Science news

• Ancient larvae built predator-thwarting mazes

  03-11-2015 23:40
  
  Mazelike tunnels built by ancient insect larvae offered protection from predators, paleontologists propose.
  
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• Diagram captures microbes’ influence across animal kingdom

  03-11-2015 22:39
  
  A network diagram of animal species shows that many microbes living in humans also make themselves at home in dogs, pigs and cattle.
  
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• Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson Celebrate 35 Years of The Planetary Society

  03-11-2015 21:54
  
  Led by Bill Nye "The Science Guy," with help from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, space exploration advocacy organization The Planetary Society recently celebrated its 35th anniversary and the opening of its new headquarters in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1980 by a group of scientists that included famed astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan, the nonprofit Planetary Society is "the largest and most influential public space organization group on Earth," according to its website.
  
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• Volkswagen finds new CO2 problems on 800,000 vehicles

  03-11-2015 21:23 via cbc.ca
  
  Germany's Volkswagen, already reeling from news that it had cheated on U.S. tests for nitrogen oxide emissions, said Tuesday that an internal investigation had revealed "unexplained inconsistencies" in the carbon dioxide emissions from 800,000 vehicles that could cost the company another $2.8 billion Canadian.
  
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• Google will now compose email responses for you

  03-11-2015 20:43 via cbc.ca
  
  Google is putting a different twist on the concept of "automated reply" with a new tool that aims to write artificially intelligent responses to your email.
  
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• Up to 400 bn euros needed for clean EU energy grid by 2050: study

  03-11-2015 20:35
  
  Investors will have to spend up to 400 billion euros to build an EU-wide electricity grid that involves the emission of virtually no greenhouse gases by 2050, a report said Tuesday.
  
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• Chances 'fair' for Philae contact: ground controllers

  03-11-2015 20:14
  
  Chances are "fair" for renewed contact with Europe's robot lab Philae, hurtling through space perched on a comet, a ground controller said Tuesday, four months after the tiny lander fell silent.
  
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• 4 significant pipeline spills last year, oil and gas group says

  03-11-2015 20:04 via cbc.ca
  
  There were 122 oil and gas spills and releases from pipelines last year in Canada — four of them "significant" — according to a report by the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.
  
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• Rare Earthquake Trio Shakes Phoenix: What Happened?

  03-11-2015 20:00
  
  A rare trio of earthquakes shook central Arizona Sunday (Nov. 1), startling residents in Phoenix and the surrounding areas. It was preceded by a magnitude-3.2 foreshock at 8:59 p.m. and was followed by a magnitude-4.0 aftershock at 11:49 p.m. Smaller aftershocks may follow, said Ryan Porter, a seismologist at Northern Arizona University. Earthquakes are "pretty uncommon for Arizona," Porter told Live Science.
  
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• Scientists develop ultra-hard glass

  03-11-2015 19:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists in Japan have developed a type of glass that 's harder than some metals.
  
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• EU's Tusk says Europe must do everything to preserve Schengen zone

  03-11-2015 19:11
  
  The European Union must do all it can to keep its Schengen zone of passport-free travel intact through proper management of the bloc's external borders, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. EU leaders hold talks with African leaders on controlling migration on Nov. 9 in the Maltese capital Valletta and Tusk has called an informal meeting of EU heads of state on Nov. 12. In his invitation letter to EU leaders published on Tuesday, Tusk said the migrant situation was still very
  
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• [Erratum] Erratum for the Research Article: "HDL-bound sphingosine 1-phosphate acts as a biased agonist for the endothelial cell receptor S1P1 to limit vascular inflammation" by S. Galvani, M. Sanson, V. A. Blaho, S. L. Swendeman, H. Conger, B. Dahlbä

  03-11-2015 18:43 via stke.sciencemag.org
  An author is added to a Research Article.
  
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• Jerusalem: Archaeologists uncover ancient Greek fortress of Acra after a century of searching

  03-11-2015 18:43
  
  After a century of searching, archaeologists say they have found the remnants of an ancient Greek fortress once a centre of power in Jerusalem and a stronghold used to fight a rebellion celebrated in the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. Researchers have long debated over the location of the Acra, built more than 2,000 years ago by Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes. The Greek king Antiochus, who lived from 215-164 BC, later chose that spot for the Acra to control Jerusalem and monitor activity in the Jewish
  
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• Can Rocker Grace Potter Induce the 'Overview Effect'? (Video)

  03-11-2015 18:22
  
  Steve Spaleta, Space.com senior producer, and Dave Brody, Space.com executive producer, contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. But traveling to space may not be the only way to achieve a state of higher consciousness, according to Grammy-nominated musician Grace Potter, a self-avowed science and space enthusiast. Potter recently told Space.com that she experiences "a sense of universality" while performing with her band on some of the world's largest stages.
  
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• When Robots Colonize the Cosmos, Will They Be Conscious? (Op-Ed)

  03-11-2015 18:21
  
  Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of "Closer to Truth," a public television series and online resource that features the world's leading thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions. Kuhn is co-editor with John Leslie, of "The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything at All?" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).
  
