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Saturday, July 23, 2016

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Fast swimmers make fast pools, but science lends a hand

By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - To those who dip into swimming only when the Olympic Games come around, it may seem odd to hear a pool described as 'fast' when it looks much like any other large rectangle filled with water. In 2013, after British swimmers had flopped at the London Games and that year's world championships, head coach Bill Furniss suggested Sheffield's Ponds Forge Olympic standard pool was hampering their development because it was too fast. Rio's new 50-metre Olympic pool, where records may be set as dreams and duels play out, should stand out like a gleaming Ferrari among functional family runabouts.

Swimming-Fast swimmers make fast pools, but science lends a hand

By Alan Baldwin LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - To those who dip into swimming only when the Olympic Games come around, it may seem odd to hear a pool described as 'fast' when it looks much like any other large rectangle filled with water. In 2013, after British swimmers had flopped at the London Games and that year's world championships, head coach Bill Furniss suggested Sheffield's Ponds Forge Olympic standard pool was hampering their development because it was too fast. Rio's new 50-metre Olympic pool, where records may be set as dreams and duels play out, should stand out like a gleaming Ferrari among functional family runabouts.

China completes world's largest amphibious aircraft: Xinhua

China has completed production of the world's largest amphibious aircraft after seven years of work, which it plans to use to perform marine rescue missions and fight forest fires, the Xinhua news agency reported. The AG600, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and was developed by state aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai on Saturday, Xinhua said quoting the firm. AVIC deputy general manager, Geng Rugang, said the plane was "the latest breakthrough in China's aviation industry." A plan for the development and production of the AG600 received government approval in 2009.

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Friday, July 22, 2016

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Brazil scientists find Zika traces in Culex mosquitoes in wild

Brazilian researchers on Thursday said they found signs of the Zika virus in a common mosquito that is a separate species from the insect known to be the primary means of transmission. The scientists, from a leading Brazilian research institute known as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, discovered the Zika traces in Culex mosquitoes captured in and around the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, capital of the state that was hit hardest by the Zika outbreak since last year. In March, the same researchers said they had successfully transmitted the Zika virus to Culex mosquitoes in the lab, but were not yet sure at the time whether the species could carry the virus naturally.

Scientists hunt 'anti-evolution' drugs in new cancer fight

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists are opening a new front in the war on cancer with plans to develop "anti-evolution" drugs to stop tumour cells from developing resistance to treatment. Britain's Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), one of the world's top cancer centres, said on Friday its initiative was the first to have at its heart the target of overcoming cancer evolution and drug resistance. In the same way that bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics, cancer cells also change to evade the medicines used to fight them, leading to "survival of the nastiest".

Parasite Evolution: Here's How Some Animals Became Moochers

Nobody likes a mooch, but new research finds that grifting off others is a sound evolutionary strategy. Parasitism — a survival strategy that involves hijacking a host's nutrients for one's own benefit — has emerged in the animal kingdom at least 223 times, according to a study published July 19 in the journal Biology Letters. The estimate of 223 independent origins of parasitism is nearly four times higher than the previous estimate of around 60.

'Earthquake' in Florida Was Actually a Naval Explosion

A tremor reported on July 16 off the coast of Florida was not an earthquake, but a Naval test explosion. The U.S. Geological Survey now lists the event on its earthquake hazards page as an "experimental explosion by the U.S. Navy." According to DefenseNews.com, the 10,000-pound explosion was set off to test the resilience of a combat ship, the USS Jackson. USGS instruments measured the blast as a magnitude-3.7 earthquake, which would have been a rare seismic event in the tectonically quiet region.

