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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

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Calculated Risks: How Radiation Rules Manned Mars Exploration

Nearly everything we know about the radiation exposure on a trip to Mars we have learned in the past 200 days. Once on the Martian surface, cosmic radiation coming from the far side of the planet is blocked.

New Species of Mammal Is a Sex Fiend

The creature's discoverers caught the little lothario in Australia's Springbrook National Park with traps baited with peanut butter and oats. They've dubbed it the black-tailed antechinus. Mammalogist Andrew Baker of the Queensland University of Technology had previously found two new species of the genus Antechinus in southeastern Queensland. The researchers first saw the black-tailed antechinus in May 2013.

'Microbial Pompeii' Found on Teeth of 1,000-Year-Old Skeletons

A "microbial Pompeii" has been found on the teeth of 1,000-year-old human skeletons. Just as volcanic ash entombed the citizens of the ancient Roman city, dental plaque preserved bacteria and food particles on the skeletons' teeth. Researchers analyzed dental plaque from skeletons in a medieval cemetery in Germany, and found that the mouths of these aged humans were home to many of the same bacterial invaders that cause gum disease in the mouths of modern humans. "One thing that is clear about the population we studied is that they didn't brush their teeth very often, if at all," said study leader Christina Warinner, an anthropologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Accepting a Job

Many job seekers are inclined to jump at the first job offer that comes their way. Heather Huhman, a career and workplace expert for the online career site Glassdoor, said that while those who have experienced a long-term job search probably feel as though they should take what they can get, there are other options. "When you encounter offers you don't completely love, you must ask yourself if you will accept the job offer, attempt to negotiate or wait for a better opportunity to come along," Huhman wrote in a recent blog post.

Unemployed? 5 Ways to Keep Your Job Search Alive

Some job seekers have been told that being unemployed will land their application in the trash. While a significant gap in your résumé may raise some questions from potential employers, it doesn't always mean an automatic "no." "Most companies today want to hire people with the right skills and right cultural fit, regardless of their current employment situation," said Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group staffing company. "It's important to keep busy, both for your own sanity and to be able to explain [to hiring managers] that you are keeping active," said Jane Trnka, executive director of the Career Development Center at Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business.

Rivers of Hydrogen Gas May Fuel Spiral Galaxies

Inpouring rivers of hydrogen gas could explain how spiral galaxies maintain the constant star formation that dominates their hearts, a new study reports. Using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, scientists observed a tenuous filament of gas streaming into the galaxy NGC 6946, known as the "Fireworks Galaxy" because of the large number of supernovae observed within it. "We knew that the fuel for star formation had to come from somewhere," study lead author D.J. Pisano, of West Virginia University, said in a statement. Located 22 million light-years from Earth on the border of the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus, NGC 6946 is a medium-sized spiral galaxy pointed face-on toward the Milky Way.

Mystery Solved: How Huge Young Stars Hang On to Gas

After decades of wondering why young massive stars don't blow away the gas surrounding them, astronomers have finally found a process that explains how these stellar youngsters hang on to their gassy envelopes. Using models, astronomers then supposed that the gas falls unevenly on the star, creating the filaments.

Elusive Top Quark Particle Created In Lab

Scientists have found traces of an ultra-rare process to form top quarks, the particles that make up protons and neutrons. And that process seems to operate just as predicted by the Standard Model, the long-standing, yet incomplete, model that describes the subatomic particles that make up the universe. Though the new results don't rule out other physics theories to explain the existence of dark matter and energy, they do suggest scientists have to look elsewhere for any hint of as-yet unknown physics. In 1995, scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., discovered the top quark, the heaviest subatomic particle known.

Cancer Risk in Fukushima Area Estimated

For people living in areas neighboring the Fukushima nuclear power plants, the worst of the radiation exposure may have passed. New research suggests that any increase in cancer risk due to radiation exposure after 2012 is likely to be so small that it is not detectable. Researchers found that people living in three areas located about 12 to 30 miles (20 to 50 kilometers) from the power plant received a radiation dose of between 0.89 and 2.51 millisieverts from their food, soil and air in 2012, one year after the explosions at the nuclear facility caused by a tsunami. This dose was similar to the 2.09 millisieverts of radiation per year that people in Japan are exposed to on average from natural sources.

