Science news

• Ancient lava bubbles reveal conditions on primordial Earth

  09-05-2016 22:46
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tiny bubbles that formed inside volcanic rock 2.7 billion years ago are providing big insights into the conditions on primordial Earth.
  
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• Large Hadron Collider starts its 2016 physics run

  09-05-2016 22:14
  
  Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider are taking data for the first time in 2016.
  
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• Little Mercury a black dot as it crosses vast face of sun

  09-05-2016 21:01
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 10 years, Mercury passed directly between the Earth and sun on Monday, resembling a black dot against the vast, glowing face of our star.
  
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• History of road-tripping shaped camel DNA

  09-05-2016 21:00
  
  Centuries of caravan domestication and travel left some metaphorical tire marks on Arabian camel genes, researchers find.
  
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• Mercury completes journey across Sun

  09-05-2016 20:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Solar System's smallest planet has made one of its irregular passes between the Earth and Sun.
  
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• Wind 'outburst' will help scientists unlock mysteries of black holes

  09-05-2016 20:42
  
  The wind travels 3,000 kilometres per second, which allows it to escape from the gravitational field around the black hole.
  
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• Saudi intercepts missile from Yemen, truce maintained, SPA says

  09-05-2016 20:29
  Saudi air defence forces on Monday intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, but a Saudi-led military coalition will maintain a shaky truce despite this "serious escalation" by the Houthi militia, the Saudi state news agency SPA said. The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exile government are trying to reach a peace agreement in talks in Kuwait aimed at ending the year-long war and easing a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country. The Saudi-led coalition
  
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• Earthlings watch as tiny Mercury sails past the sun

  09-05-2016 20:21
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Tiny Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, sailed across the face of the sun on Monday, a celestial dance that occurs about once every decade as Earth and its smaller neighboring planet align in space.
  
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• Huge Canadian Wildfire Spotted from Space (Photos)

  09-05-2016 20:07
  
  Newly released satellite images capture the massive scale of the wildfire rampaging through Canada's Alberta province. The Fort McMurray wildfire has consumed a huge swathe of Alberta forest, and the resulting smoke has drifted all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, the new photos show. The images were taken by NASA's Terra satellite and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) spacecraft, which is operated by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. De
  
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• VIDEO: How daughter's DNA led to murderer

  09-05-2016 19:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man who sexually assaulted and stabbed a girl 32 years ago has been given a life sentence for her murder.
  
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• U.S. trying to determine whether Iran tested missile - White House

  09-05-2016 19:34
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said it was looking into whether or not Iran had tested a medium-range ballistic missile on Monday after Iranian news agencies issued conflicting reports about whether a precision-guided weapon had been fired. "We're still trying to get to the bottom of what exactly transpired," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing. "We are aware of Iranian claims of an additional ballistic missile launch," he said. "We're also aware of statements from the def
  
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• Scientists peel back the carrot's genetic secrets

  09-05-2016 19:32
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking.   
  
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• Long-running lunar mission reveals moon’s surprises

  09-05-2016 19:24
  
  Seven years into its mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still going strong and finding surprises on the moon.
  
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• Artificially sweetened beverages in pregnancy tied to higher infant weight

  09-05-2016 19:10
  By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – - Women who drank artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda every day while pregnant were more likely a year later to have infants with a higher body mass index (BMI), according to a new study. The researchers did not find a link between sugary beverages during pregnancy and babies’ BMI, which is a measure of weight in relation to height. “There’s growing evidence in adults that artificial sweeteners may have counterintuitive rela
  
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• Gorgeous New Mercury Maps Showcase Planet's Striking Features

  09-05-2016 18:43
  
  A stunning digital model of Mercury unveils the planet's striking landscape, while other new maps provide a closer look at the shadowed northern pole and reveal the highest and lowest points on the closest planet to the sun. Built with data from NASA's MESSENGER mission that orbited Mercury for four years, the new maps offer a bounty of scientific insight, while also delivering an incredible view of the planet. "The wealth of these data, greatly enhanced by the extension of MESSENGER's primary o
  
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• Stargazers have been watching Mercury make its way across the sun

  09-05-2016 18:39
  
  A tiny black dot has been moving across the sun – an event that happens around 14 times a century.
  
