Science news

• Yemeni president sacks prime minister, appoints new senior team - state media

  03-04-2016 21:57
  Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed a new vice-president and prime minister on Sunday, pro-Hadi state media reported, sacking prime minister Khaled Bahah in a major shake-up ahead of peace talks later this month. Yemen has been in a civil war for more than a year between Hadi's supporters and the Iran-allied Houthi group that has sucked in a Saudi-led alliance and caused a major humanitarian crisis in one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. Yemen's state television reporte
  
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• Syrian forces seize Islamic State-held town near Palmyra

  03-04-2016 17:26
  By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes drove Islamic State militants out of the town of al-Qaryatain on Sunday after encircling it over the past few days, Syria's military command said. Surrounded by hills, al-Qaryatain is 100 km (60 miles) west of the ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces recaptured from Islamic State last Sunday. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been trying to retake al-Qaryatain and other pockets of Islamic
  
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• Miitomo puts Nintendo's trademark weirdness in a social app

  03-04-2016 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Miitomo, the first mobile app from Nintendo, is more social network than video game — a social app without much of what makes current social networks tick.
  
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• Azerbaijan says to stop fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, separatists voice doubts

  03-04-2016 15:55
  By Nailia Bagirova and Hasmik Mkrtchyan BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Azerbaijan said on Sunday it would stop fighting Armenian-backed separatists over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region after two days of clashes, but the other side denounced Baku's gesture as hollow and said violence was continuing. Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians, has run its own affairs with heavy military and financial backing from Armenia since a separatist war ended in 199
  
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• Armenian-backed separatists say ready to discuss ceasefire with Baku

  03-04-2016 14:56
  YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenian-backed forces in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region said on Sunday they were ready to discuss a ceasefire proposal from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said it would stop fighting the separatist troops after two days of clashes killed dozens and drew international calls for an immediate ceasefire. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; editing by Jason Neely; Writing Jack Stubbs; Editing by)
  
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• Fire rips through Russian defence ministry building in Moscow

  03-04-2016 14:44
  A fire ripped through a Russian Defence Ministry building in central Moscow on Sunday, sending plumes of smoke over the Russian capital as fire fighters battled to extinguish the blaze. Photographs from the scene showed fire fighters scaling ladders to access the building's upper floors with fire engines pumping water through hoses placed on the ground floor. Traffic through central Moscow was diverted.
  
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• Five things to know about Zika

  03-04-2016 14:00
  
  Last week, a public health poll pointed to some myths that have been circulating about Zika. Let’s bust them.
  
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• BEAM Inflatable Habitat to Launch to Space Station Next Week

  03-04-2016 13:57
  
  An inflatable room that will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to launch toward the orbiting laboratory next week. The room, known as Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), was built by Bigelow Aerospace, a private company that has built other expandable space habitats in the past and has plans to continue to do so. BEAM will be the first such room to be tested on the ISS, and the first to be (briefly) occupied by astronauts.
  
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• Southern Cross at Sea: Astrophotographer Shoots Stunning Image While on Ship

  03-04-2016 13:55
  
  Like many astrophotographers, Greg Redfern takes images of the night sky. Redfern took this image of the Southern Cross on Feb. 17, 2016 while aboard the Azamara Quest in the Coral Sea-Great Barrier Reef. The image shows the Coal Sack, the Southern Cross, Eta Carinae and various young star clusters as well as the Milky Way.
  
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• One-Year Astronaut Scott Kelly Retires from NASA (Video)

  03-04-2016 13:54
  
  Record-setting NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has handed in his spacesuit. Kelly, who recently wrapped up an unprecedented yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and has spent more total time in space than any other American, officially retired from NASA today (April 1). "When we do things that are really hard, we can achieve great things — and that has worked as a great model for me," Kelly said in the interview, which was conducted March 25 during a trip to Russia to c
  
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• VIDEO: How your brain picks the right word

  03-04-2016 13:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The average English-speaker has about 50,000 words in their mind. But how do they find the right one in 600 milliseconds?
  
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• Disney’s 'The Jungle Book' resurrects giant extinct ape

  03-04-2016 13:00
  
  Disney’s latest version of ‘The Jungle Book’ features Gigantopithecus, the largest known ape ever to have lived.
  
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• Azerbaijan says to cease retaliatory military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh

  03-04-2016 12:51
  YEREVAN (Reuters) - Azerbaijan said on Sunday it would end fighting with Armenian-backed troops over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region after two days of clashes which have killed dozens. "Having taken into account ...appeals from international organisations, Azerbaijan has decided to unilaterally cease retaliatory military actions and will consolidate yesterday's territory gains," RIA news agency quoted the Azeri Defence Ministry as saying. Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan but is cont
  
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• Emojis: Are they changing how we communicate with each other?

  03-04-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Emojis have become an virtual sensation and will even be the subject of a movie in 2017. But are they changing how we communicate with each other?
  
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• Electric car boom sees charging-station snags

  03-04-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  As electric cars become more popular, drivers are facing increasingly long waits to plug in at charging stations.
  
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• Electric car boom drives surge in charging-station demand

  03-04-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  As electric cars become more popular, drivers are facing increasingly long waits to plug in at charging stations.
  
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• Bezos praises third Blue Origin launch-and-land rocket test as 'perfect'

  03-04-2016 06:40
  
  SEATTLE (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' space transportation company Blue Origin successfully launched and landed for the third time a suborbital rocket capable of carrying six passengers, taking another step on its path in developing reusable boosters, the company said on Saturday.
  
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• Nonsurgical fibroid treatment: Research shows improved sexual desire, function

  03-04-2016 06:00
  
  (Society of Interventional Radiology) Women who underwent a nonsurgical, image-guided treatment, uterine fibroid embolization, for the treatment of uterine fibroids experienced improved sexual function and a higher overall quality of life.
  
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• Gels Handbook explores significant development of hydrogels

  03-04-2016 06:00
  
  (World Scientific) Hydrogels are made from a three-dimensional network of cross-linked hydrophilic polymers or colloidal particles that contain a large fraction of water. In recent years, hydrogels have attracted significant attention for a variety of applications in biology and medicine. This has resulted in significant advances in the design and engineering of hydrogels to meet the needs of these applications. This handbook explores significant development of hydrogels from characterization an
  
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• Elevated troponin linked to mental stress ischemia in heart disease patients

  03-04-2016 06:00
  
  (Emory Health Sciences) People with heart disease who experience mental stress induced-ischemia tend to have higher levels of troponin -- a protein whose presence in the blood that is a sign of recent damage to the heart muscle -- all the time, independently of whether they are experiencing stress or chest pain at that moment.
  
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• Abaloparatide may help prevent fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

  03-04-2016 06:00
  
  (The Endocrine Society) The investigational drug abaloparatide-SC (subcutaneous) may help increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women and reduce their risk of fracture, new industry-sponsored research suggests. The results of the subgroup analysis within the ACTIVE clinical trial will be presented Friday, April 1, at ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston.
  
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• Computer science A-level 1970s style

  03-04-2016 02:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Computer science A-levels in the 1970s
  
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• Parrot species in US cities may rival that in native Mexico

  03-04-2016 00:57
  
  SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. researchers are launching studies on Mexico's red-crowned parrot — a species that has been adapting so well to living in cities in California and Texas after escaping from the pet trade that the population may now rival that in its native country.
  
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