Science news

• Want to 3D print your own sonic tractor beam? Here's how

  03-01-2017 23:37 via cbc.ca
  
  If you consider yourself a techie, here's a project that could be worth tackling: a sonic tractor beam.
  
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• California snowpack measures low, but big storms coming

  03-01-2017 23:00
  
  PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. (AP) — Surveyors plunged a pole into the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Tuesday and took the first manual measurement of the wet season, finding water content was about half of normal as California flirts with a possible sixth year of drought.
  
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• Is this January one of the coldest the UK has experienced?

  03-01-2017 22:56
  
  Temperatures of minus 6.8C were recorded in Devon, while the capital dropped to 0C.
  
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• [Research Article] The tyrosine kinase Src promotes phosphorylation of the kinase TBK1 to facilitate type I interferon production after viral infection

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The tyrosine kinase Src couples activation of multiple pattern recognition receptors to the production of type I interferon.
  
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• [Research Article] The SCFβ-TRCP E3 ubiquitin ligase complex targets Lipin1 for ubiquitination and degradation to promote hepatic lipogenesis

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The targeting of Lipin1 by the SCFβ-TRCP E3 ubiquitin ligase complex enhances lipid synthesis and accumulation in the liver.
  
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• [Research Article] The receptor tyrosine kinase AXL mediates nuclear translocation of the epidermal growth factor receptor

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The kinase AXL promotes cetuximab resistance by promoting the nuclear accumulation of EGFR.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Placing the nuclear pore in the metformin mechanism of action

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Metformin reduces cellular ATP and restricts passive transport through the nuclear pore to limit nuclear activation of a protein that activates mTORC1.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] NIK sends mitochondria to the periphery

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  The kinase NIK promotes tumor cell invasion by stimulating the translocation of mitochondria to the cell periphery.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] Fasting, translation control, and seizures

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Acute fasting, a therapy that helps some epilepsy patients, inhibits protein translation and dampens synaptic activity in neuromuscular junctions in flies.
  
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• [Editors' Choice] A DNA-ribosylating toxin and its antidote

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system acts through reversible ADP-ribosylation of single-stranded DNA.
  
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• [Editorial Guide] 2016: Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year

  03-01-2017 22:08 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Signaling research advances in neuroscience, immunology, and cellular metabolism provide insight into both basic biology and human disease.
  
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• Dinosaur eggs took longer to hatch than previously thought

  03-01-2017 20:44 via cbc.ca
  
  New research suggests that dinosaur eggs were more similar to reptiles rather than their descendants, birds.
  
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• Astronauts' No. 1 New Year's resolution: Ace spacewalks

  03-01-2017 19:34
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts up on the International Space Station are starting the new year with a pair of spacewalks.
  
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• Here's why New Year's Eve caused dangerous levels of air pollution in Germany

  03-01-2017 19:13
  
  One of the most symbolic parts of New Year’s Eve can pose a serious health risk.
  
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• Science to look out for in 2017

  03-01-2017 19:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Rebecca Morelle looks ahead to some of the big events in science expected in 2017.
  
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• Smart homes, smart cars: What we're watching at CES 2017

  03-01-2017 18:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Consumer technology used to mean TVs, computers, cameras, and phones, with new models arriving each year. But that definition no longer feels apt in a world where technology is now found in washing machines, watches, and self-driving cars.
  
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• Smart homes, smart cars: What we're watching

  03-01-2017 18:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Consumer technology used to mean TVs, computers, cameras, and phones, with new models arriving each year. But that definition no longer feels apt in a world where technology is now found in washing machines, watches, and self-driving cars.
  
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• Anxiety May Give Dogs Gray Hair

  03-01-2017 18:24
  
  "Based on my years of experience observing and working with dogs, I've long had a suspicion that dogs with higher levels of anxiety and impulsiveness also show increased muzzle grayness," study lead researcher Camille King, who earned her doctorate at Northern Illinois University's Adult and Higher Education program in 2011 and now has her own animal behavior practice in the Denver area, said in a statement.
  
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• There’s a new human organ that nobody knows about

  03-01-2017 17:37
  
  You had an extra organ all this time and you didn’t even know about it.
  
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• Molten 'Jet Stream' Discovered Deep Inside Earth

  03-01-2017 17:33
  
  A band of molten iron is churning slowly deep inside Earth, much in the same way as a jet stream, a new study finds. Scientists discovered the so-called molten jet stream while analyzing data from a trio of European satellites, called Swarm. In this case, Swarm's observations helped create a view akin to an X-ray of the planet, the researchers said.
  
