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Monday, November 18, 2013

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Chill Out, Dudes! Female Flies Have Anti-Aggression Powers

Female fruit flies have a secret superpower: Just by their presence, they keep male flies from butting heads. A new study revealing this strange insect phenomenon could eventually lead to new understandings of how human aggression functions. "This is really an entry point to study how aggression can be modulated," said Yuh Nung Jan, a professor of physiology and biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco. Hanging around ladies may or may not tamp down aggressive urges in men, but for fruit flies, females have a calming effect, Jan and his colleagues report today (Nov. 17) in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Are Educational iPad Games Really Educational?

As iPads have become ubiquitous, companies have rushed to develop educational games that teach math, physics and even urban planning. "It turns out to be pretty hard to make games or content that are better than school," said Jeremy Roschelle, director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International, a nonprofit research institute in Menlo Park, Calif.

Active Volcano Discovered Under Antarctic Ice Sheet

Earthquakes deep below West Antarctica reveal an active volcano hidden beneath the massive ice sheet, researchers said today (Nov. 17) in a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The discovery finally confirms long-held suspicions of volcanic activity concealed by the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Several volcanoes poke up along the Antarctic coast and its offshore islands, such as Mount Erebus, but this is the first time anyone has caught magma in action far from the coast. "This is really the golden age of discovery of the Antarctic continent," said Richard Aster, a co-author of the study and a seismologist at Colorado State University.

NASA Launching New Mission to Mars Today: How to Watch Live

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA probe is scheduled to launch to Mars today (Nov. 18), and you can watch it live online. The space agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) is scheduled to launch atop its Atlas 5 rocket at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) from here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com via NASA TV, beginning at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT). The $671 million MAVEN will investigate the atmosphere of Mars in order to understand what could have happened to the planet in the past.

Nighttime Rocket Launch Tuesday Visible from US East Coast

NASA and the U.S. military will launch a record payload of 29 satellites from a Virginia spaceport Tuesday night (Nov. 19) on a mission that could create a spectacular sight for skywatchers along the U.S. East Coast, weather permitting. The U.S. Air Force launch will send an Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket into orbit from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va., sometime during a two-hour launch window that opens Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 Nov. 20 GMT). The nighttime launch could light up the sky for millions of observers along a wide swath of the Eastern Seaboard, and could be visible from just northeastern Canada and Maine to Florida, and from as far inland as Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky, depending on local weather conditions, according to NASA and Orbital Sciences visibility maps. The U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office is sponsoring Tuesday's launch. You can watch the nighttime launch live online here, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT).

Ancient City Discovered Beneath Biblical-Era Ruins in Israel

Archaeologists have unearthed traces of a previously unknown, 14th-century Canaanite city buried underneath the ruins of another city in Israel. The traces include an Egyptian amulet of Amenhotep III and several pottery vessels from the Late Bronze Age unearthed at the site of Gezer, an ancient Canaanite city. Gezer was once a major center that sat at the crossroads of trade routes between Asia and Africa, said Steven Ortiz, a co-director of the site's excavations and a biblical scholar at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Brain Stimulation May Treat Bulimia

SAN DIEGO — A mild electrical stimulation to a specific brain area could be an effective treatment for some patients with eating disorders such as bulimia, who suffer from episodes of severe binge eating and purging behaviors, researchers say. After one 42-year-old woman received the electrical stimulation, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), as a treatment for her depression, and showed an unexpected recovery from her 20-year battle against bulimia nervosa, her doctors conducted a pilot study to see whether the treatment would also work for other patients with eating disorders, said Dr. Jonathan Downar, of the University of Toronto. Downar described the study Tuesday (Nov. 12) here at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. In the study, Downar and his colleagues recruited 20 patients with bulimia and stimulated a part of their frontal lobes called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which is next to the brain region usually stimulated for treating depression.

