Science news

• Mouthwash May Kill Gonorrhea Bacteria

  20-12-2016 23:25
  
  The bacteria that cause gonorrhea can be found in a person's throat, but stopping the growth of these germs may be as simple as gargling with mouthwash, a small new study from Australia finds. The idea that mouthwash could kill certain strains of bacteria is not new — in fact, as far back as 1879, Listerine advertised that it could "cure" gonorrhea, according to the new study. The rates of gonorrhea, which is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, have more than doubled in men in Au
  
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• Japan resisting frustrated U.S. lobbying for South Sudan arms embargo

  20-12-2016 23:13
  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After threatening South Sudan with a U.N. arms embargo to encourage steps toward peace, the United States wants to impose the measure, but the 15-member Security Council is split and Washington cannot even convince ally Japan. U.S. frustration with Tokyo's resistance to an embargo and additional targeted sanctions spilled over on Monday when Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, publicly questioned the reluctance of Japan, which
  
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• Using multiple social media platforms dramatically raises likelihood of depression and anxiety in young adults, study finds

  20-12-2016 21:49
  
  The risk is increased even when taking into account the amount of time users spend on social media.
  
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• [Research Article] Trans-inhibition of activation and proliferation signals by Fc receptors in mast cells and basophils

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  By recruiting the lipid phosphatase SHIP1, Fc receptors mediate not only cis-inhibition, but also trans-inhibition.
  
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• [Research Article] The histone deubiquitinase OTLD1 targets euchromatin to regulate plant growth

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The Arabidopsis thaliana histone deubiquitinase OTLD1 represses the transcription of growth regulators and promotes plant growth.
  
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• [Research Article] Rac signal adaptation controls neutrophil mobilization from the bone marrow

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Circulating neutrophil numbers are determined by the time course of adaptation for chemokine-activated signaling in neutrophils.
  
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• [Research Article] Diacylglycerol kinase ζ limits the polarized recruitment of diacylglycerol-enriched organelles to the immune synapse in T cells

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The lipid kinase DGKζ controls T cell responsiveness by converting the first signal diacylglycerol into a second signal phosphatidic acid.
  
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• [Podcast] Science Signaling Podcast for 20 December 2016: Trans-inhibition by Fc receptors

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Recruitment of the lipid phosphatase SHIP1 enables trans-inhibition by Fc receptors (Malbec et al., in 20 December 2016 issue).
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Serine ubiquitylation

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A bacterial effector protein ubiquitylates host proteins through a mechanism that is independent of and blocks the host ubiquitylation machinery.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Intestinal cells purge to eliminate pathogens

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Bacterial pore-forming toxins cause intestinal epithelial cells to extrude their cytoplasm.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Inflammation helps tumors evade immune detection

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A little less NF-κB signaling in tumor cells may be sufficient to enable cytotoxic T cells to attack the tumor.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] An alternative path for Pyrin

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Mutations associated with an autoimmune disorder enable cells to assemble Pryin inflammasomes independently of microtubules.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] A stiff path to aggressiveness

  20-12-2016 21:15 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Whether a glioblastoma-associated IDH1 mutant can prevent the hypoxic induction of HIF1α depends on the stiffness of the extracellular matrix.
  
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• John Glenn's 1962 Re-Entry: Film and Audio Synchronized to Mark His Death

  20-12-2016 20:51
  
  The death of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, has led a historian who wrote a biography of the astronaut to share a new look at one of Glenn's most harrowing moments. Follow collectSPACE.comon Facebookand on Twitter at @collectSPACE.
  
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• Smithsonian Moving Apollo 11 Spacecraft 'Columbia' for Conservation

  20-12-2016 20:31
  
  The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is now organizing to move Columbia, NASA's Apollo 11 command module that flew Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on the first moon landing mission, to the museum's restoration facility at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia. There, the space capsule will undergo a six-month conservation to be ready for its next exhibition. In preparation for the upcoming move — Columbia's first departure from the Air and Space Mu
  
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• U.S., Canada ban offshore drilling in Arctic waters

  20-12-2016 19:41 via cbc.ca
  
  President Barack Obama designated the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also placed a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing in its Arctic waters.
  
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• Obama expected to ban offshore drilling leases in Arctic, Atlantic

  20-12-2016 19:41 via cbc.ca
  
  In an 11th-hour push for environmental protection before he leaves office, President Barack Obama is expected to order wide swaths of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans placed permanently off-limits for oil drilling, people briefed on the administration's plan said.
  
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• 'Winter Wonderland' Glows in Space as Nebula Is Wreathed in Wintry Colors

  20-12-2016 19:38
  
  This cloud of cosmic gas and dust is NGC 6357, also known as the War and Peace Nebula — a nickname that stems from its shape, which some say resembles a dove on one side and a skull on the other. X-ray data from Chandra  and ROSAT are shown in purple.
  
