Science news

• North Korea's New Rocket Engine Could Loft Satellites — Or Missiles

  24-09-2016 23:11
  
  North Korea's new rocket engine might help the country launch satellites to higher orbits, as the rogue nation claims — but the technology could also help North Korea's (possibly nuclear-armed) missiles fly farther, researchers said. On Tuesday (Sept. 20), North Korea's state news agency reported a ground test "of a new type of high-power engine of a carrier rocket for the geostationary satellite." Geostationary satellites are located in circular orbits about 22,200 miles (35,8000 kilomete
  
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• Lawmakers Propose Memorial for Apollo 1 Astronauts at Arlington Cemetery

  24-09-2016 23:11
  
  Three NASA astronauts who died in a tragic fire on the launch pad 50 years ago this January may be honored by a new monument at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Apollo 1 crewmates Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were taking part in a pre-launch "plugs out" teston Jan. 27, 1967 when a fire broke out inside the command module. Although other NASA astronauts had died in prior aircraft and automobile accidents, the Apollo 1 fire marked the first time that the U.S. space
  
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• Correction: Tangled Whales-Crabbing story

  24-09-2016 21:52
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a story Sept. 23 about a bill to protect whales from fishing gear for Dungeness crab, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of an environmental group that backed the legislation. The group is the Center for Biological Diversity, not the Center for Environmental Diversity.
  
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• Gabon opposition leader rejects court ruling upholding Bongo poll win

  24-09-2016 19:58
  By Edward McAllister LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Saturday rejected what he said was an "unjust" ruling by the Constitutional Court which upheld the victory of President Ali Bongo in the Aug. 27 poll that he says was tarnished by fraud. The refusal by Ping, who says he won the presidential poll, to accept the court ruling raises the prospect of a potentially violent political crisis in the central African oil producer. The court had agreed to Ping's petition to re-
  
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• Coalition forces kill Houthi general on Saudi-Yemen border - sources

  24-09-2016 19:31
  A senior military officer of Yemen's Houthi movement has been killed in clashes on the border with Saudi Arabia, a source in the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-allied group said on Saturday. Major-General Hassan Almalsi, head of Houthi special forces, was killed on Thursday while attempting to infiltrate a squad of Houthi fighters into the kingdom's southern province of Najran, the source said. The coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015 to try to restore the internati
  
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• Teleported Laser Pulses? Quantum Teleportation Approaches Sci-Fi Level

  24-09-2016 18:54
  While these capabilities are clearly fictional, researchers have now performed "quantum teleportation" of laser pulses over several miles within two city networks of fiber optics. Although the method described in the research will not replace city subways or buses with transporter booths, it could help lead to hack-proof telecommunications networks, as well as a "quantum internet" to help extraordinarily powerful quantum computers talk to one another. Teleporting an object from one point in the
  
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• Warmer waters might prevent baby lobsters from surviving

  24-09-2016 17:08
  
  PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Baby lobsters might not be able to survive in the ocean's waters if the ocean continues to warm at the expected rate.
  
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• Syrian rebel sees more arms from Assad foes, but not enough

  24-09-2016 15:42
  By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels expect to receive new types of heavy weapons from their foreign backers in response to the collapse of a truce and a Russian-backed government offensive, but nothing amounting to a major shift in support, a rebel leader said on Saturday. Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, head of the Northern Division group, told Reuters he expected rebels to get new types of Russian-made rocket launchers and artillery, but there was no sign of foreign states agreeing to the
  
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• New Take on an Ancient Method Improves Way to Find Prime Numbers

  24-09-2016 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The modified version of the sieve of Eratosthenes could accelerate computer calculations
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Gender pay gap won't close until 2069, Deloitte warns

  24-09-2016 11:02
  
  The gender pay gap will not close until 2069 unless more women are encouraged to take up careers in science and engineering, it has been warned. Research by Deloitte suggests the gender pay gap is partly down to men and women choosing different career paths.
  
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• Yoga may not count toward 30 minutes of daily physical activity, but may have other benefits

  24-09-2016 07:02
  Hatha yoga is an increasingly popular form of physical activity and meditative practice in the U.S. It is important to understand the calorie cost and intensity of yoga in relation to the national physical activity guidelines, which generally encourage 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week.
  
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• How natural selection acted on one penguin species over the past quarter century

  24-09-2016 07:02
  Biologists combed through 28 years' worth of data on Magellanic penguins to search for signs that natural selection -- one of the main drivers of evolution -- may be acting on certain penguin traits.
  
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• Does physical activity lower the risk of bacterial infections?

  24-09-2016 07:02
  The risk of viral infections is known to be affected by physical activity, but little information is available regarding the more serious infections caused by bacteria. In a new study, investigators examined the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and suspected bacterial infections during a one-year follow up.
  
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• Childhood muscular fitness and adult metabolic syndrome

  24-09-2016 07:02
  About 20-25 percent of adults have the metabolic syndrome and have increased risk of developing both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In a new longitudinal study, investigators examined associations between childhood muscular fitness (strength, endurance, and power) and metabolic syndrome -- the latter assessed once they reached adulthood.
  
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• Supporting employees to stand up, sit less and move more

  24-09-2016 07:01
  Employers can implement an intervention to substantially reduce the sitting time of office workers both during work hours and across the day.
  
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• Gabon court upholds Bongo poll victory, rejects opposition challenge

  24-09-2016 03:19
  By Edward McAllister LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's Constitutional Court upheld on Friday the election victory of President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African oil producer for nearly a half century, rejecting a challenge by his main opponent. The decision, read late at night in an almost empty court chamber, raised the prospect of a repeat of the violence that erupted with the announcement earlier this month of Bongo's narrow victory over Jean Ping in the Aug. 27 poll. Six die
  
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• Gabon court rejects opposition challenge to presidential poll result

  24-09-2016 02:06
  Gabon's Constitutional Court rejected on Friday an opposition challenge to the results of an Aug. 27 election won by incumbent President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African oil producer for nearly a half century. The decision raises the prospect of a repeat of the violence that followed the announcement earlier this month of narrow victory for Bongo over opposition leader Jean Ping. In his petition to the court, Ping, who has claimed he won the poll, alleged fraud in Haut-Ogoou
  
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• Horses can communicate with us - scientists

  24-09-2016 01:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Horses have joined a select club of animals that can communicate by pointing to symbols, say scientists.
  
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• California governor backs protecting whales from crab traps

  24-09-2016 01:08
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that he signed legislation meant to bring down the record numbers of whales getting caught in fishing gear meant for Dungeness crabs, causing unknown numbers of the entangled mammals to drown or starve.
  
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• Calgary school named 'greenest' in Canada

  24-09-2016 01:05 via cbc.ca
  
  Bandile Phiri is a Grade 12 student at Lord Shaughnessy High School who is really enjoying the energy and environmental innovation program.
  
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• As Syria cease-fire fails, Obama may leave successor 'problem from hell'

  24-09-2016 00:52
  By Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was relegated to the sidelines of the Syrian war on Friday as an all-out assault by Syrian government and Russian forces on opposition-held Aleppo threatened to unleash a new refugee wave and drive U.S.-backed rebels into the ranks of al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, U.S. officials and experts said. Moscow’s direct participation in the offensive left fading hope for U.S.-Russian peace efforts, raising the likeli
  
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