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• Rover mission in 'last chance saloon'

  09-05-2016 18:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe's rover mission to Mars is "drinking in the last chance saloon", warns the European Space Agency's director general, who says the project cannot have an open-ended schedule or budget.
  
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• 'Huge Hunk' of NASA's Fallen Skylab Space Station Lands at Auction

  09-05-2016 18:08
  A massive chunk of the United States' first space station is about to land at auction. Billed as the "largest existing piece of Skylab wreckage in private hands," Regency-Superior Auctioneers of St. Louis is offering the 300-pound (136-kilogram) artifact as part of its online space memorabilia sale scheduled for May 12. Launched on May 14, 1973, the Skylab orbiting workshop used the converted upper stage of a Saturn V moon rocket to host three astronaut crews for NASA's first long-duration missi
  
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• The Transit of Mercury Across the Sun's Face Has Begun: First Videos

  09-05-2016 18:06
  
  The small planet Mercury is making a rare transit of the sun today (May 9), the first such event of its kind in a decade, as the world looks on. Case in point: this awesome NASA video captured just as Mercury began its journey across the sun, as seen from Earth. NASA's powerful Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this first Mercury transit video as the planet began a 7.5-hour trip across the face of the sun.
  
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• Youthful 'second skin' to hide wrinkles

  09-05-2016 17:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say they have developed an invisible elastic film that can be applied to the skin to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and eye bags.
  
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• Iraqi forces retake village from Islamic State in slow campaign

  09-05-2016 17:08
  ERBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces retook a northern village from Islamic State on Monday, supported by artillery and air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition, as they try to close in on the city of Mosul. In March, Iraq's military opened a new front against the militants in the Makhmour area, which it called the first phase of a wider campaign to liberate Mosul, around 60 km (40 miles) further north. "In a swift operation, our units took the groups of the terrorist organisation Daesh by surpri
  
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• Scientists have identified the gene believed to regulate a carrot's colour

  09-05-2016 17:07
  
  Have you ever wondered why carrots are orange? Or purple? Or yellow?
  
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• How Cultural Pressures May Affect Your Sleep Habits

  09-05-2016 16:51
  Our biological clocks may not dictate our bedtimes, but they do influence when we wake up in the morning, a new study finds. However, people's wake-up times are still highly dependent on their biological clocks, as opposed to just on their morning responsibilities, such as going to work or school, the researchers said. The new findings show that "bedtime is more under the control of society, and wake time is more under the control of the [biological] clock," Olivia Walch, a graduate student at t
  
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• Christina's Diagnosis: Famous Painting Gets New Look

  09-05-2016 16:50
  It ranks as one of the most iconic paintings in modern American history: Andrew Wyeth's 1948 "Christina's World" depicting a woman crawling across a bleak, rural landscape with her sights focused on a distant, gray farmhouse. Wyeth's inspiration for the painting was his real-life friend and neighbor, Anna Christina Olson, a lifelong resident of the Cushing, Maine, farm on which she's pictured. Now, after being challenged to diagnose Olson's condition, neurologist Dr. Marc Patterson of the Mayo C
  
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• Bionic Implant Improves Vision for Some Eye Patients

  09-05-2016 16:50
  It may sound like something out of "Star Trek": Doctors have implanted a device in patients that has restored some central vision after advanced eye disease left those individuals with only limited peripheral vision. This is the first time that artificial and natural vision has ever been integrated in humans, the U.K.-based research team said. The study was small and preliminary, involving only four patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
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• Mercury Makes Rare Transit In Front Of Sun

  09-05-2016 16:49
  
  Mercury only passes in front of the Sun a few times every century, and the last time was a decade ago. The celestial event is visible from most of Western Europe and North America on Monday 9 May between 12.12pm BST and 7.42pm BST. The simplest way to see it is to watch one of the various live streams, such as those from the  European Space Agency  or  NASA .
  
