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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

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Doomsday Clock stays unchanged at three minutes to midnight

The Iran nuclear deal and movement on climate change prompted the scientists who maintain the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to global catastrophe, to keep it unchanged on Tuesday at three minutes to midnight. The Doomsday Clock, devised by the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is widely recognized as an indicator of the world's vulnerability to catastrophe. The Doomsday Clock's hands "are the closest they've been to catastrophe since the early days of above-ground hydrogen bomb testing" in the 1950s.

All US Adults Should Be Screened for Depression, Panel Recommends

All adults in the U.S., including pregnant and postpartum women, should be screened for depression when they visit the doctor, according to new recommendations released by a government-appointed panel. This recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is largely consistent with the group's previous recommendation, which was issued in 2009, said Karina Davidson, a member of the task force and a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. The USPSTF makes recommendations regarding the effectiveness of preventive health services, and also considers whether the benefits of treatments outweigh the potential risks.

Can Your BMI Predict How Long You'll Live?

Body mass index (BMI) is a common measure of body fat, but new research shows that having a BMI in the "normal weight" range is not always the healthiest for every person. In fact, for many people, having a BMI in the overweight range may be linked with the lowest risk of dying over a 13-year period, the research suggests. Usually, a BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, from 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal weight, from 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and 30 and over is considered obese.

1-in-a-Million Odds Link Global Warming and Record Heat

For 2014 alone, there's a one-in-a-million chance that the monster heat record occurred only from natural climate variability. "The risk of heat extremes has been multiplied due to human greenhouse-gas emissions, as our data analysis shows," study co-author Stefan Rahmstorf said in a statement. "The anomalous warmth has led to unprecedented local heat waves across the world, sadly resulting in loss of life and aggravating droughts and wildfires," said Rahmstorf, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

New Foldable Battery Takes Cue from Chinese Calligraphy

Scientists in China have developed a flexible, rollable, foldable battery inspired by traditional Chinese calligraphy involving ink on paper. Worldwide demand for flexible electronics is rapidly growing, because the technology could enable such things as video screens and solar panels to bend, roll and fold.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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Sex life of sleeping sickness parasite may lead to its downfall

By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An unusual sex life may spell the extinction of the deadly African sleeping sickness parasite, which threatens millions of people in West and Central Africa, an international team of scientists said on Tuesday. The parasite, called T.b. "We've discovered that the parasite causing African sleeping sickness has existed for thousands of years without having sex and is now suffering the consequences of this strategy," said Willie Weir, bioinformatician at the University of Glasgow.

Oslo trash incinerator starts experiment to slow climate change

By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Oslo's main waste incinerator began the world's first experiment to capture carbon dioxide from the fumes of burning rubbish on Monday, hoping to develop technology to enlist the world's trash in slowing global warming. The test at the Klemetsrud incinerator, which burns household and industrial waste, is a step beyond most efforts to capture and bury greenhouse gases at coal-fired power plants or factories using fossil fuels. "I hope Oslo can show other cities that it's possible" to capture emissions from trash, Oslo Mayor Marianne Borgen said at an opening ceremony at the Klemetsrud waste-to-energy incinerator which generates heat to warm buildings in the city.

Sexy Signal? Frill and Horns May Have Helped Dinosaur Communicate

The fancy frill and cheek horns that adorned the head of a triceratops relative may have helped the dinosaur communicate, possibly acting as a social or sexy signal, a new study suggests.

Scientists to announce "Doomsday Clock" time

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Scientists behind a "Doomsday Clock" that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm are set to announce Tuesday whether civilization is any closer or farther from disaster.

5 Causes Account for Nearly Half of Child and Teen Deaths

Five causes of death account for nearly half of all deaths in children and adolescents worldwide, a new report finds. Globally, there were 7.7 million deaths among children and adolescents in 2013, according to the report. The vast majority of these deaths — 6.3 million — were in children under age 5. There were about 480,000 deaths among children ages 5 to 9, and 970,000 in children ages 10 to 19.

Medical Marijuana May Reduce Frequency of Migraines

Medical marijuana might help migraine sufferers reduce the frequency of their headaches, a new study suggests. In the study of 121 people with migraines, 103 said they had fewer migraines after they began using marijuana, the researchers found. Among the people who noticed improvement, the frequency of their migraine headaches decreased from 10.4 headaches per month to 4.6 headaches per month, on average, the researchers found.

