Science news

• Fracking triggers 90% of large quakes in B.C., Alberta oil and gas patch

  29-03-2016 22:56 via cbc.ca
  
  New research shows that more than 90 per cent of seismic events larger than magnitude 3.0 in B.C. and Alberta's energy fields are caused by hydraulic fracturing. But the same research shows that only a tiny percentage of fracked wells actually trigger earthquakes, and they're trying to find out why.
  
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• Brazil's confirmed, suspected microcephaly cases rise to 5,235

  29-03-2016 22:41
  The number of confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil associated with the Zika virus rose to 5,235 in the week through March 25, from 5,200 a week earlier, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Of these, the number of confirmed cases climbed to 944 from 907 a week earlier, while suspected ones slightly fell to 4,291 to from 4,293 in the same period, according to a ministry statement. Brazil considered most of the cases of babies born with abnormally small heads to be related to Zi
  
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• CRTC wants feedback on future 911 service

  29-03-2016 22:33 via cbc.ca
  
  Do you want to be able to send photos and videos to police and firefighters via the 911 service? The CRTC wants to know.
  
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• World Health Organisation downgrades Ebola risk

  29-03-2016 22:18
  
  The risk of international spread of the vrius is now considered as “low” by WHO’s Emergency Committee.
  
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• How to avoid losing precious photos to hard drive crashes, ransomware

  29-03-2016 21:17 via cbc.ca
  
  World Backup Day aims to encourage computer users to regularly back up their precious photos and data. Now there are more reasons than ever to do that. CBC Radio technology columnist Dan Misener offers some strategies to keep data safe and secure.
  
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• Video Shows Japan's Hitomi Satellite Tumbling in Space, Rescue Efforts Underway

  29-03-2016 21:12
  The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is struggling to understand exactly what went wrong with its brand-new astronomy satellite, Hitomi, which suffered some sort of malfunction over the weekend and is apparently tumbling in space, according to a video captured by an amateur astronomer. Officials with JAXA lost regular contact with Hitomi on Saturday (March 26), but the space agency received two cryptic signals from the spacecraft yesterday, officials reported in a status update today (M
  
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• Earth’s hurricanes have nothing on this quasar

  29-03-2016 21:02
  
  In a remote galaxy, a cosmic hurricane around a supermassive black hole is driving winds at nearly 20 percent of the speed of light.
  
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• Trees 'tolerant to EU olive threat'

  29-03-2016 20:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Laboratory tests show some varieties of olive trees appear to be resistant to an invasive pathogen that poses a serious risk to Europe's olive industry.
  
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• Japan loses touch with new, $360 million space telescope

  29-03-2016 19:35 via cbc.ca
  
  Japan's space agency has lost touch with a new space telescope featuring Canadian technology, just a month after launch.
  
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• Volkswagen sued for false advertising over 'Clean Diesel' claims

  29-03-2016 19:28 via cbc.ca
  
  A federal consumer watchdog sued Volkswagen on Tuesday, charging the company made false claims in commercials promoting its "Clean Diesel" vehicles as environmentally friendly.
  
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• Tim Peake on what he loves about space and what he loves a bit less about space

  29-03-2016 19:00
  
  Apparently the lack of gravity can get very “frustrating”…
  
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• Man-Made Earthquake Hotspot Revealed: Oklahoma

  29-03-2016 18:50
  
  The chances of a damaging earthquake occurring in parts of Oklahoma and some neighboring states are just as likely as they are in temblor-heavy California, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Man-made activities related to oil and gas production are creating the shaky conditions in a region of the central and eastern U.S., the USGS seismologists say. USGS scientists just released their first map that includes earthquake risks from both natural and human-induced causes for
  
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• Video Game Hall of Fame reveals finalists for May induction

  29-03-2016 18:34 via cbc.ca
  
  Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders and John Madden Football are among 15 games named Tuesday as finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
  
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• Soon the way you walk will be key to unlocking your smartphone

  29-03-2016 18:31 via cbc.ca
  
  Soon, the way you walk, talk, and hold your phone will be key to unlocking your Android device, thanks to a University of Guelph team led by engineering professor Graham Taylor.
  
