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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

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Record 1,284 planets added to list of worlds beyond solar system

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronomers have discovered 1,284 more planets beyond our solar system, with nine possibly in orbits suitable for surface water that could bolster the prospects of supporting life, scientists said on Tuesday. The announcement brings the total number of confirmed planets outside the solar system to 3,264. Called exoplanets, the bulk were detected by NASA's Kepler space telescope, which searched for habitable planets like Earth.

Ancient lava bubbles reveal conditions on primordial Earth

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tiny bubbles that formed inside volcanic rock 2.7 billion years ago are providing big insights into the conditions on primordial Earth. Scientists said an analysis of gas bubbles trapped in ancient basalt rock that formed from ancient lava flows in western Australia showed the planet back then possessed a much thinner atmosphere, with air pressure half of what it is today. The sun is slowly brightening over time, part of a star's natural evolution.

Syrian Antiquities Import Restrictions Are Law, But Will They Work?

President Barack Obama signed a bill that puts new restrictions on imports of antiquities from Syria in an effort to stem terrorists' trade in looted artifacts. Syria's archaeological sites have been heavily looted as the groups fighting in Syria's civil war, including the Islamic State group (also called ISIS) and the al- Qaida-allied "al-Nusra Front," have pillaged and sold Syrian artifacts to buy weapons and ammunition, according to news reports. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, more than $26 million worth of artifacts — most of which were described as "antiques" from more than 100 years ago — have been imported into the United States from Syria, according to documents from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Egyptian Mummy's Symbolic Tattoos Are 1st of Their Kind

More than 3,000 years ago, an ancient Egyptian woman tattooed her body with dozens of symbols — including lotus blossoms, cows and divine eyes — that may have been linked to her religious status or her ritual practice. The mummy was found at a site on the west bank of the Nile River known as Deir el-Medina, a village dating to between 1550 B.C. and 1080 B.C. that housed artisans and workers who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Stanford University bioarchaeologist Anne Austin was examining human remains at Deir el-Medina for the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology when she first glimpsed unusual markings on a mummy's neck.

'Breathing' Volcano: How Scientists Captured This Awesome Animation

Mount Etna seems to breathe in a NASA animation showing how changes in the volcano's magma chamber deform the ground around the mountain. Mount Etna is an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote of Etna's eruptions in his "Bibliotheca historica," a series of volumes written between 60 B.C. and 30 B.C.

Chunks of Earth's Mantle Are 'Peeling Off'

An odd phenomenon may explain why the Southeastern United States has experienced recent earthquakes, even though the region sits snugly in the middle of a tectonic plate and not at the edges, where all the ground-shaking action usually happens. This seismicity — or relatively frequent earthquakes — may be the result of areas along the bottom of the North American tectonic plate peeling off, the researchers said. To figure out the cause of these earthquakes, Berk Biryol, a seismologist at UNC Chapel Hill, and colleagues created 3D images of the uppermost part of Earth's mantle, which is just below the crust and comprises the bottom of a tectonic plate.

SpaceX Dragon cargo ship heads back to Earth

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX Dragon capsule headed back to Earth on Wednesday, filled with more than 3,700 pounds (1,678 kg) of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed. It was the first return load from the station in a year, following a SpaceX launch accident in June 2015 that destroyed another Dragon capsule. The company's Dragon capsules are currently the only ships that can return cargo from the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

Yoga May Improve Memory Better Than Brain Training

The study involved 25 adults ages 55 and over who had mild cognitive impairment, or problems with thinking and memory that sometimes precede Alzheimer's disease. The participants were randomly assigned to complete either a three-month course in yoga and meditation, or to practice memory-training exercises, consisting of skills and tricks already known to boost memory. At the end of the study, the two groups saw similar improvements in their verbal memory, which is the type of memory used when people remember names or lists of words.

Does Driving High on Marijuana Increase Fatal Crashes?

The percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had traces of marijuana in their blood has doubled since marijuana was legalized in Washington state, a new study suggests. "Marijuana use in driving is a growing, contributing factor to fatal crashes," said Jake Nelson, the director of traffic safety advocacy and research at the American Automobile Association (AAA) said. The findings, which were released by the (AAA), suggest that states that have legalized marijuana use need better rules to protect drivers on the road, Nelson said.

The Weird History of Gender-Segregated Bathrooms

In North Carolina and other states, a new culture war has erupted. In March, North Carolina enacted a law (colloquially known as HB2) that requires that people use only bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates. Gender-segregated public restrooms are either very old or very new, depending on how you look at the question.

A breath test for malaria

Malaria kills an estimated half a million people every year, most of those children under the age of 5 in Sub Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "We are giving almost 300 million doses of malaria treatment every year and we don't even know if we are giving them to the right people," said Odom, adding that over use of antimalarials increases the risk of drug resistance. "We want to judiciously use antimicrobial and antimalarials only on the people that really need them.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Scientists: Mussels, without noses, use smell to find homes

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Mussels don't have noses, but two Maine scientists believe the dark shellfish rely on smells when choosing where to set up their homes.

Where Is the Most Lightning-Prone Place in the World?

Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has a new claim to fame: This large bay has been revealed as the lightning capital of the world, with storms lighting up the skies almost 300 nights each year, according to a NASA study. The largest lake in South America, Lake Maracaibo sits along the northern Andes Mountains, where the mountains form a natural barrier, pushing air up and mixing it with warm, moist air above the lake to create nocturnal thunderstorms. Researchers found that the lake gets 603 bolts of lightning per square mile (233 bolts per square kilometer) every year.

