Science news

• Geminid meteor shower coming to a sky near you this weekend

  11-12-2015 23:49 via cbc.ca
  
  The Geminids, 'arguably the best meteor shower of the year,' according to astronomy writer Gary Seronik, will be on display this weekend.
  
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• Geminid Meteor Shower, Best of the Year, Peaks Sunday: Watch It Live

  11-12-2015 23:20
  
  The Geminid meteor shower will be in full swing the nights of Dec. 13 and Dec. 14, and experts are saying it's going to be the best meteor shower of 2015. The online Slooh Community Observatory will air a live webcast about the Geminids on Monday, Dec. 13 beginning at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT). Hosted by Slooh's Community Manager and astronomy expert Paul Cox, the webcast will feature views of the Geminids from five countries on four continents. Viewers will also learn more about what causes th
  
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• Global climate talks face last hurdles, deal seen in reach

  11-12-2015 22:11
  
  By Bate Felix and Barbara Lewis PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday that an ambitious global climate deal was within reach, though political concessions were still required to get over some last hurdles. Fabius said he remained on track to present a final agreement on Saturday morning, a day later than planned, that could be adopted by consensus among the almost 200 countries negotiating in the French capital. The last stumbling blocks were over money, specifi
  
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• World powers lead frenetic overtime push for climate accord

  11-12-2015 22:02
  
  World powers led an overtime push to seal a deal on Saturday aimed at averting catastrophic climate change, as sleep-deprived envoys battled in Paris over trillion-dollar disputes blocking a deal.
  
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• Sweden to share data supporting Canada's Arctic claims

  11-12-2015 21:58
  
  Canada and Sweden have reached a deal to share data that could help support Canadian claims to a vast swath of the Arctic beyond its natural borders, Ottawa announced Friday.
  
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• Climate change is slowing the Earth's spin

  11-12-2015 21:35 via cbc.ca
  
  With human-caused climate change, we puny creatures are having some powerful effects on our entire planet. That includes one you might not imagine was possible —slowing the Earth's spin.
  
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• Brazil joins 'ambition coalition' at UN climate talks

  11-12-2015 20:55
  
  Brazil said Friday it had joined the European Union, United States and 79 developing nations in a group calling for a far-reaching deal at UN climate-saving talks in Paris.
  
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• Debate grows over whether X‑rays are a sign of dark matter

  11-12-2015 20:30
  
  The dwarf galaxy Draco, which is chock-full of dark matter, doesn’t emit a band of X-rays that researchers hoped were produced by the mysterious invisible stuff.
  
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• Singapore students build personal flying machine

  11-12-2015 20:11
  
  A team of eight engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a personal flying machine, dubbed 'Snowstorm'.
  
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• Facebook messenger connects Rogers customers with customer service

  11-12-2015 20:07 via cbc.ca
  
  One Canadian telecommunications company is teaming up with Facebook to allow its customers to connect with customer service agents through the social network's messenger system.
  
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• China 'confident' of a UN climate deal Saturday

  11-12-2015 20:07
  
  China, the world's biggest polluter of greenhouse gases, is confident a historic universal accord will be struck Saturday to rein in climate change, senior envoy Liu Zhenmin said.
  
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• To push through goo, use itty, bitty propellers

  11-12-2015 20:00
  
  Newly designed micropropellers mimic bacteria to move through viscous surroundings.
  
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• New movie asks viewers to care about whale hunters. Will they?

  11-12-2015 19:32
  
  A new movie tells the tale of sailors shipwrecked by a whale. But it’s hard to feel sorry for the people trying to kill the animal.
  
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• Syria's Assad says won't talk to 'terrorists' as U.S. wants

  11-12-2015 19:27
  
  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the United States and Saudi Arabia wanted "terrorist groups" to join peace talks proposed by world powers, and that nobody in Syria would accept such talks, in an interview transcript published by state media. Asked whether he would be willing to join negotiations called for by world powers by Jan. 1, he said: "They want the Syrian government to negotiate with terrorists, something I don't think anyone would accept in any country." They were Assad's first co
  
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• Germany in nuclear fusion 'milestone'

  11-12-2015 19:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A German nuclear fusion experiment produces a special super-hot gas which scientists hope will eventually lead to clean, cheap energy.
  
