Science news

• Treasure trove of late Triassic fossils discovered in Utah

  16-10-2015 23:18
  
  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Paleontologists have discovered a cliff-side in Utah brimming with fossils that offers a rare glimpse of desert life in western North America early in the age of dinosaurs.
  
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• French president Hollande in Iceland to see global warming's damage on shrinking glacier

  16-10-2015 23:16 via cbc.ca
  
  The French president took a few steps on an Icelandic glacier Friday to experience firsthand the damage caused by global warming, ahead of major U.N. talks on climate change in Paris this year.
  
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• New evidence weakens case against climate in woolly mammoths’ death

  16-10-2015 21:50
  
  Hunters responsible for woolly mammoths’ extinction, suggests a chemical analysis of juveniles’ tusks.
  
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• England's High Court rules that Uber app is lawful

  16-10-2015 21:25 via cbc.ca
  
  The High Court in London ruled Friday that the Uber app to hail minicabs is lawful — a blow to the U.K. city's famous black cab drivers, who argued that it violated city regulations.
  
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• Britain's High Court rules that Uber app is lawful

  16-10-2015 21:25 via cbc.ca
  
  Britain's High Court ruled Friday that the Uber app to hail minicabs is lawful — a blow to London's famous black cab drivers, who argued that it violated city regulations.
  
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• NASA's Scott Kelly breaks US record for most days in space

  16-10-2015 21:16
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Waking up hundreds of miles above the Himalayas, astronaut Scott Kelly broke the U.S. record Friday for the most time spent in space with 383 days.
  
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• Modern Hunter-Gatherers Probably Get Less Sleep Than You Do

  16-10-2015 21:06
  
  Although it might seem that the glowing lights from smartphones and other trappings of modern life reduce people's ability to get a decent amount of shut-eye, scientists now suggest that people do not get any less sleep today than they did in prehistoric times. "We find that contrary to much conventional wisdom, it is very likely that we do not sleep less than our distant ancestors," said the study's senior author, Jerome Siegel, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. P
  
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• Adrian Robinson's Brain Disorder: What Is CTE?

  16-10-2015 21:05
  
  Adrian Robinson Jr., a professional football player who died by suicide earlier this year, had a brain disease, his autopsy recently revealed. Robinson, who played for several football teams, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, died on May 16. During his two years in the National Football League (NFL), he suffered several concussions.
  
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• Research boosts optical fiber data speeds

  16-10-2015 20:26
  In the latest advance to boost the speed of the Internet, a research team has demonstrated a way to increase the data speeds of optical fibers -- considered the Internet's backbone.
  
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• Investigators create complex kidney structures from human stem cells derived from adults

  16-10-2015 20:26
  A highly efficient method has been developed for making kidney structures from stem cells that are derived from skin taken from patients. The kidney structures formed could be used to study abnormalities of kidney development, chronic kidney disease, the effects of toxic drugs, and be incorporated into bioengineered devices to treat patients with acute and chronic kidney injury, say scientists.
  
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• Scientists make advancements that may lead to new treatments for Parkinson's

  16-10-2015 20:04
  A research team has made breakthrough advancements on a new molecular mechanism that may provide a means to “melt” pathological clumps known as Lewy clumps. These clumps are a hallmark sign of Parkinson's disease.
  
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• Novel algorithm simulates water evaporation at the nanoscale

  16-10-2015 19:53
  The evaporation of water that occurs when it meets a hot surface is understood in continuum theory and in experimentation. Before now, researchers were unable to study it at nanoscales in molecular simulation.
  
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• Metabolism may keep cancer cells in check

  16-10-2015 19:53
  Researchers have found that a long-known tumor suppressor, whose mechanism of holding cell growth in check has remained murky for over 40 years, works in part by keeping the cell's energy metabolism behaving in grown-up fashion.
  
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• Is black phosphorus the next big thing in materials?

  16-10-2015 19:53
  Researchers have confirmed that single-crystal black phosphorous nanoribbons display a strong in-plane anisotropy in thermal conductivity, an experimental revelation that should facilitate the future application of this highly promising material to electronic, optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.
  
