Science news

• Radio signal probably not from extraterrestrials

  30-08-2016 23:00
  
  A possible radio signal from extraterrestrials probably originated a lot closer to home.
  
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• The crazy quest to send spaceships to an Earth-like planet at Alpha Centauri

  30-08-2016 22:50 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists recently announced they had found an Earth-like planet in the star system next door. What will it take to send spacecraft there? And how close are we?
  
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• Gemini 12 Crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell to Mark Mission's 50th at Gala

  30-08-2016 22:44
  
  Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell will mark the 50th anniversary of their 1966 Gemini 12 mission at a gala hosted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The celebration, to be held on Saturday, Nov. 12, as a part of the Foundation's annual Space Rendezvous weekend in Cape Canaveral, Florida, will bring together the two former crew mates, along with more than two dozen of their fellow astronauts for the special evening. Proceeds from the Gemini 12 50th anniversary dinner, as well as the weekend's othe
  
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• SpaceX signs first customer for used Falcon rocket

  30-08-2016 22:14
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has signed its first customer to use a previously flown rocket, with launch planned for later this year, the companies said on Tuesday.
  
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• Dog brains divide language tasks much like humans do

  30-08-2016 21:49
  
  Dogs understand what we say separately from how we say it.
  
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• PlayStation 4 Slim images appear weeks before Sony press event

  30-08-2016 20:53 via cbc.ca
  
  Several images and videos of a slimmer Sony PlayStation 4 console have surfaced online, weeks ahead of its expected announcement.
  
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• Squishy 'Octobot' may point to future of robotics

  30-08-2016 20:38 via cbc.ca
  
  When you think of a robot, you might imagine a metallic humanoid — and indeed, most robots today have hard, rigid bodies made of metal and plastic. But CBC Radio technology columnist Dan Misener explains why the softer, more flexible robot nicknamed the 'Octobot' may be a sign of robots to come.
  
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• Ethical concerns tied to research on human-animal embryos

  30-08-2016 20:38
  Scientists have developed a new bioethical framework for addressing concerns surrounding potentially revolutionary research on human-animal embryos.
  
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• Understanding how the 'police' of the cell world deal with 'intruders' and the 'injured'

  30-08-2016 20:07
  The job of policing the microenvironment around our cells is carried out by macrophages. Macrophages are the ‘guards’ that patrol most tissues of the body - poised to engulf infections or destroy and repair damaged tissue.
  
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• Bipolar adolescents continue to have elevated substance use disorder risk as young adults

  30-08-2016 20:07
  A follow up to a previous study finding an association between adolescent bipolar disorder and the incidence of cigarette smoking and substance use disorder finds that risk was even greater five years later, particularly among those with persistent bipolar symptoms. The study also finds evidence that the presence of conduct disorder, in combination with bipolar disorder, may be the strongest influence on the risk of smoking and substance use disorder.
  
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• WNK1 inhibits T cell adhesion

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  As they search for antigens, T cells move through the circulatory system and enter lymph nodes through high endothelial venules (HEVs). Chemokine receptors, such as CCR7, stimulate inside-out activation of integrins, such as LFA-1, which leads to adhesion of the T cells to HEVs and their extravasation across the endothelium. Once inside the lymph node, T cells migrate in response to additional chemokine-dependent stimulation to search for and interact with antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The T
  
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• Science Signaling Podcast for 30 August 2016: Human arginine methylome

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  AbstractThis Podcast features an interview with Michael Nielsen, author of a Research Resource that appears in the 30 August 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about the human arginine methylome. Proteins can be posttranslationally modified by the covalent attachment of methyl groups to arginine or lysine residues. Whereas lysine methylation of histone proteins is important for controlling chromatin dynamics and has been extensively characterized, less is known about arginine methylation. Larsen e
  
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• Quantitative human cell encyclopedia

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  Scientists gathered to discuss the necessity, feasibility, and challenges of generating a quantitative catalog of the components in human cells that is essential for our understanding of human physiology in health and disease and to support future breakthroughs in treating diseases. This report summarizes the discussion that emerged at the Human Quantitative Dynamics Workshop held in Bethesda, MD, USA, in December 2015.
  
