Science news

• Software pirate has to make anti-piracy video go viral, or pay massive fines

  26-11-2015 22:33 via cbc.ca
  
  A software pirate has found an odd escape hatch in his quest to avoid paying huge damages to companies claiming he stole their products: He must make an anti-piracy YouTube video go viral.
  
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• Dutch lawmakers approve plan to close coal power plants

  26-11-2015 22:07
  
  Dutch lawmakers voted in favour Thursday of phasing out coal power plants in the Netherlands, appealing to other countries to do the same, days ahead of a crunch UN climate summit.
  
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• Prince Charles warns of 'perfect storm' should Paris climate talks flop

  26-11-2015 20:53
  
  Prince Charles warned Thursday that if international leaders fail to clinch a deal on climate change at talks in Paris next week, it would leave mankind facing a "perfect storm".
  
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• French carmakers top European list of low CO2 emitters

  26-11-2015 19:17
  
  French manufacturers topped the list of European cars and vans with the lowest carbon emissions, the European Environment Agency said in a report published on Thursday.
  
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• Brazil mining giant rejects UN anger over 'toxic' flood

  26-11-2015 19:06
  
  Mining giants responsible for a dam spill in Brazil earlier this month rejected Thursday accusations by the United Nations that "20,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic mud" spewed into a river.
  
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• Failure of Paris climate summit would be 'catastrophic': pope

  26-11-2015 17:31
  
  Pope Francis on Thursday warned of a "catastrophic" outcome if vested interests blocked an agreement to tackle climate change at the UN talks opening in Paris next week.
  
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• Commonwealth seeking strong solutions on climate change

  26-11-2015 17:31
  
  Commonwealth foreign ministers hunkered down for talks in Malta on Thursday as the organisation moved towards clinching climate change deals that could pave the way for next week's UN environment summit.
  
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• Feds plan new guidelines on toxic algae in lakes, rivers

  26-11-2015 17:13
  
  TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — New national guidelines are being developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect swimmers and kayakers from the growing threats posed by toxic algae in lakes and rivers.
  
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• Noted oceanographer John Knauss dies at 90

  26-11-2015 17:04
  
  NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) — A former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration whose work is credited with highlighting the fragility of the world's oceans, has died. John A. Knauss was 90.
  
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• What's the carbon footprint of an email?

  26-11-2015 16:38
  
  A long list of seemingly harmless everyday actions contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climate-altering greenhouse gases.
  
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• Ottawa tech worker develops powered wheelchair you can control with your phone

  26-11-2015 16:08 via cbc.ca
  
  An Ottawa computer engineer is developing a power wheelchair users can move around with a smartphone or remote control with voice commands.
  
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• South Africa moves closer to legal trade in rhino horns

  26-11-2015 16:00
  
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African court on Thursday opened the way to allowing local trade in rhino horns, alarming some conservationists who warned the ruling leaves rhinos even more vulnerable to poachers who are slaughtering them in record numbers.
  
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• World's cheapest computer Raspberry Pi is now just $5

  26-11-2015 15:58 via cbc.ca
  
  Buying the cheapest computer in the world is now cheaper than buying your lunch.
  
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• WHO records highest-ever number of new HIV cases in its European Region

  26-11-2015 15:39
  
  The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that in 2014 it had recorded the highest number of new HIV cases in its European Region, which also includes Central Asia, since the start of reporting in the 1980s. WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a statement that more than 142,000 people in WHO's European Region were diagnosed with HIV last year with the increase coming from its eastern sector which comprises 15 countries including Russia, Ukrain
  
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• South African judge lifts domestic ban on rhino horn trade

  26-11-2015 14:36
  
  A South African judge on Thursday lifted a domestic ban on trade in rhino horns, alarming conservationists who described it as an "extremely dangerous move" that could worsen a poaching crisis.
  
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• Alexander Keith's bottle nearly as old as Canada discovered in Halifax waters

  26-11-2015 14:31 via cbc.ca
  
  A Halifax man has found a beer bottle nearly as old as Canada, with century-old suds still inside.
  
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• Turkey and Football: How Astronauts Celebrate Thanksgiving in Space

  26-11-2015 13:40
  
  Thanksgiving in space will be a lot like the holiday down here on the ground — minus the gravity, of course. Like most Americans, NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren have Thanksgiving (Nov. 26) off, and they'll spend the day aboard the International Space Station (ISS) watching football and enjoying a turkey-centric feast, agency officials said. Kelly and Lindgren gave viewers a look at that feast in a special Thanksgiving video this week, breaking out bags of smoked turkey
  
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• Spaceflight Is Entering a New Golden Age, Says Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos

  26-11-2015 13:40
  
  Early Monday (Nov. 23), the private spaceflight company Blue Origin made a major stride in the pursuit of fully reusable rockets, when it launched an uncrewed vehicle into space and then soft-landed the rocket booster on the ground. "It was one of the greatest moments of my life," said Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin's founder, speaking about the landing in a press briefing yesterday (Nov. 24). "And my teammates here at Blue Origin, I could see felt the same way.
  
