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Thursday, April 2, 2015

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Rodent romance: male mice use 'love songs' to woo their women

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. I'd like to know," Paul McCartney sings in his 1976 song "Silly Love Songs." Mice might agree. "I do think there is more going on with animal communication than we humans have been attuned to," Duke University neurobiology professor Erich Jarvis said.

Wearable Tech Is Your Doctor's Newest Assistant (Op-Ed)

As personal devices come to dominate the talk of the technology industry, now they're surging into health care. Shifting from self-help to medical help, wearable technology has the potential to make health care more efficient, convenient and effective for both patients and doctors. Whereas I normally rely on my patients to tell me how they're feeling, with the help of wearable devices, I will soon know how they're feeling, and possibly even why, before my patients walk into the exam room.

Supermoon vs. Minimoon: Sizing Up Earth's Satellite

Robert Vanderbei is a professor in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University and co-author, with J. Richard Gott, of the National Geographic book "Sizing Up the Universe" (National Geographic, 2010). The so-called "supermoon" has an impressive name, but just how super is the actual event? Instead of lying at the center of that ellipse, the Earth lies at one of its two foci — hence, as the moon orbits the Earth, about half of the time it is a little closer to the planet, and half the time it is a little further away. On average, the moon's distance from Earth is 239,228 miles (385,000 kilometers).

As China Saves its 'Smiling' Porpoise, It Saves Its People (Op-Ed)

Karin Krchnak is director of the Freshwater Program at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Yangtze River dolphin, once known in ancient Chinese legends as representing the reincarnation of a princess, went extinct as industrialization expanded and the Yangtze's resources were pillaged. Now, a mere decade later, the Yangtze's other cetacean, the Yangtze finless porpoise, is in peril due to similar causes: Unsustainable fishing practices and depleted fish stocks, sand dredging, mining and a continued increase in pollution, among other threats. Without intervention and a shift in how China manages its freshwater resources, the Yangtze finless porpoise could vanish within the next five to 10 years.

Saving Yangtze Porpoises Can Save China (Gallery)

Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

5 Reasons Radiation Treatment has Never Been Safer (Op-Ed)

Dr. Edward Soffen is a board-certified radiation oncologist and medical director of the Radiation Oncology Department at CentraState Medical Center's Statesir Cancer Center in Freehold, New Jersey. Historically, radiation treatments have been challenged by the damage they cause healthy tissue surrounding a tumor, but new technologies are now slashing those risks. Radiation treatments may come from a machine (x-ray or proton beam), radioactive material placed in the body near tumor cells, or from a fluid injected into the bloodstream.

World's Oldest Woman Revealed Her Secret to Long Life

The world's oldest person, a 117-year-old woman in Japan named Misao Okawa, died today. Okawa was named the world's oldest person in 2013, when she was 114, according to Guinness World Records. Now, the world's oldest living person is Gertrude Weaver, a 116-year-old woman in Arkansas, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which keeps track of supercentenarians, or people older than 110. Sakari Momoi of Japan became the world's oldest living man at 111, according to the Geronotology Research Group, since the death of Dr. Alexander Imich of New York City in June 2014.

What's Next for the World's Largest Atom Smasher? How to Watch Live

Physicist Jon Butterworth, who works at the world's largest atom smasher, is intimately familiar with the drama that surrounded the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson. Butterworth will recount the trials and tribulations in the hunt for "the most wanted particle," in a lecture tonight (April 1) at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada. Butterworth is a physics professor at University College London in the United Kingdom, and a researcher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which manages the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a ring-shaped particle accelerator located underground near Geneva, Switzerland. In 2012, scientists at the LHC found evidence of the long-sought Higgs boson, an elementary particle that is thought to explain how other particles get their mass.

