Science news

• Bye bye Betamax: Sony plans to stop making video tapes

  10-11-2015 23:46 via cbc.ca
  
  Bad news Betamax lovers. The 40-year-old video cassette tapes are about to die. Sony broke the news on its website Tuesday, saying it would stop making the tapes as of March 2016.
  
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• [Research Article] The protein arginine methyltransferase PRMT5 promotes D2-like dopamine receptor signaling

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Methylation of arginine residues in dopamine receptors in humans and worms promotes signaling and functional responses.
  
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• [Research Article] Instructive roles for cytokine-receptor binding parameters in determining signaling and functional potency

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Mathematical modeling of the cellular responses to cytokine variants of differing binding affinities may help design better therapies.
  
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• [Research Article] Filamin A interacts with the coactivator MKL1 to promote the activity of the transcription factor SRF and cell migration

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  F-actin mediates motility both at the leading edge of a cell and in the nucleus.
  
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• [Research Article] Activation of mTORC1 in skeletal muscle regulates whole-body metabolism through FGF21

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Constitutively active mTORC1 stimulates release of FGF21 from skeletal muscle, leading to weight loss in mice.
  
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• [Podcast] Science Signaling Podcast for 10 November 2015: Regulation of gene expression by actin dynamics

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Actin dynamics drive activity of the transcriptional coactivator MKL1.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Rubbing sodium in a wound

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Blocking Nax reduces scarring and improves dermatitis symptoms in mice by preventing excessive inflammation.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Mitochondria to nucleus: Activate HIF1a

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Flies reveal that HIF1a mediates toxic effects of mitochondrial impairment in neurons.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Microglia spread tau

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Inhibiting exosome release from microglia may decrease the spread of tau fibrils in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Hippo signaling for spindle orientation

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The Hippo pathway kinase Warts phosphorylates substrates that control mitotic spindle orientation.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Exciting times for biofilms

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Bacterial biofilms can generate propagating waves of potassium ions.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Astrocytes promote brain metastasis

  10-11-2015 23:24 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Astrocytes release exosomes that promote the survival of breast cancer cells that metastasize to the brain
  
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• Feds: Lake Erie algae bloom in 2015 was largest on record

  10-11-2015 22:52
  
  TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The algae bloom that spread across Lake Erie this summer was the largest on record and left behind a thick, paint-like scum that covered an area roughly the size of New York City, government scientists said Tuesday.
  
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• 'Big agreement' unlikely at UN climate summit: Bill Clinton

  10-11-2015 22:49
  
  Former US president Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Foundation seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Tuesday an upcoming UN climate summit in France will be useful, though "no big agreement" is likely.
  
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• Climate summit: 'considerable task ahead', says France

  10-11-2015 22:40
  
  Ministers and negotiators from more than 75 nations have made headway in talks ahead of a crunch UN climate summit but "the task ahead is considerable", France's foreign minister said Tuesday.
  
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• Calgary photographer makes frozen bubbles

  10-11-2015 22:14 via cbc.ca
  
  Winter is always a wonderland for Calgary's expert bubble freezer and photographer, Chris Ratzlaff.
  
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• Impact from a space rock might have formed Pluto’s heart

  10-11-2015 22:08
  
  Pluto’s heart is deep basin, possibly caused by a run in with something else in the Kuiper belt.
  
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• Communication satellites launch from French Guiana spaceport

  10-11-2015 21:50 via cbc.ca
  
  A pair of telecommunications satellites lifted off from the spaceport in French Guiana, located on the northeast coast of South America Tuesday afternoon. The satellites were launched into space by French space transport company Arianespace.
  
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• New national park marks development of nuclear bomb

  10-11-2015 21:39
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 70 years ago scientists working in secret created the atomic bomb that ended World War II and ushered the world into the nuclear age.
  
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• Oil giant Saudi Arabia submits carbon-curbing pledge

  10-11-2015 21:31
  
  Oil export giant Saudi Arabia submitted its pledge Tuesday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a move observers hailed as a step in the right direction.
  
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• Africa needs energy for growth, leaders say ahead of climate talks

  10-11-2015 21:06
  
  Africa is looking to key climate talks for solutions to electrify the continent, grow its economies and keep its youth from fleeing abroad, African leaders said in Paris Tuesday.
  
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• Scientists tracking rain, snow in soggy Washington state

  10-11-2015 20:29
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — Using everything from a customized DC-8 jetliner to ground radars to 4-inch rain gauges, scientists are fanning out across one of the soggiest places in the United States this month to measure raindrops and snowflakes.
  
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• SeaWorld refloats its image but what happens to the orcas now?

