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	(Sponsor this newsletter) Making waves: In the hunt for invisibility, other benefits seen By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A new way of assembling things, called metamaterials, may in the not too distant future help to protect a building from earthquakes by bending seismic waves around it. While the holy grail of metamaterials is still to make objects and people invisible to the eye, they are set to have a more tangible commercial impact playing more mundane roles - from satellite antennas to wirelessly charging cellphones. Metamaterials are simply materials that exhibit properties not found in nature, such as the way they absorb or reflect light. This makes metamaterials the tool of choice for scientists racing to build all sorts of wave-cloaking devices, including the so-called invisibility cloak - a cover to render whatever's inside effectively invisible by bending light waves around it. Read More » Russia bets on sweeping reform to revive ailing space industry By Alissa de Carbonnel BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - From rocket-shaped playground equipment to faded murals of cosmonauts, mementos of the heyday of Soviet space exploration are scattered around this sandswept town that launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961. When President Vladimir Putin described the space port on the remote Kazakh steppe as "physically aged" in April, he could have been speaking about Russia's space industry itself. In Baikonur as elsewhere, the once-pioneering sector is struggling to live up to its legacy, end an embarrassing series of botched launches, modernize decaying infrastructure and bring in new blood and new ideas. Putin hopes a sweeping reform he signed off on this month will not come too late to turn the industry around - part of a push to make Russia a high-technology superpower by salvaging leading Cold War-era industries and research centers. Read More » All About You: Top 10 Human Nature Stories of 2013 From political beliefs to social deviation to sexual attraction, here are the highlights of what science found out about you this year: Read More » Wow! Space Station Crosses Crescent Moon in Amazing Photo The International Space Station can be seen cruising in front of a crescent moon in this stunning night sky photo recently sent to SPACE.com.  Read More » Whoops! Earth's Oldest 'Diamonds' Actually Polishing Grit Evidence of Earth's first continents — 4.3-billion-year-old "diamonds" — are actually just fragments of polishing grit, a new study finds. But it turns out that the gems weren't actually diamonds, but polishing paste, smushed into hairs'-width cracks when the zircons were prepared for laboratory tests, according to a study published online in the Feb. 1, 2014, edition of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) found the mistake by snapping pictures of the disputed diamonds with a powerful transmission electron microscope, along with other techniques. The original authors, who provided their samples for analysis by Green and lead study author Larissa Dobrzhinetskaya, also agree with the conclusions. Read More »
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FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

	Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News
	(Sponsor this newsletter) Moon, Other Cosmic Wonders Meet in Christmas Sky This Week Early risers will have an opportunity to see the moon move through the sky on Christmas Day and throughout the week. Over the next few days, the moon will pass a series of bright cosmic markers. Read More » Christmas in Space: Astronauts Celebrate Holidays in Orbit Six space travelers living in orbit definitely aren't home for Christmas today, but that doesn't mean they won't get into the holiday spirit on the International Space Station. The space station's six-man Expedition 38 crew includes two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese astronaut. This year, Christmas falls between two spacewalks — a Christmas Eve spacewalk to fix the outpost's cooling system and a Dec. 27 excursion by Russian cosmonauts — so it is likely a welcome rest in an otherwise busy week. "Hey folks, MERRY CHRISTMAS!" NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio wrote in a Twitter post Sunday (Dec. 22), adding that he would write more after finishing the station's "home improvement project" to replace a cooling system pump. Read More »
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FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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	(Sponsor this newsletter) NASA Astronauts Gearing Up for Christmas Eve Spacewalk Two astronauts on the International Space Station are set for a Christmas Eve spacewalk tomorrow (Dec. 24). NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will don their spacesuits and float out into the weightless wonderland of space for another spacewalk to repair the orbiting outpost's critical cooling system Tuesday. This EVA (extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk) is the second in a series of spacewalks quickly planned after a problem with the vital system arose on Dec. 11. Originally, NASA officials planned three spacewalks to fix the issue, however, if all goes well during the Christmas Eve EVA, the astronauts should be able to get the system back up and running at full capacity without a third spacewalk. Read More » The Virgin Birth: Why We Believe About three-quarters of Americans believe in the Virgin Birth, according to a recent Pew survey. Belief in Jesus' immaculate conception isn't such a leap once you accept the possibility of miracles and the supernatural. And from a cognitive perspective, the human brain is primed for a belief in God and the supernatural. Those polls are "evidence that most people know scientific