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• Three astronauts land back on Earth from space station

  11-12-2015 19:05
  
  Three astronauts, from the United States, Russia and Japan, on Friday successfully completed a rare nighttime landing on Earth in the wintry Kazakh steppe after returning from the International Space Station.
  
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• World powers lead frenetic final push for climate accord

  11-12-2015 19:00
  
  World powers led a frenetic final push Friday to seal a UN accord aimed at averting catastrophic climate change, as sleep-deprived envoys battled in Paris over trillion-dollar disputes blocking a deal.
  
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• Accelerated Innovation Is the Ultimate Solution to Climate Change

  11-12-2015 19:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz tells Scientific American how to achieve massive deployment of clean-energy technology
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• It’s a new planet! It’s an unknown star! It’s — oops!

  11-12-2015 18:50
  
  A couple of unexpected wandering points of light in the sky could be new planets or even a dim star orbiting the sun, but researchers have plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
  
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• Syrian armed groups get most seats in committee set for talks with Assad

  11-12-2015 18:47
  
  Armed rebel groups are to make up the largest single grouping in a joint Syrian opposition body that would oversee talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government, according to a list of names the factions drew up in Saudi Arabia this week. Assad said on Friday that the United States and Saudi Arabia wanted "terrorist groups" to join peace talks proposed by world powers, and that nobody in Syria would accept such talks, in an interview transcript published by state media.
  
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• Top stories: Firing up the stellarator, dinosaur evolution, and where to look for life in the Milky Way

  11-12-2015 18:45
  
  A roundup of the week’s hottest Science news
  
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• Japan: Researchers test 10-storey concrete building for resilience against 'new Kobe earthquake'

  11-12-2015 18:43
  
  Japanese researchers conducted an earthquake simulation on a 10-storey concrete structure on 11 December, with the aim of improving earthquake management strategies. At 27.45m high, it is the tallest concrete building ever to be tested in an earthquake simulation. Researchers at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) said they used the largest "shake table" in Japan, measuring 15m by 20m, to subject the building to the equivalent of a 7.3 magnitude earth
  
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• India says success at Paris climate talks 'not guaranteed'

  11-12-2015 17:59
  
  India's environment minister warned Friday that success at Paris climate-saving talks was not guaranteed, saying rich nations were baulking at the concerns of poorer counterparts.
  
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• Climate deal could bar poor from seeking compensation for losses

  11-12-2015 17:55
  
  By Laurie Goering PARIS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Poor countries could be barred from seeking compensation for losses and damages from rising seas, worsening storms and other climate impacts under a proposal in the latest draft of a new global climate change deal expected to be agreed this weekend. Michael Jacobs, a political and economic scientist at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, agreed that "the possibility of that in international law is not remov
  
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• If China cleans up its smog, we all benefit: Bob McDonald

  11-12-2015 17:40 via cbc.ca
  
  Stifling smog conditions in Beijing this week closed schools and factories and forced people to wear masks in the streets. If China cleans up its air as London did, after the Great Fog of 1952, we get a boost for climate change as well.
  
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• Dinosauromorph research sheds light on dinosaur evolution

  11-12-2015 17:36 via cbc.ca
  
  Dinosaurs evolved much faster than previously thought, a new study looking at dinosaurs' predecessors, dinosauromorphs, has found. Science columnist Torah Kachur discusses the findings.
  
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• Red lines, condoms and the Arc de Triomphe - Climate activists step up protests

  11-12-2015 17:34
  
  From storming the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris to handing out condoms to bureaucrats in the suburbs, climate change activists stepped up public stunts on Friday in a last-ditch bid to get negotiators to agree a powerful accord. Two weeks of U.N. talks to forge a global agreement to temper global warming are set to continue into Saturday, a day later than scheduled, as officials from 195 nations seek to resolve stubborn differences over how to cut back fossil fuel use and shift the planet tow
  
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• U.S. Senate confirms new DOE science chief

  11-12-2015 17:30
  Cherry Murray to lead $5 billion Office of Science
  
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• Climate draft puts temperature limit out of reach - scientists

