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Thursday, March 5, 2015

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How an Ion Drive Helped NASA's Dawn Probe Visit Dwarf Planet Ceres

A NASA probe that takes four days to go from 0 to 60 mph is about to make space exploration history. NASA's Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, early Friday morning (March 6). If all goes according to plan, Dawn will become the first probe ever to orbit a dwarf planet, as well as the first to circle two celestial bodies beyond the Earth-moon system. The $473 million Dawn mission's unprecedented deep-space feats are enabled by its innovative ion propulsion system, which is about 10 times more efficient than traditional chemical thrusters.

Earliest Human Species Possibly Found in Ethiopia

An ancient jawbone fragment is the oldest human fossil discovered yet, a bone potentially from a new species that reveals the human family may have arose a half million years earlier than previously thought, researchers say. These extinct lineages were members of the genus Homo just as modern humans are. For decades, scientists have been searching Africa for signs of the earliest phases of the human family, during the shift from more apelike Australopithecus species to more human early Homo species. Until now, the earliest credible fossil evidence of the genus Homo was dated to about 2.3 million or 2.4 million years ago.

Sunken Japanese WWII Battleship Located in the Philippines

More than 70 years after it sank during World War II, the legendary Japanese battleship Musashi has been discovered off the coast of the Philippines. Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been leading an expedition to find the Musashi — one of the biggest battleships ever built — aboard his high-tech 414-foot-long (125 meters) yacht, the M/Y Octopus.

Cleaner Air Really Does Improve Kids' Lung Health

Tougher air pollution control strategies in California may have resulted in better lung health in children, a new study suggests. Researchers found that children in California experienced improved lung function as levels of air pollution in the state declined between 1994 and 2011. "We saw about a 10-percent improvement" in the amount that children's lung capacity grew over a four-year period, said study researcher Jim Gauderman, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

Mars on Earth: Mock Space Mission Examines Trials of Daily Life

NASA officials are hoping for this latter scenario when assigning crews to future Mars missions sometime in the future. NASA is examining the daily lives of the crew to see how they're coping in a harsh and isolated environment, and to improve the agency's plans for future long missions in space, according to the crew's chief scientist. "In part, this study is attempting to answer long-standing questions about the ideal crew composition for handling the challenges of a long-duration mission," Jocelyn Dunn told Space.com via e-mail. Dunn said it took the crew a month to get acclimatized to their new home, between learning the systems, figuring out the most efficient way to conduct NASA's studies, and making sure the habitat was organized.

Gemini Constellation Holds Starry Treats for March Stargazers

The constellation Gemini is currently well placed in the evening sky, just above and to the left of Orion for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. The Gemini constellation is marked by two of the brightest stars in the sky, Castor and Pollux.

Arctic Sea Ice 'Thinning Dramatically,' Study Finds

Arctic sea ice — the ice that freezes and floats on Arctic waters — is thinning at a steadier and faster rate than researchers previously thought, a new study finds. Using modern and historic measurements, the researchers got an extensive view of how the thickness of Arctic sea ice has changed over the past few decades. According to measurements from multiple sources, the ice in the central Arctic Ocean thinned 65 percent between 1975 and 2012, from 11.7 feet (3.59 meters) to 4.1 feet (1.25 m). The thinning is even steeper for September sea-ice levels, when sea ice is at its lowest after the summer melt.

What Would It Be Like to Live On Dwarf Planet Ceres in the Asteroid Belt?

The aptly named asteroid belt is a region of space between Mars and Jupiter that's home to the majority of the asteroids in the solar system. In recent years, asteroid belt objects have gained much attention as potential locations for future space mining operations that seek to harvest water for long-distance space missions (water can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel). One potential resource is Ceres — the largest object in the asteroid belt, comprising up to a third of the belt's mass. Once labeled an asteroid, Ceres is now classified as a "dwarf planet," a step below a full-fledged planet.

