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Monday, March 16, 2015

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Horse dung has scientists on scent of antibiotic success

Chemists around the world are involved in a race against time to find a solution to the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. It's a major threat to the health of the global population, which had long assumed that antibiotics would always be available to cure bacterial illness. The scientific community hopes to be able to develop a new range of antibiotics to replace those that are increasingly losing their ability to work against infections like Tuberculosis (TB). A research team led by Markus Aebi, Professor of Mycology at ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich), believe they may have found the answer.

When Will Virtual-Reality Headsets Stop Making People Sick?

From the Oculus Rift headsets to the new HTC Vive, virtual-reality devices will soon be flooding the gaming market. Companies have long known that virtual-reality headsets, 3D movies and related types of technology can cause "cybersickness," which has symptoms similar to motion sickness. In the real world, a person processes input from multiple senses that are all in perfect agreement, said Mayank Mehta, a neuroscientist at UCLA who studies how VR affects the brains of rats. Perhaps the best-known virtual-reality product on the horizon is the Oculus Rift headset, made by Facebook-owned Oculus VR, a company based in Irvine, California.

Superconductors Could Help Physicists Find 'Gravity Particles'

It may be possible to draw energy from a vacuum using gravity, a theoretical physicist says. "The most exciting thing about these results is that they can be tested with current technology," study author James Quach, a theoretical physicist at the University of Tokyo, told Live Science. Showing that gravitons exist would help scientists who have long sought to develop a "theory of everything" that can describe the workings of the cosmos in its entirety. Whereas quantum mechanics can explain the behavior of all the known particles, general relativity describes the nature of space-time and gravity.

Ancient Receipt Proves Egyptian Taxes Were Worse Than Yours

But just how much was 90 talents worth in ancient Egypt? Instead people made up the sum using coins that were worth varying amounts of drachma. It "would have taken 150 of these coins to make a talent, and 13,500 of them to equal 90 talents," Lorber told Live Science in an email. What likely happened is that one or more tax farmers (people charged with collecting certain types of taxes) got 90 talents' worth of coins from the individuals paying this tax, the researchers said.

Coral Pyramids in Micronesia Date Back to Middle Ages

The royal tombs are tucked away in an artificially built ancient city called Leluh just off the mainland of Kosrae, a Micronesian island. Leluh was home to Kosraean high chiefs (as well as some lower chiefs and commoners, too) from about 1250 until the mid-1800s, when foreign whalers, traders and missionaries started to arrive on the island. With impressive canals and walled compounds built from basalt, Leluh is often considered a companion city to the more famous Micronesian settlement of Nan Madol, on the nearby island of Pohnpei. While the tiny islets of Nan Madol were built on top of a coral reef, at Leluh, coral was actually incorporated into the construction material of many buildings, including the royal tombs.

Forged in a Flash: Volcanic Lightning Forms Glass Balls

Inside towering clouds of volcanic ash, stunning lightning storms can create tiny crystal balls, a new study reports. Researchers recently discovered smooth glass spheres in ash from explosive volcanic eruptions. Kimberly Genareau, a volcanologist at the University of Alabama, first spotted the orbs while scanning ash from Alaska's 2009 Mount Redoubt eruption with a powerful microscope. Both volcanoes blasted out billowing ash clouds that triggered spectacular displays of volcanic lightning.

Will the Apple Watch Catch On?

Apple's newest product — the souped-up timepiece called the Apple Watch — is bound to become a cultural phenomenon that millions of people will buy, according to marketing experts not affiliated with the company. "It's got the Apple name and mystique behind it," said Scott Thorne, a marketing professor at Southeast Missouri State University in Jefferson City. "I'm not sure if it will be quite the game-changer that, say, the iPhone was, because it's really hard to capture the proverbial lightning in the bottle twice," Thorne told Live Science. Samsung, LG, Pebble, Asus and other manufacturers already produce smartwatches, most of which cost far less than even the lowest-priced Apple Watch, and these other devices have failed to catch on.

Chilean Volcano Coated in Ash After Eruption, New Images Show

New images of the recent eruption of one of Chile's most active volcanoes reveal how powerful blasts of lava and ash blanketed the mountain's side with volcanic material. The Villarrica volcano erupted in the early morning hours of March 3, 2015, forcing thousands of people to evacuate the region, according to reports from Chile's National Geology and Mining Service. Two NASA satellites snapped photos of the volcano, one before and one after the eruption. In the first image, snow surrounds the volcano, but in the second, a large amount of volcanic material, called tephra, coats the volcano's eastern side.

