Science news

• Green groups urge DR Congo to keep forest moratorium

  02-03-2016 23:55
  
  A coalition of environmental campaign groups on Wednesday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to maintain its moratorium on new logging licences to protect its tropical rainforest.
  
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• End of 1-Year Space Mission 'Bittersweet' for Astronaut Scott Kelly (Video)

  02-03-2016 23:11
  
  NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has mixed emotions about being back on Earth after nearly a year in space.
  
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• British Astronaut Reveals LEGO Minifigures of His Space Station Crew

  02-03-2016 23:11
  
  Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, the first astronaut and cosmonaut to log a year on the International Space Station, left a little bit — or rather a little version — of themselves on the orbital outpost before returning to Earth on Tuesday (March 1). As revealed by their crewmate Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, Kelly and Kornienko had LEGO minifigures of themselves and their crewmates on the station, courtesy of the British astronaut. "Farewell Expedition 46 – an
  
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• Trudeau seeks climate consensus from Canada's 10 provinces

  02-03-2016 22:38
  
  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday urged the leaders of Canada's 10 provinces to come together to tackle climate change, as a self-imposed deadline looms to start cutting CO2 emissions.
  
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• A look at how astronaut Scott Kelly spent his year in Space

  02-03-2016 21:29 via cbc.ca
  
  Repairs, experiments and the occasional selfie were part of a year on the International Space Station for astronaut Scott Kelly.
  
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• Monster volcano gave Mars extreme makeover: study

  02-03-2016 21:08
  A volcano on Mars half the size of France spewed so much lava 3.5 billion years ago that the weight displaced the Red Planet's outer layers, according to a study released Wednesday.
  
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• U.S. Eyes Innovative Approaches to Tamp Down Zika

  02-03-2016 21:05 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Ahead of dangerous summer months lawmakers mull GM mosquito trials as one way to combat Zika’s spread
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• The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy [Video]

  02-03-2016 21:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A live Webcast Wednesday will discuss the invisible stuff that makes up most of the universe
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• On the Origin of Worlds: Astrophysicists Zero in on How Planets Form (Kavli Roundtable)

  02-03-2016 20:08
  
  Adam Hadhazy is a writer and editor for The Kavli Foundation. You can read more from the foundation and their researchers on their Kavli Foundation Expert Voices archive page. The secrets of planet formation are becoming harder to keep.
  
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• Ignore the Bad Advice — All Kids Need Autism Screening (Op-Ed)

  02-03-2016 20:07
  Alycia Halladay is the chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation. Universal screening for autism improves the lives of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disorders. This practice needs to continue uninterrupted, despite a statement the United States Preventative Services Task Force made recently in JAMA.
  
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• A fast radio burst’s home galaxy may not be known after all

  02-03-2016 20:07
  
  The recently claimed host galaxy of a fast radio burst may have been signs of a snacking black hole instead, study claims.
  
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• Strange radio bursts from space come in clusters: study

  02-03-2016 19:36
  
  Mysterious and powerful radio waves from deep space are coming in clusters, scientists revealed on Wednesday, having only discovered their existence a decade ago.
  
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• Powerful Radio Bursts in Space Can Explode Over and Over

  02-03-2016 19:36
  
  Powerful explosions of radio waves known as fast radio bursts explode in the sky like a flash from a camera — a single, great release of energy. Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, were only discovered in 2007, and while astronomers estimate that thousands of these bursts take place every day, this is only the 18th FRB ever identified. "It's possible that so far we've only seen the brightest FRB bursts," lead author Jason W. T. Hessels, associate scientist at ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for
  
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• Mars' Ancient Face-Lift: Water Carved Planet's Features, Not Massive Volcano

  02-03-2016 19:36
  
  Billions of years ago, rain or snow may have carved major valleys on Mars, just as the largest volcanic structure in the solar system was forming on the Red Planet, new research suggests. Understanding how Mars has matured over the years could help explain other mysteries of the Red Planet, such as why vast ice deposits lie buried under the Martian surface far from its poles, scientists added. Mars is home to Tharsis, the solar system's largest volcanic structure.
  