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• El Nino-linked cyclones to increase in Pacific with global warming - research

  20-12-2016 19:31
  By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Small Pacific island states could be hit by more tropical cyclones during future El Nino weather patterns due to climate change, scientists said on Tuesday. El Nino is a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific occurring every two to seven years which can trigger both floods and drought in different parts of the world. Its opposite phase, a cooling of the same waters known as La Nina, is associated with the increased probability o
  
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• The Flint water crisis and other public health woes from 2016

  20-12-2016 19:00
  
  Drug use continued to threaten the health and safety of the American public in 2016, while a hidden menace in drinking water remained a worry in Michigan.
  
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• Smog chokes cities in northern China

  20-12-2016 18:50 via cbc.ca
  
  China, one of the countries with the worst air pollution, has issued a red alert for the fourth consecutive day.
  
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• Brain's party noise filter revealed by recordings

  20-12-2016 17:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Direct recordings have revealed what happens in our brains as we make sense of speech in a noisy environment, scientists say.
  
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• Testing stem cells in tiniest hearts to fight birth defect

  20-12-2016 17:18
  
  BALTIMORE (AP) — The 4-month-old on the operating table has a shocking birth defect, nearly half his heart too small or even missing. To save him, surgeons will have to totally reroute how his blood flows, a drastic treatment that doesn't always work.
  
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• A Deep Space Illusion: Mimas, Saturn's Rings and Cassini

  20-12-2016 17:00
  
  Collision course! … or not. Saturn's battered moon Mimas appears to be headed for a crash through the planet's trademark rings, but it's all an optical illusion seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. While it looks as if Mimas is about to smash into Saturn's rings, the moon is actually 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) away. "There is a strong connection between the icy moon and Saturn's rings, though," NASA officials wrote in a description of the image, which the agency released Monday (
  
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• A Cosmic Wikipedia: Massive Digital Sky Survey Is Unveiled for Scientists

  20-12-2016 17:00
  
  The Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS, began observing the night sky in 2010, using a 1.8-meter telescope at the summit of Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. The newly released catalog is the world's largest digital sky survey to date, according to a statement from the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy, the project's headquarters. In addition to making the data freely available, the project collaborators have spent years making the catalog e
  
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• Real Science Inspires Voyage to the Stars in 'Passengers'

  20-12-2016 16:23
  The new space flick "Passengers" takes place in a far-off, science-fiction future, but modern-day science is laying the groundwork to turn some of those fictional elements into reality. At a panel discussion Sony Pictures held earlier this month, two real-world scientists talked about two key scientific elements that were portrayed in the film: the search for Earth-like planets around other stars, and placing humans into temporary stasis (a state that's like hibernation) for trips through space.
  
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• Dozens Dead in Siberia from Drinking Bath Oil: How Methanol Kills

  20-12-2016 16:08
  
  Authorities in Irkutsk, the sixth-largest city in Russia, declared a state of emergency today (Dec. 19) after at least 49 people died from drinking the apparently mislabeled bath oil, according to the Washington Post. The label on the bath oil said it contained ethanol, and people drank the product as a cheap alternative to alcohol, which is a common practice in Russia, the Post reported. When people consume methanol, the body metabolizes it first into formaldehyde, and then into a compound call
  
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• Patients Treated by Female Docs Have Lower Risk of Death

  20-12-2016 16:05
  
  More research is needed to understand why exactly patients treated by female doctors have lower mortality rate, study co-author Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor of health policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement. But previous research has suggested that there are differences between how male and female physicians practice medicine, Jha said.
  
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• Marijuana Use on the Rise Among Pregnant Women

  20-12-2016 16:03
  
  Marijuana use among pregnant women in the U.S. increased by 62 percent from 2002 to 2014, a new study finds. Researchers found that 3.9 percent of pregnant women reported on a 2014 government survey that they had used marijuana during the past month, up from 2.4 percent who said the same on a 2002 survey, according to the study. Although this 3.9 percent rate "is not high, the increases over time and potential adverse consequences of prenatal marijuana exposure suggest further monitoring and res
  
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• Hunting Dark Matter between the Ticks of an Atomic Clock

  20-12-2016 15:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Optical atomic clocks could detect planet-size flaws in a field that might help explain dark matter
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Environmentalists file court challenge of Ottawa's Trans Mountain pipeline approval

  20-12-2016 15:10 via cbc.ca
  
  Lawyers working for the Living Oceans Society and Raincoast Conservation filed a court challenge in Calgary to the federal government's approval of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
  
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• 9 ways to make your Christmas more unique and eco-friendly

  20-12-2016 15:10
  
  Want to grow your very own Christmas tree?
  
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• What’s ahead for science in 2017?

  20-12-2016 15:00
  
  Science News writers reveal what they are watching for — and hoping for — in the year ahead.
  
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• Japan successfully launches solid fuel rocket

  20-12-2016 14:58
  
  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's space agency said on Tuesday it had successfully launched a solid fuel rocket named Epsilon-2, the latest in Tokyo's effort to stay competitive in an industry that has robust growth potential and strong security implications.
  