Confirmed: Disneyland Measles Outbreak Linked to Low Vaccination Rates

Low vaccination rates are likely responsible for the large measles outbreak that began at Disneyland in California last December, a new analysis suggests. The researchers estimated that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rate among the people who were exposed to measles in that outbreak may be as low as 50 percent, and is likely no higher than 86 percent. Since the beginning of this year, 127 cases of measles in the United Stateshave been linked to the Disneyland outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because measles is such a highly contagious virus, vaccination rates of 96 percent to 99 percent are necessary to prevent outbreaks, Majumder said.

Seven strategies for keeping women in STEM fields

Now an academic panel has developed a seven-point plan for achieving gender equity in so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. The 28-member Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering Working Group hopes to "ensure that women not just enter science, but remain, compete, and truly excel in scientific careers." Women account for half the college-educated American workforce but only 28 percent of science and engineering workers, according to the National Science Board. Susan Solomon, CEO of the New York Stem Cell Foundation, who convened the panel, says STEM fields are too critical to leave behind half the nation's brainpower. Co-author Paola Arlotta, a Harvard University professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, won such an award at Massachusetts General Hospital, where the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award helps sustain research productivity during child-rearing years.

Total Solar Eclipse of 2015 Occurs This Week: How to See It

This week, the moon will completely cover the disk of the sun, creating a solar eclipse that only a small part of the world can see. The shadow will then pass over the Danish-owned Faroe Islands, the sparsely inhabited Norwegian island group of Svalbard and then it will hook counterclockwise toward the northwest, where it leaves the Earth's surface just short of the North Pole. If you don't have the chance to see the solar eclipse in person, you can catch it live online as well. The Faroes are an island group consisting of 18 major islands with a total area of approximately 540 square miles (1,400 square kilometers) and a population of almost 50,000 people.

XCOR Aerospace Picks Ex-Air Force Official as New CEO

The private spaceflight company XCOR Aerospace is getting a new CEO. Representatives with XCOR Aerospace — the company responsible for developing the Lynx space plane — announced today (March 16) that John "Jay" Gibson will lead the commercial spaceflight company. The former CEO, Jeff Greason, will remain with the company as chief technology officer and focus on helping to develop Lynx and other projects, according to XCOR. "After a thorough search for the ideal candidate, we decided on Jay Gibson," Greason said in a statement.

Yeti Debate Swirls: Study Reveals Origin of Mysterious Hairs

The yeti, a legendary shaggy, bipedal beast from the Himalayas, made headlines last year when a geneticist said he had solved the mystery of its origins. "There is essentially no reason to believe that they [the hairs] belong to a species other than the brown bear," said one the new study's researchers, Eliécer Gutiérrez, a postdoctoral fellow of evolutionary biology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

El Niño Can Predict Tornado Season's Severity

This year's El Niño may not only bring a bit of drought relief to parched Western states, but also could deliver a quiet tornado season, a new study finds. Much of the southeastern United States faces a lower risk of tornadoes during El Niño years, the new research shows. The effects are strongest in Oklahoma, Arkansas and northern Texas. Damaging hail is also less likely during a strong El Niño, researchers report today (March 16) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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Saturday, March 14, 2015

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Mars Rover Curiosity Hits the Road Again After Short Circuit

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is back in action for the first time after suffering a glitch late last month. The 1-ton Curiosity rover transferred powdered rock sample from its robotic arm to an analytical instrument on its body on Wednesday (March 11), and then drove about 33 feet (10 meters) toward the southwest on Thursday (March 12), NASA officials said. Curiosity had been stationary since Feb. 27, when it experienced a short circuit while attempting to transfer the sample, which the rover had collected from a rock dubbed Telegraph Peak. "That precious Telegraph Peak sample had been sitting in the arm, so tantalizingly close, for two weeks.

SpaceX sees U.S. approval for rocket launches by June

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies expects the U.S. Air Force to certify it to compete to launch national security satellites by June, President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters on Friday. Shotwell said the company's relationship with the Air Force was better than ever after the two sides in January settled a lawsuit filed by SpaceX. SpaceX, founded by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, had accused the Air Force of dragging its feet in ending the current launch monopoly held by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. Air Force and Pentagon officials credit SpaceX with energizing the government rocket launch market and pushing ULA to lower its prices, even before the privately held company has been certified to compete for rocket launches.