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• One of Earth’s missing minerals found locked inside meteorite

  29-03-2016 18:30
  
  Scientists have discovered the last undiscovered dense mineral of the pyroxene group in a meteorite.
  
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• Campbell Soup cans to be BPA-free by mid-2017

  29-03-2016 18:25 via cbc.ca
  
  Almost six years after Health Canada labelled Bisphenol A as a toxic substance, Campbell Soup Co. says it will soon stop using the chemical to line its cans.
  
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• 5 Unsolved Mysteries of King Tut's Tomb

  29-03-2016 18:15 via rss.sciam.com
  A recent imaging scan hints at hidden chambers that could offer insights into questions surrounding the life and death of the boy pharaoh and his place in Egyptian history
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• U.S. firms target investment in Israeli cannabis R&D

  29-03-2016 18:08
  
  TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Already a pioneer in high-tech and cutting-edge agriculture, Israel is starting to attract American companies looking to bring medical marijuana know-how to a booming market back home.
  
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• Sanofi poaches AstraZeneca scientist as new research head

  29-03-2016 18:01
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi has poached one of AstraZeneca's top scientists to be its new research head in another high-profile departure for the British drugmaker.
  
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• Giant rats to sniff out tuberculosis in Tanzania, Mozambique prisons

  29-03-2016 17:49
  
  DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Scientists in East Africa plan to exploit trained rats’ highly developed sense of smell to carry out mass screening for tuberculosis among inmates of crowded prisons in Tanzania and Mozambique.
  
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• 12 Supereruptions Pockmark Path of Yellowstone Hotspot

  29-03-2016 17:48
  
  Up to 12 massive volcanic blasts occurred between 8 million and 12 million years ago in Idaho's Snake River Plain, leading up to today's Yellowstone supervolcano, new research reveals. 
  
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• Colon Cancer Found in 18th-Century Hungarian Mummy

  29-03-2016 17:46
  Tissue samples from a Hungarian mummy have revealed that people in the early 17th and 18th centuries suffered from colon cancer, long before the modern plagues of obesity, physical inactivity and processed food were established as causes of the disease, according to new research. In a new study of 18th-century Hungarian mummies, scientists found that the genetic predisposition to colon cancer predates modern impacts on health. One of the mummies in the study carried a mutation in the adenomatous
  
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• VIDEO: Is coral bleaching getting worse?

  29-03-2016 17:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Evidence that Australia's Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst coral bleaching on record has renewed calls for the UN to list it as "in-danger".
  
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• Tim Peake: Moon Colony Is Next Step

  29-03-2016 17:02
  
  British astronaut Tim Peake has suggested that setting up a "Moon colony" could be the next logical step for space research. In his first live television interview since blasting off from Earth, Major Peake answered questions submitted by Sky News viewers. When asked about the possibility of establishing a permanent base on the Moon, Major Peake suggested it was a "great ambition" because it could be used to learn more about travelling to Mars.
  
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• Old Vaccine, New Tricks: Revive Early Pertussis Shot, Study Says

  29-03-2016 17:01
  Newer isn't always better — some researchers are proposing to bring back an older version of the whooping cough vaccine, because multiple studies show that today's version doesn't protect as well as the earlier kind. In a new study, researchers suggest vaccinating children with one dose of the older whooping cough vaccine — called the whole-cell pertussis vaccine — and then giving them four doses of the current whooping cough vaccine in early childhood. Using a mathematical mod
  
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• Northern Great Barrier Reef experiences worst coral bleaching ever

  29-03-2016 16:43 via cbc.ca
  
  The most untouched part of the Great Barrier Reef is seeing the most severe coral bleaching in history, researchers report.
  