  11-12-2015 17:28
  
  By Nina Chestney and Alister Doyle PARIS (Reuters) - A deal to slow climate change being thrashed out in Paris fails to map out steep enough cuts in carbon dioxide emissions to limit global warming to the target of at least "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), scientists said on Friday. Negotiations on the draft agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for warming the planet and disrupting the climate, were extended by a day on Friday to Saturday to try to overcome stubborn
  
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• Hoard of Viking coins and jewellery found in Oxfordshire

  11-12-2015 17:10
  
  A hoard of Viking coins, silver and jewellery could shine new light on the history of how the Kingdom of England came to exist, after it was discovered by a British amateur metal detectorist. The 186 coins, seven pieces of jewellery and 15 silver ingots were buried around the end of the 870s AD as Anglo-Saxon kings, in what is today England, began to fight back against Viking expansion across Britain. Detectorist James Mather found the hoard, described as "nationally significant" by archaeologis
  
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• Freiburg leading Germany's green energy revolution

  11-12-2015 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Back in the 1970s, residents of the German town of Freiburg protested against the building of a nearby nuclear plant. The anti-nuclear movement helped spur the town to become what it is today: a pioneering force in Germany's green energy revolution.
  
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• When Will Flu Season Start?

  11-12-2015 16:06
  
  It may be late fall, but there's not much flu going around in the United States so far this season, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And during the last week of November, 44 states reported minimal flu activity (the level of activity that's normal for the off season), while just two states (Oklahoma and South Carolina) reported increased, or moderate flu activity. No states reported high flu activity.
  
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• High-School Cheerleading Injuries Are Often Severe

  11-12-2015 16:05
  
  High school cheerleaders have an overall rate of injuries that is lower than that of most other high school sports, but the injuries that do occur among cheerleaders tend to be more severe, a new study suggests. In the study of 22 high school sports, there were 17 sports that had higher injury rates than cheerleading, the researchers found. "Although overall injury rates are relatively low, cheerleading injuries may be more severe when they do occur," the researchers, from the Colorado School of
  
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• Cholesterol Levels Are a Problem for Many US Kids

  11-12-2015 16:04
  
  About 20 percent of U.S. children have problems with their cholesterol levels, such as high levels of "bad" cholesterol or low levels of "good" cholesterol, according to a new report. The report found that, overall, 7.4 percent of children ages 6 to 19 have high levels of total cholesterol, meaning their cholesterol levels are at or above 200 milligrams per deciliter. High cholesterol levels are more common in children who are obese, the report found.
  
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• Pesticide in Milk Decades Ago May Be Linked to Parkinson's Disease

  11-12-2015 16:03
  
  A pesticide that was present in milk in the early 1980s may be linked to signs of Parkinson's disease that are showing up in people today, according to a new study. The researchers looked at Japanese-American men in Hawaii, where the pesticide was frequently used, and found that those who drank more than two cups of milk daily at the start of the study had 40 percent fewer brain cells in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra 30 years later, on average, compared with similar men who dr
  
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• More US Kids Are Being Diagnosed with ADHD

  11-12-2015 16:03
  
  The number of children and teens in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased significantly over the past decade, according to a new study. Researchers found that the number of U.S. children diagnosed with the disorder has increased by 43 percent since 2003. The findings suggest that 5.8 million children ages 5 to 17 in the United States have ADHD.
  
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• Rare Christmas full moon expected for 1st time in decades

  11-12-2015 16:02 via cbc.ca
  
  This year, when you look up at the sky on Christmas morning, you'll get a Christmas treat that no one has had since the year the original Star Wars movie was released — a full moon.
  
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• The Hunt for Alien Molecules

  11-12-2015 16:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Astrochemists are discovering many compounds in the cosmos that cannot exist on Earth
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Why the 'Hoverboard' Scooter Is So Fly

  11-12-2015 15:51
  
  Some call them hoverboards; others call them smart or self-balancing scooters. But whatever you call the two-wheeled motorized vehicles you've probably seen rolling over sidewalks of late, one thing is certain: These futuristic gadgets are pretty cool. And the physics and mechanics that make them go are cool, too.
  