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• Mystery still surrounds Neandertals

  26-11-2015 13:00
  
  Neandertals’ relationship to modern humans is still a matter of debate.
  
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• French group to help Japan dismantle nuclear reactors

  26-11-2015 11:25
  
  French nuclear giant Areva said Thursday it had linked up with Hitachi GE Nuclear Energy to help Japan dismantle boiling-water nuclear power stations.
  
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• Japan pledges $10.6 bn for climate policies in developing nations

  26-11-2015 11:23
  
  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged to give $10.6 billion more to developing nations in 2020 to help them implement policies against global warming, ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris next week.
  
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• Japan announces $10.6 billion in climate financing for 2020

  26-11-2015 11:17
  
  TOKYO (AP) — Gearing up for global warming talks in Paris next week, Japan said Thursday it plans to provide 1.3 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) in climate financing a year for developing countries from 2020, including public and private funds.
  
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• Russia to help Cambodia build capacity for nuclear power

  26-11-2015 11:08
  
  YEKATERINBURG, Russia/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Russia will help Cambodia work towards building a nuclear power plant under an agreement the two countries signed this week, said Sergei Kirienko, the head of state nuclear firm Rosatom. Cambodia depends heavily on imported fuel and power. "The Cambodian government is mulling, in future, a nuclear power station construction," Kirienko told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the agreement.
  
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• Francois' langur: Very rare, very cute, bright orange monkey born at Sydney's Taronga Zoo

  26-11-2015 10:46
  
  Taronga Zoo in Sydney is celebrating the birth of a bright orange Francois' langur, one of the world's rarest monkeys. Francois' langurs, also known as Francois' leaf monkeys, are born with bright orange hair while adults are black. Taronga Zoo's senior primate keeper, Jane Marshall, said Nangua was already receiving lots of attention from his mother and the harem group's other females, Noel and Elke.
  
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• Japan pledges $10.6 bln for climate policies in developing nations

  26-11-2015 09:11
  
  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday promised to give $10.6 billion to developing nations by 2020 to help them implement policies against global warming, ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris next week.
  
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• Polar tourists see an icy world melt

  26-11-2015 08:59
  
  They go to paddle between glistening icebergs or ski on blinding white ice, but a rising number of polar tourists get to see something else, too: the monumental changes wrought by global warming.
  
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• Fifteen people killed in helicopter crash in Siberia

  26-11-2015 08:40
  
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Fifteen people on board a Mi-8 helicopter died when their aircraft crashed in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia on Thursday, regional transport prosecutors said on their website www.zsproc.ru. There were 26 people on board, including four crew members. (Reporting by Polina Devitt and Jason Bush; editing by Christian Lowe)
  
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• China's carbon footprint grows with the good life

  26-11-2015 08:21
  
  The son of peach farmers, Chen Jian relishes the fruits of his middle class life, driving to work and flying on holiday, epitomising how China's carbon footprint has grown alongside the prosperity of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
  
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• Podcast: Electric roses, fertility-boosting worms, and more

  26-11-2015 08:00
  
  Listen to a roundup of some of our favorite stories from the week
  
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• Whisper gallery modes in Silicon nanocones intensify luminescence

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) Silicon reveals new talents when reduced to nanoscopic dimensions. Silicon nanocones generate 200 times as much infrared luminescence as comparably sized nanocolumns when excited by visible light. Modelling and experimental results show that due to their geometry, cones are able to sustain what is referred to as whispering gallery modes at infrared wavelengths which can intensify the silicon luminescence. New applications are conceivabl
  
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• Town planners underestimate the importance of urban green spaces

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Luxembourg) The supply of high-density urban housing has increased, but people continue to choose to live in suburbs and commuter towns. The result is continued urban sprawland longer commuting times. For the first time, a team of researchers* has used mathematical analysis and a computer simulation model to demonstrate that facilitating access to high quality parks, woodland and other green spaces is central to making town living much more attractive and sustainable.
  
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• Tapping particles of light

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Weizmann Institute of Science) Weizmann Institute scientists single out individual photons.
  
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• Study shows white matter damage caused by 'skunk-like' cannabis

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (King's College London) Smoking high potency 'skunk-like' cannabis can damage a crucial part of the brain responsible for communication between the two brain hemispheres, according to a new study by scientists from King's College London and Sapienza University of Rome.
  
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• Sperm 'see' it hot

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Weizmann Institute of Science) Proteins better known as visual sensors play a role in the heat-seeking movement of sperm.
  
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• Sensor detects cable fire before it starts burning

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) ) Fires are frequently caused by smoldering cables. Novel sensors now help detect such smoldering fires at an early stage by analyzing the plastic vapors released by overheated insulating cables. Scientists of KIT and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences have developed these hybrid sensors that combine measurement processes with data evaluation. Their work is reported in the current issue of the Sensors & Transducers Journal.
  