knowledge is not the only kind of knowledge," said Stacy Trasancos, a popular blogger on science and Catholicism and the author of "Science Was Born of Christianity" (Amazon Digital Services, 2013). Read More » Night-Shining Clouds Show Up Early Over South Pole Night-shining clouds started glowing high above Antarctica earlier than usual this year, observations from a NASA satellite show. They form when water molecules freeze around "meteor smoke" close to the edge of space, typically about 50 to 53 miles (80 and 85 kilometers) above Earth's surface — so high that they can reflect light after the sun sets. The phenomenon looks spectacular from the ground, but scientists also have watched these night-shining clouds from above with NASA's AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) satellite since 2007. Data from AIM indicate that noctilucent clouds started forming around the South Pole on Nov. 20 this year as a tiny spot of electric blue that quickly expanded to cover the entire frozen continent, as this NASA video shows. Read More » Astronauts ready for second spacewalk to repair station By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are planning a second and final spacewalk to fix the outpost's cooling system early on Tuesday, a NASA official said. NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins are expected to leave the station's Quest airlock to install a new ammonia pump, space station flight director Judd Frieling said during an interview on NASA Television on Monday. Read More » 6 Miracle Birth Stories Beyond Jesus Christmas, in the religious sense at least, centers on one basic tenet of Christian belief: that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother. Unconventional births can be found far outside the manger in mythologies and religious traditions from ancient Egypt to the Aztec empire; LiveScience brings you the story behind six miracle births. Osiris' wife Isis picked up the pieces of her husband — all but his penis, which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a fish, according to some accounts. Read More » Mars Express to Fly Within 'Touching Distance' of Moon Phobos (Video) A European spacecraft orbiting Mars is set to make its closest flyby yet of the largest Martian moon, Phobos, on Sunday (Dec. 29). Passing just 28 miles (45 kilometers) above the surface of Phobos, the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft will be traveling too close and too fast to take any images of the lumpy, potato-shaped moon. Phobos is small, measuring only about 16 by 14 by 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 km), which means a 150-pound (68 kilograms) person standing on its surface would weigh just two ounces (56 grams). Nonetheless, Phobos' gravitational pull will tug Mars Express slightly off course during Sunday's flyby. Read More » 12 Days of Science: Celebrating Christmas with Cool Images The British Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific society, is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas with gorgeous science illustrations from its picture library. In place of five golden rings are five pink rings surrounding a portrait of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, an Internet visionary and professor at MIT. On the ninth day of Christmas, The Royal Society celebrates "nine fireman leaping" with an 1825 illustration of Russian firefighters practicing rescue techniques on a spindly looking scaffolding. On the third day comes an illustration of three Inuit in a group portrait sketched by Capt. James Clark Ross, who was icebound in the Canadian Arctic for four winters. Read More » NASA Astronauts Tackle Christmas Eve Spacewalk to Fix Space Station: Watch Live Two American astronauts will spend Christmas Eve working in the vacuum of space to hopefully fix the vital cooling system aboard the International Space Station, and you can walk their spacewalk live. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio are scheduled to venture outside the International Space Station today (Dec. 24) at about 7:10 a.m. (1210 GMT) for their second spacewalk in four days. You can watch the spacewalk live on SPACE.com via NASA TV. During the 6.5-hour spacewalk, Hopkins and Mastracchio will be working to replace a faulty pump module that helps cool equipment inside and outside of the space laboratory. Read More » NASA Astronauts Begin Christmas Eve Spacewalk for Space Station Repairs Two American astronauts are spending Christmas Eve working in the vacuum of space to hopefully fix the vital cooling system aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio officially started the spacewalk at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT). The two astronauts ventured outside of the space station's Quest airlock shortly afterwards, getting to work on their second spacewalk in four days. You can watch the spacewalk live on SPACE.com today (Dec. 24) via NASA TV. Read More » Astronauts leave space station to replace cooling pump By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two NASA astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Tuesday for a second and final spacewalk to fix the outpost's critical cooling system. Flight engineers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins were slated to spend about 6 1/2 hours outside the station to install a new ammonia cooling system pump. A nonworking unit was removed during a spacewalk on Saturday. The spacewalk was broadcast live on NASA Television. Read More » Flu Vaccine May Work Better in Women Women have a stronger immune response than men when given the flu vaccine, new research shows. In the study, researchers examined the inflammatory responses of 53 women and 34 men following vaccination with a flu shot. Scientists found that men had a weaker response, or less inflammation in their bodies, than women after receiving