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• 'Klingon Newt' and 'Ziggy Stardust' Snake: New Species Found in Asia

  03-01-2017 17:33
  
  A newt that resembles a Klingon from "Star Trek" and a snake with iridescent rainbow scales that calls to mind David Bowie's colorful extraterrestrial alter ego Ziggy Stardust are two of 163 new species recently discovered in Southeast Asia. Amphibians, reptiles, plants and mammals that were previously unknown to science were found during expeditions to some of the most remote areas in the Greater Mekong — a region that encompasses Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — wher
  
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• New beginning for illegally traded endangered species

  03-01-2017 17:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Illegally traded endangered species that escape to form secondary populations offer opportunities for their long-term survival, a study suggests.
  
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• Lavish Carpet Fragments Recovered from 17th-Century Dutch Shipwreck

  03-01-2017 17:14
  
  Fragments of a carpet that had been buried at the bottom of the sea for nearly 400 years are now on display in the Netherlands. Based on the patterns, colors and weaving techniques, art historians concluded that the fabric was likely manufactured in Lahore, in present-day Pakistan, during the second quarter of the 17th century, according to the Kaap Skil museum on Texel Island, which started exhibiting the rare textile this week. During the Dutch Golden Age, ships traveling to and from Amsterdam
  
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• Colorful Hawaiian Fish Named in Honor of President Obama

  03-01-2017 17:12
  
  Next time he's vacationing in Hawaii, President Barack Obama might just bump into his new namesake: a pink, yellow and blue coral-reef fish that researchers have named in the president's honor. Researchers discovered the previously unknown fish species, now dubbed Tosanoides obama, during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in June 2016. "We decided to name this fis
  
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• Weird Dinosaur Species Had Teeth Only in Youth

  03-01-2017 17:10
  
  By the time they were 3 years old, ostrich-like dinosaurs called Limusaurus inextricabilis had lost all of their pointy teeth, and lived the rest of their lives as toothless beasts, a new study finds. The finding is based on years of research, said study co-author James Clark, a professor of biology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. From 2001 to 2011, he and study co-author Xu Xing, a scientist at the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins at the Chinese A
  
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• Harbor Near Ancient Corinth Turned It Into a Trading Hotspot

  03-01-2017 17:03
  
  When nautical visitors sailed into the ancient Grecian city of Lechaion, they would have first encountered a monumental entrance leading to several inland canals, all of which were connected to no fewer than four harbor basins, Greek and Danish archaeologists reported in an announcement last week. These findings, discovered by underwater divers over the course of three excavation seasons, indicate that Lechaion — one of two harbor towns used by the people of ancient Corinth — was a f
  
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• Now You Can Drink Like the Astronauts with Spaceware Space Cups

  03-01-2017 17:00
  
  The public can now sip their beverages, powdered orange drink or otherwise, from the same style of "Space Cup" as used aboard the International Space Station. The specially shaped fluid containers are now commercially available via Spaceware, a newly-launched side venture by the Oregon-based firm that developed the cups used in orbit. "We thought this would be a great bridge between science on the ground and things that can be used in space," said Ryan Jenson, president and senior engineer at IR
  
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• Magnetic Supersense Could Inspire Ultrasensitive Prosthetic Limbs

  03-01-2017 16:30
  
  Robots that are capable of "feeling" their way around the world, thanks to hairy electronic skin, could be one step closer to reality, according to a new study. Teensy electronic hairs, which sense minute vibrations through changes in their magnetic field, not only give robots a supersense of touch, but could also give people with prosthetic limbs a better feel for their surroundings, the researchers said. "We are interested in integrating the sensor into robotic arms for people with disabilitie
  
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• CRISPR 'Kill' Switch Could Make Human Gene Editing Safer

  03-01-2017 16:25
  
  A weapon that viruses use in their neverending war with bacteria could be used to turn off the world’s most powerful gene-editing tool. "It's just basically a single protein that we can make in the cell or deliver to the cell that will turn off Cas9, [and] stop it from binding and cutting DNA," said study author Joseph Bondy-Denomy, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. When a virus infiltrates a bacterial cell, the bacteria mobilize a sequence of DNA, called CRI
  
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• One Breath Into This Breathalyzer Can Diagnose 17 Diseases

  03-01-2017 16:24
  
  A single breath into a newfangled breathalyzer is all doctors need to diagnose 17 different diseases, including lung cancer, irritable bowel syndrome and multiple sclerosis, a new study found. The breathalyzer could identify each person's disease with 86 percent accuracy, the researchers said. The technology works because "each disease has its own unique breathprint," the researchers wrote in the study.
  
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• These acorn worms have a head for swimming

  03-01-2017 16:00
  
  The larvae of one type of acorn worm are basically “swimming heads,” according to new genetic analyses.
  
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• Orca 'Granny' missing and presumed dead

  03-01-2017 16:00 via cbc.ca
  
  One of the oldest known killer whales in the West Coast's southern resident population is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.
  
