Science news

• The SpaceX Dragon has returned to Earth and has brought home the bacon...

  11-05-2016 23:09
  
  British astronaut Timothy Peake bid farewell to Dragon on behalf of the station’s six-man crew.
  
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• Splashdown! SpaceX Dragon returns to Earth with precious cargo

  11-05-2016 22:46
  
  A SpaceX capsule has returned to Earth with precious science samples from Nasa's one-year space station resident.
  
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• Tech employees in China work, eat and sleep at the office

  11-05-2016 22:26 via cbc.ca
  
  China's technology sector is booming and many startup firms can't hire staff fast enough, forcing workers to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines.
  
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• SpaceX Dragon returns to Earth with precious science load

  11-05-2016 22:01
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A SpaceX capsule returned to Earth on Wednesday with precious science samples from NASA's one-year space station resident.
  
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• Study: Bakken oil field leaks 275,000 tons of methane yearly

  11-05-2016 21:44
  A new study says the oil-producing region of North Dakota and Montana leaks 275,000 tons of methane annually, an amount that's less than previously reported. Researchers say it's the first field study ...
  
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• Intelligent design professor earns tenure at Ball State

  11-05-2016 20:58
  MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Ball State University in Indiana has granted tenure to a faculty member who was ordered to stop teaching intelligent design in a science course.
  
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• A breath test for malaria

  11-05-2016 20:54
  
  ST. LOUIS, (Reuters) - Diagnosing malaria may soon be as easy taking a simple breath test, according to researchers.  
  
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• Brain scans find protein a marker of Alzheimer's decline

  11-05-2016 20:29
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists are peeking inside living brains to watch for the first time as a toxic duo of plaques and tangles interact to drive Alzheimer's disease — and those tangles may predict early symptoms, a finding with implications for better treatments.
  
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• Islamic State yearly oil revenue halved to $250 million - U.S. official

  11-05-2016 20:27
  By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air strikes, a drop in the price of oil, and counter-smuggling efforts by neighbouring countries have combined to cut Islamic State's oil revenues in half to about $250 million (£172.8 million) per year, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Wednesday. The U.S. military launched an intensified effort in October to go after its oil infrastructure in hopes of cutting funding to the group, which U.S. officials call the wealthiest terrorist group of
  
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• Astronomers Find More Than 1,000 New Planets

  11-05-2016 20:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The Kepler mission’s announcement of 1,284 worlds previews the overwhelming number of planetary discoveries to come
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• Swiss town said to be first to accept bitcoin payments

  11-05-2016 19:41 via cbc.ca
  
  A Swiss town that is billing itself as a hub for the digital currency industry will accept bitcoin for some payments starting this summer, in what proponents call a worldwide first by a government body and a sign that 'crypto finance' is growing in legitimacy.
  
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• Ultra-fast hyperloop transportation technology tested successfully

  11-05-2016 19:08 via cbc.ca
  
  Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles company working to develop futuristic transportation technology, conducted a successful test of its high speed transportation technology Wednesday in the desert outside Las Vegas
  
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• Ultra-fast hyperloop transportation technology test happens today

  11-05-2016 19:08 via cbc.ca
  
  The hyperloop high-speed transportation system may be a step closer to reality as Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One prepares for its first major propulsion test in the Nevada desert today.
  
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• This week in Zika: First mouse study proof that Zika causes microcephaly

  11-05-2016 19:00
  
  Three new studies in mice shore up the link between microcephaly and Zika virus infection.
  
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• Physicists smash particle imitators

  11-05-2016 19:00
  
  A new quasiparticle collider smashes together the faux-particles that appear in solid materials.
  
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• Rogers to shutter Mobilicity, move customers to Chatr

  11-05-2016 18:35 via cbc.ca
  
  Almost a year after buying it for $465 million, Rogers will pull the plug on Mobilicity and move all of the discount wireless company's 154,000 customers to its own discount brand, Chatr.
  