Death of Spouse Increases Risk for Heart Attack, Stroke

Widows and widowers are at increased risk for heart attack or stroke in the month following their spouse's death, a new study from the United Kingdom suggests. And after more than three months, people who had lost their partner were just as likely as people who had not lost their partner to have a heart attack or stroke. The study results support previous research suggesting that major life events, including the death of a spouse, can lead to a temporary increase in the risk for heart problems, the researchers said. Fifty participants in the first group, or 0.16 percent, experienced a heart attack or stroke within 30 days of their partner's death, compared with just 0.08 percent of those whose partners were still alive during this time period.

Vegetarian Diets Lower Blood Pressure Best

Scientists are reporting results today that might boil the blood of some people on the Atkin's and other low-carb diets: Vegetarian diets rank as superior in reducing the risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and subsequent heart damage, the study found. The research, by scientists in Japan and the United States, was a meta-analysis of 39 high-quality, previously conducted hypertension studies from 18 countries, with a total of more than 21,000 participants. Hypertension is a leading risk factor for stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and shortened life expectancy. Vegetarian diets were associated, on average, with a 6.9-point drop in systolic blood pressure and a 4.7-point drop in diastolic pressure.

People Who Believe Hell Are Less Happy

Fire, brimstone, eternal suffering — hell is not a pleasant concept. But research has pointed to the societal benefits of a belief in supernatural punishment, including higher economic growth in developing countries and less crime.

Sun Unleashes Monster Solar Flare, Biggest of 2014

The sun fired off a major solar flare late Tuesday (Feb. 24), making it the most powerful sun eruption of the year so far and one of the strongest in recent years. The massive X4.9-class solar flare erupted from an active sunspot, called AR1990, at 7:49 p.m. EST (0049 Feb. 25 GMT). NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured high-definition video of the monster solar flare. The spaceecraft recording amazing views the solar flare erupting with a giant burst of plasma, called a coronal mass ejection, or CME.

Mysterious Egyptian Spiral Seen on Google Maps

But what people are actually seeing in the desolate reaches of the Egyptian desert, just a short distance from the shores of the Red Sea, is in fact an environmental art installation. Danae Stratou, Alexandra Stratou and Stella Constantinides worked as a team to design and build the enormous 1 million square foot (100,000 square meters) piece of artwork — called Desert Breath — to celebrate "the desert as a state of mind, a landscape of the mind," as stated on the artists' website. Constructed as two interlocking spirals — one with vertical cones, the other with conical depressions in the desert floor — Desert Breath was originally designed with a small lake at its center, but recent images on Google Maps show that the lake has emptied. The art piece joins other mysterious images and environmental artworks that fascinate viewers on Google Earth, Google Maps and other online platforms.

Fukushima's Radioactive Ocean Water Arrives At West Coast

Radiation from Japan's leaking Fukushima nuclear power plant has reached waters offshore Canada, researchers said today at the annual American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu. Two radioactive cesium isotopes, cesium-134 and cesium-137, have been detected offshore of Vancouver, British Columbia, researchers said at a news conference. The detected concentrations are much lower than the Canadian safety limit for cesium levels in drinking water, said John Smith, a research scientist at Canada's Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Tests conducted at U.S. beaches indicate that Fukushima radioactivity has not yet reached Washington, California or Hawaii, said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass.

