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Tuesday, May 3, 2016

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Newly discovered planets may boost search for life beyond Earth

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The discovery of three planets that circle a small, dim star could bolster the chances of finding life beyond Earth, astronomers said on Monday. The Earth-sized planets are orbiting their parent star, located in the constellation Aquarius relatively close to Earth at 40 light years away, at a distance that provides the right amount of heat for there to be liquid water on their surface, a condition scientists believe may be critical for fostering life. The discovery marked the first time that planets were found orbiting a common type of star known as an ultra-cool dwarf, the scientists said.

Solar-powered plane lands in Arizona on round-the-world flight

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A solar-powered airplane midway through a historic bid to circle the globe completed the tenth leg of its journey on Monday, landing in Arizona after a 16-hour flight from California, the project team said. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived in Phoenix shortly before 9 p.m., following a flight from San Francisco that took it over the Mojave Desert.

Scientists win $3 mln for detecting Einstein's waves

By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Researchers who helped detect gravitational waves for the first time, confirming part of Albert Einstein's theory in a landmark moment in scientific history, will share a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize, according to the prize's selection committee. The Breakthrough Prizes for scientific achievements were created by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner along with several technology pioneers, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. In February, a team from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced a pair of giant laser detectors had measured the tiny ripples in space and time first theorized by Einstein a century ago, capping a decades-long quest.

Scientists win $3 million for detecting Einstein's waves

Long-Lost Revolutionary War Shipwreck May Have Been Found

The wreck of a famous research vessel turned Revolutionary War troopship may soon be discovered. The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) will announce its progress in the hunt for a ship dubbed "Lord Sandwich" on Wednesday (May 4). This ship is better known by its previous name: the HMS Endeavour, the British Royal Navy vessel that James Cook took to explore Australia and New Zealand between 1768 and 1771.

Airing of Grievances: First-Class Cabins Raise 'Air Rage' Risks

You've seen the headlines about airline passengers losing their cool on flights, but is there a reason behind these mile-high rages? Rather, the presence of a first-class cabin — and whether all passengers need to walk through it when boarding, to get to their own seats — may be playing a role in these incidents of "air rage," according to the study, published today (May 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hangry No More: Dieting Actually Improves Mood

"We found that normal-weight and mildly overweight people who wish to lose weight need not worry about decreased quality of life," said Corby Martin, the director of the Ingestive Behavior Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana and the lead author on the study. Researchers have hypothesized that calorie restriction "might negatively affect mood, stamina and libido, and increase irritability, particularly among normal-weight people," Martin told Live Science. The participants were divided into two groups: a calorie-restricted group, which included 145 people, and a control group, which included 75 people, according to the study.

Diving Robot 'Mermaid' Lends a Hand (or 2) to Ocean Exploration

In Mediterranean waters, off the coast of France, a diver recently visited the shipwreck La Lune — a vesssel in King Louis XIV's fleet — which lay untouched and unexplored on the ocean bottom since it sank in 1664.

Jet-Powered Hoverboard Sets New World Record

Franky Zapata flew a hoverboard 7,388 feet (2,252 meters) from a height of 164 feet (50 m), according to Guinness World Records. The daredevil set the new record on the Flyboard Air, a futuristic craft developed by his company, Zapata Racing. Previous world record holder Catalin Alexandru Duru piloted a hoverboard prototype of his own design that flew 905 feet, 2 inches (275.9 m).

Ancient American: Kennewick Man's Tribal Links Confirmed

The origins of a man who lived some 8,500 years ago, and whose skeleton was discovered in 1996 in Kennewick, Washington, have finally been pinned down. The ancient remains are most closely related to modern Native Americans, a new study led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed. Now that the skeleton's Native American link has been confirmed — a 2015 analysis of Kennewick Man found similar results — the re-burial of the remains must follow the guidelines of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Army Corps said.

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Monday, May 2, 2016

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Mumps Outbreak at Harvard: Why Do Vaccinated People Get Sick?

An outbreak of mumps at Harvard University continues to grow, and experts say the close living spaces in college dorms may make people particularly susceptible to the virus, even if they've been vaccinated. This week, the Cambridge Public Health Department confirmed that more than 40 people at the university have been sickened with the mumps virus. Outbreaks typically don't happen in the general population, but instead are more likely to occur among people who live in close quarters, such as college dorms, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and a senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Health Security.

Why Some Women Are Likely to Have Twins

Twins tend to run in families, and now researchers have identified two genes that make women more likely to conceive nonidentical twins. Both genes are related to the production and processing of the hormone that helps oocytes (egg cells) mature. "There's an enormous interest in twins, and in why some women have twins while others don't," study co-author Dorret Boomsma, a biological psychologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said in a statement.

Simple Trick May Improve an Infant's Attention Span

Parents can help improve their child's attention span in a very simple way: by paying attention to the toy their child is playing with, a new study suggests. The study shows that a young child's attention span can be changed by the real-time behaviors of parents, said Chen Yu, a professor of psychology and brain science at Indiana University in Bloomington and the lead author of the study. The results reveal that social interactions between a parent and an infant can influence the development of the child's attention span.

ITER nuclear fusion project faces new delay, cost overrun: Les Echos

The international ITER project to build a prototype nuclear fusion reactor will be delayed by more than a decade and faces another 4 billion euros of cost overruns, its director told French daily Les Echos. ITER chief Bernard Bigot said the experimental fusion reactor under construction in Cadarache, France, will not see the first test of its super-heated plasma before 2025 and its first full-power fusion not before 2035. "The previous planning, which foresaw first plasma by 2020 and full fusion by 2023, was totally unrealistic," said Bigot, who succeeded Japan's Osamu Motojima at the head of ITER early last year.

