Science news

• Yemen truce expires after day of heavy fighting

  22-10-2016 23:04
  By Mohammed Ghobari and Katie Paul SANAA/NAJRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - A supposed ceasefire in the Yemen conflict expired a minute before midnight on Saturday after a day of heavy fighting between Saudi-backed forces and the Iran-allied Houthi movement. Each side accused the other of repeatedly violating the three-day truce and U.N. attempts to extend it before it lapsed appeared to have failed. Ground fighting raged largely unabated despite the ceasefire, but air attacks on the capital, Sana
  
  Read more

• New strategy to prevent Alzheimer's disease

  22-10-2016 22:19
  Taking a pill that prevents the accumulation of toxic molecules in the brain might someday help prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease, according to scientists.
  
  Read more

• Distinct neurological syndromes can be the result of variations in gene ATAD3A

  22-10-2016 22:19
  A team of scientists has discovered that rare neurological syndromes for which there was no cause can be the result of variations in the gene ATAD3A. The study sheds light on the causes of these diseases and opens the possibility for developing better diagnostic tools and potential treatments in the future.
  
  Read more

• Attacks that disrupted Twitter, Paypal, Spotify were just a dry run, hackers say

  22-10-2016 21:52 via cbc.ca
  
  Could millions of connected cameras, thermostats and kids' toys bring the internet to its knees? It's beginning to look that way. The hacker group claiming responsibility for Friday's attacks says it has its sights set on a much bigger target.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Hounded out: Councils 'are waging war on dogs'

  22-10-2016 21:46
  Councils are waging a "war on dogs" by banning them from thousands of parks and open spaces, it has been claimed. Dogs have been barred from at least 2,205 public places in England and Wales since the introduction of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in 2014, according to estimates by The Kennel Club. The orders, which aim to stop threatening or violent behaviour, allow councils to ban various activities in certain areas.
  
  Read more

• Maduro opponents march after Venezuela referendum sunk

  22-10-2016 21:42
  By Deisy Buitrago and Diego Oré CARACAS (Reuters) - Led by women dressed in white, several thousand Venezuelans marched through Caracas on Saturday in the first of what the opposition hopes will be escalating protests against the quashing of a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro. The opposition coalition, seeking to end 17 years of socialism in the South American OPEC nation, says this week's suspension of its drive for a plebiscite against the unpopular leader shows Venezuela h
  
  Read more

• Correction: Russia-US-Space story

  22-10-2016 19:42
  In a story Oct. 21 about a Russian capsule successfully reaching the International Space Station, The Associated Press misstated the names of the three astronauts who were already already aboard the station. ...
  
  Read more

• Mosul battle will be big, won't end soon - Kurdish region minister

  22-10-2016 16:35
  By Samia Nakhoul and Michael Georgy ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces have advanced to 5 km (3 miles) from Mosul in an offensive against Islamic State's last major Iraq stronghold and there are signs of revolt against the group, the interior minister of the Kurdish regional government said on Saturday. Karim Sinjari, who is also acting defence minister in the area, told Reuters in an interview that Islamic State fighters - believed to number between 4,000 and 8,000 - will put up a fierce figh
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Fighting rages in Yemen as UN seeks to extend 72-hour ceasefire

  22-10-2016 16:00
  By Mohammed Ghobari and Katie Paul SANAA/NAJRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen accused each other of violating a ceasefire on Saturday as the United Nations tried to extend the three-day truce. Ground fighting has raged largely unabated despite the truce, but air attacks on the capital, Sanaa, have stopped and there were fewer Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, residents and local officials said. A Saudi-led coalition backing the ex
  
  Read more

• Turkey 'obliged' to press on to Syria's al Bab, Erdogan says

  22-10-2016 15:06
  Turkish-backed forces will press on to the Islamic State-held town of al Bab in Syria, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, emphasizing Ankara's drive to sweep militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters from territory near its border. Erdogan also said in a speech that Turkey would do what was necessary with its coalition partners in Syria's Raqqa, but would not work with the Syrian Kurdish PYD. "We are obliged to, we will go there," he said after mentioning al Bab.
  
