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Friday, November 20, 2015

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Abraham Lincoln Was a Science Champion, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Says

Abraham Lincoln is best known for abolishing slavery and keeping the United States together through the Civil War, but he also helped the country become the scientific and engineering powerhouse we know today. For example, Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862, creating a system of land-grant colleges and universities that revolutionized higher education in the United States, notes famed astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson. "Known also as the people's colleges, they were conceived with the idea that they would provide practical knowledge and science in a developing democratic republic," Tyson, the director of the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium in New York City, writes in an editorial that appeared online today (Nov. 19) in the journal Science.

Stellar Graveyard Reveals Clues About Milky Way's Ancient Birth

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has peered far back in time, detecting clues about how the Milky Way galaxy came together, shortly after the universe's birth. Astronomers trained Hubble on the Milky Way's dense central bulge and spotted a population of superdense stellar corpses called white dwarfs that are remnants of stars that formed about 12 billion years ago. "It is important to observe the Milky Way's bulge, because it is the only bulge we can study in detail," study lead author Annalisa Calamida, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, said in a statement.

Weird Sea Mollusk Sports Hundreds of Eyes Made of Armor

Acanthopleura granulata is a chiton, a pill bug of the sea. Researchers have long known that chitons have soft tissue embedded in their flexible suits of armor, and that some of this soft tissue is sensitive to light. Even weirder, these eyes are made of the same calcium-carbonate mineral as the chiton shell.

No Fair! Children's Sense of Equality Is Shaped by Culture

Across cultures, children develop a dislike of receiving less than others by age 10, but it isn't until later that they begin to feel discomfort when others get the short end of the deal, the new research found. In the study of kids ages 4 to 15 from seven countries, children in just three countries showed any sign of caring about fairness for other kids. "A negative reaction to getting less than others may be a human universal," said study co-author Katherine McAuliffe, a psychologist at Yale University.

'Flying' Tadpoles & Fleeing Fish Win Prestigious Photo Contest

What does the world look like to a tadpole? The photo he took came out swimmingly, earning him first place in a photography competition hosted by the Royal Society, London. The man behind the pollywog photo is Bert Willaert, a biologist and environmental advisor in Belgium who has snapped thousands of photos of the natural world.

A Magic Moment: The Milky Way from Yellowstone National Park (Photo)

Before twilight and shortly after the moon set in Yellowstone National Park, astrophotographer A. Garrett Evans found the perfect moment to capture this stunning image. Evans took the image from near the edge of the Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone on June 27 and recently shared it with Space.com.

Kids Quiz One-Year Astronaut on Life in Space

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station fielded rapid-fire questions from curious middle schoolers this morning (Nov. 19), delving into life on the orbiting lab and the everyday strangeness that invites. Sixty-five students from East Side Middle School in New York City, chosen for its science, technology, engineering and math focus, got the chance to talk with NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren aboard the station as part of an event hosted in the Time-Life building by the publication Time for Kids. "This is [Time for Kids'] 20th anniversary, so we think this is a fantastic way to celebrate 20 years of bringing the world to kids — and now, bringing 'outside the world' to kids," Nellie Gonzalez Cutler, Time for Kids' editor in chief, told Space.com.

Pick Up the Pace: Walking Speed Linked with Heart Health in Older Adults

For older adults, walking a little faster, or for a few extra blocks, may increase the heart-healthy benefits of your stroll, a new study finds. In the study, the researchers found that older adults who walked faster than 3 miles per hour had a 50 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who walked at a pace slower than 2 miles per hour. In addition, those who walked an average of seven blocks daily had a 47 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who walked five or fewer blocks each week, according to the study, published today (Nov. 19) in the journal Circulation.

Researchers Grow Vocal Cord Tissue That Can 'Talk'

Researchers have grown vocal cord tissue in the lab, and it works — the tissue was able to produce sound when it was transplanted into intact voice boxes from animals, according to a new study. "This is years away from trial just because of reality of the regulatory requirements," said study author Nathan Welham, a speech-language pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Vocal cords consist of two flexible bands of muscle that are lined with a specialized tissue, called mucosa, which vibrates as air moves over the cords, generating the voice.

Bright Light Therapy Can Ease Depression Symptoms

For people with depression, using "bright light therapy" either alone or combined with an antidepressant might help treat their condition, a new study suggests. In the eight-week study of 122 people with major depression, the researchers found that people who were treated with either a bright light box or a combination of light box therapy with an antidepressant drug experienced more improvement in their symptoms than people treated with a placebo. In comparison, those treated with an antidepressant drug (without light therapy) did not show improvements over those taking only a placebo pill.

Jet-Propelled 3D-Printed Drone Claims Speed Record

A new jet-powered drone might be the most complex flying machine ever built using 3D printing. The drone, which made its debut at the Dubai Airshow earlier this month, looks nothing like your average 3D-printed toy plane. It has a 9-foot-long (3 meters) wingspan and an aerodynamic design that gives it a futuristic appearance.

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Thursday, November 19, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Curiosity Rover Headed to Dark Sand Dunes on Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover will soon get history's first up-close look at Martian sand dunes. Curiosity is headed toward the dark Bagnold Dunes, which lie in the northwestern foothills of the towering Mount Sharp, and should begin investigating the sandy feature in the next few days, NASA officials said. Curiosity will study one dune that's as wide as a football field and as tall as a two-story building, NASA officials said.

