards, Skye can float safely around and interact with people. "It's a unique flying machine which is safe enough to interact with.

U.S. high school winners in Intel Talent Search to be announced

Three of the United States' brightest high school scientists will emerge winners on Tuesday in the $1 million Intel Talent Search, among the top U.S. competitions for young innovators. Fifty-two percent of the finalists are female.

Baby seal bred at Japanese aquarium

A newborn baby seal has won over a legion of fans, wriggling its way to the hearts of visitors at an aquarium in Japan. Born on Feb. 21, the seal is the second ringed seal to be bred at Kamogawa Sea World. "I wish I could just keep on watching it here for a long time," teacher Yuka Matsuoka, 38, said during a visit to the aquarium.

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