Science news

• October's Planets on Parade: How and When to See Them

  05-10-2015 23:46
  
  Here's a guide for October skywatchers: First catch Saturn, then Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and finally Mercury in the night sky as this month's planetary parade begins. During the first half of October, Jupiter, Mars and Venus will be readily evident in the eastern sky, 60 to 90 minutes before sunrise. Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion, will hover near Venus when a waning crescent moon passes by on the mornings of Oct. 8 and 9.
  
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• Curiosity Rover Snaps Stunning Mountain Vista on Mars (Photo)

  05-10-2015 23:09
  
  NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has beamed home a gorgeous postcard of the mountainous Red Planet landscape it's exploring. The car-size Curiosity rover has been studying the foothills of the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) Mount Sharp since September 2014. Slowly but surely, the robot is making its way up the mountain, and the new photo — which was taken on Sept. 9 but just released Friday (Oct. 2) — shows some of the terrain Curiosity will investigate in the future.
  
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• Will We Ever Colonize Mars? (Op-Ed)

  05-10-2015 23:00
  
  Paul Sutter is a research fellow at the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste and visiting scholar at the Ohio State University's Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics (CCAPP). Sutter is also host of the podcasts Ask a Spaceman and RealSpace, and the YouTube series Space In Your Face. As long as those dreams involve a poisonous, tenuous atmosphere, inhospitable cold and lots and lots of red.
  
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• As Privacy Fades, Your Identity Is the New Money (Op-Ed)

  05-10-2015 22:58
  
  Rob Leslie is chief executive officer of Sedicii, which provides technology for eliminating transmission and storage of private identity data during authentication or identity verification, and reducing identity theft, impersonation and fraud. Leslie is an electronics engineer with more 25 years of experience in information technology and business. This Op-Ed is part of a series provided by the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers, class of 2015.
  
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• Pluto Revealed: The Historic Voyage of New Horizons (Kavli Hangout)

  05-10-2015 22:56
  
  After a journey lasting nine-and-a-half years, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft finally reached the distant world of Pluto. Instead of a cratered, barren orb — as some scientists expected — Pluto appears to be a startlingly dynamic world with soaring mountains and smooth plains of exotic ices. Information will continue pour in from New Horizons well into 2016 as the spacecraft transmits all of its data back to Earth.
  
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• Energy Vampires: Pulling the Plug on Idle Electronics (Op-Ed)

  05-10-2015 22:56
  
  Pierre Delforge is the director of high-tech energy efficiency for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Since the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have implemented efficiency programs and labels, focusing on appliances that used the most energy, such as furnaces, water heaters and refrigerators. The programs have been remarkably effective at cutting energy waste and sparking innovation: For example, new clothes washers use 75
  
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• For the real hits of fashion week, look to computer science

  05-10-2015 22:35
  
  A machine learning algorithm that analyzes trends on the runway and those on the street could help designers and manufacturers better understand what fashion trends take off.
  
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• Titanic's Last Lunch Menu Sells for $88,000 at Auction

  05-10-2015 22:25
  
  The menu reveals that, the day before the boat sank to the bottom of the icy North Atlantic Ocean, wealthy passengers dined on "grilled mutton chops," soused herring and a variety of other delicacies. Although the identity of the buyer is unknown, he or she may be a descendent of one of the 700 or so people who survived the catastrophic shipwreck, according to Lion Heart Autographs and Invaluable.com, the auction houses that handled the sale. The salvaged menu once belonged to Abraham Lincoln Sa
  
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• Heating up hair science

  05-10-2015 22:10
  West Lafayette, IND (Reuters) Tahira Reid loves science. So she decided to use that passion to study one of her biggest causes of anxiety. 
  
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• Volcanic eruptions can reduce river flows by up to 10%: study

  05-10-2015 22:00
  
  Volcanic eruptions can reduce water flows in big rivers, reports a study released Monday that cautions against schemes to fight global warming by injecting reflective particles into the sky.
  
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• US and Cuba discussing joint marine reserve: Kerry

  05-10-2015 21:54
  
  The United States and its former Cold War foe Cuba are discussing a joint maritime reserve in waters between their countries, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday.
  
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• Farmer opens barn to show woolly mammoth bones

  05-10-2015 21:48
  
  LIMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A farm in southeastern Michigan has become a natural history museum since bones from a woolly mammoth were discovered.
  
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• Wildfires more likely in warming world

  05-10-2015 21:41
  
  A warming climate could lead to a spike in wildfires, according to a study Monday that researched the history of brush blazes in the Rocky Mountains.
  
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• Chile declares huge Easter Island marine reserve

  05-10-2015 21:30
  
  Chile declared huge new marine reserves in the Pacific in water off Easter Island on Monday as it hosted a major conference on protecting the world's oceans and fisheries.
  
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• What really changes when a male vole settles down

  05-10-2015 21:28
  
  Bachelor prairie voles can’t tell one female from another, but saying “I do” means more than just settling down.
  
