Science news

• Japan's Hinode Sun Observatory Celebrates 10 Years of Solar Science

  19-09-2016 23:48
  
  Japan's Hinode sun-observing satellite has delivered spectacular imagery and invaluable measurements of the sun since it launched into space 10 years ago on Sept. 23, 2006. Hinode is part of an international mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with NASA and other partners. Over the course of a decade, the spacecraft has provided remarkable views of violent solar flares, eruptions, transits across the sun and much more.
  
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• Tiangong-1 Space Lab Will Fall to Earth Next Year, China Says

  19-09-2016 23:47
  
  China's first-ever space lab will die a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere toward the end of next year, Chinese officials said. The 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) Tiangong-1 spacecraft is currently intact and orbiting Earth at an altitude of 230 miles (370 kilometers), according to Wu Ping, deputy director of China's Manned Space Engineering office. Tiangong-1 will likely fall back to Earth in the second half of 2017, and its demise shouldn't cause problems here on the ground, Wu said.
  
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• From Montclair to the Moon: New Jersey School Renamed for Buzz Aldrin

  19-09-2016 23:47
  
  Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin returned to the middle school that he attended in his hometown of Montclair, New Jersey, on Friday (Sept. 16) for a renaming ceremony in his honor. "I am just so honored to have this school, the Buzz Aldrin Middle School, named after me," said Aldrin, addressing the hundreds of students, teachers and members of the Montclair community who turned out for the outdoor dedication ceremony. Aldrin, who attended the former Mount Hebron Middle School that now bears his
  
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• Elon Musk Says SpaceX's New Spaceship Could Go 'Well Beyond Mars'

  19-09-2016 23:47
  
  "Mars Colonial Transporter" seems like a pretty cool name for a spaceship, but it wasn't quite ambitious enough for SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. "Turns out MCT can go well beyond Mars, so will need a new name," the billionaire entrepreneur said Friday (Sept. 16) via his Twitter account, @elonmusk, referring to the spaceflight system that SpaceX is building to colonize the Red Planet. This last offering was also the name of a ship in Douglas Adams' iconic sci-fi novel "A Hitchhiker's Guide t
  
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• Arctic sea ice shrinks to second-lowest low on record

  19-09-2016 23:18
  
  A warm summer helped shrink sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to a statistical tie with 2007 for the second smallest sea ice minimum on record.
  
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• Childhood Cancer Deaths: Brain Cancer Overtakes Leukemia as Top Cause

  19-09-2016 22:20
  Leukemia is no longer the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths in children, but brain cancer has taken it's place, according to a new report. All pediatric cancer death rates have been dropping since the mid-1970s, according to the report released today (Sept. 16) from the National Center for Health Statistics. "The shift from leukemia to brain cancer as the leading site of cancer death is a noteworthy development in the history of childhood cancer as it was always leukemia until quite recently," said l
  
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• Militants claim attack on NPDC oil pipeline in Niger Delta

  19-09-2016 21:36
  Militants have blown up a crude oil pipeline operated by Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC in the Niger Delta, a group claiming responsibility for the attack and a youth leader said on Monday. The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate group said it carried out the attack on the Afiesere-Ekiugbo delivery line, in the town of Ughelli in Delta state, on Sunday night at around 11:30 p.m. (2230 GMT). The line is operated by NPDC, a unit of NNPC, and Nigerian energy company Shoreline.
  
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• America's first wave-produced power goes online in Hawaii

  19-09-2016 21:35
  
  KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — Off the coast of Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in the water, using the rise and fall of the waves to generate electricity.
  
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• California governor backs rules on cow, landfill emissions

  19-09-2016 20:48
  Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday that regulates for the first time greenhouse-gas emissions tied to dairy cows and landfills, an escalation of California's efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based ...
  
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• Taming photons, electrons paves way for quantum internet

  19-09-2016 20:13
  
  Scientists are gearing up to create supersecure global quantum networks.
  
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• Bird is the word: 5 experts to debate which should be crowned Canada's national bird

  19-09-2016 20:12 via cbc.ca
  
  We've seen them gliding in our rivers, perching in our trees and soaring through our skies but which should be crowned Canada's bird? We'll hear arguments for the common loon, snowy owl, gray jay, Canada goose and black-capped chickadee in a debate at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
  
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• World's largest ship elevator opens in Yichang, China

  19-09-2016 20:05 via cbc.ca
  
  Technological marvel raises ships over Three Gorges Dam on Yangtze River
  
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• Waterloo's Jack Zhang uses computer program to help co-write horror film script

  19-09-2016 19:43 via cbc.ca
  
  Jack Zhang used a computer to determine the plot elements audiences really seem to like. That information has gone into the script of a new horror film, Impossible Things.
  
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• I can do that, Dave: Waterloo man uses computer to co-write film script

  19-09-2016 19:43 via cbc.ca
  
  Jack Zhang used a computer to determine the plot elements audiences really seem to like. That information has gone into the script of a new horror film, Impossible Things.
  
