Science news

• Juno Space Probe Nears Critical Phase

  04-07-2016 22:18
  
  The Juno space probe is nearing the most critical phase of its five-year mission to discover more about the planet Jupiter. If it succeeds, Juno will spend nearly 18 months discovering what is under the planet's thick clouds. It should also give scientists more information on Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot, a massive storm which has raged for hundreds of years.
  
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• 3 more wolves killed by train in Banff National Park

  04-07-2016 21:32 via cbc.ca
  
  Three more wolves have been killed by a freight train in Banff National Park, bringing the total number of wolf deaths in the park to five in the past four weeks.
  
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• NASA approves spacecraft's visit to mysterious Kuiper Belt object

  04-07-2016 20:58 via cbc.ca
  The first-ever spacecraft to get a close look at Pluto has been given the go-ahead to explore an even more mysterious object.
  
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• Red Planet Impact: Huge Moons May Have Crashed Into Mars

  04-07-2016 20:54
  
  The moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, may be the only survivors of a giant impact that created many short-lived, but now-absent moons around the Red Planet, a new study finds. Phobos and Deimos are both small for moons — about 14 and 7.7 miles (22.5 and 12.4 kilometers) wide, respectively — and sort of potato-shaped. As a result, astronomers previously hypothesized that these moons were asteroids captured by Mars' gravitational pull.
  
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• Cosmic Fireworks: Hubble Snaps Stunning Photo of 'Skyrocket' Galaxy

  04-07-2016 20:52
  
  The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning view of a fireworks display blazing up in deep space. "The dwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is tilted edge-on, it resembles a skyrocket, with a brilliant blazing head and a long, star-studded tail," officials with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates Hubble's science program, wrote in a statement.
  
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• Juno Probe's Jupiter Arrival Tonight Fraught With Peril

  04-07-2016 20:51
  
  The stakes and the risks are high for a NASA spacecraft's long-awaited arrival at Jupiter tonight (July 4). The Juno probe is scheduled to enter orbit around Jupiter tonight at 11:53 p.m. EDT (0353 GMT on Tuesday), after a crucial 35-minute engine burn. If something goes seriously wrong with this maneuver, Juno will sail right past the gas giant, and 15 years of mission planning will go out the window.
  
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• Fastest-Ever Spacecraft to Arrive at Jupiter Tonight

  04-07-2016 20:51
  
  NASA's Juno probe will attempt to slip into orbit around Jupiter tonight (July 4), shortly after becoming the fastest object ever made by human hands. As Juno nears Jupiter tonight, the giant planet's powerful gravity will accelerate the spacecraft to an estimated top speed of about 165,000 mph (265,000 km/h) relative to Earth, mission team members said. "I don't think we've had any human[-made] object that's moved that fast, that's left the Earth," Juno principal investigato
  
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• Juno mission: Jupiter probe on course for orbit manoeuvre

  04-07-2016 19:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US space agency says its Juno probe is in good shape as it prepares to orbit Jupiter and begin a survey of what lies beneath the giant planet's obscuring clouds.
  
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• Islamic State militants paid to stage bomb attacks in Iran - State TV

  04-07-2016 19:31
  A team of militants linked with Islamic State were paid 600,000 euros (£502,795) to carry out a bombing campaign at 50 locations in Tehran and other big cities in Iran, according to a documentary aired on Iranian state TV on Monday. Officials in predominantly Shi'ite Iran have said in recent weeks that Sunni militants from Islamic State are targeting the country. Two weeks ago, Iranian intelligence authorities said they had foiled a large-scale terrorist attack, arresting 10 militants, and
  
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• Terrence Malick's 'Voyage of Time' Highlights History of the Cosmos

  04-07-2016 19:14
  
  The documentary, "Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience," took Malick nearly four decades to complete, according to a press release accompanying a recently released trailer for the film. The trailer describes the movie as a documentary on the entire lifetime of the cosmos, and features absolutely gorgeous images showing stunning cosmic landscapes, amazing geologic formations and majestic living creatures. Actor Brad Pitt, who starred in Malick's 2011 film "Tree of Life," narrates the 40-minute gia
  