the vaccine, and the response was weakest among some of the men who had the highest testosterone levels. The finding "reinforces the message that there are major differences between men and women in terms of their immune systems," said study researcher Mark Davis, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford School of Medicine. Read More » Spacewalking Astronauts Gift Space Station with Christmas Eve Cooling Pump Fix HOUSTON — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have received a gift just in time for Christmas: a new pump module to repair their ailing cooling system and to restore the outpost to full power. NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins embarked on their second spacewalk together, setting out at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT) on Tuesday (Dec. 24) to complete the work they began Saturday to remove and replace an ammonia pump module with a faulty flow control valve. "It's like Christmas morning, opening a little present here," Mastracchio said early in the spacewalk, as he rummaged through a bag for tools to help in installing the new pump. The Christmas Eve EVA — extravehicular activity, NASA's term for a spacewalk — had the two astronauts retrieve a spare of the refrigerator-size cooling system device and install it on the space station's starboard, or right, side backbone truss. Read More »
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FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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	(Sponsor this newsletter) High-Tech Santa: 5 Devices to Give Old St. Nick a Boost Every year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa Claus' location on Christmas Eve, to the delight of millions who visit the military's website that night. After all, Santa isn't getting any younger, and Christmas Eve isn't getting any longer. So what should be on Santa's wish list this year to help him guide his sleigh from the North Pole and get presents to all the good girls and boys of the world? Read More » Say Aahhh! Shark Photographed with Huge Mouth Open Here's an image no swimmer would want to see in real life: a massive tiger shark with its jaws open, as if ready to devour an observer. Though the picture makes it look like the photographer was the shark's next meal, no one was ever in danger, said David Shiffman, a doctoral candidate in marine biology at the University of Miami's Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, who posted the photo on Twitter (but was not on the boat at the time the photo was taken). Several weeks ago, Shiffman's colleagues captured a tiger shark off the coast of Florida and brought the animal onto the semi-submerged platform behind their boat, with water still buoying the shark's body. "The shark's mouth was open enough to take that quick shot," Shiffman told LiveScience. Read More » Robots of the Future: Q&A With DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar The two-day DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials began Friday (Dec. 20) here at the Homestead Miami Speedway. Seventeen teams qualified for the contest, and the highest-scoring groups will move on to the DARPA Robotics Finals next year. As robots battled through each phase of the Trials, LiveScience sat down with DARPA director Arati Prabhakar to talk about the competition, the future of robotics, and how robots relate to national defense. LiveScience: What are DARPA's goals for the outcome of the Robotics Challenge? Read More » Private Mars Lander Launching in 2018 Will Build on NASA Legacy WASHINGTON — Mars One is gearing up to send an unmanned lander to the Red Planet that would follow in the mold of NASA's successful Mars landers. The Netherlands-based nonprofit has sealed a deal with security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin to develop a mission concept for its lander. This surface craft is slated to launch toward the Red Planet along with a communications satellite in 2018 — six years before Mars One aims to blast four people toward the Red Planet on a one-way colonization mission. Based on NASA's Phoenix lander, Mars One's lander will include new thin-film solar cells, a water extraction experiment, and other demonstration technologies that will be required for human settlement on Mars. Read More » Huge Asteroid Vesta Shines in Dazzling New Light (Images) The subdued, gray-hued photos of the enormous asteroid Vesta captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft last year have received an overhaul. "The key to these images is the seven color filters of the camera," Andreas Nathues, framing camera lead at Max Planck, said in a statement. Launched in 2007, the $466 million Dawn mission visited Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. Upon departing Vesta, the probe began its journey to another denizen of the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres. Read More » Greenland's Snow Hides 100 Billion Tons of Water Big surprises still hide beneath the frozen surface of snowy Greenland. "We thought we had an understanding of how things work in Greenland, but here is this entire storage system of water we didn't realize was there," said Richard Forster, lead study author and a glaciologist at the University of Utah. The discovery will help scientists better understand the fate of Greenland's annual surface melt, which contributes to sea level rise. Read More » What?! The 10 Weirdest Animal Stories of 2013 The past year had its share of bizarre animal discoveries, from butterflies that feast on the tears of turtles to a two-headed shark fetus. To put that in perspective: If the rock-climbing goby were human, the equivalent would be running a marathon vertically, against running water, Clemson University biomechanist Richard Blob told LiveScience. Read More »
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