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• Repeating mysterious radio bursts from deep space surprise scientists

  02-03-2016 19:26 via cbc.ca
  
  A new discovery about mysterious radio blips from deep space raises new questions and new possibilities about what might be causing them.
  
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• Scott Kelly Back On Earth After Year In Space

  02-03-2016 19:24
  
  NASA astronaut Scott Kelly punched the air as he arrived back on Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station. A second Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Volkov, also landed after more than five months at the ISS, and was met by his father, retired cosmonaut Aleksandr Volkov. Cdr Kelly, 52, punched the air and flashed a peace sign as he climbed out the capsule, experiencing gravity and breathing fresh air for the first time since early 2015.
  
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• Car bombing against Syrian rebels in southern province Quneitra kills 18 - monitor

  02-03-2016 19:20
  Eighteen fighters were killed in a car bomb blast that hit a Syrian insurgent group in the southern province of Quneitra on Wednesday, monitors reported, and a rebel source said the attack was likely carried out by hardline Islamists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the explosion occurred in the village of al-Isha, targeting a base belonging to Jabhat Thuwwar Souria, a Free Syrian Army group. Issam al-Rayyes, spokesman for the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army,
  
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• U.N. says aid ship docks in Yemen after diversion to Saudi Arabia

  02-03-2016 19:08
  A World Food Programme (WFP) ship carrying humanitarian aid offloaded its cargo in Yemen on Wednesday, the United Nations said, after it was diverted to Saudi Arabia earlier this month because it was carrying communications equipment. Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition in a war against Iran-allied Houthi rebels and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in an effort to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
  
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• The Recurring Question: Where Do Fast Radio Bursts Come From?

  02-03-2016 19:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Astronomers have discovered a repeating source for one of the universe’s most mysterious phenomena
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• Repeating fast radio bursts recorded for the first time

  02-03-2016 19:00
  
  Until now, ephemeral blasts of radio waves from other galaxies have never repeated; this one erupted 10 times last year.
  
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• Ivory Coast toxic spill victims launch Dutch suit

  02-03-2016 18:37
  
  Thousands of Ivorian victims of a deadly 2006 toxic waste spill are suing Dutch multinational oil trader Trafigura to demand compensation, their lawyers announced on Wednesday.
  
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• Robot roaches to the rescue

  02-03-2016 18:31
  
  BERKELEY, CA (Reuters) - Nasty. Disgusting. Ugly. These are just some of the words normally associated with cockroaches. But for scientists in the world of bio-inspired robotics - roaches are perfect.  
  
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• How killing wolves to protect livestock may backfire

  02-03-2016 18:25
  
  Lone wolves are more likely to prey on goats and other livestock than are wolves living in packs, a new study finds.
  
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• Yearlong spacemen embrace fresh, frigid air back on Earth

  02-03-2016 18:23
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Ah, there's nothing like a blast of fresh, frigid air to welcome you back to the planet after nearly a year cooped up in space.
  
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• NGOs sue Monsanto, EU food safety watchdog over pesticide

  02-03-2016 18:22
  
  A group of European NGOs on Wednesday sued agri-giant Monsanto and the EU's food safety watchdog for allegedly distorting scientific data on the carcinogenic effects of controversial weedkiller glyphosate, ahead of a key EU vote to renew its approval for another 10 years.
  
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• Kiddle search engine removes block on 'gay,' 'puberty' after criticism

  02-03-2016 17:58 via cbc.ca
  
  Kiddle, a website billed as a "visual search engine for kids," was criticized on Twitter this week for blocking certain search terms as "bad words," including "gay," "puberty," "menstruation," and "child abuse."
  
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• Internet billionaires shoot up rankings in Forbes' list

  02-03-2016 17:42 via cbc.ca
  
  There’s been a reshuffling on the Forbes Billionaires list for 2016, as internet tycoons Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos make appearances among the magazine's top 10 for the first time.
  