From Space, Typhoon Maysak's Eye Looks Like a Black Hole (Photo)

It seemed like a black hole from a Sci-Fi movie," NASA astronaut Terry Virts wrote on Twitter. Virts and his fellow astronauts have been posting pictures of the typhoon, which is expected to hit the Philippines this weekend if it doesn't change course. "Commands respect even from space," wrote Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency who launched into space with Virts in November. As of 11 a.m. EdT today (1500 GMT), the super typhoon was 223 miles (359 km) northwest of the Micronesian island of Yap.

Lunar Lava Tubes Might Make Underground Moon Cities Possible

Earth's moon is rife with huge lava tubes – tunnels formed from the lava flow of volcanic eruptions – and new theoretical work suggests that these features could be large enough to house structurally stable lunar cities for future colonists. Purdue University researchers presented their research during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held here March 16-20. According to Jay Melosh, a Purdue University distinguished professor of Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, the edges of the lava cool as it flows to form a pipe-like crust around the flowing river of lava. "There has been some discussion of whether lava tubes might exist on the moon," Melosh said in a Purdue press statement.

California Obliterates Record for Lowest Snowpack Ever

California's mountain snowpack will do little to slake the thirsty state this summer — only the tallest peaks are dusted with snow, and the most recent survey showed the driest snowpack in more than 100 years. The Sierra Nevada snowpack typically supplies 30 percent of California's water. The statewide snow records officially start in 1950, but in some areas, the records reach back to 1909, Rizzardo said. With the snowpack essentially wiped out, Gov. Jerry Brown announced California's first-ever statewide mandatory water restrictions today.

Tarantulas Have 2 Left Feet When It's Hot

Temperature can change the thickness, or viscosity, of hemolymph, said the study's senior author, Anna Ahn, an associate professor of biology at Harvey Mudd College in California.

'Alien' Camel Skeleton Discovered Along the Danube River

The skeleton of a camel that lived in the 17th century during the second Ottoman-Habsburg war has been discovered in a refuse pit in Austria. "Camels are alien species in Europe and Austria, [and] the town of Tulln is closely situated to the large river/stream of the Danube," said Alfred Galik, a researcher at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and one of the scientists who worked on the study detailing the discovery. The "sunken ship" phrase "should bring together this buried/sunken ship of the desert — with Tulln and the Danube a place where no camels naturally appear," Galik told Live Science in an email. The camel also had unusual parents: It was born to a Bactrian camel (two-hump) dad and a dromedary (one-hump) mom, the researchers found after looking at the bones and analyzing the camel's DNA.

New Map of Global Ocean Temperatures Is a Work of Art

The paintlike swirls of the visualization, which was released earlier this month by Los Alamos National Laboratory, depict global water surface temperatures. Blue areas designate cool temperatures, and reds indicate warmer temperatures. The map shows a clear divide between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, but finer details — including trapped regions of hot water adjacent to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, and warmer water in the Mediterranean — can also be seen. MPAS-O uses data from the National Oceanographic Data Center's World Ocean Circulation Experiment — the most comprehensive data set ever collected from the global ocean.

Antarctic Octopus's 'Blue Blood' Helps It Survive in Frigid Waters

Octopuses in Antarctica survive subzero temperatures because of blue pigment in their blood, a new study finds. "This is the first study providing clear evidence that the octopods' blue blood pigment, haemocyanin, undergoes functional changes to improve the supply of oxygen to tissue at subzero temperature," lead study author Michael Oellermann, a biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, said in a statement. To find out what keeps an octopus's body oxygenated, Oellermann and his colleagues compared haemocyanin levels in an Antarctic octopus species (Paraledone charcoti) and in two species that live in warmer climates (Octopus pallidus in southeast Australia and Eledone moschata in the Mediterranean). At 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), the Antarctic octopus could release far more oxygen (76.7 percent), than the two warm-water octopuses (at 33 percent for the Octopus pallidus and 29.8 percent for the Eledone moschata).

