Science news

• Over 100 Zika Cases Confirmed in US, CDC Says

  18-03-2016 23:43
  More than 100 cases of Zika virus have been confirmed in the United States, a new report finds. The 116 residents who have now tested positive for the virus include one infant who was born with severe microcephaly, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All 116 cases of Zika were confirmed by lab tests at the CDC.
  
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• Guinea No Longer Free of Ebola: 2 New Cases

  18-03-2016 23:43
  Two new cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Guinea, the first in the country since it was declared Ebola-free in late December, according to the World Health Organization. Family members of the deceased were tested for Ebola, and two people — a woman and her 5-year-old son — tested positive for the disease, WHO said in a statement. Guinea's Ebola outbreak was declared over on Dec. 29, 2015, but officials said they expected that additional, small outbreaks of the disease would still
  
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• New US-Russian Crew Launches Toward Space Station on Soyuz

  18-03-2016 23:30
  
  A Russian Soyuz rocket launched a joint U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station Friday (March 18), a space team that includes an astronaut aiming to break an American spaceflight record recently set by NASA's year-in-space astronaut Scott Kelly. The trio, riding in a Soyuz space capsule, is expected to rendezvous with the space station after a 6-hour journey, with docking set for 11:11 p.m. EDT (0311 GMT on March 19), according to NASA officials.
  
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• A Soyuz space capsule has taken off on its mission to the International Space Station

  18-03-2016 23:23
  
  …after blasting off from Russia’s manned space launch complex in Kazakhstan.
  
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• Mama’s boys are not losers in spotted hyenas

  18-03-2016 23:17
  Males that stay at home are not second-class males but can breed as successfully as their more adventurous competitors that leave home, a new long-term study on spotted hyenas shows.
  
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• Before retinal cells die, they regenerate, blindness study finds

  18-03-2016 23:17
  In a new study, researchers have shown that retinal cells in three distinct forms of canine early-onset blindness possess an unexpected feature: they temporarily rejuvenate. Further investigation into the reasons for this period of retinal neuron proliferation could lead to molecular targets for intervening in cell death and maintaining functional photoreceptor cells and a working retina.
  
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• Turn mortal enemies into allies? Ants can

  18-03-2016 23:16
  Ants are also aggressive toward each other, fighting to the death over their tree territories. The consequences for losing colonies are stark: loss of territory or colony death. After a fight, victorious colonies have to defend their newly gained territory with a workforce heavily depleted by fighting. In a new study, researchers found that victorious colonies might offset this challenge by recruiting members of the losing colonies to help.
  
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• Key difference between mouse and human kidney cells

  18-03-2016 23:16
  The best laid plans of mice and men are a bit different -- at least when it comes to kidney development. Compared to a mouse, a human has nearly 100 times more nephrons, the functional units of the kidneys. Humans may owe these abundant nephrons to a gene called SIX1, according to a new article.
  
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• Is Alaska's first new butterfly species in decades an ancient hybrid?

  18-03-2016 23:16
  Some might say it takes a rare breed to survive the Alaska wilderness. The discovery of a possible new species of hybrid butterfly from the state's interior is proving that theory correct.
  
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• China's forest recovery shows hope for mitigating global climate change

  18-03-2016 23:16
  China's sweeping program to restore forests across the country is working. The vast destruction of China's forests, leveled after decades of logging, floods and conversion to farmland, has become a story of recovery, according to the first independent verification.
  
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• Russian rocket with US grandpa astronaut onboard lifts off for space station

  18-03-2016 23:05
  
  A Russian rocket lifted off from the Baikonur space base Friday, carrying three crew to the International Space Station, including a US grandfather who is poised to enter the record books.
  
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• An inside look at how Hyperloop is being built

  18-03-2016 22:54 via cbc.ca
  
  How do you build an ultra-fast Hyperloop transportation system that could let people zip from Vancouver to Toronto in three hours? CBC's Kim Brunhuber takes us on tour of facilities in Nevada and California, where prototypes and test tracks are being built.
  
