Science news

• Elizabeth May as environment minister? 3 petitions vote yes

  20-10-2015 23:46 via cbc.ca
  
  Green Party leader Elizabeth May says she's "very encouraged" by the support of thousands of Canadians signing online petitions asking her to be environment minister, but calls it "unlikely."
  
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• Sunscreen ingredient toxic to coral, killing off reefs: research

  20-10-2015 23:42
  ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - A common ingredient found in sunscreen is toxic to coral and contributing to the decline of reefs around the world, according to new research published on Tuesday.
  
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• Nets full of holes catch long-term memories

  20-10-2015 23:30
  
  Tough structures that swaddle nerve cells may store long-term memories.
  
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• Developer shuts down controversial LinkedIn age-guessing tool

  20-10-2015 23:05 via cbc.ca
  
  If you have a profile on LinkedIn, it probably lists your education and your work experience. But one thing it couldn't tell anyone was your age — until a controversial browser extension appeared recently.
  
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• Sex influences ability to assess crowd’s emotion

  20-10-2015 22:46
  
  New analyses explain how people detect an angry mob or a happy party.
  
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• [Review] Matters of context guide future research in TGFβ superfamily signaling

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The rich contextual nature of TGFβ signaling output offers clues for future therapeutic strategies.
  
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• [Research Article] Essential roles for Cavβ2 and Cav1 channels in thymocyte development and T cell homeostasis

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Disruption of voltage-gated calcium channels in thymocytes inhibits T cell development in mice.
  
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• [Research Article] CD4+ T cell-dependent and CD4+ T cell-independent cytokine-chemokine network changes in the immune responses of HIV-infected individuals

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Mathematical analysis of the cytokine secretion profiles of collections of patient immune cells uncovers network-level effects of HIV infection
  
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• [Research Article] Abnormal mechanosensing and cofilin activation promotes the progression of ascending aortic aneurysms in mice

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Aortic aneurysms may form when smooth muscle cells cannot respond appropriately to external mechanical forces.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Understanding empathy

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  An opioid antagonist blocks both placebo-induced analgesia and placebo-induced reduction in empathy for pain of another.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Lipids and microbes get inflammatory

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Saturated lipids increase inflammation in white adipose tissue through effects on gut microbiota.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Hedgehog stimulates polyamine biosynthesis

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Hedgehog signaling promotes neural proliferation by stimulating the biosynthesis of polyamines through a noncanonical mechanism.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Finding the good in malaria

  20-10-2015 22:10 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A protein isolated from malaria enables drugs to home in on tumor cells.
  
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• High-fat diet’s negative effect on memory may fade

  20-10-2015 21:22
  
  Brain may find way to compensate for memory impairments linked to high-fat diets, study in rats shows.
  
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• 300 million-year-old giant shark swam the Texas seas

  20-10-2015 21:12
  
  Fossil find shows oldest known ‘supershark,’ about the size of a limo, prowled the ocean 300 million years ago.
  
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• Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun

  20-10-2015 20:20
  
  The search for signs of life in a mysterious star system hypothesized to potentially harbor an "alien megastructure" is now underway. Astronomers have begun using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a system of radio dishes about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, to hunt for signals coming from the vicinity of KIC 8462852, a star that lies 1,500 light-years from Earth. NASA's Kepler space telescope found that KIC 8462852 dimmed oddly and dramatically several times over the past
  
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• Orionid Meteor Shower Promises Bright Sky Show This Week

  20-10-2015 20:20
  
  Now, one of the more reliable meteor showers — sort of a junior version of the Perseids — is set to reach its maximum before sunrise on Thursday morning (Oct. 22). This upcoming display is known as the Orionids, because the meteors seem to fan out from a region to the north of the constellation Orion's second-brightest star, ruddy Betelgeuse. Currently, Orion appears to be ahead of Earth as the planet journeys around the sun, and the constellation has not completely risen above the e
  
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• Chain Saw Massacre Escalates Fight between Olive Farmers and Government [Video]

  20-10-2015 19:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Growers in Italy’s fabled Puglia region try to stop officials from cutting down thousands of trees, intended to slow a deadly virus
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• 'Critical week' of climate talks back on track

  20-10-2015 19:37
  
  Negotiations for a climate rescue pact got back on track Tuesday after an acrimonious start, as France's top diplomat urged "progress" ahead of a year-end conference to seal the deal.
  
