Science news

• South Pole rescue flight of 2 sick workers leaves Antarctica

  22-06-2016 23:36
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A small plane with two sick U.S. workers left Antarctica on Wednesday in a daring rescue mission from a remote South Pole research station, officials said.
  
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• Ottawa issues emergency protection order for rare Quebec frog

  22-06-2016 23:05 via cbc.ca
  
  For only the second time since the Species at Risk Act was passed in 2002, an emergency protection order has been issued by the federal government — this time for a Quebec frog with a rapidly dwindling habitat.
  
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• NASA scientists discover unexpected mineral on Mars

  22-06-2016 23:04
  Scientists have discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample at Gale Crater on Mars, a finding that may alter our understanding of how the planet evolved.
  
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• The Latest: South Pole medical rescue flight heads to Chile

  22-06-2016 22:48
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the rescue of two ailing workers from the U.S. research station at the South Pole (all times EDT):
  
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• Rates of nonmedical prescription opioid use, opioid use disorder double in 10 years

  22-06-2016 22:43
  Nonmedical use of prescription opioids more than doubled among adults in the United States from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013, based on a new American study.
  
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• New origins for farmed rice discovered

  22-06-2016 22:43
  Chew on this: rice farming is a far older practice than we knew. In fact, the oldest evidence of domesticated rice has just been found in China, and it's about 9,000 years old.
  
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• Gender gap found in cardiac arrest care, outcomes

  22-06-2016 22:43
  Women treated at a hospital after cardiac arrest may be less likely than men to receive potentially life-saving procedures. The number of cardiac arrest patients treated at hospitals increased and in-hospital death rates have fallen for both sexes, however women were less likely to survive, according to a new study.
  
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• Drug monitoring programs reduce opioid deaths, study shows

  22-06-2016 22:43
  The implementation of state prescription drug monitoring programs was associated with the prevention of approximately one opioid-related overdose death every two hours on average nationwide, according to a new study.
  
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• Digital strategies show promise for emergency heart and stroke care

  22-06-2016 22:43
  A new scientific statement reviews current research on the effectiveness and safety of using mobile devices, social media, visual media and crowdsourcing to improve emergency heart and stroke treatments.
  
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• U.S. hopes for 'group of friends' to help Venezuela

  22-06-2016 21:58
  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington has high hopes for an Organization of American States meeting on Venezuela on Thursday, which could lead to the formation of an alliance of interested nations to help resolve its crisis, a top State Department official said. "Tomorrow's meeting is in our view a very important meeting," Annie Pforzheimer, acting deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, testified at a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on Wednesday
  
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• New Recipe for Gravitational Waves Calls for Early Double Stars

  22-06-2016 21:19
  
  Take two massive stars, collapse them into black holes, bake for 10 billion years, and combine. New work shows that that the two stars — the seeds for the first gravitational wave detection — became black holes only a few million years after their birth, then merged more than 10 billion years later. To figure out the primary ingredients of the gravitational waves detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2015 (and reported this
  
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• Feds: Drought kills 66 million trees in California's Sierra

  22-06-2016 21:17
  
  FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The number of trees in California's Sierra Nevada forests killed by drought, a bark beetle epidemic and warmer temperatures has dramatically increased since last year, raising fears they will fuel catastrophic wildfires and endanger people's lives, officials said Wednesday.
  
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• U.S. envoy talks with Venezuela's president Maduro amid crisis

  22-06-2016 21:13
  By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Veteran U.S. diplomat Tom Shannon met with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday to re-start talks between the ideologically-opposed governments amid a punishing economic crisis in the South American OPEC nation. Shannon, who led a similar rapprochement last year that stalled over the jailing of protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, also met with opposition figures on his visit to Caracas. During 17 years of socialist rule under Madur
  
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• Coral bleaching event is longest on record

  22-06-2016 21:11
  
  Widespread coral bleaching continues, in the longest episode, over the largest area to date.
  
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• The universe: Learning about the future from the distant past

  22-06-2016 20:54
  Our universe came to life nearly 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang -- a tremendously energetic fireball from which the cosmos has been expanding ever since. Today, space is filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies, including our solar system's own galactic home, the Milky Way. But how exactly did the infant universe develop into its current state, and what does it tell us about our future?
  
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• How made-in-Canada technology may end the killing of millions of male chicks

  22-06-2016 20:54 via cbc.ca
  
  Millions of fuzzy, yellow male chicks are killed every year as part of egg production. But new technology being developed at McGill University could soon put an end to "chick culling," CBC Radio food columnist Khalil Akhtar reports.
  
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• 94 million-year-old climate change event holds clues for future

  22-06-2016 20:54
  A major climate event millions of years ago that caused substantial change to the ocean’s ecological systems may hold clues as to how the Earth will respond to future climate change, a researcher said.
  
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• The universe is crowded with black holes, astronomers predict

  22-06-2016 20:49
  Astronomers have presented one of the most complete models of matter in the universe and predict hundreds of massive black hole mergers each year observable with the second generation of gravitational wave detectors.
  