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• Proteome-wide analysis of arginine monomethylation reveals widespread occurrence in human cells

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  The posttranslational modification of proteins by arginine methylation is functionally important, yet the breadth of this modification is not well characterized. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, we identified 8030 arginine methylation sites within 3300 human proteins in human embryonic kidney 293 cells, indicating that the occurrence of this modification is comparable to phosphorylation and ubiquitylation. A site-level conservation analysis revealed that arginine methylation sites are le
  
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• PDAC puts its neighbors to work

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  Cell survival and proliferation requires metabolic activity that depends on oxygen and nutrients, such as amino acids and glucose. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by progressive inflammation and fibrotic desmoplasia, which impedes the tumor’s blood supply and creates a nutrient-poor environment yet paradoxically promotes the growth of the tumor. When nutrients are scarce, cells initiate a process called autophagy, in which cells break down nonessential proteins, li
  
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• Papers of note in Science Translational Medicine

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  INFLAMMATION
  Naïve T cells nudged by lipid mediators
  Specialized proresolving lipid mediators reduce human T cell activation and prevent TH1 and TH17 cell differentiation from naïve T cells while promoting de novo Treg induction.
  V. Chiurchiù, A. Leuti, J. Dalli, A. Jacobsson, L. Battistini, M. Maccarrone, C. N. Serhan, Proresolving lipid mediators resolvin D1, resolvin D2, and maresin 1 are critical in modulating T cell responses. Sci. Transl. Med. 8, 353ra111 (2016). [Abstract
  
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• Paper of note in Science

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  POSTTRANSLATIONAL MODIFICATIONS
  How hypoxia controls the kinase Akt
  The Akt protein kinase is regulated by prolyl hydroxylation.
  J. Guo, A. A. Chakraborty, P. Liu, W. Gan, X. Zheng, H. Inuzuka, B. Wang, J. Zhang, L. Zhang, M. Yuan, J. Novak, J. Q. Cheng, A. Toker, S. Signoretti, Q. Zhang, J. M. Asara, W. G. Kaelin Jr., W. Wei, pVHL suppresses kinase activity of Akt in a proline-hydroxylation–dependent manner. Science 353, 929–932 (2016). [Abstract]
  M. Voulgarelis, P. N. Tsichlis, Pro
  
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• DNA memories for mating

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can live as haploid cells or can respond to mating pheromone to mate and become diploid. The endonuclease HO initiates mating type interconversion through DNA recombination. Yeast arrested in G1 of the cell cycle because of nutrient deprivation express HO during the first cell cycle after release from arrest, whereas yeast arrested by pheromone signaling express HO in the second cell cycle after arrest. Thus, the DNA "remembers" the cause of the arrest. The 5'
  
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• Distinct microenvironmental cues stimulate divergent TLR4-mediated signaling pathways in macrophages

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  Macrophages exhibit a phenotypic plasticity that enables them to orchestrate specific immune responses to distinct threats. The microbial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-C are released during bacterial infection and tissue injury, respectively, and both activate Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). We found that these two TLR4 ligands stimulated distinct signaling pathways in macrophages, resulting in cells with divergent phenotypes. Although macrophag
  
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• A lock that cuts its own key

  30-08-2016 20:00 via classic.stke.sciencemag.org
  As a general rule, ligands bind to their cognate receptor noncovalently and induce a conformational change in the receptor that activates the receptor or enables it to interact with binding partners. Yao et al. and de Saint Germain et al. report that the α/β hydrolase DWARF14 (D14) is a strigolactone receptor, and this unusual receptor not only hydrolyzes its ligand but also forms a covalent attachment to the modified ligand. Strigolactones are carotenoid-derived plant hormones that r
  
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• New Solar System objects revealed

  30-08-2016 19:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers in the US have uncovered previously unknown objects in the outer reaches of the Solar System.
  
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• Weird Grooves On Mars' Moon Phobos Traced to Asteroids

  30-08-2016 19:44
  
  Crisscrossed grooves and chains of small craters cover the Martian moon Phobos. "All this dirt is kicked up, and it falls nearby very ballistically, creating dimples in the surface," said Michael Nayak, co-author of the new study and graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. NASA's Viking orbiters first photographed the grooves on Phobos in the 1970s.
  