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• Women Could Lower Fracture Risk with Mediterranean Diet

  29-03-2016 16:42
  Older women who eat a diet full of produce, fish and nuts, may have a slightly lower risk of hip fractures, a new study finds. The researchers found that the risk of hip fracture among the women in the study who adhered most closely to this kind of diet, sometimes called the Mediterranean diet, was very slightly reduced. The finding is important mainly because it shows that following the Mediterranean diet and other related diets, which do not emphasize the intake of dairy foods,is not linked wi
  
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• Tim Peake on top of the world as he tells young interviewers about life in space

  29-03-2016 16:31
  Living in space is "out of this world", according to Tim Peake - but the British astronaut still misses the green, green grass of home.
  
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• Japanese satellite lost in space?

  29-03-2016 16:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dozens of Japanese engineers and scientists are scrambling to save an X-ray satellite - and more than a quarter of a billion dollars of investment - tumbling out of control in space.
  
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• A gene linked to blood pressure 'helps regulate salt consumption'

  29-03-2016 15:52
  
  The findings could help people with heart failure.
  
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• Tim Peake Live On Sky News: Out Of This World

  29-03-2016 15:29
  
  British astronaut Tim Peake has told Sky News that the whole experience of being in space has been "out of this world". In his first live television interview since blasting off from Earth, Peake has answered questions submitted by Sky News viewers. He says astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are working 12-14 hour days, to carry out more than 250 experiments.
  
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• What does the FBI iPhone hack mean?

  29-03-2016 15:25 via cbc.ca
  
  The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn its legal action against Apple to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter, because the FBI managed to hack into it without Apple's help. The story raises a host of legal, technical and consumer questions. What do you make of the news that the FBI hacked into an iPhone?
  
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• Soundcloud expands into mainstream with paid streaming plan

  29-03-2016 15:24 via cbc.ca
  
  Soundcloud is entering paid music streaming, hoping to turn its huge community of cover singers, dubstep remixers and wannabe stars into a bigger source of revenue.
  
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• This Negative Facial Expression Is 'Universal'

  29-03-2016 13:55
  
  The facial expression indicating disagreement is universal, researchers say. A furrowed brow, lifted chin and pressed-together lips — a mix of anger, disgust and contempt — are used to show negative moral judgment among speakers of English, Spanish, Mandarin and American Sign Language (ASL), according to a new study published in the May issue of the journal Cognition. In ASL, speakers sometimes use this "not face" alone, without any other negative sign, to indicate disagreement in a
  
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• Endor's End: How the 'Star Wars' Death Star Wiped Out the Ewoks After All

  29-03-2016 13:49
  
  If you're a fan of the adorable Ewoks from the "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" movie, you may want to sit down. The "Star Wars" rebels may have destroyed the Death Star, but the sinister satellite still managed to destroy the rebel base — and the moon of Endor — in the end. The Ewoks wouldn't have survived the explosion, says one planetary scientist.
  
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• Space Station Flies Over Roman Ruins in Stunning Skywatcher Photo

  29-03-2016 13:48
  
  Claro took the image at "one of the remaining ruins from the Southern Gate Tower of the Roman City of Ammaia," he told Space.com in an email. The International Space Station is a microgravity laboratory and a facility for astronomical, environmental and geological research.  The station flies at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. The space station is about the size of a football field (measured end to end) and can be easily seen from the Earth with the unaided ey
  
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• Life's Building Blocks Form In Replicated Deep Sea Vents

  29-03-2016 13:48
  
  Life on Earth may be nearly that old with recent findings suggesting that life might have emerged only about 440 million years after the planet formed. The main building blocks of life now are DNA, which can store genetic data, and proteins, which include enzymes that can direct chemical reactions. To resolve this conundrum, scientists have suggested that life may have first primarily depended on compounds known as RNA.
  
