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Monday, July 11, 2016

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Solar plane leaves Seville on penultimate leg of round-the-world flight

SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - An airplane powered solely by energy from the sun took off from southern Spain early on Monday on the penultimate leg of the first ever fuel-free round-the-world flight. The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 lifted off from Seville at 0420 GMT (12:20 a.m. EDT) en route for Cairo, a trip expected to take 50 hours and 30 minutes. The plane has more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to its wings and travels at a cruising speed of around 70 km per hour (43 mph). ...

Covered in Ash: Chinstrap Penguins Threatened by Volcanic Eruption

A volcano on the northernmost island of an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean has been spewing ash and smoke since March, threatening one of the largest colonies of penguins in the world, according to a new study. Zavodovski Island, one of the South Sandwich Islands, is uninhabited by humans, but it is home to more than 1 million chinstrap penguins, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS researchers found the volcanic eruption via satellite imagery and fishermen from nearby South Georgia were able to photograph ash blowing eastward across the island over penguin-nesting grounds.

Bye, Bye, Coffee Cups: Why San Francisco Banned Foam Products

In one of the most extensive such bans in the U.S., San Francisco recently voted to outlaw commonly used foam products due to their environmental impact. The city's board of supervisors unanimously voted last week (June 28) to ban expanded polystyrene, the foam, petroleum-based plastic used in food packaging, packing peanuts, coffee cups and more. The ordinance, which goes into effect next year, is an extension of a 2007 ban of take-out food containers made of the foam, and is another step toward the city's goal to achieve zero waste.

Rare Noah's Ark Mosaic Uncovered in Ancient Synagogue in Israel

Mosaics depicting prominent Bible scenes were uncovered during annual excavations of an ancient synagogue in Israel's Lower Galilee. During the excavation in June, archaeologists found two new panels of a mosaic floor in a Late Roman (fifth-century) synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village. One panel showed Noah's ark with pairs of animals, such as lions, leopards and bears.

Is a 'Mystery Virus' Causing Former Tennis Star?s Bizarre Symptoms?

Former professional tennis player Marion Bartoli says that a mysterious virus is causing her to experience bizarre symptoms, but experts say they don?t know of any virus that fits the description of her illness. Yesterday (July 7), Bartoli addressed rumors that she has an eating disorder by saying that she has been diagnosed with a virus that doctors have not been able to identify. The virus has made her sensitive to electrical devices, including her cellphone, and left her unable to eat anything but organic salad, the former Wimbledon champion said, according to The Guardian.

Blaming the Victim: Science Examines Why It Happens

In contrast, people who adhere more closely to values like loyalty, purity and obedience to authority are more likely to blame the victims. This difference holds after accounting for politics and demographic factors, said study researcher Laura Niemi, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Harvard University in Massachusetts. It's also equally true both for sex crimes, in which problems in securing convictions are often traced to victim blaming, and for crimes of a nonsexual nature.

Brain Zapping May Sharpen Vision

In the study, researchers used a mild electrical current to stimulate an area of people's brains that processes visual information. The people either had normal vision, or had some minor vision problems and wore glasses or contacts during the experiments in the study. The people who showed the most improvement in their vision were those who had the worst vision problems, the researchers said.

Raw Food Warning: Why Uncooked Flour Can Make You Sick

The Food and Drug Administration recently made a perhaps surprising recommendation: Don't eat raw flour. The FDA tracked the outbreak to a batch of General Mills flour sold under the brand names Gold Medal, Gold Medal Wondra and Signature Kitchens, triggering a recall. Most people who read the recommendation probably already knew they weren't supposed to eat cookie dough because of the raw eggs in it (though people don?t always do what they?re supposed to do).

Stingray Robot Uses Light-Activated Rat Cells to Swim

A new robot stingray can swim with help from an unexpected source: muscle cells that were taken from rat hearts, a new study finds. Understanding how to build machines from heart cells could lead to scientists being able to build entire living artificial hearts from muscle cells that would act more like natural hearts, the researchers said.