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• A Newfound Asteroid Just Buzzed Harmlessly By Earth

  30-08-2016 19:44
  
  An asteroid gave Earth a close shave Sunday (Aug. 28), just a day after astronomers first spotted the object. The Chelyabinsk asteroid was probably 65 feet (20 m) or so in diameter when it hit Earth's atmosphere, scientists have said. The asteroid has a more elliptical orbit than Earth does, coming as close to the sun as 0.76 astronomical units (AU) and getting as far away as 1.18 AU, according to the Minor Planet Center.
  
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• Gabon condemns Ping, warns French officials against 'interference'

  30-08-2016 19:26
  By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's government accused presidential challenger Jean Ping on Tuesday of trying to destabilise the country, and warned French ruling party officials against "interference" in its affairs. Ping, a former foreign minister, African Union Commission chairman and lifelong political insider, is the main challenger to President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the oil-producing central African nation for half a century. Bongo's supporters say he is
  
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• Monkeys in zoos have human gut bacteria

  30-08-2016 19:18
  Monkeys in captivity lose much of their native gut bacteria diversity and their gut bacteria ends up resembling those of humans, new research shows. The results suggest that switching to a low-fiber, Western diet may have the power to deplete most normal primate gut microbes in favor of a less diverse set of bacteria.
  
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• New drug for tropical disease Trypanosomiasis discovered

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Researchers are working to find the fastest way possible to treat and cure human African trypanosomiasis, long referred to as sleeping sickness. Human African trypanosomiasis, or HAT, is a tropical disease endemic to some rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. A vector-borne parasitic disease, existing diagnosis and treatment regimens are complex, especially challenging in some of the world's most poverty-stricken regions.
  
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• 'Morning people' self-sabotage less at night, night owls' less at sunrise

  30-08-2016 19:12
  A study by psychological researchers shows that people are more likely to undermine their performance at stressful tasks when they're operating at 'peak capacity' based on their preferred time of the day.
  
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• Having children at home did not prompt parents to test for radon, secondhand smoke

  30-08-2016 19:12
  New findings show the presence of children in the home did not motivate parents to test and mitigate for radon and secondhand tobacco smoke, both of which cause lung cancer.
  
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• Diamonds and quantum information processing on the nano scale

  30-08-2016 19:12
  Physicists have successfully demonstrated charge transport between Nitrogen-Vacancy color centers in diamond.
  
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• Defend or grow? These plants do both

  30-08-2016 19:12
  From natural ecosystems to farmers' fields, plants face a dilemma of energy use: outgrow and out-compete their neighbors for light, or defend themselves against insects and disease. But what if you could grow a plant that does both at the same time? A team of researchers is the first to accomplish that feat, and the breakthrough could have fruitful implications for farmers trying to increase crop yields and feed the planet's growing population.
  
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• Retinoic acid suppresses colorectal cancer development, study finds

  30-08-2016 19:08
  Levels of retinoic acid, a vitamin A metabolite, are low in mice and humans with colorectal cancer, according to new research. People with high levels of an enzyme that degrades retinoic acid have a poor prognosis, report researchers.
  
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• Plants found to regulate leaf temperature to boost carbon uptake

  30-08-2016 19:08
  A new study has found that plants regulate their leaf temperature with some independence from the surrounding air temperature, a trait that increases carbon uptake through photosynthesis.
  
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• Children with asthma attacks triggered by colds less responsive to standard treatment

  30-08-2016 19:08
  A study confirms that respiratory viral detection, not child's age, explains the high rate of hospitalization for asthma attacks in children under six.
  
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• Affordable Care Act has improved access to health care, but disparities persist

  30-08-2016 19:08
  The Affordable Care Act has substantially decreased the number of uninsured Americans and improved access to health care, though insurance affordability and disparities by geography, race/ethnicity, and income persist. These are some of the findings revealed in nearly 100 studies, dating back to 2010, pertaining to the ACA in a new research paper.
  
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• Meet the Japanese mini-rover that aims to win the Lunar X Prize

  30-08-2016 18:41 via cbc.ca
  
  A Japanese team has unveiled its lunar rover design on Monday for next year's Google-sponsored Lunar X PRIZE competition.
  