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• Mathematicians find a peculiar pattern in primes

  18-03-2016 20:58
  
  Consecutive prime numbers don’t behave as randomly as mathematicians assumed.
  
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• Special Report: Here's what we know about Zika

  18-03-2016 20:40
  
  Tracing Zika’s path and its potential links to microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barré syndrome has scientists planning a new war on mosquitoes.
  
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• Roaring & Soaring: New Exhibit Explores the Dinosaur-Bird Connection

  18-03-2016 20:36
  "With this new exhibition, we invite visitors to question what they think they know about dinosaurs — how they looked and behaved and even whether all of them actually became extinct," Ellen Futter, president of the AMNH, said in a statement. Their research shows that the roughly 18,000 known species of birds belong to the group Dinosauria, which includes extinct dinosaurs and their living descendants.
  
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• Nike's self-lacing shoes and other high-tech footwear

  18-03-2016 20:29 via cbc.ca
  
  From self-tying shoes to 3D-printed pumps and shoes that can receive Twitter updates, these definitely aren't your grandfather's shoes.
  
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• Drawn to Safety: Doodles Could Secure Your Phone

  18-03-2016 20:28
  
  Soon, you might be able to ditch all of them and unlock your phone, apps and accounts with a doodle. Researchers have found that doodle passwords created on touch screens using free-form gestures were easier to remember than typed-out passwords. Researchers tested software that allowed users to create passwords by drawing any type of shape on their phones' touch screens, using either one or two fingers.
  
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• Alien of the Deep: 'Winged' Green-Eyed Creature Stuns Fishermen

  18-03-2016 20:26
  
  Some fish look odd, but a mysterious, green-eyed fish recently pulled out of Nova Scotia's waters is downright bizarre. Scott Tanner was about 30 days into a 42-day fishing trip when he spotted the freaky fish. "Everybody was just like, 'Wow, that's weird, never seen one of those before,'" said Tanner, who is a fisherman from Nova Scotia.
  
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• Star Trails Light Up Utah Desert in Stargazer's Stunning Image

  18-03-2016 20:05
  
  Clear skies and a new moon prompted a trip a trip to Moab, Utah where astrophotographer Chris Pruzenski took this stunning image. The image is a time-lapse of Corona arch, which is located on a hiking trail near the Colorado River about 20 minutes south of Moab. Star trails in a night sky image can be created with long exposure times.
  
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• Minor Lunar Eclipse: Earth's Shadow to Darken Moon Wednesday

  18-03-2016 20:05
  
  The moon will undergo a penumbral lunar eclipse next week that could be visible to observers across parts of North America, Asia and the Pacific Ocean region. Wednesday's event may only be noticeable for a few minutes around the time of greatest eclipse, which comes at 7:47 a.m. EDT (1147 GMT). Observers in central and eastern Asia — who experience moonrise on Wednesday evening, after the eclipse begins — will be able to see part of the show.
  
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• Cage-free eggs only a goal for major Canadian grocers by 2025

  18-03-2016 19:50 via cbc.ca
  
  A group representing Canada’s major grocers has committed to buying cage-free eggs by the end of 2025.
  
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• Precision medicine's potential to define the genetics of autoimmune disease

  18-03-2016 19:45
  Demonstrating the potential of precision medicine, an international study used next-generation DNA sequencing technology to identify more than 1,000 gene variants that affect susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
  
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• CBC ban on anonymous comments will be complicated, expensive, expert says

  18-03-2016 19:11 via cbc.ca
  
  The CBC's new ban on anonymous comments on its websites will be complicated and expensive to put into effect, according to an expert on online media.
  
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• Pathologists identify new potential target in ovarian serous cancer

  18-03-2016 18:16
  Patients with ovarian serous cancer and an overexpression of the HER4 protein are less likely to respond to chemotherapy and have a lower rate of survival, research shows.
  