Too Much Iced Tea Blamed for Man's Kidney Failure

After a 56-year-old man experienced kidney failure, his doctors discovered that his habit of drinking excessive amounts of iced tea every day was likely the culprit, according to a new report of his case. The man's kidney function has not recovered, and he remains on dialysis, said Dr. Alejandra Mena-Gutierrez, of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who treated the patient and wrote the report of his case. "We are not advising against tea consumption," Mena-Gutierrez said. Tests showed that his urine had high levels of calcium oxalate crystals, which are the components of kidney stones.

Night Owls at Higher Risk of Diabetes, Other Illnesses

Night owls may enjoy staying up late, but their belated bedtimes may be a detriment to their health in middle age, a new study finds. People with late bedtimes are more likely to develop diabetes and other health problems than early birds, the researchers found. Moreover, the health risks stayed the same even for night owls who got the same amount of sleep as early risers, according to the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Many night owls don't get enough sleep because they go to bed late but still need to wake up early in the morning, said the study's senior author, Dr. Nan Hee Kim, an endocrinologist at Korea University Ansan Hospital.

Medieval Graveyard Found Under Cambridge University

Hundreds of skeletons from a medieval graveyard have been discovered beneath Cambridge University in England. Archaeologists got a rare chance to excavate one of the largest medieval hospital burial grounds in Britain, amid a project to restore the Old Divinity School at St. John's College (part of Cambridge University). The researchers unearthed more than 400 complete burials among evidence for more than 1,000 graves. Most of the burials date to the period spanning the 13th to 15th centuries, according to Craig Cessford, an archaeologist at Cambridge University who led the excavation and published the results in the latest issue of the Archaeological Journal.

Liquid body armor tested in Poland

Scientists at a Polish company that produce body armor systems are working to implement a non-Newtonian liquid in their products. The liquid is called Shear-Thickening Fluid (STF). STF does not conform to the model of Newtonian liquids, such as water, in which the force required to move the fluid faster must increase exponentially, and its resistance to flow changes according to temperature. Instead STF hardens upon impact at any temperature, providing protection from penetration by high-speed projectiles and additionally dispersing energy over a larger area.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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How Long Would It Take to Fall Through the Earth?

How long would it take to fall down a hole in the Earth and reach the other side of the planet? The solution to this problem depends on the strength of Earth's gravitational pull, which in turn is based on its mass.

Blood Moon: Shortest Total Lunar Eclipse of the Century Rises Saturday

Only the speediest of skywatchers will have a chance to see the total lunar eclipse rising Saturday: NASA predicts that the total phase of the lunar eclipse will only last about 5 minutes, making it the shortest lunar eclipse of the century. Early-rising observers all over the United States should be able to see at least the partial phases of the April 4 lunar eclipse just before the sun rises, if weather permits. People on the West Coast will have the chance to see the moon turn an eerie shade of red during totality, which should begin at about 7:58 a.m. EDT (1158 GMT, 4:58 a.m. PDT). NASA this week unveiled a video detailing the total lunar eclipse, and dubbed the event the shortest lunar eclipse of the century in an announcement on Monday (March 30) in detail. Observers in other parts of the world will have an even better chance to see the lunar eclipse.

Bizarre Condition Makes Tongue Resemble a Geographic Map

Known as "geographic tongue," the condition causes red, patchy shapes to appear on the tongue, formed as some areas lose the tiny reddish bumps called papillae that normally cover the tongue's surface. Geographic tongue (GT) affects the tongue's upper layer of tissue, call the epithelium. In people with GT, one type of papillae called filiform papillae becomes inflamed, said study co-author Gabriel Seiden, a physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who is currently based at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany. In the study, Seiden and his colleagues use math equations to explain what happens in geographic tongue.