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• Plastic buckets, broken printers shine light on Hanoi's poor

  04-07-2016 19:00
  Vietnamese families living in slums along the Red River in Hanoi are using red plastic buckets and old printers to help light homes, cook meals and slash electricity costs by as much as a third. The recycled goods form the blades and motors of electrical generators that power old motorcycle batteries to illuminate lamps with a brightness equivalent to a 45-Watt light bulb. "It is enough to light the home of my family and other families around here," said Bui Van Ha, who earns about $4.50 a day o
  
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• This artist has literally made jewellery out of air - and we want some

  04-07-2016 18:52
  
  An artist has combined science, technology and a creative flare to transform pollution particles found in air into unusual jewellery pieces.
  
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• Rewarding stimulation boosts immune system

  04-07-2016 17:00
  
  Activating feel-good nerve cells boosts mice’s immunity, a new study suggests.
  
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• Mars once had many moons

  04-07-2016 17:00
  
  Mars moons might be the only two left of a larger family of satellites that helped them form in the wake of an asteroid collision.
  
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• World's largest radio telescope completed in China

  04-07-2016 16:34 via cbc.ca
  
  China on Sunday hoisted the final piece into position on what will be the world's largest radio telescope, which it will use to explore space and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life, state media said.
  
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• Chicago man pleads guilty to hacking into celebrity email accounts

  04-07-2016 14:40 via cbc.ca
  
  An Illinois man accused of breaking into the Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts of celebrities to obtain their private photos and videos has agreed to plead guilty to a felony computer hacking charge, prosecutors said on Friday.
  
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• Looking forward to Jupiter mission

  04-07-2016 13:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dr Chris Lintott explains why he's looking forward to Juno's arrival at Jupiter.
  
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• Juno Faces Moment of Truth at Jupiter

  04-07-2016 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Poised to enter Jovian orbit on July 4, the NASA spacecraft is set to probe the gas giant’s deepest mysteries
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• NASA's Juno spacecraft poised for attempt to orbit Jupiter

  04-07-2016 12:30 via cbc.ca
  
  A NASA spacecraft was poised for a one-shot attempt to slip into Jupiter's orbit on Monday for the start of a 20-month-long dance around the solar system's largest planet to learn how and where it formed.
  
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• 'Juno, welcome to Jupiter': NASA spacecraft now orbiting solar system's largest planet

  04-07-2016 12:30 via cbc.ca
  
  Braving intense radiation, a NASA spacecraft reached Jupiter on Monday after a five-year voyage to begin exploring the king of the planets.
  
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• Scientists look for 'foggiest places in Nova Scotia' for study

  04-07-2016 12:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A Dalhousie University research team is collaborating with Environment and Climate Change Canada to measure, count and chemically analyze the composition of fog particles.
  
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• The online shopping mystery: why don't we use our smartphones to buy stuff?

  04-07-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Just about everyone these days has a smartphone. Well over half of all internet traffic moves via mobile devices. But when it comes to online shopping, smartphones account for less than a third of all sales. And no one seems to know exactly why this is the case.
  
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• Subway system crawling with germs, but most are harmless, researchers say

  04-07-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Germaphobe commuters can relax. Subway surfaces are covered with normal bacteria from some surprising sources, say biologists who hope to use the information to build an early warning system for public health threats.
  
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• Bloodhound supersonic car project back on track

  04-07-2016 10:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Bloodhound supersonic car project is back on track thanks to new sponsorship, and now aims to break the land speed record in October 2017.
  
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• Womb scratch 'doubles the chances of a successful birth', but experts urge caution

  04-07-2016 09:24
  
  It isn’t a pleasant procedure.
  