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• Why Did Ancient Europeans Just Disappear 14,500 Years Ago?

  02-03-2016 17:22
  
  Some of Europe's earliest inhabitants mysteriously vanished toward the end of the last ice age and were largely replaced by others, a new genetic analysis finds. The genetic turnover was likely the result of a rapidly changing climate, which the earlier inhabitants of Europe couldn't adapt to quickly enough, said the study's co-author, Cosimo Posth, an archaeogenetics doctoral candidate at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Europe has a long and tangled genetic legacy.
  
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• Man Gets Rare Strain of HIV Despite Taking Antiviral Pills

  02-03-2016 17:17
  In the first documented case of its kind, a man taking an effective antiviral medication still contracted a drug-resistant strain of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a new report finds. The 43-year-old man in Canada was taking Truvada, the medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce HIV risk among HIV-negative people, according to the FDA. The case suggests that people taking Truvada can still get HIV if they're exposed to a strain of the virus that is resistant to
  
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• Hope for Overeaters? Feeling Full May Have a Chemical 'Switch'

  02-03-2016 17:15
  It may be possible to flip a chemical "switch" to turn on a feeling of fullness, a new study in mice suggests. In the study, researchers found that a certain enzyme plays a role in how the brain responds to the hormone leptin, which normally signals that the body has consumed enough food and we should stop eating, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Communications on Monday (Feb. 29). Leptin is a hormone that is released by fat tissue and binds to leptin receptors in the brai
  
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• Number of migrants swells on closed Greece-Macedonia border

  02-03-2016 17:02
  By Lefteris Papadimas IDOMENI, Greece (Reuters) - The number of migrants awaiting passage to central and northern Europe swelled on Greece's border with Macedonia on Wednesday as the frontier remained shut, adding to a humanitarian crisis and deep fissures within the European Union. Aid workers said the situation at Idomeni, a small border town in northern Greece, could easily spin out of control with no let-up in the number of refugees gathering for passage into Macedonia. Living in filth, fami
  
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• How Canada can move to 100% clean energy

  02-03-2016 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A Stanford University team has calculated exactly how Canada can move away from fossil fuels, transitioning 100 per cent to clean-energy through existing technologies. But just how fast we get there is up for debate.
  
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• U.S. Defense Department invites experts to 'Hack the Pentagon'

  02-03-2016 16:39 via cbc.ca
  
  The Pentagon said on Wednesday it would invite vetted outside hackers to test the cybersecurity of some public U.S. Defense Department websites as part of a pilot project next month, in the first-ever such program offered by the federal government.
  
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• VIDEO: Why were astronauts in space for a year?

  02-03-2016 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A Nasa astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut return to earth after spending nearly a year on board the International Space Station.
  
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• Return to Earth: An Astronaut's View of Coming Home

  02-03-2016 16:27
  
  Leroy Chiao served as a NASA astronaut from 1990 to 2005. During his 15-year career, he flew four missions into space, three times on space shuttles and once as the co-pilot of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. You can read more of Chiao's Expert Voices Op-Eds and film reviews on his Space.com landing page.
  
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• Latest Sentinel debuts Earth images

  02-03-2016 16:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sentinel-3a, the EU's latest Earth observer, returns its first pictures of the planet, featuring a collection of ocean and land margins.
  
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• Unilever CEO: Why Sustainability Is No Longer a Choice (Op-Ed)

  02-03-2016 16:02
  
  Paul Polman has been CEO of Unilever since January 2009. In 2016, the U.N. Secretary-General asked Polman to be a member of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group, tasked with promoting action on the 2030 Agenda. Polman contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
  
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• Electric vehicles to get HOV lane access in B.C.

  02-03-2016 15:51 via cbc.ca
  
  Drivers who go electric in British Columbia are about to get the green light to travel the province's high occupancy vehicle lanes passenger-free.
  
