Science news

• Group to vote on urging countries to close ivory markets

  09-09-2016 23:57
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — Members of an international environmental group were considering a proposal Friday to urge leaders in every country to close domestic ivory markets that threaten elephants.
  
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• Canadian air passengers urged not to use Samsung Galaxy Note 7s on planes

  09-09-2016 23:55 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadian air passengers should not use or charge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones while on planes because of the potential for battery fires, Transport Canada says.
  
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• Canadian air passengers urged not to use fire-prone Samsung Galaxy Note 7s on planes

  09-09-2016 23:55 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadian air passengers should not use or charge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones while on planes because of the potential for battery fires, Transport Canada says.
  
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• Canadian air passengers told not to use Samsung Galaxy Note 7s on planes

  09-09-2016 23:55 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadian air passengers should not use or charge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones while on planes because of the potential for battery fires, Transport Canada says.
  
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• Rock star Freddie Mercury now has his own space rock

  09-09-2016 23:49
  
  Queen front man Freddie Mercury is the latest in a long list of celebrities to have an asteroid named after him.
  
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• Star Trek at 50, fiction meets fact: Bob McDonald

  09-09-2016 23:19 via cbc.ca
  
  Host Bob McDonald reflects on technologies Star Trek predicted that we saw come true.
  
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• Elon Musk Asks for Help Solving SpaceX Rocket Explosion

  09-09-2016 23:19
  
  Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO and founder of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, is asking for help from NASA and the public in figuring out what happened when one of the company's Falcon 9 rockets exploded on Sept. 1. The explosion took place two days before the scheduled launch of the rocket, during a routine prelaunch operation at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. Based on tweets from Musk in the last 10 hours, the cause of the explosion appe
  
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• Bill Nye Helps Send NASA Asteroid-Sampling Spacecraft Off in Style

  09-09-2016 23:19
  
  A few special guests showed up to see the launch of NASA's asteroid-sampling spacecraft yesterday (Sept. 8). OSIRIS-REx is now chasing down a 1,640-foot-wide (500 meters) asteroid named Bennu, on a seven-year mission to snag samples of the space rock and send the material back to Earth. Bennu was known as 1999 RQ36 until 2013, when 9-year-old Mike Puzio won a Planetary Society contest to give the asteroid a more fitting and memorable name.
  
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• Is That an Enterprise? 2 Nebulas Look Like 'Star Trek' Vessels

  09-09-2016 23:10
  
  Two nebulas, or star-birth regions, spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope bear a striking resemblance to the starship Enterprise, and the space agency released images of these nebulas to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Star Trek" Thursday (Sept. 8). Hints of the famed science-fiction vessels' shapes appear in two nebulas known as IRAS 19340+2016 and IRAS19343+2026.
  
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• How Close is North Korea to Targeting the U.S. with Nuclear Missiles?

  09-09-2016 22:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The reclusive country has set off its largest-ever test blast—10 kilotons—in its latest provocation 
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Elon Musk calls SpaceX blast a 'most difficult, complex failure'

  09-09-2016 21:55 via cbc.ca
  
  SpaceX founder and chief Elon Musk said on Friday he was unsure why one of the company's Falcon rockets burst into flames on its Florida launch pad last week.
  
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• How to Spot an Asteroid with Mobile Astronomy Apps

  09-09-2016 21:28
  
  Yesterday, NASA launched its OSIRIS-REx mission to visit asteroid Bennu. Once there, its spacecraft will take a sample of the asteroid and return the material to Earth. In this edition of Mobile Astronomy, we'll focus on asteroids, and how you can see one in a backyard telescope with the help of an astronomy app.
  
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• Exiles on 'Mars': Doc on Hawaiian Mock Mission Seeks Funds

  09-09-2016 21:28
  
  The answer is many astronauts, as well as one plucky crew simulating a Mars mission in Hawaii. The HI-SEAS program (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is examining how humans would live, work and play on Mars or another space-based location. The most recent HI-SEAS crew spent a year in an isolated habitat on Mauna Loa in Hawaii, to simulate ;what living conditions might be like for a crew of real Mars astronauts.
  