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• Acid rain's legacy threatens crayfish to the verge of extinction in Algonquin Park

  03-11-2015 18:08 via cbc.ca
  
  A new study by Canadian scientists warns of drastic declines in crayfish populations in Ontario's Algonquin Park to the point of extinction. The culprit: a lack of calcium in the water.
  
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• Clouds, molten-iron rain showers detected on outcast alien world

  03-11-2015 18:00
  
  Scientists detect first hints of weather on a planet outside our solar system
  
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• Planets on Parade in the November Sky: How and When to See Them

  03-11-2015 17:52
  
  To entice you out of your warm bed are Venus, Jupiter and Mars, along with a lovely crescent moon early in the month. The brightest stars are equal to first or zero magnitude, while the very brightest objects (Venus, the moon and the sun) are of negative magnitude. Today (Nov. 3), Venus is the dazzling "Morning Star," rising more than 3.5 hours before sunup all month (more than 2 hours before the first light of dawn).
  
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• GMO pork heads closer to our dinner plates, raising concerns

  03-11-2015 17:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Two kinds of genetically modified pigs are on their way to becoming pork on our dinner plates. Here's what you need to know about the arrival of genetically modified animals in our food supply.
  
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• Genetically modified pigs raise concerns about food regulation

  03-11-2015 17:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Two kinds of genetically modified pigs are on their way to becoming pork on our dinner plates. Here's what you need to know about the arrival of genetically modified animals in our food supply.
  
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• Push or pull? Science was wrong on jellyfish motion

  03-11-2015 17:48
  
  For the longest time, science has assumed that in order to run, swim, or fly, animals and humans must exert pressure on the ground, water or air around them to project themselves forward.
  
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• Twitter replaces 'favourites' with 'likes,' changes stars to hearts

  03-11-2015 17:28 via cbc.ca
  
  Twitter announced Tuesday morning that it would be replacing its "favourites" feature, and its little yellow star, with "likes" and a red heart. But many users didn't love the idea.
  
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• As scientists worry about warming world, US public doesn't

  03-11-2015 17:26
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are hot but not too bothered by global warming.
  
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• New recipe for diamonds: Just add acid

  03-11-2015 17:00
  
  Rises in acidity during interactions between rocks and water in Earth’s interior can spark diamond formation, simulations show.
  
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• Some South China Sea fish 'close to extinction'

  03-11-2015 16:54
  
  Experts said Tuesday that some fish species are close to extinction in the South China Sea due to over-fishing fuelled by a growing appetite for seafood.
  
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• China's Li: Beijing has 'duty to humanity' to boost green growth

  03-11-2015 16:14
  
  China has used up too much energy and too many resources in its quest for growth, Premier Li Keqiang told visiting French President Francois Hollande Tuesday, adding it has a "duty to humanity" to clean itself up.
  
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• Hunchbacked conchs jump at the smell of danger

  03-11-2015 16:00
  
  Hunchbacked conchs are among the most vigorous of snailkind’s few jumpers.
  
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• Are Americans Eating Healthier? Take This Study with a Grain of Salt

  03-11-2015 15:55
  
  People in the United States have been eating healthier — in fact, a new study finds that improved diets have prevented 1.1 million premature deaths over a 14-year period. However, the overall quality of the American diet remains poor, the researchers said. In the study, the researchers looked at trends in people's diets, pulling data from another study of about 34,000 U.S. adults who were each surveyed twice between 1999 and 2012.The researchers applied a scoring system to the participants
  
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• Codswallop! Ancient British 'Sea Monster' Mislabeled for 200 Years

  03-11-2015 15:54
  
  "There were some rich gentry in the area who would buy them from quarrymen, prepare them and put them in these big wooden frames," said study co-researcher Judy Massare, a professor of geology at SUNY College at Brockport in New York. At the time, fossil experts assigned the Street specimens to the same species — Ichthyosaurus communis, a common species found in rock layers dating to the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods in Street, as well as elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The pro
  
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• Tomb Tells Tale of Family Executed by China's 1st Female Emperor

  03-11-2015 15:52
  
  A 1,300-year-old tomb, discovered in Xi'an city, China, holds the bones of a man who helped the nation's only female emperor rise to power. The epitaphs in the tomb describe how she then executed him and his entire family. Located within a cave, the tomb contains the remains of Yan Shiwei and his wife, Lady Pei.
  
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• How a Family Dog May Lower a Child's Asthma Risk

  03-11-2015 15:49
  
  Children who are raised in households with dogs or farm animals during their first year of life may have a lower risk of asthma a few years later, a new study suggests. Among the school-age kids in the study, those who had been exposed to dogs during their first year of life were 13 percent less likely to have asthma at age 6, compared with the school-age kids who had not been exposed to dogs in their first year of life, the researchers found. Based on the new findings, researchers can confident
  
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• Shell, Nigeria accused of false claimes in oil spill clean-up

  03-11-2015 15:45
  
  Shell was on Tuesday accused of making false claims about the extent of its oil spill clean-up operations in Nigeria and urged to take more action to help worst-hit communities.
  