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• How to Use Mobile Apps to Spot the Space Station and Iridium Flares

  29-03-2016 13:48
  
  First up, we'll look at why we can spot satellites and explain some of the names you'll encounter when you work with satellite-spotting mobile apps. Since the first artificial satellite, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, kicked off the space age on Oct. 4, 1957, more than 7,000 objects have been launched into orbit. Many of these were satellites for scientific, telecommunication and military uses, while the rest consisted of spent rocket boosters and other space debris.
  
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• Arctic winter's sluggish sea-ice growth

  29-03-2016 13:40 via bbc.co.uk
  Although winter Arctic sea-ice extent has been the smallest on record this year, it is unclear yet whether its volume will also mark a new low.
  
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• There's now a dating service based on the science of smell

  29-03-2016 13:25
  
  Body odour + sexual attraction = real.
  
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• Here's what an aurora looks like from space

  29-03-2016 11:15
  
  Spoiler alert: it’s amazing.
  
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• All in good time: draft Thai charter handed over ahead of August vote

  29-03-2016 10:55
  Thailand's junta-appointed charter committee handed over a draft constitution to the military government at an auspicious time on Tuesday, the last step before it is put to a vote in August, something that could speed up Thailand's return to democracy. Number nine in Thai is pronounced "gao" which sounds like the word for "advance".
  
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• Uncertainty can cause more stress than inevitable pain

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (University College London) Knowing that there is a small chance of getting a painful electric shock can lead to significantly more stress than knowing that you will definitely be shocked. A new study found that situations in which subjects had a 50 percent chance of receiving a shock were the most stressful while 0 percent and 100 percent chances were the least stressful. People whose stress levels tracked uncertainty more closely were better at guessing whether or not they would receive a shoc
  
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• Text in lost language may reveal god or goddess worshipped by Etruscans at ancient temple

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (Southern Methodist University) Archaeologists in Italy have discovered what may be a rare Etruscan sacred text likely to yield rich details about Etruscan worship and early beliefs of a lost culture fundamental to western traditions. The lengthy text is on a large 6th century sandstone slab uncovered from an Etruscan temple, said Gregory Warden, principal investigator of Mugello Valley Archaeological Project, which made the discovery, and professor emeritus, Southern Methodist University, Dalla
  
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• Take-home naloxone should be an additional standard of care for prevention of heroin overdose death

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (Wiley) Take-home naloxone should be an additional standard of care for prevention of heroin overdose death.
  
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• Synthesizing real-life tweets

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (Inderscience Publishers) Scientists in Brazil are using a genetic algorithm to create a realistic soundscape of birdsong that can be triggered by updates from the micro-blogging service, Twitter, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Details of the computer model which mimics the behavior of a bird's songbox, its 'syrinx,' to create realistic sounds are published this month in the International Journal of Arts and Technology.
  
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• Study finds training with unpredictability improves memory recall

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Dallas) Memory training with unpredictable components could be more effective in enhancing episodic memory than training with predictable elements, according to new findings from UT Dallas researchers published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
  
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• Study finds gestational surrogacy often misunderstood, unevenly judged

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) Research by Heather Jacobson, a UTA associate professor of sociology, is compiled in what is the first book-length ethnographic examination of gestational surrogacy in the United States.
  
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• Statement published on pairing smoking cessation with lung cancer screening

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (Medical University of South Carolina) Smokers who are screened for lung cancer should be encouraged to quit smoking during their visit, according to a paper co-written by Benjamin A. Toll, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina. Citing the recent USPTF recommendation that heavy smokers undergo a yearly screening for lung cancer, the authors note USPTF does not provide specifics for how smoking-cessation treatment should be offered in conjunction with screenings. The article, publish
  
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• Separating charge and discharge in measuring next-generation car batteries

  29-03-2016 06:00
  
  (American Institute of Physics) To better estimate the state of charge in lithium ion phosphate batteries, researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China, have recently developed an algorithm that can separately measure the charging and discharging states of the battery. This allows it to function amidst initial inaccurate values and errors in measuring current, as well as distinguish between the performance of each battery in the series.
  
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