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• Militants blow up NPDC oil pipeline in Niger Delta - youth leader

  19-09-2016 19:25
  Militants have blown up a crude oil pipeline operated by Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC in the Niger Delta, a youth leader said on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the restive region. "The attack on the Afiesere-Ekiugbo delivery line belonging to the NPDC shoreline happened yesterday," said Lucky Solue, a youth leader, referring to a unit of NNPC.
  
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• Microscopic maple leaf made by quantum computer is smallest-ever, says Guinness World Records

  19-09-2016 19:23 via cbc.ca
  
  A team of scientists from University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing have created the smallest-ever Canadian flag - which is virtually invisible, measuring 1/100th the width of a human hair.
  
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• Edmonton scientists study some of Earth's oldest rock

  19-09-2016 18:48 via cbc.ca
  
  Edmonton scientists hope the discovery of some of world's oldest rock will provide unique insight into how the planet's first continents formed.
  
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• Russia Delays Next Crew Launch to Space Station

  19-09-2016 17:40
  
  Russia has delayed the next scheduled crew launch to the International Space Station for technical reasons, according to a very brief report from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
  
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• 'StarTalk' with Neil deGrasse Tyson Begins Third Season Tonight

  19-09-2016 17:36
  
  "StarTalk" with Neil deGrasse Tyson is back on TV tonight (Sept. 19) to kick off a third season of hilarious and intelligent discussions about science and pop culture. Tyson will meet with guest star Whoopi Goldberg to discuss the science and culture of superheroes, among other things. Public figures include U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter  and former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, who is the administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
  
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• 'Pokémon Go' Risks: Drivers and Pedestrians Warned on Traffic Dangers

  19-09-2016 17:36
  
  'Pokémon Go' could be a source of distracted driving and other traffic-related incidents, a new study finds.
  
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• Heart Found in Plastic Bag: How Officials Could Test if It's Human

  19-09-2016 17:36
  Officials in Ohio said more tests are needed to determine whether a heart found on the ground, in a zip-close bag, is actually a human organ, or if it comes from another animal. The heart was discovered about three weeks ago on a patch of grass near a gas station in Norwalk, Ohio, according to The New York Times. Experts can't always tell whether a heart is from a human or another animal just by looking at it, said Dr. Gregory G. Davis, a professor of pathology at the University of Alabama at Bi
  
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• Canada Approves Prescription Heroin: Here's What That Means

  19-09-2016 17:34
  Doctors in Canada can now prescribe heroin to patients with particularly serious addictions to the drug, thanks to new rules that were recently approved by the country's government. The rules, which went into effect last week, allow any doctor in Canada to apply to the country's national health department (known as Health Canada) for access to medical-grade heroin to prescribe to specific patients. The requests are approved on a case-by-case basis, by the government-run Special Access Programme,
  
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• Donating Blood Kept Man's Disease at Bay

  19-09-2016 17:33
  An 83-year-old man kept the symptoms of a genetic disease at bay — without even knowing he had it —  thanks to his years of donating blood, according to a recent report of his case. The disease, called hereditary haemochromatosis, causes the body to absorb too much iron from food, said Dr. Kohtaro Ooka, an internal medicine resident at Yale School of Medicine and the lead author of the case report. Too much iron in the body, also called iron overload, can have wide-ranging effec
  
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• How 'Brainwave-Balancing' Therapy Could Ease Migraines

  19-09-2016 17:32
  A new type of therapy that uses sound waves to "balance" people's brain activity might help lower blood pressure and reduce symptoms of migraines, early research suggests. The therapy is known as HIRREM, which stands for high-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring. For the treatment, patients place sensors — which measure the brain's electrical activity, or brainwaves — on their scalp.
  
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• Brain’s physical structure may help guide its wiring

  19-09-2016 17:00
  
  The brain’s stiffness helps dictate how nerve cells grow, a study suggests.
  
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• Beer helps shake off shyness about sex... and now there's science to prove it

  19-09-2016 16:54
  
  You know “beer goggles”? Yeah, well, researchers say these findings go some way towards providing an explanation for it…
  
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• NASA's IceBridge Mission Checks Summer Melt at Greenland Ice Sheet

  19-09-2016 15:55
  
  Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne survey of polar ice, uses a fleet of research aircraft to monitor the polar regions' annual changes due to climate change. The current Greenland mission, which lasts until Sept. 16, will mostly replicate an earlier survey from May so that scientists can observe any changes between spring and late summer. "Earlier in IceBridge's history, we only surveyed the elevation of these glaciers once a year," Joe MacGregor, IceBridge's deputy project scientist, said in
  
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• Bobblehead Bats: Head Waggles Help Catch Prey

  19-09-2016 15:54
  
  "The sound is going to be hitting the ears in different ways throughout that dynamic process, and it's those differences the bats exploit," said study author Melville Wohlgemuth, a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Wohlgemuth said he and his colleagues are interested in the ways the brain integrates auditory information and vocalizations. The bats hear these echoes and adjust their movements and future vocalizations to better capture prey.
  
