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Saturday, June 27, 2015

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Aratana's experimental appetite stimulator succeeds in study on dogs

(Reuters) - Animal health drugmaker Aratana Therapeutics Inc said its experimental appetite-stimulating drug was found effective in dogs in a pivotal study. Aratana shares jumped 21 percent in extended trading on Friday. The study showed that an oral 3 mg/kg dose of the drug, AT-002, given daily for four days significantly increased appetite in dogs, compared with those on placebo.

Space Stress: How 1-Year Mission Is Studying Astronaut Health

You're flying and falling at once, people are scrutinizing your every move, the light is unnatural, everyday tasks are inexplicably difficult and you see your family and friends only at a distance: Being in space is much like a stressful dream, and that constant stress must take a toll on astronauts over time. Researchers are probing how the bizarre stresses of space affect astronauts aboard the International Space Station, with an eye toward reducing negative impacts as much as possible. Over the course of the ongoing one-year mission on the orbiting lab, two spaceflyers are undergoing five behavioral health investigations to examine cognitive performance, sleep, brain structure, emotion and fatigue.

Python Eats Porcupine, Regrets It Later (Here's Why)

One of these giant snakes — which kill prey by suffocating it and then consuming it whole — recently dined on a porcupine and didn't live to brag about it. On June 14, a cyclist riding along one of the mountain bike trails at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, spotted a very engorged snake. Lots of people came to the park in the following days just to view the swollen snake, according to Jennifer Fuller, general manager at the game reserve.

'Astronaut Wives Club': Space History vs. Hollywood in 'Protocol' (Ep. 2)

"The Astronaut Wives Club," ABC's 10-part docu-drama about the spouses behind America's first spacemen, entered orbit Thursday night (June 25) with its second episode. Picking up where the premiere "Launch" left off, "Protocol" revolved around the second and third U.S. manned spaceflights from the perspectives of the astronauts' wives. "As Louise and Alan Shepard bask in the success of his mission, Betty Grissom preps for Gus' launch and turns to Louise for advice," wrote ABC in its synopsis.

How Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Could Improve Health

The Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples anywhere in the United States have a right to marry could improve the health of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, experts say. A large body of evidence shows that heterosexual people who are married have better physical and mental health than people who are not married. "We know that marriage does enhance people's health," said Richard Wight, a community health researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.

Stepping on a Scale Daily May Help You Lose Weight

In the study, researchers found that, among people who were trying to lose weight, those who weighed themselves daily and recorded their results lost about 3 percent of their body weight, on average, over the course of a year. Moreover, after that year, the people who weighed themselves daily were able to maintain their weight loss for another year, which is important because maintaining a new, lower weight without gaining pounds back tends to be more difficult for people than losing weight, the researchers said. "There are thousands of ways of losing weight," said study author David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University.

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Friday, June 26, 2015

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Ancient, Shell-Less Turtle Sported Whiplike Tail

Researchers found the first fossils of the 240-million-year-old creature in 2006, during an excavation of Vellberg Lake, an ancient lakebed in southeastern Germany, said study researcher Hans Sues, a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. "We now have well over a dozen specimens, including partial skeletons but also some isolated parts of skeletons," Sues told Live Science. The researchers named the new species Pappochelys rosinae, from the Greek words "pappos" meaning grandfather — as the species is thought to be the "grandfather" of shelled turtles — and "chelys," meaning turtle.

Destination Mars: NASA Asks Where Astronauts Should Land

The space agency will hold a workshop in Houston this October to kick off serious discussions about possible landing sites for NASA's first manned Mars mission, which the agency aims to launch by the mid- to late 2030s. "This is going to be a hot debate," Jim Green, head of NASA's Planetary Science Division, told reporters during a teleconference today (June 25). Over the next few years, NASA plans to study the most promising exploration zones in depth using the agency's Mars Odyssey spacecraft and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which began circling the Red Planet in 2001 and 2006, respectively.

