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Saturday, April 18, 2015

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Spring Skywatching: Constellation Leo Comes in Like a Lion

One of the surest signs of spring for stargazers is the constellation Leo high in the evening sky. One of the 12 traditional constellations of the zodiac, Leo is one of the best-known star patterns in the sky.

Scientists create self-powering camera

By Elly Park New York, NEW YORK - Scientists at Columbia University in New York have successfully built a camera that is capable of producing images using power harvested from the surrounding incident light. The prototype self-powering camera takes an image each second, and in a well-lit scene it can operate indefinitely. The team is led by Shree Nayar, Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, "What we have designed here is an image sensor with pixels, with this new design that can not only capture pictures but also generate power from the pixels, in order to capture the images themselves. In modern cameras photo diodes, tiny devices inside each pixels of the image sensor, measure the amount of light that falls onto it, and Nayar said he noticed that the process is similar to photo diodes used inside solar panels to harvest energy. "It turns out exactly the photo diode is also used in solar cells which are used in solar panels to harvest energy from light, except that they are being used in a slightly different circuit.

U.S. eyes new ways to prepare and win future war in space

By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The United States needs disruptive new technologies, new ways of acquiring equipment and bandwidth, and closer ties with global allies to stay ahead of growing challenges in space from China, Russia and others, the head of U.S. Air Force Space Command told Reuters. General John Hyten said the United States had been bracing for threats to its satellite systems for years, but continued anti-satellite testing by potential foes had fueled a fresh sense of urgency in both industry and government about the need to prepare to win a possible war in space.

2015 Already Setting Heat Records

The first three months of 2015 set new global heat records, government officials announced today (April 17).

Scientists: 3 wolves remain at Isle Royale National Park

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The gray wolves of Isle Royale National Park, which scientists have studied closely for more than half a century along with the moose on which they feed, are on the verge of disappearing as the most recent census showed that only three remain, scientists said Friday.

Evidence of Pre-Columbus Trade Found in Alaska House

Bronze artifacts discovered in a 1,000-year-old house in Alaska suggest trade was occurring between East Asia and the New World centuries before the voyages of Columbus. Archaeologists found the artifacts at the "Rising Whale" site at Cape Espenberg. "When you're looking at the site from a little ways away, it looks like a bowhead [whale] coming to the surface," said Owen Mason, a research associate at the University of Colorado, who is part of a team excavating the site. The new discoveries, combined with other finds made over the past 100 years, suggest trade items and ideas were reaching Alaska from East Asian civilizations well before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean Sea in 1492 archaeologists said.

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Friday, April 17, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Of Mice and Synthetic Muscle: Big Science On SpaceX Dragon Spaceship

SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule is hauling a lot of science gear up to the International Space Station, including experiments for the orbiting outpost's first one-year crew. The unmanned Dragon launched into space Tuesday (April 14) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It is due to arrive at the space station at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) Friday, April 17. Some of this equipment will help NASA examine the nature of eye problems that have plagued several astronauts on long-term missions.

U.S. Air Force moves toward common satellite control system

By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is studying how to develop a common ground system to track, communicate with and control all the satellites it operates, a move that would save money and improve cybersecurity, the head of Air Force Space Command said on Thursday. General John Hyten said in an interview that several options were under discussion that would free up money to focus on the sensors on different satellite systems that are used for communications, navigation, missile warning and other missions. He said the Air Force would continue to use ground systems developed by Lockheed Martin Corp for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites that provide early warnings of missile launches, and the Raytheon Co ground system that will operate Air Force global positioning satellites(OCX).

Getting around without draining your phone battery

Tall buildings and satellite signals don't like each other and in an era where companies like UBER and YELP depend on accurate navigation, Pete Tenereillo of California start up Pathsense has this to say. First off it sucks in accuracy especially in major metros where these transportation apps and delivery apps are thriving and, you know, satellite signals bounce all over the place," he said. GPS also literally suck, quickly draining the battery life of a phone as its processors work overtime to triangulate real time satellite data.