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• Tasmanian devil DNA shows signs of cancer fightback

  30-08-2016 18:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A genetic study uncovers signs that wild Tasmanian devils are rapidly evolving to fight back against the infectious face cancer threatening them with extinction.
  
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• Scientists agree humans officially caused a new geological epoch - Earth's first in 11,500 years

  30-08-2016 18:37
  
  Industrialisation means we are now in the “Anthropocene” epoch.
  
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• Variation in 'junk' DNA leads to trouble

  30-08-2016 18:17
  Although genetic variants are scattered throughout the human genome, scientists have largely ignored the stretches of repetitive genetic code known as 'junk' DNA in their search for differences that influence human health and disease. Now, researchers have discovered that variation in these overlooked regions can affect the stability of the genome and the proper function of the chromosomes that package our genetic material, leading to an increased risk of birth defects, infertility, and cancer.
  
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• Dogs May Understand More Than We Thought

  30-08-2016 18:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Brain scans show they match words with intonation to process meaning
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Dogs May Understand Even More Than We Thought

  30-08-2016 18:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Brain scans show our faithful canine pals match words with intonation to process meaning
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Company aims to develop hundreds of Aboriginal software testers

  30-08-2016 18:14 via cbc.ca
  
  The Professional Aboriginal Testing Organization has opened a new office in Miramichi and hopes to eventually train hundreds of Aboriginal people to become software testers.
  
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• Ontario mushroom picker finds giant puffball in woods

  30-08-2016 18:12 via cbc.ca
  
  Don Smith was walking his daughter's dog on his 100-acre property in North Dorchester, Ont., near Woodstock, when something caught his eye.
  
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• Operational mechanism of the 'acid-sensing ion channel' that recognizes internal body pain

  30-08-2016 17:51
  A research team has identified the pain transmission mechanism at the molecular level and presented new solutions for the understanding of pain signals and the development of pain treatments.
  
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• Militants attack pipeline in Nigeria's Delta as others pursue talks

  30-08-2016 17:51
  A militant group said on Tuesday it attacked a pipeline operated by a subsidiary of Nigeria's state oil company in the country's southern Delta region, just a day after the most prolific rebel group in the restive energy hub said it had halted hostilities. OPEC member Nigeria has seen its oil output fall by around 700,000 barrels a day to 1.56 million bpd due to attacks on oil pipelines in the southern energy hub, home to much of the country's oil and gas wealth, since the start of the year. The
  
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• Pets and children are a potential source of C. difficile in the community

  30-08-2016 17:39
  Household transmission of Clostridium difficile to pets and children may be a source of community-associated C. difficile infections according to findings from a new study. The study found that patients with this bacteria can colonize or infect household contacts following or during treatment for an infection.
  
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• Silver nanoparticles' protein 'corona' affects their toxicity

  30-08-2016 17:37
  Scientists have succeeded in deciphering the mechanism of interaction of silver nanoparticles with the cells of the immune system.
  
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• People enhanced the environment, not degraded it, over past 13,000 years

  30-08-2016 17:37
  Human occupation is usually associated with deteriorated landscapes, but new research shows that 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia's coastal First Nations has had the opposite effect, enhancing temperate rainforest productivity.
  
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• Caffeine and its analogues counteract memory deficits by normalizing stress responses in the brain

  30-08-2016 17:37
  A new study describes the mechanism by which caffeine counteracts age-related cognitive deficits in animals. The study shows that the abnormal expression of a particular receptor -- adenosine A2A, a target for caffeine -- in the brain of rats induces an aging-like profile: namely, memory impairments linked to the loss of stress controlling mechanisms.
  
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• Environmental DNA uncovers biodiversity in rivers

  30-08-2016 17:33
  Researchers have used 'environmental DNA' to determine the biodiversity of a river. Previously, this involved collecting and identifying all the organisms living in it. Using environmental DNA, however, not only is it possible to characterize the river's biodiversity, but also that of the surrounding landscape.
  
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• Researchers identify multidrug-resistant E. coli bacteria from New Jersey patient

  30-08-2016 17:32
  New Jersey researchers have identified what is believed to be the first strain of Escherichia coli bacteria from a patient in the United States that harbored two mobile genes making it resistant to both broad spectrum carbapenem antibiotics as well as colistin, an older antibiotic increasingly used as a last resort for multidrug-resistant infections.
  
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