Surreal Storm Rages Against Starry Backdrop in Winning Weather Photo

One stormy evening in July, photographer Brad Goddard looked in his rearview mirror and noticed an ominous storm building behind him. That image was one of three that netted Goddard, an engineer and professional photographer in Orion, Illinois, a prize in the first-ever Weather in Focus photo contest by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Other winners included stunning shots of tempestuous storms, as well as everyday weather like rippled clouds over the Smoky Mountains and drops of rain dotting a fallen leaf.

Icy Earthquakes: Warming Planet Shakes Up Glaciers

Scientists monitored the Helheim Glacier, a major outlet of the Greenland Ice Sheet, over 55 days from July to September 2013. The backward movement and the subsequent change in water pressure cause glacial earthquakes, which can trigger massive tsunami waves and thunderous rumbling. "It's like taking a really strong spring, pushing on the front of it and just making it compress," said study co-author Meredith Nettles, a professor of earth science at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York City.

How Same-Sex Marriage Became the Law of the Land

The Supreme Court ruled today (June 26) that same-sex marriage is legal in the United States, ushering in marital rights for gays and lesbians throughout the land. "The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning," Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

F-35 Fighter Jet Nails Olympic-Worthy 'Ski Jump' Takeoff

When a fighter jet takes off from a runway the same way that a skier launches gracefully off a jump, the result can be surprisingly beautiful. Last week, an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet performed one of these Olympic-worthy launches at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. Known as the vertical and/or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) variant, the F-35B is designed to operate on aircraft carriers, which don't have space for long runways.

Watch an Alien Planet Cross Its Host Star's Face Saturday

TrES-2b, a planet nicknamed "Dark Knight" because it reflects so little light, will cross the face of its host star Saturday (June 27) in a "transit" captured by the online Slooh Community Observatory. You can watch the free event — the first-ever live public observation of an exoplanet, according to Slooh representatives — live at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday (0000 GMT Sunday) at the Slooh website: www.slooh.com. You can also watch the exoplanet webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

SpaceX to Try Bold Rocket Landing Again Sunday: Watch Live

SpaceX will try once again, on Sunday, to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a boat, and you can watch all the dramatic spaceflight action live. The daring maneuver will take place during the launch of the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station for NASA. Shortly after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage will separate and perform several engine burns, in an attempt to touch down softly on a SpaceX "autonomous spaceport drone ship," which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Breast Milk Studies May Lead to Better Probiotics, Baby Formula

Discovering how breast milk influences a baby's gut bacteria could help scientists figure out the best way to feed premature babies, design better infant formulas and develop pre- and probiotics to promote lifelong health, researchers argue in a new article. Beneficial bacteria in a baby's gut are "absolutely critical for healthy infants," said Katie Hinde, a co-author of the new article and an anthropologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who studies lactation. Relatively little research has been conducted regarding what breast milk is actually made of and how its components work in the body, the researchers said.

Here's What Went Wrong with Last Year's Flu Vaccine

Americans got little benefit from last season's flu shot — the vaccine was only about 19 percent effective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Protection against H1N1 is also included in the seasonal flu vaccine.

Too Much Vitamin B12 Linked to Acne

Too much vitamin B12 may promote acne, according to a new study. The study found that, in the presence of vitamin B12, the skin bacteria that are commonly linked to acne start pumping out inflammatory molecules known to promote pimples. In the study, scientists investigated the differences between skin bacteria from people prone to acne and bacteria from people with clear-skinned faces.

Ahead of pope's climate message, U.S. Catholics split on cause of global warming

Ahead of Pope Francis' much-anticipated encyclical on the environment, a poll released on Tuesday found that U.S. Catholics are divided on the causes of global warming, mirroring the views of the general public. The survey by the Pew Research Center found 71 percent of U.S. Catholics believed the planet was getting warmer, but less than half, or 47 percent, attributed global warming to human causes. Francis, who took his name from the patron saint of ecology, Francis of Assisi, is expected to release a "teaching document" on Thursday.