Recluse Spider Bite Eats Hole in Young Woman's Ear

She had no way of knowing then that she'd just been bitten by a Mediterranean recluse spider, and that a chunk of her ear would soon be liquefied by the spider's venom. The dead tissue made it clear to doctors that the woman had been bitten by a Mediterranean recluse, a spider whose bite is known to destroy skin and underlying fat, causing "sunken-in" scars or "a disfigured ear, if you are very unlucky," said Dr. Marieke van Wijk, a plastic surgeon in the Netherlands involved in the woman's treatment. The case is the first evidence that recluse-spider venom can also destroy ear cartilage, said van Wijk, a co-author of the case report, published last month in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery. Venom from recluse spiders, including the American brown recluse and its Mediterranean cousin, kills skin and fat with a mixture of chemicals, including substances that break down proteins.

Incredible Technology: How Robotic Spacecraft Spy On Mars from Orbit

NASA plans to launch its next Mars orbiter today (Nov. 18), kicking off a mission that differs markedly from the space agency's many previous Red Planet efforts. Unlike the nine other orbiters that NASA has blasted toward Mars over the last 40 years, the MAVEN spacecraft — short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution — will set its sights on the thin shell of air swirling above the Red Planet's dry and frigid surface. The spacecraft will lift off at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) and you can watch the launch live on SPACE.com via NASA TV, beginning at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT). NASA has been sending probes toward Mars since November 1964, when the agency launched the Mariner 3 spacecraft on an attempted Red Planet flyby.

That Lovin' Feeling: Guys' Brains Respond to Gentle Touch

In a new study, researchers from Aalto University in Finland imaged the brains of scantily clad men who were being gently touched by their partners. The social contact activated chemicals in the brain's opioid system that may be critical for maintaining social bonds with others.

What Caused the Deadly Midwestern Tornado Outbreak?

Eighty-one tornado reports were submitted to the National Weather Service (NWS) yesterday, most of them in the Land of Lincoln, though more than one report could be for the same tornado. One of the tornadoes in this area was preliminarily declared an EF-4, the second strongest type of tornado, said Illinois state climatologist Jim Angel. Sunday started out feeling "like a spring day" (a time of year more associated with tornadoes) throughout much of Illinois, with high humidity and sunny skies, Angel told LiveScience. But then it took a turn for the worse as a low-pressure system over the Great Lakes pulled in a cold front from the north and west and into central and northern Illinois.

NASA Launches Robotic Mars Probe to Investigate Martian Atmosphere Mystery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA launched its newest Mars probe toward the Red Planet Monday (Nov. 18) on a mission to determine how the Martian atmosphere transformed the world into the desolate wasteland it is today. The robotic spacecraft, called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe (MAVEN), launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT), beginning a 10-month journey to Mars. "Liftoff of the Atlas 5 with MAVEN, looking for clues about the evolution of Mars through its atmosphere," NASA launch commentator George Diller said as the rocket climbed into a cloudy Florida sky. If all goes well, MAVEN should arrive at Mars on Sept. 22, 2014, mission scientists have said.

Woman's Pulse Surges Through Her Neck, Reveals Heart Condition

A 33-year-old woman in Canada who had large, abnormal pulses that were clearly visible in her neck ultimately needed surgery to combat a bacterial infection in her heart, according to a new report of her case. The pulses were observed while the woman was being evaluated to see if she needed a replacement heart valve. Such abnormal pulses are actually common, and are caused by a heart problem known as tricuspid regurgitation, said Dr. Juan Crestanello, a cardiac surgeon and assistant professor of surgery at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who was not involved with the woman's care. Normally, as blood flows from the right atrium (an upper chamber of the heart) down into the right ventricle (a lower chamber of the heart), a valve between the two chambers, called the tricuspid valve, prevents blood from flowing backward.

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Sunday, November 17, 2013

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This Rocket Is Going to Mars with NASA's MAVEN Probe (Photos)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Atlas 5 rocket set to take NASA's next Mars probe into space Monday is on the launch pad. Earlier today (Nov. 16) the United Launch Alliance rocket housing the space agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) rolled out onto the pad in preparation for the launch.

The 10 Fastest Growing Job Titles

Technology jobs have replaced those in middle management as the positions employers are trying to fill most, new research shows. A study by job matching service TheLadders revealed that the fastest-growing jobs shy away from management, and instead require deep educational qualifications and specific skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Indicating a trend beyond employment, four of the seven fastest-growing technology jobs — DevOps engineer, iOS developer, data scientist and Android developer — did not even exist on TheLadders five years ago. "In examining job growth over the past five years, there is an undeniable demand for developers and analysts who possess unique expertise within the burgeoning STEM industries," said Shankar Mishra, vice president of data science and analytics for TheLadders.

