Science news

• 'Leap Second' to Be Added on New Year's Eve This Year

  06-07-2016 23:51
  
  Leap seconds are a way to make up for this difference. Since 1972, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) — the organization that keeps track of time for the world — has added 26 leap seconds to atomic clocks, with the last such insertion coming on June 30, 2015. "We can easily change the time of an atomic clock, but it is not possible to alter the Earth's rotational speed to match the atomic clocks," officials with the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO
  
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• Inherited genes play a greater role in prostate cancer than previously thought, study suggests

  06-07-2016 23:02
  
  New research suggests around 12% of men with an advanced form of the disease have inherited defective genes.
  
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• Delay those New Year's plans: 2016 is getting a leap second

  06-07-2016 22:31
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Already a leap year, 2016 will drag on a bit longer. International timekeepers are adding a leap second at year's end.
  
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• Weight check for first penguin born through artificial insemination

  06-07-2016 21:24
  
  OSAKA, Japan - The world's first penguin conceived through artificial insemination tipped the scales at a healthy 1,210 grams (2.6 lbs) on Wednesday in Japan, where scientists have been working for six years to develop technology to preserve the species.
  
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• Mars Rover Curiosity in 'Safe Mode' After Glitch

  06-07-2016 21:08
  
  NASA's Mars rover Curiosity went into a precautionary "safe mode" over the Fourth of July weekend, but the robot is currently stable and communicating with its handlers back on Earth, space agency officials said.
  
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• Inside the Juno Instrument Peering Deep Within Jupiter

  06-07-2016 21:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A microwave radiometer aboard the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter could soon reveal where and how the giant planet formed
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• How Juno Will Peer Deep below Jupiter's Roiling Clouds

  06-07-2016 21:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A microwave radiometer onboard the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter could soon reveal where and how the giant planet formed
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• New Crew Begins 2-Day Journey to Space Station Tonight: Watch Liftoff Live

  06-07-2016 20:45
  
  Two new astronauts and a cosmonaut will lift off toward the International Space Station tonight (July 6), beginning a two-day journey — and you can watch it live here on Space.com. American astronaut Kate Rubins and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, both first-time fliers, and Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, who flew on one previous mission, will lift off atop a Russian Soyuz rocket at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 on July 7 GMT), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. You can watch the li
  
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• Lost Japanese Spacecraft Shares Groundbreaking View of Galaxy Group

  06-07-2016 20:44
  
  Like a confectioner trying to reach the right consistency in a sweet concoction, a supermassive black hole is vigorously stirring the gas within a collection of galaxies to keep star formation at a minimum. The new finding, revealed by the doomed spacecraft Hitomi, may help solve the question of why so few stars form within collections of hundreds or thousands of galaxies. Hitomi measured the motion of gas in the center of the Hitomi measured the motion of gas in the center of the the Perse
  
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• WATCH LIVE NOW: New Crew Launching to Space Station

  06-07-2016 20:43
  Three new space travelers will lift off towards the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight (July 6) at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT on July 7), with coverage beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT (0030 GMT on July 7). You can watch live in the window below, courtesy of NASA TV.
  
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• WATCH LIVE @ 8:30 p.m. ET: New Space Station Crew Liftoff

  06-07-2016 20:43
  Three new space travelers will lift off towards the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight (July 6) at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT on July 7), with coverage beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT (0030 GMT on July 7). You can watch live in the window below, courtesy of NASA TV.
  
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• Space News Webcasts: New Crew Launching to Space Station

  06-07-2016 20:43
  Three new space travelers will lift off towards the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight (July 6) at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT on July 7), with coverage beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT (0030 GMT on July 7). You can watch live in the window below, courtesy of NASA TV.
  
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• China Finishes Building World's Largest Radio Telescope

  06-07-2016 20:43
  
  China has put the finishing touches on the world's biggest radio telescope, whose 1,650-foot-wide dish will scan the heavens for signs of intelligent alien life, among other tasks. On Sunday (July 3), technicians installed the last of the 4,450 panels that make up the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope's (FAST) giant dish, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Project team members will soon begin testing and debugging FAST, after which Chinese scientists will use it for "ea
  
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• Cyanide used to hook Dory, Nemo for pet stores, scientists warn

  06-07-2016 20:37 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists and environmentalists are urging consumers to stay away from buying a Dory, or blue tang fish, as pets because some are caught with an illegal fishing technique using cyanide.
  
