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Friday, July 1, 2016

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NASA space probe to lift the veil on Jupiter

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's Juno spacecraft hurtled closer toward Jupiter on Friday headed for a July 4 leap into polar orbit around the solar system's largest planet to analyze how it formed and helped set the stage for life on Earth. During a 20-month study, Juno is expected to circle the gas giant in 37 egg-shaped orbits to measure microwaves radiating from inside the planet's thick atmosphere, map its massive magnetic field and conduct other experiments. Scientists are particularly keen to learn how much water Jupiter contains, a key to unlocking the origins of the largest celestial body in the solar system after the sun. Jupiter currently orbits the sun at a distance about five times farther away than Earth, but it may have formed in a different location and migrated, gravitationally elbowing aside other planets along the way.

Half of Adélie Penguins Could Be Wiped Out by Global Warming

Global warming may cause massive drops in the population of Adélie penguins in Antarctica, new climate data suggests. The tuxedo-clad birds breed on rocky, ice-free ground, and as glaciers receded over millions of years, Adélie penguins have reclaimed once icebound land for breeding. "It is only in recent decades that we know Adélie penguins population declines are associated with warming, which suggests that many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and that further warming is no longer positive for the species," study co-author Megan Cimino, a researcher in the college of earth, ocean and the environment at the University of Delaware, said in a statement.

Polly Says What?! Should Parrots Testify at Murder Trials?

Bird scientists are skeptical whether Bud, an African grey parrot who allegedly witnessed a murder in 2015 in Michigan, can give reliable testimony or spoken evidence at a court trial. That's not because African grey parrots aren't intelligent — the birds can be trained to do simple math, speak with enormous vocabularies and demonstrate impressive inferential reasoning. Rather, it's unclear whether Bud is repeating a conversation from the murder itself, or whether he heard it on TV, the radio or from another time in his life, experts told Live Science.

Ancient Shrine That May Hold Buddha's Skull Bone Found in Crypt

Archaeologists have discovered what may be a skull bone from the revered Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. The bone was hidden inside a model of a stupa, or a Buddhist shrine used for meditation. The research team found the 1,000-year-old model within a stone chest in a crypt beneath a Buddhist temple in Nanjing, China.

Newfound Human Species Suggests Africa Was Evolutionary Melting Pot

The most recently discovered extinct human species may have lived less than 1 million years ago, researchers have discovered. This finding suggests that a diverse range of human species might have lived at the same time in Africa, just as they might have in Asia, researchers said. In 2015, scientists reported South African fossils of a hitherto-unknown relative of modern humans that possessed an unusual mix of features, such as feet adapted for a life on the ground but hands suited for a life in the trees.

Scientists hope new shark cam gives insight to deep dives

MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — Researchers are developing a one-of-a-kind camera to mount on great white sharks in an effort to discover why the fish travel each year to a spot in the Pacific Ocean nicknamed the "White Shark Cafe."

Antarctic Ozone Hole Shows 1st Signs of Healing

More than 30 years after scientists first spotted a hole in the atmosphere's protective ozone layer over the South Pole, they are seeing the "first fingerprints of healing," researchers reported today (June 30). "But October is also subject to the slings and arrows of other things that vary, like slight changes in meteorology.

Dog 'Kisses' Give Woman Severe Infection

A woman in the United Kingdom developed a potentially life-threatening infection that had an unusual cause: "kisses" from her dog.

'Breast Cancer Gene' BRCA1 Linked to Aggressive Uterine Cancer

Mutations in women's BRCA genes, which are linked to both breast cancer and ovarian cancer, may also increase their risk of developing a particularly deadly form of uterine cancer, a new study finds. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are sometimes referred to as the "breast cancer genes" because women who have a mutation in one or both of these genes face a much greater risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer than women without mutations in these genes. But previous studies have also suggested that women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation may also be more likely to develop a type of uterine cancer called uterine serous carcinoma, said Dr. Noah Kauff, director of clinical cancer genetics at the Duke Cancer Institute in North Carolina and the senior author of the new study.