Children's Doodles Found in Margins of Medieval Manuscript

The margins of a medieval manuscript from a convent in Naples, Italy, are decorated with doodles of what are apparently devils, a farm animal and a person that were likely drawn by children, a new study finds. Children probably scribbled these doodles on the 14th-century manuscript a few hundred years after the book was made, said the study's author, Deborah Thorpe, a research fellow at the Centre for Chronic Diseases and Disorders at the University of York in the United Kingdom. "I was looking through a database of medieval manuscripts online, and I found images of these beautiful doodles in the margins, and to me they looked like they were done by children," Thorpe said in a statement.

Why the 'Heat Dome' Will Scorch Nearly the Entire US This Weekend

A blast of sweltering heat will sweep across the United States over the next four days, and some places will see temperatures as much as 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (5.6 to 8.3 degrees Celsius) above average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service. Hot weather in July is to be expected, of course — after all, it's the middle of summer — but a so-called heat dome is kicking these hot and humid temperatures up a notch. A heat dome happens when a "dome" of high pressure traps hot air underneath it, said Mike Musher, a meteorologist at the NWS' Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Mighty Viking Ax Discovered in Tomb of Medieval 'Power Couple'

Archaeologists have discovered one of the largest Viking axes ever found, in the tomb of a 10th-century "power couple" in Denmark. Kirsten Nellemann Nielsen, an archaeologist at the Silkeborg Museum who is leading excavations at the site near the town of Haarup, said Danish axes like the one found in the tomb were the most feared weapons of the Viking Age. It would have had a very long handle, and it took both hands to use it," Nielsen told Live Science.

Why Did NASA Send a DNA Sequencer to Space?

A DNA sequencer that was just delivered to the International Space Station can test not just known Earthly organisms. Turns out, the little device may also be able to analyze samples taken from alien life, NASA said. Among the goods delivered was the MinION — a palm-sized sequencer with a lot of promise that weighs just 120 grams (0.27 pounds).

Alcohol Can Cause Certain Cancers, Study Says

Drinking alcohol may cause seven different types of cancer, a new meta-analysis finds. Previous studies have found an association between drinking alcohol and a higher risk of developing certain cancers, according to the study. In the new meta-analysis, published today (July 21) in the journal Addiction, researchers looked at the major review studies done over the last decade on alcohol and cancer, including reviews from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Human Gut Microbes Took Root Before We Were Human

The relationship between humans and the bacteria in our guts extends far back into the past — to the time before modern humans even existed, a new study finds. Microbes in two bacterial families — Bacteroidaceae and Bifidobacteriaceae, which are present in humans and African apes — likely colonized the guts of a shared ancestor of both groups around 15 million years ago, the researchers discovered. The researchers' genetic data also tell a story of parallel evolution — in the microbes, and in the primate hosts they inhabited.

Food for Thought: Americans Just Can't Stop Throwing Out Food

Food waste is piling up in America, and although the vast majority of Americans feel bad about throwing out food, most of us also think it would be hard to reduce the amount of food we throw away, a new survey finds. The survey of 500 people in the U.S. found that 77 percent of respondents said they felt guilty about throwing away food. In addition to being a waste of resources, throwing away food has a negative impact on the environment, according to the study, published today (July 21) in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Thursday, July 21, 2016

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Argentine fossils shed light on vicious group of dinosaurs

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils of a carnivorous dinosaur unearthed in Argentina are shedding new light on an intriguing group of predators that apparently were just as happy to slash victims to death with sickle-shaped hand claws as to chomp them into an early grave. Scientists said on Wednesday the creature, called Murusraptor barrosaensis, lived about 80 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, measured about 21 feet (6.5 meters) long and was a pursuit hunter more lightly built than some other predatory dinosaurs. Murusraptor was a member of a group of meat-eaters called megaraptors, meaning "giant thieves," that prowled Patagonia, although fossils of relatives have been discovered in Australia and Japan.

Stunning aurora footage captured from ISS

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams shared a stunning aurora display on Sunday as he passed over the Earth. The U.S. Army Colonel's footage showed the green lights flashing across the sky as he passed over them onboard the International Space Station.