How Contagious Is Measles? Man Catches Virus at Airport Gate

It's no secret that airports are hubs for germs, but one Minnesota man was particularly unlucky during his travels — he appears to have caught measles simply by passing a sick child while exiting his plane. The 46-year-old man was traveling from Minnesota to Massachusetts on a business trip in April 2014, with a connection in Chicago, according to a new report of the case. After he arrived in Massachusetts, the man developed a rash characteristic of measles, and his diagnosis was confirmed with a lab test.

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Thursday, June 25, 2015

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500-Million-Year-Old 'Smiling' Worm Rears Its Head

Scientists finally have an answer in the case of the odd ancient worm Hallucigenia, which leaves fossils so bizarre that researchers once thought its top was its bottom and its back was its front. Indeed, after decades, researchers have confirmed which side of Hallucigenia was the head, and found its circular "grinning" mouth lined with teeth, according to a new study detailed today (June 24) in the journal Nature. This toothy ring may be the link that connects creatures as diverse as spiders, nematode worms and teeny-tiny tardigrades — the cute and nearly indestructible micro animals also known as water bears.

Mighty X-Ray Echos Circle 'Lord of the Rings' Neutron Star

This newly observed "X-ray echo" — the largest and brightest of its type ever caught on camera — has allowed researchers to pin down the location of the neutron star Circinus X-1, which was found to lie 30,700 light-years from Earth. Circinus X-1 is a tiny remnant left over after a massive star died in a violent supernova explosion. The neutron star orbits in a binary system with another massive star and tends to emit intense X-rays into the surrounding dust-filled space.

'Oh Pluto': Song Celebrates Upcoming Flyby of Dwarf Planet

A NASA spacecraft's epic flyby of Pluto next month now has a soundtrack. Singer-songwriter Craig Werth has written a song called "Oh Pluto" to highlight and celebrate NASA's New Horizons mission, which will give the world its first up-close looks at the frigid, faraway dwarf planet during a highly anticipated flyby on July 14. "My thought about the song was to treat Pluto as a friend we've been appreciating from afar and are now coming to visit," Werth told Space.com via email.

US Falls in World Happiness Rankings

Panama tops the rankings of the world's happiest countries for the second year in a row, according to a new report. In 2014, people living in the Central American country known for it's man-made canal scored the highest on a yearly survey of global well-being created by Gallup-Healthways. In contrast, Afghanistan scored the lowest out of the 145 ranked countries.

Insight - "Paving paradise": Scientists alarmed over China island building in disputed sea

By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - Concern is mounting among some scientists that China's reclamation work in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has done severe harm to one of the most important coral reef systems in Southeast Asia. China's use of dredged sand and coral to build artificial islands on seven reefs had also damaged reef systems beyond the outposts, meaning the affected area could be greater than first thought, several scientists who have studied satellite images of the Spratlys told Reuters. John McManus, a prominent University of Miami marine biologist who has worked with Philippine scientists to research the South China Sea, told fellow experts this month that China's reclamation "constitutes the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history".

'Paving paradise': Scientists alarmed over China island building in disputed sea

California's Lake Fire Burns Massive 'Scars' into Forest (Photo)

California's four-year-long drought is helping fuel its first major forest fire of the year, a blaze that is engulfing federal land about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. As of Tuesday (June 23), the fire had engulfed at least 27 square miles (70 square kilometers) of the San Bernardino National Forest. The satellite images were taken on Saturday (June 20), when the fire had burned about 23 square miles (60 square km) and was just 10 percent contained.

'Endangered' Cougar Has Likely Been Extinct for 70 Years

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is planning to remove the eastern cougar from the endangered species list after determining the subspecies has likely been extinct for 70 years. The proposal comes after a formal review of the subspecies' status that concluded in 2011. Wildlife officials looked at more than 100 reports (going back to 1900) and found that recent "sightings" of the eastern cougar were actually of Florida panthers, wild western cougars or other cougars that escaped from captivity or were released.

