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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

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Oklahoma scientists say earthquakes linked to oil and gas work

Oklahoma geologists have documented strong links between increased seismic activity in the state and the injection into the ground of wastewater from oil and gas production, a state agency said on Tuesday. Currently, Oklahoma is recording 2-1/2 earthquakes daily of a magnitude 3 or greater, a seismicity rate 600 times greater than observed before 2008, the report by the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) said. It is "very likely that the majority of the earthquakes" are triggered by wastewater injection activities tied to the oil and gas industry, the OGS said. Prior to 2008, Oklahoma averaged less than two a year.

Making Sense of Scents: Why Odors Spark Memory (Podcast)

Wendy Suzuki is a professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University (NYU). While vision is arguably the sense scientists have studied the longest and most deeply, the human sense of smell is more complicated, more ancient, and more difficult to describe and observe.

Cassiopeia: The Banished Queen Ruling the Night Sky

Huw James is a science communicator, fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and guest lecturer at the University of South Wales.

Voices of Rare 'Talking' Turtles May Prevent Their Extinction

Years ago, in the Brazilian Amazon, I was exposed to a prevalent philosophy for how animals relate to humans, one I did not expect. I made the decision to move to Manaus in the Amazon, and have since devoted myself to working with science colleagues and local communities to conserve wildlife, especially endangered turtles.

Will Mobile Labs Finally Halt Killer Frog Fungus? (Op-Ed)

Tracie Seimon is a molecular scientist for the Zoological Health Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She is based at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. This article is the first in a series celebrating the contributions of women to the practice of conservation. Seimon contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The chytrid fungus is a modern-day scourge of toads, salamanders and frogs around the globe, one of the greatest conservation threats amphibians face.

Deals in dark helped bitcoin take off, says chief scientist

By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Without dealings in the "grey areas" of the global economy, bitcoin might not have grown to be worth the $3 billion (1.99 billion pounds) it is today, according to Gavin Andresen, the closest thing the digital currency has to a CEO. Andresen, a self-confessed "all-around geek", is chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation, a non-profit group he helped set up three years ago to support and promote the digital currency. Andresen acknowledged it has been used in the United States for online gambling, which was effectively outlawed there until December 2011, with banks barred from transmitting bets. "Without those uses maybe it would have taken longer (for bitcoin to get to where it is)," he told Reuters over coffee at a conference organised by the Bitcoin Foundation in London, where a push into financial technology is making the city a hub for the virtual currency.. In its early days, "the Internet was for porn.

How to Celebrate Earth Day 2015 with NASA

Today (April 22) is the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, and NASA has a series of activities planned to celebrate the beauty of our home planet. NASA astronauts are given some credit for the origins of Earth Day, as the pictures they take of our planet from space – particularly a famous Earthrise-over-the-moon photo by the Apollo 8 crew in 1968 – showed Earth as a delicate blue marble in space. "NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future," the space agency wrote in a statement. Below is a list of the many ways that NASA is celebrating Earth Day.

'Flawless' 100-Carat Diamond Could Fetch $25 Million

A 100-carat, nearly flawless diamond is slated to hit the auction block today at Sotheby's in New York City. The gorgeous jewel, which is the largest emerald-cut, flawless diamond to be auctioned off, is the centerpiece of the Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels auction. Diamonds also exhibit something called maximal symmetry, meaning the bonds among the gems' carbon atoms can't be crushed or shifted to produce a more symmetrical shape. "You're talking on the order of 100 kilometers (62 miles) or more down into the Earth," George Harlow, a geologist who specializes in mineralogy and crystallography at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, previously told Live Science.

Fading Gems: 10 Places to Visit Before They're Gone

This Polynesian island nation, located between Hawaii and Australia, may be a tropical paradise, but it risks becoming submerged by rising seas as a warming climate melts ice sheets and causes water to expand. Experts predict that, even with a conservative greenhouse-gas-emissions scenario, sea levels in the region will rise by up to 17.7 inches (45 cm) by 2090, according to a report by Australia's Pacific Climate Change Science Program, and such a rise could make Tuvalu uninhabitable. Few snorkel spots are as well known as Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The increased acidity affects creatures like coral that use calcium carbonate to form their shells, and the Great Barrier Reef could be one of the first casualties.