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• California city's curb fix disappoints earthquake scientists

  06-07-2016 20:26
  HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) — A faulty curb that perfectly illustrated the seismic forces at work underneath a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood has been fixed, stunning scientists, who say a curbside laboratory for studying earthquakes was destroyed.
  
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• Federal agency sued over permits for alleged bee-killing pesticides

  06-07-2016 19:31 via cbc.ca
  
  Environmental groups are filing a lawsuit over federal permits for two common pesticides that some say are behind large die-offs in bee populations.
  
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• Fresh concerns raised over controversial 'three parent baby' therapy which aims to eliminate inherited disease

  06-07-2016 19:25
  
  The controversial technique was approved by Parliament last year.
  
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• A Facebook 'like' and your name can reveal a shocking amount of info

  06-07-2016 18:45 via cbc.ca
  
  What if you gave your first name when ordering coffee and discovered that the barista knew your birthdate, where you worked and where you're from? The faces that customers make when confronted with that situation are captured in a new video raising awareness about online privacy.
  
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• So Neanderthals - our distant part-ancestors - were apparently cannibals. Nice.

  06-07-2016 17:54
  
  New research finds that Belgian Neanderthals used to eat each other – and make tools from the bones.
  
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• Evolution may have moved at a furious pace on a much warmer earth

  06-07-2016 17:51
  The rate of a certain chemical change in DNA -- a key driver of spontaneous mutation and thus of evolution's pace -- increases rapidly with temperature, researchers have discovered. The scientists concluded that the rate of spontaneous mutation was at least 4,000 times higher than it is today.
  
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• Chemical trail on Saturn's Moon Titan may be key to prebiotic conditions

  06-07-2016 17:51
  Scientists have uncovered a chemical trail that suggests prebiotic conditions may exist on Saturn's largest moon Titan. This moon features terrain with Earthlike attributes such as lakes, rivers and seas, although filled with liquid methane and ethane instead of water.
  
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• Zinc lozenges help most patients recover earlier from the common cold

  06-07-2016 17:49
  Zinc acetate lozenges may reduce the duration of the common cold by nearly 3 days, according to a recent analysis.
  
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• The Fabulous Lives of Nebulas

  06-07-2016 17:46
  
  Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at Columbus, Ohio's Center Of Science and Industry (COSI) . Peppered throughout the Milky Way, they provide amateur astronomers an eyeful of delight and give professional astronomers plenty to ponder. The power of a star comes from nuclear fusion, which occurs because of the intense pressures shoving elements together way past their personal comfort zones.
  
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• Penguin colonies at risk from erupting volcano

  06-07-2016 17:46
  A volcano erupting on a small island in the Sub Antarctic is depositing ash over one of the world's largest penguin colonies. Zavodovski Island is a small island in the South Sandwich archipelago and its volcano Mt Curry has been erupting since March 2016. The island is home to over one million chinstrap penguins -- the largest colony for this species in the world.
  
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• Rare clouds put on a sunrise show over Whitley Bay

  06-07-2016 16:57
  
  The noctilucent clouds form up to 53 miles above the Earth’s surface.
  
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• Man Paralyzed After Mosquito Bite: How Often Does West Nile Strike the Nerves?

  06-07-2016 16:48
  A man in Arizona who recently became infected with the West Nile virus is now paralyzed from the waist down, CBS Los Angeles reported. Infections with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus have been known to lead to neurological problems, including paralysis, though these results are rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than 1 percent of people who are infected with West Nile develop neurological symptoms.
  