For Kids with Eczema, 'Soak and Smear'

To bathe or not to bathe: that has been the question for parents of children with eczema. Some parents think that frequent bathing ultimately will dry out the skin and make eczema symptoms worse. Now, a new review of studies on bathing and eczema attempts to provide some clarity.

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Thursday, June 30, 2016

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Olympics will come and go but Zika is here to stay, scientists say

By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Battered by a presidential impeachment and the worst recession since the Great Depression, Brazil is getting a rare bit of relief as Rio de Janeiro prepares to host the Olympics: declining numbers of Zika infections. Since the start of the Zika outbreak, which wreaked havoc across Brazil's northeast earlier this year, many physicians and would-be visitors have worried the Games could be a catalyst to spread the virus internationally. Some athletes, including the world's top-ranked golfer, have said they will stay home to avoid infection because of concerns over health complications caused by Zika, notably microcephaly, a birth defect among babies of pregnant mothers infected by the virus.

Airbus, Safran finalize space launchers merger

French engine maker Safran will pay Airbus Group 750 million euros ($832 million) as they combine their space launch activities to combat growing low-cost competition. The Safran board will meet on Thursday to make a preliminary selection from a dozen offers for its Morpho biometrics and security business, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ikea's Dresser Recall: 7 Tips to Prevent Furniture Injuries

A new recall of topple-prone Ikea dressers highlights the hazards that everyday furniture can hold for children, but there are a number of things parents can do to make their homes safer. This week, Ikea recalled 29 million chests and dressers, because they were unstable and prone to tip over if they were not anchored to a wall, thus causing possible injuries to children, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The dressers have been linked with the deaths of several U.S. children, who suffered fatal injuries after the furniture fell on them.

Butter May Not Be Bad for Your Heart

The study found no link between consuming butter and an increased risk of heart disease or stroke, instead finding that butter might actually be slightly protective against type 2 diabetes. "Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered 'back' as a route to good health," study co-author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said in a statement.

Is There a Link Between Bacteria and Breast Cancer?

There are bacteria living in women's breast tissue, and these microbes may affect women's health, a new study from Canada suggests.

Scorpion Architects Build Lairs with Porches and Mating Rooms

The twists and turns of a scorpion's underground burrows are generally inaccessible to anything that isn't a scorpion — including scientists. The scientists investigated the burrow construction of three species from two different genera of the Scorpionidae family, to understand how the scorpions were benefiting from their tunnels' structural designs. The scorpions lived in three locations — the Negev desert in Israel, and the Kalahari Desert and the Central Highlands, both in Namibia — where variations in soil composition and hardness could affect the types of tunnels the critters constructed.

Real-Life Holodeck? 'Star Trek' Tech Uses VR to Solve Global Problems

On the cult sci-fi TV show "Star Trek," crewmembers aboard the USS Enterprise could explore simulated environments or participate in interactive virtual experiences — anything from walking around lush forests to trying to solve a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery — as a way to mentally escape the confines of the starship or take a break from daily activities. While the fictional Holodeck from the hit series was mainly used by the "Star Trek" characters for recreational purposes, could such an immersive virtual-reality (VR) environment help people tackle global problems like climate change or drug policy? Researchers at New York University (NYU) think so, and they are designing their own version of the technology to create a cyberlearning environment of the future.

Lab-Grown 'Living' Bones Could Yield Customized Implants

For the first time, pieces of living bone have been grown from the cells of patients — in this case, miniature pigs — and sculpted to replace missing anatomical structures.