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• Wine + Penny = Problem Solved! Chemistry Hack Saves Old Wine

  11-12-2015 15:50
  
  A new video from the American Chemical Society (ACS) explains how to do this supercheap, wine-saving "life hack" at home. Replacing smelly thiols with copper sulfides is a clever (and inexpensive) way to revamp your spoiled wine.
  
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• Kerry says climate talks make progress, despite delay

  11-12-2015 15:39
  
  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said talks on a global deal to slow climate change "made a lot of progress" overnight but that there were a couple of "very difficult" issues to resolve after France extended the conference by a day into Saturday. Kerry also said, after meeting host French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, that he was "hopeful" that a consensus could be reached among 195 nations and that over the course of Friday contentious issues will "melt away".
  
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• Injured seal faces wait for treatment

  11-12-2015 15:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A seal with a deep neck wound may have to wait for treatment because vets do not want to approach him during the breeding season.
  
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• Hawaii's Telescope Controversy is the Latest in a Long History of Land-Ownership Battles

  11-12-2015 15:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The current standoff between Native Hawaiian protesters and proponents of the planned Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) can take some lessons from similar disputes in the past
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Three ISS astronauts land back on Earth: Russian space agency

  11-12-2015 15:27
  
  Three astronauts from the United States, Russia and Japan on Friday successfully completed a rare nighttime landing on Earth in the wintry Kazakh steppe after returning from the International Space Station.
  
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• No Laser Signals Detected from 'Alien Megastructure' Star

  11-12-2015 15:19
  
  Observations by NASA's Kepler space telescope recently revealed that the star KIC 8462852's brightness dipped dramatically several times over the past few years, by 22 percent on one occasion. Such dimming events are too significant to be caused by a planet crossing the star's face — Jupiter passing in front of the sun would dim our star by just 1 percent or so — so some astronomers have speculated that the KIC 8462852 system might harbor a giant complex of orbiting solar panels or s
  
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• Sun-Watching Observatory Celebrates 20 Stellar Years in Space (Video)

  11-12-2015 15:16
  
  The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), launched into solar orbit on Dec. 2, 1995, to study the sun and its influence throughout the solar system. To celebrate the mission, NASA created an awesome video of SOHO's 20 years of sun images.
  
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• Soyuz Spacecraft Crew Lands on Earth After 141 Days on Space Station

  11-12-2015 15:16
  
  Three space station crewmembers made a rare nighttime return to Earth on Friday (Dec. 11), safely landing in Kazakhstan after 141 days in orbit. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) touched down at about 8:12 a.m. EST (1312 GMT or 7:12 p.m. local time) on board their Russian Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft. The return marked only the sixth time that a Soyuz crew came home from the International Space Station a
  
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• Female Mass Killers: Why They're So Rare

  11-12-2015 15:03
  
  As last week's shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, unfolded, the narrative seemed sickeningly familiar: A few moments of chaos ending in multiple deaths. Female mass killers are "so rare that it just hasn't been studied," said James Garbarino, a psychologist at Loyola University Chicago who has researched human development and violence. Women commit only about 10 percent to 13 percent of homicides n the United States, said Adam Lankford, a criminal justice profe
  
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• Top Russian Honour For Science Museum Head

  11-12-2015 15:01
  
  Under the monumental cupula of Ekaterina Hall, lodged deep within the Kremlin, we watched 43 heroes of the Russian Federation-to-be, adjusting their ties and double-checking their hair, in preparation for the grand ceremony. The proceedings were broadcast live on national television and the man doling out the medals was none other than President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader kicked things off with a short speech about "challenging times" and "defending Russian interests" and then the first
  
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• How El Niño Made the Pacific a Hurricane Hotbed in 2015

  11-12-2015 14:54
  
  A record-breaking number of furious storms rocked the Pacific Ocean during the 2015 hurricane season, while the Atlantic Ocean stayed relatively quiet, likely because of El Niño, new research shows. El-Niño-influenced storms raged throughout the Pacific during this year's six-month hurricane season, which lasted from June 1 to Nov. 30. But the Atlantic spent its third consecutive year with below-average storm activity, the Earth Observatory reported.
  
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