Hidden Fault Could Trigger Cataclysmic Megaquake in Asia

A massive fault could trigger a cataclysmic earthquake beneath Bangladesh, parts of east India and Myanmar, new research suggests. The hidden fault, which has been buried under miles of river sediment, could release an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 to 9.0 in one of the most densely populated regions of the world, the study found. "We don't know if it's tomorrow or if it's not going to be for another 500 years," said study co-author Michael Steckler, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

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Saturday, July 9, 2016

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'Bomb Robot' Kills Dallas Shooter: How Police Did It

A suspect in yesterday's (July 7) Dallas shooting — during which five police officers were killed and seven officers were injured — died after police deployed a remote-controlled bomb-disposal robot carrying an explosive device. Dallas Police Chief David Brown explained during a press conference that police sent the robot in after negotiations with the suspect broke down and he exchanged gunfire with officers.

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Friday, July 8, 2016

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Astronomers spy giant planet, three stars in odd celestial ballet

With three stars in the system, the massive planet would experience triple sunrises and triple sunsets during one season and all daylight in another. Since the planet's orbit is very long, each season lasts for hundreds of years. "Depending on which season you were born in, you may never know what nighttime is like," lead researcher Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona said.

Nightmarish Find: Giant, Venomous Centipede Is a Powerful Swimmer

A giant, toothy centipede with countless legs is also a swimming fiend, making it the first known aquatic centipede on record. George Beccaloni, a curator of orthopteroids at the Natural History Museum in London, discovered the critter while honeymooning in Thailand in 2001, according to National Geographic. As soon as he lifted the rock, a giant centipede skittered out and escaped into the stream, where it hid under a rock.

Secret to Swordfish's Speedy Swimming Found

Luckily, the study's lead author, John Videler, a biologist and professor at Groningen University in the Netherlands, had scanned a pair of adult swordfish in 1996 and 1997 using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Oil-slick skin would be more water-resistant.

500-Million-Year-Old 'Seaweed' Was Actually Home to Tiny Worms

Researchers have known about the ancient worm Oesia (oh-EEZ-yah) since 1911, according to study co-author Simon Conway Morris, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved.

Artificial Intelligence Could Help Catch Alzheimer's Early

The devastating neurodegenerative condition Alzheimer's disease is incurable, but with early detection, patients can seek treatments to slow the disease's progression, before some major symptoms appear. Now, by applying artificial intelligence algorithms to MRI brain scans, researchers have developed a way to automatically distinguish between patients with Alzheimer's and two early forms of dementia that can be precursors to the memory-robbing disease. The researchers, from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, suggest the approach could eventually allow automated screening and assisted diagnosis of various forms of dementia, particularly in centers that lack experienced neuroradiologists. "The potential is the possibility of screening with these techniques so people at risk can be intercepted before the disease becomes apparent," said Alle Meije Wink, a senior investigator in the center's radiology and nuclear medicine department.

Mudskipper Robot Mimics Ancient Land Animals' First 'Steps'

A robot modeled after the mudskipper fish that "walks" short distances over rocks and mud is helping scientists understand how animals moved millions of years ago, when they first emerged from the water and transitioned to walk on land. A muscular tail in the earliest land animals may have played a more important role in their locomotion than previously thought.

Wakey Wakey! Juno Spacecraft Turns on Science Gear at Jupiter

NASA's Juno spacecraft is opening its eyes to prepare for its first good look at Jupiter. Juno's nine science instruments were off when the probe entered orbit around the solar system's largest planet Monday (July 4), to reduce complications during that night's make-or-break orbit-insertion engine burn. The mission team powered up five of those instruments Wednesday (July 6) and plans to turn on the other four before the end of the month, NASA officials said.

In first, scientists use phones to track dengue outbreaks in poor nations

By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Researchers have developed a new method to pinpoint outbreaks of dengue fever by tracking phone calls to public health hotlines, a team of scientists said on Friday. Analyzing patterns of calls in Pakistan's Punjab region, the researchers forecast suspected dengue cases up to two weeks ahead of time with block-by-block accuracy, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Science Advances. Dengue infections have increased dramatically over recent decades, making the virus the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Thursday, July 7, 2016

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White House proposes measures to speed genomic test development

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House announced on Wednesday measures aimed at advancing President Barack Obama's precision medicine initiative, including plans to speed the development of tests used to identify genetic mutations and guide medical treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it planned to issue a proposal on Wednesday to create performance standards to guide development of next generation sequencing (NGS) tests.