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• 135 new research jobs in Fisheries and Oceans Canada hiring blitz

  11-05-2016 18:25 via cbc.ca
  
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada says it will hire 135 research scientists, biologists, oceanographers and technicians in its largest single recruitment toward restoring ocean science.
  
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• Future of farming: University of Regina students create winning self-driving seeder

  11-05-2016 18:01 via cbc.ca
  
  Three University of Regina engineering students’ hard work planted the seeds for a victory at the 2016 agBOT Challenge in Rockville, Ind. on May 7.
  
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• Experts question Quebec teen's possible discovery of lost Mayan city

  11-05-2016 17:46 via cbc.ca
  
  Archaeologist are raising doubts about findings put forward by a 15-year-old boy from Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Que., who believes he discovered what could be the ruins of a lost 4,600-year-old city in Mexico.
  
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• Yoga May Improve Memory Better Than Brain Training

  11-05-2016 17:35
  The study involved 25 adults ages 55 and over who had mild cognitive impairment, or problems with thinking and memory that sometimes precede Alzheimer's disease. The participants were randomly assigned to complete either a three-month course in yoga and meditation, or to practice memory-training exercises, consisting of skills and tricks already known to boost memory. At the end of the study, the two groups saw similar improvements in their verbal memory, which is the type of memory used when pe
  
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• The Weird History of Gender-Segregated Bathrooms

  11-05-2016 17:34
  In North Carolina and other states, a new culture war has erupted. In March, North Carolina enacted a law (colloquially known as HB2) that requires that people use only bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates. Gender-segregated public restrooms are either very old or very new, depending on how you look at the question.
  
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• Invisible 'Second Skin' Can Smooth Out Wrinkles and Eye Bags

  11-05-2016 17:34
  A new, invisible "second skin" may help to restore healthy, youthful skin to older faces, according to a new study. The artificial skin — made of a silicone polymer and applied in a two-step process of spreading two creams onto the skin — can tighten a person's real skin  and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and under-eye bags, according to the findings, published today (May 9) in the journal Nature Materials. One day, the second skin could be used to help people with certain s
  
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• Does Driving High on Marijuana Increase Fatal Crashes?

  11-05-2016 17:34
  The percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had traces of marijuana in their blood has doubled since marijuana was legalized in Washington state, a new study suggests. "Marijuana use in driving is a growing, contributing factor to fatal crashes," said Jake Nelson, the director of traffic safety advocacy and research at the American Automobile Association (AAA) said. The findings, which were released by the (AAA), suggest that states that have legalized marijuana use need better rules
  
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• Why Power Corrupts: Blame Bad Examples, Study Says

  11-05-2016 17:33
  As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility — and yet it seems like so many powerful people use their power for evil, not good. (Take, for example, all the global leaders mentioned in the Panama Papers.) But a new study suggests that tweaking how powerful people think about their power could affect how they act.
  
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• Getting High on Anti-Diarrhea Drug Can Kill

  11-05-2016 17:33
  
  Some people are taking extremely large doses of the anti-diarrhea medication Imodium in an attempt to get high, or to self-treat an addiction to painkillers, in what experts call a dangerous but growing trend. A new report describes two cases of people who died after overdosing on Imodium, also called loperamide, which is sold over-the-counter. "People looking for either self-treatment of withdrawal symptoms [for opioid addiction] or euphoria are overdosing on loperamide with sometimes deadly co
  
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• Black Henna Tattoos Can Cause Severe Skin Reactions, Case Shows

  11-05-2016 17:32
  A British boy who got a temporary tattoo while on vacation in Spain came home with an unusual souvenir from his trip: a severe allergic reaction to his body art, a new case report shows. "Black henna" tattoo ink is typically a combination of henna, a relatively safe plant pigment that has a reddish-brown color, and a chemical called para-phenylenediamine (PPD). This textile dye is added to blacken the henna and make the tattoo dry quicker and last longer, the case report said.
  
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• SpaceX Dragon departs space station to head home with cargo

  11-05-2016 17:31
  
  A SpaceX capsule is heading back to Earth with precious science samples from Nasa's one-year space station resident.
  