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• New technique for imaging cells, tissues under the skin

  18-03-2016 18:16
  A team of scientists has developed the first technique for viewing cells and tissues in three dimensions under the skin. The work could improve diagnosis and treatment for some forms of cancer and blindness.
  
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• Turns out watching paint dry is far more exciting than you had previously thought

  18-03-2016 18:12
  
  Scientists claim the results of their experiment are “exciting”…
  
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• Spider diet goes way beyond insects

  18-03-2016 18:02
  
  Veggie-eating spiders have been found on every continent except Antarctica, a new study notes.
  
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• Pluto's Wonders Come into Focus

  18-03-2016 17:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  NASA’s New Horizons mission has delivered a treasure trove of data from the dwarf planet
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Police Howler device gets drivers' attention by shaking them with vibrations

  18-03-2016 17:42 via cbc.ca
  
  If getting pulled over leaves you trembling, just wait until you feel the Howler — the latest tool in the Calgary police arsenal, which will literally leave you shaking in your boots.
  
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• New compound is effective against drug-resistant leukemia, preclinical study finds

  18-03-2016 17:36
  A novel compound MRX-2843 more than doubled the median days of survival in laboratory models with a drug-resistant form of the acute myeloid leukemia, scientists report in a new article.
  
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• Dissecting the animal diet, past and present

  18-03-2016 17:31
  It's time to settle a very old food fight. In a new study, experts argue that scientists need to focus as much on 'when' animals eat as they do 'what' animals eat. Without the proper time context, they say, an animal's diet can tell very different stories.
  
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• IEA hails 'decoupling' of global growth from CO2 growth

  18-03-2016 17:22 via cbc.ca
  
  There has been a 'decoupling' of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from economic growth over the last two years, according to the International Energy Agency.
  
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• Camera captures amazing footage of bald eagle egg hatching in Washington DC

  18-03-2016 17:14
  Bald Eagles known as Mr President and The First Lady welcomed their first eaglet on 18 March in Washington, DC. An "eagle cam" is providing live footage of the first bald eagles to nest in the city's National Arboretum since 1947. The bald eagle, which almost disappeared from the United States decades ago, was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007 after habitat protection and the banning of the pesticide DDT led to its recovery.
  
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• Pluto once had underground ocean, windy weather, studies suggest

  18-03-2016 16:57 via cbc.ca
  
  An underground ocean once sloshed beneath the surface of Pluto, while winds ripped overtop, carving dune fields along the way, data from the New Horizons mission suggests.
  
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• On World Water Day, do something to conserve our most precious resource: Bob McDonald

  18-03-2016 16:31 via cbc.ca
  
  As the climate warms, the world may face a water crisis. But there is much that can be done to conserve the valuable resource, Bob McDonald writes
  
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• The legacy of mercury in Lake Superior

  18-03-2016 16:15
  Old mercury may have new import. Researchers examined dozens of core samples and found more mercury from past mining is sticking around in local waterways than they thought. At its height, mercury deposition from mining was 1,000 times greater than the area's baseline. The findings could have implications for industrial sites around the Great Lakes.
  
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• Out for blood: Fluid dynamics explain how quickly a vampire could drain your blood

  18-03-2016 16:15
  Throughout human history there have been tales of vampires -- bloodsucking creatures of folklore that prey on their victims by draining their life essence, usually via the blood. To coincide with the 85th anniversary of Tod Browning's 'Dracula' (1931), students have used fluid dynamics to examine how long it would take for the undead fiend to drain an average human's blood -- and have calculated that it would take only 6.4 minutes to drain 15 per cent of the blood from the external carotid arter
  
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• Homeless youth with pets have benefits, challenges

  18-03-2016 16:15
  Homeless youth with pets are less likely to engage in potentially harmful behavior, more likely to open up to veterinarians about their personal challenges and generally less depressed, a Canadian study has shown.
  
