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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

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Science Gear Installed on NASA's Next Big Space Telescope

The successor to NASA's iconic Hubble Space Telescope is now a big step closer to its anticipated 2018 launch. Technicians have installed the science instruments on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an $8.8 billion observatory that will study some of the most distant objects in the universe and scan the atmospheres of alien planets for signs of life, among other tasks. The installation required a crane and about two dozen engineers and technicians, who attached the science package in a huge clean-room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

India's colonial-era monsoon forecasting to get high-tech makeover

By Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's forecasting of the monsoon - the crop-nourishing seasonal rains that are the lifeblood for farmers in the country of 1.3 billion people - is getting a high-tech makeover. Jettisoning a statistical method introduced under British colonial rule in the 1920s, India's meteorology office is spending $60 million on a new supercomputer to improve the accuracy of one of the world's most vital weather forecasts in time for next year's rains. The new system, based on a U.S. model tweaked for India, requires immense computing power to generate three-dimensional models to help predict how the monsoon is likely to develop.

Electric eels can kill horses, new research confirms

By Ben Gruber MIAMI (Reuters) - Experiments at Vanderbilt University have proven a 200-year-old observation that electric eels can leap out of water and shock animals to death, a claim originally made by 19th century biologist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. During a field trip to the Amazon basin in 1800, Humboldt said he saw electric eels leaping out of the water and delivering enough voltage to kill a horse. A biologist who has been studying eels for several years, Catania said he not only validated the original account but found evidence that leaping eels were far more terrifying than even von Humboldt realized.

In the lab: six innovations scientists hope will end malaria

By Katy Migiro ARUSHA, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After being abandoned as too ambitious in 1969, global plans to eliminate malaria are back on the agenda, with financial backing from the world's richest couple, Bill and Melinda Gates, and U.S. President Barack Obama. The Gateses aim to eradicate malaria by 2040 by doubling funding over the next decade to support the roll out of new products to tackle rising drug resistance against the disease. Six innovations scientists are working on are: * New insecticides: Mosquitoes are becoming resistant to insecticides used to spray inside homes and in bed nets.

In the lab: six innovations scientists hope will end malaria

Are 'Hands-Free' Phone Calls Really Safer for Drivers?

"A popular misconception is that using a mobile phone while driving is safe as long as the driver uses a hands-free phone," Graham Hole, a psychology lecturer at the University of Sussex in England and an author of the study, said in a statement. In the first experiment, 60 people, divided into three groups of 20, completed a simulated driving course with a series of road hazards. In the second group, the people were asked true or false questions while they carried out the driving simulation.

Soda Pop Music? Entertainers Endorse Junk Food, Study Finds

Music may be food for the soul, but the food and beverages that pop singers endorse these days may be more like food for the grave, according to a new study. Nearly every food or beverage endorsed by musicians who scored a hit in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in the years 2013 and 2014 is unhealthy, the study found. Think Justin Timberlake hawking for McDonald's, Drake selling Sprite, Beyoncé endorsing Pepsi and Britney Spears promoting pork rinds.

Obesity Rate in US Women Climbs to 40%

The obesity rate among U.S. women continues to tick upward, with the latest study showing that about 40 percent of American women are obese. However, the obesity rate in U.S. men has stayed about the same over the past decade, the study found. In the study, researchers gathered new data on U.S. obesity rates from a national survey conducted during 2013-2014, and also looked at changes in obesity rates over the previous nine-year period.

Why Are Shark Attacks on the Rise?

Shark attacks have dominated Australian headlines during the past week, with two fatalities occurring just a few days apart in waters near Perth. Those attacks may not be just a coincidence or bad luck: Shark attacks have been on the rise, with more attacks reported worldwide last year than in any other year on record, according to an annual survey. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a database of shark attacks maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History (FMNH), includes a yearly summary of so-called "unprovoked attacks" — aggressive interactions initiated by sharks against people in the sharks' habitat, without any prior contact — and tallied 98 such attacks in 2015.

Retro Robot from the 1920s May Get 2nd Chance at Life

Britain's first robot was a dazzling sight to behold, with broad shoulders, light-bulb eyes and a thick-barreled chest.

UK scientists find new 3-parent IVF technique safe in lab tests

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - A study of a new 3-parent IVF technique designed to reduce the risk of mothers passing hereditary diseases to their babies has found it is likely to work well and lead to normal pregnancies, British scientists said. Britain's parliament voted last year to become the first in the world to allow the 3-parent in-vitro-fertilization (IVF)technique, which doctors say will prevent incurable inherited diseases but critics see as a step towards "designer babies". Having completed pre-clinical tests involving more than 500 eggs from 64 donor women, researchers from Britain's Newcastle University said the technique, called "early pronuclear transfer", does not harm early embryonic development.