Americans Reveal Who They'd Rather Work For: Men or Women

A recent Gallup poll found that about 60 percent of Americans still have a gender preference when it comes to their boss, and the majority of those individuals would rather work for a man. [8 Things Bosses Say That Make Workers Happy]

NASA Spacecraft Launching Monday Will Probe Mars Atmosphere Mystery

NASA's newest Mars probe is set to launch Monday (Nov. 18), on a mission to help figure out how the Red Planet shifted from a warm and wet world long ago to the cold, dry place we know today. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft, or MAVEN for short, is scheduled to lift off atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT). After a 10-month cruise through deep space, MAVEN will start studying the Red Planet from orbit, seeking clues about how Mars lost most of its atmosphere in the ancient past. You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com via NASA TV beginning at 11 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).

NASA Spacecraft to Watch 2 Comets Fly By Mercury This Week (Video)

A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mercury will have a ringside seat when two comets zip by the tiny planet on Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 18 and 19). NASA's MESSENGER probe will watch as comets Encke and ISON cruise by on back-to-back days, providing "a golden opportunity to study two comets passing close to the sun," Ron Vervack of Johns Hopkins University, a MESSENGER science team member, said in a statement. NASA scientists explained the Mercury double-comet flyby in a video released Friday. "If you think of a comet as a dirty snowball, these are elements that make up the dirt.

Mars orbiter aims to crack mystery of planet's lost water

The prime suspect is the sun, which has been peeling away the planet's atmosphere, molecule by molecule, for billions of years. Exactly how that happens is the goal of NASA's new Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, which is scheduled for launch at 1:28 p.m. EST/1828 GMT on Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. "MAVEN is going to focus on trying to understand what the history of the atmosphere has been, how the climate has changed through time and how that has influenced the evolution of the surface and the potential habitability - at least by microbes - of Mars,' said lead scientist Bruce Jakosky, with the University of Colorado at Boulder. Scientists have glimpsed the process from data collected by Europe's Mars Express orbiter and NASA's Curiosity rover, but never had the opportunity to profile the atmosphere and space environment around Mars simultaneously.

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Saturday, November 16, 2013

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Evolution of Milky Way Galaxy Revealed by Hubble Space Telescope

Astronomers have pieced together a detailed picture of how our Milky Way galaxy came together, using Hubble Space Telescope photos of 400 similar galaxies at various stages of evolution. "For the first time we have direct images of what the Milky Way looked like in the past," study co-leader Pieter van Dokkum, of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., said in a statement.

How to See Comet ISON: New App Points the Way

The anticipation is building for Comet ISON's potentially dazzling night sky show this month and a new mobile app promises to help skywatchers spot the comet with telescopes, binoculars and their own eyes. Called Comet Watch, the free app is available for the iPhone or iPad. The comet is already visible to the naked eye and is on track for a planned close encounter with the sun on Thanksgiving (Nov. 28). In addition to identifying Comet ISON, Comet Watch also provides the details on how to identify the locations of constellations, individual stars, galaxies, nebulas and even SETI research targets are in relation to the comet, the app's makers say.

What a Dinosaur Brain May Have Looked Like

"No one has ever found a preserved dinosaur brain," said Erich Jarvis, a neurobiologist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., who presented the research with a colleague Tuesday (Nov. 12) here at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Birds evolved from a group of predatory dinosaurs, overwhelming evidence suggests. Until recently, scientists thought bird brains lacked a true cortex, the outer layer found in mammalian brains where complex cognition takes place. Then, in 2004, a new view emerged of the bird brain — one containing a cortex, or pallium, with distinct subregions.

Stephen Hawking Says Not Finding Higgs Boson Would Be 'More Interesting'

The discovery of the once-elusive Higgs boson particle after a decades-long hunt is widely regarded as a major breakthrough, but legendary physicist Stephen Hawking thinks the field would actually be more "interesting" if the Higgs had remained a mystery. "Physics would be far more interesting if it had not been found," Hawking told an audience at the Science Museum in London this week, according to The Guardian. The Higgs boson is an elementary particle that is thought to explain why other fundamental particles have mass. Its discovery in July 2012, at the Large Hadron Collider housed at CERN's physics lab in Geneva, Switzerland, represented the final piece of the puzzle predicted by the Standard Model, the reigning theory of particle physics.