Celebrate Pi Day of the Century with NASA Math Challenge

Who said math couldn't be fun? In honor of the Pi Day of the century, 3.1415 (March 4, 2015), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has created a dizzying math challenge. Hint: every solution will use the mathematical constant pi: the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.

Pi, Anyone? The Secret to Memorizing Tens of Thousands of Digits

This year, the event is even more special because, for the first time in a century, the date will represent the first five digits of pi: 3.14.15. The current Guinness World Record is held by Lu Chao of China, who, in 2005, recited 67,890 digits of pi. For many of these memory champions, the ability "to remember huge numbers of random digits, such as pi, is something they train themselves to do over a long period of time," said Eric Legge, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Math Nerds Celebrate 'Pi Day of the Century' at SXSW Festival

The date and time spelled the first 10 digits of pi: 3.141592653. Revelers here at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival celebrated the event with free mini-pi(e)s, selfies with giant pi symbols, and a countdown to the big moment. Though we all know the famous number as pi, it was actually only given its dessert-sounding name about 300 years ago, when William Jones, a Welsh mathematician, began initially using the symbol π in a mathematical textbook in 1711 to refer to the perimeter of a circle. This morning, as the time approached, Stephen Wolfram, founder and CEO of Illinois-based software company Wolfram Research, explained some of the history of the ancient number.

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Friday, March 13, 2015

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NASA confirms ocean on Jupiter moon, raising prospects for life

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (Reuters) - Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed that the Jupiter-orbiting moon Ganymede has an ocean beneath its icy surface, raising the prospects for life, NASA said on Thursday. The finding resolves a mystery about the largest moon in the solar system after NASA's now-defunct Galileo spacecraft provided hints that Ganymede has a subsurface ocean during exploration of Jupiter and its moons from 1995 to 2003. Like Earth, Ganymede has a liquid iron core that generates a magnetic field, though Ganymede's field is embedded within Jupiter's magnetic field. As Jupiter rotates, its magnetic field shifts, causing Ganymede's aurora to rock.

Rocket Launching NASA Satellites Tonight May Spawn Bright 'Mystery Cloud'

A rocket launch tonight (March 12) may generate a glowing cloud visible from large stretches of North America. The potential sky show will be the artifact of NASA's Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission (MMS), which is set to blast off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 10:44 p.m. EDT Thursday (0244 GMT Friday). You can watch the MMS satellite launch live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. The mission will fly four identical satellites in a pyramid formation, studying how the sun's magnetic field merges with that of Earth, explosively converting magnetic energy into heat and kinetic energy.

Cheap wind power? Just listen to turbines talk to each other, say researchers

By Ben Gruber The measurements taken inside a Vanderbilt University wind tunnel could hold the key to making wind power a viable, cost effective energy source in the future, according to Professor Doug Adams and his team of engineers. Inside a massive 20,000 square foot (1860 square meter) laboratory, Adams and his team fitted inertial sensors on two turbines as a 30mph (48km) wind blasts inside a tunnel. His goal is to "listen in as the turbines talk to each other". "They are like the sensors in your steering wheel but they are just a lot more sensitive than that. ...

Ancient teeth reveal early human entry into rainforests

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People adapted to living in tropical rainforests thousands of years earlier than previously known, according to scientists who found crucial evidence in 20,000-year-old fossilized human teeth discovered in Sri Lanka. The researchers said there has been a debate over when our species first began living in rainforests, with some experts arguing such habitats may have been too daunting for early human hunter-gathers. In a study published on Thursday in the journal Science, the scientists examined teeth from 26 people found at various archaeological sites in Sri Lanka for evidence of whether their diet consisted of rainforest plants and animals. Almost all the teeth, including the oldest ones from about 20,000 years ago found at the Batadomba-lena rock-shelter in southwestern Sri Lanka, indicated a diet primarily of food from the rainforest.

Orbital ATK to finish rocket explosion probe by end March: CEO

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orbital ATK expects to complete an investigation into the Oct. 28 explosion of its Antares rocket by the end of March, the company's chief executive said on Thursday. Orbital CEO David Thompson, speaking after an event hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association, said the investigation was nearly complete, but he declined to give details. The explosion destroyed a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station. The company last month said the "accident investigation board," which includes officials from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration, had identified a number of credible causes for the explosion, including the possible presence of foreign object debris in the rocket's engine.