Vulcan Salute: Astronauts Honor Leonard Nimoy from Space (Photos)

Two astronauts in space said goodbye to a science fiction legend on Earth by beaming back striking photos from the International Space Station. European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti honored "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy — who died Friday (Feb. 6) due to end-stage lung disease — by posting a photo of herself wearing a Starfleet insignia, holding up the Vulcan salute and looking toward Earth on Twitter Saturday (Feb. 28). "'Of all the souls I have encountered.. his was the most human,'" Cristoforetti wrote on Twitter, quoting a line referencing Spock from the original "Star Trek" series. Cristoforetti's fellow space station crewmember, NASA astronaut Terry Virts, also posted a photo tribute to Nimoy.

Crowdfunding psychedelics: LSD brain-imaging study seeks funds

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists are turning to crowdfunding to complete the first scientific study ever to image the brain of someone "tripping" on the psychedelic drug LSD. The study, part of a psychedelic research project the scientists say could revolutionize understanding of the human brain, is led by neuroscientists at Imperial College London who now need around 25,000 pounds ($38,000) to finish their work. When they do, the research will produce the world's first images of the human brain on LSD and will begin to reveal the way the drug can work to heal many debilitating illnesses such as alcohol addiction, depression and anxiety, the scientists told a briefing in London. "Despite the incredible potential of this drug to further out understanding of the brain, political stigma has silenced research," said David Nutt, a psychiatrist and professor of psychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

Wow! Watch a Drone Fly Through the World's Largest Atom Smasher

It's safe to say the world's largest atom smasher is big. A new video shot by a drone flying over and through the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) provides unique views of the immense particle detector, which is located underground near Geneva in Switzerland. The LHC's ring is 16 miles (27 kilometers) long. The LHC's largest magnets weigh 35 tons and are about 50 feet (15 meters) long.

Bioterrorism Prep: Docs Must Look Out for Rare Diseases

Doctors have better treatments for potential victims of bioterrorism attacks today than in the past, but it's critical for medical workers to quickly recognize illnesses such as anthrax and botulism, so they can respond properly, experts say. It has now been more than a decade since the anthrax attack that killed five people and sickened 17 in New York and Washington, D.C., and many physicians may have forgotten how to diagnose and treat illnesses related to a biological attack, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and a senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Health Security. "I think there's been an erosion of [doctors'] knowledge base" since that 2001 attack, in which victims received letters laced with anthrax spores, Adalja said. For this reason, Adalja and his colleagues have now outlined how to identify and treat five diseases that experts say have the most potential to be used as biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism and tularemia.

Step It Up! The States Where People Walk Most

And despite what may seem like a desire to hunker down and drink hot cocoa when the snow is falling, most people keep their activity levels fairly constant across both seasons, with just a slight dip in activity during winter, the data showed. "With walking as a primary form of transportation for many of its residents, the Empire State rules all for step-count staying power," the company said on its website. While some popular guidelines suggest people should walk at least 10,000 steps a day, that's not the official recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People in the Empire State logged the most steps all year round, walking an average of about 8,800 steps daily in the summer and 7,700 steps daily in the winter, when temperatures average just 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 4 degrees C).

Uranus, Venus and Mars! See Planets in the March Night Sky

Meanwhile, Mars appears below Venus early in the month, but looks only a fraction as bright. Jupiter is not quite as dazzling as Venus, but remains in the sky for practically the entire night and is a wonderful sight to behold through a telescope. Uranus — If you never laid eyes on the planet Uranus, you're going to have to excellent chances this month thanks to its close proximity to two much brighter planets. Mars — On March 11, Uranus will pass by Mars about one week after it moves by Venus in the night sky.

7 Strange Facts About Dwarf Planet Ceres

On Friday morning (March 6), NASA's Dawn spacecraft will arrive at Ceres, becoming the first probe ever to orbit a dwarf planet. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the closest dwarf planet to Earth. Dawn is expected to provide a wealth of information about Ceres' evolution and composition. While Dawn's work will be the first in-depth examination of Ceres, astronomers have learned a bit about the dwarf planet already using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Europe's Herschel Space Observatory and other instruments.

