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Saturday, June 13, 2015

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Bluebird Bio's sickle cell gene therapy working for French boy

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - A pioneering gene therapy for sickle cell disease is working well so far for a 13-year-old French boy with the hereditary blood disorder, researchers said on Saturday, in a boost for the technology to fix faulty genes. SCD is caused by a mutated gene, resulting in abnormal red blood cell function. Patients suffer anemia, painful obstruction of blood vessels and, in some cases, early death.

New Photo Book Presents Rare 'Snapshots' from NASA's Early 'Spaceshots'

J.L. Pickering usually doesn't take kindly to books claiming "never before seen" NASA photographs. A space historian and one half of the team behind the new title, "Spaceshots and Snapshots of Projects Mercury and Gemini: A Rare Photographic History," now available from University of New Mexico Press, he has almost assuredly already seen the photos. "When we would go into any bookstore, we would naturally check out the space books," John Bisney, Pickering's co-author, said about the catalyst that led to their new book, which presents some of the truly seldom reproduced shots from NASA's first piloted space programs.

These Astronaut Photos of the Great Pyramids & Earth Are Simply Breathtaking

Astronaut Terry Virts knows how to spend his last day in space: gazing at planet Earth from afar and posting photos of that jaw-dropping view online for all to see. Before a Soyuz space capsule returned Virts to Earth Thursday (June 11), the NASA astronaut took time out in space to photograph the Earth below, capturing spectacular vistas of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, our home planet at night and what looked to be a stunning sunrise. "It took me to until my last day in space to get a good picture of these," Virts wrote on Twitter, where he posted photos, Vine videos and mission updates as @AstroTerry.

Robots Face Off in $1.5 Million NASA Sample Return Challenge

Robot-toting teams faced off in a NASA contest this week to see which automaton has the right stuff for working on Mars or other locations in the solar system.

How Dangerous Was 'High 5' With Great White Shark?

"Coming out of the cage like that is not as risky as it might seem," Carl Meyer of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology told Live Science. In the video, Joel Ibarra, a dive master on an expedition filmed for the Discovery Channel, appears to exit a shark cage and touch the pectoral fin of a female great white nicknamed Deep Blue. Ibarra was not really purposely slapping the female great white shark on the fin.

Nobel Scientist's Claim Examined: Do Women Actually Cry More?

Although the general consensus is that Hunt was completely out of line, studies show that overall, women do cry more than men — though not, as Hunt claimed, because they can't take criticism, but because of various biological, social and environmental factors. Hunt, who won the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, shared his sentiments on Monday (June 8) at the World Conferences of Science Journalists in South Korea. And Steve Diggle, a microbiologist at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, created a yellow caution sign that said, "Mixed gender lab! No falling in love or crying permitted," and posted it on Twitter.

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Friday, June 12, 2015

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How to Spot Asteroid Pallas in Binoculars and Telescopes This Week

Most of us have played video games shooting at asteroids, or watched a starship maneuvering through the asteroid belt on television. This week is an excellent opportunity to see one of the largest asteroids, Pallas, as it reaches opposition to the sun. At opposition, Pallas will reach magnitude 9.4, making it easily visible in binoculars.

SpaceCom Conference Launches Registration for Commercial Space Meeting

Registration is now open for a November conference that aims to help bring space technologies down to Earth. People can now register to attend the first-ever SpaceCom (short for the Space Commerce Conference and Exposition), which runs from Nov. 17 through Nov. 19 in Houston. "We want to accelerate the understanding of the applications of space technology that have been learned by NASA and its partners to Earth-bound industries — like advanced manufacturing, energy, the maritime industry, agriculture, et cetera," SpaceCom executive director James Causey told Space.com.

This Lonely Galaxy Looks 'Lost In Space' in Hubble Telescope Photo

The galaxy takes center stage in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows NGC 6503 shining in visible and ultraviolet light, with different colors denoting zones of gas and star birth. NASA and the European Space Agency unveiled the image on Wednesday (June 10). In the image, galaxy NGC 6503 appears to stand alone beside an area dubbed the Local Void, a cosmic dead zone that is at least 150 million light-years across.

Stretchy spinal implant presents new paralysis treatment

By Matthew Stock A thin and flexible implant that can be applied directly to the surface of the spinal cord to administer electrical and chemical stimulation has been developed by scientists in Switzerland. In 2012 the researchers showed how electrical-chemical stimulation could restore lower body movement in rats with spinal cord injuries. The scientists then stimulated the spinal cord with electrodes implanted in the outermost layer of the spinal canal, called the epidural space.

