Science news

• Spin may reveal black hole history

  30-01-2017 23:23
  
  High rate of spin could indicate that black holes formed from previous mergers of black holes.
  
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• Two killed in attack on Saudi warship off Yemen

  30-01-2017 22:52
  Houthi militants attacked a Saudi warship with three boats off the western coast of Yemen on Monday, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others, Saudi state news agency SPA reported. "A Saudi frigate on patrol west of Hodeidah port came under attack from three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias," the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement on SPA. The Iran-allied Houthi group that controls Yemen's capital claimed responsibility for th
  
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• Moon's Been Getting Oxygen from Earth's Plants for Billions of Years

  30-01-2017 22:17
  
  The moon may carry material produced by life from Earth dating back to when plants first filled the planet's air with oxygen, according to study of data from a Japanese lunar orbiter. 
  
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• Did Pluto's Weird Red Spots Result from Crash That Spawned Charon?

  30-01-2017 22:05
  
  Mysterious dark reddish spots along Pluto's equator may be the aftermath of the giant impact that helped form the dwarf planet's largest moon Charon, a new study finds. One of the most striking features of Pluto that NASA's New Horizons probe photographed during its July 2015 flyby is the dark reddish material found in giant spots along the dwarf planet's equator. The biggest example of these patches is the region informally known as Cthulhu (pronounced "k-thu-lu"), which stretches nearly halfwa
  
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• Christian university in North Korea seeks Texas A&M academic help

  30-01-2017 22:00
  By Jon Herskovitz COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Reuters) - The leaders of the only private university in North Korea asked Texas A&M University, known for its agricultural economics and public health programs, for help on Monday in teaching subjects such as how to grow food in a land of chronic shortages. The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) was founded by evangelical Christians and opened in 2010, with students generally the children of the country's elite. The PUST delegatio
  
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• SpaceX's Elon Musk Seeks Twitter Help to Change Trump Immigration Order

  30-01-2017 21:30
  
  After President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk turned to Twitter to voice his frustrations. Trump's executive order, which he signed Friday (Jan. 27), suspends immigration of refugees from war-torn countries around the world for 120 days while indefinitely barring everyone in Syria from entering the United States regardless of immigration status.
  
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• Trump 'will definitely' pull out of Paris climate accord, says EPA transition leader

  30-01-2017 20:19 via cbc.ca
  
  The United States will switch course on climate change and pull out of a global pact to cut emissions, said Myron Ebell, who headed U.S. President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team until his inauguration.
  
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• Seeking Alpha Centauri Planets, Researchers Welcome Multiple Efforts

  30-01-2017 19:35
  
  It's always an exciting time to be involved in space exploration, and 2017 has already proved to be no exception. At Project Blue, we're on a mission to find and photograph an Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri — and as you probably saw in the news recently, we're not the only ones with that ambitious goal. You might wonder how this affects plans at Project Blue, or why Breakthrough Starshot is using infrared instead of visible-light imaging.
  
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• Private Space Station Coming Soon? Company Aiming for 2020 Launch

  30-01-2017 19:35
  
  Making a space outpost available to nations, organizations and individuals could help make living and working in Earth orbit commonplace and support the exploration of deep space, Axiom representatives said. Upon retirement of the ISS, the Axiom module will be joined by additional elements that together will function as the Axiom International Commercial Space Station.
  
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• School shootings rise when economy struggles, study suggests

  30-01-2017 18:09
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — School shootings rise when the economy tanks, according to a new study of U.S. schools, even as violent crime in general appears to be unaffected.
  
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• Storms preview ocean-rise damage to California cities, roads

  30-01-2017 18:07
  
  Ocean rise already is worsening the floods and high tides sweeping California this stormy winter, climate experts say, and this month's damage and deaths highlight that even a state known as a global leader ...
  
