Science news

• Tiny bits of plastic threaten oyster survival

  01-02-2016 23:09
  
  Tiny bits of plastic that pollute the world's waters may also interfere with oysters' ability to reproduce and thrive, according to a study Monday by researchers in France and Belgium.
  
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• WHO declares international emergency for cases linked to Zika virus

  01-02-2016 23:05
  
  The recent spate of birth defects and neurological disorders linked to Zika virus infection constitutes an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared February 1.
  
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• Google-owner Alphabet passes Apple to be world's most valuable company

  01-02-2016 22:36 via cbc.ca
  
  Google's parent company posted strong earnings after stock markets closed on Monday, numbers that were good enough to push its stock up enough to make the company worth more than Apple.
  
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• U.S. adds four more countries to Zika travel alert list

  01-02-2016 22:34
  (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday added four more countries and territories to a growing list of places where travellers risk being infected with Zika, a rapidly spreading mosquito-borne virus. The CDC added American Samoa, Costa Rica, Curacao, and Nicaragua to a list of 28 other regions, on the day The World Health Organization declared the virus - linked to thousands of suspected cases of birth defects in Brazil - an international public health emergency
  
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• Canada protects ancient coastal forest from logging, hunting

  01-02-2016 22:31
  
  Decades of protests and then negotiations that brought together loggers, natives and environmental activists resulted Monday in a landmark deal to protect a huge swath of forest on Canada's Pacific coast.
  
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• Hundreds of people report seeing a fireball shoot across the sky Saturday

  01-02-2016 22:10 via cbc.ca
  
  Hundreds of people, including some in southern Ontario, reported seeing a fireball shoot across the sky on Saturday night.
  
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• Superbright Mars Arrives This Spring

  01-02-2016 21:39
  
  The Red Planet is going to appear bigger and brighter in May than it has in nearly 13 years. Due to its distinctly noncircular orbit, Mars will not be closest to the Earth until more than a week later, on May 30.
  
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• Pluto's Blue Bands Get High-Resolution Makeover

  01-02-2016 21:39
  
  Shown in approximate true color, the band of blue haze is actually a mosaic of four panchromatic images captured by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), juxtaposed with four-color data from the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), as the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto on July 14. The new high-resolution image was released by NASA's New Horizons team Jan. 14. The probe captured the pictures as the sun illuminated the scene from the right, NASA officials said in a sta
  
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• If male scientists were written about like successful women

  01-02-2016 21:34 via cbc.ca
  
  Ever notice how profiles of successful women tend to focus on their stereotypically feminine traits? A relatively unknown Twitter account caught some attention recently by playing around with this concept.
  
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• Scientists solve biological brain twister

  01-02-2016 21:17
  
  The deep folds that give the adult human brain its wrinkled walnut appearance were Nature's solution to fitting a large, powerful processor into a small skull.
  
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• US flooring firm fined $13 mn for timber trafficking

  01-02-2016 20:48
  
  A US flooring retailer that used timber harvested in the habitat of Siberian tigers and other endangered species was sentenced Monday to pay a record criminal fine over illegal trafficking.
  
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• Trucks will move oil stored after California pipeline break

  01-02-2016 20:25
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials in California's Santa Barbara County have endorsed Exxon Mobil Corp.'s plan to use trucks to move more than 17 million gallons of oil stranded in storage after a pipeline break in May.
  
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• Zika outbreak: World Health Organization declares global emergency

  01-02-2016 20:22
  The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is "an urgent need to co-ordinate all international efforts" to tackle the Zika virus. The health arm of the UN declared that the situation meets the conditions for a "public health emergency of international concern", signalling the seriousness of the outbreak. Experts are concerned at the pace and extent the virus is spreading, and it is linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, or underdeveloped brains in newborn babies.
  
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• The sound of endangered salmon surviving

  01-02-2016 20:22
  With California in the fourth year of a historic drought, there is much controversy over how to supply cities, farms, and ecosystems with the water they need. Technology may help solve the puzzle.
  
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• Researchers report on new tool to provide even better Landsat images

  01-02-2016 20:19
  A team of investigators describes a new imaging spectrometer design that could enable improved images from NASA's Landsat, for better understanding of phenomena, and environments as diverse as coral reefs, urbanization, tropical deforestation, and glaciers.
  
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• New tool for gauging public opinion reveals skepticism of climate engineering

  01-02-2016 20:19
  Members of the public find the risks of climate engineering technology more likely than any of the benefits, according to an article. Such research is crucial because even if the goal of reducing global temperatures by two degrees Celsius is achieved, it will not halt the impacts of global climate change, including sea-level rise, shifts in rainfall, and extreme weather events. Given this context, a growing number of scientists are advocating for climate engineering technologies, also referred t
  
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• How the media influence perceptions of obesity

  01-02-2016 20:19
  New work on how news media coverage shapes perceptions of obesity, has been published by investigators. They examined how perspectives on obesity portrayed in news articles affect people's support for different obesity-related public policies and their prejudice towards fat men and women.
  