  Read more

• The Truth About Astrological Signs

  22-10-2016 15:00
  
  "News that NASA updated astrological signs for first time since Babylonians devised them some 3,000 years ago rocked everyone's world. The recognition of Ophiuchus, that 13th sign, only added to the chaos. The night sky today doesn't look like it did three millennia ago, the Earth's axis has changed and Ophiuchus was originally omitted for neatness' sake.
  
  Read more

• Drone captures rare whale footage

  22-10-2016 14:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Canadian scientists use drones to capture rare whale footage in the Arctic.
  
  Read more

• While Dinosaurs Romped, Birdsongs Filled the Air in Balmy Antarctica

  22-10-2016 14:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Scientists who found a fossilized avian “voice box” describe a vastly different southern continent—with birds that diversified before the dinosaurs’ mass extinction
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Iraqi army drives Islamic State from Christian region near Mosul

  22-10-2016 13:26
  By Phil Stewart and Babak Dehghanpisheh QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi army troops on Saturday stormed into a Christian region that has been under Islamic State control since 2014 as part of U.S.-backed operations to clear the entrances to Mosul, the militants' last major city stronghold in Iraq. The advance took place as U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived on a visit to Baghdad to meet Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and assess the campaign that started on Monday with air and ground suppo
  
  Read more

• Security forces end IS assault on Iraqi oil city, State TV says

  22-10-2016 11:16
  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Security forces overcame a big assault by Islamic State militants in Kirkuk and regained full control of the northern Iraqi oil city on Saturday, Iraqi state TV said. The city's authorities partially lifted a curfew declared after the militants stormed police stations and other buildings on Friday before dawn, the TV channel added, citing its own correspondent in Kirkuk. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
  
  Read more

• Glenn Greenwald weighs in on WikiLeaks data dump on Clinton

  22-10-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Journalist Glenn Greenwald spoke to CBC's Diana Swain about the dilemmas posed by so-called data dumps, the motives behind the leaks and the implications for the U.S. presidential election.
  
  Read more

• Experimental Mars probe may have exploded on impact

  22-10-2016 11:00
  
  A space probe tasked with looking for signs of life on Mars has crash-landed and may have exploded, the European Space Agency has confirmed. The ESA said images taken by a NASA Mars orbiter indicate the missing craft fell to the Red Planet's surface from a height of up to 2.5 miles. The ESA has compared a high resolution photograph of Mars' surface taken after Schiaparelli's descent with one of the same area taken six months earlier.
  
  Read more

• Hard crash-landing may have wrecked Europe's Mars probe

  22-10-2016 09:19
  
  Scientists say Europe's experimental Mars probe has hit the right spot but may have been destroyed in a fiery ball of rocket fuel because it was traveling too fast. Pictures taken by a NASA satellite show ...
  
  Read more

• Over 50,000 evacuated in typhoon's path in southern China

  22-10-2016 04:39
  
  BEIJING (AP) — More than 50,000 people in southern China have been evacuated in the path of Typhoon Haima, which killed at least 13 people in the Philippines before moving northward.
  
  Read more

• Fake IDs are a red flag for problem behaviors

  22-10-2016 03:43
  Have you heard of the CNN effect? There is also a “fake ID effect:” This is when a fake piece of identification facilitates later harms. Researchers already know that underage college students who obtain and use false identification are at risk for negative outcomes. This study investigated the strength of the fake ID effect to determine whether having a fake ID is a signal of being at risk or it actually increases the likelihood that a student will suffer alcohol-related problems.
  
  Read more

• Nintendo Switch hopes to succeed where Wii U sputtered

  22-10-2016 00:49 via cbc.ca
  
  The Nintendo Switch aims to merge the dual home and portable platforms the venerable Japanese company has long been known for into a single, harmonious whole.
  
  Read more

• Stunning drone footage reveals bowhead whales feeding, swimming patterns

  22-10-2016 00:36 via cbc.ca
  
  Bowhead whales like their afternoon siestas. That's what UBC's Sarah Fortune realized after she and her fellow researchers gathered and analysed stunning drone footage of the mammals in the eastern Canadian Arctic.
  
  Read more

Follow @ScienceUKnews on Twitter!