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• Better ways to manage urban stormwater runoff

  16-10-2015 19:53
  As meteorologists monitor the El Nino condition currently gaining strength in the Pacific Ocean, Californians look with hope to the much-needed rain and snow it could yield. But if we're going to make the most of the precipitation, we need to put a LID on it.
  
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• A nap to recap: How reward, daytime sleep boost learning

  16-10-2015 19:53
  Rewarding learning selectively enhances the consolidation of learned information during sleep, report scientists. This human study builds on what we know from Drosophila by showing how sleep and reward combine to boost memory.
  
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• North Pole of Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus Captured in Best-Ever Photos

  16-10-2015 19:48
  
  NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured its best-ever looks at the north polar region of Saturn's ocean-harboring moon, Enceladus. Cassini zoomed within 1,142 miles (1,838 kilometers) of Enceladus Wednesday (Oct. 14), performing its 20th close flyby of the icy satellite since arriving in the Saturn system in 2004. The spacecraft has already beamed home some of the new close-encounter images, and more will come down to Earth in the next few days, NASA officials said.
  
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• NASA Manager George Mueller, 'Father of Space Shuttle,' Dies at 97

  16-10-2015 19:48
  
  George Mueller, who led NASA's human spaceflight efforts through the first moon landing and was credited as the "father of the space shuttle," died Monday (Oct. 12) after a brief illness. NASA and sources close to Mueller's family confirmed his passing on Thursday (Oct. 15). George Mueller, as associate administrator, headed the Office of Manned Space Flight at NASA's Washington headquarters from 1963 through 1969.
  
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• Nanoparticles in foods raise safety questions

  16-10-2015 19:28
  
  As scientists cook up ways to improve palatability and even make foods healthier, some are considering the potential health risks of tiny additives.
  
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• Google wins appeal court ruling over digitizing books

  16-10-2015 18:27 via cbc.ca
  
  Google is not violating copyright laws by digitizing books for a massive online library, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in a decade long dispute by authors worried that the project would spoil the market for their books.
  
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• 'Russian' drone downed by Turkey close to Syria border

  16-10-2015 18:11
  
  Turkish fighter jets shot down an unidentified drone which entered its air space near the Syrian border, with the US military saying "all indications" showed that the unmanned vehicle was Russian.
  
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• High-flying birds recruited for meteorology

  16-10-2015 18:07
  
  Monitoring the midflight movements of high-flying birds can provide valuable meteorological data, new research shows.
  
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• Malaysia arrests hacker for supplying U.S. targets to Islamic State

  16-10-2015 18:04
  
  By Yantoultra Ngui and Mark Hosenball KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At the request of the United States, Malaysia has arrested a man on charges of hacking personal data of more than a thousand U.S. officials and handing it to Islamic State militants in Syria so they could target the individuals. The man, 20-year-old Ardit Ferizi from Kosovo, who entered Malaysia in August 2014 to study computer science and forensics, will be extradited to the United States, police said on Thursday night. T
  
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• Moon probe paving way for more manned lunar missions 'to be given green light'

  16-10-2015 18:01
  
  A pathfinding mission to land a robot probe on an unexplored region of the moon is expected to be approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) next year, according to an exclusive BBC report.
  
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• VIDEO: Is life possible on the south pole of the Moon?

  16-10-2015 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dr James Carpenter of the European Space Agency explains why an unexplored area of the moon may be rich in resources for a human colony.
  
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• VIDEO: Could the lunar south pole support a human base?

  16-10-2015 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dr James Carpenter of the European Space Agency explains why an unexplored area of the moon may be rich in resources for a human colony.
  
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• Europe and Russia plan Moon mission

  16-10-2015 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The European and Russian space agencies are to send the first spacecraft to land near the south pole of the Moon, to lay the groundwork for a possible permanent settlement.
  
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• Huntington's disease protein controls movement of precious cargo inside cells, study finds

  16-10-2015 17:58
  A new study marks a step toward understanding the Huntingtin protein (Htt) is responsible for Huntington's disease. The research shows that Htt controls the movement of precious cargo traveling up and down neurons, the cells that form the core of the nervous system in animals.
  