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• New gene identified as cause, early indicator of breast cancer

  18-03-2016 16:14
  When mutated, a gene known for its ability to repair DNA, appears to instead cause breast cancer, scientists report. Mutations of the gene are known to be present in both early onset breast and ovarian cancer. Now scientists have shown that the stem, or progenitor cells, which should ultimately make healthy breast tissue, can also have GT198 mutations that prompt them to instead make a perfect bed for breast cancer.
  
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• SEC orders Amazon to put gender pay equity to shareholder vote

  18-03-2016 15:56 via cbc.ca
  
  Amazon.com Inc should allow shareholders to vote on a proposal on gender pay equality, the U.S. securities regulator decided this week in rejecting the retailer's request to omit the measure from its annual ballot.
  
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• Marijuana May Help Cancer Patients, But Questions Remain

  18-03-2016 15:38
  Marijuana could potentially help cancer patients who have nausea or pain, and could possibly even be used as a treatment for certain cancers, but much more research is needed before any of these uses could be recommended, a new review article said. There is promising research on marijuana use in the field of cancer medicine, but many of the studies that have been done are outdated, looked at only a small number of people or were conducted in animals, said Dr. Tina Rizack, a co-author of the revi
  
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• Living with Your Partner? No Problem, More Americans Say

  18-03-2016 15:38
  The survey reflects changes in behavior that have been going on for some time, said Paula England, a professor of sociology at New York University. Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, agreed. These results are not entirely surprising, because they're following general trends, Manning told Live Science.
  
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• Do Sit-Stand Desks Improve Workers' Fitness?

  18-03-2016 15:38
  Desks that let you sit down or stand up to work may be a trendy piece of office furniture, but the health benefits of these desks are largely unproven, a new Cochrane Review study suggests. The researchers found that there's not yet much high-quality evidence to support the widespread use of these popular desks, which let you adjust the height of the work surface so that you can either sit or stand. From the six studies done on sit-stand desks included in the review, the researchers concluded th
  
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• Physicist’s story of science breaks historians’ rules

  18-03-2016 15:29
  
  Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg says evaluating science’s past requires knowledge of the present.
  
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• Nano plates as catalysts for solar fuels

  18-03-2016 15:22
  Solar fuels, clean fuels from sunlight, water and CO2, form an attractive way for storing solar energy in hydrogen or hydrocarbons, for example. The efficiency of this technology still needs a ‘boost’. Researcher investigated special nanoplates with platinum particles on them, accelerating the chemical conversion.
  
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• Chemists develop an ultra-sensitive test for cancers, HIV

  18-03-2016 15:22
  Catching a disease in its earliest stages can lead to more effective therapies. Chemists have increased the likelihood of detecting these diseases via a test that is thousands of times more sensitive than current diagnostics.
  
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• 'Wild-ID' tracking technology highlights vulnerability of wildebeest migration

  18-03-2016 15:21
  Recent efforts to combat habitat fragmentation and poaching have temporarily stabilized wildebeest populations in northern Tanzania, but this iconic migrating species of the African Savannah remains vulnerable, biologists have found using an unusual wildlife photo-identification tracking technology.
  
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• Spelling mutations and evolutionary advantages

  18-03-2016 15:21
  DNA codes carrying instructions for creating a protein can sometimes be 'spelt' differently, although they specify the exact same sequence information to create that protein. Scientists have now shown that such mutations, called 'synonymous' mutations can have large effects on the evolution of organisms.
  
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• Mercury rising? Potential mercury methylation in two California rivers

  18-03-2016 15:21
  Gold mining in California in the 19th century was a boon for the state's economy but not so much for the environment. Mining left a protracted legacy that impacts the natural landscape even today. Mercury, used in the gold extraction process, has been detected throughout the Lower Yuba/Feather River system in the state's Central Valley, and its presence could prove dangerous to local wildlife.
  
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• Dabrafenib/trametinib: Considerable added benefit for men with advanced melanoma

  18-03-2016 15:21
  Based on the study data subsequently submitted, there is now an indication of considerable added benefit for men; there is still major added benefit for women.
  
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