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• UN hopes Canada's new leaders will get behind climate deal

  20-10-2015 19:17
  
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Canada's new leadership to play a strong role to help clinch a historic deal on climate change at the upcoming Paris conference.
  
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• Egypt fixing Tutankhamun mask after botched epoxy repair

  20-10-2015 19:12
  
  CAIRO (AP) — Restorers put their work on the famed golden burial mask of King Tutankhamun on display in Cairo on Tuesday, over a year after the beard was accidentally knocked off and hastily glued back on with epoxy.
  
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• France hopeful on climate deal after rocky start to U.N. talks

  20-10-2015 19:05
  
  By Alister Doyle BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Prospects for a U.N. deal in Paris in December meant to mark a "turning point" in slowing climate change have brightened after an acrimonious start to the final preparatory talks in Germany, France said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there was a growing consensus that national pledges for curbing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020, the building blocks of a deal in Paris, should be reviewed and toughened every five years. "The climate
  
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• Dead stars team up for supernova explosions

  20-10-2015 18:30
  
  Three type 1a supernovas show hints of being triggered by collisions between pairs of white dwarfs.
  
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• Hints suggest life arose much earlier than thought

  20-10-2015 17:57 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists have found fossil-like hints that some kind of life existed on Earth 4.1 billion years ago — when the planet was a mere volcanic toddler. That's 300 million years earlier for life to pop up than previously thought.
  
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• Only 8% of the universe’s habitable worlds have formed so far

  20-10-2015 17:30
  
  Multitude of Earth-like planets to come, study suggests
  
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• EU beats 2020 emissions goal 5 years early

  20-10-2015 17:17 via cbc.ca
  
  The European Union, the world's No. 3 greenhouse gas polluter, says its emissions fell four per cent last year, meaning the 28-country bloc has already surpassed its target for 2020.
  
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• Designer antibodies may rid body of AIDS virus

  20-10-2015 17:00
  
  A novel strategy aims to purge stubborn reservoirs of HIV
  
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• Exclusive - Dissident commanders meet to choose rival Afghan Taliban leader

  20-10-2015 16:25
  
  By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Weeks after the Afghan Taliban's biggest battlefield success since 2001, dissident commanders unhappy with their new leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour are meeting to choose a rival, they told Reuters on Tuesday. A leadership battle within the Taliban could create space for militants loyal to Islamic State to expand their foothold in the region, and could discourage Mansour from resuming Pakistan-backed peace talks with the Afghan government. Afg
  
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• DNA study finds new birthplace for modern dogs

  20-10-2015 16:16 via cbc.ca
  
  Where did dogs first arrive on the scene? Scientists have long debated that question, and now a study of doggie DNA from around the world is pointing to Central Asia.
  
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• In Canada, election results cheer scientists

  20-10-2015 16:00
  
  Liberals end nearly a decade of Conservative rule
  
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• Greenpeace applies to take over Vattenfall German coal operations

  20-10-2015 14:52
  
  Greenpeace applied Tuesday to take over the German coal operations of Swedish energy giant Vattenfall, pledging to close them down to protect the climate.
  
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• Warming opens famed Northwest Passage to navigation

  20-10-2015 14:30
  
  Beneath the Aurora Borealis an oil tanker glides through the night past the Coast Guard ice breaker Amundsen and vanishes into the maze of shoals and straits of the Northwest Passage, navigating waters that for millennia were frozen over this time of year.
  
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• Hollywood-made science documentary series comes to TV

  20-10-2015 14:00
  
  Breakthrough series gives a closer look at scientists at work.
  
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• Climate diplomats regroup after rocky start to key talks

  20-10-2015 13:57
  
  Talks on a climate rescue pact got back on track Tuesday after an acrimonious start to the final negotiating session before world leaders open a UN summit to seal the deal.
  
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• Faith leaders call for 'zero carbon future'

  20-10-2015 13:30
  
  More than 150 religious leaders from around the world urged UN climate negotiators in Bonn Tuesday to bequeath a liveable planet to future generations.
  
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• After 100 years, Einstein's theory stands test of time

  20-10-2015 13:20
  
  Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and his revolutionary hypothesis has withstood the test of time, despite numerous expert attempts to find flaws.
  