Huge Landslide Photographed in Alaska

A commercial pilot has captured images of a massive, snow-strewn landslide that cascaded down a slope in remote southeastern Alaska last week, providing the first on-the-ground evidence of what geologists think might be the largest natural landslide since 2010. Columbia University geologists detected the reverberations of what they thought was a landslide on Sunday, Feb. 16, from remote seismic instruments, but had not received on-the-ground confirmation until pilot Drake Olson decided to go searching for the evidence on Friday (Feb. 21). "It stands out like a sore thumb," Olson told Live Science. The scientists estimate that the slump contains roughly 68 million metric tons of rock, which is equivalent to roughly 40 million SUVs, geologist Colin Stark, a researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told Live Science last week.

Geoengineering Ineffective Against Climate Change, Could Make Worse

Current schemes to minimize the havoc caused by global warming by purposefully manipulating Earth's climate are likely to either be relatively useless or actually make things worse, researchers say in a new study. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat, so as levels of the gas rise, the planet overall warms. In addition to efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, some have suggested artificially manipulating the world's climate in a last-ditch effort to prevent catastrophic climate change. These strategies, considered radical in some circles, are known as geoengineering or climate engineering.

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy Linked to Child's ADHD Risk

Children of women who use the painkiller acetaminophen during pregnancy may be at higher risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new Danish study. Acetaminophen, also called paracetamol or the brand name Tylenol, is the most commonly used drug during pregnancy. For pregnant women suffering from common aches or fevers, doctors often recommend acetaminophen as a safer alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen. Using the country's national medical database, researchers followed the children to see how many were diagnosed with ADHD, including a severe form of ADHD called hyperkinetic disorder.

Museum of Sci-Fi Joins Forces with Science Channel

The planned Museum of Science Fiction will be partnering with the Science Channel to provide sponsorship and content for the new venture, the museum announced today (Feb. 25). The Science Channel will be the museum's exclusive media sponsor, providing video content and promotional support for exhibits, having a physical presence in the museum and collaborating on joint events in Washington, D.C., where the museum will be located. "We are delighted by the prospect of working with the Science Channel to help the Museum of Science Fiction fuel a cycle of imagination to reality, and to continue driving interest in our plan to create a new attraction for the Washington area," Greg Viggiano, executive director for the Museum of Science Fiction, said in a statement. The Science Channel's leaders are equally excited about the partnership.

What Is Vasculitis?

After suffering from vasculitis for years, actor and director Harold Ramis died of the disease yesterday (Feb. 24) at his Chicago-area home. The term vasculitis describes a group of diseases that cause inflammation of the blood vessels. Vasculitis often targets certain parts of the body such as the lungs, kidneys or skin, according to the American College of Rheumatology. There are several types of vasculitis.

Moon punched in the face by a meteorite

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A meteorite as large as 4-1/2 feet in diameter smashed into the moon in September, producing the brightest flash of light ever seen from Earth, astronomers said this week. Similarly sized objects pummel Earth daily, though most are destroyed as they plunge through the planet's atmosphere. NASA says about 100 tons of material from space enter Earth's atmosphere every day. The moon, with no protective atmosphere, is fair game for celestial pot-shots.

SpaceX Adds Landing Legs to Falcon 9 Rocket for Next Launch, Elon Musk Says (Photo)

The private spaceflight company SpaceX is strapping landing gear onto the rocket that will launch the company's unmanned Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station next month. Putting landing legs on the Falcon 9 rocket, which is slated to blast off on March 16, marks another step in SpaceX's quest to develop a fully reusable launch system. But current plans don't call for the Falcon 9 to actually touch down on the legs after next month's liftoff, said SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. "Mounting landing legs (~60 ft span) to Falcon 9 for next month's Space Station servicing flight," Musk said Sunday (Feb. 23) via Twitter, where he posted a photo of the rocket.