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• 50 years after Apollo 1 tragedy, NASA looks back

  30-01-2017 18:02 via cbc.ca
  
  The Apollo 1 fire in 1967 was the first accident in the U.S. to involve the loss of a crew. Lessons learned from that tragedy helped the space program get to the moon.
  
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• Doomsday Clock Ticks Half-Minute Closer to Midnight in Historic Move

  30-01-2017 17:35
  
  For the first time in its history, the Doomsday Clock, an imaginary timepiece that represents humanity's proximity to annihilation through mechanisms of our own design, has moved 30 seconds closer to calamity, with the minute hand now at 2 and a half minutes to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced this morning (Jan. 26). The minute hand's new position for 2017 was determined by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with a team of experts including 15 Nobe
  
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• 100-Mile-Long Crack in Antarctic Ice Shelf Keeps Growing

  30-01-2017 17:35
  
  A massive iceberg the size of Delaware is now even closer to breaking free from Antarctica, due to a widening crack in the ice shelf, scientists report. The Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica is cut through by a growing rift, which stretches nearly 109 miles (175 kilometers) long, new satellite data has revealed. Already in 2017, the rift has grown by 6.2 miles (10 km), and now only 12.4 miles (20 km) of ice are anchoring the massive iceberg to the ice shelf, according to Project MIDAS,
  
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• Iranian students feel robbed of their American dreams

  30-01-2017 17:21
  By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI (Reuters) - The new U.S. immigration curbs have cast uncertainty over the futures of thousands of Iranian students in the United States, with many losing hope of being able to finish their studies or find a job in the country. President Donald Trump's executive order bans travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries including Iran for three months, and there is little certainty of what will happen after that. Many of the students have spent their families' life
  
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• Pilgrim's Burial: Medieval Man with Leprosy Honored at Death

  30-01-2017 17:18
  
  A young man who made a religious pilgrimage in England sometime during the late 11th or early 12th century ultimately died of leprosy and was buried in a hospital cemetery. "The wider implication of our research, ultimately, is that it can help challenge long-held and false notions of leprosy sufferers being traditionally outcast," lead researcher Simon Roffey, a lecturer in archaeology the University of Winchester in the United Kingdom, told Live Science. The excavated man received a pilgrim's
  
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• Extended Trip: Why LSD's Effects Last So Long

  30-01-2017 17:18
  
  LSD is an extremely potent, long-lasting psychedelic drug: A dose of just 100 micrograms is enough to send someone on a hallucinatory trip that can last a whole day. Now, scientists report that the way the drug molecule binds to brain receptors could explain LSD's long-lasting effects. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, has a similar chemical structure to the "feel-good" brain chemical serotonin.
  
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• Scientists have found evidence that the universe is just a giant hologram

  30-01-2017 17:14
  
  And it’s not as complex as it sounds.
  
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• Restoring native plants 'boosts pollination'

  30-01-2017 17:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Removing invasive exotic plants from natural areas can act as a boost for wildlife, a study suggests.
  
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• Scientists find 'oldest human ancestor'

  30-01-2017 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers discover the earliest known ancestor of humans - and many other species.
  
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• Tiny, bag-like fossil creature could be early human ancestor

  30-01-2017 17:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists have discovered a tiny prehistoric creature that lived 540 million years ago and could be an ancient ancestor of ours.
  
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• Oxygen atoms from Earth bombard the moon

  30-01-2017 17:00
  
  Oxygen atoms originating from the upper atmosphere periodically bombard the moon’s surface, researchers propose.
  
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• Trump ponders new rules for H1-B visa that brings in tech workers

  30-01-2017 16:56 via cbc.ca
  
  President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing a new executive order that could change rules for the H1-B visa, the work permit used by Silicon Valley to hire thousands of workers.
  
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• Technology CEOs worried by Trump immigration crackdown

  30-01-2017 15:48 via cbc.ca
  
  The leaders of some of the biggest technology firms in the U.S. express dismay over President Donald Trump's executive order curtailing immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, even as some of those companies are in hot water for previously supporting the administration.
  
