Science news

• Mysterious 'Dark Energy' May Not Exist, Study Claims

  25-10-2016 23:52
  
  The universe may not be expanding at an accelerating rate after all, meaning that mysterious "dark energy" might not actually exist, according to a new study. In 2011, three cosmologists from two research teams won the Nobel Prize in physics for independently showing that distant Type Ia supernovas, which are a kind of exploding star, are moving away from Earth faster than nearby ones are. This hypothetical dispersive force came to be known as dark energy, because astronomers didn't really know
  
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• 'Heartbeat stars' unlocked in new study

  25-10-2016 23:40
  Matters of the heart can be puzzling and mysterious -- so too with unusual astronomical objects called heartbeat stars.
  
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• Red Spider Nebula Haunts Deep Space in Hubble Photo

  25-10-2016 23:14
  
  The Red Spider Nebula welcomes Halloween with its eerie lobes and ghostly shine.
  
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• How 'Hidden Figures' Came Together: Interview with Author Margot Shetterly

  25-10-2016 21:43
  
  Growing up in Hampton, Virginia, author Margot Shetterly took for granted that scientists and mathematicians would as often as not be female and nonwhite. Shetterly's new book, "Hidden Figures" (William Morrow, 2016) follows the black women at Langley who were first hired during World War II as "computers," scratching out complex computations for the center's aeronautical and rocket research before the days of electronic computing.
  
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• Twitter bot creates 'remarkably Trump-like' tweets

  25-10-2016 21:42 via cbc.ca
  
  CBC Radio technology columnist Dan Misener digs deep into DeepDrumpf.
  
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• [Research Resource] Combinatorial interaction network of transcriptomic and phenotypic responses to nitrogen and hormones in the Arabidopsis thaliana root

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Multivariate analysis reveals a hormone- and nutrient-regulated network that shapes root architecture.
  
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• [Research Article] Loss of epithelial Gq and G11 signaling inhibits TGF� production but promotes IL-33-mediated macrophage polarization and emphysema

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Signaling by Gq/11 is required for optimal TGFβ activation in the lung to prevent inflammation.
  
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• [Research Article] A glucocorticoid- and diet-responsive pathway toggles adipocyte precursor cell activity in vivo

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Fat tissue produces the secreted protease ADAMTS1, which activates a pathway that inhibits diet- or glucocorticoid-stimulated expansion of adipose tissue.
  
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• [Podcast] Science Signaling Podcast for 25 October 2016: How glucorticoids stimulate fat

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A secreted protease inhibits diet- and glucocorticoid-induced differentiation of adipocytes (Wong et al., in 25 October 2016 issue).
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Pathogen exploits Wnt receptors

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Clostridium difficile toxin B blocks Wnt signaling and damages colonic epithelial cells by binding to Frizzled.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Kinase inhibitors that block bromodomain interactions

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Interference with protein interactions may be the mechanism of the anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative activity of dual function ERK5 inhibitors.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Improving the health of newborns of obese mothers

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  AMPK activators may rescue brown adipose tissue development in neonates of obese mothers.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] A tauopathy kinase

  25-10-2016 21:22 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Inhibiting the kinase NUAK1 could slow the accumulation of tau in Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.
  
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• Venezuelan legislature launches trial against Maduro

  25-10-2016 20:43
  By Andrew Cawthorne and Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition-led National Assembly voted on Tuesday to open a political trial against President Nicolas Maduro for violating democracy, but the socialist government dismissed the move as meaningless. The OPEC member's political standoff has worsened since last week's suspension of an opposition push to hold a referendum to try and recall Maduro, 53. With that avenue closed, the opposition coalition has raised the stakes, using i
  
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• Gates Foundation gives University of Washington $210 million

  25-10-2016 20:37
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving the University of Washington $210 million to help build a new facility to advance efforts to improve the health and well-being of people worldwide, officials said Tuesday.
  
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• Space travel affects spine of astronauts, NASA study shows

  25-10-2016 19:59
  How does space travel affect the spine? Astronauts on long missions in space have atrophy of the muscles supporting the spine—which don't return to normal even several weeks after their return to Earth, reports a study.
  
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• Breakthrough drug approved as alternative to chemotherapy for people with advanced lung cancer

  25-10-2016 19:59
  Pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug has been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration as first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The first-line designation means that some patients will have access to the drug without first having to receive other treatments such as chemotherapy.
  
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• Seniors watch twice as much television as young people do, CRTC numbers show

  25-10-2016 19:33 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadians are watching less TV and radio but consuming more media than ever before, new numbers from the CRTC show.
  
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• Long, curved, akimbo: Hope uncovered for bird beak deformity

  25-10-2016 19:28
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Biologist Colleen Handel saw her first black-capped chickadee with the heartrending disorder in 1998.
  
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• Renewable energy capacity overtakes coal

  25-10-2016 19:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The International Energy Agency says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal.
  
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• Tidal turbines can be put in Bay of Fundy, at least for now

  25-10-2016 19:13 via cbc.ca
  
  Bay of Fundy fishermen have failed in their bid to stop the deployment of electricity-generating turbines in the Minas Basin near Parrsboro, N.S.
  