Companies selling cannabis-infused products warned by FDA on health claims

By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - Manufacturers of cannabis-infused products promoted as having health benefits for both people and pets have received warning letters their claims were untested and must be modified, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday. The FDA sent letters over the past two weeks to nearly a dozen companies, including Washington-state based Canna Companion, which markets a supplement infused with hemp to dog and cat owners. The act gives the FDA authority to oversee safety and benefit claims of food, drugs and cosmetics. Warning letters have also been sent to Seattle-based Canna-Pet, LLC, which makes pet treats and supplements infused with CBD, an active cannabinoid, and to California-based Hemp Oil Care, which sells cannabis-infused "products for therapeutic healthcare purposes" marketed to humans.

US Ebola Patient to Be Admitted to Maryland Hospital

A U.S. health care worker who was volunteering in Africa has tested positive for Ebola, and is returning to the United States for treatment, health officials say. The patient will be admitted to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland — a high-level containment facility — tomorrow (March 13), the NIH said in a statement today. This will be the second patient with Ebola admitted to the NIH Clinical Center. Nurse Nina Pham, who became infected with Ebola while treating a patient at the Texas hospital where she worked, was treated at the NIH center last October, and recovered from the disease. The ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa has now sickened nearly 25,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Genetics study seeks South Asian health clues in East London

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Pakistani and Bangladeshi people in London's least healthy boroughs are being asked to provide spit samples and health records to researchers hoping to find genetic clues to why they are disproportionately affected by certain diseases. The East London Genes and Health project will focus partly on so-called "knock-out" genes -- rare in the general population but more frequent in communities where cousins and other close relatives marry and have children, as is more common in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. The largest community genetics study in the world will recruit 100,000 volunteers from East London, which have substantial South Asian populations. Researchers leading the study say health signals buried in the data could have a big impact on peoples' health worldwide.

Rocket blasts off with NASA magnetic field probes

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas rocket blasted off from Florida on Thursday with a quartet of NASA science satellites designed to map explosions triggered by criss-crossing magnetic fields around the Earth. The 20-story-tall rocket, built and launched by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:44 p.m. EDT. Perched atop the rocket were four identical satellites designed to fly in a pyramid formation high around Earth. Each satellite is equipped with 25 sensors to record in split-second detail what happens when the planet's magnetic field lines break apart and reconnect.

Spectacular Night Launch Sends NASA Satellites on Hunt for Magnetic Collisions

An umanned rocket lit up the night sky over Florida like a larger-than-life roman candle Thursday night (March 12), carrying a four satellites on a mission to seek an explosive phenomenon in Earth's magnetic field. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasted off from a launch pad here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:44 p.m. (0244 p.m. GMT March 13), sending NASA's four Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites (MMS) on their way to hunt for magnetic reconnection events in Earth's magnetic field. NASA launch manager Omar Baez said it was a "picture perfect" launch for the Atlas V and the four MMS satellites.

India, U.S. researchers clash over swine flu strain mutation

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has disputed U.S. scientists' findings that the deadly swine flu virus has acquired more virulent mutations in the South Asian country and rejected their concerns over how authorities are monitoring an outbreak of the disease. H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu, has killed more than 1,500 people in India this year, compared with 218 in 2014. India says the strain is the same as the one that killed an estimated 284,000 people in the global pandemic of 2009-10. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said in an article on Wednesday that the genetic information of two Indian strains, deposited in public databases in the past two years, revealed new mutations that could make the virus more deadly.

Rescued Leatherback Turtle Released Today in South Carolina

A huge sea turtle found stranded on a remote South Carolina beach over the weekend was returned to the wild today (March 12). The nearly 500-lb. (215 kilograms) leatherback turtle was rescued Saturday (March 7) on Yawkey-South Island Reserve, a barrier island near Georgetown, suffering from low blood sugar and exhaustion. The rare leatherback shuffled back into the Atlantic under its own power Thursday afternoon, on a sandy beach in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. The endangered reptile is the first of its kind ever rescued alive in South Carolina, and one of only a handful of live leatherback rescues in the United States, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

