Science news

• Buzz Aldrin 'in good spirits' after South Pole evacuation

  01-12-2016 23:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, is evacuated from the South Pole after falling ill.
  
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• Rare childhood disease linked to major cancer gene

  01-12-2016 23:23
  An important molecular link between a rare childhood genetic disease and a major cancer gene has been uncovered by scientists. The discovery could lead to improved treatment outcomes for some cancer patients, they say.
  
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• How do children hear anger?

  01-12-2016 23:23
  Even if they don't understand the words, infants react to the way their mother speaks and the emotions conveyed through speech. What exactly they react to and how has yet to be fully deciphered, but could have significant impact on a child's development. Researchers in acoustics and psychology teamed up to better define and study this impact.
  
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• Climate change will drive stronger, smaller storms in U.S., new modeling approach forecasts

  01-12-2016 23:23
  The effects of climate change will likely cause smaller but stronger storms in the United States, according to a new framework for modeling storm behavior. Though storm intensity is expected to increase over today’s levels, the predicted reduction in storm size may alleviate some fears of widespread severe flooding in the future.
  
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• Modifying a live virus in a vaccine to be just strong enough

  01-12-2016 22:59
  By genetically tweaking the constituent live virus, scientists have created a vaccine against influenza in which the virus is capable of activating the immune system but cannot replicate in healthy cells -- an approach that may become more widely used for generating live virus vaccines adapted to other viruses.
  
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• Large-scale changes in insect species inhabiting streams and rivers

  01-12-2016 22:56
  The frequencies of occurrence of hundreds of insect species inhabiting streams have been altered relative to the conditions that existed prior to wide spread pollution and habitat alteration, American scientists have discovered. Results were similar for the two study regions (the Mid-Atlantic Highlands and North Carolina), where frequencies of occurrence for more than 70 percent of species have shifted.
  
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• Possible new target for treating and preventing Alzheimer's

  01-12-2016 22:54
  Researchers have compared prevalence of aquaporin-4 in the brains of those who had Alzheimer's to those who didn't have the disease, and report that they may have found a new target for treating and preventing the disease.
  
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• White deaths exceeded births in one-third of states

  01-12-2016 22:50
  More whites died than were born in a record high 17 states in 2014 compared to just four in 2004, according to new research. Some 121 million people representing 38 percent of the U.S. population reside in these states: California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Arkansas, Delaware, Nevada, Maine, Alabama, Connecticut, New Mexico, West Virginia and Rhode Island.
  
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• More frequent, more intense and longer-lasting storms cause heavier spring rain in central US

  01-12-2016 22:48
  Intense storms have become more frequent and longer-lasting in the Great Plains and Midwest in the last 35 years. What has fueled these storms? The temperature difference between the Southern Great Plains and the Atlantic Ocean produces winds that carry moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Plains, according to a recent study.
  
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• A watershed moment in understanding how water conducts electricity

  01-12-2016 22:45
  Scientists have taken spectroscopic snapshots of nature's most mysterious relay race: the passage of extra protons from one water molecule to another during conductivity. The finding represents a major benchmark in our knowledge of how water conducts a positive electrical charge.
  
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• Disabling critical 'node' revs up attack when cancer immunotherapies fall short

  01-12-2016 22:44
  An existing drug known as a JAK inhibitor may help patients who don't respond to the so-called checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy drugs overcome that resistance, suggests a new preclinical study. Importantly, the results demonstrate that shutting down the interferon pathway, shown here to be critical to a tumor's resistance to immunotherapy, with a JAK inhibitor may improve checkpoint inhibitor drugs and even bypass the need for combinations of these drugs, which often come with serious side eff
  
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• Shoulder replacements skyrocketing in the United States

  01-12-2016 22:36
  The number of shoulder replacement surgeries has skyrocketed across the United States as technology improves and aging Baby Boomers seek to relieve pain and restore function to arthritic shoulders.
  
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• A friend of a friend is…a dense network

  01-12-2016 22:36
  Networks evolve in different ways depending how often "second neighbor," or friends of friends, connections occur.
  
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• A cleaner, more efficient car? New material designed to better store hydrogen fuel

  01-12-2016 22:36
  New materials have been designed that could be used to store hydrogen fuel more efficiently in vehicles or other devices that use clean energy.
  
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• Scientists identify unique genomic features in testicular cancer

  01-12-2016 22:34
  Researchers have identified unique genomic changes that may be integral to testicular cancer development and explain why the great majority are highly curable with chemotherapy – unlike most solid tumors.
  
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• Many lakes getting murkier, but study gives hope for improvement

  01-12-2016 22:34
  A study of more than 5,000 Wisconsin lakes shows that nearly a quarter of them have become murkier in the past two decades. It also shows this trend could get worse as a changing climate leads to increased precipitation.
  
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• Hearing 'meaningful' sounds decreases performance on cognitive tasks

  01-12-2016 22:34
  Open office plans are becoming increasingly common in the workplace -- offering a way to optimize available space and encourage dialogue, interaction and collaboration among employees. However, a new study suggests that productive work-related conversations might actually decrease the performance of other employees within earshot -- more so than other random, meaningless noises.
  
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• Artificial dog noses are being used to improve drug and bomb detectors

  01-12-2016 22:29 via cbc.ca
  
  The shape and function of a dog's nose is being used to improve electronic scent detectors.
  