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• Teachers optimistic about Common Core writing standards, but not tests

  22-06-2016 20:49
  Teachers believe the Common Core standards in their states can improve how they teach writing, but they also find plenty of shortcomings with the standards -- and with the associated state writing tests in particular, new research shows.
  
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• New system that uses sound to alleviate water shortage

  22-06-2016 20:49
  New research shows how a special tool called a noise logger can detect leaks accurately and efficiently, before major roadwork is required.
  
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• How huanglongbing affects oranges' detachment force, fruit properties

  22-06-2016 20:49
  Researchers evaluated the effects of huanglongbing (HLB) symptom severity on fruit detachment force and fruit mechanical properties in sweet oranges as indicators of potential HLB-influenced preharvest fruit drop and postharvest damage and breakdown. Analyses showed that fruits from severely HLB-symptomatic sweet orange trees are more likely to have problems with preharvest fruit drop and postharvest pressure damage and breakdown, but may have less puncture damage in harvesting, transportation,
  
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• Bioplastic, biofabric tested for cucumber production

  22-06-2016 20:49
  Trials in field and high tunnel cucumber cropping systems compared performance and decomposition (after use) among two bioplastic films and four experimental spunbond, nonwoven biofabrics. Results suggested that biofabrics would be most useful to growers when soil warming is not necessary (e.g., in warm climates), but when moisture conservation and weed control are critical. Permeable biofabrics may also be useful to growers who are dependent on sprinkler irrigation or rainfall to meet crop wate
  
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• As Alaska warms, methane emissions appear stable

  22-06-2016 20:49
  Analysis of nearly three decades of air samples from Alaska's North Slope shows little change in long-term methane emissions despite significant Arctic warming over that time period, according to new research.
  
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• Study addresses safety concerns for older adults with diagnosed, undiagnosed dementia

  22-06-2016 20:48
  Researchers have examined how often older adults who have diagnosed and undiagnosed dementia engage in potentially unsafe activities.
  
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• Rare moth in severe decline at its last English site

  22-06-2016 20:48
  Numbers of a rare species of moth -- found only in York in England -- have tumbled in recent years, a team of scientists has discovered. The Dark Bordered Beauty (Epione vespertaria) is found on Strensall Common, an area of protected lowland heath near York. This is the last known English site for the moth, although there is a handful of populations in Scotland, where the moth is also rare.
  
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• Memory loss caused by West Nile virus explained

  22-06-2016 20:48
  Thousands of West Nile virus survivors live with neurological problems such as memory loss that last for years. New research shows that these long-term problems may be due to the patient's own immune system destroying parts of their neurons, which suggests that intervening in the immune response may help prevent brain damage or help patients recover.
  
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• Compound shown to reduce brain damage caused by anesthesia in early study

  22-06-2016 20:48
  An experimental drug prevented learning deficits in young mice exposed repeatedly to anesthesia, researchers report. The study results may have implications for children who must have several surgeries, and so are exposed repeatedly to general anesthesia. Past studies have linked such exposure to a higher incidence of learning disabilities, attention deficits and hyperactivity.
  
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• Young bowhead whales may cease growing lengthwise to grow head and baleen plates

  22-06-2016 20:46
  Young bowhead whales may cease growing lengthwise and undergo severe bone loss to help grow their enormous head and baleen plates, according to a study.
  
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• The world's oldest farmers were insects

  22-06-2016 20:46
  An international team of researchers has discovered the oldest fossil evidence of agriculture, not by humans, but by insects.
  
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• Particle zoo in a quantum computer

  22-06-2016 20:46
  Physicists in Innsbruck have realized the first quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories, building a bridge between high-energy theory and atomic physics. Research teams describe how they simulated the creation of elementary particle pairs out of the vacuum by using a quantum computer.
  
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• New knowledge about DNA repair can be turned into cancer inhibitors

  22-06-2016 20:46
  A molecular mechanism that reads so-called epigenetic information and boosts repair of lesions in our DNA has been discovered by scientists. This knowledge can be used to develop new targeted cancer treatment in which 'inhibitor molecules' can prevent cancer cells from repairing themselves, they report.
  
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• Has breast MRI been performed upside down?

  22-06-2016 20:46
  A new phase 1 clinical trial evaluated the differences between pre-operative prone and supine MRI exams in 12 women undergoing lumpectomy for breast cancer. Researchers demonstrated that considerable deformity of the breast and tumor position occurs when patients are imaged in the prone position.
  
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• Contagious cancers are spreading among several species of shellfish

  22-06-2016 20:46
  Direct transmission of cancer among marine animals may be much more common than once thought, new research suggests. The cancer, known as disseminated neoplasia, is a leukemia-like disease that affects bivalves in many parts of the world.
  
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• Canada spends over $400 million on medicine that harms seniors

  22-06-2016 20:46
  Canada spends more than $400 million annually on drugs prescribed to seniors even though the medicines should be avoided for older patients, according to new research.
  
