Science news

• Proton rocket blasts off with part of European space 'data highway'

  29-01-2016 23:58
  
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A Russian Proton rocket blasted off in Kazakhstan on Friday night to put into orbit both the first part of Europe's new space "data highway" and a Eutelsat communications satellite.
  
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• Geometry helped ancient Babylonians track planets

  29-01-2016 23:53
  
  People in ancient Babylon used geometry to calculate the position of Jupiter some 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, researchers said Friday.
  
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• A giant, invisible gas cloud is on a collision course with our galaxy

  29-01-2016 22:41 via cbc.ca
  
  A huge cloud of gas travelling at more than 1,000,000 km/h is going to collide with our galaxy. But relax, it won't happen for 30 million years.
  
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• Wearable Sweat Sensors Could Track Your Health

  29-01-2016 22:23
  
  Blood tests allow doctors to peer into the human body to analyze people's health. Sweat is a rich source of chemical data that could help doctors determine what is happening inside the human body, scientists explained in a new study. "Sweat is pretty attractive to target for noninvasive wearable sensors, since it's, of course, very easy to analyze — you don't have to poke the body to get it — and it has a lot of information about one's health in it," said study senior author Ali Jave
  
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• Autism App? iPhone Tool Could One Day Spot the Disorder

  29-01-2016 22:22
  
  An app that can study people's facial expressions and emotional responses could one day be helpful in detecting autism signs in children, new research found. The iPhone app, called "Autism & Beyond," was developed by scientists and software developers at Duke University in North Carolina and uses mathematical algorithms to automatically detect people's expressions and emotional cues, based on muscle movements in the face. Children in the study will be presented with a short video clip design
  
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• Great Wall of White: Epic Snowfall Visible from Space

  29-01-2016 22:21
  
  A massive winter storm that slammed the U.S. East Coast last weekend dumped so much white stuff on the ground that the extensive snow cover was clearly visible from space. The winter storm, dubbed Jonas, dropped snow from Tennessee north to Massachusetts on Jan. 23, leaving millions of Americans shoveling driveways and sidewalks, and digging their cars out.
  
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• Behavior, body size impact bats’ fight against white-nose syndrome

  29-01-2016 20:31
  
  Behavioral and physical traits buffer some bats against white-nose syndrome while leaving others vulnerable.
  
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• What Are the Odds? Temperature Records Keep Falling (Op-Ed)

  29-01-2016 20:13
  
  Michael Mann is a distinguished professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and author of "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines" (Columbia, 2013) and the recently updated and expanded "Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change" (DK, 2015). With the official numbers now in 2015 is, by a substantial margin, the new record-holder, the warmest year in recorded history for both the globe and the Northern Hemisphere. One might wonder: Just how likel
  
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• Crop Failure and Fading Food Supplies: Climate Change's Lasting Impact (Op-Ed)

  29-01-2016 20:13
  Now, scientists have assessed the global scale of food crop disasters for the first time — and the news is not good. Studies from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Niger have shown that children have increased wasting and stunting rates after a flood or drought, according to the United Nations World Food Programme. For example, children in Niger born during a drought are more than twice as likely to be malnourished between the ages of 1 and 2.
  
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• Crowdsourcing the Universe: How Citizen Scientists are Driving Discovery (Kavli Roundtable)

  29-01-2016 20:11
  
  Just last November, a citizen science project called Space Warps announced the discovery of 29 new gravitational lenses, regions in the universe where massive objects bend the paths of photons (from galaxies and other light sources) as they travel toward Earth. Automated computer programs have identified most of the 500 gravitational lenses on astronomer’s books. The Kavli Foundation spoke with three researchers, all co-authors of two papers published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal As
  
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• How Much Light Is in the Universe?

  29-01-2016 20:09
  How much light is in the universe? The first choice we have to make is how, exactly, to define "how much." A convenient way is to count light using photons. If you've ever wanted to know what a photon is, well, you're in luck: It's a bit of light.
  
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• 'Majestically beautiful and enigmatic' snow leopard settles in at Calgary Zoo

  29-01-2016 19:34 via cbc.ca
  
  A one-year-old snow leopard has taken some tentative first steps into the limelight at the Calgary Zoo.
  