Rosetta spacecraft to give "final kiss" to comet on crash-landing

The European spacecraft Rosetta will crash-land on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and end its 12-year space odyssey on Sept. 30, France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said on Thursday. Rosetta has helped scientists better understand how the Earth and other planets are formed. The space craft detected key organic compounds in a comet, bolstering the notion that comets delivered the chemical building blocks for life long ago to Earth and throughout the solar system.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

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Novel Tech Aids in Search for Hidden Tombs & Mysteries of the Eye

Researchers used the new devices to probe both the tombs and the eye canal, said Dr. L. Jay Katz, the director of glaucoma service at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and the author of the commentary. In both cases, the devices sent out signals and then observed how they bounced back, Katz said. In the study of the human eye, a precise technology called optical coherence tomography or OCT, has recently been used to map out very tiny areas that researchers previously couldn't see, Katz told Live Science.

California Has Way More Water Than Thought

California has more water in reserve than previous estimates suggested, new research finds — but it will be expensive to pump it from the ground and treat it for use. Deep groundwater aquifers under California's Central Valley contain enough usable water to bring the Central Valley's groundwater stores to about 650 cubic miles (2,700 cubic kilometers), Stanford University researchers reported June 27 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The additional water is deep and briny, but given that California is in its fifth year of drought, it may be worth the expense to use it, the researchers said.

Record-Breaking Electric Car Goes from 0 to 62 Mph in 1.5 Seconds

In a record-setting feat, an electric car zoomed from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 1.513 seconds last week, making it the fastest known electric car in the world. The "Grimsel" electric car took less than 98 feet (30 meters) to reach 62 mph, according to ETH Zurich, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics university in Zurich, Switzerland. The new record was set at the Dübendorf Air Base near Zurich on June 22.

Mummified, 99-Million-Year-Old Wings Caught in Amber

About 99 million years ago, a hummingbird-size bird likely fought for its life after getting stuck in a glob of tree resin, but it couldn't tear itself away and eventually died, leaving its feathers to mummify in what became a lump of amber, a new study finds. "There appear to be claw marks in the resin, which would suggest a struggle," said co-lead study researcher Ryan McKellar, a curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada. Another preserved wing found in the clump of amber "appears to be a severed limb that may have been torn off by a predator, or may have floated free from the rest of the corpse due to resin flows," McKellar told Live Science in an email.

More Victims of Vesuvius Eruption Found Near Pompeii

Recent excavations on the outskirts of Pompeii in southern Italy have revealed more victims of the volcanic eruption that buried the ancient city in ash nearly 2,000 years ago. The group of people seem like they tried to take shelter in the backroom of the shop when Mount Vesuvius unleashed a deadly eruption in A.D. 79. The skeletons appear to have been disturbed by looters who went digging through the ash in search of valuables some time after the volcanic eruption, according to the archaeologists' announcement.

Can You 'Catch' Stress in a Classroom? Science Says Yes

Researchers found that when 4th- to 7th-grade teachers reported feeling "burned out," their students also had elevated stress levels. The study "is the first of its kind connecting teachers' stress-related experiences to students' stress physiology in a real-life setting," the researchers wrote in their study, published today (June 27) in the journal Social Science & Medicine. Teacher burnout is likely the leading reason for which teachers leave the profession, according to the study.

Pat Summitt's Death: Why Alzheimer's Disease Is Deadly

Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Pat Summitt died today (June 28) at age 64 after a five-year battle with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Although Alzheimer's disease shortens people's life spans, it is usually not the direct cause of a person's death, according to the Alzheimer's Society, a charity in the United Kingdom for people with dementia. Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease in which abnormal protein deposits build up in the brain, which causes brain cells to die.

Jewish Escape Tunnel Uncovered at Nazi Massacre Site

A 115-foot-long escape tunnel hand-dug by Jewish prisoners has been discovered at a Nazi execution site in Lithuania, a team of archaeologists and geoscientists announced today. Using a remote-sensing technique, a group of researchers was able to relocate the narrow tunnel at Ponar without ever breaking ground. Soon afterward, the military established Jewish ghettos in the city and began periodic killings at Ponar.

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