Science news

• Cygnus Cargo Ship Now Chasing Space Station: Spot Them in the Night Sky

  23-03-2016 23:28
  
  A robotic cargo vessel is chasing down the International Space Station (ISS) ahead of a planned Saturday meetup, and you can spot the duo from the ground. Weather permitting, skywatchers can get a bead on the ISS and Orbital ATK's uncrewed Cygnus freighter using Space.com's satellite tracker, which is powered by N2YO. The Cygnus launched on Tuesday evening (March 22) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, loaded with nearly 4 tons of supplies, hardware and scientific experiments for IS
  
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• Goldfish who can't keep his mouth open gets tiny goldfish braces

  23-03-2016 22:23 via cbc.ca
  
  Here's a goldfish with braces. You're welcome.
  
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• MasterCard unveils more details about 'selfie pay' phone authentication

  23-03-2016 22:19 via cbc.ca
  
  If you could verify your purchase for that food processor on Amazon with a wink and a nod instead of a traditional password, would you?
  
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• Facebook to notify users of impersonating profiles

  23-03-2016 22:16 via cbc.ca
  
  The social network is testing a new tool to scan profiles and flag imitations, which will then be reviewed by Facebook’s team.
  
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• Companion star could have triggered supernova

  23-03-2016 20:00
  
  An exploding star in another galaxy might have been pushed over the edge by a stellar companion.
  
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• NASA Astronauts Mourn Victims of Brussels Attacks

  23-03-2016 19:41
  
  The bombings, carried out yesterday (March 22) at the Brussels airport and one of the city's subway stations, left 31 people dead and 270 injured, The New York Times reported. Scott Kelly, who recently returned from a yearlong mission in space and will retire on April 1, tweeted a serene photo of the Earth taken from space, and said, "This perspective of Earth makes violence on its own people unimaginable.
  
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• How the Moon Moved: Lunar Poles Have Wandered

  23-03-2016 19:41
  
  The moon's poles have shifted over the eons, likely as a result of geological activity beneath the lunar crust, a new study suggests. This finding — which is based on an analysis of the distribution of water ice near the lunar north and south poles — sheds light on the structure and evolution of the moon, and also provides clues about where Earth's water came from, researchers said. "The ice at the poles of the moon records the interior evolution of the moon, which seems crazy &
  
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• The moon’s poles have no fixed address

  23-03-2016 19:00
  
  Ancient deposits of lunar water ice mark where the moon’s poles used to be.
  
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• The Most Vulnerable Ransomware Targets Are the Institutions We Rely On Most

  23-03-2016 18:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Many vital public institutions such as hospitals and fire stations lack cybersecurity to ward off popular malware
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Moderate Drinking Has No Health Benefits, Large Review of Studies Concludes

  23-03-2016 18:44
  Researchers reviewed 87 studies that found a link between moderate drinking and longevity, and they found major problems with way the studies were designed. "From a scientific standpoint, the relationship between alcohol consumption and health is obviously very important, and is a very controversial area," Dr. Tim Naimi, a physician and researcher at Boston Medical Center and co-author of the new review, told Live Science.
  
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• Mindfulness Meditation May Reduce Low Back Pain

  23-03-2016 18:43
  
  People with chronic low back pain may benefit from meditating, a new study finds. In the study, a group of people with chronic low back pain participated in an eight-week program called mindfulness-based stress reduction, which involved using meditation to increase their awareness of the present moment, and their acceptance of difficult thoughts and feelings, including their pain. About six months after the start of the study, the people who participated in the meditation program were more
  
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• 'Japanese Diet' Linked to Longer Life

  23-03-2016 18:43
  Eating the traditional Japanese diet may lead to a longer life, a new study finds. Adults in Japan who closely followed that country's government-recommended dietary guidelines had a 15 percent lower risk of dying during a 15-year time period, as compared to people who didn't follow the guidelines, according to the new study. In particular, those people who most closely followed the dietary guidelines were 22 percent less likely to die of stroke during the time period, according to the study, pu
  
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• Microcephaly Could Affect More Than 2,500 Infants in Brazil

  23-03-2016 18:42
  More than 2,500 babies could be diagnosed with microcephaly in Brazil if current trends within the Zika-affected country continue, the World Health Organization (WHO) told reporters today at a news conference in Geneva. To fight Zika, a vaccine against the virus and measures to control mosquitoes will be crucial, WHO officials said. "In less than a year, the status of Zika has changed from a mild medical curiosity to a disease with severe public health implications," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO direc
  
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• Franklin expedition, exploration gets cross-Canada exhibit

  23-03-2016 18:31 via cbc.ca
  
  Parks Canada is launching a new cross-Canada exhibit featuring stories about HMS Erebus, one of the lost ships of the 1845 Franklin expedition.
  
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• Your beloved cat could be the reason for your uncontrollable road rage

  23-03-2016 18:01
  
  Your fiery temper on the road could have a little less to do with your patience and more to do with your pet.
  