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• With climate change, grizzly bears may hibernate less

  25-10-2016 19:00
  
  New research shows that food availability and weather are driving when grizzly bears enter and exit their dens for hibernation.
  
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• Jupiter-Like Planets Can Send Mars-Size Worlds Packing

  25-10-2016 19:00
  
  New research suggests that if gas giants about the size of Jupiter form with an orbit that is also about the size of Jupiter's current path around the sun, each of those planets could hurl an average of eight small, rocky worlds from their system. "The history of our own planet has been heavily influenced by our big brother Jupiter," Thomas Barclay, an exoplanet scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California, told Space.com by email. Jupiter is often described as shielding Earth from an on
  
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• Cassini Spacecraft's Final Year at Saturn Is Like a 'Brand-New Mission'

  25-10-2016 19:00
  
  After orbiting Saturn and its moons for more than a decade, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun its final year of observing the system. The mission will culminate with a plunge into the ringed planet, and the spacecraft will eventually burn up inside Saturn's vast atmosphere. Along the way, Cassini will dart between the rings and the planet itself, collecting valuable data that will reveal the age of the rings and the composition of the planet.
  
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• Around Small Stars, Tilted Planets May Be Less Habitable

  25-10-2016 19:00
  
  Planets orbiting distant stars may have the right conditions for life if they exist in the so-called habitable zone — a region around the star where the planet will receive enough sunlight so that liquid water could exist on its surface. But a new study shows that for a planet orbiting a type of small, dim star known as an M-dwarf, the planet's tilt can make the worldinhospitable, even if it lies within the star's habitable zone. A planet with 0 degrees obliquity has a north pole pointed s
  
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• Improved water splitting advances renewable energy conversion

  25-10-2016 18:57
  A way to more efficiently create hydrogen from water has been discovered by scientists, representing an important step in making renewable energy production and storage viable.
  
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• Study suggests approach to waking patients after surgery

  25-10-2016 18:56
  The use of general anesthesia for surgery has not changed fundamentally since it was first introduced 170 years ago. Patients are still left to come around in their own time following withdrawal of the drug. However, some patients can take a considerable amount of time to wake up, creating a line up of problems. Now researchers have moved a step closer to a treatment to rapidly awaken patients after administration of a general anesthetic, following a study of the mechanism that allows people to
  
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• Researchers use CRISPR to accelerate search for HIV cure

  25-10-2016 18:51
  A newly developed gene-editing system has been used to find gene mutations that make human immune cells resistant to HIV infection.
  
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• New SIDS research shows carbon dioxide, inner ear damage may play important role

  25-10-2016 18:51
  Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) may be linked to the build up of carbon dioxide and existing inner ear damage according to a new study. Experts say the finding could help researchers understand the sequence of events and risk factors that lead to SIDS deaths.
  
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• Jo Johnson and Martyn Poliakoff perform scientific test

  25-10-2016 17:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Science Minister Jo Johnson and Prof Martyn Poliakoff mix politics and science to look at carbon dioxide and the acidification of oceans.
  
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• 3-D-printed magnets: How can you produce a magnet with exactly the right magnetic field?

  25-10-2016 17:57
  How can you produce a magnet with exactly the right magnetic field? A research team now has a solution: for the first time, they have created magnets with a 3D printer.
  
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• Uranus may have two undiscovered moons

  25-10-2016 17:51
  NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus 30 years ago, but researchers are still making discoveries from the data it gathered then. A new study led by University of Idaho researchers suggests there could be two tiny, previously undiscovered moonlets orbiting near two of the planet's rings.
  
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• First time-lapse footage of cell activity during limb regeneration

  25-10-2016 17:49
  Researchers have, for the first time, recorded how cells of the epidermis behave during the regrowth of adult limbs after amputation. The scientists carried out continuous live imaging of a regenerating leg in the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, a close relative of the common sand hopper.
  
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• Towards better metallic glasses

  25-10-2016 17:48
  Researchers have used state-of-the-art computer simulation to test a theory from the 1950s that when atoms organize themselves into 3D pentagons they supress crystallisation. The theory has been a cornerstone of metallic glass development ever since from high-tech aerospace materials to the covers of our mobile phones. But until now, the mechanism by which these 3D pentagons could stop the formation of crystal nuclei has been unknown.
  
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• Structure of key DNA replication protein solved

  25-10-2016 17:46
  A research team has solved the three-dimensional structure of a key protein that helps damaged cellular DNA repair itself. Investigators say that knowing the chemical structure of the protein will likely help drug designers build novel anti-cancer agents.
  
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• Study reveals which genes are critical to a plant's response to drought

  25-10-2016 17:44
  Because plants cannot relocate when resources become scarce, they need to efficiently regulate their growth by responding to environmental cues. Drought is the most important cause of reduced plant growth and crop yield, which makes insights into a plant's drought response highly valuable to agriculture. A new study has provided major insights into how plants cope with water-limiting conditions, which can direct advanced breeding and genome engineering efforts to create high-performing, drought-
  
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• Teenagers influenced by video games with alcohol, smoking content

  25-10-2016 17:43
  Images and references to alcohol and tobacco in popular video games may be influencing UK teens who play the games and the age restriction system is not working, according to a new study.
  