Mercury-orbiting U.S. spacecraft heading for a crash landing

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A NASA spacecraft that made surprising discoveries of ice and other materials on Mercury will make a crash landing into the planet around April 30, scientists said on Thursday. The Mercury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging, or Messenger, probe has been circling the innermost planet of the solar system for more than four years, the first close-up studies of Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft made three flybys in the mid-1970s. "The spacecraft will pass behind the planet, out of view from the Earth, and will just not emerge again," said Daniel O'Shaughnessy, systems engineer with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which operates the spacecraft. The impact at 8,724 miles per hour (14,040 km per hour) will leave a fresh crater, roughly 52 feet (16 meters) in diameter, that should serve as an interesting reference point for a follow-on European spacecraft called BepiColombo, which is due to arrive in 2024.

U.S. Air Force sees next step for rocket launch contest by June

By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force plans to ask satellite launch providers and engine makers next month or in early June to explain how they would partner up to develop a new launch vehicle powered by a U.S.-built engine, a top Air Force general said on Thursday. General John Hyten, who heads Air Force Space Command, told Reuters the Air Force was finalizing its strategy for spending $220 million in funds set aside by Congress in the fiscal 2015 budget, and would issue a request for proposals soon. Hyten said Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center aimed to publish the document by the end of May, but that might slip to early June since there was "a lot of work left to do." The Air Force is racing to end reliance on the Russian-built RD-180 engine that powers the first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture run by Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. Congress last year passed a law banning use of the Russian engines for national security launches after 2019, given Russia's annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

Sofia Vergara Lawsuit: Who Owns Frozen Embryos?

The fight between actress Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb over the fate of the couple's frozen embryos may hinge on one question: whether the contract the couple signed gives one party or both parties a say in what happens to the embryos, experts say. On Thursday, news outlets reported that Loeb filed a lawsuit to stop Vergara from destroying the frozen embryos the couple created when they were together. The resolution to such disputes "has to do with the contract signed by both parties," said Joshua Forman, a family law expert at Chemtob Moss & Forman, LLP, in New York City. "Some contracts require both parties' consent to implant or destroy the embryos.

Diabetes and Depression May Increase Risk of Dementia

Adults who have either depression or type 2 diabetes may have an increased risk of developing dementia, and the risk may be even higher for people who have both conditions, according to a new study. In the study, researchers examined the risk of dementia in more than 2.4 million people in Denmark ages 50 and older, a group that included people who had type 2 diabetes, depression or both conditions. About 2 percent of the people in the study developed dementia over the six-year study period. But among those who developed dementia, more than 26 percent had depression, and almost 11 percent had type 2 diabetes.

Struck by Lightning: Bolt from Above Blinds Woman in One Eye

"In the future, if patients are struck by lightning, it should be a routine process to refer them to an ophthalmologist to have an eye assessment," said study co-author Dr. Permesh Dhillon, an ophthalmologist at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, England. When the lightning bolt struck the woman's car, she suffered some back pain, and her hairdresser later noticed minor burns on the woman's scalp.

Forget Jeopardy: 5 Abilities That Make IBM's Watson Amazing

Chef Watson has the recipe, which pairs cinnamon, apricots, vanilla and cheese, that the brainy system created based on its training with the Institute of Culinary Education. IBM's Watson has come a long way since its 2011 victory on the game show "Jeopardy!" Lately, instead of answering trivia in the form of a question, Watson has ventured into the culinary realm, not to mention the medical and veterinary fields. Researchers have also taught Watson how to determine people's personalities on Twitter. Watson has heralded in a new era called "cognitive computing," said Steve Abrams, the director of Watson Life.

