Science news

• Trudeau team looks to put new face on Canada's climate policy

  23-10-2015 23:59 via cbc.ca
  
  The man who negotiated Canada's signature on the world's first climate agreement nearly 20 years ago says the new Trudeau government needs to quickly prove to the world it takes the climate issue seriously and will do things differently than the former government.
  
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• How Hurricane Patricia Quickly Became a Monster Storm

  23-10-2015 23:44 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The ideal combination of high ocean temperature, soaring humidity and slow prevailing winds created the record-breaking beast
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• Rise of the Microglia

  23-10-2015 23:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  New research shows that the resident immune cells of the brain are involved in both development and disease
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• Why did Hurricane Patricia become a monster so quickly?

  23-10-2015 22:39
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Patricia zoomed from tropical storm to record-beater in 30 hours flat like a jet-fueled sports car.
  
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• New Horizons Pluto Probe Heads Toward 2nd Flyby Target

  23-10-2015 22:29
  
  NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has begun chasing down another distant, icy object. New Horizons, which in July performed the first-ever flyby of Pluto, fired up its engines yesterday (Oct. 22) in the first of four maneuvers designed to send the probe zooming past a small object called 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019. The 16-minute engine burn changed New Horizons' trajectory by about 22.4 mph (36 km/h), mission officials said.
  
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• Feds: Californians in flood areas should buy insurance now

  23-10-2015 22:08
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — With a strong El Nino in place, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is urging Californians in flood prone places to buy insurance before it's too late.
  
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• Horror Museum Plan For 'The Shining' Hotel

  23-10-2015 21:57
  
  The owners of a Colorado hotel that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining are planning to open a horror-themed museum. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park hopes to raise $24m (£15.6m) for the attraction, along with an exhibition space, 500-seat auditorium, production facilities and editing suites. The developers aim to set up an educational programme with the Colorado Film School.
  
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• Aquarius Dawns: 'Water Boy' Constellation Appears This Week

  23-10-2015 21:43
  
  Aquarius, an easily overlooked star pattern with a storied history, will appear to the south during the evening this week. For almost 30 years, I've served as a guest lecturer and instructor at New York's Hayden Planetarium, and if there is one thing that I think has set me apart from my colleagues, it is the eclectic way that I give a constellation talk.
  
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• As Hurricane Patricia looms, climate pact edges closer

  23-10-2015 21:42
  
  Battle-weary diplomats left Bonn Friday after endorsing the rough outlines of a UN climate rescue pact, as Mexico invoked a super-hurricane nearing its coast as a portent of Earth's future if negotiations failed.
  
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• Photo of Iceberg that Sank Titanic for Sale: Is It Real?

  23-10-2015 21:31
  
  A photo of what could be the notorious iceberg that sunk the Titanic is up for auction this weekend, but experts are unsure whether the historic snapshot actually shows the destructive iceberg, or simply one that was floating in the vicinity at the time of the accident. The liner's chief steward took a photo of an iceberg with three crownlike points and an odd red streak on it, possibly from the Titanic's hull, he wrote in a note accompanying the photograph. "On the day after the sinking of the
  
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• Howl of a good time: Deep monkey roars come with intimate secret

  23-10-2015 21:23
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The howler monkeys whose guttural calls reverberate through Central and South American rainforests possess a secret that the males of the species may prefer to be left unrevealed.
  
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• Ingredients for Life Were Always Present on Earth, Comet Suggests

  23-10-2015 21:13
  
  Astronomers detected 21 different complex organic molecules streaming from Comet Lovejoy during its highly anticipated close approach to the sun this past January. "This suggests that our proto-planetary nebula was already enriched in complex organic molecules (as disk models suggested) when comets and planets formed," study lead author Nicolas Biver, of the Paris Observatory, told Space.com via email. Biver and his colleagues studied Comet Lovejoy with the Institut de Radioastronomie Millim&eac
  
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• In unexpected discovery, comet contains alcohol, sugar

  23-10-2015 21:13
  
  Scientists on Friday identified two complex organic molecules, or building blocks of life, on a comet for the first time, shedding new light on the cosmic origins of planets like Earth.
  
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• Astronaut's Watch Worn on the Moon Sells for Record $1.6 Million

  23-10-2015 21:03
  
  The Bulova timepiece, which Apollo 15 commander David Scott wore during NASA's fourth successful lunar landing mission in 1971, was sold by RR Auction of Boston for an astronomical $1,625,000 to a businessman from Florida who wished to remain anonymous. In the 1960s, NASA issued Omega Speedmaster watches to the Apollo astronauts to wear on their missions. At the end of the program in 1973, the space agency transferred the chronographs to the Smithsonian, where most of them are still held today.
  