Astronomers see planet still growing in its stellar womb

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronomers have taken the first images of a planet still in formation, a discovery expected to shed light on how giant planets manage to beef up early in their lives, research published on Wednesday showed. Astronomers used a telescope in Arizona to peer at a young star located about 450 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Astronomers previously suspected that a giant planet was orbiting in the gap.

Alarming new "superbug" gene found in animals and people in China

By Kate Kelland LONDON, (Reuters) - A new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics has been found in people and pigs in China - including in samples of bacteria with epidemic potential, researchers said on Wednesday. "All use of polymyxins must be minimized as soon as possible and all unnecessary use stopped," said Laura Piddock, a professor of microbiology at Britain's Birmingham University who was asked to comment on the finding. Researchers led by Hua Liu from the South China Agricultural University who published their work in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal found the gene, called mcr-1, on plasmids - mobile DNA that can be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria.

Hobbits Were a Separate Species, Ancient Chompers Show

An ancient, 3-foot-tall (0.9 meters) human whose diminutive stature has earned it the nickname "hobbit" has puzzled evolutionary scientists since its little bones were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. Some have suggested the individual was a Homo sapien with some miniaturizing disorder. Now, teeth from the hobbit suggest it belonged to a unique species rather than a modern human with a growth disorder.

French Flags on Facebook: Does Social Media Support Really Matter?

In the aftermath of the coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris last Friday (Nov. 13), support popped up in the new public arena: Facebook. The social network rolled out a tool allowing users to easily put a French flag overlay on members' profile pictures to express sympathy with the victims. "Got a French flag on your Facebook profile picture?

Aston Martin debuts Castrol's 90 second oil change tech

By Matthew Stock Motor-oil firm Castrol, part of the BP Group, has launched a removable container that packages the oil and filter into one unit, making changing a car's oil a far simpler task. The Nexcel oil cell is to be fitted as standard in the new Aston Martin Vulcan track-only supercar, while the technology is expected to be in regular cars within five years. The developers say the bucket-shaped unit makes an oil change much easier and cleaner.

Earth-Like Exoplanet May Be Too Radiation-Blasted to Host Life

?"Large coronal mass ejections have the potential to strip away any atmosphere that a close-in planet like Kepler-438b might have, rendering it uninhabitable," study co-author Chloe Pugh, of the University of Warwick in England, said in a statement. "With little atmosphere, the planet would also be subject to harsh UV [ultraviolet] and X-ray radiation from the superflares, along with charged particle radiation, all of which are damaging to life," Pugh added. Kepler-438b, which lies about 470 light-years from Earth, may be able to retain an atmosphere if it possesses a global magnetic field like Earth does, the researchers said.

Lunar Lovers, Why Now Is the Best Time to Moon Watch

One of the first things every new moon watcher learns is that, when observing the moon, timing is everything.

How to Flirt in Panda: Bears' Squeaks Decoded

Maybe that sounds like nonsense to the average person, but to panda bears, those sounds may translate roughly to "let's get busy," "stop bothering me" or "more, please" respectively, according to a new study of panda bear sounds.

Not So Precious: Eyeless 'Smeagol' Arachnid Discovered in Underground Lair

In a deep, dank cave in Brazil, a pale, blind creature lurks, never venturing out to feel the sun. Researchers recently found the creature in its underground lair, a limestone cave in southeastern Brazil, and described it for the first time today (Nov. 18) in the journal ZooKeys. You may know harvestmen as "daddy longlegs," those spiderlike critters that crawl all over the yard during the summer months.

'X-Ray Vision' Tech Uses Radio Waves to 'See' Through Walls

"X-ray vision" that can track people's movements through walls using radio signals could be the future of smart homes, gaming and health care, researchers say. A new system built by computer scientists at MIT can beam out radio waves that bounce off the human body. Receivers then pick up the reflections, which are processed by computer algorithms to map people's movements in real time, they added.

'RoboBees' with Laser Eyes Could Locate Disaster Victims

Mechanical eyes that shoot laser beams could one day help robot bees fly without crashing into obstacles, researchers say. These laser eyes could also one day help people control smartphones, tablets, laptops, wearable technology and other mobile devices using only gestures, the researchers added. Previous research found that robot bees are capable of flying while tethered and moving while submerged in water.

FDA approves first genetically modified salmon for consumption

(Reuters) - AquaBounty Technologies' salmon became the first genetically engineered animal to receive U.S. approval for human consumption, setting the stage for more such approvals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday the company's genetically engineered Atlantic salmon was as nutritious as the farm-raised ones and was safe for consumption.

You Share 70% of Your Genes with This Slimy Marine Worm

Over 500 million years ago, humans and certain worms shared a common ancestor, and people still share thousands of genes with the worms, said scientists who recently sequenced genomes from two marine worm species. The results suggest humans and acorn worms, so called because of their acorn-shaped "heads," are distant cousins, said the researchers, led by Oleg Simakov of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Okinawa, Japan. The researchers analyzed genes from two acorn worm species: Ptychodera flava, collected off Hawaii, and Saccoglossus kowalevskii, from the Atlantic Ocean.

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