Man Goes Exploring with Metal Detector, Finds Roman-Era Grave

A man in England went exploring with a metal detector and made the discovery of a lifetime: an exquisitely preserved Roman-era grave filled with artifacts, including bronze jugs, mosaic glassware, coins and hobnails from a pair of shoes, all dating to about A.D. 200. The grave likely belonged to a wealthy individual, said Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, the archaeology and outreach officer for the North Hertfordshire District Council. Once Fitzpatrick-Matthews and his colleagues located the grave, they also found evidence of a nearby building, likely a shrine or temple, attached to a villa. The man with the metal detector, Phil Kirk, found the grave in a field in Kelshall, a small village located between London and Cambridge.

1st Photo of Rare Monkey Proves It's Not Extinct

An African monkey thought to be extinct has been spotted again by researchers, who returned from a remote Congo forest in March with the first-ever photos of the rare red primate. Until this year, scientists hadn't seen the Bouvier's red colobus monkey in the wild since the 1970s. The researchers, Lieven Devreese of Belgium and Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo of the Republic of the Congo, set off in February to track down the elusive species. Their expedition was supported by donations collected through the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and funding from the Wildlife Conservation Society. There are several species of red colobus monkey.

NASA electric rover goes for a spin

By Jim Drury Texas, Houston, U.S. - Driving NASA's Modular Robotic Vehicle (MRV) looks out of this world - and the leading space agency say this might one day be a possibility. Developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas it's a fully electric vehicle which the agency say is well-suited for busy urban environments. Turns of the steering wheel are recorded by sensors and sent to computers at the vehicle's rear where they are interpreted immediately, instructing motors in one or all of its four wheels to turn as commanded. A force feedback system in the steering wheel means the driver will feel the same resistance and sensations as a car.

ReNeuron stem cell therapy shows long-term promise for stroke

A pioneering stem cell treatment for patients disabled by stroke has continued to show long-term promise in a clinical trial, the British biotech company behind the project said on Friday. News that two-year follow-up data from a small Phase I study showed improvements in limb function with no worrying safety issues lifted shares in ReNeuron 10 percent by 0830 EDT. The clinical results were presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference in Glasgow. The procedure involves injecting ReNeuron's neural stem cells into patients' brains to repair areas damaged by stroke, thereby improving both mental and physical function.

Physicists try to make sense of a dark matter puzzle from space

Clamped to the International Space Station, the 7.5-tonne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) intercepts particles from outer space, looking for evidence of "dark matter", which has never been seen but is thought to be five times as abundant in the universe as visible matter. We are taking 1,000 pictures per second," said Stefan Schael, a professor at RWTH Aachen University. The space camera gives a new perspective on results gathered on earth at the CERN physics research centre's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva. "At the LHC we have found exactly what we were predicting.

NASA Probe Sees North Pole of Dwarf Planet Ceres (Video)

After spending several weeks in the shadow of Ceres, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is finally getting a close-up glimpse of the dwarf planet. The photos are the highest-resolution views of the world that Dawn has gotten since entering Ceres' orbit on March 6, NASA officials said. In future weeks, NASA hopes the mission will help scientists better understand a key mystery of Ceres: strange bright spots on its surface that, in some cases, have different temperatures than the terrain surrounding them. Mission scientists still don't know what the spots are made of.

WWII Ship Used for Atomic Bomb Tests Found 'Amazingly Intact'

The USS Independence aircraft carrier, which operated during World War II, has been located about a half mile underwater off California's Farallon Islands. Using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) dubbed the Echo Ranger and a 3D-imaging sonar system, researchers have created a detailed picture of the 622-foot-long (190 m) ship, revealing that it is "amazingly intact," said scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "After 64 years on the seafloor, Independence sits on the bottom as if ready to launch its planes," James Delgado, chief scientist on the Independence mission, said in a statement. It is a reminder of the industrial might and skill of the 'greatest generation' that sent not only this ship, but their loved ones to war," added Delgado, maritime heritage director for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

Amazonian tribe study shows how human bodily bacteria is changing

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Everyone's body is brimming with bacteria, and these microbes do plenty of good things like building the immune system and helping digestion. A study published on Friday looking at the gut, mouth and skin microbes in people from a small, isolated tribe in southern Venezuela's Amazonian jungles shows just how much modern life may be altering humankind's bodily bacteria. The Yanomami villagers, secluded from the outside world until 2009, possessed the most diverse collection of bacteria ever found in people including some never before detected in humans, said scientists whose research appears in the journal Science Advances. The researchers were surprised to learn the Yanomami's microbes harbored antibiotic-resistant genes including those conferring resistance to manmade antibiotics, considering they never had exposure to commercial antibiotics.

