Science news

• High winds push Orbital space launch bid to Sunday

  05-12-2015 23:21
  
  High winds in Florida have pushed to Sunday Orbital ATK's launch of its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station, the latest in a series of delays due to weather.
  
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• Cautious hopes as UN adopts draft climate change deal

  05-12-2015 22:55
  
  Negotiators from 195 nations agreed on a draft Saturday for a pact to save mankind from disastrous global warming, raising hopes that decades of arguments will finally end with a historic deal in Paris.
  
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• Lives depend on climate deal as islands bear brunt of health impact

  05-12-2015 21:58
  
  By Barbara Lewis PARIS (Reuters) - Small islands that bear the brunt of rising sea levels also face the greatest risk of diseases linked to a warmer planet, health leaders said on Saturday, as 13 million medical professionals added to the calls for a global climate pact. Hundreds of thousands more people will die every year from heat stroke and tropical illnesses unless negotiators in Paris can agree a strong global deal to cap global warming, the Global Climate and Health Alliance said. The all
  
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• Bloomberg says investors pricing in climate risk

  05-12-2015 19:54
  
  Global investors are increasingly pricing in the risk of climate change, US billionaire Michael Bloomberg told AFP on Saturday after taking charge of a task force to bring greater clarity to the financial implications of a warming world.
  
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• Ship carrying nuclear waste arrives in Australia

  05-12-2015 19:50
  
  A ship carrying 25 tonnes of radioactive waste arrived back in Australia on Saturday, met by activists who warned against the vast nation becoming a nuclear dumping ground.
  
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• Cow-milking Arnie says time to save climate

  05-12-2015 19:15
  
  Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled Saturday a childhood of milking cows in the rain and drawing water from a well as he called for the world to turn to clean energy and protect the world's environment from global warming.
  
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• Algerian president returns home after French medical checks

  05-12-2015 18:42
  
  Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has returned home after a brief visit to France for routine medical checkups, the presidency said in a statement carried by the APS state news service on Saturday. Bouteflika, 78, who suffered a stroke in 2013, travelled to France on Thursday. Bouteflika won his re-election in 2014 promising stability and strong security policies in a region where many neighbouring countries are struggling with Islamist militant attacks.
  
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• Colombia to build museum to showcase shipwreck discovery

  05-12-2015 17:26
  
  By Julia Symmes Cobb BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia will build a museum to showcase artefacts found in the wreckage of a Spanish galleon discovered near the historic Caribbean port city of Cartagena, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday. The San Jose, thought by historians to be laden with emeralds and precious coins, sank in 1708. It was part of the fleet of King Philip V, who fought the English during the War of Spanish Succession.
  
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• How Google Street View, tourist photos are helping scientists study polar bears

  05-12-2015 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists are trying out new, non-invasive ways to study and track polar bears in Canada's northern regions.
  
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• Environmental groups hail Delhi's controversial car ban

  05-12-2015 16:18
  
  Environmental groups on Saturday lauded the Delhi government's move to drastically reduce the number of private vehicles on the capital's roads in a bid to clean up the city's notoriously toxic air, as a political row erupted over the controversial decision.
  
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• Hopes rise as UN adopts climate-saving blueprint

  05-12-2015 16:09
  
  Negotiators from 195 nations delivered a blueprint Saturday for a pact to save mankind from disastrous global warming, raising hopes that decades of arguments will finally end with a historic agreement in Paris.
  
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• NASA releases 'best close-ups' of Pluto

  05-12-2015 15:55
  
  The US space agency has released a series of sharp Pluto snapshots, billing them as the best close-ups of the dwarf planet we may see for decades.
  
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• Climate talks enter next phase, toughest decisions ahead

  05-12-2015 15:54
  
  By David Stanway and Richard Valdmanis PARIS (Reuters) - Global climate change talks in Paris moved into a new, tougher phase on Saturday as negotiators agreed to a draft accord that still leaves hundreds of points of dispute for ministers to resolve next week. While a largely procedural step in the four-year quest for a binding deal to slow global warming, the fact that senior government officials from almost 200 nations agreed on the draft marks an improvement over the last failed summit in Co
  
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• Climate delegates agree draft deal text

  05-12-2015 13:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Delegates at a UN climate conference in Paris have approved a new draft text that they hope will form the basis of a global agreement.
  
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• UN negotiators adopt draft global climate deal

  05-12-2015 12:54 via cbc.ca
  
  Negotiators adopted a draft climate agreement Saturday that was cluttered with brackets and competing options, leaving ministers with the job of untangling key sticking points in what is envisioned to become a lasting, universal pact to fight global warming.
  
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• Climate summit has draft deal, but still no agreement on rise of average global temperature

  05-12-2015 12:54 via cbc.ca
  
  Negotiators adopted a draft climate change agreement Saturday that was cluttered with brackets, highlighting areas still undecided, leaving ministers with the job of untangling key sticking points at the halfway point of the summit near Paris.
  