Get 'Bionic Hearing' with New Smart Earbuds

If you've ever been on a crowded bus and found yourself stuck between a loud conversation on one side and obnoxiously loud music on the other, the idea of being able to cancel out that background noise probably sounds like bliss. Now, new earbuds can not only help boost your hearing and cancel out pesky noise, but also serve as wireless earphones for making phone calls and listening to music hands-free. Users can also answer phone calls and start or stop audio with a simple tap of the earbuds.

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Monday, May 9, 2016

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520-Million-Year-Old Fossil Larva Preserved in 3D

This is the first fossil of its kind to be found at Chengjiang since the site's discovery in 1984, according to Yu Liu, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. In fact, it was the shape of those appendages in the larva fossil that helped the scientists with their identification, Liu told Live Science in an email. "As you may imagine, the chance of finding a fossil is not very high," Liu told Live Science.

Oldest Crystals on Earth Originated in Asteroid Craters

The oldest pieces of rock on Earth, zircon crystals, may have formed in craters left by asteroid impacts early in the planet's life. Since the Earth itself is just over 4.5 billion years old, these ancient crystals can offer insight into the planet's history. Fifteen years ago, the crystals first made headlines, when research into the rocks' formation revealed the presence of water on Earth's surface soon after the planet formed.

Head Games: This Male Spider Is an Oral Sex Champ

The Darwin's bark spider exhibited a "rich sexual repertoire," the scientists wrote. It's an essential reproductive technique, typically driven by sexual dimorphism — significant physical differences between the sexes. "Sexual dimorphism — especially size dimorphism in general — is linked to bizarre sexual behaviors," Matjaž Gregori?, the study's lead author, told Live Science in an email.

Fearsome Dinosaur-Age 'Hammerhead' Reptile Ate … Plants?

Despite its rows and rows of chisel- and needle-like teeth, a newly described prehistoric marine reptile wasn't a fearsome predator but rather an herbivorous giant that acted like a lawnmower for the sea, a new study finds. It's also the earliest herbivorous marine reptile on record by about 8 million years, they said. "I haven't seen anything like it before," said study co-researcher Olivier Rieppel, the Rowe family curator of evolutionary biology at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Splat! Paintball Blow Causes Liver Damage in Teen

A game of paintball had an unfortunate ending when a teen in England wound up needing liver surgery after being struck in the abdomen, according to a new report of the young man's case. The injury was the first instance of a person suffering liver damage from playing paintball, the doctors who treated the teen wrote in their report of his case, published May 5 in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Based on the patient's symptoms, the doctors there diagnosed him with appendicitis.

The Universe Has Probably Hosted Many Alien Civilizations: Study

Many other planets throughout the universe probably hosted intelligent life long before Earth did, a new study suggests. The probability of a civilization developing on a potentially habitable alien planet would have to be less than one in 10 billion trillion — or one part in 10 to the 22nd power — for humanity to be the first technologically advanced species the cosmos has ever known, according to the study. "To me, this implies that other intelligent, technology-producing species very likely have evolved before us," said lead author Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester in New York.

How Cultural Pressures May Affect Your Sleep Habits

Our biological clocks may not dictate our bedtimes, but they do influence when we wake up in the morning, a new study finds. However, people's wake-up times are still highly dependent on their biological clocks, as opposed to just on their morning responsibilities, such as going to work or school, the researchers said. The new findings show that "bedtime is more under the control of society, and wake time is more under the control of the [biological] clock," Olivia Walch, a graduate student at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the study, told Live Science.

Bionic Implant Improves Vision for Some Eye Patients

It may sound like something out of "Star Trek": Doctors have implanted a device in patients that has restored some central vision after advanced eye disease left those individuals with only limited peripheral vision. This is the first time that artificial and natural vision has ever been integrated in humans, the U.K.-based research team said. The study was small and preliminary, involving only four patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Christina's Diagnosis: Famous Painting Gets New Look

It ranks as one of the most iconic paintings in modern American history: Andrew Wyeth's 1948 "Christina's World" depicting a woman crawling across a bleak, rural landscape with her sights focused on a distant, gray farmhouse. Wyeth's inspiration for the painting was his real-life friend and neighbor, Anna Christina Olson, a lifelong resident of the Cushing, Maine, farm on which she's pictured. Now, after being challenged to diagnose Olson's condition, neurologist Dr. Marc Patterson of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said it was very unlikely that Olson had polio.

Scientists peel back the carrot's genetic secrets

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking. Researchers said on Monday they have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the vegetable's abundance of vitamin A, an important nutrient for vision. The genome may point to ways to improve carrots through breeding, including increasing their nutrients and making them more productive and more resistant to disease, pest and drought, the researchers said. The vitamin A in carrots arises from their orange pigments, known as carotenoids.

Scientists peel back the carrot's genetic secrets

Researchers said on Monday they have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the vegetable's abundance of vitamin A, an important nutrient for vision. The wild ancestors of carrots were white, the researchers said.

Gorgeous New Mercury Maps Showcase Planet's Striking Features

A stunning digital model of Mercury unveils the planet's striking landscape, while other new maps provide a closer look at the shadowed northern pole and reveal the highest and lowest points on the closest planet to the sun. Built with data from NASA's MESSENGER mission that orbited Mercury for four years, the new maps offer a bounty of scientific insight, while also delivering an incredible view of the planet. "The wealth of these data, greatly enhanced by the extension of MESSENGER's primary one-year orbital mission to more than four years, has already enabled and will continue to enable exciting scientific discoveries about Mercury for decades to come," Susan Ensor, a software engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and manager of the MESSENGER Science Operations Center, said in a statement.

Earthlings watch as tiny Mercury sails past the sun

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Tiny Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, sailed across the face of the sun on Monday, a celestial dance that occurs about once every decade as Earth and its smaller neighboring planet align in space. The journey, which astronomers refer to as a "transit," began with what looked to be a small, black dot on the edge of the sun at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), images relayed live on NASA TV showed. ...

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