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• Women dissatisfied with long process to diagnose polycystic ovary syndrome

  01-12-2016 22:17
  A large international survey of women with a common condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is characterized by reproductive and metabolic problems, found nearly two in three were dissatisfied with the length of time they waited and the number of healthcare professionals they had to see before they received a diagnosis, according to a new study.
  
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• Researchers examine effects of toxic stress on children's brain development

  01-12-2016 22:17
  A new study uses fMRI data to compare brain development between children who experience pervasive, continuing trauma and those with “normal” development.
  
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• Increasing tornado outbreaks: Is climate change responsible?

  01-12-2016 22:17
  In a new study, researchers looked at increasing trends in the severity of tornado outbreaks where they measured severity by the number of tornadoes per outbreak. They found that these trends are increasing fastest for the most extreme outbreaks. While they saw changes in meteorological quantities that are consistent with these upward trends, the meteorological trends were not the ones expected under climate change.
  
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• 6-Foot-Wide 'Bald' Asteroid Is Smallest Ever Studied

  01-12-2016 22:16
  
  Astronomers have set a new record, taking the measure of a tiny space rock just 6 feet (2 meters) wide. "This is the first time we have optical, infrared and radar data on such a small asteroid, which is essentially a meteoroid," Vishnu Reddy, of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said in a statement. This image of the 6-foot-wide (2 meters) asteroid 2015 TC25 was captured by Northern Arizona University astronomers using the Discovery Channel Telescope in Happy Jack, Ari
  
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• New computational method to create drugs more efficiently

  01-12-2016 22:08
  Researchers have developed a more efficient computational method to identify new drugs. The study proposes a new way of facing the discovery of molecules with biological activity.
  
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• Chimpanzees recognize one another from their rear ends

  01-12-2016 22:07
  It is important for social animals to be able to recognise one another quickly. Humans are able to recognize each other immediately from their faces. Faces are also important for chimpanzees, but a new study shows that the animals' buttocks also play a role.
  
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• Smelly no more: astronauts help freshen up deep-frying

  01-12-2016 22:02 via cbc.ca
  
  People who live above fast-food restaurants may soon have astronauts to thank for solving the perennial problem of smelly french fry oil.
  
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• Watch NASA's Fire-in-Space Experiments Ignite in a Blazing Success

  01-12-2016 22:00
  
  NASA has declared its latest round of fire-in-space experiments a success.
  
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• Russian cargo ship destroyed after launch for Space Station

  01-12-2016 22:00
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An unmanned Russian cargo ship loaded with more than 2-1/2 tons of food and supplies for the International Space Station broke apart about six minutes after liftoff on Thursday, Russia's space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.
  
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• Europe ministers debate space future

  01-12-2016 21:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe's research ministers negotiate over funding for the space station and a rover that would land on Mars to search for life.
  
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• Ailing Buzz Aldrin evacuated from South Pole to New Zealand

  01-12-2016 21:25
  
  An ailing Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, was evacuated from the South Pole to New Zealand where he was hospitalized Thursday in stable condition.
  
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• Gut microbe mix may spark Parkinson’s

  01-12-2016 20:48
  
  Parkinson’s disease symptoms might be driven by gut microbes
  
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• [Working Life] Making a difference, differently

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Matthew Tuthill
  
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• [This Week in Science] Zika virus is fit to be tied

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Tie me up, cut me down

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Pamela J. Hines
  
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• [This Week in Science] The epigenetics of exhaustion

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Shining light on a peculiar coupling

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Jelena Stajic
  
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• [This Week in Science] Shared logic in diverse immune systems

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Pamela J. Hines
  
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• [This Week in Science] Running interference

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Yevgeniya Nusinovich
  
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• [This Week in Science] Protecting by changing the code

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Overactive antiviral responses in lupus

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: John F. Foley
  
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• [This Week in Science] Letting SLE-Ping plaques lie

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Angela Colmone
  
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• [This Week in Science] How to reactivate forgotten memories

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [This Week in Science] How to maintain hematopoietic stem cells

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Beverly A. Purnell
  
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• [This Week in Science] How new particles form

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: H. Jesse Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] How bats spread viruses

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] Glial cells contribute to pain

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [This Week in Science] Frame-by-frame view of acidic transport

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Jake Yeston
  
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• [This Week in Science] Attention changes local brain activity

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [This Week in Science] A massive galaxy forming from molecular gas

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Author: Keith T. Smith
  
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• [Review] Intracellular innate immune surveillance devices in plants and animals

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Multicellular eukaryotes coevolve with microbial pathogens, which exert strong selective pressure on the immune systems of their hosts. Plants and animals use intracellular proteins of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) superfamily to detect many types of microbial pathogens. The NLR domain architecture likely evolved independently and convergently in each kingdom, and the molecular mechanisms of pathogen detection by plant and animal NLRs have long been considered to be di
  
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• [Retrospective] Ralph J. Cicerone (1943–2016)

  01-12-2016 20:43
  Ask which university in the United States does the most to improve career outcomes for low-income students, and the University of California (UC), Irvine, comes out on top, based on surveys. This is the fertile environment for teaching and research that Ralph J. Cicerone, as chancellor (1998–2005), brought to international prominence. Walk around the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, and hear the echoes of more than a century and a half of lofty debate among the nation's most res
  
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