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• Grand Illusion: Enter the World of 'The Magicians' at NYC Exhibit

  30-01-2017 15:29
  
  In the magical world of the Syfy TV series "The Magicians," millennial mages-in-training hone their craft and confront deadly mystical peril at a secret school — Brakebills University — which is hidden from non-magicians' eyes. But here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, visitors can try their hand at performing magical illusions in the interactive exhibit "Hall of Magic," which opened Jan. 20 and runs until Sunday (Jan. 29). Installations in an array of rooms recreate the otherworldly atmos
  
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• Secret Room in UK Mansion Tied to King James I Assassination Attempt

  30-01-2017 15:19
  
  Agile scientists equipped with 3D laser scanners have revealed the secrets of a hidden room, known as a "priest hole," in the tower of an English Tudor mansion linked to the failed "Gunpowder Plot" to assassinate King James I in 1605. A new study reveals how the secret double room was constructed in the tower of a gatehouse at Coughton Court in Warwickshire, as a hiding place for priests during the anti-Catholic persecutions of the 16th and 17th centuries. Catholic priests faced execution as tra
  
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• Why taking too much paracetamol damages your liver

  30-01-2017 15:17
  
  The research found that the common pain killer can harm the vital structural connections between adjacent cells in the organ.
  
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• Possible sign of dark matter shows up again

  30-01-2017 14:00
  
  Excess of X-rays could indicate decaying sterile neutrinos.
  
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• Net Neutrality Foe to Head the FCC

  30-01-2017 13:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Under new chair Ajit Pai the agency would likely to reverse its Open Internet Order—a regulation expected to become less relevant as the Net continues to evolve
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• Conditions right for stars, planets near Milky Way’s supermassive black hole

  30-01-2017 13:00
  
  Four clouds of gas near the galactic center have roughly the right mass to be young stars, possibly with planets.
  
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• Aquatic Robot Braves Volcanoes and Typhoons to Detect Tsunamis

  30-01-2017 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  A drone will circle the world’s newest volcanic island, near Japan, to warn of devastating waves
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• Scientists Find a Voice at Massive Rally for Immigrants

  30-01-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Students, doctors and researchers join a big protest in the academic hub of Boston
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• Hidden Figures is surprise winner of top film award at SAGs

  30-01-2017 11:34
  Hidden Figures was the surprise big winner at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs). The film, which tells the true story of three black female mathematicians who helped NASA during the 1960s space race, was named best cast at the Los Angeles ceremony. The category is the SAG equivalent of the Oscar's best picture and the win puts it firmly in contention for the Academy Award prize next month.
  
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• Why more and more Torontonians are shelling out $10K for coding crash courses

  30-01-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A growing number of people in Toronto are spending up to $10,500 to learn digital skills like coding and web design they hope will propel them into the tech sector, with new schools opening up to meet the demand.
  
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• Trump's moves against science raise fears of damage to economy: Don Pittis

  30-01-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have picked a fight with scientists — like Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper before him. But modern economic progress depends on science and not short-term thinking.
  
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• Japanese founder of Namco, which brought Pac-Man to the masses, dead at 91

  30-01-2017 10:27 via cbc.ca
  
  The Japanese games company Bandai Namco says Masaya Nakamura, the "Father of Pac-Man" who founded the Japanese video game company behind the hit creature-gobbling game, has died at age 91.
  
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• Human-Pig Chimeras Created, Could One Day Aid in Organ Transplants

  30-01-2017 08:40
  
  In experiments aimed at finding ways to grow new human organs inside animals, researchers recently succeeded in making embryos that contained both pig and human and pig cells. These so-called human-pig chimeras (which contained only a small number of human cells) were allowed to develop for several weeks in female pigs before the pregnancies were terminated, according to a new study. "The ultimate goal is to grow functional and transplantable tissue or organs, but we are far away from that," stu
  
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• Mary Tyler Moore's Life Offers Hope for People with Type 1 Diabetes

  30-01-2017 08:39
  
  Mary Tyler Moore's death on Wednesday at age 80 may highlight the long-term effects that type 1 diabetes can have on the body. Moore had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was in her 30s. With new advances in medicine, type 1 diabetes no longer means a certain premature death, but it still has a significant impact on the body over time.
  
