Science news

• General relativity caught in action around black hole

  17-12-2015 23:50
  
  X-rays enable scientists to spot a black hole twisting the surrounding fabric of spacetime, just as Einstein’s theory predicts.
  
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• Hints of possible new subatomic particle found in LHC data

  17-12-2015 23:10 via cbc.ca
  
  A particle collider used in the Nobel-prize-winning discovery of the Higgs boson may have found a hint of a completely new particle at uncharted energies. But maybe not, scientists caution.
  
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• Threat to Darwin's famous finches

  17-12-2015 23:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Galapagos Islands finches, which helped Charles Darwin refine his theory of evolution, are in danger of extinction, a study says.
  
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• Santa expected to deliver 1 million drones this Christmas

  17-12-2015 23:00 via cbc.ca
  
  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration estimates there might be as many as one million drones sold this Christmas season, but some fear government regulations and the skill levels of hobbyists can't keep up with the runaway popularity of this technology.
  
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• How Do They Do That? A Closer Look at Quantum Magnetic Levitation

  17-12-2015 23:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  When you mingle a superconductor, magnet and liquid nitrogen, strange physics takes over
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Why smoking bans may have advantage over higher tobacco taxes

  17-12-2015 22:56
  If governments want to discourage smoking among young people, both high taxes and smoking bans do the job – but bans may have one key advantage, say researchers. A first-of-its-kind American study found that bans worked best at limiting smoking among more casual users: Those who smoked less than a pack a day. Heavy taxes worked best with those who smoked more than a pack a day.
  
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• New material developed for accelerated skin regeneration in major wounds

  17-12-2015 22:56
  Researchers have developed a synthetic biomaterial that fills wounds and aids in regeneration of skin cells, which ultimately improves wound healing.
  
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• Facebook uses facial recognition technology to send photos through Messenger

  17-12-2015 22:15 via cbc.ca
  
  Facebook is trying to make it easier to send photos as the holiday season's picture-taking frenzy escalates with the arrival of Christmas and New Year's Eve.
  
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• Uncovering the science of sand dune ‘booms’

  17-12-2015 22:00
  
  Mechanical engineer and geophysicist Nathalie Vriend explores noises in the desert that are triggered by sand sliding down dunes.
  
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• Ancient 'Loch Ness monster' reptiles swam like penguins

  17-12-2015 21:11
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that thrived in the world's seas when dinosaurs ruled the land, swam much like penguins by using their flippers to "fly" underwater, scientists said on Thursday, resolving a debate that began nearly two centuries ago.
  
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• China launches dark matter detection satellite

  17-12-2015 21:08 via cbc.ca
  
  China launched the country's first dark matter detection satellite into space on Thursday.
  
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• Thigh bone adds to mystery over 14,000-year-old Homo species

  17-12-2015 20:00
  
  Controversial Chinese leg fossil may point to hybrid humans 14,000 years ago.
  
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• Bye-bye backyard shinny: outdoor rink days to melt away by 2090

  17-12-2015 19:55 via cbc.ca
  
  Skating under the stars will be much harder to do in the future, because the number of days outdoor rinks stay frozen will shrink dramatically by the end of the century.
  
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• Human water use 'greater than thought'

  17-12-2015 19:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New calculations show that our already sizeable water footprint is 18% bigger than previously recognised - at 10,700 cu km a year.
  
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• Unusual 'sail-backed' dinosaur roamed Spain 125M years ago

  17-12-2015 18:48 via cbc.ca
  
  Along a lush river delta in what is now northeastern Spain, a herd of dinosaurs munched on ferns and conifers similar to modern-day cypresses 125 million years ago.
  
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• Climate change is really heating up the world's lakes, especially Canada's

  17-12-2015 18:11 via cbc.ca
  
  Lakes around the world are warming surprisingly quickly due to climate change, threatening the global water supply. And lakes in Canada are some of the fastest-warming in the world, a new study suggests.
  