Praying mantis looks long before it leaps

Slowed-down video footage of a series of praying mantises leaping towards a target has demonstrated the extraordinary precision of the insect while jumping. British scientists Malcolm Burrows and Gregory Sutton studied the insect's jump, which from take-off to landing lasts less than a tenth of a second - faster than the blink of a human eye.

Star Wars-inspired prototype creates holographic display

A new 3D technology aims to give mobile devices the power to display holographic images and video. Partly inspired by a scene from Star Wars where a holographic image of Princess Leia pleads for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi, the appropriately named 'Leia' recently demonstrated a prototype of its display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Leia CEO David Fattal says their technology is a first for mobile displays: "It's a display that is able to project 64 different images, going in different directions of space. His work with optical interconnects, which let computers exchange information encoded in light, led him to realize the same principle could be used to display holographic images.

Fresh coat: scientists develop tough new self-cleaning paint

British and Chinese scientists say they have developed a new paint that can be applied to clothes, paper, glass and steel to make resilient surfaces that can self-clean even after being scratched or scuffed. In research published in the journal Science on Thursday, the scientists said the paint, made from coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles, is extremely repellent to water but, unlike other waterproof coatings, continues to work even when damaged or exposed to oil. "The biggest challenge for self-cleaning surfaces is finding a way to make them tough enough to withstand everyday damage," said Claire Carmalt, a professor of inorganic chemistry at University College London, who co-led the research.

Wet Mars: Red Planet Lost Ocean's Worth of Water, New Maps Reveal

New maps of water in the atmosphere of Mars reveal that the Red Planet might once have had enough to cover up to a fifth of the planet, researchers say. Further research to refine these maps could help guide the quest to identify underground reservoirs on Mars, the scientists added. Although the Martian surface is now cold and dry, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that rivers, lakes and seas covered the Red Planet billions of years ago. Since there is life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, some researchers have suggested that life might have evolved on Mars when it was wet, and life could be there even now, hidden in subterranean aquifers.

Fastest Star in the Galaxy Has a Strange Origin

Its speed will allow it to escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy, and eventually make its way into intergalactic space. Most other stars moving fast enough to get out of the galaxy are thought to be ejected by the monster black hole at the galactic center, the researchers say. But there is a class of so-called hypervelocity stars, or HVSs, that are moving with speeds high enough to escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy. Thus far, the fastest of these hypervelocity stars have been clocked at about 2 million miles per hour.

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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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U.S. ends program flagging 'sensitive' patent requests

A little known but controversial program that flagged sensitive patent applications involving potentially touchy subjects such as AIDS vaccines and abortion devices has been scrapped by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The program, called the Sensitive Application Warning System, began in 1994 and was meant to notify the agency's leadership of applications that could generate extensive or unfavorable publicity. "Upon careful consideration, the USPTO has concluded that the SAWS program has only been marginally utilized and provides minimal benefit," the agency said in a notice posted to its website on Monday night. The agency's review of the program, conducted in January, came after attorneys Kate Gaudry and Thomas Franklin at law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton revealed details of the program in December from documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Cyborg Roaches Could Be Used to Find Disaster Survivors

Fleets of cyborg cockroaches could someday roam into damaged nuclear power plants or collapsed mines to carry out reconnaissance or locate survivors. A team of researchers implanted live cockroaches with electrodes that stimulate the nerves in the insects' antennae, enabling the scientists to steer the creatures around like remote-controlled toys. While people may normally think of cockroaches as pests that live on human waste, these insects are better than any small-scale robots that exist today, said Hong Liang, a materials scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station, and co-author of the study published online today (March 4) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

UK scientists work out weight of Sophie the Stegosaurus

LONDON (AP) — Scientists at a British museum have worked out the weight of Sophie, one of the world's most complete Stegosaurus skeletons.

Penguins Rapidly Conquered New Zealand After Humans Ate Rivals

Bones left behind by a penguin that was eaten to extinction reveal that a remarkably fast turnover in species occurred after Polynesian seafarers wiped out New Zealand's weird wildlife, a new study reports. Archaeological evidence has already confirmed the first humans to arrive in New Zealand treated the islands like a giant buffet. The first Pacific Islanders arrived in the late 13th century, and within 200 years, about 40 percent of the islands' bird species had vanished, studies show. Rats traveling with the settlers drove the extinction of smaller bird species, while human hunters vanquished the megafauna, including the nine species of large, flightless moa.