Multinational crew blasts off for space station

A three-member multinational crew blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Thursday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed. NASA astronaut Kathleen "Kate" Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 0136 GMT on Thursday (9:36p.m. EDT Wednesday) and reached orbit nine minutes later. The crew's Russian Soyuz capsule is scheduled to arrive at the station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, at 0412 GMT Saturday (12:12 a.m. EDT) to begin a four-month mission.

Love in the Time of Tarantulas? Newfound Spider Named for Márquez

A fearsome tarantula covered in bizarre "attack" hairs has been discovered in a mountain range in Colombia. The spider's "attack" hairs, or urticating hairs, look different from all other known tarantula hairs, the researchers found. Most tarantulas "kick" their urticating hairs at enemies, but the newfound spider is the first known species in its subfamily to use its hairs in direct contact attacks, they said.

Philly's Poo: Old Toilets Reveal Early America's Secret History

A treasure trove of artifacts tossed down the loo is revealing the secret life of pre-Revolutionary America. The nearly 300-year-old privies, which were uncovered in the heart of Philadelphia, have yielded more than 82,000 artifacts that span nearly three centuries, from the city's pre-Revolutionary roots to the modern day. Among the historic treasures were a ceramic punchbowl that provides a snapshot of Revolutionary America, shattered glasses from a back-alley tavern and the foundation of the city's first skyscraper, which was erected in 1850.

Armor Up! Water Fleas Grow Helmets and Spines for Battle

Water fleas prepare for battle by growing armor that's customized to specific enemies, new research finds. Now, researcher Linda Weiss of Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany and her colleagues have found the neurotransmitters that help water fleas customize their bodies in response to the chemical cues in their watery environments. Daphnia is a genus comprising many species of the tiny crustaceans known as water fleas.

'I Think I Can:' How Talking to Yourself Brings Self-Improvement

Twelve of the groups watched videos that trained them in a different motivational technique such as self-talk, while one group, which served as a control, only watched a basic instructional video that did not involve any such techniques. The researchers then asked the participants to play an online game that involved finding numbers on a grid and clicking on them in sequence, from 1 to 36, as quickly as possible.

Seeing Green: Pot Changes Brain's Response to Money

Smoking marijuana may change the way people's brains respond to certain rewards, such as the prospect of winning some money, according to a new study. The researchers found that the brains of people who smoked marijuana did not respond to the idea of winning the money as strongly as did the brains of people who did not use the drug. The results suggest that for people who smoke pot, "there is not as much pleasure that is being received from something that would naturally give somebody pleasure," study author Mary Heitzeg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School, told Live Science.

It May Smell Nice, But Is Your Sunscreen Actually Protecting You?

The most popular sunscreens may not always be the most effective, a new study finds. Nearly half of the sunscreens that researchers looked at in the study didn't meet all of the guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). But these criteria don't appear to play a major role in people's choices when they buy sunscreen, according to the study, led by Dr. Steve Xu, a dermatology resident at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

12,000-Year-Old Shaman's Elaborate Funeral Had 6 Stages

A diminutive woman buried in a cave in Israel 12,000 years ago was likely a person of importance and was interred with great ceremony, including a feast of 86 tortoises, archaeological evidence suggests. Study lead author Leore Grosman, a professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discovered the grave in 2005, in a cave called Hilazon Tachtit, located in western Galilee in northern Israel. The skeleton of a woman about 4 feet 9 inches (1.5 meters) tall and about 45 years old had been carefully placed in a grave pit layered with sediment, seashells, tortoise shells, chalk and bony horn cores from gazelles.

New High-Speed Camera Is So Fast It Can See Neurons Firing

This upgrade could help researchers learn more about how the brain works and how to improve combustion-engine fuel efficiency, the scientists said. The scientists have now improved on this technique, called compressed ultrafast photography, boosting its resolution "by about 2.4 times," said study senior author Lihong Wang, an applied physicist at Washington University in St. Louis. In their latest work, the researchers started with a streak camera — an extremely fast type of camera that measures how the intensity of a pulse of light varies over time.

Prehistoric Tattoos Were Made with Volcanic Glass Tools

Volcanic glass tools that are at least 3,000 years old were used for tattooing in the South Pacific in ancient times, a new study finds. Torrence and her colleagues Nina Kononenko, of the Australian Museum, and Peter Sheppard, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, detailed their findings in the August issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

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