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• Hot Jupiter-like planet: Discovery of two close-in planet companions sheds new light on planet formation

  16-10-2015 17:58
  For the past 20 years, astronomers peered into the night sky, puzzled about a type of planet called hot Jupiters.
  
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• Scientists demonstrate how to improve ultrathin CIGSe solar cells by nanoparticles

  16-10-2015 17:55
  CIGSe solar cells are made of a thin chalcopyrite layer consisting of copper, indium, gallium and selenium and can reach high efficiencies. Since indium is becoming scarce and expensive, it is interesting to reduce the active CIGSe layer, which however decreases the efficiency quite strongly. Now, scientists have produced high quality ultrathin CIGSe layers and increased their efficiency by an array of tiny nanoparticles between the back contact and the active layer.
  
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• App facilitates early detection, treatment of COPD exacerbation symptoms

  16-10-2015 17:55
  A digital health application for reporting symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) facilitated early detection and treatment of COPD exacerbation symptoms, according to an analysis.
  
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• What are nanostars in 2-D superconductor supposed to mean?

  16-10-2015 17:54
  Physicists have discovered magnetic disturbances in two-dimensional layered superconductors, resembling small oscillating stars. This experimental observation is the direct confirmation of the famous Yu-Shiba-Rusinov theory which predicted an existence of these quantum bound magnetic states. It was found out that in the 2-D systems the magnetic excitations spread over longer distances as compared to ordinary 3-D superconducting materials. Building and manipulating such protected states is a cruc
  
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• Anti-clumping strategy for nanoparticles

  16-10-2015 17:54
  Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in industrial applications ranging from drug delivery and biomedical diagnostics to developing hydrophobic surfaces, lubricant additives and enhanced oil recovery solutions in petroleum fields. For such nanoparticles to be effective, they need to remain well dispersed into the fluid surrounding them. Physicists have now identified the conditions that lead to instability of nanoparticles and producing aggregates.
  
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• Ebola May Stay in Survivors' Semen for Many Months

  16-10-2015 17:50
  
  Male survivors of Ebola may carry the virus in their semen even months after they recover from the infection, according to a recent study. In the study, researchers looked for genetic material from the Ebola virus in semen and found that 100 percent of the specimens sampled between two and three months following an Ebola infection showed signs of the virus. Among the samples taken four to six months after an Ebola infection, 65 percent carried signs of the virus, and 26 percent of the samples ta
  
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• UN climate talks: Tough issues on the table

  16-10-2015 17:49
  
  Diplomats convene in Bonn Monday for the last five-day negotiating session before 195 nations try to ink a global climate pact in December.
  
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• Supplements Send 23,000 People to ER Yearly

  16-10-2015 17:49
  
  Dietary supplements are responsible for an estimated 23,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms, and more than 2,100 hospitalizations, in the United States each year, a new study reveals. Researchers found that more than one-quarter of these emergency visits involved young adults ages 20 to 34, and about one-fifth of them involved unsupervised children who swallowed adult supplements, according to the study, which was published online today (Oct. 14) in the New England Journal of Medicine. The vi
  
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• Nintendo's NX gaming device a console-handheld hybrid, out 2016: report

  16-10-2015 17:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Nintendo’s next gaming device will be designed for use both in the living room and outside the home, and is expected to launch in 2016, according to a report.
  
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• The Doctor-Parent Disconnect: Why Are Antibiotics Overprescribed for Kids?

  16-10-2015 17:47
  
  When children are prescribed antibiotics that they don't need, doctors often point to pressure from parents, saying that they demand the drugs for their kids. Before the parents met with the doctor, the researchers asked them about their view of antibiotics and whether they planned to ask for the drugs. None of the parents said they had planned to ask the doctor for antibiotics at the visit, the researchers found.
  