Why Beachgoers Let Sexual Assault Happen Right Before Their Eyes

A recent video of a sexual assault — on a crowded Florida beach, in broad daylight — raises a question: Why didn't one of the hundreds of bystanders step in to help the victim? Though perplexing, the phenomenon — known as the "bystander effect" — is common, experts said. "There's this kind of paradoxical relationship, where the more people [there are who] observe an incident, the less likely any single individual is to help," said Peter Ditto, a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine.

Delaying Pregnancy May Reduce Risk of Ovarian Cancer

Women who give birth to their first child in their mid-30s or later may have a lower risk of ovarian cancer compared with those who give birth to their first child earlier than that, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed information from nearly 1,700 women living in Los Angeles who had ovarian cancer and about 2,380 women living in the same area who did not have ovarian cancer. The researchers found that each five-year increase in a woman's age at the birth of her first child corresponded to a 16 percent lower risk of ovarian cancer. So, for example, women who gave birth to their first child at age 35 or later had a 46 percent decrease in their risk of ovarian cancer compared with women who gave birth to their first child when they were younger than 20.

Breath of Fresh Air: How Smartphones Can Help Asthma Sufferers

As smartphones become ubiquitous, several companies are taking advantage of these portable computers to track when and where people with asthma need their medication. The data collected by the smartphones are giving researchers a clearer overall picture of asthma attacks and inhaler use, which, in turn, could allow researchers to map out the areas linked to respiratory disease and even reveal some of the underlying triggers of asthma symptoms. "We're collecting data about daily lives and medications," said Chris Hogg, chief operating officer of Propeller Health, a company in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides both hardware and software for managing asthma. Whenever Propeller's "smart" inhaler is used, the phone's geolocation services log exactly where the patient is when he or she is using it.

Visible Light Spectrum from Alien Planet Measured for 1st Time (Video)

Astronomers have detected an exoplanet's visible-light spectrum directly for the first time ever, a milestone that could help bring many other alien worlds into clearer focus down the road. The scientists used the HARPS instrument on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile to study the spectrum of visible light reflected off the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, which lies about 50 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. 51 Pegasi b, a "hot Jupiter" gas giant that orbits close to its parent star, was spotted in 1995, when it became the first alien world ever discovered around a sunlike star.

Happy Earth Day! 5 Ways to Get Kids to Help the Planet

From conserving natural resources to fighting food waste, here are five ways to get kids involved in Earth Day. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental nonprofit advocacy group headquartered in New York, has other tips for green teams, such as encouraging school districts to switch to cleaner, nondiesel buses.

Bullet-proof Bloodhound car aims for 1,000mph record

By Matthew Stock Described as "part Formula 1 car, part space rocket and part supersonic jet", the Bloodhound Supersonic Car is aiming to be the world's first 1,000mph car when it attempts to set a new world record in 2016. The car's British designers say they are pushing the limits of science, with the Bloodhound a catalyst for cutting-edge research in fields such as aerodynamics and sustainable high-tech engineering. At their headquarters near Bristol, the Bloodhound team is busy constructing and assembling the vehicle's 3,500 bespoke components ahead of the car's unveiling in August. Bloodhound SSC (supersonic car) will be driven by Wing Commander Andy Green who set the current record of 763mph (1228kmh) at the wheel of ThrustSSC in 1997.

Morphing wings allow drones to keep flying through midair collisions

By Ben Gruber Palo Alto, California, United States - Amanda Stowers is beating up on her drone as her professor watches on with glee. No matter how hard or how many times Amanda hits the drones' wing, it always recovers and keeps on flapping. Stowers says that even drones equipped with advanced sensors can't avoid the inevitable. The ability to maneuver in tight and cluttered environments could allow drones to play an important role in search and rescue operations, giving first responders the ability to search for survivors remotely.