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• U.N. climate talks approve draft text, many disputes remain

  05-12-2015 12:50
  
  Senior officials from almost 200 nations approved a draft text of a U.N. climate deal on Saturday after four years' work as the basis for ministers to try to resolve hundreds of points of disagreement next week. Major political issues are yet to be resolved," Laurence Tubiana, French climate envoy, told the meeting. The idea is that the text lays out options, ranging from a long-term goal for slowing climate change to rising climate finance for developing nations, that can be resolved by ministe
  
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• UN conference delivers climate-saving blueprint

  05-12-2015 12:44
  
  Negotiators from 195 nations delivered a blueprint Saturday for a pact to secure humanity from the consequences of rampant emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases.
  
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• 32 Azeri workers die in fire on Caspian Sea oil platform - committee head

  05-12-2015 11:26
  
  Thirty-two workers have been killed and 42 rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire in Azerbaijan-controlled waters in the Caspian Sea, the head of an independent committee said on Saturday. Azeri state energy company SOCAR declined to comment. ... The fire on the platform was finally extinguished," Mirvari Gakhramanly, head of Azerbaijan's Oil Workers' Rights Protection Committee, told Reuters.
  
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• Bristol, England, shows what cities can do to fight climate change

  05-12-2015 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Bristol, England is an old industrial city that's probably best known for giving the world trip-hop music. But it's also become a model for other cities in how to encourage people to play a direct role in fighting climate change.
  
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• COP21: Progress reported on key issue

  05-12-2015 09:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Negotiators are edging towards a compromise on one of the most divisive issues between countries at the COP21 climate change talks in Paris.
  
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• Battling climate change -- with worms

  05-12-2015 08:15
  
  Nicolas Denieul plants his spade in the ground and turns over a clod of soil to reveal a mass of earthworms seething around plant roots -- fat ones and thin ones, delicate translucent violet and dark brown.
  
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• Studies reveal the surprising complexity of cognitive issues in children with epilepsy

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (American Epilepsy Society) Children with epilepsy face a number of challenges compared with their healthy peers, including an increased risk of cognitive impairment. Three studies presented the American Epilepsy Society's (AES) 69th Annual Meeting parse the complex underpinnings of cognitive development in these children, revealing a need for smarter assessments and targeted interventions.
  
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• One-step tumor detection from dynamic morphology tracking on aptamer grafted surface

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (World Scientific) A team of researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington (UT-Arlington) in Texas, USA has demonstrated a novel cancer cell detection method based on real time cell behavior tracking on engineered surfaces.
  
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• Novel devices, technologies provide insights into seizure control, surgical targets

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (American Epilepsy Society) Three studies to be presented at the American Epilepsy Society's 69th Annual Meeting describe novel devices and technologies that could reshape current understanding of the complex mechanisms underpinning seizure development in the brain. Two of the three studies unveil information about the neural networks that produce and propagate seizure activity, providing information that could help refine and target surgical interventions.
  
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• Maximum observed earthquake magnitudes along continental transform faults

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (GFZ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Helmholtz Centre) A team of scientists from the GFZ German Centre for Geosciences in collaboration with the University of Southern California has presented a global evaluation of observed maximum earthquakes along all major transform faults allowing to better estimate the maximum earthquake strengths.
  
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• Making cancer care personal

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Iowa) Researchers at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry are partnering with a private company to develop computer simulations that can help personalize cancer care by predicting how a patient will respond to a drug treatment.
  
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• Genetic variants tied to increased risk of bone complications in young leukemia patients

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has identified genetic variations in young leukemia patients that are associated with an increased incidence of osteonecrosis, a serious cancer treatment side effect.
  
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• Four studies explore memory decline in people with epilepsy

  05-12-2015 06:00
  
  (American Epilepsy Society) Four studies presented at the American Epilepsy Society's (AES) 69th Annual Meeting uncover the biological factors that mediate memory decline in people with epilepsy, particularly those with seizures that affect the temporal lobe. Loss of neurons from the hippocampus, a brain region that processes and stores memories, is a common cause of temporal lobe epilepsy. People with temporal epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-HS) have impaired memory and find it pa
  
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• 'Tolkien Giant' tree at root of B.C. climate change appeal

  05-12-2015 05:32 via cbc.ca
  
  Conservationists who want the government to take action on climate change by protecting B.C.'s old-growth forests say they've measured a near-record-size red cedar.
  
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• Orbital to try space cargo launch Saturday after high winds

  05-12-2015 00:36
  
  In a handout photo released by United Launch Alliance on December 1, 2015, a transporter moves Orbital ATK's enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, fitted inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas ...
  
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• New images show seaplane that sank in Pearl Harbor attack

  05-12-2015 00:29
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — New images of a large U.S. Navy seaplane that sank in Hawaii waters during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor show a coral-encrusted engine and reef fish swimming in and out of a hull.
  
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• High winds delay Orbital space cargo launch again

  05-12-2015 00:20
  
  In a handout photo released by United Launch Alliance on December 1, 2015, a transporter moves Orbital ATK's enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, fitted inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas ...
  
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• Weather forces 2nd delay for critical space station shipment

  05-12-2015 00:16
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For the second day in a row, poor weather stalled a critical space station delivery for NASA on Friday.
  
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