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• Flower-Shaped Cataract Forms in Man's Eye After Bike Accident

  09-05-2016 16:49
  
  Traumatic cataracts form because, when the eye receives a blow, shock waves travel through the eye, damaging the lens and causing it to become opaque in some regions, Dr. Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told Live Science in a 2013 interview. The Indian man was advised to have cataract surgery, but he has not yet undergone the procedure, the researchers said. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+.
  
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• Japanese artist found guilty of obscenity over digital files of vagina

  09-05-2016 16:27 via cbc.ca
  
  A Tokyo court ruled Monday that vagina-shaped objects created by a Japanese artist qualify as art, but found her guilty of obscenity for distributing digital data that could be used to make a three-dimensional recreation of her genitalia.
  
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• Baby selected with pioneering IVF screening born in UK

  09-05-2016 16:01
  
  The new treatment can boost the chance of pregnancy for women in their mid-30s to almost 80%.
  
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• The Universe Has Probably Hosted Many Alien Civilizations: Study

  09-05-2016 15:15
  Many other planets throughout the universe probably hosted intelligent life long before Earth did, a new study suggests. The probability of a civilization developing on a potentially habitable alien planet would have to be less than one in 10 billion trillion — or one part in 10 to the 22nd power — for humanity to be the first technologically advanced species the cosmos has ever known, according to the study. "To me, this implies that other intelligent, technology-producing species v
  
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• New Tech Will Pin Down Earth's Position in Space and Time

  09-05-2016 15:14
  
  Earlier this year, NASA and several partners successfully tested new technology that will make it easier to measure Earth's position in space and time. The work will improve navigation of space missions and geophysical studies of Earth, agency officials said. "The successful tests demonstrate the viability of the new broadband antenna technology for making the kinds of observations needed for improved accuracy in measurements of the very-fine-scale shape of Earth," Benjamin Phillips, who leads N
  
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• Mercury Transit Timeline: The Stages of Today's Rare Celestial Sight

  09-05-2016 15:14
  
  Mercury will cross the sun's face from Earth's perspective Monday (May 9) for the first time since 2006, and the last until 2019. The Slooh Community Observatory will host a free, live webcast of the Mercury transit from 7 a.m. EDT to 2:45 p.m. EDT (1100 to 1745 GMT). Here's how the transit will proceed as seen by SDO, according to Dean Pesnell, project scientist for the spacecraft at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
  
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• Philippines' Duterte says would seek multilateral South China Sea talks

  09-05-2016 15:08
  DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters) - Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that if he became Philippine president he would call for multilateral talks to resolve disputes over the South China Sea, which should include the United States and Japan as well as rival claimants. Duterte also said China should respect the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the waters off its coast and, instead of facing off, the two countries could work together in exploiting offshore oil and gas as joint-venture partners. "If
  
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• Canada's bionic man: former Paralympic athlete to compete in first 'cyborg Olympics'

  09-05-2016 13:30 via cbc.ca
  
  You could call him Canada's bionic man. Danny Letain, who is originally from northwestern Ontario, is about to compete at the world's first Cybathlon — or "cyborg Olympics" — this fall in Switzerland.
  
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• Splat! Paintball Blow Causes Liver Damage in Teen

  09-05-2016 13:22
  A game of paintball had an unfortunate ending when a teen in England wound up needing liver surgery after being struck in the abdomen, according to a new report of the young man's case. The injury was the first instance of a person suffering liver damage from playing paintball, the doctors who treated the teen wrote in their report of his case, published May 5 in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Based on the patient's symptoms, the doctors there diagnosed him with appendicitis.
  
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• Communicating covertly goes quantum

  09-05-2016 13:00
  Researchers are working to make quantum messages that are undetectable.
  
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• Mercury makes rare move across the sun

  09-05-2016 12:14
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Mercury makes a relatively rare move across the sun Monday.
  