Russia cuts space funding as economic crisis bites

By Jack Stubbs MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is cutting spending on its space program by more than a third over the next 10 years because of the country's economic crisis, forcing it to scrap plans to develop a super-heavy launch rocket. Space exploration is a subject of national pride in Russia, rooted in the Cold War "space race" with the United States that saw Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin become the first man in orbit. The collapse of the Soviet Union starved the program of funds, but President Vladimir Putin has nurtured plans for a revival. Russia is planning to develop its own space station by 2023 but economic constraints are growing.

Planet Mercury Shines Near Mars Tonight: When and Where to Look

Tonight (April 22), about half an hour after sunset, there is a chance to observe the two smallest planets, Mercury and Mars, shining close to each other. Any earlier or later either the background sky is too bright, or Mercury is too close to the horizon. This evening, Mercury will be joined by Mars, which is heading behind the sun towards conjunction on June 14. Because Mars is on the far side of the sun, it is now more than two magnitudes fainter than Mercury.

Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight: How to See It

The online Slooh community observatory will air a free Lyrids webcast at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT on April 23) at its website: www.slooh.com. When we pass that part of our orbit, we ram through the dusty debris left behind by the comet.

How do you tell a boy dinosaur from a girl dinosaur?

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For extinct creatures like dinosaurs known only from fossils, it is notoriously difficult to differentiate the males from the females of a species because sex distinctions are rarely obvious from the skeletons. Stegosaurus, which roamed the western United States about 150 million years ago, was a large, four-legged plant-eater with two rows of plates along its back, as well as two pairs of spikes at the end of its tail to clobber predators. "Males typically invest more into their ornamentation than do females, so the larger wide plates were likely from males," said Evan Saitta, a 23-year-old paleontology graduate student at Britain's University of Bristol whose study appears in the journal PLOS ONE. Anatomical and other differences between the sexes of a single species, like a male lion's mane or a male deer's antlers, are called sexual dimorphism.

Stegosaurus' Bony Plates May Reveal Dino's Sex

The plates of the Stegosaurus — the large, bony discs that lined the dinosaur's neck, back and tail in two staggered rows — may have differed between males and females, a new study finds. An analysis of the 150-million-year-old remains of the species Stegosaurus mjosi show that some individuals had wide plates, whereas others had tall plates. These anatomical differences may distinguish males and females — a concept known as sexual dimorphism, said the study's author, Evan Saitta, a graduate student of paleobiology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom who began the study as part of his senior thesis at Princeton University. "It's the most convincing evidence we have so far of sexual dimorphism in a dinosaur," excluding birds, the living descendants of dinosaurs, Saitta told Live Science.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Is Freezing Your Eggs Worth the Cost?

Scientists ran all the numbers — the cost of egg freezing, the odds of having a baby at age 40 without in vitro fertilization and the cost of IVF for women who will need it in order to have a baby — and found that it costs about $15,000 less, on average, for women to freeze their eggs at age 35 and use them at age 40, rather than wait until age 40 and try to become pregnant. The study shows that "if a woman invested in having a genetically related child at age 40, egg banking at least once at age 35 is a cost-effective approach," said Dr. Wendy Vitek, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York.

170-Year-Old Champagne Recovered from the Bottom of the Sea

Every wine connoisseur knows the value of an aged wine, but few get the opportunity to sample 170-year-old Champagne from the bottom of the sea. A chemical analysis of the ancient libation has revealed a great deal about how this 19th-century wine was produced. "After 170 years of deep-sea aging in close-to-perfect conditions, these sleeping Champagne bottles awoke to tell us a chapter of the story of winemaking," the researchers wrote in the study, published today (April 20) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the study, led by Philippe Jeandet, a professor of food biochemistry at the University of Reims, Champagne-Ardenne in France, researchers analyzed the chemical composition of the wine from the shipwreck and compared it to that of modern Champagne.