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Thursday, April 16, 2015

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Awesome New SpaceX Video Shows Rocket Landing Try and Crash

Those of you who wanted to see the explosive last seconds of SpaceX's daring rocket-landing attempt Tuesday (April 14) are in luck. A new video shows the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket crashing and burning after nearly pulling off an unprecedented touchdown on an unmanned "drone ship" in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster stage attempted the landing after successfully launching SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on a cargo mission for NASA. SpaceX released the video on Wednesday (April 15), one day after the company unveiled a greenier, grainier and shorter version that stopped just when the rocket stage was about to topple over and explode.

Beyond Hubble: Will Future Space Telescope Seek Alien Life by 2030?

The iconic Hubble Space Telescope turns 25 this month, and getting the ball rolling on a life-hunting successor instrument would be a fitting birthday present, one prominent researcher argues. Hubble, a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), blasted off aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. Spacewalking astronauts fixed a serious problem with the telescope's optics in 1993, and Hubble has been transforming astronomers' understanding of the cosmos — and bringing gorgeous images of the universe into laypeople's lives —ever since. "It has really allowed people to participate in the excitement of discovery," said Mario Livio, an astrophysicist based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates Hubble's science program.

Rita Wilson's Cancer Diagnosis: When to Get a Second Opinion

Actress Rita Wilson attributes the early diagnosis of her breast cancer to the fact that she got a second opinion, a step that experts say is particularly important when the consequences of a medical test or treatment are serious. Wilson revealed this week that she underwent a double mastectomy as treatment for invasive breast cancer, according to a statement in People Magazine.

Lockheed, Boeing venture says engine uncertainty could jeopardize new rocket

By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - A joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co on Wednesday said uncertainty over its use of Russian rocket engines for Air Force satellite launches could undermine its plans to build a new rocket with a U.S. engine. Tory Bruno, president of the United Launch Alliance joint venture, told Reuters that Lockheed and Boeing could halt investment in the new rocket unless ULA gets permission to use 29 already ordered Russian engines for Air Force launches.

U.S. FAA says plans careful look at Orbital report on rocket blast

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will carefully review an Orbital ATK-led investigation into an October rocket explosion to ensure that all possible causes were properly considered, a top FAA official said Wednesday. "We eagerly look forward to seeing what they have to say and making sure we understand it and agree with it before allowing them to go ahead with future launches," George Nield, associate administrator for commercial space transportation, told Reuters after a speech at the annual Space Symposium conference. ...

Fatal Brain Disease in US Man Likely Came from UK Beef

A U.S. man who developed a rare and fatal brain disease likely got the disease from eating beef while living abroad more than a decade earlier, according to a new report of the case. Because the condition, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is so rare, the man was misdiagnosed and even hospitalized for psychiatric symptoms multiple times before doctors suspected the true cause of his symptoms, according to the report from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Baylor College of Medicine. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is thought to arise from eating beef contaminated with infectious prions, which are proteins that fold abnormally and form lesions in the brain. In the United Kingdom, there have been nearly 200 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease tied to eating contaminated beef in the 1980s and 1990s.

Spooky Ring of Light Created by Arctic's Ice-Mapping Lasers (Photo)

The image, released April 5 by NASA's Earth Observatory, shows pulses of laser light hitting Arctic sea ice — the ice that forms and floats in Arctic waters. As part of this year's campaign, researchers flew across the North American side of the Arctic Ocean, traveling from north of Greenland, past Canada, and to Alaska.