New fossils may settle debate over 'Hobbit' people's ancestry

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores may resolve one of the most intriguing mysteries in anthropology: the ancestry of the extraordinary diminutive human species dubbed the "Hobbit."Scientists on Wednesday described bone fragments and teeth about 700,000 years old retrieved from an ancient river bed that appear to belong to the extinct Hobbit species, previously known only from fossils and stone tools from a Flores cave ranging from 190,000 to 50,000 years old. The species, called Homo floresiensis, stood about 3-1/2 feet tall (106 cm), possessing a small, chimpanzee-sized brain. The new fossils "strongly suggest" the Hobbit evolved from large-bodied, large-brained members of the extinct human species Homo erectus living in Asia, said palaeoanthropologist Yousuke Kaifu of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Astronauts get first look inside space station's new inflatable module

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Monday floated inside an experimental inflatable module that will test a less expensive and potentially safer option for housing crews during long stays in space, NASA said. Station flight engineers Jeff Williams and Oleg Skripochka opened the hatch to the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, at 4:47 a.m. EDT (0847 GMT) on Monday. Designed and built by privately-owned Bigelow Aerospace, BEAM is the first inflatable habitat to be tested with astronauts in space.

New research finds low risk of Zika virus at Olympics

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - New research attempting to calculate the risk of the Zika virus at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may reassure organizers and many of the more than 500,000 athletes and fans expected to travel to the epicenter of the epidemic. The World Health Organization, acknowledging the concern, has called a meeting of its Zika experts to evaluate the transmission risk posed by the Olympics. The debate has played out largely in the absence of models calculating the risk to tourists attending the Olympics. New projections obtained by Reuters suggest the risk is small.

Russia delays launch to space station to ensure safety of new spaceship

The flight of the next crew to the International Space Station has been postponed until July 7 from June 24 in order to ensure the safety of the first launch of their new "Soyuz-MS" spaceship, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Monday. A series of additional tests of the spaceship's software is required, Roscosmos said, citing the decision of a state commission which met earlier on Monday. Russian Commander Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan's Takuya Onishi are due to take off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the "Soyuz-MS".

Eating Fat Doesn't Make You Fat, Study Finds

It seems logical to think that eating a high-fat diet would tip the scale upward, but a new study suggests that might not be the case. Men and women in the study who followed a high-fat, Mediterranean diet that was rich in either olive oil or nuts lost more weight and reduced their waist circumference more than the people in the study who were simply instructed to reduce their fat intake, according to the study. The Mediterranean diet, rich in healthy fats and plant proteins, has been linked in previous studies to a wide range of health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes — two conditions that are also linked to obesity.

Muhammad Ali's Death: Can Head Injuries Cause Parkinson's?

Boxing champion Muhammad Ali lived with Parkinson's disease for three decades before his death on Friday (June 3) at the age of 74, and many have wondered whether Ali's boxing career caused him to develop the neurological disorder. Although it's likely that frequent head injuries played a role in the boxer's Parkinson's disease, certain genes may have also increased his susceptibility to the disease, experts said. "[It's] likely his repeated head injuries contributed to his Parkinson's disease," said Dr. Barbara Changizi, a neurologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who was not involved with Ali's treatment.

Bacteria Are Everywhere, Even in Ovaries

Women's fallopian tubes and ovaries were once thought to be free of bacteria, but a small new study finds that these microorganisms do live naturally in this part of the reproductive tract. What's more, the findings suggest that women with ovarian cancer may have different, more harmful bacteria in their fallopian tubes and ovaries, but much more research is needed to confirm this idea, the researchers said. In the study, the researchers analyzed tissue samples from 25 women who had been through menopause and were undergoing surgery to have their uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries removed.

Supreme Insect! Praying Mantis Named After Ruth Bader Ginsburg

A new praying mantis has been identified, and like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it has a fondness for prominent neckwear. The new leaf-dwelling species was discovered in the wilds of Madagascar and named Ilomantis ginsburgae, after Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "This species description of Ilomantis ginsburgae is novel since it relied heavily on the features of the female genitalia," lead author Sydney Brannoch, a Case Western Reserve University doctoral candidate, said in a statement.

Tiny Dancers: Meet 7 New Peacock Spider Species

They're fuzzy. They're colorful. And they wave their legs in the air like they just don't care.

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Monday, June 6, 2016

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Study finds targeted cancer drugs may work in range of tumor types

By Deena Beasley CHICAGO (Reuters) - Early results from a clinical trial of Roche Holding AG cancer drugs released on Saturday suggest some promise in matching treatments based on abnormalities found in a patient's tumor rather than the organ in which the cancer was originally detected. The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, showed that 29 out of 129 patients with 12 different types of advanced cancers responded to drugs targeting genetically driven abnormalities. The drugs were administered outside of indications currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which generally reviews drugs using studies based on the type of organ where the cancer was found.

The Heat Is On: Most of US Likely to Have a Scorching Summer

It's likely to be a sweltering summer for most of the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In a continuing trend of 2016 being a warmer-than-average year, this summer could be a scorcher for a majority of the U.S., NOAA says. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center released its summer outlook last week, which predicts above-average temperatures for the next season.