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• Tim Peake issues space seed-growing challenge to schools

  29-01-2016 19:30
  Astronaut Tim Peake has beamed a video message to thousands of schools asking them to grow seeds that have journeyed through space.
  
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• Vasa parrots use pebbles as tools to grind down seashells

  29-01-2016 19:26 via cbc.ca
  
  Greater vasa parrots have officially been granted membership in the exclusive club of animals that use tools, thanks to a recently published study that found they can do something never seen before in any animal species.
  
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• Clever parrots use tools to grind seashells into better food

  29-01-2016 19:26 via cbc.ca
  
  Greater vasa parrots have officially been granted membership in the exclusive club of animals that use tools, thanks to a recently published study that found they can do something never seen before in any animal species.
  
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• Immune system gene leads to schizophrenia clue

  29-01-2016 18:57
  
  Excessive snipping of nerve cell connections may contribute to schizophrenia.
  
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• ALS: 'Shockingly successful' Copper-ATSM mice trials show first signs of prolonging life

  29-01-2016 18:38
  A new treatment for ALS could be on the way, as researchers say that have stopped the progression of the disease in mice for two years. The treatment allowed the mice to live for 650 days – 500 days longer than any other previous treatment has managed. The results from Oregon State University, published in Neurobiology of Disease, were unexpectedly promising, say the scientists.
  
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• F-35 Fighter Jet Likely Caused Sonic Booms That Rocked New Jersey

  29-01-2016 18:36
  
  The sonic booms that rattled residents of New Jersey up to Long Island, New York, yesterday may have been the result of fighter jet flight tests at the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland. At 1:24 p.m. EST (18:24:05 UTC) about 2 miles (3 kilometers) north-northeast of Hammonton, New Jersey, and 37 miles (60 km) south of Trenton, New Jersey, a sonic boom was detected at nearby seismometers in the ground. At least nine others were picked up in the following hour and a half along the East
  
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• Readers question gene-drive engineered mosquitoes and their predators

  29-01-2016 18:30
  Readers discuss the effects of gene-drive engineered mosquitoes and muse on their science bucket list.
  
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• Powerful rhetoric can overlook important details

  29-01-2016 18:15
  Our Editor in Chief discusses the potential hazards of broad generalizations, specifically when it comes to genetically modified foods and abundant energy.
  
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• Tim Peake asks for help in plant test

  29-01-2016 18:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  British astronaut Tim Peake asks schoolchildren to help him with one of his scientific experiments.
  
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• GMOs haven’t delivered on their promises — or risks

  29-01-2016 18:00
  
  Genetically modified foods have been studied extensively and are abundant on supermarket shelves, but they haven’t managed to end world hunger yet.
  
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• GMOs for thought

  29-01-2016 18:00
  
  Genetically modified foods have been studied extensively and are abundant on supermarket shelves, but they haven’t managed to end world hunger yet.
  
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• Canada's Trudeau visits remote community after deadly shooting

  29-01-2016 17:53
  By Matthew Smith LA LOCHE, Saskatchewan (Reuters) - Residents of the remote Canadian town of La Loche, having softened frozen cemetery ground with bonfires, prepared to bury their loved ones as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled on Friday to the site of Canada's worst mass shooting in a decade. Trudeau's visit comes a week after a shooter killed four people and wounded seven at a home and high school and a day before funerals were to begin in the isolated aboriginal Saskatchewan town, which
  
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• Skin color changes reveal octopus drama

  29-01-2016 17:25
  
  Shallow-water octopuses use changes in skin color to communicate aggression to their peers, study suggests.
  
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• South Korea: Shark eats another shark in aquarium

  29-01-2016 17:23
  A large sand tiger shark at a Seoul aquarium is said to have eaten a large banded houndshark in the first such incident at the aquarium. The eight-year-old female sand tiger shark, the largest in the COEX aquarium at about 2.2m long, is said to have slowly eaten the smaller five-year-old male shark bite by bite. The aquarium said the attack happened at about 6.30pm local time on 28 January.
  
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• Cause of schizophrenia found in genes, new research says

  29-01-2016 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  New research in the journal Nature points to a single "neighbourhood" in the human genome as being responsible for schizophrenia. Researcher Dr. Steven McCarroll says this is a major breakthrough in our understanding of the disorder.
  