Scientists looking for invisible dark matter can't find any

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have come up empty-handed in their latest effort to find elusive dark matter, the plentiful stuff that helps galaxies like ours form.

Robot with Sea Slug Parts Makes Hybrid Debut

Researchers have developed a hybrid robot built with body parts from a novel source: sea slugs. The new robot combines a Y-shaped muscle from the mouth of a California sea hare (Aplysia californica) with a 3D-printed skeleton. The robot was modeled after the way sea turtles crawl, because the researchers wanted to create something that could move with only one Y-shaped muscle, study lead author Victoria Webster, a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told Live Science in an email.

Create 3D Animations with the Stroke of a Pen

With just the stroke of a pen or the click of a mouse, you can now transform your 2D sketches into 3D animations. New computer software, known as Mosketch, allows anyone to try their hand at 3D animation without toiling away at numerous sketches. Now available in beta, Mosketch was developed by Moka Studio and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research institute in Switzerland that specializes in physical sciences and engineering.

'Witch' Prison Revealed in 15th-Century Scottish Chapel

An iron ring set in the stone pillar of a 15th-century chapel in the Scottish city of Aberdeen may not look like much, but historians say it could be a direct link to a dark chapter in the city's past — the trial and execution of 23 women and one man accused of witchcraft during Aberdeen's "Great Witch Hunt" in 1597. "I was skeptical, to be honest — the ring is not all that spectacular, but it is actually quite genuine," said Arthur Winfield, project leader for the OpenSpace Trust in the United Kingdom, which is restoring the chapel as part of a community-based redevelopment of the East Kirk sanctuary at the historic Kirk of St Nicholas, in central Aberdeen. Winfield told Live Science that two places within the kirk (the Lowland Scots word for "church") had been equipped as a prison for witches snared in the Aberdeen witch hunt: the stone-vaulted chapel of St Mary, and the tall steeple of the kirk, which was at that time the tallest structure in the city.

Chickens May Help Repel Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes

In a perhaps unexpected finding, the smell of live chickens could help in the fight against malaria, new research shows. Researchers looked at the behavior of the malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles arabiensis in three villages in western Ethiopia, where people commonly share their living quarters with their livestock. BecauseAnopheles mosquitoes primarily use their sense of smell to find hosts, the scientists collected hair, wool and feathers from the cattle, sheep, goats and chickens in the villages, identified scent compounds known as odorants that were unique to each and then investigated how well these odorants repelled the mosquitoes.

Was Zika Contracted in Florida? How the Virus Could Spread Locally

Health officials in Florida are investigating a case of Zika that may have been acquired locally rather than in another country. For someone to acquire Zika in Florida, a person infected with Zika would have to spread the virus to a mosquito, which then would spread it to another human. For example, a new chain of "locally acquired" cases of Zika could happen if a Florida resident were to travel to a country where Zika is spreading, become infected with the virus and then return to Florida, where they would be bitten by a mosquito while the Zika virus was in their blood.

Why Comparing Yourself to Others Is Normal

That's because people automatically compare their own performance with that of others, according to the study, published today (July 20) in the journal Neuron. When they're cooperating with another person, they perceive that person's performance as a reflection on their own: A better partner makes people feel better about their own abilities, while a worse partner makes them feel incompetent, too.

Newly developed wheel converts any bicycle into an electric vehicle

Right off the bat, Michael Burtov said he and his team at technology startup GeoOrbital did not re-invent the wheel. After two years and five prototypes, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup has developed a new type of electric bicycle wheel that steered the company into crowdfunding stardom raising more than $1.2 million at a record-setting pace on Kickstarter. The newly developed bicycle wheel has the major components of an electric vehicle – a 500 watt motor, a lithium battery and a suit of electronics, all arranged to fit perfectly into the radial of a wheel made out of high density foam to avoid a flat. "The unique thing about this wheel is that we rearranged it," Michael Burtov, the CEO & Founder of GeoOrbital said.

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