Science news

• Mite-virus alliance could be bringing down honeybees

  07-03-2016 23:00
  
  Parasitic mites and a virus have a mutually beneficial alliance while attacking honeybees.
  
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• ‘Cancer moonshot’ launch prep under way

  07-03-2016 22:34
  
  Details are trickling out for the president’s proposed “cancer moonshot,” but plan for launch is still months off.
  
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• The March of Planets: Jupiter, Mars and Saturn Brighten Night Sky

  07-03-2016 22:25
  
  Powerful Jupiter, attention-grabbing Mars and spectacular Saturn will dominate March's night sky: Here's how to see them. Of the three planets, Jupiter is the most dominant, particularly since it arrives at opposition to the sun on March 8 — that's when it's opposite to the sun in the sky — and shines in the sky for virtually the entire night all month long. Mars draws noticeably closer to another predawn planet— Saturn — during this month and on March 29 they are joined
  
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• NASA Jet to Be Reunited with Space Shuttle Enterprise at NYC Museum

  07-03-2016 22:25
  
  Almost 40 years after it gave chase to the space shuttle Enterprise, a NASA jet is about to catch up with the prototype winged orbiter at a museum in New York City. The two-seat, supersonic T-38 Talon jet, tail number 913, is set to land on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted aircraft carrier berthed on the west side of Manhattan, in early April. Enterprise has been on display at the Intrepid since 2012.
  
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• Mars' Mysterious Moon Phobos Revealed in New Photo

  07-03-2016 22:25
  
  This eerie portrait of Mars' moon Phobos in ultraviolet light was snapped by the NASA orbiter MAVEN as their orbits crossed paths. Phobos is the nearer and stranger of Mars' two moons — in the 1950s and 1960s, some scientists thought that its unusual orbit, spiraling inward, suggested that it might be a hollow, artificial body. The little moon has long, shallow grooves along its sides, likely caused by the pull of Mars, and it moves about 6.6 feet (2 meters) closer to the Red Planet every
  
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• AI battle: Can Google go all the way?

  07-03-2016 22:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Search firm's AI team battles the world Go champion
  
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• Why We Love the Games That Enrage Us Most

  07-03-2016 22:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The psychology of intrinsic motivation and “hard fun” could improve education and, naturally, the next generation of video games
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Mountains on Pluto are a winter wonderland of methane snow

  07-03-2016 21:41
  
  On Pluto, methane snow blankets mountain tops.
  
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• This Week's Total Solar Eclipse: Science of the Celestial Event

  07-03-2016 21:24
  
  Skywatchers, to your telescopes! This week, a total solar eclipse will put on a dramatic celestial show, darkening the skies over Southeast Asia in what will be the only total eclipse of the sun this year. This week's eclipse will happen early Wednesday (March 9) local time in Southeast Asia (Tuesday, March 8, EST). The total solar eclipse will begin over the Indian Ocean, casting a shadow over parts of Sumatra, Borneo and other islands, before moving east across the Pacific Ocean.
  
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• Hurricane frequency dropped during 17th century ‘Little Ice Age’

  07-03-2016 21:00
  
  Atlantic hurricane activity fell around 75 percent when the sun dimmed from 1645 to 1715, a new analysis of shipwrecks and tree rings suggests.
  
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• After Nearly a Year in Space, Astronaut Scott Kelly Would Love to Go Back

  07-03-2016 20:46
  
  His skin feels on fire, his body is weak and he can't shoot hoops, but Scott Kelly said even after a year in space, he'd still like to go back — but he doubts it will be with NASA. The veteran astronaut now has spent 520 days in space across four missions, having just finished nearly a year on the International Space Station. Kelly told reporters today (March 4) that it's time to let somebody less experienced from NASA fly in space, but added that he's still holding out hope to f
  
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• Parasites help brine shrimp survive toxic waters

  07-03-2016 20:32
  
  When brine shrimp are infected with tapeworms, the tiny aquatic organisms survive better in warm waters and in those laced with toxic arsenic.
  