Little bird's arduous migration reaches 'brink of impossibility'

Scientists on Tuesday documented how this songbird that weighs half an ounce (12 grams) completes an arduous nonstop flight over the Atlantic Ocean from forests in New England and eastern Canada to Caribbean islands as it migrates each fall toward its South American wintering grounds. It is truly one of the most amazing migratory feats ever recorded," said ecologist Ryan Norris of the University of Guelph in Ontario, describing "a fly-or-die journey." They landed in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, resting for a couple of days to a couple of weeks before flying to Colombia and Venezuela. University of Massachusetts ecologist Bill DeLuca described the migration as "on the brink of impossibility." The spring return flight follows a predominantly overland route through Florida and up the U.S. East Coast. The research resolves a half-century mystery about blackpoll warbler migration.

This State Has the Highest Use of Mood-Altering Drugs

Among the 50 states, it is people in West Virginia who most commonly report taking mood-altering drugs to help them relax, whereas Alaskans are the least likely to say the same, a new poll finds. "It's no coincidence that drug use was inversely proportionate to the [state] well-being score," said Dan Witters, who led the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index research. The results of an earlier poll, announced in February, showed that people in West Virginia reported the lowest levels of well-being in the country, while Alaskans reported the highest.

Catalog of Earth Microbes Could Help Find Alien Life

If an alien planet in a distant solar system were home to microscopic life-forms, how might scientists see them and even decipher their identity? Scientists at Cornell University rounded up 137 microorganisms and cataloged how each life-form uniquely reflects sunlight. This database of individual reflection fingerprints, which is available to anyone, might help astronomers identify similar microscopic life-forms on distant alien planets. "This database gives us the first glimpse at what diverse worlds out there could look like," Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy and director of Cornell University's new Institute for Pale Blue Dots, said in a statement.

SETI Has New Infrared Telescope Tech in Search for E.T.

Scientists searching for signs of intelligent extraterrestial life in the unvierse have a new telescope tool to aid them in their hunt for portential alien civilizations. Called NIROSETI, short for Near-Infrared Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, the instrument saw its "first light" this month at the University of California's Lick Observatory atop Mt. Hamilton east of San Jose. For more than five decades, scientists have been on the lookout for radio signals from other starfolk. The NIROSETI instrument is attached to the Lick Observatory's Nickel 1-meter telescope, with months of fine-tuning to follow its first-light observation on March 15.

Zombie Cyborg Wood May Lead to Better Night-Vision Cameras

A new so-called cyberwood that continues to work even after its living components die could lead to technological advances in thermal night-vision cameras and temperature sensors. This "zombie" cyborg wood is a hybrid material made of tobacco laced with teensy carbon tubes, and the whole contraption can act like a heat detector even after the plant cells have perished. The best heat-detecting materials available now change their electrical conductivity just by a few percent per degree temperature change. In contrast, the new cyberwood that the scientists created is hundreds of times more responsive to changes in temperature than the best man-made materials currently used in heat detectors.

Superhealing Drug Travels in Nanoparticles to Wounds

A new topical medicine suspended in nanoparticles could dramatically quicken the time it takes wounds to heal, researchers say. The medicine was tested on mice, which have a wound-healing process very similar to that of humans, according to study co-leader David Sharp, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Wound healing is a complex process that involves moving a diverse group of cells and molecules to the source of injury.

First Total Lunar Eclipse of 2015 on Saturday: A Skywatching Guide

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth's shadow. We had a total solar eclipse on March 20 and will have a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 13 and another total lunar eclipse on Sept. 28. The area from which the September lunar eclipse will be visible is almost the exact inverse of this week's eclipse, so if you live in a part of the world where you can't see the April eclipse, you will have better luck six months from now.

6 of the Best Science-Themed April Fools' Day Jokes

Many poor souls have been victims of April Fools' Day jokes, and science — with it's reputation for achieving stunning and sometimes fantastic feats — makes for some of the best fodder. From harnessing the energy of thunderstorms to rounding off the number pi, here are some of history's greatest science April Fools' Day pranks to wow your nerdy friends. Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), home of the particle smasher used to discover the Higgs boson particle and other groundbreaking insights into the four fundamental forces (the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force and gravity), reported today (April 1) that they had confirmed the existence of the Force — the supernatural power in the fictional "Star Wars" universe. The statement goes on to say that researchers are unsure of what causes the Force but its practical applications include long-distance communication, influencing minds and lifting heavy objects out of swamps.

