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Saturday, July 16, 2016

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Boeing aims for supersonics and Mars at outset of second century

By Alwyn Scott SEATTLE (Reuters) - The Boeing Co marked its centennial on Friday with plans to sharpen its focus on innovation, including ambitious projects for supersonic commercial flight and a rocket that could carry humans to other planets. The enterprise established by William Boeing in a Seattle boathouse has faced numerous "bet the company" moments over its 10 decades to bring out new planes such as the 707 and 747. "We have won for 100 years because of innovation," Muilenburg said.

Victoria Beckham Smooches Daughter: Did She Cross a Line?

A photo of Victoria Beckham kissing her 5-year-old daughter, Harper, on the lips has sparked a wave of outrage online. Some commenters called the photo "disgusting" and "wrong," but others defended Beckham's show of affection. Although some people may find the gesture odd, a mother kissing her daughter is not inappropriate, said Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Time on His Side? Jagger a Dad Again at Age 72

Mick Jagger, the septuagenarian lead singer of the Rolling Stones, is expecting his eighth child — his first with 29-year-old partner, Melanie Hamrick. Epidemiologists have noted that there is an increased risk of certain conditions, particularly schizophrenia and autism, in children who have older fathers, according to Brian Lee, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics with the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. "Both older mothers and older fathers are more likely to have children with autism" than younger parents are, Lee told Live Science.

Weird Science on SpaceX Dragon Is Tiny, Melty, Beating and Radioactive

SpaceX's ninth commercial cargo mission, launching early Monday (July 18), is lugging a selection of strange science to the International Space Station — living, beating heart cells, microbes from a nuclear disaster, a tiny DNA sequencer and more. The six crewmembers on the station have been preparing for the supply ship's arrival early on Wednesday, July 20, when NASA astronaut (and current space station commander) Jeff Williams will grapple the craft with the space station's 57.7-foot (17.6-meter) robotic arm. Then, once the craft is berthed to the space station, the real work will begin: Over the next five weeks, the station crew will unload its provisions, including more than 2,2000 lbs. (1,000 kilograms) of research supplies and science experiments.

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Friday, July 15, 2016

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Lucky bug eluded eternal entombment in 50 million-year-old amber

An Oregon State University scientist on Thursday described a remarkable piece of amber -fossilized tree sap - containing a mushroom, a strand of mammalian hair and the recently shed exoskeleton of an insect that got away from the oozing sticky stuff in the nick of time, escaping eternal entombment. The tiny bug looks similar to insects alive today known as walking sticks, whose stick-like appearance provides camouflage that helps keep them safe from hungry birds and other predators. "The mushroom was growing at the base of a tree," Oregon State entomologist and amber expert George Poinar said.

First Ever? Discovery of Philistine Cemetery Draws Criticism

A 3,000-year-old graveyard with the bones of about 200 individuals discovered in Ashkelon, Israel, is being hailed as the first (and only) Philistine cemetery ever found. If valid, the finding would reveal more about a mysterious people known as the Philistines. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Philistines came from the Aegean Sea region, along with other groups of people, during the 12th century B.C, at a time when cities and civilizations in Greece and the Middle East were collapsing.

'Extinct' Volcano Near Rome Rumbles to Life

A volcano outside Rome, long thought extinct, is rumbling to life. Colli Albani is a volcanic complex of hills located 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the center of Rome. There are no historical records of eruptions from Colli Albani, so it was long thought to be extinct, according to the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

'Snowfox' GPS Phone Helps Parents Keep Tabs on Young Kids

A new, screenless phone for young kids could help parents stay in touch with their children, without the adults having to worry that their kids are glued to smartphones. The new device, called Snowfox, also comes equipped with a GPS tracker, letting parents know where their kids are, while helping children learn independence by letting them roam to places where they are allowed. Snowfox's battery and low-power electronics let it operate for a week on a single charge, according to the company.

These Ducks Aren't Lame — They Can Think Abstractly

Ducklings can wrap their tiny brains around ideas like "same" and "different" even when they're scarcely more than 24 hours old, a new study finds. In a new study, newly hatched ducklings were shown paired objects that either matched each other in shape or color, or differed from each other. The researchers found that the ducklings were able to recognize and respond to other objects that were similarly grouped, a mere 30 minutes later.

Fish Venom Unveiled: Toxins Evolved Many Times, Study Shows

More than 2,000 species of fish are venomous, and a new analysis of these animals shows that the most common way they deliver their venom is through spines on their backs. The research, which analyzed the evolution of venom and its delivery mechanisms among freshwater and saltwater fish, also found that venom glands arose 18 separate times among fish. "For the first time ever, we looked at the evolution of venom across all fishes," lead author William Leo Smith, assistant curator at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, said in a statement.

Zika Outbreak Could Be Over in 3 Years, Study Predicts

The current Zika outbreak taking place in much of South and Central America will be largely over in three years' time, a new study predicts. "The current explosive epidemic will burn itself out due to a phenomenon called herd immunity," Neil Ferguson, a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London's School of Public Health, said in a statement. "Because the virus is unable to infect the same person twice — thanks to the immune system generating antibodies to kill it — the epidemic reaches a stage where there are too few people left to infect for transmission to be sustained," Ferguson said.

Paper in a Top Medical Journal Has Unexpected Author: Barack Obama

In an unusual move for a sitting president, Barack Obama has published a scholarly paper in a scientific journal. The paper, which discusses the success and future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was published Monday (July 11) in the prestigious medical journal JAMA. It may be the first time a sitting president has authored a complete academic article — with an abstract, findings and conclusions — that's been published in a scientific journal, at least in recent history.