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• Visit to 'Armageddon Asteroid' Could Save Future Earth from Impact

  09-09-2016 21:27
  
  The target of the OSIRIS-REx mission is an asteroid known as Bennu, which circles the sun just inside the orbit of Mars (occasionally crossing Earth's orbital path). Although Bennu is unlikely to collide with the planet, understanding its composition could help scientists figure out how to deflect other rocky bodies that may be on a crash course with Earth. "I think that's the whole reason we have missions like OSIRIS-REx — to go out and see what we really know about asteroids," Lindley Jo
  
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• Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity Takes 1st Flight with Mothership

  09-09-2016 21:27
  
  A Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space plane took to the air under the wing of its massive mothership Thursday (Sept. 8), marking the first flight test for the private space travel company since a tragic accident in 2014. 
  
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• Researchers identify new therapeutic target for cancer

  09-09-2016 20:12
  A protein that may be an unexplored target to develop new cancer therapies has been identified by researchers. The protein, known as kinase suppressor of Ras, or KSR, is a pseudoenzyme that plays a critical role in the transmission of signals in the cell determining whether cells grow, divide, or die.
  
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• SpaceX accident 'most difficult and complex' in its history

  09-09-2016 19:34
  SpaceX's chief executive says last week's launch pad accident is the "most difficult and complex failure" in the company's 14-year history. After a week of public silence, SpaceX founder Elon ...
  
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• Are robots racist? Beauty contest judged by artificial intelligence picks white winners

  09-09-2016 18:31
  
  Of the 44 winners picked by robots, a few were Asian and only one had dark skin.
  
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• History of flooding

  09-09-2016 18:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Written in the sediments of north-west England's lakes is a record of extreme flood events - information that can inform future flood preparedness.
  
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• Cumbrian lakes hold a centuries-long flood record

  09-09-2016 18:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Written in the sediments of north-west England's lakes is a record of extreme flood events - information that can inform future flood preparedness.
  
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• The Journey Begins: NASA's Asteroid-Sampling Probe Has a Long Path Ahead

  09-09-2016 17:43
  
  The space probe left Earth last night (Sept. 8) when it successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 in Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. OSIRIS-REx (which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) catapulted into space at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) yesterday, the first extraterrestrial step in its voyage to the asteroid Bennu and back. "Tonight is a night for celebration," NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan sa
  
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• Scottish Prisoners of War from 17th-Century Battle to Be Reburied

  09-09-2016 17:34
  
  More than 350 years ago, thousands Scottish soldiers were captured during the English Civil War by the controversial British leader Oliver Cromwell. Many were kept as prisoners and were buried in mass graves when they died of disease and starvation. Now, some of those soldiers will finally receive a more respectful resting place near Durham University, in northeast England, where the mass graves were found.
  
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• Case for liquid biopsies builds in advanced lung cancer

  09-09-2016 17:25
  For patients with advanced lung cancer, a non-invasive liquid biopsy may be a more effective and suitable alternative to the gold standard tissue biopsy to detect clinically relevant mutations and help guide their course of treatment, say investigators.
  
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• Researchers debunk 'five-second rule': Eating food off the floor isn't safe

  09-09-2016 17:24
  Turns out bacteria may transfer to candy that has fallen on the floor no matter how fast you pick it up. Rutgers researchers have disproven the widely accepted notion that it's OK to scoop up food and eat it within a 'safe' five-second window.
  
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• Study reveals potential improvements for effectiveness of meningococcal vaccines

  09-09-2016 17:17
  Scientists show greatly improved protective antibody responses to a new mutant vaccine antigen for prevention of disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis -- also known as meningococcus -- that has the potential to improve the current vaccines for meningitis.
  