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• Orca 'Granny' aged 105, missing, presumed dead

  03-01-2017 16:00 via cbc.ca
  
  One of the oldest known killer whales in the West Coast's southern resident population is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.
  
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• Orca 'Granny,' aged 105, missing and presumed dead

  03-01-2017 16:00 via cbc.ca
  
  One of the oldest known killer whales in the West Coast's southern resident population is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.
  
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• Orca 'Granny,' aged 105, is missing and presumed dead

  03-01-2017 16:00 via cbc.ca
  
  One of the oldest known killer whales in the West Coast's southern resident population is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.
  
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• This Brainless Blob Learns — and Teaches, Too

  03-01-2017 15:43
  
  New research finds that slime molds, goopy and rather uncharismatic organisms that lack a nervous system, can adapt to a repulsive stimulus and then pass on that adaptation by fusing with one another. The research suggests that learning may predate the evolution of the nervous system, Toulouse University researchers David Vogel and Audrey Dussutour wrote Dec. 21 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Slime molds are truly bizarre.
  
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• Germany 'pollution spike' follows New Year's Eve fireworks

  03-01-2017 14:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New Year fireworks contributed to high pollution levels in German cities, official figures suggest.
  
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• SpaceX Completes Rocket Explosion Investigation, Aims for Jan. 8 Launch

  03-01-2017 13:18
  
  In a statement posted on the SpaceX website Jan. 2, the company said the explosion was caused by the failure of one of three helium tanks, known as composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), inside the liquid oxygen tank in the rocket’s second stage. Other COPVs recovered from the Falcon 9 showed buckling of their liners, although what caused the buckling isn't stated. SpaceX said that the buckling, in and of itself, did not cause the tanks to fail.
  
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• Dirty Money

  03-01-2017 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The public health case for a cashless society
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Ancient Egyptian pot burials were not just for the poor

  03-01-2017 13:00
  
  In ancient Egypt, using pots for burial containers was a symbolic choice, not a last resort, archaeologists say.
  
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• Happy Anniversary, Spirit! Mars Rover Landed 13 Years Ago Today

  03-01-2017 12:59
  
  NASA's epic and ongoing Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission began its Red Planet operations 13 years ago today (Jan. 3), with the touchdown of a six-wheeled robot named Spirit. Spirit landed on the night of Jan. 3, 2004, and its twin, Opportunity, followed three weeks later. The two MER rovers were tasked with hunting for signs of past water activity near their touchdown sites, which were in very different parts of the Red Planet.
  
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• World's oldest known killer whale Granny dies

  03-01-2017 12:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The world's oldest known killer whale, estimated to be 105 years old, is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.
  
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• 'Better estimate' of volcanic ash cloud return

  03-01-2017 12:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Potentially disruptive volcanic ash clouds cross Northern Europe more frequently than previously thought, according to a new study.
  
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• Universe May Have Lost 'Unstable' Dark Matter

  03-01-2017 12:00
  
  The early universe may have contained more dark matter than there is today, new research suggests. Researchers have said Planck telescope data shows only about 4.9 percent of the universe is ordinary matter, about 26.8 percent is dark matter, and the remaining 68.3 percent is dark energy, which accelerates universal expansion.
  
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• What it takes for a carbon tax to work

  03-01-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  It's Day 3 of Alberta's new carbon tax regime. Are you driving less? Putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat? Considering solar panels, perhaps? Because a carbon price, after all, is supposed to make us change our behaviour and lead less carbon-intensive lives. Tracy Johnson looks at its chances of success.
  
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• 12 fitness trends that need to die in 2017

  03-01-2017 08:59
  
  Because it’s high time we said goodbye to mud-based obstacles.
  
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• India's double first in climate battle

  03-01-2017 08:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  India opens two world-leading clean energy projects - the world's biggest solar farm and a chemicals plant using CO2 to make baking powder.
  
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• Worries about food waste appear to vanish when diners know scraps go to compost

  03-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Ohio State University) Diners waste far less food when they're schooled on the harm their leftovers can inflict on the environment. But if they know the food is going to be composted instead of dumped in a landfill, the educational benefit disappears.
  
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• Why odds are against a large Zika outbreak in the US

  03-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Entomological Society of America) Is the United States at risk for a large-scale outbreak of Zika or other mosquito-borne disease? While climate conditions in the US are increasingly favorable to mosquitos, socioeconomic factors such as access to clean water and air conditioning make large-scale outbreaks unlikely, according to new analysis of existing research -- but small-scale, localized outbreaks are an ongoing concern.
  
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• UIC to continue study of risky behavior by sexual-minority women

  03-01-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois at Chicago) The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing has received a $3.25 million federal grant to continue its research to identify risk and protective factors related to drinking and drinking-related problems among sexual-minority -- lesbian or bisexual -- women.
  
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