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Monday, February 24, 2014

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Global warming won't cut winter deaths as hoped - UK study

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming will fail to reduce high winter death rates as some officials have predicted because there will be more harmful weather extremes even as it gets less cold, a British study showed on Sunday. A draft U.N. report due for publication next month says that, overall, climate change will harm human health, but adds: "Positive effects will include modest improvements in cold-related mortality and morbidity in some areas due to fewer cold extremes, shifts in food production and reduced capacity of disease-carrying vectors." However a report in the journal Nature Climate Change on the situation in England and Wales said climate warming would likely not decrease winter mortality in those places. Lead author Philip Staddon of the University of Exeter told Reuters that the findings were likely to apply to other developed countries in temperate regions that risk more extreme weather as temperatures rise. Excess winter deaths (EWDs), the number of people who die in winter compared to other times of the year, roughly halved to 31,000 in England and Wales in 2012-12 from 60,000 typical in the 1950s, official data show.

Rock around the clock: zircon crystal is oldest piece of Earth

Scientists using two different age-determining techniques have shown that a tiny zircon crystal found on a sheep ranch in western Australia is the oldest known piece of our planet, dating to 4.4 billion years ago. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience on Sunday, the researchers said the discovery indicates that Earth's crust formed relatively soon after the planet formed and that the little gem was a remnant of it. John Valley, a University of Wisconsin geoscience professor who led the research, said the findings suggest that the early Earth was not as harsh a place as many scientists have thought. But because some scientists hypothesized that this technique might give a false date due to possible movement of lead atoms within the crystal over time, the researchers turned to a second sophisticated method to verify the finding.

5 California Children Infected by Polio-Like Illness

Over a one-year period, five children in California developed a polio-like illness that caused severe weakness or paralysis in their arms and legs, a new case study reports. In two of the children, their symptoms have now been linked with an extremely rare virus called enterovirus-68. Like the poliovirus, which has been eradicated in the U.S. since 1979 thanks to the polio vaccine, strains of enterovirus in rare cases can invade and injure the spine. These are the first reported cases of polio-like symptoms being caused by enterovirus in the United States.

Spaceport Sweden Launches Aerial Northern Lights Tours, Aims for Space (Video)

When thinking of space travel, Florida and Texas probably come to mind, but what a company in Sweden wants to help you fly to space. Spaceport Sweden one day hopes to offer flights launching from Kiruna, Sweden into suborbital space aboard space planes owned by Virgin Galactic, XCOR and other commercial spaceflight companies. "Spaceport Sweden clearly has proven it has the potential to be a world-class, space-oriented attraction, drawing 145,000 annual visitors," Spaceport Sweden's CEO Karin Nilsdotter, said in a statement. "The uniqueness of the facility and location, the authenticity of our space attractions, and the ability to be the tourism hub for Kiruna will enable Spaceport Sweden to become a top tourist destination in Swedish Lapland."

Alien Planet-Hunting Project 1640 Snaps Photos of Faraway Worlds

Project 1640 is designed to probe the atmospheres of exoplanets to create new, low-resolution images of the planets and their stars. Scientists working with Project 1640 — an imaging system at the Palomar Observatory in California — are using the specialized system to survey about 200 stars looking for a range of planets and other objects, project scientist Ben Oppenheimer said here at the American Museum of Natural History event on Feb. 5. According to AMNH officials, Project 1640 is "the most advanced and highest contrast imaging system in the world." [See photos of a star and four planets found by Project 1640] "The planets of our own solar system, of course, are planets in and of themselves and in order to understand them — and indeed this planet — I think we need to study other planets," Oppenheimer said.

How Our Milky Way Galaxy Got Its Spiral Arms

The shape of the Milky Way galaxy, our solar system's home, may look a bit like a snail, but spiral galaxies haven't always had this structure, scientists say. In a recent report, a team of researchers said they now know when and how the majestic swirls of spiral galaxies emerged in the unicerse. But in the early universe, spiral galaxies didn't exist. A husband and wife team of astronomers, Debra Meloy Elmegreen at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Bruce Elmegreen at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., analyzed an image from the Hubble Space Telescope known as the Ultra Deep Field.