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• Comet carries alcohol, sugar

  23-10-2015 20:00
  
  Sugar and alcohol are just two of the ingredients that go into making a comet.
  
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• U.N. plans Yemen peace talks soon, warns of aid obstruction

  23-10-2015 19:31
  
  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy to Yemen was arranging face-to-face negotiations between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels but warned that a "disastrous humanitarian situation" has left most of the country in dire need. Without naming specific parties to the conflict, U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that it had been characterized by "blatant disregard for the laws of war." At least 5,400 people have been
  
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• VIDEO: Counting seals on the County Down coastline

  23-10-2015 19:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News NI's Conor Macauley joins a group of volunteers from Copeland Bird Observatory to record seals on the County Down coastline.
  
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• VIDEO: Archive film shows parachuting beavers

  23-10-2015 19:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Archive footage has been uncovered of a group of beavers being parachuted into wilderness in the US.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia’s howling winds smash records

  23-10-2015 19:12
  
  Hurricane Patricia’s winds are now the fastest ever recorded in a tropical cyclone, making it the strongest hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere.
  
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• Muscle-gene edit creates buff beagles

  23-10-2015 19:01
  
  Gene editing works at low efficiency in dogs.
  
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• Watch beavers parachute to new homes in the 1940s (yes, really!)

  23-10-2015 18:58 via cbc.ca
  
  More than half a century after a group of beavers parachuted into the Idaho backcountry, officials have uncovered footage of the quirky wildlife management moment.
  
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• Battle-weary climate envoys endorse outlines of UN pact

  23-10-2015 18:58
  
  Negotiators wound down a bruising round of talks Friday with broad agreement on the rough outlines of a UN climate pact to be inked in December.
  
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• China’s vanishing coastal wetlands are nearing critical red line

  23-10-2015 18:30
  
  Urban development is rapidly destroying marshes and mudflats
  
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• Mexican plea for climate consensus as hurricane nears

  23-10-2015 18:23
  
  Mexico's climate negotiator issued a tearful plea Friday to UN colleagues to put aside their differences for a global pact, as a superhurricane headed for his country.
  
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• Feds investigate multiple thefts of radioactive items at lab

  23-10-2015 18:09
  
  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal officials say workers have stolen radioactive materials from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico multiple times this year.
  
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• Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'StarTalk' Returns to TV Sunday with Guest Bill Clinton

  23-10-2015 18:06
  
  The second season of "StarTalk," the science-themed TV talk show hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, premiers this Sunday (Oct. 25) on the National Geographic Channel.
  
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• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gives $200M in stock to employees

  23-10-2015 16:49 via cbc.ca
  
  After laying off eight per cent of the Twitter workforce in his first weeks as CEO, Jack Dorsey has decided to give a third of his stake in the company back to employees.
  
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• Google earnings up 45% in first report as Alphabet

  23-10-2015 16:46 via cbc.ca
  
  Google's third-quarter report is getting an "A" from investors as the internet search leader enters a new era under Alphabet, its new parent company.
  
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• El Nino to cause 80% rise in East Africans needing aid: UN

  23-10-2015 16:33
  
  Heavy floods and drought sparked by the El Nino weather phenomenon in East Africa in coming weeks could see the number of people needing aid soar by over 80 percent, the UN warned Friday.
  
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• Eleventh-hour scramble to draw up climate talks plan

  23-10-2015 16:19
  
  UN diplomats scrambled Friday to sew up a draft plan for tackling the urgent challenge of global warming, with just hours of negotiating time left ahead of a crucial summit in Paris.
  
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• Canadian cellphone, internet bills rising

  23-10-2015 16:05 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadians are paying more for their communications services in a trend driven by increased spending on wireless and internet packages amid the growing popularity of video streaming services like Netflix.
  
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• Cadaver Experiment Suggests Human Hands Evolved for Fighting

  23-10-2015 15:55
  
  Just in time for Halloween, gore-resistant scientists are swinging frozen human cadaver arms like battering rams — in the name of science, of course. The researchers say their macabre experiments support the hotly debated idea that human hands evolved not only for manual dexterity, but also for fistfights. David Carrier, a comparative biomechanist at the University of Utah, and his colleagues have controversially suggested that fist fighting might have helped to drive the evolution of not
  
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• Copenhagen ghosts haunt climate talks

  23-10-2015 15:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Progress towards a deal on climate change at talks in Bonn is proving to be frustratingly elusive, says Matt McGath.
  