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• When the water gets too hot, this fish heads to shore

  20-10-2015 13:15
  
  Guppy-like species moves to lose heat via evaporative cooling
  
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• Take a Trip to Comet 67P in This Awesome Video from the Philae Lander

  20-10-2015 13:01
  
  As the Philae lander plunged down to land on a comet in 2014, it captured a view of the great comet closer than any had ever seen. Now a new video lets viewers ride along, showing exactly what the lander saw as it descended. The European Space Agency put together the video to celebrate the one-year anniversary of choosing Philae's prime landing site.
  
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• 20 Years On, Future Bright for Exoplanet Science

  20-10-2015 13:01
  
  On Oct. 6, 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory announced the discovery of the huge, scorching-hot 51 Pegasi b, the first alien planet ever found around a sunlike star.
  
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• ‘Whalecopter’ drone swoops in for a shot and a shower

  20-10-2015 13:00
  
  Whale biologists are monitoring the health of whales using drones that snap photos and then swoop in to sample spray.
  
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• Chasing Wormholes: The Hunt for Tunnels in Space-Time

  20-10-2015 12:59
  
  Science fiction literature is full of stories in which tunnels in space-time — known as wormholes — are used for time travel. Scientists are looking at ways to use traversable wormholes (if they exist) to travel faster than the speed of light — and even to travel through time itself. "A traversable wormhole is a hyperspace tunnel, also called a throat, that connects together two remotely distant regions within our universe, or two different universes — if other universes
  
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• NASA Picks Winners for 3D-Printed Mars Habitat Design Contest

  20-10-2015 12:58
  
  NASA has picked the three winners in a design contest for 3D-printed habitats that could help future astronauts live on Mars. The $25,000 first prize in NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge Design Competition went to Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office for the "Mars Ice House" design, which looks like a translucent, smooth-edged pyramid. The Mars Ice House's ribbed interiors and exteriors glow with diurnally determined hues at various times of sol (Martian
  
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• Mars Water Discovery Sparks Exploration Debate

  20-10-2015 12:58
  
  The revelation that dark streaks flowing downhill on Mars are signs of present-day liquid water has sparked debate on how best to investigate the Red Planet features. These dark streaks, called Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL), flow down steep slopes during warm seasons and fade when the weather is cooler. The streaks are caused by liquid water laden with salts, scientists announced last month.
  
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• Astronaut Scott Kelly Sets New U.S. Record for Time Spent in Space

  20-10-2015 12:58
  
  A NASA astronaut has set a new record for the most time spent off the Earth by an American citizen. On Tuesday (Oct. 13), Scott Kelly, who is currently serving as commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 45 crew, marked the 200th day of what is scheduled to be a 342-day mission on board the orbiting outpost. Kelly's 382 day (and counting) record exceeded the earlier total logged by astronaut Mike Fincke in 2011.
  
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• WHO chief says U.S., Saudi discussing MERS vaccine

  20-10-2015 12:48
  
  GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States and Saudi Arabia are discussing the possibility of readying a vaccine for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) before the next outbreak of the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Margaret Chan said there were many gaps in the science of MERS and so far the world had taken only "baby steps" in tackling the virus. ...
  
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• Mysterious ‘holes’ in neuron net may help store long-term memories

  20-10-2015 12:45
  
  New research shows nets could be key for memory formation
  
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• Bloody Ancient Arrowhead Reveals Maya 'Life Force' Ceremony

  20-10-2015 12:19
  
  An ancient arrowhead with human blood on it points to a Maya bloodletting ceremony in which a person's "life force" fed the gods, two researchers say.
  
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• Meet Jane, the Most Complete Adolescent T. Rex Ever Found

  20-10-2015 12:17
  
  An adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex named Jane may settle a dispute more than 70 years in the making: Whether small carnivorous dinosaurs are younger versions of T. rex, or another species altogether, a new study finds. The authors of the new study contend that small and slender Jane is a young, 11-year-old T. rex. Before Jane, there was a critical gap between juvenile and adult T. rex dinosaur specimens, and it was unclear how their body structures changed over time, said study lead researcher Thom
  
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• Tiny Asian pest puts squeeze on Florida fruit growers

  20-10-2015 11:44
  
  Victoria Barnes was about to harvest her early season avocados when the Oriental fruit fly reared its tiny head and all but shut down south Florida's $1.6 billion agriculture industry.
  
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• Gene-editing method halts production of brain-destroying proteins

  20-10-2015 11:30
  
  CRISPR technique blocks production of rogue proteins responsible for Huntingtons disease in mouse brain
  
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