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• Boosting yields 'can save wildlife'

  29-01-2016 16:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Increasing crop yields could help meet the rising global demand for more food while sparing land to protect biodiversity, a study suggests.
  
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• Mexico: Scientist creates 3D-printed prosthetic leg for dog

  29-01-2016 16:45
  Specialists at the Veterinary Hospital of the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM), in Mexico City, have placed the country's first articulated prosthetic leg, printed using 3D technology in Mexico, onto a dog. The prosthetic leg is unique as it allows the dog to preserve its natural anatomy, allowing the joints to move in a similar way as natural limbs do.
  
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• Going to space is still a very risky business: Bob McDonald

  29-01-2016 16:30 via cbc.ca
  
  This week marked the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, a tragedy that might have been avoided if the people in charge had not become complacent.
  
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• Limited Zika Virus Outbreaks 'Likely' in US

  29-01-2016 16:14
  It's likely that the United States will face small outbreaks of Zika virus, but widespread transmission of the virus here is not expected, health officials said today. Zika virus is spreading rapidly in Central and South America, and there have been a few cases in the United States among travelers who caught the virus overseas. Although the virus isn't spreading locally in the United States yet, it is possible that it will, because the mosquitoes that transmit the virus are common in some parts
  
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• Important First-Aid Move: What to Do If a Child Loses Consciousness

  29-01-2016 16:14
  If a child passes out, parents can help them by performing a simple first-aid technique known as putting them in "the recovery position," a new study suggests. Children in the study who became unconscious because they fainted or had a seizure — but were still breathing — and were placed in the recovery position were almost 30 percent less likely to be hospitalized compared with children whose parents did not perform this first-aid method, researchers in Europe found. The finding show
  
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• Hawaii Biotech joins race to develop Zika vaccine

  29-01-2016 16:01
  Privately owned vaccine developer Hawaii Biotech Inc has joined the race to produce a vaccine for the mosquito-borne Zika virus, a fast-spreading infection which has been linked to severe birth defects in babies. The company initiated a formal program to test a Zika vaccine last fall, as the virus began to gain traction in Brazil, said Chief Executive Dr. Elliot Parks. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the Zika virus is "spreading explosively" and could infect as many as 4 million peo
  
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• How a Supreme Court Decision Affects Your Electricity Bill

  29-01-2016 16:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A 6-2 ruling upholds a regulation that requires utilities to pay more to customers who conserve power during times of peak demand
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Malheur Standoff Puts Science in the Crosshairs

  29-01-2016 15:20 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The antigovernment protest is putting research, wildlife, resources and artifacts at risk
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• 'No one expected this': Babylonians used complex math to track planets

  29-01-2016 15:06 via cbc.ca
  
  Ancient Babylonian astronomers were way ahead of their time, using sophisticated geometric techniques that until now had been considered an achievement of medieval European scholars.
  
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• Sugar Mobile could shake up cellphone oligopoly in Canada

  29-01-2016 15:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Sugar Mobile is offering cellphone plans that start at $19 per month, about half the price of the big players. The approach relies on a hybrid model that uses both Wi-Fi and 3G networks and allows Sugar to make an end run around Canadian telco rivals.
  
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• U.S. and U.K. spied on Israeli drones for years, reports say

  29-01-2016 13:49 via cbc.ca
  
  U.S and British intelligence cracked the codes of Israeli drones operating in the Middle East and monitored their surveillance feeds for almost 20 years, according to documents leaked by an American whistleblower and published Friday.
  
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• SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship Aces Rocket-Powered Hover Test (Video)

  29-01-2016 13:47
  
  Looks like SpaceX's new space taxi for astronauts has serious hover power. An awesome new video of SpaceX's Dragon 2 crew capsule shows the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft hovering perfectly in place for several seconds under the power of its abort and landing rockets. Secured by a tether, the spacecraft's eight SuperDraco engines fired and then held the machine in place at SpaceX's rocket development facility in McMurdo, Texas.
  