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• Hair Spray vs. Ozone? Trump Makes Outdated Complaint

  11-05-2016 17:30
  At a rally on Thursday in West Virginia, presidential candidate Donald Trump aired grievances over a product that appears to play a role in his daily life: hair spray. 
  
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• Cheaper fibre internet may be on way after cabinet rejects Bell appeal

  11-05-2016 17:16 via cbc.ca
  
  The federal cabinet is supporting a CRTC decision that forces Canada's big Internet providers to share their high-speed infrastructure with smaller carriers at a wholesale cost.
  
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• Teen discovers an ancient Mayan city deep within a Mexican jungle

  11-05-2016 17:02
  
  The 15-year-old Canadian studied star constellations to hone in on the site of the long-lost city.
  
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• Surprising Geysers on Saturn Moon Enceladus Hint at Plumbing Mystery

  11-05-2016 15:45
  
  A small water jet on Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, spews its fiercest eruptions when the moon is farthest from the planet, a new study suggests, but the overall gas output doesn't increase much during that time. The surprise observation came after looking at the moon using the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft in March. Enceladus is considered a prime potential location for life because under its icy surface is a global, salty water-ocean that could have the right ingredients for microbes.
  
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• See SpaceX's Epic Ocean Rocket Landing From 3 Angles (Video)

  11-05-2016 15:45
  
  On Friday (May 6), SpaceX brought the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket down softly on a robotic ship called "Of Course I Still Love You," which was stationed a few hundred miles off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The touchdown came during SpaceX's launch of the communications satellite JCSAT-14 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The booster stage was therefore coming back down at a much greater speed than during SpaceX's one previous successful ocean landing, which occ
  
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• Rare Mercury Transit Thrills Skywatchers Around the World (Photos)

  11-05-2016 15:45
  
  Mercury crossed the sun's face from Earth's perspective for the first time in a decade Monday (May 9), and skywatchers around the world took in the rare celestial sight. Observers around the world were ready, and many of them captured stunning shots that showed Mercury as a tiny black dot against the huge, blazing backdrop of the sun. "To my pleasant surprise, the conditions improved a bit when the sun became bright to provide just enough clouds to act as a solar filter, allowing me to see
  
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• Pluto's Moon Hydra Sheathed in Ultraclean Water Ice

  11-05-2016 15:45
  
  The incredible purity of the ice on Hydra helps to explain the high reflectivity that scientists noticed from earlier New Horizons data, NASA officials said. Although Charon is also covered in water ice, it's contaminated with darker material that has accumulated over time on the surface, making Charon less reflective, according to NASA.
  
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• SpaceX Dragon Cargo Ship Headed Home from Space Station

  11-05-2016 15:34
  
  SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule has left the International Space Station and is headed back to Earth. Dragon is scheduled to make a parachute-aided splashdown today at 2:55 p.m. EDT (1855 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, where it will be retrieved via boat by SpaceX personnel. "Dragon spacecraft has served us well, and it's good to see it departing full of science, and we wish it a safe recovery back to planet Earth," British astronaut Tim Peake said from aboard the
  
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• SpaceX Dragon departs space station, heads home with cargo

  11-05-2016 15:31
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A SpaceX capsule is headed back to Earth with precious science samples from NASA's one-year spaceman.
  
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• How giant blimps could help solve Canada's Indigenous housing crisis

  11-05-2016 15:22 via cbc.ca
  
  A Montreal company says it can help solve the housing crisis in Canada's north by using its fleet of giant blimps to ship pre-fabricated houses to remote communities that can't be accessed by plane or truck.
  