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• US Olympic Team Will Be Studied for Zika

  06-07-2016 16:47
  When the U.S. Olympic team heads to Brazil in the coming weeks for the start of the Summer Games, some athletes will be studied to see if they become infected with the Zika virus. The government-funded study will involve at least 1,000 members of the U.S. Olympic team, including athletes, coaches and staff, according to the National Institutes of Health, which announced plans for the study today (July 5). Those who sign up for the study will undergo periodic tests for Zika, the virus that's curr
  
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• Plunging Neckline May Help Women Land More Job Interviews

  06-07-2016 16:47
  Women who show more skin in a job application photo may have a much better shot of landing an interview, a new study suggests. Researchers in France found that women who submitted a color picture of themselves wearing a low-cut dress were more likely to be called in for a job interview for sales and accounting positions than women whose photos showed them wearing a dress with a less revealing, round neckline, according to the study. The analysis revealed that the female candidates who showed mor
  
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• Today's Journey to Space Station Will Take Longer Than Usual

  06-07-2016 15:52
  
  Two astronauts and one cosmonaut will begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station tonight (June 6), rather than the more common 6-hour trip. The three crewmembers are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT on June 7). During the two-day flight to the station, the space travelers will test a variety of upgraded systems on the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft, which has a little more interior living space than a large van.
  
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• Sun-Stripped Mars Can Help NASA's MAVEN Provide Exoplanet Insights

  06-07-2016 15:52
  
  Early Mars once boasted an atmosphere and even oceans, but as the active sun evolved, it began to strip the Red Planet of its air, a process that has also been spotted in action outside the solar system. NASA's MAVEN mission, currently orbiting Mars, may help scientists to understand the atmosphere of other rocky worlds undergoing that process. "We're at the brink of starting to understand the habitability of terrestrial planets," said Shannon Curry, a research scientist at the University of Cal
  
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• Canadian 'anti-robot' project builds huge robot for humans to drive

  06-07-2016 15:50 via cbc.ca
  
  As companies race to build autonomous drones, cars and robots, a Canadian 'anti-robot' project is designing a four-legged, 3.5 tonne racing robot that requires a human pilot. Here's why.
  
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• DARPA's Hacking Contest Will Pit Machines Against Each Other

  06-07-2016 15:38
  
  The U.S. Department of Defense is hosting a huge hacking competition next month to highlight vulnerabilities in the world's growing network of "smart" devices — the so-called internet of things. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the Department of Defense responsible for developing new technologies for the military, will hold its Cyber Grand Challenge Aug. 4 in Las Vegas. More importantly, critical connected infrastructure such as traffic lights, utility s
  
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• Massive 'Lava Lamp' Blobs Deep Inside Earth Have Scientists Puzzled

  06-07-2016 15:37
  
  "To me, the big unanswered question is, what is it, and how did it form?" said the paper's lead author Edward Garnero, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. The blobs are characterized by slower wave speeds, which suggests they are a different temperature from the rest of the Earth's mantle, the researchers said. Because they're big and characterized by the slower wave speeds, the blobs have been called large low velocity provinces (LLVPs).
  
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• 'Radical' approach yields catalyst for sustainable indene synthesis

  06-07-2016 15:28
  A team of scientists has developed a new catalyst for the easy synthesis of substituted 1H-indenes. Based on the abundant element cobalt their cheap and easy to prepare catalytic complex is capable of the sustainable concept of metalloradical catalysis.
  
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• Cannibalism among late Neanderthals in northern Europe

  06-07-2016 15:28
  Grisly evidence has been uncovered by researchers that Neanderthals butchered their own kind some 40,000 years ago, opening up many possibilities regarding the way late Neanderthals dealt with their dead in this last period before they died out.
  
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• A sense of direction in the brain: Seeing the inner compass

  06-07-2016 15:28
  Head direction cells in rodents are directly connected with other neuronal structures used in navigation, most importantly the ‘grid cell area,’ report investigators.
  
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• Neural networks to obtain synthetic petroleum

  06-07-2016 15:22
  A research group has made progress in obtaining bio-oils and raw materials from biomass using its patented reactor. Biomass is one of the main sources of energy and heat in the field of renewable energy production: it is any type of non-fossil organic matter, such as living plants, timber, agricultural and livestock waste, wastewater, solid urban organic waste, etc.
  