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• APNewsBreak New technology speeds massive coral reef survey

  22-06-2016 20:43
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — Scientists using facial recognition technology and 360-degree underwater photos said Wednesday they have developed new software to quickly assess coral bleaching and other damage to the world's imperiled reefs.
  
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• Sleeping Black Hole Awakens to Devour Doomed Star

  22-06-2016 20:20
  
  A sleeping giant at the center of a galaxy has awoken: A normally dormant, monster black hole has been found shredding a star that ventured too close to the cosmic beast.
  
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• Scientists discover 1st contagious cancer that can spread between species

  22-06-2016 19:19 via cbc.ca
  
  Contagious cancers are a scary idea to begin with, but scientists have made some startling new discoveries about them – they are likely more common in nature than originally thought, and some can even spread between species.
  
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• Fido and Fluffy could unleash drug-resistant microbes

  22-06-2016 18:52
  
  After discovering resistant microbes in pets, scientists worry about the role of companion animals in the spread of resistant urinary infections.
  
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• Tough gun laws in Australia eliminate mass shootings

  22-06-2016 17:54
  
  Following the 1996 implementation of strict gun control laws in Australia, the country has not experienced any mass shootings.
  
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• New clues to COPD linked to proteostasis imbalance caused by cigarette smoke

  22-06-2016 17:51
  Free radicals can reach the endoplasmic reticulum, a cellular organelle that is critical in manufacturing and transporting fats, steroids, hormones and various proteins, and alter its function by oxidizing and damaging its most abundant and crucial to protein folding chaperone, Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDI).
  
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• Get a clue: Biochemist studies fruit fly to understand Parkinson's disease, muscle wasting

  22-06-2016 17:51
  By studying the fruit fly, researchers have found a connection between a gene called clueless and genes that cause Parkinson's disease.
  
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• Opportunists with a home advantage

  22-06-2016 17:49
  Preferred food, territories or mating opportunities - reasons for conflicts between neighboring groups are manifold in social living animals. Confrontations with conspecifics of neighboring groups are often hostile and members of the same group defend their territory cooperatively. However, common defense presents also a collective action problem: Not all group members participate in each conflict, but still enjoy the benefits of a joint territory. In order to examine which factors influence par
  
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• Understanding how chemical changes in the brain affect Alzheimer's disease

  22-06-2016 17:48
  A new study is helping to explain why the long-term use of common anticholinergic drugs used to treat conditions like allergies and overactive bladder lead to an increased risk of developing dementia later in life. The study used mouse models to show that long-term suppression of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine -- a target for anticholinergic drugs -- results in dementia-like changes in the brain.
  
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• Lizard tail adaptations may reflect predators' color vision capabilities

  22-06-2016 17:48
  Juveniles of numerous lizard species have a vividly blue-colored tail that likely serves to deflect predator attacks toward the detachable tail rather than the lizard's body. Now researchers have found that certain differences in blue and UV light reflectance in lizard tails are likely adaptations to predators with different color vision capabilities.
  
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• Wild boars and wart hogs may have an internal compass

  22-06-2016 17:47
  New research suggests for the first time that wild boars and wart hogs have an internal magnetic compass that helps them orient themselves as they forage for food and inhabit new areas.
  
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• New heart failure therapy could prevent substantial number of deaths, study finds

  22-06-2016 17:47
  A study estimates that almost 28,500 deaths could be prevented each year in the US through use of a new FDA-approved class of cardiovascular medication that helps reduce mortality in patients diagnosed with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction, the percentage of blood pumped from the heart with each contraction.
  
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• Blacks with AFib at greater risk for adverse outcomes

  22-06-2016 17:47
  Blacks with atrial fibrillation have nearly double the risk of stroke, heart failure, coronary heart disease and mortality from all causes than their white counterparts, new research shows.
  
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• Novel combination therapy shows strong response in phase 1 trial

  22-06-2016 17:00
  A phase 1 clinical trial testing a novel combination therapy slowed the growth of cancer in the majority of trial participants.
  
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• Neutralizing acidic forest soils boosts tree growth, causes spike in nitrogen export

  22-06-2016 17:00
  A legacy of acid rain has acidified forest soils throughout the northeastern US, lowering the growth rate of trees. In an attempt to mitigate this trend, in 1999 scientists added calcium to an experimental forest in New Hampshire. Tree growth recovered, but a decade later there was a major increase in the nitrogen content of stream water draining the site.
  
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• Barrier screens reduce damage from brown marmorated stink bug

  22-06-2016 17:00
  Barrier screens with different mesh sizes were evaluated for their ability to exclude the brown marmorated stink bug, provide entry to beneficial species, and produce high marketable yield in organically grown bell peppers. Fine-mesh plots were determined to effectively exclude insects and reduce stink bug injury on peppers. For areas with smaller stink bug populations, lighter colored, and/or wider meshes were recommended, while finer meshes were found appropriate for areas with higher stink bu
  
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