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• More cases of superbug precursor reported, but no spread

  09-09-2016 17:00
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers are reporting that a fourth U.S. person has been diagnosed with bacteria resistant to a last resort antibiotic, but they are expressing some relief that these superbug precursors have not spread to others.
  
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• Is this iconic image inappropriate? Facebook thinks so

  09-09-2016 16:59 via cbc.ca
  
  Norway's prime minister on Friday challenged Facebook's restrictions on nude photos by posting an iconic 1972 image of a naked, screaming girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam. Facebook quickly deleted it.
  
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• Facebook reinstates historic napalmed-girl photo after outcry

  09-09-2016 16:59 via cbc.ca
  
  Facebook on Friday reversed its decision to remove postings of an iconic 1972 image of a naked, screaming girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam, after a Norwegian revolt against the tech giant.
  
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• Oddball Star Cluster Provides Window into Young Milky Way

  09-09-2016 15:53
  
  Astronomers working with data from the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator, an instrument at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, looked closely at a globular cluster called Terzan 5, in the constellation Sagittarius.
  
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• 'Exactly Perfect'! NASA Hails Asteroid Sample-Return Mission's Launch

  09-09-2016 15:53
  
  NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on its way to an intriguing asteroid named Bennu, and Dante Lauretta couldn't be happier. Lauretta, the mission's principal investigator, said he was on pins and needles leading up to Thursday evening's (Sept. 8) launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. "We got everything just exactly perfect," Lauretta, who's based at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), said during a postlaunch news conference Thursday night from NASA's Kennedy
  
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• Could a 'Star Trek'-Like Genesis Device Transform Alien Worlds?

  09-09-2016 15:53
  
  A theoretical project could help to turn marginally habitable planets into rich environments capable of hosting microbes, a new paper argues. The project is reminiscent of a fictional machine called "the Genesis Device," which appeared in two 1980s "Star Trek" films, but the author told Space.com that the resemblance is mostly coincidental. In the film "The Wrath of Khan" (1982), the Genesis Device was accidentally deployed and created a whole new planet in a time span of just days or weeks.
  
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• Are fitness trackers fit for security?

  09-09-2016 15:51
  The popularity of fitness trackers is constantly growing. Worldwide, nearly 20 million of these devices have been sold in the first quarter of 2016. Many of them track via GPS the kilometers the user run, measure heart rate and pulse or check if the user is asleep. Now researchers reveal some serious security flaws in these devices.
  
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• Ecological intensification of agriculture

  09-09-2016 15:50
  Putting a halt to the profound changes affecting agricultural landscapes: With this goal in mind, scientists, farmers and official representatives teamed up to look into ecological intensification as a potential solution.
  
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• Scientists expect to calculate amount of fuel inside Earth by 2025

  09-09-2016 15:48
  Scientists have developed numerous models to predict how much fuel remains inside Earth to drive its engines -- and estimates vary widely -- but the true amount remains unknown. In a new article, a team of geologists and neutrino physicists boldly claims it will be able to determine by 2025 how much nuclear fuel and radioactive power remain in the Earth's tank.
  
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• Researchers outline barriers to treating fear, anxiety

  09-09-2016 15:48
  A misunderstanding of how the certain parts of the brain function has hampered the creation of pharmaceuticals to effectively address fear and anxiety disorders, a pair of researchers has concluded.
  
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• Physicists discover 'smoke rings' made of laser light

  09-09-2016 15:48
  Physicists have discovered that self-focused laser pulses generate violent swirls of optical energy that resemble smoke rings. In these light structures, known as 'spatiotemporal optical vortices,' light energy flows through the inside of the ring and loops back around the outside. The vortices travel with the laser pulse and control energy flow around it.
  
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• Novel heart valve replacement offers hope for thousands with rheumatic heart disease

  09-09-2016 15:48
  A novel heart valve replacement method offers hope for the thousands of patients with rheumatic heart disease who need the procedure each year, say experts.
  