10,000-Year-Old Remains of Extinct Woolly Rhino Baby Discovered

The remains of a baby woolly rhino that roamed the Earth at least 10,000 years ago have been discovered in a frozen riverbank in Siberia, researchers said. The rhino calf, nicknamed "Sasha" after the hunter and businessman who found it, is the only complete young specimen of the extinct species ever found, according to scientists at the Yakutian Academy of Sciences in Russia, to whom the creature was donated for study. "The newly found [calf] is about 1.5 meters long [4.9 feet] and 0.8 meters high [2.6 feet]," said study researcher Albert Protopopov, head of the mammoth fauna studies department of the Yakutian Academy of Sciences in Russia, as translated by Olga Potapova, the collections curator and manager at the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota. By contrast, adults of this species could reach up to 15 feet (4.5 m) long and 6 feet (1.9 m) high at the shoulders, Protopopov said.

Two Pet Goldfish Get Surgeries Totaling $750

For some people, the price of a pet's health is never too high: A team of veterinarians in Scotland performed a set of operations on pet goldfish that cost nearly $750. The team — from Inglis Veterinary Hospital in Fife, Scotland — removed the blind, cancerous eye of a goldfish named "Star." They also operated on another fish named "Nemo" to remove a lump. The complex operations, which cost $747 U.S. (500 British pounds), involved an exotic consultant surgeon, a vet to keep the fish anesthetized and a nurse to monitor their heart rates, hospital staff wrote in a Facebook post. Abby Gordon, 21, a student in Glasgow, won the fish, named Star, at a fairground stall 12 years ago, by throwing a Ping-Pong ball into a goldfish bowl.

Arctic Glacier Has Its Own Aquifer

Isolated glaciers can store liquid water in their upper layers year-round, a new study finds. The discovery means that the Greenland ice sheet isn't the only icy spot on Earth where snow and ice can hoard meltwater for years. "I do think they will be found in more glaciers that have similar processes at work," said lead study author Knut Christianson, a University of Washington glaciologist. These water reservoirs are called "firn" aquifers because the water is stored in the firn, which are the older layers of snow that didn't melt in previous years, and where old snow eventually compacts into ice.

Cold Exposure Deaths Higher in Rural Western Areas of US

About 5,800 people died from exposure to cold from 2010 to 2013, according to the study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was published online today (March 12) in the British Medical Journal. "With all of our resources, we will have elderly people or very young babies who are still simply dying because the weather is cold, which is completely preventable," said Dr. Susi Vassallo, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, who was not involved with the study. The cold-related death rates in the nation's metropolitan areas were even lower, ranging from 2.9 to 5.0 deaths per million, the study found. Furthermore, weather-related deaths — including those from storms, lightning and floods — are two to seven times higher in low-income counties than in high-income counties, the 2014 study found.

Measles Threat Looms After Ebola Outbreak

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is disrupting the region's health care system, and one consequence is a dramatic drop in measles vaccinations, leaving millions of children potentially at risk for catching the disease, a new study suggests. If efforts are not made to increase vaccinations there, a measles outbreak in the region could claim as many lives as the Ebola outbreak, or perhaps even more, the researchers said. The Ebola epidemic has not only sickened tens of thousands of people and killed thousands, but it also has "caused severe disruption to health care services in the affected countries, including childhood vaccination programs, thus creating a second public health risk," study author Andy Tatem, a geographer at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. The researchers estimated that the Ebola outbreak has led to a 75-percent drop in childhood vaccination rates in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Blockbuster or Bust? Brain Waves May Predict Movie Success

People's brain waves may reveal which movies they like, and even predict which movies will do well at the box office, a new study suggests. The researchers then looked at the EEG data on certain brain waves, called beta and gamma waves. Results showed that the beta brain waves were linked with people's rankings of the movies: The more beta wave brain activity there was as a participant watched a movie, the higher that individual ranked the movie. The findings suggest that brain wave measurements may provide a better picture of what consumers will actually do (i.e., how they actually rank movies), than simply asking people in a survey about whether they liked something.

SpaceX sees U.S. approval for rocket launches by June

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Privately held Space Exploration Technologies expects the U.S. Air Force to certify it to launch national security satellites by June, and possibly a bit sooner, the company's president told Reuters on Friday. Gwynne Shotwell said the company's relationship with the Air Force was better than ever after the two sides in January settled a lawsuit filed by SpaceX. SpaceX had accused the Air Force of dragging its feet in ending the current launch monopoly held by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. ...

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