Syfy Launches Mysterious 'Dark Matter' Series Tonight

A spaceship crew of six people wake up to find they have no idea who they are or how they got there, in SyFy's new series "Dark Matter," which debuts tonight. The series is based on a comic book of the same name by "Stargate" alumni Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, who also wrote and produced the new series. You can watch the trailer for the series here on Space.com, as well as a clip from the pilot episode.

Robo-Klutz: Bipedal Bots Bite It at Competition

The challenge, hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was a friendly competition among engineers from around the world, all of whom were tasked with building a two-legged bot suitable for disaster-response missions.

Ancient Rome's Aqueducts Held Less Water Than Previously Thought

The majestic aqueduct that fed water to ancient Rome carried less of the life-giving liquid than previously thought, new research suggests. The Anio Novus aqueduct carried water from the mountains into Rome at a rate of about 370 gallons of water per second, said lead author Bruce Fouke, a geologist and microbiologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Anio Novus aqueduct drew from the Aniene River, high in the Appennine Mountains.

Soft Robotic Tentacles Pick Up Ant Without Crushing It

Tiny soft robotic tentacles might be ideal for delicate microscopic surgery, say researchers, who were able to use the teensy "limbs" to pick up an ant without damaging its body. In experiments, these new tentacles also wrapped around other tiny items — such as fish eggs, which deform and burst easily when handled by hard tweezers — without damaging them, scientists added.

Burned Bones in Alexander the Great Family Tomb Give Up Few Secrets

The latest volley in the debate over which Philip occupies the tomb makes a case for the illustrious Philip II, arguing that the woman found interred alongside the much-debated male body was too old to have been the younger Philip's wife. The tomb's discoverers declared the man was Philip II, who took the throne of Macedonia in 359 B.C. as regent for his infant nephew. This went well until 336 B.C., when one of Philip II's bodyguards assassinated him as he walked into a theater in the Macedonian capital of Aegae.

CPR Mobile App System Sends Trained Adults to Rescue

When a person's heart suddenly stops beating, CPR can sometimes save that person's life. Now, researchers hoping to fix this problem have developed a mobile app that alerts people who are trained in CPR when someone nearby needs their help. In a new study, the researchers report that the app did indeed increase the rates of CPR performed on people undergoing cardiac arrest by 14 percentage points, according to the study.

Google Searches for 'Skin Cancer' Rise in Summer

Warm weather and sunny days may make people think about skin cancer: A new study finds that people do more Google searches for the terms "skin cancer" and "melanoma" during the sun-soaked summer months than they do in other seasons. The finding suggests that people have an increased interest in, or awareness of, melanoma during the summertime, making this season "the most efficient time for educational and public health initiatives" about skin cancer, the researchers wrote in their study. For the study, the researchers looked at Google search trends from 2010 to 2014, and analyzed the number of searches for "melanoma" and "skin cancer." They also looked at data on newly diagnosed cases of melanoma in the United States, as well as deaths from the disease, to see whether these correlated with the Web search trends.

Tim Hunt's Boys' Club: Women Still Face Challenges in Science

Earlier this week, Nobel-winning biochemist Tim Hunt made waves when he said he had "trouble with girls" in science. "Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry," Hunt said on Monday (June 8) to a shocked audience at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea. Hunt won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001.

Major Surgical Mistakes Still Happen in the US

In about 1 in 100,000 surgeries, doctors make a "wrong site" error — for example, they operate on the wrong side of a person's body, or sometimes even on the wrong person, the study found. "Never events are, fortunately, very rare," said the study's lead researcher, Susanne Hempel, co-director of the Evidence-based Practice Center at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit global policy think tank headquartered in California. Hempel and her colleagues conducted the review for the U.S. Veterans Affairs National Center for Patient Safety, "to evaluate the state of the evidence 10 years after the introduction of the Universal Protocol, a concerted effort to improve surgical safety," she told Live Science in an email.

Great White Shark High 5? Here's What Really Happened

One of the biggest great white sharks ever recorded has sent waves across the Internet not just for her plus size, but for what seemed to be a high five with a dive master hanging out in a shark cage. Turns out, Joel Ibarra, the dive master of an ecotourism boat, was trying to keep the 22-foot-long (6.5 meters) great white shark, nicknamed Deep Blue, from harm. "The dive master was pushing the shark away — it has a big laceration on the right side," said shark researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, director of Pelagios-Kakunjá A.C., a nonprofit organization that focuses on sharks and other open-water species.