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• Dances with waves: Breakthrough in moving small objects using acoustics

  09-09-2016 15:48
  Researchers have made a breakthrough in controlling the motion of multiple objects on a vibrating plate with a single acoustic source. By playing carefully constructed melodies, the scientists can simultaneously and independently move multiple objects on the plate towards desired targets. This has enabled scientists, for instance, writing words consisting of separate letters with loose metal pieces on the plate by playing a melody.
  
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• As IUCN votes on ivory trade, elephants’ future looks bleak

  09-09-2016 15:34
  
  As the IUCN prepares to debate an end to the ivory trade, two new reports show just how poorly Africa’s elephant species are faring.
  
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• Q&A: Everything you need to know about the £2 cholesterol-lowering statins

  09-09-2016 15:31
  
  A new report says statins are safe and potential side-effects have been exaggerated.
  
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• Four New Wasp Species Identified in China

  09-09-2016 15:11
  
  Four species of parasitoid wasps have been discovered in northwest China, a new study reports. G. pannuceum (from the Latin word "pannuceus," meaning "wrinkled") gets its name from the wrinkled sheath covering its midbody.
  
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• What Happens in the Brain When We Misremember

  09-09-2016 15:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Words with like meaning switch on overlapping brain areas to produce false memories
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• North Korea's bomb is more powerful, but worry is miniaturization

  09-09-2016 15:00 via cbc.ca
  
  North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear device on Friday, but the more worrying aspect for its rivals was Pyongyang's claim that it had advanced its ability to make a nuclear weapon, by miniaturizing and mounting a warhead on a missile.
  
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• Tiny 'Vampires' Put the Bite on Amoeba Prey 740 Million Years Ago

  09-09-2016 14:41
  
  When movie vampires strike, they leave behind telltale marks in the victim's neck — puncture wounds that show where they sank their fangs. Recently, scientists discovered amoeba fossils perforated with circular holes that were likely made by microscopic predatory creatures 740 million years ago. The holes showed where a single-celled predator drilled through its amoeba prey's protective cell wall to consume the material known as cytoplasm that lies inside, according to a new study.
  
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• Here's why we shouldn't be breeding pedigree cats to have flat faces

  09-09-2016 14:37
  
  Scientists say flat-faced breeds were more likely to have breathing problems after exercise and while asleep.
  
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• How a Museum Cleans a Whale

  09-09-2016 14:35
  
  At the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City yesterday (Sept. 7), the well-known blue-whale model that seemingly floats overhead in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life received its annual two-day "spa" treatment to remove a year's accumulation of dust and grime. Dappled lights play over its back, simulating the sun's rays on the ocean surface, while the vast space around the model recalls the open ocean — the blue whales' habitat. Thousands of people watched AMNH's live st
  
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• Russian River Runs Red

  09-09-2016 14:34
  
  The Siberian Times reported on Sept. 7 that the Daldykan River near the city of Norilsk had turned the color of blood, with locals pointing fingers at the nearby Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, owned by the company Norilsk Nickel. In fact, a broken pipeline at the plant may be the culprit, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. Norilsk Nickel does have a history of environmental problems, however.
  
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• How Star Trek inspired 'two generations' of scientists

  09-09-2016 14:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Star Trek has had an “inspirational relationship” with the space programme, says Robert Picardo, who played the medical hologram in Star Trek Voyager.
  
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• Mosul battle plans ready, could be concluded by year-end - Kurdish leader

  09-09-2016 14:08
  Military plans to retake Mosul from Islamic State are ready and the northern Iraqi city might be recaptured before the end of the year, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Friday. The army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, will conduct the offensive but the role of pro-government militias has not been determined, Massoud Barzani said in an interview with France 24. "There have been multiple meetings between leaders of the Pes
  
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• Costa Rica has been run completely on renewable energy for almost two months

  09-09-2016 13:46
  
  More than a little impressive.
  
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