New Gadget Helps Turn Departed Loved Ones into Trees

The Bios Incube, created by the company Bios Urn, is an incubator that monitors and cultivates trees from human ashes in people's homes. "When someone dies, they physically die, but the people who are around the deceased person still remember," said Roger Moliné, co-founder of Bios Urn. The Bios Incube is a sleek, white plant pot that measures 2.5 feet (76 centimeters) tall and about 1 foot (33 cm) in diameter.

Shape-Shifting Touch Screens Can Morph on Demand

Researchers at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, have designed a device that could one day do just that. Its designers say the technology could pave the way to more adaptable handheld gadgets. "I'm very interested in how, as humans, we manipulate things," said Anne Roudaut, a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol and lead researcher of the Cubimorph project.

Who Was Sattjeni? Tomb Reveals Secrets About Ancient Egyptian Elite

The coffin, discovered this year in the necropolis at Qubbet el-Hawa across the Nile River from Aswan, belonged to an important local woman, Sattjeni, daughter of one governor, wife of another and mother of two more, said excavation leader Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano, an Egyptologist at the University of Jaén in Spain. Sattjeni was not a royal, but her family practiced royal strategies to hold on to their governing power: She married her sister's widower, and the family also associated itself with the ram-headed deity Khnum, much as pharaohs intermarried to keep power in the family and claimed to be descended from the gods. In an email interview with Live Science, Jiménez-Serrano revealed more about the excavations at Qubbet el-Hawa and the life of Sattjeni.

Lost Underwater 'City' Revealed as Natural Geological Formation

Pipe-like, disc and doughnut-shaped structures discovered by underwater divers near the island of Zakynthos, Greece, were originally believed to be ruins of an ancient city, such as remnants of paved floors, courtyards and columns. Now researchers have found that the "ruins" are in fact geological formations, the results of a natural phenomenon that took place in the Pliocene epoch, up to 5 million years ago. Suspecting a geological explanation, the Greek Ministry brought in researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Athens to investigate the oddly shaped structures.

Males' Oversize Right Claw Lures Crustacean Ladies

If she's Dulichiella appendiculata — a tiny relative of the sand-hopping beach flea — she's impressed by the size of the male's enlarged right front claw, which is significantly bigger than its left one. And she definitely prefers righties to lefties. Scientists have investigated the mating success of right-clawed D. appendiculata males versus their left-clawed rivals, and found that righty males attracted more females.

Take the Moon Home with Incredibly Detailed Lunar Globe

If you want a nice view of the moon, instead of squinting into the night sky or cursing tall buildings, you could soon gaze at an expertly crafted model of the stunning celestial object. Its makers used NASA data to re-create the moon's many craters, including Petavius and Copernicus, at 1/20,000,000th the original size. The mini moon comes with a ring of LED lights that revolve around the globe and illuminate the face of the moon as seen from Earth.

Save the last dance for me: Being cute not enough for this spider when choosing a mate

A Sydney scientist has discovered seven new species of the tiny Australian peacock spider - a spectacularly colored, three-millimetre arachnid that dances to attract a female mate. Jurgen Otto, with the help of colleague David Knowles, made the two latest discoveries of the miniature creatures while looking for other spiders in Western Australia in November and had all seven named in the scientific journal Peckhamia last month.

The Science of Football: Which Positions Take the Hardest Hits?

In a new study, researchers at the University of Michigan set out to answer that question. A race car braking and turning is under about 5 G's of force, said Dennis K. Lieu, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, in an email interview with Live Science. The researchers found the running backs in the study — the men generally tasked with carrying the ball — experienced more "severe" impacts (above 10 G's) than all other offensive positions, although not a statistically significant number more than quarterbacks, according to the findings published May 21 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Why Pregnant Women Shouldn't Give In to Food Cravings

It may seem logical that if you crave certain foods during pregnancy, that craving is just your body's way of telling you what it needs. The more often women in the study gave in to such cravings, the more likely they were to gain too much weight during their pregnancy, according to the study, published May 20 in the journal Appetite. Previous research has shown that the more weight you gain during pregnancy, the harder it is to lose that weight after giving birth.

Workaholism Linked to ADHD and Depression

People who work too much may be more likely to have ADHD or depression, according to a new study from Norway. Researchers found that, among the workaholics in the study, nearly 33 percent had symptoms of ADHD, compared with about 13 percent of non-workaholics. For the study, workaholics were defined as those who met seven criteria, including whether they work so much that it has negatively influenced their health, or they feel stressed when they are prohibited from working.

Astronauts get first look inside space station's new inflatable module

Russia delays launch to space outpost to ensure safety of new spaceship

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The launch of the next three-man crew to the International Space Station has been postponed until July 7 from June 24 in order to ensure the safety of the first flight of their new "Soyuz-MS" spaceship, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Monday. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov)

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