Color-Morphing Clams Could Inspire New Smartphone & TV Screens

Iridescent cells in the flesh of giant clams could one day help scientists design more efficient solar panels, and television and smartphone screens that are easier on the eyes, researchers say. In addition, the researchers want to see if structures like those found in giant clams might improve the efficiency of solar cells.

Artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky dead at 88

Marvin Minsky, the artificial intelligence pioneer who helped make machines think, leading to computers that understand spoken commands and beat grandmasters at chess, has died at the age of 88, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said. Minsky had "a monster brain," MIT colleague Patrick Winston, a professor of artificial intelligence and computer science, said in a 2012 interview. Minsky's greatest contribution to computers and artificial intelligence was the notion that neither human nor machine intelligence is a single process.

Explorer's Death Highlights Dangers of Antarctica

Explorer Henry Worsley has died of exhaustion and dehydration, just a few dozen miles short of completing his historic voyage across the ice of Antarctica. "It is with heartbroken sadness, I let you know that my husband, Henry Worsley, has died following complete organ failure, despite all efforts of ALE [Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions] and medical staff at the Clínica Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile," his wife, Joanna Worsley, said in a statement. The 55-year-old adventurer had traversed 913 miles (1,469 kilometers) of the continent alone and was just 30 miles (48 km) shy of completing Sir Ernest Shackleton's unfinished 1907 "Nimrod Expedition" across the coldest continent.

Deadly Math: Venus Flytraps Calculate When Killing Prey

Unlike proactive predators in the animal kingdom, carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) must wait for their insect prey to literally step inside their "jaws" before they can catch the victims. The first tap from an insect tells a Venus flytrap, "Pay attention, but don't respond just yet," the new study said.

Enormous Canyon May Be Hidden Beneath Antarctic Ice

A rift almost as deep as the Grand Canyon but much longer may be hidden beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Using satellite images and radio waves, researchers have uncovered tantalizing hints of a canyon up to 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) deep and more than 680 miles (1,100 km) long. "Discovering a gigantic new chasm that dwarfs the Grand Canyon is a tantalizing prospect," Martin Siegert, an earth scientist at Imperial College London, said in a statement.

Fig-Dwelling Worm Is a Mighty Mouth-Morpher

On La Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, microscopic worms that inhabit wild figs can develop five different mouths. The structure of these mouths varies so widely that the scientists who found the worm, Pristionchus borbonicus, initially thought that worms with different mouths were actually different species. In a new study, published online today (Jan. 15) in the journal Science Advances, the researchers detailed these new species of microscopic worms, also known as nematodes, describing the diversity in their mouth forms as "extreme" and driven by what the worm was eating — yeasts, bacteria or even other roundworms, all of which were found inside the figs where the worms lived.

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Monday, January 25, 2016

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Antarctic Explorer Shackleton Hindered by Heart Defect, Docs Say

It's been a century since Sir Ernest Shackleton led some of the first major expeditions to Antarctica, but today, medical sleuths suggest Shackleton might have had a hole in his heart, possibly explaining the health problems he had all his life. A famed explorer, Shackleton led the Nimrod Expedition of 1907 to 1909, members of which were the first people to climb Mount Erebus in Antarctica, the southernmost active volcano on Earth. The Endurance expedition was the third of four Antarctic expeditions that Shackleton undertook.

Parents' Financial Debt Linked to Behavioral Problems in Their Kids

Children whose parents have certain kinds of financial debt may be more likely to have behavioral problems, a new study suggests. The researchers found that the children in the study whose parents had "unsecured debt," such as credit card debt or unpaid medical bills, were more likely to experience behavioral difficulties than kids whose parents did not have this type of debt. Unsecured debt tends to be more expensive than secured debt, such as a mortgage or a car loan, because people generally pay higher interest rates for unsecured debt, and "it is expected to be paid off over a shorter period of time," compared with other types of debt, said study author Lawrence M. Berger, a professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What Is Prediabetes? New Quiz Reveals Your Risk

By taking a 1-minute quiz, you can find out if you're at risk for prediabetes. The quiz is part of a new public service campaign that aims to increase awareness of the condition. The goal is to give people an idea of their prediabetes risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which put together the campaign in partnership with the American Diabetes Association, the American Medical Association, and the Ad Council.