  10-11-2015 20:26
  
  In an announcement that was both inevitable and necessary – but, based on the comments greeting the news, not sufficient to quell an enormous and growing list of critics – SeaWorld San Diego declared it will end its circus-style orca performances by 2017. While phasing out its theatrical shows may sound like progress, Peta isn't popping any champers corks – not yet, anyway. What the animals at SeaWorld and other marine parks need is not a public relations change but a literal s
  
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• SeaWorld attempts to refloat its image but what happens to the orcas now?

  10-11-2015 20:26
  
  In an announcement that was both inevitable and necessary – but, based on the comments greeting the news, not sufficient to quell an enormous and growing list of critics – SeaWorld San Diego declared it will end its circus-style orca performances by 2017. While phasing out its theatrical shows may sound like progress, Peta isn't popping any champers corks – not yet, anyway. What the animals at SeaWorld and other marine parks need is not a public relations change but a literal s
  
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• Dalhousie grad rips up degree in fossil fuel protest, sends it back to president

  10-11-2015 19:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Though it has been almost a year since Dalhousie University in Halifax voted against divesting its holdings in fossil fuel companies, one notable alumnus has just come through on his promise to rip up his master's degree over the issue.
  
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• SS Hydrus found 102 years after it sank in Lake Huron

  10-11-2015 19:15 via cbc.ca
  
  A shipwreck hunter from Michigan says he's found a sunken freighter that has been sitting on the bottom of Lake Huron for more than a century.
  
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• Nano fingerprint 'boosts security'

  10-11-2015 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An atomic-scale fingerprint could boost the security of connected devices, according to the British scientists who have developed it.
  
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• Global warming is good news for Champagne lovers

  10-11-2015 19:01
  
  Climate change is a touchy subject in Champagne because just as France prepares to host world leaders for talks on how to slow it next month, producers of the region's famous sparkling wine have seen only the benefits from global warming so far. It has also added 1% in the level of alcohol and reduced acidity, making it easier to comply with strict production rules, according to Champagne makers group CIVC. "The impact of global warming in the Champagne region is that for the last two decades we
  
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• Stephen Hawking cancels public events due to ill health

  10-11-2015 19:00
  
  LONDON (AP) — Cambridge University says celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking has been forced to cancel several public engagements because of ill health.
  
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• Meteors shower Mercury

  10-11-2015 19:00
  
  Meteor showers kick up shroud of calcium on Mercury.
  
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• High-tech scans look to unravel mysteries of Egypt pyramids

  10-11-2015 18:48
  
  New findings at Egypt's Khufu pyramid are raising hopes of unravelling the mysteries of one of the ancient world's most iconic monuments, including whether it may contain secret chambers.
  
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• Record Levels of CO2 Herald the Future of Climate Change

  10-11-2015 18:40 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Global warming has become a 1-degree Celsius reality, making progress at climate talks in Paris even more imperative
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Pandemonium! Motion of Pluto's Moons Perplexes Scientists

  10-11-2015 18:28
  
  The orbits of Pluto's four smallest moons are even more chaotic than scientists had expected, according to new results from the New Horizons mission, which made a close flyby of Pluto in July. "The way I would describe this system is not just chaos, but pandemonium," Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, said today (Nov. 9) during a news conference at the meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. The new results show that as the
  
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• Organ waiting list policy benefits the wealthy, study charges

  10-11-2015 18:16
  
  Wealthier patients can afford to get on more organ transplant lists, giving them an advantage, a new study says.
  
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• Muzzled 'rock snot' scientist is now free to speak with us

  10-11-2015 18:16 via cbc.ca
  
  Environment Canada researcher Max Bothwell is relieved following the news that scientists can now speak with the media freely. Last year, he was affected by the muzzling of Canadian scientists when a request from a journalist turned into a bureaucratic mess.
  
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• Temperature record at famous Alpine peak

  10-11-2015 18:14
  
  The towering Jungfrau mountain in the Swiss Alps on Tuesday saw the mercury hit an all-time high for the month of November of 7.2 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit), meteorologists said.
  
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• 'Progress' made on climate pact, but hard work ahead: France

  10-11-2015 17:56
  
  Ministers and negotiators from more than 75 nations made headway in talks ahead of a crunch UN climate summit but "the task ahead is considerable", France's foreign minister said Tuesday.
  
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• A treasure trove of 'ancient' archaeology tucked away in Gaza

  10-11-2015 17:43
  
  By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Nafez Abed's cramped workroom is filled with sculptures and mosaics with patterns from the Byzantine, Greek and Roman periods. It is an emporium of Middle Eastern antiquity tucked away in Gaza. Abed, 55, is a self-taught archaeologist, preserver and restorer who crafts reproductions of ancient pieces he finds or has seen in museums.
  