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• Can You Outrun a Supervolcano? Maybe, Study Finds

  07-03-2016 20:24
  
  Can you outrun a supervolcano? "I wouldn't recommend anyone try to outrun a volcano, but there's a few of us that could," said Greg Valentine, a volcanologist at the University at Buffalo in New York. By analyzing rocks trapped in volcanic ash, Valentine and his colleagues discovered the lethal ash flow spread at street speeds — about 10 to 45 mph (16 to 72 km/h).
  
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• Climate change threatens African crops

  07-03-2016 20:19
  
  Climate change will claim vast swathes of land needed to grow staple food crops in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly maize, bananas and beans, researchers warned Monday.
  
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• Creepy deepwater fish surprises Nova Scotia fisherman

  07-03-2016 19:57 via cbc.ca
  
  A fishing trawler off the coast of Newfoundland recently dragged up a creature from the depths of the ocean that made even the most experienced people on board do a double take.
  
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• Birth of otter caught on camera after mum takes shelter at aquarium

  07-03-2016 19:26
  
  The miracle of life, in otter form.
  
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• Total Solar Eclipse & Asteroid Flyby on Tuesday, a Cosmic Double Feature

  07-03-2016 19:06
  
  Tuesday seems to be a double-header for cosmic events: A total solar eclipse will shadow Indonesia and the North Pacific Ocean, and a 100-foot-wide (30 meter) asteroid will streak past Earth. The total solar eclipse of March 2016 is the only total eclipse of the sun of the year. The last one occurred in March 2015 and this time around the moon's shadow will travel across the Earth late Tuesday (March 8), for the Pacific, and early Wednesday (March 9) in Indonesia.
  
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• Wellcome Image Awards 2016: The year's best science photos revealed

  07-03-2016 18:57
  Twenty of the year's best scientific images have been chosen as finalists in the 2016 Wellcome Image Awards. The finalists were chosen by nine judges from all those acquired by the Wellcome Images picture library in the past year.
  
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• Now you're talking: human-like robot may one day care for dementia patients

  07-03-2016 18:01
  
  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - With her brown hair, soft skin and expressive face, Nadine is a new brand of human-like robot that could one day, scientists hope, be used as a personal assistant or care provider for the elderly.
  
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• Mercury’s dark secret revealed

  07-03-2016 17:11
  
  Graphite from Mercury’s primordial crust might be responsible for making the innermost planet darker than the moon.
  
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• Zika Virus May Infect, Kill Neural Stem Cells

  07-03-2016 17:10
  The Zika virus may infect and kill a type of brain cell that is crucial for brain development, according to a new study done in human cells growing in lab dishes. Although the results don't prove the Zika virus can cause the condition called microcephaly in babies, the findings do suggest where and how the virus may cause damage in the brain, the researchers said. The researchers showed that the Zika virus can infect brain cells, in lab dishes;  however, the researchers still don't know if
  
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• The Brain Science Behind Raising the Tobacco Buying Age to 21

  07-03-2016 17:09
  San Francisco's new tobacco ordinance — which raises the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 — could help improve the health of a new generation of people by preventing addiction, health officials said. Nationally, 18-year-olds can buy tobacco products, including cigarettes and cigars. These new policies could lead to better brain development among young adults who might have otherwise chosen to smoke at a younger age, said Brian King, the deputy director for research tra
  
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• Doesn't Make Scents? Snakebite Causes Man to Lose Ability to Smell

  07-03-2016 17:06
  In an unusual medical case, a man in Australia lost his sense of smell for more than a year after he was bitten by a venomous snake, according to a new report of his case. The man has since regained some of his sense of smell, but he is still unable to fully detect smells the way he did before his encounter with the reptile, called the mulga snake, said the doctors and other experts who examined the man's neurological condition about a year after he was bitten and who wrote the report of his cas
  
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• Oldest fossil chameleon found trapped in amber

  07-03-2016 16:51 via cbc.ca
  
  A baby chameleon preserved in amber for 99 million years is by far the oldest fossil of its kind.
  
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• The Northern Lights painted the UK night sky as far south as Oxfordshire last night

  07-03-2016 16:26
  
  Those who missed the stellar light show in England might have to wait a while for the next display.
  