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• Sleep loss tied to changes of the gut microbiota in humans

  25-10-2016 17:41
  Curtailing sleep alters the abundance of bacterial gut species that have previously been linked to compromised human metabolic health, results from a new clinical study suggests.
  
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• Can a brain-computer interface convert your thoughts to text?

  25-10-2016 17:40
  Ever wonder what it would be like if a device could decode your thoughts into actual speech or written words? While this might enhance the capabilities of already existing speech interfaces with devices, it could be a potential game-changer for those with speech pathologies, and even more so for "locked-in" patients who lack any speech or motor function.
  
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• Accelerated glacier melting in West Antarctica documented

  25-10-2016 17:33
  Two new studies have found the fastest ongoing rates of glacier retreat ever observed in West Antarctica and offer an unprecedented look at ice melting on the floating undersides of glaciers. The results highlight how the interaction between ocean conditions and the bedrock beneath a glacier can influence the frozen mass, helping scientists better predict future Antarctica ice loss and global sea level rise.
  
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• University of Washington gets $210M from Gates Foundation

  25-10-2016 17:14
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — The University of Washington is getting $210 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help build a new facility to advance efforts to improve the health and well-being of people around the world, officials said Tuesday.
  
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• BlackBerry unveils latest smartphone designed by outside firm

  25-10-2016 17:05 via cbc.ca
  
  BlackBerry has released the DTEK60, its second smartphone designed and built externally, marking the latest development in the company's push away from manufacturing handsets as it focuses more on its security software.
  
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• Saturn's weird hexagon changes colour

  25-10-2016 16:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The mysterious hexagon at Saturn's northern pole has changed colour from blue to gold, scientists have said.
  
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• Man Dies of Flesh-Eating Bacteria from Ocean: What Is Vibrio Vulnificus?

  25-10-2016 16:41
  
  A man in Maryland died just days after he developed a rare infection from a type of flesh-eating bacteria that live in ocean water. The man, Michael Funk, 67, had a cut on his leg that came into contact with the salty water in a bay near his home in Ocean City, according to Nature World News. The cut allowed a type of bacteria called Vibrio vulnificus to enter his bloodstream.
  
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• Lies Breed Lies: Brain May Get Desensitized to Dishonesty

  25-10-2016 16:41
  
  Dishonesty is a slippery slope: If you behave dishonestly once, you may become more likely to do so again in the future, a new study from England shows. In several of the trials, conditions made it so that dishonesty benefited the participant. People's dishonesty escalated over the course of these trials, found the study, published online today (Oct. 24) in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
  
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• High-Potency Pot Doubles Risk of Marijuana Dependence

  25-10-2016 16:40
  
  People in the study who used "high-potency" marijuana were twice as likely to become dependent as those who used lower-potency forms of the drug, according to new findings presented today (Oct. 21) at the International Early Psychosis Association meeting in Milan. People are considered to be dependent on marijuana if they experience withdrawal symptoms — such as irritability, mood and sleep problems, and decreased appetite — when they are not using the drug, according to the U.S. Nat
  
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• Beware of These Risks When Sharing Photos of Your Kids on Facebook

  25-10-2016 16:40
  
  Kids can be harmed if, for example, photos that parents share online end up being misused by strangers who get access to them because of lax privacy policies on some social media sites, the researchers said. "This information that's out there can be misused by predators — whether it is pedophiles or pornography sites," said Dr. Bahareh Keith, a pediatrician at the University of Florida Health and a co-author of the research, presented today (Oct. 21) at the American Academy of Pediatrics n
  
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• Devil vs. Superbug: Bacteria Succumb to Tasmanian Devil Milk

  25-10-2016 16:39
  
  Milk from Tasmanian devils could be used in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, new research from Australia finds. The devils are marsupials, meaning that their teensy young hop into their parents' pouches after birth to finish developing, and in a new study, researchers found that the marsupial's milk contains several powerful peptides called cathelicidins, which can act as natural antibiotics. Humans have one cathelicidin, but Tasmanian devils have six, and their fellow marsupial
  
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• High Spot: Brain's Marijuana Center Imaged in 3D

  25-10-2016 16:38
  
  The receptor in the brain involved in the "high" people feel after smoking marijuana is revealed in a new, detailed, 3D image today, according to a new study. This provides scientists with their clearest picture yet of this receptor, the study said. The new image shows how molecules such as THC, marijuana's main psychoactive ingredient, bind to this receptor, which is located in the surface of numerous nerve cells, the researchers found.
  
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• Coral 'Twilight Zone' Reveals New Type of Photosynthesis

  25-10-2016 16:36
  
  Now, researchers have discovered that the corals that inhabit this "twilight zone" have a never-before-seen adaptation that enables them to eke out enough light energy to survive. The photosynthetic algae that live on and power these corals have unusual cellular "machinery" that enables them to conduct photosynthesis more efficiently than species that live at shallower depths, the researchers reported Oct. 17 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. "It's unlike anything we've seen on land, o
  
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