Jack King, NASA's 'Voice of Apollo,' Dies at 84

NASA's "Voice of Apollo" – gave start to the first mission to land men on the moon. King, who served for 12 years as the space agency's chief of public information, spanning the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, died on Thursday (June 11). "Jack helped establish the original systems to ensure the media received timely and accurate information about both the early human flight programs and unmanned missions," said Hugh Harris, a retired director of public affairs at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Thursday, June 11, 2015

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Privately funded spacecraft spreads its solar sails

A privately funded space project to demonstrate an innovative solar sail passed with flying colors despite a series of near-fatal technical issues, program managers said on Wednesday. The 11-pound (5 kg) LightSail spacecraft, tucked inside a 4- by 4- by 12-inch (10- by 10- by 3-centimeter) box, hitched a ride into orbit aboard an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force's X-37B robot space plane on May 20. Funded by members of The Planetary Society, a California-based space advocacy organization, LightSail was intended to demonstrate how a tiny motor could unfurl four thin Mylar films into an area as big as a living room.

Honey-based mead may curb antibiotic resistance, say makers

By Ilze Filks Scientists in Sweden are launching their own mead - an alcoholic beverage made from a fermented mix of honey and water - based on old recipes which they say could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Together with a brewery, the scientists who have long studied bees and their honey, have launched their own mead drink - Honey Hunter's Elixir. Lund University researcher Tobias Olofsson said mead had a long track record in bringing positive effects on health.

Thrusters on Soyuz Spacecraft at Space Station Fire Unexpectedly

Thrusters on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that's docked at the International Space Station fired unexpectedly on Tuesday (June 9), temporarily changing the huge complex's orientation in orbit.

Beyond games, Oculus virtual reality headset finds medical uses

By Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - To help treat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, Jennifer Patterson turned to a gadget typically associated with video games: the virtual reality headset from Oculus, a company Facebook Inc bought for $2 billion last year. Patterson, an engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh, studied a software used on the prototype of the head-mounted display that creates virtual settings, such as a Middle Eastern-themed city or desert road, that soldiers would otherwise avoid, as a way to help them recover from their PTSD. While there are no estimates of the potential size of the market for virtual reality applications in the health care field, analysts say that success in this area would likely spur even broader adoption in a range of industries, such as education, fashion, media and telecommunications.

LightSail Spacecraft Snaps Solar Sail Selfie in Space (Photo)

The Planetary Society's tiny LightSail spacecraft has sent a photo of its deployed solar sail down to Earth, confirming that the cubesat's shakeout flight has been a complete success. The cubesat — whose mission is funded by members and supporters of The Planetary Society, a California-based nonprofit — overcame two troubling orbital incidents before unfurling its sail on Sunday (June 7). "I'm very proud to say that our LightSail test mission was a success," Planetary Society CEO and former TV "Science Guy" Bill Nye said in a statement today (June 10).

Trek On, Spock: Asteroid Now Carries Leonard Nimoy's Name

The legacy of Leonard Nimoy has reached the Final Frontier: on June 2, a 6-mile-wide (9.6 km) asteroid was named 4864 Nimoy in his honor. The asteroid travels within the main asteroid belt — between Mars and Jupiter — and orbits the sun every 3.9 years. It was originally discovered at the European Southern Observatory in 1988.

Color-Changing 'Squid Skin' Designed in Lab

Artificial skin mimicking that of squids and octopuses could one day lead to electronic camouflage suits, researchers say. Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish are all cephalopods, sea creatures that can rapidly change the color of their skin to conceal themselves or to communicate with others. Now, materials scientist Aaron Fishman at the University of Bristol in England and his colleagues have designed a system that mimics how cephalopod skin works.

Ancient Church Uncovered During Highway Project in Israel

A 1,500-year-old church has been discovered at a Byzantine period rest stop on the road connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, archaeologists announced today (June 10). The ancient road station and church, uncovered during a highway construction project, sit next to a seep spring called 'Ain Naqa'a, which is on the outskirts of Moshav Bet Neqofa, a settlement in Jerusalem. Along the old road, which was likely paved in the Roman period, "other settlements and road stations have previously been discovered that served those traveling the route in ancient times," Annette Nagar, the director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement.

Space trio leave orbital outpost for delayed return to Earth

By Irene Klotz and Dmitry Solovyov CAPE CANAVERAL/ALMATY (Reuters) - An international space trio climbed into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday and left the International Space Station after 199 full days in orbit to begin their delayed return to Earth, NASA Television showed. Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov gave a hearty hug to three crewmen remaining aboard the ISS before sealing themselves into the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft shortly after 0700 GMT (3 a.m. EDT). No issues whatsoever at this stage," Russia's Mission Control near Moscow reported as the spacecraft floated away from the ISS.