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• Sirius, the Dog Star, Reigns Supreme in Dazzling Photo

  29-01-2016 13:47
  
  The bright star Sirius presides over an ancient burial mound in a dazzling new photo by project nightflight, taken at the Grossmugl Star Walk in Austria. Project nightflight is an initiative that promotes interest in and conservation of the night sky, led by astrophotographers Karoline Mrazek and Erwin Matys. The group captured this view of Sirius, the brightest star in Earth's night sky, about a half hour's drive from Vienna.
  
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• 'Planet Nine' Is Still Just a Theory, NASA Cautions (Video)

  29-01-2016 13:47
  
  The news that a planet about 10 times more massive than Earth may orbit the sun somewhere beyond Neptune has stirred up incredible excitement among scientists and the general public. In a video released by NASA, Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science, cautions that it is still too early to claim that Earth's solar system has nine planets (again). "The idea of a new planet is certainly an exciting one for me as a planetary scientist, and I think for all of us," Green said in the video.
  
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• 30 Years After Uranus Flyby, Voyager 2 Sails On

  29-01-2016 13:47
  
  On Jan. 24, 1986 — just four days before the space shuttle Challenger exploded during liftoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard — NASA's robotic Voyager 2 probe zoomed by Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. For example, from Voyager 2's data, mission scientists determined that Uranus is colder than the other seven officially recognized planets — a surprise, given that Uranus is closer to the sun than Neptune is. Voyager 2 data also revealed that Uranus' atmosphere
  
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• Decapitated Gladiators Reveal Roman Empire's Genetic Influence

  29-01-2016 13:42
  
  DNA from seven decapitated skeletons thought to be gladiators is helping researchers unravel the gruesome origins of the ancient remains. The new findings suggest that the Roman Empire's genetic impact on Britain may not have been as large as researchers had thought. The headless skeletons were excavated between 2004 and 2005 from a Roman burial site in Driffield Terrace in York, England, the archaeologists said.
  
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• The Real 'X-Files'? CIA Reveals Weirdest UFO Stories

  29-01-2016 13:38
  The real-life stories of UFOs would be enough for the fictional "X-Files" FBI agents Mulder and Scully to spend a lifetime investigating. With a nod to the new "X-Files" reboot (which airs on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET), the Central Intelligence Agency has released a trove of once classified documents on several real-life unidentified flying objects. The space race was on, the Cold War fears had reached a fever pitch, and science-fiction movies like "The Flying Saucer" (1950) catapulted schlock
  
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• Octopuses Are Surprisingly Social — and Confrontational, Scientists Find

  29-01-2016 13:32
  
  Octopuses are well-known masters of camouflage and skillful escape artists, but they aren't exactly famous for their social skills. Scientists have long thought that this many-armed denizen of the deep was strictly solitary and didn't interact much with its fellows, reserving its color-shifting ability for intimidating predators — or hiding from them. But a new study reveals that both male and female octopuses frequently communicate with each other in challenging displays that include post
  
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• Babylonians Tracked Jupiter with Fancy Math, Tablet Reveals

  29-01-2016 13:30
  
  The brown clay tablet, which could fit in the palm of your hand, is scrawled with hasty, highly abbreviated cuneiform characters. "It sounds minute for a layperson, but this geometry is of a very special kind that is not found anywhere else, for instance, in ancient Greek astronomy," Ossendrijver said. The tablet has long been in the collection at the British Museum in London, and it was likely created in Babylon (located in modern-day Iraq) between 350 and 50 B.C. Ossendrijver recently decipher
  
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• VIDEO: Bite by bite: Shark eats shark

  29-01-2016 12:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A female sand tiger shark has slowly eaten a smaller male shark in a Seoul aquarium, bite by bite
  
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• ​CBC adopts SecureDrop to allow for anonymous leaks

  29-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  CBC News is adopting SecureDrop, a powerful online tool to help those with important information or sensitive documents contact our journalists using encryption and anonymous messaging.
  
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• Europe's summers 'warmest in 2,000 years'

  29-01-2016 09:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The past 30 years in Europe have been the warmest in more than two millennia, according to new research.
  
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• Babylonians 'first to use geometry'

  29-01-2016 09:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sophisticated geometry - the branch of mathematics that deals with shapes - was being used at least 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, a study suggests.
  
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