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• Russian incursion into Turkish air space was 'reckless' - U.S. official

  05-10-2015 21:10
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Monday that an incursion into Turkish air space last week by a Russian warplane was "reckless" and provocative. The Russian Defense Ministry said the SU-30 fighter aircraft entered Turkish air space along the border with Syria "for a few seconds" on Saturday. The incident was condemned by NATO allies, and Ankara threatened to respond if provoked again. "Frankly, we view this incursion as reckless," State Department Mark Toner told reporter
  
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• Raindrops help pitcher plants trap dinner

  05-10-2015 21:00
  
  Pitcher plants use the force of falling raindrops to fling prey into their traps.
  
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• Nobel medicine prize won for drugs from natural sources

  05-10-2015 20:08
  
  Nobel Prizes in medicine or physiology awarded for drugs that combat roundworms and malaria
  
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• Russia says fighter jet entered Turkish airspace 'for a few seconds'

  05-10-2015 19:36
  
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian Su-30 fighter jet briefly entered Turkish air space on Saturday along the border with Syria, Russia's defence ministry said on Monday. "A Russian Su-30 fighter jet briefly, for a few seconds, entered Turkish air space," the ministry said in a statement. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Richjard Balmforth)
  
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• Car bomb attacks kill 57 people in Iraq - police

  05-10-2015 19:28
  
  At least 57 people were killed on Monday in car bomb attacks in Baghdad and the north and south of Iraq, police and medical sources said. One attack took place near a crowded market in the town of Khalis, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing 35 people, police said. "The driver begged police to be allowed to park his vehicle in order to buy medication from a nearby pharmacy and five minutes later it (the bomb) went off and caused huge destruction," police captain Mohammed al-Tamim
  
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• Russia says jet violated Turkish air space due to bad weather

  05-10-2015 19:27
  
  Russia on Monday said one of its warplanes had briefly entered Turkish air space during raids in Syria at the weekend due to bad weather, after the incident sparked concern in Ankara and the West.
  
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• Car bomb attacks kill 37 people in Iraq - police

  05-10-2015 19:11
  
  At least 37 people were killed on Monday in car bomb attacks in Baghdad and the north and south of Iraq, police and medical sources said. One attack took place near a crowded market in the town of Khalis, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing 15 people, police said. "The driver begged police to be allowed to park his vehicle in order to buy medication from a nearby pharmacy and five minutes later it (the bomb) went off and caused huge destruction," police captain Mohammed al-Tamim
  
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• Car bomb attacks kill at least 25 in north, south Iraq - police

  05-10-2015 19:04
  
  At least 25 people were killed on Monday in car bomb attacks in north and south Iraq, police and medical sources said. "The driver begged police to be allowed to park his vehicle in order to buy medication from a nearby pharmacy and five minutes later it (the bomb) went off and caused huge destruction," said police captain Mohammed al-Tamimi. Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer, is struggling to come up with a formula to contain Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni group that controls a third of
  
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• A third of cacti facing extinction: study

  05-10-2015 18:46
  
  Thirty-one percent of cacti, some 500 species, face extinction due to human encroachment, according to the first global assessment of the prickly plants, published Monday.
  
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• Dutch create world's largest man-made wave

  05-10-2015 18:36
  
  In a country where most people live below sea level, studying the oceans is a matter of survival. Now Dutch scientists have created the world's biggest man-made wave in a bid to prepare for the worst.
  
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• Beating parasites wins three scientists Nobel prize for medicine

  05-10-2015 18:21
  
  STOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) - Three scientists from Japan, China and Ireland whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases including malaria and elephantiasis won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday.
  
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• Humans are worse than radiation for Chernobyl animals, study finds

  05-10-2015 18:15
  
  But extent of radiation damage to individual animals still an open question
  
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• Plants Use Clever (but Smelly) Ruse to Spread Seeds

  05-10-2015 18:12
  
  Plants that produce seeds that look and smell like antelope poop are able to trick unsuspecting dung beetles ? Furthermore, these nuts are larger than those of any of related species — they are four-tenths of an inch (1 centimeter) wide, about the size of antelope droppings.
  
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• Work that won Nobel Prize for medicine 2015

  05-10-2015 18:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The work that won the 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine
  
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• DNA ‘vaccine’ sterilizes mice, could lead to one-shot birth control

  05-10-2015 18:00
  
  New contraception could be used to control feral populations of cats and dogs
  
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• 12 Surprising Facts about Nobel Prizes

  05-10-2015 18:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  From prison time to the intricacies of transporting the prize itself, this award can be rife with complications
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• 3 Pioneers Win Nobel Prize in Medicine for Parasite-Fighting Drugs

  05-10-2015 17:47
  
  The 2015 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to a trio of scientists for discoveries that led to new treatments for some of the most devastating parasitic diseases, the Nobel Foundation announced this morning (Oct. 5). Half of the Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to William C. Campbell and Satoshi ?mura for discovering a new treatment for infections caused by roundworm parasites. The other half went to Youyou Tu for discovering a drug to fight malaria, the mosquito-transmitted
  
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• Plant seeds look, smell like poop—fooling dung beetles into planting them

  05-10-2015 17:45
  
  Seed mimics feces to ensure dispersal
  
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• 50 Graves Uncovered at Medieval Pilgrimage Site in England

  05-10-2015 17:42
  
  The human remains, which have been exhumed, may help archaeologists learn more about the medieval era, according to Archaeology Warwickshire, an archaeology and excavation firm. The company plans to study each skeleton to determine its sex and approximate age, and to identify evidence of injuries or diseases preserved in the bones, said Stuart Palmer, the business manager of Archaeology Warwickshire. "The teeth will give us a lot of information about diet, as well," Palmer told Live Science.
  