New U.S. mammogram guidelines stick with screening from age 50

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - New mammogram screening guidelines from an influential panel of U.S. experts reaffirm earlier guidance that breast cancer screening should begin at age 50 for most women, but they acknowledge that women in their 40s also benefit, something experts say is a step in the right direction. "They made it really clear this time around, unlike 2009, that the discussion between a woman and a clinician about breast cancer screening should begin at 40," said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society. The Department of Health and Human Services provided for mammogram coverage for women age 40 to 49 after the health panel made its recommendation in 2009. The department said on Monday that the guidelines are only in draft form and that nothing has changed regarding access to mammograms or other preventive services. Critics stressed that keeping 50 as the starting age for screening – a change first introduced by the panel six years ago - could threaten insurance coverage for millions of women age 40 to 49. "If this becomes the final guideline, coverage of mammograms would no longer be mandated under the ACA," said Wender.

Mindfulness therapy as good as medication for chronic depression - study

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may be just as effective as anti-depressants in helping prevent people with chronic depression from relapsing, scientists said on Tuesday. Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally. Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of psychotherapy or a combination of both.

Type, frequency of e-cigarette use linked to quitting smoking

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Two new studies looking at whether electronic cigarettes help smokers to quit their deadly habit have found that while some of them can, it depends on the type and how often it is used. Many experts think e-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into an inhalable vapor, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but questions remain about their use and safety. The charity Action on Smoking and Health says more than 2 million adults in Britain use e-cigarettes. So-called "cigalike" e-cigarettes are disposable or use replaceable cartridges, while "tank" models look quite different and have refillable containers of nicotine "e-liquid".

Free home heating offered by e-Radiators

A Dutch energy firm is trailing a scheme that offers both the promise of free energy to home-owners and a cheap alternative to large data centers for computing firms. Dutch start-up Nerdalize has teamed up with energy providers Eneco to launch its e-Radiator prototype, which is being tested in five Dutch homes as an alternative heating device. The e-Radiator is a computer server that crunches numbers for a variety of Belgian firms - while the resultant heat will heat the rooms in which they're situated. Nerdalize believes the scheme could be a commercially viable alternative to traditional radiators.

NASA Snaps New Views of Dwarf Planet Ceres' Mystery Spots (Video)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has photographed Ceres' intriguing bright spots again as it prepares to begin its science mission at the dwarf planet. Dawn, which arrived at Ceres on March 6, imaged the mysterious bright spots on April 14 and 15 during a photography campaign designed to help guide the spacecraft to its first Ceres science orbit by April 23. NASA officials combined the photos into a short video that shows Ceres' bright spots moving as the dwarf planet rotates. "The approach imaging campaign has completed successfully by giving us a preliminary, tantalizing view of the world Dawn is about to start exploring in detail," Dawn Mission Director and Chief Engineer Marc Rayman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

Scientists to share real-time genetic data on deadly MERS, Ebola

Genetic sequence data on two of the deadliest yet most poorly understood viruses are to be made available to researchers worldwide in real time as scientists seek to speed up understanding of Ebola and MERS infections. "The collective expertise of the world's infectious disease experts is more powerful than any single lab, and the best way of tapping into this...is to make data freely available as soon as possible," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity which is funding the work. The gene sequences, already available for MERS cases and soon to come in the case of Ebola, will be posted on the website virological.org for anyone to see, access and use. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral disease which first emerged in humans in 2012 and has been spreading in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries since then.

Scientists to share real-time genetic data on deadly MERS, Ebola

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Genetic sequence data on two of the deadliest yet most poorly understood viruses are to be made available to researchers worldwide in real time as scientists seek to speed up understanding of Ebola and MERS infections. "The collective expertise of the world's infectious disease experts is more powerful than any single lab, and the best way of tapping into this...is to make data freely available as soon as possible," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity which is funding the work. The gene sequences, already available for MERS cases and soon to come in the case of Ebola, will be posted on the website virological.org for anyone to see, access and use. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral disease which first emerged in humans in 2012 and has been spreading in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries since then.

Where in the US Are People Most Worried About Climate Change?