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• Can animals thrive without oxygen?

  01-02-2016 20:19
  In 2010, a research team garnered attention when it published evidence of finding the first animals living in permanently anoxic conditions at the bottom of the sea. But a new study raises doubts.
  
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• Germany reassured "for now" over Belgian nuclear plants

  01-02-2016 20:18
  Germany's environment minister Barbara Hendricks said Monday she was reassured for the moment over the safety of Belgian nuclear power plants that have also worried the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
  
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• Increase in volcanic eruptions at the end of the ice age caused by melting ice caps and erosion

  01-02-2016 20:17
  Researchers have found that glacial erosion and melting ice caps both played a key role in driving the observed global increase in volcanic activity at the end of the last ice age.
  
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• Brazil officials can access all buildings to fight mosquito

  01-02-2016 20:14
  
  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's president has signed a measure allowing health officials access to any building to eradicate breeding grounds for a mosquito spreading the Zika virus.
  
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• AP News Guide: Facts about gene editing as Britain OKs study

  01-02-2016 19:48
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Britain's decision to allow researchers to edit the genes of human embryos — not to create babies but to start unraveling the earliest stages of development — is raising new questions about the ethics of this hot new technology.
  
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• Saudi Arabia says 375 civilians killed on its border in Yemen war

  01-02-2016 19:16
  By William Maclean and Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Mortars and rockets fired at Saudi Arabian towns and villages have killed 375 civilians, including 63 children, since the start of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen in late March, Riyadh said on Monday. Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, told Reuters that the Houthi militia and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had fired more than 40,000 projectiles across the borde
  
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• Targeting upper motor neurons to treat ALS

  01-02-2016 19:09
  Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to specifically modify gene expression in diseased upper motor neurons, brain cells that break down in ALS. The study provides evidence that lays a foundation for developing future gene replacement therapies to treat patients with the fatal neuromuscular disorder.
  
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• Most vaccine-related posts on Pinterest are anti-vaccine, reveals research

  01-02-2016 19:09
  75 percent of the vaccine-related posts on Pinterest are negative towards vaccination, according to new research.
  
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• Dominant ant species significantly influence ecosystems

  01-02-2016 19:09
  Researchers investigated the role of different ant species in various ecosystem processes in tropical rain forests. They discovered that the dominant role is often played by only a few or even a single ant species when it comes to consuming food resources, something that can make an ecosystem vulnerable.
  
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• Britain approves controversial gene-editing experiments

  01-02-2016 19:04
  
  LONDON (AP) — In a landmark decision that some ethicists warned is a step down the path toward "designer babies," Britain gave scientists approval Monday to conduct experiments in which they will try to edit the genes in human embryos.
  
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• Robotic Comet Lander Philae Says Good-Bye

  01-02-2016 19:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The European Space Agency has declared the spacecraft’s mission at an end
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Explore the dwarf planet Ceres with this NASA animation

  01-02-2016 18:59 via cbc.ca
  
  Stargazers and space lovers can now get a glimpse of what it would be like to fly over the surface of a distant dwarf planet, thanks to a new NASA animation.
  
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• Study links irregular sleep schedules to adverse metabolic health in women

  01-02-2016 18:55
  Frequent shifts in sleep timing may be related to adverse metabolic health among non-shift working, midlife women, new research shows. Results show that greater variability in bedtime and greater bedtime delay were associated with higher insulin resistance, and greater bedtime advance was associated with higher body mass index (BMI).
  
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• Piecing together the cells elevator-like mechanism for sodium

  01-02-2016 18:55
  Researchers have pieced together how sodium is transported into and out of our cells. This could be a potential benefit for the development of novel treatments against some forms of cancer and hypertension.
  
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• New MRI technique offers faster diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

  01-02-2016 18:55
  A new way of using MRI scanners to look for evidence of multiple sclerosis in the brain has been successfully tested by researchers. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is notoriously difficult to diagnose as it has many symptoms but not all sufferers experience all of them and the disease can progress at different rates. MRI scans have been used as a diagnostic tool to detect white matter lesions in the brain but these are not always an indicator of the disease.
  
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• Land plant became key marine species

  01-02-2016 18:55
  The genome of eelgrass (Zostera marina) has now been unveiled. It turns out that the plant, once land-living but now only found in the marine environment, has lost the genes required to survive out of the water.
  