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• BP settles Deepwater Horizon oil spill claims for $20B with U.S.

  05-10-2015 17:35 via cbc.ca
  
  The U.S. Justice Department and five states have finalized a settlement of more than $20 billion US arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
  
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• Stinky seeds dupe dung beetles

  05-10-2015 17:00
  
  Seeds that look and smell like animal poop can trick dung beetles into spreading and burying the seeds.
  
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• Royal Bank rolls out technology to identify clients from their voices

  05-10-2015 16:57 via cbc.ca
  
  Royal Bank (TSX:RBC) is rolling out "voice biometrics" technology that can identify clients who phone the bank's call centres in a matter of seconds.
  
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• Anxiety In Children May Be Prevented With Family Therapy

  05-10-2015 16:39
  
  Therapy sessions that involve the whole family may help prevent anxiety in children whose parents suffer from an anxiety disorder, according to a recent study. Researchers found that 9 percent of children whose families participated in a year-long therapy intervention developed an anxiety disorder during the study period, whereas 21 percent of children in a control group, who received a pamphlet about anxiety disorders, developed an anxiety disorder during the study. The study included 136 famil
  
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• Irish-born William C Campbell claims share of Nobel Prize in medicine

  05-10-2015 16:31
  
  An Irish-born scientist who shared this year's Nobel Prize in medicine has been credited with helping to secure free drugs to cure river blindness across Africa.
  
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• Twitter chooses Jack Dorsey as CEO in hopes of turnaround

  05-10-2015 16:27 via cbc.ca
  
  Twitter is embracing Jack Dorsey as its CEO in hopes that its once-spurned co-founder can hatch a plan to expand the short messaging service's audience and end nearly a decade of financial losses.
  
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• Russian jet over Turkey risked being shot down: Kerry

  05-10-2015 16:22
  
  US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday that a Russian warplane's "incursion" into the air space of Washington's NATO ally Turkey had risked provoking a serious escalation.
  
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• Post-apocalyptic 'beaver' thrived after dinosaurs died

  05-10-2015 15:43 via cbc.ca
  
  The world had been wrecked. An asteroid impact in Mexico compounded by colossal volcanism in India 66 million years ago had killed about three-quarters of Earth's species including the dinosaurs.
  
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• US defence chief warns Russia has 'losing strategy' in Syria

  05-10-2015 15:21
  
  US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday that Moscow is pursuing a "losing strategy" in Syria amid rising tensions after a Russian fighter jet violated Turkey's air space.
  
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• Futuristic-Looking Solar Cars to Race Through Australian Outback

  05-10-2015 15:13
  
  The competition, called the World Solar Challenge, will be held from Oct. 18 to Oct. 25, and will involve racing about 1,900 miles (nearly 3,000 kilometers) from Darwin to Adelaide. The rest of the energy must be reaped from the sun or be harnessed from the kinetic energy of the car (i.e., energy produced by the motion of the car). "The climate is no easy task," said Alex Lubkin, a materials science student at Stanford University in California, who is part of the Stanford Solar Car Project, one
  
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• Tracking Cats from Space: Satellites Estimate Feral Ranges

  05-10-2015 15:12
  
  How far feral cats roam can now be estimated from space, a new study finds. This matters because feral cats (domesticated cats that live in the wild) are major predators for native birds and small mammals the world over. But feral cats are hard to control, because they behave very differently depending on where they live, said Andrew Bengsen, a research scientist in the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Vertebrate Pest Research Unit in Australia, and lead author of the new study.
  
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• Rogers expected to announce 'gigabit' downloads, matching Bell

  05-10-2015 15:06 via cbc.ca
  
  Rogers Communications is expected to announce 'gigabit' download speeds for its broadband customers today, giving them significantly faster delivery of movies and other downloads in and around Toronto.
  
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• Rogers announces Ignite Gigabit internet, 4K sports broadcasts

  05-10-2015 15:06 via cbc.ca
  
  Rogers will make gigabit internet speeds available to customers in Toronto and the GTA this year, with the rest of Ontario and Atlantic Canada following in 2016.
  
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• Gigabit internet speeds coming to Rogers customers

  05-10-2015 15:06 via cbc.ca
  
  Rogers will make gigabit internet speeds available to customers in Toronto and the GTA this year, with the rest of Ontario and Atlantic Canada following in 2016.
  
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• The Latest: Discovery on golf course inspired Nobel winner

  05-10-2015 14:47
  
  STOCKHOLM (AP) — Latest developments in the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Medicine (all times local):
  
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• Chile creates Easter Island marine reserve at ocean summit

  05-10-2015 14:46
  
  Chile and the United States declared huge new marine reserves on Monday at the start of a major conference in Chile on protecting the world's oceans and fisheries.
  
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