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• Russia, Jordan agree on military coordination on Syria

  23-10-2015 15:30
  
  Russia and Jordan have agreed to coordinate their military actions on Syria by setting up a "special working mechanism" in the Jordanian capital Amman, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Russia, which is bombing rebel targets in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, has already forged close cooperation with the governments of Iraq, Syria and Iran, which are all part of a loose Shi'ite alliance pursuing different aims from those of the United States and its a
  
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• Drivers highly distracted by voice controls in cars

  23-10-2015 15:21 via cbc.ca
  
  Hands-free calling and voice-controlled infotainment systems may be intended to reduce driver distraction - but they're actually very distracting to drivers, new studies show.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia Rapidly Becomes Strongest Storm Ever in Western Hemisphere

  23-10-2015 15:02 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Top wind speed is much greater than Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy
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• A Fossil Find Gets Entangled with South Africa's Apartheid Past

  23-10-2015 14:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Some prominent South Africans associate Homo naledi with stereotypes of blacks promulgated during decades of whites-only rule
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• Patricia’s intensity catches scientists off guard

  23-10-2015 14:15
  
  Most powerful hurricane on record slams into Mexico
  
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• Snow leopards face 'new threat'

  23-10-2015 13:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Warmer temperatures are threatening to shrink the habitat of the snow leopard, the big cat already struggling against extinction, a report says.
  
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• Not Rocket Science! NASA's 3D Camera Could Improve Brain Surgery

  23-10-2015 13:49
  
  Scientists are one step closer to changing the way doctors do brain surgery, thanks to a tiny 3D camera in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The new JPL camera could take 3D images from inside the brain, allowing surgeons to see brain tissue in intricate detail and leading to faster, safer surgeries, NASA officials said. The new device, known as MARVEL (short for Multi-Angle Rear Viewing Endoscopic Tool) is attached to an endoscope, a snaking instrume
  
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• 2 Comets Collided to Form Rosetta's 'Rubber Ducky' Target

  23-10-2015 13:49
  
  The strange shape of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has been studying for more than a year, arose from the long-ago collision of two separate, slow-moving comets, researchers say. "How the comet got its curious shape has been a major question since we first saw it," Holger Sierks, of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, said in a statement. "Now, thanks to this detailed study, we can say with certainty that it is a
  
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• Premiers agree to attend Paris climate summit with Trudeau

  23-10-2015 13:40 via cbc.ca
  
  Canada's premiers have agreed that everyone not facing an election campaign will attend December's climate change summit in Paris with prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau, The Canadian Press has learned.
  
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• Many Ads in Parenting Magazines Show Unsafe Practices for Kids

  23-10-2015 13:25
  
  The heartwarming images of children — smiling, laughing out loud and snuggling — that fill the pages of parenting magazines actually hold a less-than-obvious problem: Many of these ads show kids doing things that are not safe. In fact, about one in six advertisements in two of the top-selling parenting magazines in the United States contains images or promotes products that could be considered unsafe for a child's health, a new study reveals.
  
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• Eastern coyote, a wolf hybrid, confirmed in Gatineau Park

  23-10-2015 13:20 via cbc.ca
  
  New research conducted over several years confirms a hybrid species is roaming in and out of Gatineau Park. The eastern coyote is not quite a wolf, but not quite a coyote, either.
  
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• Scientist eats, drinks and paints simultaneously

  23-10-2015 13:18
  
  By Matthew Stock Scientists from Imperial College London have developed computer software that enables a person to control a robotic arm to paint a picture using just the movement of their eyes. The researchers say the technology demonstrates a potential use for robots to help people extend their range of abilities and do more than one task at a time. At the college's Brain and Behavior Lab, engineers have taken a robotic arm and devised a system for it to be used as an extension of the human bo
  
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• As panda baby grows, mom’s milk changes

  23-10-2015 13:00
  
  In the first month after a mama panda gives birth, her milk changes in composition, a new study finds.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia lashes Mexico coast, weakens as it moves inland

  23-10-2015 12:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Hurricane Patricia struck Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday night with destructive winds that tore down trees, moved cars and forced thousands of people to flee homes and beach-front resorts. However, the early damage was not as bad as many had feared.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia hits Mexican coast, flooding reported

  23-10-2015 12:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Hurricane Patricia roared ashore in southwestern Mexico as a Category 5 storm Friday evening, bringing lashing rains, surging seas and cyclonic winds hours after it peaked as one of the strongest storms ever recorded.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia, headed for Mexico, called strongest in history

  23-10-2015 12:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Hurricane Patricia, the strongest storm recorded in the Western Hemisphere, was taking aim Friday at a stunning section of Mexico's Pacific coast that includes the major commercial seaport of Manzanillo and the popular tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta.
  
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• Hurricane Patricia, aiming for Mexico, called strongest ever in Western hemisphere

  23-10-2015 12:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Hurricane Patricia barreled toward southwestern Mexico Friday as a monster Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere. Locals and tourists were either hunkering down or trying to make last-minute escapes ahead of what forecasters called a 'potentially catastrophic landfall' later in the day.
  
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