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Thursday, July 14, 2016

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7 Weird Facts About Balance

Your inner ear plays an important role in balance. Several structures in the inner ear, together called the vestibular system, send signals to the brain that help you orient yourself and maintain balance. Many balance problems stem from conditions that affect the inner ear.

Microsoft Mines 'Minecraft' to Study Artificial Intelligence

In the pixelated cube world of "Minecraft," players can create almost anything their hearts desire. Now, Microsoft is using the popular world-building game to build and test artificial intelligence in the fictional environment. Microsoft has made a platform for artificial intelligence (AI) research using a modified version of "Minecraft" that will become available to the public following a limited release to select researchers.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defence

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. missile defence system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. The ground-based midcourse missile defence system, which has deployed 30 interceptors in Alaska and California, has been tested under highly scripted conditions only nine times since being deployed in 2004, and failed to destroy its target two-thirds of the time, the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report. "After nearly 15 years of effort to build the GMD homeland missile defence system, it still has no demonstrated real-world capability to defend the United States," said Laura Grego, a UCS physicist who co-authored the report.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. missile defense system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. The ground-based midcourse missile defense system, which has deployed 30 interceptors in Alaska and California, has been tested under highly scripted conditions only nine times since being deployed in 2004, and failed to destroy its target two-thirds of the time, the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report. "After nearly 15 years of effort to build the GMD homeland missile defense system, it still has no demonstrated real-world capability to defend the United States," said Laura Grego, a UCS physicist who co-authored the report.

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

Men with Long Work Hours Cause Families to Suffer

"The job demands of men affect women, but we didn't find any evidence that the opposite was the case," said study co-author Lyn Craig, a sociologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Though men have dramatically increased the time they spend at home and with the family sincethe 1960s there's still no contest: Women, on average, spend nearly 5 more hours a week on household chores than men do and spend double the amount of time tending to young childrens' physical needs, according to the 2015 American Time Use Survey. To get a better understanding of those couple dynamics, Craig and her colleagues looked at the 2006 Australian Time Use Survey, which included 756 Australian couples with children at home.

'Demon Orchid' Has a 'Devil Head' and Claw-Like Petals

A new species of orchid is in a league of its own — not just because it's relatively rare, but also because scientists say it looks like the devil.

1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Reveal Human Ancestor Walked Like Us

The human ancestor Homo erectus may have walked similarly to the way modern humans do today, new research shows. In 2009, paleontologists discovered human-like footprints near the eastern shores of Lake Turkana in Ileret, Kenya. The fossilized tracks suggested similarities to modern human feet, including an arch, a rounded heel and a big toe aligned parallel with the other toes.

New Dinosaur Had the T. Rex Look: Tiny Arms

Like its distant relative, T. rex, a newly identified dinosaur, named Gualicho shinyae, sported small arms and hands with two clawed fingers. "We're slowly getting more information on this sort of pattern of limb reduction, and getting at this question of why tyrannosaurs and some other theropods shortened their forelimbs," said study corresponding author Peter Makovicky, curator of dinosaurs at the Field Museum in Chicago.

How Many Types of Trees Grow in the Amazon? (Hint: It's A LOT)

The new tally is the first time anyone has tried to accurately count how many species of trees live in the Amazon, the most diverse place for trees on Earth, the researchers said. "The Amazon is a truly rich place in terms of biodiversity," said the study's lead researcher, Hans ter Steege, a senior research fellow at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. In 2013, ter Steege and his colleagues estimated that there were approximately 16,000 tree species living in the Amazon.

Why the Olympics Actually Won't Cause Zika to Spread Everywhere

With the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil less than a month away, concerns are mounting that the international event may spread the Zika virus to more countries around the world. Indeed, global travel has been contributing to the spread of virus in the Western Hemisphere since at least 2015, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the new report, released today (July 13), should help quell fears for many countries that do not currently have the Zika virus: The CDC predicted that the Olympics will put only four countries at risk for importing Zika.

Souring on Artificial Sweeteners: Substances May Boost Appetite

Artificial sweeteners have gone from diet darlings — touted for allowing people to get a hit of sweetness without the calories of sugar — to a more maligned ingredient, as evidence mounts suggesting a complicated net effect on calorie consumption. Now, a new study done in fruit flies and mice offers insights into how zero-calorie sweeteners may actually increase appetite. Previous studies in both humans and animals have suggested that artificial sweeteners might promote weight gain, but that research is controversial, said Greg Neely, an associate professor of genomics at the University of Sydney in Australia and the senior author of the new study.

Meet Your Muscles: 6 Remarkable Human Muscles

The human body has more than 600 muscles, which help people walk, run, eat and even smile. The biggest muscle in the human body is the gluteus maximus, or the buttock muscles, also known as "the glutes." These muscles (there is one on each side) help move the hips and thighs, and keep the trunk of the body upright. If you consider the muscle that pulls in a single direction with the most force to be the strongest, then the calf muscle, known as the soleus, would be the winner, according to the Library of Congress.

For the first time, scientists to sequence genes in space

By Irene Klotz and Julie Steenhuysen CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Given her background in researching some of the deadliest pathogens on Earth, including Ebola, colleagues of newly arrived astronaut Kate Rubins had expected her to want to do "crazy science fiction" on the International Space Station. Instead, Rubins pushed for carefully controlled experiments with a mix of a bacteria, a common virus and mouse cells, all already repeatedly sequenced and safe for testing in the space station's closed-loop environment. Rubins, a trained microbiologist who arrived at the space station on Saturday, will be using the samples to put Oxford Nanopore's MinION sequencer - a pocket-sized DNA sequencer - through its paces.

For the first time, scientists to sequence genes in space

Women doctors, scientists, welders among 11 new emojis

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Women professionals will soon be better represented in emoji form.

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