Is It Ethical to Choose a Baby's Sex? Kim & Kanye Fuel Debate

Celebrity couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West might not have simply wished for a boy when they found out they were expecting their second child — some sources claim the couple chose their baby's sex during an in vitro fertilization procedure. Earlier this year, Kardashian and West underwent an IVF procedure in which an egg was fertilized in a lab dish and was then implanted in the uterus, after the couple had trouble conceiving. During this type of procedure, it's possible for a fertility clinic to screen the embryos and determine their sex, and in the case of Kardashian and West, an unnamed source told US Weekly that the couple had only male embryos implanted.

It's no hallucination, that creature is just really weird

Hallucigenia is one of the species emblematic of the Cambrian Period, a pivotal juncture in the history of life on Earth when most major groups of animals first appeared and many unusual body designs came and went. "It is nice to finally know rather fundamental things such as how many legs it has, and to know its head from its tail," University of Cambridge paleontologist Martin Smith said. Hallucigenia, whose fossils have been unearthed in the Burgess Shale site in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, belongs to a primitive group of velvet worms, animals that still exist today.

'Yeti' Crab Grows Its Own Food, Lives in Antarctic Spa

A yeti, of course! Or, in this case, a yeti crab — a marine creature that lives near the thermal vents in the ocean floor where hot water gushes into the sea. K. tyleri is the only species of yeti crab known to reside in the Southern Ocean, off Antarctica.

Mars Astronauts Could See Blue Auroras on Red Planet

Astronauts visiting Mars in the future will be awed by dazzling auroral displays in the planet's southern hemisphere, a new study suggests. While previous research had confirmed the presence of beautiful "southern lights" on Mars, the new study predicts for the first time that the auroras of the Red Planet may be visible to the human eye. "An astronaut looking up while walking on the red Martian soil would be able, after intense solar eruptions, to see the phenomena with the naked eye," study co-author Cyril Simon Wedlund, of Aalto University in Finland, said in a statement.

More Pool Outbreaks Tied to 'Crypto' Parasite

From 2011 to 2012, there were 90 outbreaks and 1,788 cases of any illness linked to using recreational water, according to information reported from 32 states and Puerto Rico. Most of these outbreaks (77 percent) occurred in water that was treated (for example, with chlorine or bromine), such as pools, spas and hot tubs, while 23 percent of the outbreaks involved untreated water, such as lakes and oceans, the CDC said. Among the outbreaks linked to treated water, more than half were caused by a parasite called Cryptosporidium, also known as Crypto, which causes diarrhea, the CDC said.

'Crypto' Parasite Outbreaks Increasing in Pools Across US

Scientists crack gene secret that lets poppies make morphine

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in engineering brewer's yeast to synthesize opiates such as morphine and codeine from a common sugar, boosting the prospect of "home-brew" drug supply. "Poppies are not going to be displaced overnight by any stretch of the imagination," said Ian Graham, a professor at the University of York, who worked on the latest gene discovery.

Sunrise at Copernicus: Spot Famous Moon Crater Tonight

As the moon climbs the western sky this week, watch it with binoculars. Earth's natural satellite shows at least as much detail through binoculars as Galileo Galilei saw with his crude telescope 400 years ago. Your first glance through binoculars will reveal large dark areas, the so-called seas or maria (the plural of mare), which in reality are flat lava plains.

Spectacular Northern Lights Show Could Continue This Weekend (Photos, Video)

Throughout Canada and as far south as Philadelphia, the northern lights have been wowing skywatchers this week, and the colorful displays could continue, following another solar explosion spotted by NASA. A large sun storm last weekend known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) sent high-energy particles streaming toward Earth, where their interaction with the atmosphere and the magnetic field supercharged the gorgeous color displays known in the northern hemisphere as the aurora borealis.

Scientists crack gene secret that lets poppies make morphine

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in engineering brewer's yeast to synthesise opiates such as morphine and codeine from a common sugar, boosting the prospect of "home-brew" drug supply. "Poppies are not going to be displaced overnight by any stretch of the imagination," said Ian Graham, a professor at the University of York, who worked on the latest gene discovery.

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