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Saturday, August 29, 2015

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Beyond Pluto: 2nd Target Chosen for New Horizons Probe

NASA's New Horizons probe, which flew past Pluto last month, now has a second target to aim for. The New Horizons team has selected an object named 2014 MU69, which lies roughly 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto, as the next target for up-close study by the spacecraft, NASA announced today (Aug. 28). However, the space agency still must officially approve a New Horizons mission extension for the second flyby to take place in 2019.

The FDA's New Serving Sizes May Backfire — Here's Why

In a new study, just about 20 percent of people answered this question correctly, saying that serving size is how much people typically eat in one sitting. Most people incorrectly said that serving size is a recommendation of how much they could or should consume in one sitting. This lack of understanding could be a problem for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the researchers said. The FDA is planning to change the serving sizes that are listed on nutrition labels because people typically eat larger portions now than they did when the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was passed, in 1990.

Venus Displays Its Brilliant Morning Finery for the Fall

All through the spring and early summer, the planet Venus dominated the western evening sky. Now, as summer turns into fall, Venus will dominate the eastern sky before sunrise. Venus has erupted into view in the eastern morning sky for the past couple of weeks.

Full Moon Tonight Offers Sneak Preview of September Lunar Eclipse

A full moon will grace the sky tonight (Aug. 29), but it is only a dress rehearsal for next month, when the full moon will undergo a total lunar eclipse. Some Native American fishing tribes referred to the full moon of August as the "Sturgeon Moon," since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the "Full Red Moon" because, as the moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze.

Panda Bros: Twin Cubs Were Fraternal Brothers, Tests Show

Twin pandas born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo would have been fraternal brothers, if the firstborn cub hadn't died just five days after making its debut on Earth. Tests on the pandas' DNA showed that both cubs were male, according to researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's (SCBI) Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics. Furthermore, a paternity analysis showed that Tian Tian (t-YEN t-YEN) fathered the twins, the zoo said.

Hurricane Katrina's Stark Changes Endure in Images from Space

Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall along the Louisiana-Mississippi border as a Category 3 storm on Aug. 29, 2005, transformed the marshes that buffer New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico by ripping apart and moving mats of dead grass. The storm stirred up and distributed soft underlying sediments, digging several new channels and depositing sediment and debris in new places, according to NASA. The false-color image was taken earlier this month, on Aug. 2, by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite.

Psychedelic Swirls Show Algae Bloom from Space

Psychedelic swirls decorate the Baltic Sea in a stunning new satellite image. The Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite snapped the image on Aug. 11, according to NASA's Earth Observatory, when land-based observers reported massive blooms of cyanobacteria. The summer Baltic is prime cyanobacteria territory, according to NASA: Sunlight is abundant, and the waters are nutrient rich.

'Science of Mom': Author Sifts Through Childrearing Facts & Fictions

Some new moms might feel as if they need to be scientists to understand what's best for their babies: Vaccinate on schedule or not? Sink $20 into one of those CDs promising to turn my baby into a genius? Alice Callahan, who earned a Ph.D. in nutritional biology and went to do research on fetal physiology before she had her first child in 2010, decided to tackle motherhood in a way that was most natural to her: as a scientist.

Lucy Liu Welcomes a Baby: 4 Reasons Why Couples Use Surrogates

Actress Lucy Liu has announced the arrival of her baby boy, which she had through the help of a surrogate. Although surrogacy is not very common, there are many reasons why women and couples may chose surrogates to be part of their fertility treatment. The 46-year old Liu made the announcement through Instagram, where she posted a photo of herself holding her son.

10 Years After Hurricane Katrina: Have Weather Forecasts Improved?

The fierce Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast, taking more than 1,800 lives, made landfall 10 years ago. Overall, meteorologists have a much better sense of where hurricanes will go and how strong they will be than they did before Hurricane Katrina, said Chris Davis, the associate director of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. That's because of a host of factors, from more powerful computers, to improved global weather models, to better atmospheric data from satellites, Davis said.

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Friday, August 28, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Pockets of Lower Vaccination Rates Remain Across the US

Most infants and kindergartners in the United States are up-to-date with their vaccinations, but there are some areas where vaccination rates are lower, potentially increasing the risk that diseases will spread there, according to two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first report found that vaccination rates in 2014 for U.S. infants ages 19 to 35 months were generally high. However, vaccination coverage tended to be lower for vaccines that require more than one dose.

Still Breaking Bad: Meth Lab Injuries on the Rise, CDC Reports

Meth lab injuries are on the rise in some parts of the U.S., according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These labs put not only the people who produce the drug, but also the general public and law enforcement officials, at risk of injury, according to the CDC. The researchers looked at data from five states — Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, New York, and Wisconsin — and found that meth-related chemical incidents increased from 2001 to 2004 as the drug initially gained popularity.

Photos Show How NASA Removed Tanks from Retired Space Shuttles for Station

New behind-the-scenes photos reveal how the water storage tanks deep inside NASA's retired space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour were recently removed by the space agency for future use on the International Space Station. The photographs of the shuttle tank removals, which were shared with collectSPACEby NASA workers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and by the manager for Endeavour's display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, show how the 3-foot-long (0.9 meters) tanks were accessed under the floor of the orbiters' crew cabins and were then extracted through different hatches on each vehicle. As collectSPACE.com was the first to report, the retired shuttles' potable water tanks were called back into service by NASA to support a new storage system for the space station.