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• NASA's Juno spacecraft prepares for cosmic date with Jupiter

  04-07-2016 09:08
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A solar-powered spacecraft is spinning toward Jupiter for the closest encounter with the biggest planet in our solar system.
  
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• First 6 months of 2016 hottest ever recorded in New Zealand

  04-07-2016 08:10
  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ski fields are struggling to open and winter electricity consumption is down in New Zealand after the first six months of 2016 proved to be the hottest start to a year that scientists have ever recorded.
  
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• Juno mission: Jupiter probe nears critical orbit manoeuvre

  04-07-2016 06:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US space agency will try shortly to put a satellite in orbit around Jupiter to sense what lies beneath the giant planet's obscuring clouds.
  
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• York chemists lead breakthrough in carbon capture

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (University of York) Scientists from the University of York have developed an innovative new green method of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power stations, chemical and other large scale manufacturing plants.
  
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• VIB researchers reveal new therapeutic avenue in the fight against cancer

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)) A team of researchers led by professor Jean-Christophe Marine (VIB-KU Leuven) has identified NEAT1, a non-coding RNA, as a potential therapeutic target in the fight against cancer. In collaboration with the renowned Cédric Blanpain lab (ULB), VIB researchers have shown that NEAT1 plays an important role in the survival of highly dividing cells -- and in particular of cancer cells. These findings can help develop new drugs that target NEAT1,
  
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• Three in four women starting fertility treatment will have a baby within five years

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) Three in four women starting fertility treatment will have a baby within five years, whether as a result of the treatment or following natural conception. The figures emerged from a large cohort study analysing the birth records of almost 20,000 women having fertility treatment in Denmark between 2007 and 2010. The majority of these women (57%) had their baby as a result of the treatment, but a significant proportion (14%) conceived spontan
  
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• Teaching drones about the birds and the bees

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Society for Experimental Biology) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) of the future will be able to visually coordinate their flight and navigation just like birds and flying insects do, without needing human input, radar or even GPS satellite navigation.
  
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• Still no strong evidence that adjunctive treatment with human growth hormone in IVF improves results

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) Despite its occasional use as an adjunct in IVF, human growth hormone appears of little benefit to women having difficulty conceiving. Indeed, in an Australian/New Zealand collaborative placebo-controlled randomised trial presented here at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE, live birth rates were no better in poor-responding patients (under the age of 41) given growth hormone as a supplement than in those given placebo.
  
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• Seeing RNA at the nanoscale

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT researchers have adapted a technique known as expansion microscopy to visualize RNA molecules at high resolution in tissue samples. They have also made the technique easier to use, with off-the-shelf components.
  
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• Scamming Nemo: How cleaning fish are the 'con-men' of the coral reef

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Society for Experimental Biology) Cleaner wrasse perform a cleaning service for coral reef fish -- namely eating parasites off their customer's skin. However, what the females of some species actually want is to lure in clients and 'cheat' them by biting off some tasty mucus before escaping.
  
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• New technique helps link complex mouse behaviors to the genes that influence them

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (University of California - San Diego) Mice are one of the most commonly used laboratory organisms, widely used to study everything from autism to infectious diseases. Yet genomic studies in mice have lagged behind those in humans. In a study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of medicine used 1,200 outbred mice, which are more similar to a natural population, to test a new cost-effective technique to search for specific genes linked with 66 different physical and behavior
  
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• New study examines Freud's theory of hysteria

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (King's College London) New research from King's College London has studied the controversial Freudian theory that Hysteria, a disorder resulting in severe neurological symptoms such as paralysis or seizures, arises in response to psychological stress or trauma. The study, published today in Psychological Medicine, found supportive evidence that stressors around the time of onset of symptoms might be relevant for some patients.
  
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• New screening tool to help physicians tell if a fainting episode heralds something serious

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Canadian Medical Association Journal) A simple nine-question tool could help emergency physicians uncover the sometimes dangerous hidden conditions that cause some people to faint, according to a study published today in Canadian Medical Association Journal.
  