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• Combining technologies cracks vaccine chiller issue

  06-07-2016 15:22
  Vaccines against killer diseases from polio to hepatitis are fragile and can easily be made useless if they get too hot or too cold. Now scientists and engineers have developed a cost-effective vaccine storage device which perfectly preserves vaccines for an astonishing 35 days using just 30 litres of ice and without needing electricity.
  
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• Cell migration: Cadherin-11 provides the right hold

  06-07-2016 15:22
  Cadherins are part of the protein family of adhesion molecules. Just like mortar between the bricks in a wall, they ensure that cells stay together, preventing them from breaking away and migrating from a group of cells. Especially in tumor cells, however, cadherin-11 behaves in exactly the opposite way – it triggers the migration of cells – explain researchers.
  
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• Replacing oil with wood for the production of chemicals

  06-07-2016 15:17
  Two research projects have developed new processes to replace petroleum with wood for the production of important chemicals. These precursors are used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, plastics or fertilizers, report researchers.
  
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• New type of rare brittle-bone disease discovered

  06-07-2016 15:17
  Researchers have discovered the first X-chromosome-inherited type of the congenital disease osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle-bone disease. The new discovery improves the genetic diagnosis of the disease and paves the way to possible improved treatment options for patients.
  
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• Integrated management of childhood illness strategy for children under five: Systematic review

  06-07-2016 15:17
  An international review team has published a systematic review that assessed the effects of programs that use the World Health Organization’s (WHO) integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) strategy.
  
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• Computational modelling can predict onset, progression of knee osteoarthritis in overweight people

  06-07-2016 15:17
  Computational modelling makes it possible to predict the onset and progression of knee osteoarthritis in overweight people, shows a new study. A computational model based on the degradation of the collagen fibril network in the articular cartilage was able to predict the onset and progression of osteoarthritis in overweight people during a four-year follow-up. In normal-weight people, osteoarthritis did not develop within this time span.
  
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• Obese preschoolers have 60 percent higher healthcare costs than healthy weight children

  06-07-2016 15:15
  Obese children aged 2-5 years old are two to three times more likely to be admitted to hospital and have 60 percent higher healthcare costs than healthy weight children, a study an Australian research team has found. This is the first study to reveal the higher direct health care costs of obesity in preschool aged children compared with those of normal weight.
  
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• John Kerry commits more U.S. military aid for ex-Soviet Georgia

  06-07-2016 14:50
  By Lesley Wroughton and Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry told ex-Soviet Georgia the United States would help it bolster its army as he reassured a close U.S. ally days before a NATO summit expected to focus on the threat a resurgent Russia poses. Kerry, on his first visit to Georgia as Secretary of State, made the commitment ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw on Friday at which members of the Western military alliance plan to announce action to deter possible Rus
  
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• BlackBerry shed a third of workforce in 2013-14, new documents show

  06-07-2016 14:29 via cbc.ca
  
  BlackBerry shed at least 33 per cent of its Waterloo, Ont., workforce over a six-month period, new documents obtained by CBC News show.
  
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• Secret World of Primeval Rivers Lies Beneath Greenland Glacier

  06-07-2016 14:28
  
  A network of ancient rivers lies frozen in time beneath one of Greenland's largest glaciers, new research reveals. The subglacial river network, which threads through much of Greenland's landmass and looks, from above, like the tiny nerve fibers radiating from a brain cell, may have influenced the fast-moving Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier over the past few million years. "The channels seem to be instrumental in controlling the location and form of the Jakobshavn ice stream — and seem to show a
  
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• Lionfish invasion comes to the Mediterranean

  06-07-2016 13:54
  
  Scientists had thought that the Mediterranean was too cold for lionfish to permanently settle there. But now they’ve found a population of the fish off Cyprus.
  
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• Ocean acidification will make it hard for mussels to hang on experiments suggest

  06-07-2016 13:00 via cbc.ca
  
  New research shows the strong threads that mussels use to cling to their homes are vulnerable to the climate change double-whammy of warmer and more acidic waters.
  
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• How Tough-Guy Mediators Can Turn "Them" Into "Us"

  06-07-2016 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Behavior study says bad-cop negotiators can psychologically nudge adversaries together
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