1 Million Orders and Counting: Why So Many Covet the Apple Watch

More than 1 million Apple Watches were pre-ordered last week, on the first day the device went on sale, according to a firm that tracks consumer spending. There are some likely explanations for why people are crazy about the Apple Watch, which is scheduled to be released on April 24. The conventional view is that it's merely a cool new gadget, said Markus Giesler, a marketing professor at York University in Canada. "When you buy an Apple Watch, you're not just buying this watch — you're also buying the interface into this matrix Apple has created" — a world that consists of other Apple products, such as the iPhone, iPod, MacBook and iPad, he said.

Octopuses Have Moves, But No Rhythm

Octopuses move with a simple elegance, but they have no rhythm, according to new research. Each of an octopus's eight arms is soft, flexible and muscular, and acts like it has an infinite number of joints, said the study's lead author, Guy Levy, a postdoctoralresearcher of neurobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The octopus, as usual, surprised us," Levy told Live Science. Octopuses use unique strategies to coordinate their arms while crawling, the researchers found.

Older Mothers Tend to Have Bigger Gap Between Pregnancies

Women in the United States usually have about a two-year gap between pregnancies, and older women tend to have their children further apart, a new report finds. The spacing between pregnancies can affect the health of the baby, according to the report from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, about 30 percent of the women had a gap of less than 18 months between pregnancies, according to the report, which looked at data from 2003 to 2011. The pattern in pregnancy spacing seen in the new report was similar to findings from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, the researchers said.

'Puppy Eyes' Help Dogs Bond with Humans, Study Suggests

Because dogs don't otherwise use eye contact as a way to cement bonds with other dogs, the study researchers suggest that man's best friend may have gotten its prized place in human hearts by tapping into an ancient human bonding pathway. "We humans use eye gaze for affiliative communications, and are very much sensitive to eye contact," study co-author Takefumi Kikusui, a professor of veterinary medicine at the Companion Animal Research Lab at Azabu University in Japan, said in an email.

A dog's life: study reveals people's hormonal link with tail-waggers

Researchers in Japan said on Thursday oxytocin, a hormone that among other things helps reinforce bonds between parents and their babies, increases in humans and their dogs when they interact, particularly when looking into one another's eyes. "Oxytocin has many positive impacts on human physiology and psychology," said Takefumi Kikusui, a veterinary medicine professor at Japan's Azabu University, whose research was published in the journal Science. In one experiment, dogs were put in a room with their owners. The researchers tracked their interaction and measured oxytocin levels through urine samples.

Colossal Ancient Galaxies Die from the Inside Out

A new survey of 22 elliptical galaxies (most of which were the same size or larger than our own Milky Way) revealed that the most massive galaxies from about 10 billion years ago have stopped forming stars in their centers while formation continued on the outskirts. "These galaxies lived 10 billion years in the past — three billion years after the Big Bang — and are star-forming at high rates, and are the progenitors of the massive dead galaxies of today's universe," lead author Sandro Tacchella, a Ph.D. student at ETH Zurich's institute for astronomy in Switzerland, told Space.com. One leading theory says that a supermassive black hole drives gas out and disrupts star formation, while the other supposes there is a yet-unexplained mechanism that switches off the gas supply in the center. Also interesting was the smaller, elliptical galaxies from this era were still churning out stars throughout their masses.

Giant Radio Telescope Peels Away Magnetic Field Shrouding Black Hole

Astronomers have peeled away most of the gas and dust enshrouding a monster black hole, taking a close look at the giant that lies some 68 thousand light-years away. A Swedish team of scientists has used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) — a huge radio telescope in Chile — to unmask a supermassive black hole's extremely powerful magnetic field. The team, led by Ivan Marti-Vidal from the Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology, was therefore able to peer deep into the heart of the distant galaxy where the black hole lies, and see the region just light-days away from the behemoth. "Our discovery is a giant leap in terms of observing frequency, thanks to the use of ALMA, and in terms of distance to the black hole where the magnetic field has been probed," said co-author Sebastien Muller, also from Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology, in a statement.

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