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• Two thirds of cattle attacks on people involve dogs, new study finds

  01-02-2016 18:47
  Dog owners are being urged to remember to be vigilant with their pets when walking near cows in the countryside, following a new review into cattle attacks. This project reviewed details of negative interactions between the public and cattle, to identify risk factors for cattle attacks, and highlight the availability and usefulness of guidance on walking among livestock.
  
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• Delivering genes across the blood-brain barrier

  01-02-2016 18:47
  Biologists have modified a harmless virus in such a way that it can successfully enter the adult mouse brain through the bloodstream and deliver genes to cells of the nervous system. The virus could help researchers map the intricacies of the brain and holds promise for the delivery of novel therapeutics to address diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's.
  
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• Abnormal gene is a triple threat in driving pediatric brain tumors

  01-02-2016 18:47
  An abnormal fused gene that drives pediatric brain tumors poses a triple threat, operating simultaneously through three distinct biological mechanisms -- the first such example in cancer biology. This finding potentially offers triple benefits as well -- more accurate diagnoses, clues for more effective treatments and new insights into molecular processes underlying other types of cancer.
  
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• Brain wrinkles replicated in a jar

  01-02-2016 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists recreate the furrows of a human brain using a simple two-layered gel model, showing that the brain's folds have physical origins.
  
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• VIDEO: Copying the brain's origami using gel

  01-02-2016 18:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists replicate how the human brain folds using a 3D model made out of gel, and computer simulations.
  
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• Eight dead sperm whales found on German beach

  01-02-2016 18:35
  
  Eight dead sperm whales have washed up on a German beach, just weeks after 12 of the giant mammals were found dead at other sites on the North Sea, officials said Monday.
  
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• World is embracing clean energy, says expert

  01-02-2016 18:30
  An expert argues that investment in renewable electricity now outstrips that in fossil fuels, and that increasing numbers of policies to improve the efficiency of energy use and to make energy systems more flexible are pointing to a global momentum in the adoption of sustainable energy systems.
  
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• New technique to find copper deposits

  01-02-2016 18:30
  A new and relatively inexpensive way to establish whether certain types of magmatic rocks are more likely to contain valuable metal deposits has been developed by a team of scientists.
  
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• Greater weight loss during aging associated with increased risk for mild cognitive impairment

  01-02-2016 18:30
  Increasing weight loss per decade as people age from midlife to late life was associated with an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to a new article.
  
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• Viral gene editing system corrects genetic liver disease in newborn mice

  01-02-2016 18:28
  For the first time, researchers have treated an animal model of a genetic disorder using a viral vector to deliver genome-editing components in which the disease- causing mutation has been corrected. Delivery of the vector to newborn mice improved their survival while treatment of adult animals, unexpectedly, made them worse.
  
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• Study documents drought's impact on redwood forest ferns

  01-02-2016 18:28
  The native ferns that form a lush green understory in coastal redwood forests are well adapted to dry summers and periodic droughts, but California's current prolonged drought has taken a toll on them. A comprehensive study of water relations in native ferns, conducted during one of the worst droughts in California's recent history, shows that extreme conditions have tested the limits of drought tolerance in these plants.
  
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• No link found between subcortical brain volumes, genetic risk for schizophrenia

  01-02-2016 18:28
  A new study evaluated the relationship between common genetic variants implicated in schizophrenia and those associated with subcortical brain volumes, and found no evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical volume measures.
  
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• Genetic cause identified in rare pediatric brain tumor

  01-02-2016 18:28
  Researchers found a way of differentiating angiocentric gliomas from other low-grade pediatric brain tumors and developed a pathological test that will help children avoid unnecessary and potentially damaging additional therapies.
  
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• Blood pressure medicine improves conversational skills of individuals with autism

  01-02-2016 18:28
  An estimated one in 68 children in the United States has autism. The neurodevelopmental disorder, which impairs communication and social interaction skills, can be treated with medications and behavioral therapies, though there is no cure. Now, researchers have found that a medication commonly used to treat high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats may have the potential to improve some social functions of individuals with autism.
  
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• Study tries to give C-section babies mom's germs they missed

  01-02-2016 18:03
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sharing bacteria in the operating room normally is a no-no but in a novel experiment, researchers are giving babies born by C-section a dose of presumably protective germs from mom's birth canal.
  
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• Britain allows first genetic modification of embryos

  01-02-2016 17:58
  
  Britain on Monday granted its first research licence to genetically modify human embryos to a project that aims to give hope to women struggling to conceive, raising ethical concerns about "designer babies".
  
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• Scientists give C-section babies healthy germs

  01-02-2016 17:36
  Researchers have found a way to give beneficial bacteria to C-section babies, who lose out on a protective microbial coat donned by peers delivered the natural way, a study said Monday.
  
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