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• Scientists spot jets from supermassive black hole snacking on a star

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research) Scientists have discovered a hungry black hole swallowing a star at the centre of a nearby galaxy. Astrophysicist Dr Gemma Anderson, from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), said this is an extreme event in which the star gets ripped apart."It's very unusual when a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy actually eats a star, we've probably only seen about 20 of them," she said.
  
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• Scientists get first glimpse of black hole eating star, ejecting high-speed flare

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Johns Hopkins University) An international team of astrophysicists has for the first time witnessed a star being swallowed by a black hole and ejecting a flare of matter moving at nearly the speed of light
  
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• Rice basket study rethinks roots of human culture

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Exeter) The study reveals that although teaching is useful, it is not essential for cultural progress because people can use reasoning and reverse engineering of existing items to work out how to make tools.
  
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• Revealing glacier flow with animated satellite images

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (European Geosciences Union) Frank Paul, a glaciologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, has created animations from satellite images of the Karakoram mountain range in Asia to show how its glaciers flow and change. The images of four different regions compress 25 years of glacier changes into just one second, revealing the complex glacier behavior in the Karakoram. The animations are published today in The Cryosphere, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union.
  
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• Researchers uncover essential interaction between malaria parasites and liver cells

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (The Center for Infectious Disease Research) Scientists at the Center for Infectious Disease Research recently uncovered a critical piece in the puzzle of how malaria parasites infect their host. The work, recently published in Science Magazine, reveals the details of how the malaria parasite invades its initial target organ, the liver. Without infection of the liver, the parasites cannot multiply or spread to the blood. Infection of the blood causes illness, spread of the disease, and, ultimate
  
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• Prestigious medical training awards announced

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Warwick) The Medical Research Council has announced it will be funding 15 PhDs at the University of Warwick over the next three years.
  
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• Oxytocin increases social altruism

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Bonn) Nowadays, much emphasis is placed on sustainability. The degree to which people are willing to donate their own money for this depends on their level of oxytocin. Scientists at the University of Bonn Hospital have discovered that the willingness to donate increases with the quantity of this bonding hormone. However, oxytocin only has an effect with regard to social sustainability projects.
  
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• Nuclear waste storage sites in rock salt may be more vulnerable than previously thought

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Austin) Research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that rock salt, used by Germany and the United States as a subsurface container for radioactive waste, might not be as impermeable as thought.
  
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• Molecular trigger for Cerebral Cavernous Malformation identified

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (EMBO) Researchers in Italy, Germany and the United States have identified a regulatory protein crucial for the development of Cerebral Cavernous Malformation -- a severe and incurable disease mainly affecting the brain microvasculature. The results, which are published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, show that the KLF4 protein plays a central role in the development of CCM lesions.
  
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• Microbiologists discover enigmatic comammox microbes

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Vienna) Nitrification plays a key role in Earth's natural nitrogen cycle and in agriculture. Now an international team of scientists led by Holger Daims and Michael Wagner, microbiologists at the University of Vienna, has discovered microbes that perform complete nitrification on their own: A result contrasting textbook knowledge and a milestone of microbiology. The study is currently published in the journal Nature.
  
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• International disparities in measuring energy sources

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (American Association for the Advancement of Science) As countries around the world shift toward greater use of non-fossil fuels, the wide range of methods used to set targets for remaining fossil fuel emissions and to measure results and progress is highly disparate and needs to be standardized, authors of this Policy Forum emphasize.
  
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• Improving health, 1 step at a time

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (McGill University Health Centre) It may be surprising, but Canadians who live in densely-populated areas where stores, banks, schools and other services are close by do not walk as much as they should. These are the findings of new research, published in the current issue of BMJ Open, by a team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
  
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• How can I tell if she's lying?

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (McGill University) For people who suffer from diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's,conditions such as Autism spectrum disorders, any form of non-literal speech such as sarcasm, teasing or 'white lies' can be very confusing. A new video inventory of examples of these forms of indirect speech developed at McGill should help in the diagnosis and clinical testing of those with disorders of this kind.
  
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• Graphene microphone outperforms traditional nickel and offers ultrasonic reach

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (Institute of Physics) Scientists have developed a graphene based microphone nearly 32 times more sensitive than microphones of standard nickel-based construction.The researchers created a vibrating membrane -- the part of a condenser microphone which converts the sound to a current -- from graphene, and were able to show up to 15 dB higher sensitivity compared to a commercial microphone, at frequencies up to 11 kHz.
  
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• Functional human liver cells grown in the lab

  26-11-2015 06:00
  
  (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) In new research appearing in the prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology, an international research team led by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem describes a new technique for growing human hepatocytes in the laboratory. This groundbreaking development could help advance a variety of liver-related research and applications, from studying drug toxicity to creating bio-artificial liver support for patients awaiting transplantations.
  
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