900 Lives Saved Yearly by Keeping the Drinking Age at 21

Laws that maintain the legal drinking age at 21 save lives on the road, and protect young people from other hazards of drinking, according to a new review of studies. Researchers also found that current drinking restrictions have not resulted in more binge drinking among teens, as some have suggested. "Recent research ...has reinforced the position that the current law has served the nation well by reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes and alcohol consumption among youths," the researchers wrote in their study published today (Feb. 24) in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. "The evidence is clear that there would be consequences if we lowered the legal drinking age," said study researcher William DeJong of Boston University School of Public Health. [7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health]

Pediatricians Update Guidelines for Kids' Checkups

New guidelines released today by a leading U.S. pediatricians group recommend for the first time that healthy teens be screened for depression at their checkups, and that routine cholesterol testing begins in children at younger ages. The American Academy of Pediatrics also has other changes in store for infants, children and teens during their regular doctor's visits, including HIV testing in teenagers, and evaluating toddlers' nutrition status for iron-deficiency anemia. Last revised in 2007, the updated pediatric schedule released today (Feb. 23) includes several changes and new additions to the recommended screenings and health assessments done between infancy and adolescence. The schedule is meant as a guide for pediatricians to providing children with age-appropriate preventive care at their regular checkups.

Urgent! Lemur Crisis Prompts Conservationist Call-to-Action

Lemurs have captured the public imagination in movies such as "Madagascar," but now these adorable primates are on the brink of extinction, conservationists say. Nineteen lemur conservationists and researchers published a call-for-action to save Madagascar's 101 lemur species from the threats of deforestation and poaching stemming from the country's political woes. "Since the 2009 political crisis, the situation on the ground has been grim for the Malagasy people, but also for the lemurs, especially in terms of habitat loss. If things don't turn around, lemur extinctions will start happening," Mitch Irwin, an anthropologist at Northern Illinois University said in a statement.

200-Year-Old Douche Found Under New York's City Hall

While sifting through a 19th-century trash heap buried below Manhattan's City Hall Park, archaeologists found a dirt-caked tube that was finely carved out of bone and had a perforated, threaded screw cap. The feminine hygiene device seems to have been tossed out with the refuse of a pretty good party around the time City Hall was being built 200 years ago. "We think the trash deposit feature was from a single event, possibly a celebratory event," said Alyssa Loorya, who heads the Brooklyn-based Chrysalis Archaeological Consultants. The garbage pile was uncovered during excavations in 2010 as part of a project to rehabilitate City Hall, Loorya told Live Science.

Some Asthma Patients May Be Overmedicated, Doctors Say

People with mild asthma are advised to lower their medication dose once their asthma has been brought under control, but the best way to reduce the dose is not fully known, doctors say. "We need to find a way to help patients control their asthma, without overmedicating them," said Dr. John Mastronarde, director of the Asthma Center at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. To control asthma, patients typically take drugs called inhaled corticosteroids, to reduce inflammation in the lungs, and long-acting beta agonists (LABAs), to open the airways. Doctors adjust the medication dose based on the patient's symptoms and lung function.

Switching Schools Linked with Mental Health Problems in Kids

In the study, children who switched schools more than three times were 60 percent more likely to have such symptoms at age 12, compared with kids who made fewer school moves up to this age. The study showed an association, and doesn't prove a cause-and-effect relationship between frequent school shifts and mental health problems. Still, it's possible that constantly being the new kid makes children feel vulnerable and socially defeated, excluded or marginalized, said study co-author Dr. Swaran Singh, a mental health researcher at the Warwick Medical School in England. Studies have also found that children who move from rural to urban settings have a higher risk of hallucinations, delusions and other fleeting psychotic thoughts, Singh told Live Science.

Pharmacy Clinics Aren't for Kids, Docs Say

The statement, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, says that retail-based clinics are not an appropriate source of primary care for children because they break up a patient's medical care, and prevent patients from having an ongoing relationship with a single doctor who helps coordinate their care. However, he said that retail-based clinics do have a place in our society.