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• IAEA head says concerned about North Korea's continued nuclear activities

  09-05-2016 11:53
  CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - North Korea's continued nuclear activities are of "great concern" to the region and beyond, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters on Monday. IAEA director Yukiya Amano said the agency did not have an inspector on the ground in the state and was monitoring it using satellite imagery. At a ruling party congress being held in Pyongyang, North Korea said it will strengthen its self-defensive nuclear weapons capability in defiance of U.N. resol
  
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• Environment Canada study finds land-based fish farms affecting ecosystem

  09-05-2016 11:45 via cbc.ca
  
  A Environment Canada study looking at the environmental impacts on organisms near Nova Scotia hatcheries has found some negative effects on downstream ecosystems.
  
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• 520-Million-Year-Old Fossil Larva Preserved in 3D

  09-05-2016 11:38
  
  This is the first fossil of its kind to be found at Chengjiang since the site's discovery in 1984, according to Yu Liu, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. In fact, it was the shape of those appendages in the larva fossil that helped the scientists with their identification, Liu told Live Science in an email. "As you may imagine, the chance of finding a fossil is not very high," Liu told Live Science.
  
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• Oldest Crystals on Earth Originated in Asteroid Craters

  09-05-2016 11:35
  
  The oldest pieces of rock on Earth, zircon crystals, may have formed in craters left by asteroid impacts early in the planet's life. Since the Earth itself is just over 4.5 billion years old, these ancient crystals can offer insight into the planet's history. Fifteen years ago, the crystals first made headlines, when research into the rocks' formation revealed the presence of water on Earth's surface soon after the planet formed.
  
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• Head Games: This Male Spider Is an Oral Sex Champ

  09-05-2016 11:34
  
  The Darwin's bark spider exhibited a "rich sexual repertoire," the scientists wrote. It's an essential reproductive technique, typically driven by sexual dimorphism — significant physical differences between the sexes. "Sexual dimorphism — especially size dimorphism in general — is linked to bizarre sexual behaviors," Matjaž Gregori?, the study's lead author, told Live Science in an email.
  
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• No, Mercury Retrograde Will Not Mess Up Your Life

  09-05-2016 11:32
  
  For people of the astrological persuasion, few planetary trends are as noteworthy as Mercury in retrograde. The common astrological advice for people during Mercury retrograde is to avoid starting anything new and to focus instead on reassessment, mimicking the way the planet appears to be retracing its own movements. In 2016, Mercury retrograde will occur four times, totaling about 80 days.
  
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• Fearsome Dinosaur-Age 'Hammerhead' Reptile Ate … Plants?

  09-05-2016 11:32
  
  Despite its rows and rows of chisel- and needle-like teeth, a newly described prehistoric marine reptile wasn't a fearsome predator but rather an herbivorous giant that acted like a lawnmower for the sea, a new study finds. It's also the earliest herbivorous marine reptile on record by about 8 million years, they said. "I haven't seen anything like it before," said study co-researcher Olivier Rieppel, the Rowe family curator of evolutionary biology at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chica
  
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• We recycle everything, so why not our old socks and worn jeans?

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  We recycle a lot in our communities. We sort metal, glass, plastic and paper and leave everything from organics to electronics at the curb. But what about those holey, orphaned socks or threadbare blue jeans? Where should those end up? The CBC's Havard Gould set out to find out.
  
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• Textiles are the next frontier in recycling for cities looking to cut waste

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  We recycle a lot in our communities. We sort metal, glass, plastic and paper and leave everything from organics to electronics at the curb. But what about those holey, orphaned socks or threadbare blue jeans? Where should those end up? The CBC's Havard Gould set out to find out.
  
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• Sometimes it takes a disaster like Fort McMurray to make us prepare for the next one: Don Pittis

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Experts complain that we just don't listen when they warn about the potential impact of natural disasters. As Don Pittis writes, perhaps a disaster like Fort McMurray is needed to make us change our ways.
  
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• Mercury makes rare transit of the sun today

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A rare view of Mercury as it crosses in front of the sun will be possible today. And if you can't get access to a solar-filter telescope, here's how to catch the event online.
  
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• Mercury is crossing the face of the sun now

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  The planet Mercury is making its way across the face of the sun - a rare sight. And if you can't get access to a solar-filter telescope, here's how to catch the event online.
  
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• Mercury completes rare journey across face of the sun

  09-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadians got a rare view of Mercury as it crossed in front of the sun today.
  
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