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• To treat the heart, start with the gut

  17-12-2015 18:00
  
  Preventing gut bacteria from making certain chemical compounds reduced artery clogging in mice, researchers report.
  
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• WhatsApp back online in Brazil after judge temporarily blocked service

  17-12-2015 15:56 via cbc.ca
  
  WhatsApp is back online in Brazil. For many at least. A Brazilian judge has struck down a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked the popular messaging service.
  
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• It's 'a sad day for Brazil' says Mark Zuckerberg after court order blocks WhatsApp

  17-12-2015 15:56 via cbc.ca
  
  Brazilians awoke to a day without WhatApp Thursday after a judge ordered the popular messaging app blocked throughout the country for 48 hours.
  
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• California may allow self-driving cars by 2017, but they need a licensed driver

  17-12-2015 15:07 via cbc.ca
  
  California regulators have unveiled a roadmap that would let consumers begin using self-driving cars.
  
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• After rocky road, U.S. Senate passes landmark chemical law overhaul

  17-12-2015 15:00
  
  Toxic Substances Control Act edges closer to rewrite
  
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• Badger cull total of 1,500 'met target'

  17-12-2015 14:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nearly 1,500 badgers were killed this year as part of the government's cull, figures reveal.
  
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• Links between scrapie and MS less likely

  17-12-2015 14:00
  
  Five decades later, scientists still puzzle over what causes multiple sclerosis.
  
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• Reader favorites of 2015

  17-12-2015 13:00
  
  Science News' online readership sometimes surprised us with their clicking habits this year.
  
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• 2016 'very likely' to be warmest

  17-12-2015 12:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new global temperature forecast from the UK's Met Office says that 2016 is likely to be even warmer than the record breaking 2015.
  
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• Surprises at new frontier trump a tool’s potential power

  17-12-2015 12:30
  Because it highlighted discovery at its most basic, Pluto won our No. 1 spot in the top 25 science news stories of 2015.
  
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• Is a smartphone a smart present for kids?

  17-12-2015 12:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A Nova Scotia pediatrician is urging parents to consider the health effects of electronic devices before giving them as gifts this holiday season.
  
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• Getting a drone for Christmas? What you need to know

  17-12-2015 11:30 via cbc.ca
  
  There are things new drone owners need to know before they start flying.
  
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• China launches satellite to join the hunt for dark matter

  17-12-2015 11:00
  
  Probe is the first of four science missions giving China's space efforts a new dimension
  
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• Cancer 'not just down to bad luck'

  17-12-2015 10:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Cancer is overwhelmingly a result of environmental factors and not largely down to bad luck, a study by doctors in New York suggests.
  
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• UK announces solar subsidy cuts

  17-12-2015 10:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK government says subsidies for small scale solar electricity panels on homes are to be cut, although by less than expected.
  
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• Video: Ancient sea monsters swam like penguins

  17-12-2015 08:00
  Computer model shows forelimbs flapped while hind limbs steered and stabilized
  
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• The top 10 science news stories of 2015

  17-12-2015 08:00
  A selection of our favorite and most popular pieces
  
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• And Science’s Breakthrough of the Year is …

  17-12-2015 08:00
  We pick the most important advance of 2015
  
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• Judges approve modest royalty rate increase for ad-supported music streams

  17-12-2015 07:58 via cbc.ca
  
  A panel of copyright judges on Wednesday raised the amount free Internet music streaming services must pay to record labels next year and beyond, from 14 cents per 100 plays to 17 cents.
  
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• Greenland's shifting shape captured

  17-12-2015 07:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe's Cryosat mission is now monitoring the changing height of Greenland and its ice losses in unprecedented detail.
  
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• York U-led laser instrument to help bring home asteroid sample by NASA mission

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (York University) Michael Daly, a York University researcher, is the lead scientist on a laser altimeter that will map the surface and create a 3-D model of the asteroid Bennu during a NASA mission launching in 2016. The instrument will help guide the spacecraft on the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission to a safe spot to grab a sample to bring back to Earth, providing a snapshot of materials available during the formation of the solar system.
  