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• Shocking News: World's Longest Lightning Bolt Was Nearly 200 Miles

  19-09-2016 15:53
  
  When the world's longest lightning bolt struck over Oklahoma in 2007, it traveled about three-quarters of the length of the state, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which recently announced the electrifying new record. The lightning bolt traveled 199.5 miles (321 kilometers) on June 20, 2007, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. The two announcements mark the first time that lightning has been included in the official WMO World Weather & Climate Extremes Archiv
  
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• Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 battery problem expands to China

  19-09-2016 15:42 via cbc.ca
  
  Samsung's smartphone problems expanded Monday to China's populous market, where the South Korean tech giant was looking into reports two Galaxy Note 7 handsets exploded in a country where it earlier said its units were safe and didn't need to be included in a global recall.
  
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• Coo blimey! Pigeons can read - sort of

  19-09-2016 15:19
  
  I feel nervous writing “rats with wings” right now.
  
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• Are robots coming for our jobs?

  19-09-2016 15:00 via cbc.ca
  
  From self-driving taxis, to drones delivering fast food, it seems like everything is becoming automated these days.
  
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• Quebec researchers hunt for St. Lawrence's forgotten shipwrecks

  19-09-2016 14:47 via cbc.ca
  
  As the country celebrates the apparent end to an enduring Arctic mystery, a team in Quebec has been quietly trying to put a name to at least some of the lesser-known shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence River.
  
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• To study Galápagos cormorants, a geneticist gets creative

  19-09-2016 13:52
  
  To collect DNA from four cormorant species, this scientist called in bird scientists far and wide.
  
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• Babies Have a Microbial Window of Opportunity [Excerpt]

  19-09-2016 13:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The microbiome of infants just after birth can have important health consequences later in life, researchers explain in a new book
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Why Exploding Rockets Are Not Always a Bad Thing

  19-09-2016 12:37
  
  Rod Pyle is a space historian who has worked with NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Johnson Space Center. A rocket launch is, by definition, one long, controlled explosion, with the energetic results of that explosion streaming out of the bottom-mounted engines and propelling the vehicle into space. It's when that controlled explosion, or its fuel source, becomes uncontrolled that things get shaky.
  
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• Huge Mars Lakes Formed Much More Recently Than Thought

  19-09-2016 12:37
  
  Some Red Planet streams and lakes — including one bigger than several of North America's Great Lakes — formed just 2 billion to 3 billion years ago, a new study suggests. "This paper presents evidence for episodes of water modifying the surface on early Mars for possibly several hundred million years later than previously thought, with some implication that the water was emplaced by snow, not rain," Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) project scientist Rich Zurek, of NASA's Jet Propuls
  
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• Water-Powered Cubesat Satellite Shoots for the Moon

  19-09-2016 12:36
  A Cornell University student team called the Cislunar Explorers is developing the little orbiter as part of NASA's Cube Quest Challenge, which is offering $5.5 million in total to teams that build small satellites known as cubesats. The Cislunar Explorers are in phase 3 out of the four-phase Ground Tournament portion of the challenge, and finished first in last spring's phase 2 tournament. If they make the top three teams overall, their satellite will get a ride on NASA's Space Launch System in
  
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• Did Asteroids Deliver Key Building Block of Life to Earth?

  19-09-2016 12:36
  
  Phosphorus is one of life’s most vital components, but it often goes unheralded. Yet the majority of phosphorus on Earth is found in the form of inert phosphates that are insoluble in water and are generally unable to react with organic molecules. This appears at odds with phosphorus’ ubiquity in biochemistry, so how did phosphorus end up being critical to life?
  
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• Green crab goes gourmet: U.S. chef hopes he has a solution to the invasive species

  19-09-2016 12:30 via cbc.ca
  
  The European green crab that is rapidly destroying habitat in North American waters has had no predators, until now.
  
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• 'Let mangroves recover' to protect coasts

  19-09-2016 09:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Allowing mangrove forests to recover naturally result in more resilient habitats that benefit both wildlife and people, say conservationists.
  
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• First wave-produced electricity in US goes online in Hawaii

  19-09-2016 08:13
  
  KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — In the waters off the coast of Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in the water, using the rise and fall of the waves to generate electricity.
  
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• Study estimates 100,000 deaths from Indonesia haze

  19-09-2016 07:26
  
  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia with a smoky haze for weeks last year may have caused more than 100,000 deaths, according to new research that will add to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual crisis.
  
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• Study estimates 100,000 premature deaths from Indonesia haze

  19-09-2016 06:15
  
  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia with a smoky haze for weeks last year may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths, according to new research that will add to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual crisis.
  
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• What makes a video game great? There's now a scientific way to stop GUESSing

  19-09-2016 06:00
  
  (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) Human factors researchers developed the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS), a psychometrically validated instrument that measures satisfaction on key factors such as playability, narratives, creative freedom, social connectivity, and visual aesthetics.
  
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