Scientists, tribe study shrinking Washington state glacier

MOUNT BAKER, Wash. (AP) — Glaciers on Mount Baker and other mountains in Washington state's North Cascades are thinning and retreating. Seven have disappeared over the past three decades, and the overall volume of glaciers in the range have lost about one-fifth of their volume.

Leading stem cell scientist cleared of misconduct charges

LONDON (AP) — Sweden's Karolinska Institute says a leading stem cell scientist accused of unethical behavior has been cleared of scientific misconduct though he sometimes acted without due care.

Pentagon teams up with Apple, Boeing to develop wearable tech

By David Alexander NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - The Pentagon is teaming up with Apple, Boeing, Harvard and others to develop high-tech sensory gear flexible enough to be worn by people or molded onto the outside of a jet. The rapid development of new technologies is forcing the Pentagon to seek partnerships with the private sector rather than developing its technology itself, defense officials say. "I've been pushing the Pentagon to think outside our five-sided box and invest in innovation here in Silicon Valley and in tech communities across the country," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in prepared remarks on Friday.

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin joins Florida university

By Irene Klotz MELBOURNE, Fla. (Reuters) - Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the first Americans to land on the moon, will spearhead a new research institute in Florida aimed at paving a path toward Mars exploration and settlement, officials said on Thursday. The Buzz Aldrin Space Institute will be based at the Florida Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, located about 40 miles (64 km) south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Melbourne. Aldrin, 85, wants to expand his long-term space exploration program that includes human spaceflight, robotics and science initiatives.

Scientists Send Kombucha to Space in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Kombucha, a fizzy, fermented tea and trendy new favorite of hipsters and health nuts everywhere, has reached stellar heights as part of an experiment on the International Space Station. Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have placed the same bacteria and yeasts used to make Kombucha tea on the outside of the orbiting laboratory to see how the organisms fare in the unprotected environment of space. The Kombucha experiment is one in a series of "Expose" studies run by ESA to find out if multicellular biofilms — a community of microorganisms that can stick together on a surface — can survive in the unshielded environment above Earth's atmosphere.

Sampling Enceladus: Is Earth Ready for Pieces of Saturn Moon's Plumes?

Many astrobiologists are champing at the bit to bring back samples from Saturn's ocean-harboring moon Enceladus, but others say it may be best to exercise a little patience. In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered that geysers blast from Enceladus' south polar region, sending material from the ice-covered moon's subsurface ocean far out into space. It's tempting to grab samples from Enceladus' plume and return them to labs on Earth for analysis as soon as possible, but a slower, more methodical plan may be the right way to assess the moon's life-hosting potential, one prominent space scientist says.

Creepy Kangaroos: Why They Stand So Still

A field of grey, motionless kangaroos staring down a bicyclist in a recent YouTube video is not evidence of marsupial zombies, scientists say — though the pouched Australians look eerily possessed. The upright kangaroos peer intensely at Ben Vezina, who posted the video on YouTube on Aug. 23, as he approaches them on bike in Hawkstowe Park in Melbourne. "It looks really normal," said Marian Powers, a zookeeper at Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Sea Ice: Ancient Oceans Birthed Diamonds

Diamonds can form with the help of ancient saltwater, say researchers who have identified the gems that crystallized with the help of oceanic crust dating back as far as 200 million years ago. Scientists think the jewels usually form 90 to 150 miles (140 to 250 kilometers) below Earth's surface, in the planet's mantle layer, which is sandwiched between Earth's crust and core. The deepest of these precious stones have come from 430 miles (700 km) below Earth's surface.

Pointing the Way: 3D Computer Cursors Could Navigate Virtual Worlds

Researchers have come up with a way to turn cursors into a tool that can navigate around 3D space. Conventional pointers that are controlled with a trackpad and show up as a tiny arrow on a screen will soon be outdated, according to scientists at the University of Montreal in Canada. This futuristic technology could play an integral role in how virtual reality software responds to how users move in real life.

Lost Palace of Sparta Possibly Uncovered

An ancient Greek palace filled with cultic objects and clay tablets written in a lost script may be the long-lost palace of Mycenaean Sparta, one of the most famous civilizations of ancient Greece. The palace, which burnt to the ground in the 14th century B.C., also contained several tablets written in Linear B script, the earliest known form of written Greek, the Greek Ministry of Culture said in a statement. The ancient palace was uncovered about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) away from the historical Sparta that arose centuries later.

Syfy Channel's 'Dark Matter' Finale Tonight Brings Shocking Revelation

Four of the seven central cast members of "Dark Matter" told members of the press that they didn't know how the series would end until the very last day of shooting. Throughout filming, the cast said they had theories as to how the season would end but were still blown away by the final reveal. It was the show's creator, executive producer and showrunner Joe Mallozzi, who decided to keep it hidden.

Man Has Polio Virus Living in Gut for 30 Years

A man in the United Kingdom experienced a very rare complication of the polio vaccine he received in childhood — he never cleared the virus from his body. As a result, the virus has been circulating in his gut for nearly 30 years, and is still being excreted in his stool today, according to a new report of the case.

Catastrophic Volcanoes Blamed for Earth's Biggest Extinction

Geologists hauling hundreds of pounds of 250-million-year-old rocks from Siberia, through Russian and American customs, say luck was on their side. Not only did they successfully transport the huge haul, but they also may have confirmed the cause of Earth's worst mass extinction. Catastrophic volcanic eruptions that spewed enough lava to cover Australia led to the die-off at the end of the Permian era, the researchers found.

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