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• Japanese Satellite Launches to Study Earth's Radiation Belts

  20-12-2016 13:30
  
  A Japanese spacecraft designed to help scientists better understand the radiation environment of near-Earth space has made it to orbit. If all goes according to plan, ERG will set up shop in a highly elliptical orbit, getting as close to Earth as 215 miles (350 kilometers) and as far away as 18,640 miles (30,000 km). This path will take the 780-lb. (355 kilograms) satellite through the Van Allen radiation belts, where the planet's magnetic field has trapped huge numbers of fast-moving electrons
  
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• Canadian Scientists Warn U.S. Colleagues: Act Now to Protect Science under Trump

  20-12-2016 13:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Back up data and speak out ahead of next month’s inauguration, they advise
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Scientists can't decide which is the 'most beautiful spotted animal' and it has led to the best Twitter debate ever

  20-12-2016 13:04
  
  Who’s got the #bestspots?
  
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• ‘Waterworld’ Earth preceded late rise of continents, scientist proposes

  20-12-2016 13:00
  
  Cooling mantle temperatures may have lifted Earth’s continents above sea level, helping spur the Cambrian explosion.
  
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• Q&A: The Astronaut Who Captured Out-of-This-World Views of Earth [Slide Show]

  20-12-2016 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Don Pettit discusses his dazzling orbital photographs of our home planet 
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Brexit uncertainty 'corrosive' for science

  20-12-2016 11:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Uncertainty over the nature of the UK's future relationship with the EU is having a "corrosive" effect on science.
  
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• Canadian telecoms push back on proposed police powers

  20-12-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Rogers, TekSavvy, and other technology companies have argued the government hasn't made a good enough case for why law enforcement agencies need unwarranted access to subscriber information and new interception capabilities.
  
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• Prostate cancer laser treatment 'truly transformative'

  20-12-2016 09:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Surgeons describe a new treatment for early stage prostate cancer as "truly transformative".
  
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• NASA to Test Parachute-Like Exo-Brake Tech to Return Stuff from Space

  20-12-2016 07:40
  
  A novel technology that could allow for accurate, guided landing of payloads returning to Earth from the International Space Station will soon undergo testing in orbit. The technology, called "Exo-Brake," is a "tension-based, flexible braking device resembling a cross-parachute that deploys from the rear of a satellite to increase the drag," NASA officials said in a statement. Developed and tested by engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, the Exo-Brake is a de-orbit device that
  
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• VLA, ALMA team up to give first look at birthplaces of most current stars

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) VLA and ALMA show distant galaxies seen as they were when most of today's stars were being born, answering longstanding questions about mechanisms of star formation billions of years ago.
  
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• UMass Amherst nursing students learn brief effective substance abuse screening

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) As they graduate this semester, 44 student nurses who learned SBIRT skills are pioneers in engaging the community. SBIRT training was added to the nursing curriculum at UMass Amherst after it received an $870,000 grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, one of only 12 such grants in the US.
  
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• Trends in extracorporeal life support -- ASAIO Journal presents latest worldwide registry data

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (Wolters Kluwer Health) For critically ill patients with heart or lung failure that does not respond to conventional treatments, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) can provide a bridge to survival. Updated analysis of a worldwide database finds that ECLS technologies are becoming more widely available and more frequently used at centers around the world, according to a report in the ASAIO Journal, published by Wolters Kluwer.
  
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• Traffic fatalities decline in states with medical marijuana laws

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health) States that enacted medical marijuana laws, on average, experienced reductions in traffic fatalities, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Overall, states that passed medical marijuana laws saw an 11 percent reduction in traffic fatalities, on average, after enacting the laws, and had 26 percent lower rates of traffic fatalities compared with states without the laws.
  
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• Sunlight offers surprise benefit -- it energizes infection fighting T cells

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (Georgetown University Medical Center) Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have found that sunlight, through a mechanism separate than vitamin D production, energizes T cells that play a central role in human immunity. Their findings, published today in Scientific Reports, suggest how the skin, the body's largest organ, stays alert to the many microbes that can nest there.
  
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• Study finds some councils in London let down homeless veterans

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (University of Kent) A new study finds some local authorities in London are letting down homeless veterans. Legal experts from the University of Kent who assessed London's local authority provision for homeless former members of the armed services found only nine out of 33 make an explicit online acknowledgement of their duty towards veterans, and there are ways all 33 could improve.
  
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• Studies lead to use of melanin as material for bioelectronic devices

  20-12-2016 06:00
  
  (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) Researchers at São Paulo State University's School of Sciences (FC-UNESP) in Brazil have succeeded in developing a novel route to more rapidly synthesize and to enable the use of melanin, a polymeric compound that pigments the skin, eyes and hair of mammals and is considered one of the most promising materials for use in miniaturized implantable devices such as biosensors.
  
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