Soyuz Capsule Returns Trio to Earth After Nearly 200 Days on Space Station

Three space station crew members have returned home to the Earth after spending nearly 200 days off the planet. "We got to spend 200 days in space together, a few bonus days, but you just couldn't ask for a better group of people to spend this time in space with," Virts said before he and his crewmates left for Earth.

Multitasking During Exercise May Ramp Up the Workout

In the study of older adults, researchers found that, when people completed easy cognitive tasks while they were cycling on a stationary bike, their cycling speed increased. "Every dual-task study that I'm aware of shows that, when people are doing two things at once, they get worse" at those tasks, study author Lori Altmann, an associate professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at the University of Florida, said in a statement. The participants completed 12 cognitive tasks while they were sitting in a quiet room, and then they did the tasks again as they were cycling.

Insect Parts and Mouse Poop: Gross Things in Your Food

Nobody wants to find insect parts, rat hairs, mouse poop or maggots in their food. For example, it's fine with the FDA for Americans to accompany their Thanksgiving turkeys with cranberry sauce containing an average of 15 percent mold filaments, based on a count made when samples of the sauce are viewed under a microscope. "Food defects are not things that cause people to get sick," said Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist and associate professor at North Carolina State University at Raleigh.

College Rape Prevention Program Cuts Risk by 50%

In the study, more than 400 women at three universities in Canada took part in a rape resistance program, which consisted of four 3-hour sessions that included lectures, discussion on rape prevention, and ways to practice what they learned. One year later, nearly 10 percent of the women in the brochure group reported that they had been raped, where a perpetrator used force, threats or incapacitating drugs to rape her. Women in the rape resistance group were also less likely to experience an attempted rape, where the perpetrator tried to rape the woman but was not successful.

Some Heartburn Drugs May Increase Heart Attack Risk

In the study, researchers found that adults who were prescribed proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) as a treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were 16 to 21 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack over a 17-year period, compared with people who were not using these common medications. Popular PPIs include Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid.

iPhone Will Track Your Sex Life: Is That Helpful?

An update to Apple's Health app that is set for release this fall will let users track their sex lives, but experts say this tracking feature alone has little value for people's health. The sexual-activity tracking feature will be included as part of a new "reproductive health" section within Apple's Health Kit app, which will be available with the iOS9 update. A simple log of your sexual activity is not very useful by itself, except to perhaps make people feel good or bad about themselves, said Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a specialist in female urology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

The writing's on the wall with Phree smart pen

A digital pen that allows users to document and share a digital copy of a scribble, sketch or note written on any surface has been developed in Israel. When paired with a smartphone, 'Phree' frees users from the need to write on paper or the screen itself. Resembling traditional hand-held pens in size and shape, its developers say that Phree's appeal is in preserving the ancient act of writing or drawing while keeping up with technological advancements.

Watch the Moon Photobomb Uranus in Slooh Occultation Webcast Today

The planet Uranus will slip behind the moon today (June 11) in a celestial event known as an occultation, and you have a chance to watch it live online. The online Slooh Community Observatory will stream live telescope views of Uranus as it is blocked by the moon in a free webcast at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) that can be seen at the Slooh website: http://www.slooh.com. You can also watch the Uranus webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

Egg or sperm? Scientists identify a gene that makes the call

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Providing insight into the sometimes mysterious biology of reproduction, researchers in Japan have identified a gene that controls whether the reproductive precursor cells known as germ cells eventually become sperm or eggs. The scientists on Thursday described experiments involving a small fish called the medaka, or Japanese rice fish, that revealed the role of a gene called foxl3 in controlling the fate of germ cells. Germ cells are present in the bodies of vertebrates of both sexes, but the molecular mechanism that drives them to develop into either sperm, the male reproductive cell, or an egg, the female reproductive cell, has been elusive.

Egg or sperm? Scientists identify a gene that makes the call

Were Dinosaurs Warm-Blooded? New Study Fuels Debate

Dinosaurs were once thought to be the cold-blooded kings of the Mesozoic era. Dinosaurs are considered reptiles, so scientists had assumed the beasts were cold-blooded like their kin, meaning they depended on their environments to regulate their body temperature. The sluggish metabolism of such a cold-blooded dinosaur would have forced it to lumber slowly across its ancient scape.

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