Mini T. Rex: 'Welsh Dragon' May Be Earliest Jurassic Dinosaur

Two brothers hunting for ichthyosaur fossils along the coast of the United Kingdom came across something far more astounding: The bones of what may be the earliest known dinosaur from the Jurassic period in the U.K., and possibly even the world, a new study finds. After finding the bones in 2014, Rob Hanigan contacted his brother, Nick. Later, they reached out to paleontologists at the University of Portsmouth, who confirmed that the bones belonged to a theropod, a group of mostly meat-eating dinosaurs.

What's Cookin'? Earth, Basically. But It's Not El Niño's Fault

Scientists have analyzed the balmy trend, and El Niño is just part of the story, they say. Temperatures for December 2015 were especially unusual, with the highest average temperatures on land and sea surface recorded for any single month during 136 years of record keeping, according to a Jan. 20 statement by NASA and a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Part of the explanation for the heat spike toward the year's end lies in 2015's strong El Niño, a cyclical event that moves warm water along the equatorial Pacific from west to east, triggering climate activity that can drive temperatures upward in parts of the world and contribute to some extreme weather episodes.

Walrus's Runny Nose Had Surprising Source (It Wasn't the Common Cold)

No one likes a runny nose. But for one stuffed-up walrus, rivers of snot signaled a rare ailment.

Metal 'Snow' May Power Earth's Magnetic Field

The power source for Earth's magnetic field may be magnesium that has been trapped in the core since our planet's violent birth, a new model suggests. Magnesium is the fourth most common element in the Earth's outer layers, but previously, scientists thought there was almost no magnesium in the core. Iron and magnesium don't easily mix, and researchers thought that the Earth's core was mostly iron.

Booze Buzz: Insect Guts Serve as Love Nests for Brewer's Yeast

The yeast behind wine, beer and bread has sex in wasp intestines, researchers say. Bread, wine and beer depend on a single species of of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae — bread gets its spongy texture from bubbles of carbon dioxide released by this yeast, while wine and beer depend on this yeast for their intoxicating qualities. Despite the importance of S. cerevisiae, much remains unknown about how it behaves in the wild, such as how and where it breeds.

Ligers and Tigons, Oh My! Cat Lineage Littered with Interbreeding

Different species of cats mated with each other at several points in history, a new genetic study of felines reveals. The new cat family tree could also help explain many of the mysteries of cat evolution that have emerged in recent years, scientists added. When creating family trees of species, researchers can discover how closely related two species are by looking at the level of similarity between their DNA.

Record hot years almost certainly caused by man-made warming

By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - A record-breaking string of hot years since 2000 is almost certainly a sign of man-made global warming, with vanishingly small chances that it was caused by random, natural swings, a study showed on Monday. Last year was the hottest since records began in the 19th century in a trend that almost all scientists blame on greenhouse gases from burning of fossil fuels, stoking heat waves, droughts, downpours and rising sea levels. "Recent observed runs of record temperatures are extremely unlikely to have occurred in the absence of human-caused global warming," a U.S.-led team of experts wrote in the journal Scientific Reports.

Spider Shows Off His Big Paddle to Woo Mates

Males of the human variety may spend hours at the gym bulking up to attract the ladies, but that's nothing compared to the efforts of a new spider species from Australia. This little brown spider sports a massive, paddlelike appendage on its legs that it flashes at females to woo mates, new research has revealed. The paddle seems to be a way of separating the fertile females from those that have no interest in mating, said Jürgen Otto, the biologist who discovered the oddball spider.

Migrating Storks Can't Resist a Garbage Dump Feast

Garbage dumps may be such attractive pit stops for some storks that they shorten their migration routes to pay a visit, a new study suggests. A few years ago, Andrea Flack, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, was tracking the path of white storks from Germany, trying to get close enough to the birds to download flight data from the GPS trackers attached to their backs. Flack eventually found herself standing in an open garbage dump in Morocco, staring at her research subjects.

US Military Wants Smaller and More Stable Atomic Clocks

The U.S. military wants you … to design a better atomic clock. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense tasked with developing new technologies for the military, recently announced a new program called Atomic Clocks with Enhanced Stability (ACES). Atomic clocks are used to keep track of time in places where a tiny fraction of a second makes a huge difference.

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