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• Why You Should Check Your Blood Pressure in the Morning

  10-11-2015 17:29
  
  People who have high blood pressure are often advised to monitor their blood pressure at home, and now, a new study suggests that blood pressure measured in the morning may be a better predictor of stroke risk than blood pressure measured in the evening. In the study, researchers looked at data from people in Japan and found that, when measured in the morning, higher blood pressure was related to an increased risk of stroke. When measured in the evening, however, higher blood pressure was not as
  
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• Pluto's 'weird' mountains thought to be ice volcanoes

  10-11-2015 15:52 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists have discovered what appear to be ice-spewing volcanoes on the surface of Pluto, raising questions about how the tiny, distant world has been so geologically active, according to new research released at a meeting in Maryland.
  
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• Photos Capture Great White Sharks Mid-Bite

  10-11-2015 15:43
  
  Massive great white sharks launching their 3-ton bodies out of the ocean and into the air can be a spectacular sight, if you're lucky enough (and brave enough) to be in the right place at the right time. "I've been in the water with sharks, but the emotion of seeing them flying like a UFO is really something," Daniel Botelho told Live Science. Botelho hit the shark jackpot in Gansbaai, South Africa.
  
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• EU gives Volkswagen 10 days to clarify CO2 irregularities

  10-11-2015 15:34
  
  EU regulators have given Volkswagen 10 days to clarify its own admission that nearly a million of the company's cars emit more CO2 pollution than originally claimed, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
  
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• Saudi Arabia says will diversify oil economy to slow climate change

  10-11-2015 15:29
  
  Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, plans to diversify its economy to help combat climate change in a move that could reduce expected carbon emissions by up to 130 million tonnes a year by 2030, the government said on Tuesday. OPEC member Saudi Arabia is the last of the Group of 20 major economies to submit a plan to the United Nations before a summit in Paris from Nov. 30-Dec. 11 about ways to slow global warming.
  
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• Women Die Younger Than Men from HIV in U.S. [Infographic]

  10-11-2015 14:46 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Long-running gap may, however, be getting narrower
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Mussel farmers to test drones against sea ducks

  10-11-2015 13:59 via cbc.ca
  
  The P.E.I. Aquaculture Alliance will test drones later this month as a method of keeping sea ducks off their mussel socks.
  
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• U.S., allies conduct 31 strikes in Syria, Iraq - military

  10-11-2015 13:32
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S.-led coalition conducted 15 strikes against the Islamic State in Syria on Monday, hitting the militant group with bomber, fighter, attack and drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. Forces concentrated on Islamic State's oil supply near Dayr Az Zawr, where six strikes hit gas and oil separation plants and pump stations. Near Al Hawl and Al Hasakah, strikes destroyed a car bomb, 22 fighting positions, a mortar position, a structure and an anti-air artillery
  
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• Grandmothers can pass immunity to their grandchildren, at least in pigeons

  10-11-2015 13:30
  
  The experience of maternal ancestors could shape the immune system across generations
  
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• Virgin Galactic Recruits Female Test Pilot Kelly Latimer

  10-11-2015 13:28
  
  Kelly Latimer, the first female research test pilot ever to join what is now NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, has joined Virgin Galactic as the spaceflight company's newest pilot. Latimer, a retired a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, worked on NASA projects such as the 747 space shuttle carrier aircraft, the T-34 and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a flying astronomical observatory. "I have wanted to go to space ever since I can remember doing anyth
  
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• Gigantic New Telescope Breaking Ground in Chile This Week

  10-11-2015 13:28
  
  Construction will begin this week on a giant new telescope in the mountains of Chile, and Space.com will be there to take in the milestone moment. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) — a huge instrument that astronomers will use to hunt for signs of life in the atmospheres of alien planets, probe the nature of dark energy and dark matter, and tackle other big cosmic questions — is scheduled to occur Wednesday (Nov. 11) at the Las Campanas Observatory in
  
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• 'Electric Sails' Could Propel Superfast Spacecraft by 2025

  10-11-2015 13:28
  
  Robotic spacecraft may ride the solar wind toward interstellar space at unprecedented speeds a decade or so from now. Researchers are developing an "electric sail" (e-sail) propulsion system that would harness the solar wind, the stream of protons, electrons and other charged particles that flows outward from the sun at more than 1 million mph (1.6 million kilometers per hour). "It looks really, really promising for ultra-deep-space exploration," Les Johnson, of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Cent
  
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