Record-Breaking Meteorite Crash on Moon Sparks Brightest Lunar Explosion Ever

"At that moment I realized that I had seen a very rare and extraordinary event," Jose Madiedo, a professor at the University of Huelva, said in a statement. The space rock hit at a staggering speed of 37,900 mph (61,000 km/h), gouging out a new crater roughly 131 feet (40 meters) wide in an ancient lava-filled lunar basin known as Mare Nubium, Madiedo and colleagues said. If a space rock this size hit the Earth, it might create some spectacular fireball meteors, but it likely would not pose a threat to people on the ground, researchers explained. During that crash, a space rock hit at an estimated 56,000 mph (90,000 km/h), carving a new crater 65 feet (20 meters) wide.

Extreme Abuse of Calves Leads to Immediate Shuttering of N.J. Slaughterhouse (Op-Ed)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responded quickly to shut down a New Jersey slaughterhouse plant after The HSUS asked for enforcement action and provided the federal agency with footage of our latest undercover investigation into abuses and the continuing mistreatment of downer calves — in this case, at the Catelli Bros. slaughter plant in suburban Monmouth County, N.J., Following the USDA's action, The HSUS publicly released its materials. The plant manager warned workers not to take some of these actions when the USDA inspector was around — an indirect admission that he knew that workers were breaking the law on animal handling. You may recall the 2009 HSUS investigation of Bushway — a calf slaughter plant in Grand Isle, Vt., where we found calves too weak to walk being kicked, shocked, thrown and dragged to slaughter. That case prompted The HSUS to file a petition with the USDA asking that the agency close a loophole in the regulations that allowed these downed calves to be set aside to see if they could recover enough to walk onto the kill floor.

Helpful Meds Can Become Harmful As You Grow Older (Op-Ed)

Bob Rosenblatt is a researcher, writer and journalist who writes about the intersection of finances and aging. Too many patients and too many of the doctors who first wrote the prescriptions may not realize something that was a great help in coping with anxiety and depression threatens to do great harm at a different stage in life. The category of drugs to watch out for is called benzodiazepines. Medicare Part D is covering these medications for the first time in 2013, and this calls for alertness by both patients and doctors. The following drugs are the benzodiazepines, with generic name first, then brand name in parentheses:

Why a Recent Mammography Study is Deeply Flawed (Op-Ed)

Dr. Mitva Patel is a breast radiologist at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Medical societies and breast cancer specialists across the nation agree: the data is flawed and misleading. About 80 percent of the time mammography detects breast cancer, and the cancers that are found through mammography alone are typically small (averaging 1.0 to 1.5 centimeters). The average size of a breast cancer detected on physical examination is 2.0 to 2.5 cm.

As Prisoners Learn of Animals' Compassion, They Connect (Op-Ed)

Marc Bekoff, emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists, a Guggenheim Fellow, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. For 14 years, I've been teaching animal behavior and conservation biology at the Boulder, Colo., county jail as part of the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots Program. The course is one of the most popular in the jail — students have to earn the right to enroll, and they work hard to get in it. While there's student turnover, my fellow teachers and I are all pleasantly surprised at how science connects the inmates to various aspects of nature, and that many find it easier to connect with animals than with people.

Painful, Days-Long Erections Also Happen in Women

The condition, in which the erect penis or engorged clitoris does not return to its normal state, is called priapism, and is much more common in men than in women. These drugs block a type of receptor called alpha-adrenergic receptors.

Winter Comes Back: Return of the Polar Vortex?

Another bout of painfully cold Arctic air is on its way to the northern United States, reviving talk of what has become popularly known as the "polar vortex." By Thursday, temperatures will have dropped to as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius) below the average temperature for this time of the year, meteorologists say, with highs dipping down into the teens in New York City and into the single digits in Chicago. Average temperatures for this time of year in those regions are generally closer to 45 and 40 F (7.2 and 4.4 C), respectively, said Bernie Rayno, a meteorologist with Accuweather. While it's not necessarily inaccurate to refer to the event as the "polar vortex," Rayno said, the increased hype around this phrase since January's deep chill has warped people's perceptions of what is actually a fairly common weather phenomenon.

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