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• New Tetraquark Particle Sparks Doubts

  23-03-2016 18:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator failed to confirm the Tevatron accelerator’s discovery of a new arrangement of quarks
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• This image of the brightest spot on Ceres will transport you to an alien world hundreds of millions of miles away

  23-03-2016 17:54
  
  Ok, not literally, but it’s very cool.
  
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• Readers debate GMOs

  23-03-2016 17:45
  Genetically-modified food, nuclear fusion, black holes and more reader feedback.
  
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• Racing for answers on Zika

  23-03-2016 17:45
  In the latest issue of Science News, Editor in Chief Eva Emerson talks Zika virus, microbes, nutrition and mental health.
  
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• Why cricketers adopting reverse stance in batting are more likely to have a winning advantage

  23-03-2016 17:08
  
  Researchers believe batsmen who use their dominant hand at top of the bat’s handle are more likely to reach the top level of their sport.
  
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• Wireless mice leave billions at risk of computer hack: cyber security firm

  23-03-2016 16:52
  
  San Francisco, CA (Reuters) - Marc Newlin and Balint Seeber are checking how far apart they can be while still being able to hack into each other's computers. It turns out its pretty far - 180 meters - the length of a city block in San Francisco. 
  
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• Inducing Deep Sleep after Head Injury May Protect the Brain

  23-03-2016 16:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A new study in rats could one day benefit people suffering neurological conditions associated with the buildup of unwanted proteins in the brain, including traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• More ads use digital Easter eggs to make you watch more than once

  23-03-2016 16:22 via cbc.ca
  
  With fewer and fewer eyes on ads shown in heritage media, advertisers are using an online trick: they're putting "Easter eggs" in their commercials. They hope for greater viewer engagement.
  
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• Crude flow from northern Iraq to Turkey resumed - source

  23-03-2016 16:13
  The flow of crude oil from northern Iraq to Turkey had resumed as of 1330 GMT after a brief stoppage, a shipping source said on Wednesday. The flow of oil through the pipeline had been halted on Tuesday due to theft in the southeastern Turkish province of Sanliurfa. The pipeline, which has been repeatedly sabotaged in recent months, normally carries some 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and the disputed Kirkuk oil fields to the port of Ceyhan for exp
  
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• 'Greener' fish farming could lead to unhealthier seafood

  23-03-2016 16:11 via cbc.ca
  
  When fish farmers replace fish feed made of fish with more sustainable plant-based alternatives, that may make the fish less healthy to eat and generate more pollution, a new study warns.
  
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• United States to press Russia on Syria's Assad

  23-03-2016 15:59
  By Lesley Wroughton and John Irish MOSCOW/GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to press President Vladimir Putin on how Russia sees a future political transition in Syria and the fate of President Bashar al-Assad. With a fragile truce in place in Syria and warring sides attending peace talks in Geneva, Kerry wants to "get down to brass tacks" on the question of Assad's future, a State Department official said.
  
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• FBI's Apple iPhone unlocking effort will take at least 2 weeks

  23-03-2016 15:54 via cbc.ca
  
  It will take at least two weeks to know whether an alternate method will unlock an encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, the head of the FBI's Los Angeles office says.
  
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• Swedish university fires stem cell scientist over negligence

  23-03-2016 15:38
  LONDON (AP) — Sweden's Karolinska University says it has fired Italian stem cell scientist Paolo Macchiarini, whose work was once considered revolutionary but has since been deemed to have breached medical ethics.
  
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• U.S. Navy tugboat found after going missing almost a century ago

  23-03-2016 15:29 via cbc.ca
  
  A U.S. Navy tugboat that sank nearly a century ago has been found by a team of government researchers off the San Francisco coast.
  
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• Syria aid deliveries difficult despite truce: Red Cross spokesman

  23-03-2016 15:27
  Aid deliveries to besieged areas of Syria remain hard to make despite a nearly month-old ceasefire agreement, a Red Cross spokesman said on Wednesday, calling for more regular access to those in need of help. The United Nations, Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent have reached some besieged areas since the start of the cessation of hostilities deal, which has helped reduce violence in parts of western Syria. "The cessation of hostilities - honestly I don't see the difference.
  
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• TV scientist Brian Cox among guests at lunch with Queen

  23-03-2016 14:40
  Particle physicist Professor Brian Cox has joined the Queen for lunch at Buckingham Palace.
  
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• Microbes can play games with the mind

  23-03-2016 14:30
  
  Our bodies are having a conversation with our microbiome that may be affecting our mental health — for better or worse.
  
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• Holy Drones, Batman! Real-Life 'Batplane' Mimics Flexible Wings

  23-03-2016 14:25
  
  Inspired by the wings that allow bats to pull off such impressive maneuvers, a team of engineers designed new kinds of wing surfaces for drones. At the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, a group led by engineering professor Bharathram Ganapathisubramani designed a flexible, membrane wing for small drones, otherwise known as micro air vehicles (MAVs). MAVs are used for a variety of purposes, including reconnaissance and scientific work.
  