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• Earth's Fiery Depths Filled with Brimstone

  07-03-2016 15:56
  
  Earth's inner core is a metallic mix of iron and light elements such as sulfur, hydrogen and silicon, a new study finds. This isn't the first time scientists have proposed that Earth's fiery depths are filled with brimstone, another name for sulfur. Researchers at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, mimicked the inner core in a laboratory equipped with a laser-heated diamond anvil cell.
  
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• Ecuador: Tungurahua volcano continues 'Throat of Fire' eruptions

  07-03-2016 15:45
  Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano erupted 6 March, spewing smoke and ash high into the air in several fiery explosions. Volcanologists began registering increased activity at Tungurahua on 27 February and noted the tremors and eruptions intensified in ensuing days. The Secretariat of Risk Management issued an orange alert at that point.
  
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• Ancient Burial Ground with 100 Tombs Found Near Biblical Bethlehem

  07-03-2016 15:45
  
  An ancient necropolis that once held more than 100 tombs from as far back as 4,000 years ago has been discovered near the Palestinian town of Bethlehem in the West Bank. In 2014 a team from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine excavated some of the tombs, and in 2015 a joint Italian-Palestinian team surveyed the necropolis and created a plan for future exploration. The archaeologists found that the necropolis covered 3 hectares (more than 7 acres) and originally contained more th
  
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• How Speedy Beetles 'Ski' Across the Water

  07-03-2016 15:43
  
  Prakash, an assistant professor with the Department of Engineering at Stanford University in California, filmed the beetles as they skittered over plates filled with water, explaining in a statement that working with them in the lab was difficult because they were hard to find when they got loose. "Although these potholes are being generated by the insect itself," Prakash added.
  
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• Rare Amber-Entombed Lizards Preserved in Amazing Detail

  07-03-2016 15:39
  
  The tiny, trapped fossils, found in Myanmar, represent an unparalleled sampling of species diversity for tropical lizards from the Cretaceous era, which lasted from 145.5 million years ago to about 65.5 million years ago. The fossils are astonishingly well-preserved, the researchers said, including specimens with intact skin, visible skin pigment and soft tissues — and in one case, a lolling tongue. One individual's spindly toes earned it the nickname "Nosferatu," after the long-fingered s
  
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• Nonhuman 'Hands' Found in Prehistoric Rock Art

  07-03-2016 15:36
  
  The roughly 8,000-year-old "hands" painted on a rock wall in the Sahara Desert aren't human at all, as researchers originally thought, but are actually stencils of the "hands" or forefeet, of the desert monitor lizard, a new study finds. "It completely changes the way we think about prehistoric people," said lead study researcher Emmanuelle Honoré, a research fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
  
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• Yellowstone's Supervolcano Gets a Lid

  07-03-2016 15:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The giant volcano lurking under the state of Wyoming might not have originated from a rising plume of hot rock, as previously thought
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Russia criticises South Korea-U.S. drills as way of pressuring North Korea

  07-03-2016 14:55
  Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it was opposed to South Korean-U.S. military exercises as a way of pressuring North Korea and said that North Korea's reaction was also unacceptable. South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.
  
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• Ransomware targets Mac computers for 1st time, infects thousands

  07-03-2016 14:50 via cbc.ca
  
  For the first time, Mac users are being attacked with a type of malicious software called ransomware. Now more details about its spread are coming to light.
  
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• New ransomware targets Apple Mac computers for 1st time

  07-03-2016 14:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Apple Inc customers were targeted by hackers over the weekend in the first campaign against Macintosh computers using a pernicious type of software known as ransomware, internet security researchers say.
  
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• Total Solar Eclipse for Indonesia and the Pacific: Where to See It

  07-03-2016 14:02
  
  Depending on where you live, either this Tuesday or Wednesday (March 8 or 9), there will be a total solar eclipse. If you were to go to Indonesia for the eclipse, you would be to the west of the international date line, where the calendar date will be Wednesday, March 9. The narrow path of totality — where the moon's dark cone of shadow, called the umbra, will track across the Earth — begins here, and then stretches eastward across the Pacific Ocean.
  
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• Southeast Asia to Witness Total Solar Eclipse Next Week (Video)

  07-03-2016 14:02
  
  Observers in parts of Southeast Asia will be treated to a celestial spectacle next week — a total eclipse of the sun. The total solar eclipse will occur Wednesday (March 9) local time (Tuesday, March 8, EST). People living in the "path of totality" are lucky, for a total eclipse is quite a sight to behold.
  