Scientists say polar bears won't thrive on land food

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A paper published Wednesday says polar bears forced onto land because of melting ice are unlikely to find enough food to replace their diet of seals.

Famed Human Ancestor Lucy Wasn't Alone: Meet 'Little Foot'

A mysterious ancient relative of humanity known as Little Foot apparently roamed the Earth at about the same time as the famed Lucy, suggesting the ancestors of humans may have existed with significant diversity across a good part of Africa, researchers say. Among the earliest known relatives of the human lineage definitely known to walk upright was Australopithecus afarensis, the species that included the famed 3.2-million-year-old Lucy. While Australopithecus afarensis dwelled in eastern Africa, another australopithecine nicknamed Little Foot, due to the diminutive nature of the bones, lived in southern Africa. Discovered about 20 years ago by paleoanthropologist Ronald Clarke from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, Little Foot apparently fell down a narrow shaft in the Sterkfontein Caves.

'Little Foot' fossil sheds light on early human forerunners

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Lucy," meet "Little Foot." Scientists said on Wednesday a sophisticated new dating technique shows that Little Foot, an important fossil of an early human forerunner unearthed in the 1990s in South Africa, is roughly 3.7 million years old. "The age of Little Foot has been highly debated," said geologist Darryl Granger of Purdue University in Indiana, whose research appears in the journal Nature. The study found Little Foot, a member of the species Australopithecus prometheus, lived at roughly the same time as Australopithecus afarensis, the species whose most famous fossil, known as Lucy, comes from Ethiopia. The researchers analyzed 11 rock samples from around the nearly complete Little Foot fossil skeleton from the Sterkfontein Caves to gauge its age.

Wound-healing laser soon to be a reality: Israeli scientist

Closing wounds and surgical incisions with a laser is a step closer to reality, Israeli scientists say. The futuristic technique is better than current methods which damage tissue and can cause scarring, researchers from Tel Aviv University believe. Head of the Applied Physics Department Abraham Katzir was behind the research.

Voice-controlled GPS helmet to help bikers

By Jim Drury MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Motorcyclists will no longer have to rely on maps or GPS systems, both of which require riders to take their eyes off the road, once a new Russian smart helmet goes on sale this summer. So Russian engineers have invented LiveMap - a GPS helmet which displays simple navigation tips on the visor. CEO Andrew Artshchev got the idea from fighter pilot technology. "I learnt about the concept of aviation helmets and decided to create a civil motorcycling helmet on that model, which would show not target detection for pilots, but navigational information - to turn right or left and so on." The android-based lightweight helmet contains GPS and voice control.

Egyptian Artifacts Salvaged from Robbed Tomb in Israel

In an underground cave in Israel, archaeologists have unearthed 3,000-year-old Egyptian artifacts that had been spared by tomb robbers. Inspectors with the Israel Antiquities Authority's (IAA) Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery say they found pickaxes and other signs of looting in a cave near Kibbutz Lahav in southern Israel. "During this period, Canaan was ruled by Egypt," Daphna Ben-Tor, curator of Egyptian archaeology at the Israel Museum, explained in a statement from the IAA.

Tiny Songbird Is a Champion Long-Distance Flier

The blackpoll warbler, a songbird that weighs no more than an AA battery, flies nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean during its southerly fall migration, covering more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) in two or three days, a new study confirms. The warbler's longest nonstop flight was recorded as being more than 1,700 miles (2,730 km) in three days, the scientists reported today (March 31) in the journal Biology Letters. Only the northern wheatear has a longer nonstop flight among songbirds, but it is twice as large as a blackpoll warbler, said study co-author Chris Rimmer, an ornithologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies in Norwich, Vermont. "If you account for body scale and size, the blackpoll warbler is the hands-down winner," Rimmer said.

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