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• Birds Use Alligators As Bodyguards

  23-03-2016 14:25
  Birds may use alligators as bodyguards to protect their nests from hungry raccoons and opossums, but gator payment may come at a steep cost — namely, in the form of the birds' chicks that are dropped into the water, researchers say. Previous research found that wading birds — such as storks, herons, egrets, ibises and spoonbills — often choose to nest above alligators. However, there was little research into what, if anything, alligators gained from such arrangements.
  
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• Canada Gairdner Awards 2016 honour HIV scientists Frank Plummer, Anthony Fauci

  23-03-2016 14:22 via cbc.ca
  
  Two pioneering researchers in the HIV-AIDS field are among this year's winners of the prestigious Canada Gairdner Awards.
  
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• High-tech ski pole can track skiers' power and efficiency

  23-03-2016 14:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Coaches and athletes at the Haywood Ski Nationals in Whitehorse this week are jumping on board to try out a new high-tech ski pole, designed by a Yukon-based company.
  
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• We now know what the inside of Mars is like

  23-03-2016 13:45
  Spoiler: It has a liquid outer core of molten rock.
  
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• Butchered Bear Pushes Back Human Arrival on Ireland

  23-03-2016 13:41
  
  The slashed kneecap of a bear found deep inside a prehistoric cave suggests human hunters lived in Ireland earlier than had been previously thought, a new study finds. Researchers found the kneecap in Ireland's Alice and Gwendoline Cave, in County Clare, in 1903. Then, in 2010 and 2011, Ruth Carden, an animal osteologist at the National Museum of Ireland, began going through the cave's many bone artifacts.
  
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• #TheInternetNamesAnimals: Do Animals Get the Monikers They Deserve?

  23-03-2016 13:38
  Over the past several days, a massive wave of online support propelled the unlikely name "Boaty McBoatface" to the top of a poll proposing monikers for a British polar research vessel.
  
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• Trippy! Psychedelic Zebrafish Reveal How Cells Regenerate

  23-03-2016 13:37
  
  In what looks more like a post-impressionist painting than a scientific achievement, a transgenic zebrafish is revealing how hundreds of its cells regenerate in a bouquet of colors. Scientists genetically programmed every cell on the zebrafish's body surface, including its cornea, scales, fins and barbels, to express a unique combination of green, red and blue fluorescent proteins, according to lead scientist Kenneth D. Poss, a cell biology professor at Duke University. The result: images of a t
  
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• Photographer Catches Jupiter with Its 4 Galilean Moons

  23-03-2016 12:59
  
  The planet Jupiter sits amidst its moons in this astrophotographer image.
  
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• NASA's Female Leaders Share Challenges of Working in Male-Dominated Field

  23-03-2016 12:59
  
  They may have taken very different roads to arrive at their current jobs, but many of NASA's top female administrators have at least one thing in common: They have shared the experience of being a woman in a male-dominated field. On March 16, these top NASA leaders shared their experiences with a crowd of female high school students at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
  
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• First Supernova Shock Wave Image Snapped by Planet-Hunting Telescope

  23-03-2016 12:59
  For the first time, scientists have seen the shock wave emanating from an exploding star in visible light. Using NASA's planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope, researchers saw the shock wave coming from a massive star explosion (a supernova) that came into Kepler's view in 2011. The star that ended its life as a supernova is named KSN 2011d, which is nearly 500 times the diameter of the sun, and located about 1.2 billion light-years away.
  
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• A patch has been developed to detect blood sugar levels and deliver medication

  23-03-2016 12:55
  
  The patch, developed by South Korean scientists, could spell a revolution in diabetes treatment.
  
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• Always tired? Here's what it could mean

  23-03-2016 12:25
  
  Longer, brighter days may finally be here, but are your energy levels anything but spring-like?
  
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• Science gives clues to 'The Bedroom' as van Gogh painted it

  23-03-2016 12:00
  
  Art and science converge in a visualization of the original colors of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Bedroom.”
  
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• Russia says Turkey suppresses Kurds under pretext of fighting terrorism

  23-03-2016 11:32
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Anakara is hindering Kurdish forces in their fight against Islamic State and using the slogan of a "war against terrorism" to suppress Kurdish organisations in Syria and Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. Illegal traffic across the Turkish-Syrian border has decreased dramatically since the start of Russia's military operation in Syria, Lavrov told a news briefing. Referring to the Turkish border, he stressed a need to fully implement U.N. ...
  
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• The nuclear industry: a small revolution

  23-03-2016 10:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Does the future lie in smaller reactors?
  
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• Space station cargo launches by light of nearly full moon

  23-03-2016 06:20
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Fresh supplies shipped out late Tuesday for the International Space Station, where the shelves finally are getting full after a string of failed deliveries.
  
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• Private Cygnus Spacecraft Blasts Off with NASA Cargo in Stunning Night Launch

  23-03-2016 05:15
  
  A commercial Cygnus cargo ship launched into space late Tuesday (March 22), streaking into the Florida night sky on a mission to deliver a record-breaking load of NASA experiments and gear to the International Space Station. The Orbital ATK-built Cygnus blasted off atop an Atlas V rocket at 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 GMT) in a smooth liftoff under the light of a nearly-full moon from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here. The cargo ship, filled with more than 3.5 tons of supplies, is expecte
  
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