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• 8 things you need to know about what it's like to be an NHS surgeon

  30-01-2017 08:03
  
  A consultant surgeon reveals the highs and lows of life in one of medicine’s top jobs.
  
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• Storms preview sea-rise damage to California roads, cities

  30-01-2017 06:27
  
  Ocean rise already is worsening the floods and high tides sweeping California this stormy winter, climate experts say, and this month's damage and deaths highlight that even a state known as a global leader ...
  
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• World Heritage Sites getting hammered by human activities

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Wildlife Conservation Society) A new study warns that more than 100 natural World Heritage sites are being severely damaged by encroaching human activities.
  
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• Where are the tools for scientific writing?

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Inderscience Publishers) Writing a scientific research paper is tough at the best of times regardless of funding conditions and political intervention. As such, a scientist will turn to any tool they might find to help with this generally arduous task. Writing in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, a Brazilian team has surveyed common tools and determined which tools have what useful features.
  
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• We dislike hypocrites because they deceive us

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Association for Psychological Science) We're averse to hypocrites because their disavowal of bad behavior sends a false signal, misleading us into thinking they're virtuous when they're not, according to new findings in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research shows that people dislike hypocrites more than those who openly admit to engaging in a behavior that they disapprove of.
  
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• Understanding breakups

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (American Institute of Physics) As interest and demand for nanotechnology continues to rise, so will the need for nanoscale printing and spraying, which relies on depositing tiny drops of liquid onto a surface. Now researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing have developed a new theory that describes how such a nanosized droplet deforms and breaks up when it strikes a surface.
  
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• The attraction effect: How our brains can be influenced

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Basel) The decisions we make are influenced by other possibilities that we did not choose. At the same time, the options we missed out on determine our satisfaction with the outcomes of situations we were unable to control. Psychologists from the University of Basel conducted two experiments: first, they studied the decision-making behavior of students and, second, they measured brain activity and satisfaction when a set of possibilities is supplemented with another alternative. T
  
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• Temple launches Center of Excellence to address opioid use in pregnancy

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Temple University Health System) Pregnancy is a brief but powerful window of opportunity to identify and treat opioid addiction. However, drug treatment options are limited as many programs don't accept pregnant women, which can lead to continued drug use, withdrawal or harm to the developing fetus. Through an innovative partnership with Wedge Medical Center, Temple will work to narrow this treatment gap as a newly designated Center of Excellence which will serve more than 300 pregnant women ea
  
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• Study reveals substantial evidence of holographic universe

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Southampton) A UK, Canadian and Italian study has provided what researchers believe is the first observational evidence that our universe could be a vast and complex hologram.
  
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• Study reveals evidence that the universe is a hologram

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Waterloo) The first observational evidence that the universe could be a hologram has been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.The international study may lead to new beliefs on the Big Bang Theory and on quantum gravity, one of theoretical physics' most profound problems.
  
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• Storing solar power increases energy consumption and emissions, study finds

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Austin) Homes with solar panels do not require on-site storage to reap the biggest economic and environmental benefits of solar energy, according to research from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. In fact, storing solar energy for nighttime use actually increases both energy consumption and emissions compared with sending excess solar energy directly to the utility grid.
  
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• Smoke-free policy cuts nicotine detected in Philadelphia public housing in half: Study

  30-01-2017 06:00
  
  (Drexel University) The largest public housing authority to implement comprehensive smoke-free policies, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, is seeing significant positive results related to secondhand smoke exposures.
  
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