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• New plastic material begins to oscillate spontaneously in sunlight

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Eindhoven University of Technology) Place this thin layer of plastic in the sun and it begins to oscillate irregularly all by itself. Today researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the Humboldt University in Berlin present this material -- the first that moves spontaneously under the influence of daylight -- in the journal Nature Communications. According to the researchers, this pliable plastic is suitable as a self-cleaning surface, for example for solar cells.
  
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• Neural connections mapped with unprecedented detail

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (JLM&A, SA ) A team of neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, has been able to map single neural connections over long distances in the brain. Their results have been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
  
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• Mitochondrial DNA levels as a marker of embryo viability in IVF

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) Despite the claims and counter-claims for new embryo assessment techniques introduced over the past two decades, the search for the holy grail of assisted reproduction -- the key to the embryo destined to implant -- continues. Genetic screening techniques so far have relied largely on the assessment of one component of the embryo's genetic constitution, the number of chromosomes in its cells.
  
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• Link between stress hormone and obesity in depressed and bipolar patients

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Umea University) Low levels of the stress hormone cortisol are linked to obesity, high levels of fat in the blood and metabolic syndrome among patients with recurrent depressions or bipolar disorder. This according to a study at Umeå University in Sweden published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
  
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• Hubble reveals stellar fireworks in 'skyrocket' galaxy

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)) Fireworks shows are not just confined to Earth's skies. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular fireworks display in a small, nearby galaxy, which resembles a July 4th skyrocket.
  
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• How lifestyle intervention for weight loss affects birth rates in women with a high BMI

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) Women who are overweight or obese pose an ongoing challenge for the fertility clinic. Many studies show that these patients are at increased risk of infertility and are less likely than normal-weight women to conceive after fertility treatment.
  
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• From climate killer to fuels and polymers

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Ruhr-University Bochum) Researchers have discovered a catalyst that performs highly selective conversion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into ethylene -- an important source material for the chemical industry. In the journal Nature Communications, a team headed by Prof Dr Beatriz Roldan Cuenya from Ruhr-Universität Bochum describes how plasma-treated copper can be used for this purpose. The researchers have also decoded the mechanism underlying the improved behavior of the plasma trea
  
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• Engineers design programmable RNA vaccines

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT engineers have designed programmable RNA vaccines that could be rapidly manufactured and deployed. The vaccines have been shown effective against Ebola, H1N1 influenza, and Toxoplasma gondii, in tests in mice. They could also be useful against other infectious diseases and cancer.
  
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• Electronic nose smells pesticides and nerve gas

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (KU Leuven) Detecting pesticides and nerve gas in very low concentrations. An international team of researchers led by Ivo Stassen and Rob Ameloot from KU Leuven, Belgium, have made it possible.
  
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• Does home comfort promote complacency?

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena) Youth who experienced high parental warmth and support are less civically engaged in young adulthood -- in comparison to their peers who received less parental affection. This is the result of a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Jena (Germany) and the Universities of Jyväskylä and Helsinki (Finland) that appears in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence (DOI:10.1007/s10964-016-0511-5).
  
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• Codex Orféo -- a personal vision of the Holocaust and its unexpectedly ecological aftermath

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Springer) From world renowned author, ecologist and explorer Michael Charles Tobias comes a new and shattering novel, Codex Orféo, that contemplates and internalizes the most appalling, inexplicable tragedy in human history: the Holocaust. Tobias does so in a manner no other writer has ever envisioned.
  
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• Alma finds a swirling, cool jet that reveals a growing, supermassive black hole

  04-07-2016 06:00
  
  (Chalmers University of Technology) A Chalmers-led team of astronomers have used the Alma telescope to make the surprising discovery of a jet of cool, dense gas in the centre of a galaxy located 70 million light years from Earth. The jet, with its unusual, swirling structure, gives new clues to a long-standing astronomical mystery -- how supermassive black holes grow.
  
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