Image Captures Light's Spooky Dual Nature for 1st Time

This strange behavior is a consequence of quantum mechanics, bizarre rules of physics that govern the behavior of subatomic particles. "This experiment demonstrates that, for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics — and its paradoxical nature — directly," study co-author Fabrizio Carbone, a researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, said in a statement.

'Nightmare Bacteria' Require Old and New Weapons

"Superbug" bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics have the potential to create a nightmare scenario for modern medicine, but experts are hopeful that doctors will be able to slow the spread of these scary infections, by both traditional means and new innovations. Recently, a Los Angeles hospital announced that more than 100 patients treated there had potentially been exposed to CRE, or carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics. The bacteria appear to have contaminated a piece of medical equipment used at the facility called an endoscope, which is a flexible tube that doctors use to view the digestive tract. Endoscopies are generally considered to be low-risk procedures, but two of the patients died from their infections, the hospital said.

In a Zombie Outbreak, Head for the Rocky Mountains

In the event of a zombie outbreak, the best way to avoid getting infected is to stay away from populated areas, according to a new study. To figure out the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse, a team of researchers modeled what would happen if an epidemic of the undead were to hit the United States. "We did a full U.S.-scale simulation of 307 million individuals and thousands of outbreaks, to see who ended up infected and who did not," said Alex Alemi, a graduate student in theoretical physics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Heroin Overdose Deaths Nearly Quadruple in 13 Years

In 2000, the group with the highest rate of heroin overdose deaths was black adults ages 45 to 64, with a rate of 2 deaths per 100,000 yearly. In contrast, in 2013, the group with the highest death rate was white adults ages 18 to 44, with a rate of 7 deaths per 100,000, according to the report. Heroin overdose deaths were more common among men than women. Doctors don't know for certain the reasons why heroin deaths are increasing, but it's thought that the increase in prescription pain medication use and abuse has been a contributing factor, said Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York, who was not involved with the report.

Kids Get Flu Every 2 Years, Adults Twice a Decade

Children get the flu more often than adults do, a new study finds. "There's a lot of debate in the field as to how often people get flu, as opposed to flu-like illness caused by something else," said Adam Kucharski, the study's lead researcher and a fellow at the London School of Hygiene &Tropical Disease in the United Kingdom. When people get sick with the flu, their immune systems produce antibodies that target proteins on the virus surface, and after a person recovers, "the infection will show up when a blood sample is subsequently tested," Kucharski said. In other words, the blood retains a memory of the flu strains that have infected a person in the past.

Israel uses military expertise to join commercial space race

By Ari Rabinovitch HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - Israel is embarking on a five-year mission to stake its claim on a crowded new frontier, the $250 billion a year commercial space market. Using the expertise of a defense industry that created technology such as the "Iron Dome" missile interceptor, Israel plans to move beyond its current focus on spy and military communications satellites into producing civilian devices, some small enough to fit in your hand. "The idea was that we have a well-developed space infrastructure for our defense needs, and without a big financial investment, we can use it to grab a few percentage points of the commercial market as well," said Issac Ben-Israel, chairman of the Israel Space Agency. Ben-Israel hopes the country will capture at least a three percent market share, but it faces competition from global technology giants looking for new markets and industries.

Jaws Not Brains Define Early Human Species

The extinct human species long thought of as the earliest known member of the human family may be at least a half million years older than previously thought, according to state-of-the-art computer models of the species. These extinct species, like modern humans, were members of the genus Homo. The species long thought of as the earliest known member of that genus was Homo habilis, or "handy man," which paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey and his colleagues discovered in 1964. Thekey Homo habilis fossil is known as Olduvai Hominid 7, or OH 7 for short, which consists of a lower jaw, parts of a braincase and hand bones of a single individual.

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