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• Jupiter's Return: The Mighty Planet Reaches Opposition on March 8

  07-03-2016 14:02
  
  Jupiter is now the brightest object in the night sky with the exception of the moon and the International Space Station. There's no difficulty telling the difference between Jupiter and the space station, because Jupiter appears stationary, while the orbiting laboratory moves across the sky rapidly, taking about 5 minutes to cross. The largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth, and is more than 300 times as massive.
  
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• Eat your stinkbugs

  07-03-2016 14:00
  
  Edible stinkbugs are a good source of protein and antioxidants.
  
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• Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami: Interactive photos show scale of devastation five years later

  07-03-2016 13:34
  On 11 March 2011, Japan was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 – the biggest in the nation's recorded history and one of the five most powerful recorded ever around the world. The epicentre was located off the coast of the north-eastern Miyagi prefecture and it was felt 373km (232 miles) away in the capital Tokyo. The six-minute-long tremor and its thousands of aftershocks shook buildings across much of northern Japan and the nation's capital.
  
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• VIDEO: Video shows Northern Lights over UK

  07-03-2016 12:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Spectacular displays of the Aurora Borealis, better known as the Northern Lights, were spotted in parts of the UK last night.
  
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• Free virtual fossils for everyone

  07-03-2016 12:00
  
  MorphoSource.org archives 3-D images of bones from over 200 genera of both living and extinct animals.
  
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• Northern Lights Stage Spectacular UK Show

  07-03-2016 10:03
  
  The Northern Lights provided a spectacular show for stargazers in parts of the UK overnight. The phenomenon known as the Aurora Borealis was visible as far south as Oxfordshire as skies cleared, painting the night sky with shades of green, pink, purple and blue. The ethereal spectacle is caused when solar particles are thrown out into space and collide with the Earth's magnetic field.
  
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• Q&A: Total eclipse of the sun to darken slice of Indonesia

  07-03-2016 09:57
  
  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The rare and awe-inspiring spectacle of a total solar eclipse will unfold over parts of Indonesia and the Indian and Pacific Oceans on Wednesday, weather permitting. The full eclipse may be visible to several million people within its narrow path including eclipse chasers who have traveled from around the world for a chance to witness it.
  
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• China CO2 emissions may have peaked in 2014 - study

  07-03-2016 08:59
  By David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - China's carbon emissions, by far the world's highest, may have peaked in 2014, according to a study published on Monday, potentially putting Beijing under pressure to toughen its climate pledges. China has promised to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by "around 2030" as part of its commitments to a global pact to combat global warming, signed in Paris last year. The study, by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and th
  
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• Australia's 'ugly' animals attract less study

  07-03-2016 08:40
  
  Koalas and kangaroos are subject to more scientific study than Australia's twitching rodents and bats, according to new research which finds 'ugly' animals attract less funding and investigation.
  
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• Australia's ugly mammals fail to catch the eye of scientists, study shows

  07-03-2016 08:38
  
  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pushed out of the limelight by cuddly koalas and kangaroos, Australia's less glamorous native bats and rodents have failed to catch the eyes of scientific researchers, a new study shows.
  
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• Indonesia to mark eclipse with tribal rituals, prayers

  07-03-2016 07:53
  
  A total solar eclipse will sweep across the vast Indonesian archipelago this week, witnessed by hordes of sky gazers and marked by parties, colourful tribal rituals and Muslim prayers.
  
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• Ray Tomlinson, pioneer of modern email, dead

  07-03-2016 07:18 via cbc.ca
  
  Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and a technological leader, has died, his employer said Sunday.
  
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• Tributes Paid To 'The Godfather' Of Email

  07-03-2016 06:25
  
  Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of the modern day email, has died at the age of 74. The American programmer, who reportedly suffered a suspected heart attack, wrote and sent the first person-to-person email in 1971. Up until his death, Mr Tomlinson had continued to work for Raytheon as a principal scientist - and in his spare time, he raised miniature sheep with his partner in Massachusetts.
  
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