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• Pets and Owners May Share MRSA Bacteria

  16-10-2015 17:46
  
  People infected with the superbug methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may pass the bacteria to their pets, a new study suggests. What's more, MRSA may "hide" on pets, which might allow the animals to pass the bacteria back to their owners, although more studies are needed to confirm this, the researchers said. Pets "may serve as a reservoir for ongoing transmission [of MRSA] in the household," said study co-author Dr. Stephanie Fritz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Washin
  
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• Hard to Swallow: Man's Missing Dentures Found in His Esophagus

  16-10-2015 17:45
  
  Eight days after a large piece of a man's acrylic denture went missing, it turned up in an unusual place: his esophagus. The 55-year-old man in India had inadvertently ingested a part of his denture during an epileptic seizure he experienced while sleeping, according to a new report of the man's case, which was published online Sept. 30 in the journal BMJ Case Reports. The man wasn't aware that he had had the seizure during the night, however, and when he woke up the next morning, he only notice
  
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• Hooke opened up the world of the unseen 350 years ago

  16-10-2015 17:30
  
  His illustrations of parasites painted a world people couldn’t forget
  
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• More than 400 dead in southeast Congo measles outbreak - U.N.

  16-10-2015 16:26
  
  A measles outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo's copper-mining southeast has killed 428 people and infected about 30,000 since the start of the year, the United Nations said on Friday. More than 100 deaths and 10,000 additional cases have been recorded since mid-August, when the United Nations committed $2.4 million to fight the outbreak in the former province of Katanga, which was recently divided into four. "We have contained the disease somewhat in the short term," Yvon Edoumou, spokesman
  
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• Stunning closeups of Saturn moon Enceladus captured by spacecraft

  16-10-2015 16:24 via cbc.ca
  
  NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured closeups of the north pole of Enceladus, a Saturn moon that spews icy geysers from an ocean beneath its icy crust.
  
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• VIDEO: How bees showed a caffeine addiction

  16-10-2015 15:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ecologist Margaret Couvillon explains how she discovered that honeybees were hooked on caffeine.
  
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• Ancestors 'slept less' than we do

  16-10-2015 15:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A study of modern hunter gatherer societies suggests our ancestors may have only slept 6.5 hours a night.
  
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• Wearable Sensors Could Translate Sign Language Into English

  16-10-2015 15:24
  
  Wearable sensors could one day interpret the gestures in sign language and translate them into English, providing a high-tech solution to communication problems between deaf people and those who don’t understand sign language. Engineers at Texas A&M University are developing a wearable device that can sense movement and muscle activity in a person's arms. After some initial research, the engineers found that there were devices that attempted to translate sign language into text, but th
  
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• Cretaceous Fur Ball: Ancient Mammal With Spiky Hair Discovered

  16-10-2015 15:22
  
  The fossilized remains of a furry critter that once roamed the Earth alongside dinosaurs suggests that mammals have been growing hair the same way for at least 125 million years. The Spinolestes specimen is special because it was fossilized with so many of its parts intact, Luo told Live Science in an email. Before the fossil was unearthed by paleontologists in Spain, the oldest mammalian bones containing similar, hair-related microstructures dated back just 60 million years.
  
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• Mystery of Antarctica's Strange Disappearing Snow Is Solved

  16-10-2015 15:21
  
  Antarctica is one of the coldest, snowiest parts of the globe, but there may actually be less snow across the surface of the planet's southernmost continent than scientists originally thought. Researchers studying areas of eastern Antarctica where snow is often stripped off the surface by wind, recently found that the powerful gusts are actually vaporizing massive amounts of snow, rather than blowing and redistributing it elsewhere. Scientists knew that snow was being removed from the ice sheet,
  
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• Huge 50-year-old elephant killed by German tourist in Zimbabwe

  16-10-2015 15:12
  
  A German tourist has killed one of the biggest elephants seen for years in Zimbabwe, wildlife groups said Friday, reviving the fierce debate over trophy hunting after the shooting of Cecil the lion.
  
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• Oil companies back Paris climate deal

  16-10-2015 15:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Leaders of ten of the world's biggest oil companies have offered their qualified support for a new global climate treaty.
  
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