Residents in California are much more worried about the warming planet than those in parts of the central United States, according to a new set of interactive maps showing public opinion on climate change. Leiserowitz and his colleagues from Yale and Utah State University estimated what people in different states, local communities and congressional districts think, in order to tease out smaller trends. "I use this analogy loosely, but it's like getting a microscope for the first time," Leiserowitz told Live Science. The first is that diversity is present on the state, district and county levels.

New U.S. mammogram guidelines stick with screening from age 50

Atomic Clock Is So Precise It Won't Lose a Second for 15 Billion Years

An atomic clock that sets the time by the teensy oscillations of strontium atoms has gotten so precise and stable that it will neither gain nor lose a second for the next 15 billion years. The strontium clock, which is about three times as precise as the previous record holder, now has the power to reveal tiny shifts in time predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that time ticks faster at different elevations on Earth. "Our performance means that we can measure the gravitational shift when you raise the clock just 2 centimeters [0.79 inches] on the Earth's surface," study co-author Jun Ye, a physicist at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a statement.

New Advice on What To Do About Seizures

Now, a new guideline announced here today (April 20) at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting may offer some advice for this gray area. Currently, most patients and doctors end up waiting, without treatment, to see if a second seizure occurs, said Dr. Jacqueline French, a neurology professor at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.

Measles Vaccine Not Linked with Autism, Even in High-Risk Kids

Another study has found no link between autism and the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (called the MMR vaccine). This time, the finding comes from a study of children at high risk of developing autism. The researchers found that there was no link between receiving the MMR vaccine and developing autism, even for the children who had an increased risk of autism because their older siblings had been diagnosed with the condition. The researchers wanted to look at more data on the MMR vaccine and autism risk because "despite the research that shows no link between the MMR vaccine [and autism], parents continue to believe that the vaccine is contributing to autism," said study author Dr. Anjali Jain, of The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm in Falls Church, Virginia.

Supplements May Raise, Not Lower, Cancer Risk

Although dietary supplements are often touted for their health benefits, they may in fact increase your cancer risk, especially if taken in high doses, according to a new analysis of previous research. "In a nutshell, the answer is no, the vitamin pills do not reduce cancer risk," said the author of the analysis, Dr. Tim Byers, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. For example, in a study published in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that women who had a high intake of folic-acid supplements had a 19 percent greater risk of breast cancer than those who did not take such supplements. Moreover, women who had the highest levels of folate, the water-soluble form of folic acid, in their blood had a 32 percent greater risk of breast cancer than those who had the lowest levels.

Brilliant Venus and Moon Shine Together Tonight: How to See It

This evening will be another one of those special occasions when the two brightest objects in the night sky — the moon and a Venus — will get together and, weather permitting, will attract a lot of attention, even to those who normally do not spend much time in gazing up at the sky.

How the Hubble Space Telescope Changed Our View of the Cosmos

For most of its 25 years in space, the Hubble Space Telescope has been amazing people around the world with its beautiful images. But the spacecraft — a collaboration involving NASA and the European Space Agency — produces much more than pretty pictures. "We hoped [Hubble] would change our view of the universe," Colleen Hartman told Space.com here last week at a screening of "Hubble's Cosmic Journey," a documentary that premiered last night (April 20) on National Geographic Channel.

Ancient Hangover Cure Discovered in Greek Texts

Rather than popping an ibuprofen for a pounding drunken headache, people in Egypt may have worn a leafy necklace. The 1,900-year-old papyrus containing the hangover treatment is one of over 500,000 such documents found in the ancient Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus by researchers Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt about a century ago. Recently, volume 80 was published, containing studies and decipherments of about 30 medical papyri found at Oxyrhynchus, including the papyrus with the hangover treatment. This newly published volume represents "the largest single collection of medical papyri to be published," wrote Vivian Nutton, a professor at University College London, at the beginning of the volume.

Explore Loch Ness Monster's Home on Google Street View

Looking for the Loch Ness monster just got easier, thanks to Google Street View. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter.

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