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• Hypersonic Jet Could Cross the Atlantic in 30 Minutes (Someday)

  03-11-2015 15:42
  
  One imaginative inventor has developed a concept plane that could take passengers across the pond in just 30 minutes — at least in theory. The aircraft concept, dubbed the Skreemr, is the brainchild of Charles Bombardier, an engineer and inventor who writes about his futuristic prototype designs in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. If such a jet were ever built, it would be five times faster than the Concorde, a now-retired supersonic passenger jet that once soared through the sky
  
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• Physiology Pioneer's Nobel Prize Sells for Nearly $800,000

  03-11-2015 15:39
  
  In 1963, a British biophysicist won a shiny Nobel Prize medal for discovering how the nerve cells of a giant squid generate an electrical pulse when stimulated. The Nobel Prize medal, sold by Nate D. Sanders Auctions in Los Angeles, belonged to Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, who helped pioneer research on the central nervous system. Hodgkin was awarded the prize in physiology or medicine along with his colleagues Andrew Fielding Huxley and John Eccles.
  
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• Google expects to deliver packages using drones starting 2017

  03-11-2015 15:03 via cbc.ca
  
  Internet giant Alphabet Inc., the new holding company for Google, expects to begin delivering packages to consumers via drones sometime in 2017, the executive in charge of its drone effort said on Monday.
  
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• The Promise of Optical Atomic Clocks: Watch Live Wednesday [Video]

  03-11-2015 15:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Nobel laureate David Wineland will discuss efforts to build the universe’s most accurate timekeeper
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Fighting Mosquitoes with Mosquitoes

  03-11-2015 15:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  To combat the bug problem in Los Angeles, insect-control experts are releasing thousands of male mosquitoes infected with a powerful bacterium
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Brazil: 17-month old boy strikes back at venomous snake – killing it with one bite

  03-11-2015 14:31
  
  A 17-month old boy in Brazil struck back at a venomous snake by biting and killing the deadly reptile. Young Lorenzo's mother, Jaine Ferreira Figueira, found the infant with blood on his hands and "with the snake in his mouth". The incident happened in the town of Mostardas in Rio Grande do Sul state, on 1 November and the 19-year old mother's suspicions first arose after her son went quiet when playing in the garden with the family dog.
  
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• Power from human waste could light millions of homes-UN University

  03-11-2015 14:25
  
  By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Biogas from human waste has the potential to generate electricity for millions of homes while improving health and protecting the environment, a United Nations University institute said on Tuesday. The biogas potentially available from all the human waste in the world would be the equivalent of up to $9.5 billion (6.17 billion pound) worth of natural gas a year and could produce electricity for as many as 138 million homes, the U.N. Institut
  
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• Space Station Crew Celebrates 15-Year Streak of Humans in Orbit

  03-11-2015 13:56
  
  Yesterday (Nov. 2) marked 15 years since humans took up permanent residence in the International Space Station, and the six crewmembers on board took some time to talk about what the station means for the future of human spaceflight, and how it's holding up after more than one and a half decades in space. Construction began on the $100 billion International Space Station in 1998, with the launch of the Russian Zarya module. "We've learned a lot from this space station that is very, very importan
  
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• Greek fortress, key to ancient Jerusalem, uncovered, researchers say

  03-11-2015 13:52
  
  By Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After a century of searching, archaeologists say they have found the remnants of an ancient Greek fortress once a centre of power in Jerusalem and a stronghold used to hold off a Jewish rebellion celebrated in the scriptural Book of the Maccabees. Researchers have long debated over the location of the Acra, built more than 2,000 years ago by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of the Hellenised Seleucid empire. Many asserted it stood in what is now Jerusalem's wall
  
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• Failure explores errors’ upsides

  03-11-2015 13:30
  
  Missteps are a must in science, biologist argues in new book.
  
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• 'Failure' explores errors’ upsides

  03-11-2015 13:30
  
  Missteps are a must in science, biologist argues in new book.
  
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• Ultrasonic bubbles give cold water bug-killing cleaning power

  03-11-2015 13:06
  A hand-held device that infuses a gentle stream of regular cold water with ultrasound to turn it into a highly effective cleaning tool has been developed by British scientists, who say it could reduce dependence on traditional detergents and help combat anti-microbial resistance.
  
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• Cannibal Tyrannosaurs: Proof May Be in a Gnawed Bone

  03-11-2015 13:02
  
  Sixty-six million years ago, a tyrannosaur may have sunk its sharp and serrated teeth into the bones of another tyrannosaur, new research suggests. The gnawed bone may provide evidence that tyrannosaurs ate their own kind, the researchers said. "We were out in Wyoming digging up dinosaurs in the Lance Formation," paleontologist Matthew McLain of Loma Linda University in California said in a statement.
  
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• Debate over chimp 'accent' study

  03-11-2015 12:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A debate is unfolding about the finding, published in February, that chimpanzees can adapt their grunts to communicate with new neighbours.
  
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• Eocene temperature spike caused by half as much CO₂ as once thought

  03-11-2015 12:30
  
  Revised experiments demonstrate that hot temperatures during the Eocene resulted from lower carbon dioxide concentrations than previously thought.
  
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