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• Electric vehicles get HOV lane access in B.C.

  02-03-2016 15:51 via cbc.ca
  
  Drivers who go electric in British Columbia are getting the green light to travel the province's high occupancy vehicle lanes passenger-free.
  
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• 'Year in Space': Documentary Chronicles Astronaut Scott Kelly's Epic Voyage

  02-03-2016 15:49
  
  A new documentary takes viewers inside the International Space Station to experience a year in space alongside NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who is just finishing his stay on the orbiting complex. The hourlong PBS-Time Magazine documentary, "A Year in Space," airs on PBS at 8 p.m. EST Wednesday (March 2), the day after Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth to wrap up their landmark 340-day space mission. Kelly and Kornienko are landing in a remote area of Kazakhstan, after all.
  
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• 'Buried Giants' in Space Set Crimson Space Clouds Aglow (Video, Photos)

  02-03-2016 15:49
  
  The light comes from young stars that are buried deeply in a surrounding dust cloud. The region is called RCW 106, and is located about 12,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Norma (The Carpenter's Square). This is the 106th entry in a catalog of H II regions, which have clouds of hydrogen gas that are being ionized (electrically charged) by nearby young stars.
  
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• Back on Earth: Astronaut Scott Kelly Faces Gravity After 1-Year Mission

  02-03-2016 15:49
  
  Shortly after landing, both spaceflyers — along with cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, who also came home, but after the typical, 5.5-month station mission — were taken out of their Soyuz spacecraft, placed in chairs near the landing site and taken into a medical tent for an hour-long "field test" to assess their general condition. That test consists of a variety of experiments, Kelly said late last month in his final conversation from the space station with reporters. The spaceflyers then we
  
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• International Space Station's '1-year crew' returns to Earth

  02-03-2016 15:46
  
  US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth Wednesday after almost a year in space in a ground-breaking experiment foreshadowing a potential manned mission to Mars.
  
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• Hair going grey? Blame this gene

  02-03-2016 15:35 via cbc.ca
  
  They may not have settled the enduring debate over whether grey hair makes a person look distinguished or just plain old, but scientists have identified for the first time a gene behind greying hair.
  
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• Google searches about moving to Canada spike amid Super Tuesday

  02-03-2016 15:06 via cbc.ca
  
  The number of Google searches for "how can I move to Canada" increased dramatically on Super Tuesday, as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump scores big wins.
  
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• Q&A: What Really Happened to the Water in Flint, Mich.?

  02-03-2016 15:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Flint Water Study investigator Marc Edwards tells Scientific American how the city's water got so toxic
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Indonesia issues tsunami warning after major earthquake off Sumatra

  02-03-2016 14:19 via cbc.ca
  
  Indonesia has issued a tsunami warning after a powerful and shallow earthquake struck off the west coast of the island of Sumatra on Wednesday.
  
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• Earthquake strikes off Indonesian island of Sumatra

  02-03-2016 14:19 via cbc.ca
  
  A massive and shallow earthquake struck on Wednesday off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a region devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean quake and tsunami.
  
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• T. Rex Was Likely an Invasive Species

  02-03-2016 14:08
  
  Tyrannosaurus rex, king of the dinosaur age, wasn't a North American native as many experts had previously thought, a new study suggests. Instead, the giant tyrannosaur was likely an invasive species from Asia that dispersed into western North America once the opportunity presented itself, paleontologists said. "It's possible that T. rex was an immigrant species from Asia," said study co-researcher Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
  
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• 'Train Like a Martian' Challenge Inspires Kids to Get Active

  02-03-2016 13:58
  
  Space is harsh on the human body, especially when astronauts go to extremes, such as spending months on the International Space Station — or taking a future trip to Mars. The nonprofit group The Mars Generation (TMG) is inviting children (and adults, too) to "Train like a Martian" between April 18 and April 24. The initiative is inspired by NASA's "Train Like an Astronaut" program, which encourages physical activity among children by comparing it with astronaut training.
  
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