Second stage of European-Russian mission to Mars delayed until 2020: Roscosmos

The second stage of a joint European-Russian mission to search for signs of life on Mars will be delayed from 2018 to 2020, Russian news agencies reported on Monday, citing a statement from Russian space agency Roscosmos. The statement said Roscosmos and the European Space Agency had taken the decision to delay the second stage of the ExoMars mission partly because of delays by European and Russian industrial contractors. In March, Europe and Russia launched a spacecraft from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan as part of the ExoMars program.

Jellyfish from Outer Space? Amazing Glowing Creature Spotted

With red and yellow lights seeming to glow inside its bulbous body, a newfound jellyfish looks more alien spaceship than deep-sea cnidarian. Video captured of the jellyfish reveals a stunning sight: The organism sports two sets of tentacles, long and short, that extend from its pulsating bell. When the long tentacles are extended outward, the jellyfish's bell remains still.

Beyoncé Got It Right: Cheating's Emotional Fallout Gushes from 'Lemonade'

Beyoncé hasn't revealed what inspired her to create "Lemonade," a musical album and film that details the emotions felt after learning of a husband's infidelity. "She's speaking a language that so many people have experienced," said Kassia Wosick, a research affiliate at New Mexico State University and an assistant professor of sociology at El Camino College in Torrance, California. In fact, "Lemonade" may show people that "how we move through infidelity is painful, but it's also very strengthening, and there is an afterward," Wosick told Live Science.

Secret Atomic Role of WWII-Era Aircraft Carrier Revealed

A team of underwater archaeologists has pieced together information from declassified government documents and a shipwrecked World War II-era naval vessel to understand the secret role played by one of the most historic U.S. aircraft carriers: the USS Independence. The Independence (CVL 22) was one of 90 vessels assigned to Operation Crossroads — the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands — but it was deliberately sunk, or scuttled, in 1951 and little was known about its career after the atomic bomb tests.

Dinosaurs Migrated Out of Europe as Ancient Supercontinent Broke Up

Between 230 million and 66 million years ago, dinosaurs plodded across the supercontinent Pangea, and migrated from Europe to other parts of the world. The researchers used "network theory" in a new way to see how different dinosaur fossils were connected. The team chose continents as points and then drew connecting lines if the same types of dinosaurs were found on two or more continents.

Portable Device Can Test If Your Food Is Gluten-Free

For people with gluten allergies or celiac disease, the idea of eating out in restaurants can be terrifying. It typically involves scrutinizing menus and food labels, interrogating waiters, or having to bring their own meals wherever they go. Manufactured by San Francisco-based startup 6SensorLabs, the portable gluten-testing device, called Nima, can test food for the presence of gluten, providing results within minutes and reducing people's food anxiety.

Buddhist Sculptures Discovered in Ruins of Ancient Shrine

Sculptures and carvings dating back more than 1,700 years have been discovered in the remains of a shrine and its courtyard in the ancient city of Bazira. The sculptures illustrate the religious life of the city, telling tales from Buddhism and other ancient religions. Also called Vajirasthana, Bazira is located the in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.

To Motivate Kids, Don't Dwell on Their Failures

The way you view failure may influence how your children view their own abilities, a new study finds. In particular, the researchers wanted to know whether a parent's view of failure might influence the way kids think about their intelligence. They found that parents who see failure as a major setback may be encouraging their children to think that intelligence is fixed.

Science Explains Why Your Mom Calls You by Your Brother's Name

Such "misnamings," or when a person calls someone else by the wrong name, occur frequently, according to the study. When people call someone by the wrong name, they tend to call that person by the name of someone in the same social group, the researchers found.

Solar-powered plane departs California on round-the-world flight

A solar-powered airplane midway through an attempt to circle the globe departed northern California on Monday on the next leg of its history-making journey, a relatively short 16-hour flight to Arizona, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft dubbed Solar Impulse took off just after 5 a.m. local time from San Francisco on a flight that will take the plane over the Mojave Desert before its planned arrival in Phoenix shortly before 9:30 p.m. Occupying the plane's tiny cockpit for Monday's trip was Swiss aviator Andre Borschberg, a co-founder of the project.

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Saturday, April 30, 2016

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Astronomers find a tailless comet, first of its kind

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronomers have found a first-of-its-kind tailless comet whose composition may offer clues into long-standing questions about the solar system's formation and evolution, according to research published on Friday in the journal Science Advances. The so-called "Manx" comet, named after a breed of cats without tails, was made of rocky materials that are normally found near Earth. Most comets are made of ice and other frozen compounds and were formed in solar system's frigid far reaches.

Simulating Mars exploration, British astronaut guides rover from space

British astronaut Tim Peake drove a rover on Mars on Friday -- or at least pretended to by test-driving the exploration vehicle on earth remotely from space. From the International Space Station (ISS) some 250 miles above earth, the European Space Agency astronaut guided rover prototype "Bridget" around a cave set up in an area simulating Mars's sandy and rocky surface in Stevenage, England. The experiment was part of the Multi-Purpose End-To-End Robotic Operation Network (METERON) program looking at how astronauts can work robots from space.

Africa's giant eye in the sky proving worth its SALT

By Wendell Roelf SUTHERLAND, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa's SALT telescope has helped detect the first white dwarf pulsar, the latest co-discovery that has astronomers eager to use the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere to unlock the galaxy's secrets. Quick reaction times, as well as being significantly cheaper than similar European or American facilities in producing the science are key competitive advantages, said a senior astronomer at the SALT consortium during a media visit. "SALT is now living up to expectations, producing high-quality science data that probe the far reaches of the universe," said Ted Williams, a director at the South African Astronomical Observatory managing the site.

Astronomers find a tailless comet, first of its kind

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