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• The Mysteries of Firefly Sex: A Scientist's Notes from the Field [Excerpt]

  11-05-2016 15:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Biologist Sara Lewis recalls her first look at a firefly’s bizarre reproductive anatomy in this excerpt from her new book
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• The Mysteries of Firefly Sex: A Scientist's Notes from the Field [Book Excerpt]

  11-05-2016 15:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Biologist Sara Lewis recalls her first look at a firefly’s bizarre reproductive anatomy in this excerpt from her new book
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Russia boosts power supplies to annexed Crimea

  11-05-2016 15:14
  Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw on Wednesday the launch of a fourth and final electricity line from Russia to Crimea, which will almost completely end the peninsula's reliance on the Ukrainian grid for its power. Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in March 2014 following the flight of pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich from Kiev as a result of violent street protests. The peninsula has since suffered massive and prolonged power blackouts due to disruption of power f
  
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• Egyptian Mummy's Symbolic Tattoos Are 1st of Their Kind

  11-05-2016 15:06
  
  More than 3,000 years ago, an ancient Egyptian woman tattooed her body with dozens of symbols — including lotus blossoms, cows and divine eyes — that may have been linked to her religious status or her ritual practice. The mummy was found at a site on the west bank of the Nile River known as Deir el-Medina, a village dating to between 1550 B.C. and 1080 B.C. that housed artisans and workers who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Stanford University bioarchaeologist Ann
  
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• Chunks of Earth's Mantle Are 'Peeling Off'

  11-05-2016 14:55
  
  An odd phenomenon may explain why the Southeastern United States has experienced recent earthquakes, even though the region sits snugly in the middle of a tectonic plate and not at the edges, where all the ground-shaking action usually happens. This seismicity — or relatively frequent earthquakes — may be the result of areas along the bottom of the North American tectonic plate peeling off, the researchers said. To figure out the cause of these earthquakes, Berk Biryol, a seismologis
  
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• 'Breathing' Volcano: How Scientists Captured This Awesome Animation

  11-05-2016 14:55
  
  Mount Etna seems to breathe in a NASA animation showing how changes in the volcano's magma chamber deform the ground around the mountain. Mount Etna is an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote of Etna's eruptions in his "Bibliotheca historica," a series of volumes written between 60 B.C. and 30 B.C.
  
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• Syrian Antiquities Import Restrictions Are Law, But Will They Work?

  11-05-2016 14:53
  
  President Barack Obama signed a bill that puts new restrictions on imports of antiquities from Syria in an effort to stem terrorists' trade in looted artifacts. Syria's archaeological sites have been heavily looted as the groups fighting in Syria's civil war, including the Islamic State group (also called ISIS) and the al- Qaida-allied "al-Nusra Front," have pillaged and sold Syrian artifacts to buy weapons and ammunition, according to news reports. Since the start of the Syrian civil
  
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• Vultures are vulnerable to extinction

  11-05-2016 14:36
  
  Life history makes vultures more vulnerable to extinction than other birds, a new study finds, but humankind’s poisons are helping them to their end.
  
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• It's not just Alberta: Fires fuelled by warming climate are increasing

  11-05-2016 14:18 via cbc.ca
  
  Alberta's unusually early and large fire is just the latest of many gargantuan fires on an Earth that's grown hotter with more extreme weather, scientists say.
  
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• Shallow quake hits Tibet, causing landslides, 60 hurt

  11-05-2016 12:06
  BEIJING (AP) — A shallow magnitude-5.5 earthquake struck the mountainous region of Tibet on Wednesday, injuring 60 people, collapsing houses and damaging bridges and roads, authorities said.
  
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• Netflix border-hopping crackdown hurts VPN users seeking privacy, advocacy group says

  11-05-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A Canadian internet advocacy group is fighting back against Netflix’s recent crackdown on cross-border watchers. Vancouver-based Open Media argues the clampdown unfairly targets people who value their privacy online.
  
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• UK's first-ever robot will be brought back to life after mysterious disappearance

  11-05-2016 10:45
  
  The robot, named Eric, was one of the first robots built when it was made in 1928.
  
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• U2 fans could help develop emotion-led playlists as researchers study tribute videos

  11-05-2016 09:52
  
  “Although music holds no emotion in itself, it can elicit very deep emotions in listeners.”
  
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