Arizona sets precedent for solar systems with new monthly fee

Arizona on Thursday dealt a blow to the state's largest utility by approving a monthly fee on customers with solar panels that Arizona Public Service said was not enough to offset the costs that those rooftop systems have heaped on its remaining ratepayers. The measure, approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission in a 3-2 vote, was intended to serve as a compromise between APS and the solar industry, which had fought to stop the utility's efforts to change a solar incentive that has buttressed the rapid growth of rooftop systems in one of the nation's sunniest states. The fee of 70 cents per kilowatt would equate to about $5 a month for the average solar customer in Arizona - an amount the solar companies at the hearing said they could live with.

Two Comets Spotted by NASA Spacecraft Orbiting Mercury (Photo)

A NASA probe in orbit around Mercury has spotted two incoming comets as they approach the sun this month. The space agency's Messenger spacecraft snapped photos of Comet ISON, which scientists once billed as a potential "comet of the century," and another icy wanderer —Comet Encke — over the course of a few days this month. The Messenger team observed Comet Encke from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8 and Comet ISON from Nov. 9 to Nov. 11. "We are thrilled to see that we've detected ISON," Ron Vervack, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, leader of the ISON observation campaign with Messenger, said in a statement.

Internet of Things Has Big Startup Potential

Information-technology (IT) research and advisory firm Gartner found that the intersection of personal worlds and the Internet of Things is creating new markets and a new economy. Gartner predicted that by 2020, 30 billion mobile phones, tablets, computers, wearable technology devices and other types of connected devices will be in use. "The traditional IT market is not going to grow at a faster rate anytime soon, if ever — increased growth will come from the nontraditional IT market," said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research. This growth opens up new business opportunities, as half will be attributed to new startups and 80 percent will be in services, not products, Sondergaard said.

The 'W' Word Bosses Rarely Say

"When managers aren't transparent in their actions — and that includes accepting responsibility for errors, being truthful with their employees and acknowledging hard work — that tends to breed mistrust among employees," said Andrew Graham, CEO of Forum Corp. "The lack of employee engagement is a huge issue among U.S. workers, and our research found that employees who register low levels of trust at work are also the most likely group to report low engagement." While trust in the workplace has suffered in recent years, there are certain actions that both employers and employees agree can bolster trust.

See the Leonid Meteor Shower Peak Tonight in NASA Webcast

The annual Leonid meteor shower will be at its best tonight, but don't fret if cloudy skies ruin your view: NASA will webcast the celestial fireworks show live online. Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will provide a live views of the night sky over Huntsville, Ala., beginning at nightfall. You can watch the Leonid meteor shower webcast here, courtesy of NASA MSFC. "Unfortunately the full moon in the sky will likely wash out all but the very brightest Leonids," NASA officials explained in a skywatching guide.

Incredible Tech: How to Display a 2-Ton Dinosaur

A century ago, a paleontologist preparing a fossil for study and display had only teeny chisels and brushes for help. and a whole lot of patience," said David Temple, associate curator of paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The first paste ever used, Temple told LiveScience, was basically oatmeal. But some of the biggest changes have come with increasingly precise pneumatic tools that can chip rock away from fossils with great delicacy.

Deformed, Pointy Skull from Dark Ages Unearthed in France

The skeleton of an ancient aristocratic woman whose head was warped into a deformed, pointy shape has been unearthed in a necropolis in France. The necropolis, found in the Alsace region of France, contains 38 tombs that span more than 4,000 years, from the Stone Age to the Dark Ages. The Obernai region where the remains were found contains a river and rich, fertile soil, which has attracted people for thousands of years, Philippe Lefranc, an archaeologist who excavated the Stone Age burials, wrote in an email.

'Dueling Dinosaurs' Await Auction Fate

NEW YORK — Seven years ago, two amazingly complete dinosaurs were discovered in a shared grave in Montana. One, a clunky Triceratops-like creature, was partially draped over the other, a scrappy tyrannosaurid with its skull crushed in and many of its teeth broken off.

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