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• US and Mexico must work to prevent future outbreaks of mosquito-transmitted diseases

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Rice University) Despite the increasing risks of mosquito-transmitted epidemics in the United States and Mexico, policymakers in both countries have made little effort to prevent future outbreaks, according to a new policy brief by tropical-disease and science policy experts at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
  
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• University of Toronto scientists uncover how opioids cause dangerous breathing problems

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Toronto) University of Toronto researchers on a quest to make opioid drugs less lethal have discovered a window of opportunity: a tiny channel in the brain where opioids interfere with the breathing mechanism.They found that mice without this channel kept breathing normally with an opioid overdose -- a discovery that may result in new therapies to stop accidental deaths from prescription painkillers.
  
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• Turning rice farming waste to useful silica compounds

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Michigan) 'DO NOT EAT.' That's what's marked on the innocuous little packets that contain the most widely known form of precipitated silica. They're used to absorb moisture that could damage new products, and most of us don't think much about them.
  
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• Top risk factors for child undernutrition in India identified

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) In India, nearly 40 percent of all children are stunted -- of extremely low height for their age -- and nearly 30 percent are underweight. A new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has now pinpointed the five top risk factors responsible for more than two-thirds of the problem.
  
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• The awakened force of a star

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (ESA/Hubble Information Centre) Perfectly timed for the release of 'Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens,' this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a cosmic double-bladed lightsaber. In the center of the image, partially obscured by a dark Jedi-like cloak of dust, an adolescent star shoots twin jets out into space, demonstrating the fearsome forces of the universe.
  
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• Terrorism may make liberals think more like conservatives

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Association for Psychological Science) Liberals' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants became more like those of conservatives following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, new research shows. Data from two nationally representative surveys of British citizens revealed that feelings of national loyalty increased and endorsement of equality decreased among political liberals following the terrorist attack.
  
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• Terrorism may make liberals think like conservatives

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Association for Psychological Science) Liberals' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants became more like those of conservatives following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, new research shows. Data from two nationally representative surveys of British citizens revealed that feelings of national loyalty increased and endorsement of equality decreased among political liberals following the terrorist attack.
  
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• Targeting frailty in pre-lung transplant patients might improve survival rates, patient outcomes

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Mayo Clinic) Frailty can affect people of all ages and demographics. Defined simply as 'an increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes,' frailty can affect a patient's chances of surviving a surgical procedure or needing a nursing home. A new study from physicians at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., published recently in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, is among the first to show a definitive connection between frailty and survival after a lung transplant procedure.
  
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• Study: Safety net fails grandmother caregivers living in severe poverty

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Washington) The number of grandmothers raising their grandchildren spiked during the Great Recession, but those living in poverty often struggle with a public assistance system not designed to meet their unique needs.
  
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• State safety nets offer uneven support to low-income working families, policy tool shows

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health) When it comes to providing economic assistance to families living near the poverty line, state practices vary, according to data revealed in a newly updated and enhanced policy analysis tool. The 50-State Policy Tracker is a unique online tool for comparing safety net policies that are critical to the economic security of working families. The tool reveals that state policy choices have a major impact on whether low-income working parents s
  
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• Snake bellies help scientists get a grip

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Cincinnati) An NSF-funded UC researcher sheds light on how snakes' sharp-edged belly keels improve climbing abilities, which could lead to bio-inspired robotic designs and new methods to prevent snake invasion.
  
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• Scientists manipulate consciousness in rats

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Scientists showed that they could alter brain activity of rats and either wake them up or put them in an unconscious state by changing the firing rates of neurons in the central thalamus, a region known to regulate arousal. The study, published in eLIFE, was partially funded by the National Institutes of Health.
  
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• Scientists identify mechanisms to reduce epileptic seizures following TBI

  17-12-2015 06:00
  
  (UT Southwestern Medical Center) UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that halting production of new neurons in the brain following traumatic brain injury can help reduce resulting epileptic seizures, cognitive decline, and impaired memory.
  
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