Science news

• Questions remain about the benefits of taking testosterone

  22-02-2017 23:28
  
  For men with low testosterone, the pros and cons of taking hormone replacement therapy are mixed.
  
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• Hot spots of marine biodiversity most severely impacted by global warming

  22-02-2017 21:27
  A new study aimed at identifying areas of highest conservation priority in the world's oceans found six 'hot spots of marine biodiversity' that are severely impacted by climate change and fishing pressures.
  
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• Seven Earth-sized planets found orbiting single star

  22-02-2017 19:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Seven planets orbiting a single star have been discovered in a solar system 40 light-years from Earth.
  
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• Nearby Star Hosts 7 Earth-Size Planets [Video]

  22-02-2017 19:10 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Astronomers say at least three of the worlds may be habitable, and could be studied for signs of life within a decade
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• Star's seven Earth-sized worlds set record

  22-02-2017 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers have discovered seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star - a record number.
  
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• Seven Earth-sized planets orbit nearby supercool star

  22-02-2017 19:00
  
  A planetary system called TRAPPIST-1 has seven Earth-sized planets, three in the habitable zone, researchers report.
  
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• 7 Earth-like planets found orbiting star 39 light-years away

  22-02-2017 19:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists have discovered seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a small star 39 light-years away, with several planets believed to be capable of having water.
  
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• Science’s questions rarely have clear, easy answers

  22-02-2017 18:47
  Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses science's complexities.
  
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• SpaceX delays delivery to International Space Station after navigation error

  22-02-2017 18:45 via cbc.ca
  
  A navigation error forced SpaceX to delay its shipment to the International Space Station on Wednesday, following an otherwise smooth flight from NASA's historic moon pad.
  
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• Readers amazed by Amasia

  22-02-2017 18:43
  Quantum spookiness, shifting landmasses and more in reader feedback.
  
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• Instead of starving a cancer, researchers go after its defenses

  22-02-2017 18:32
  
  There may be ways to block tumors from adapting and outrunning the body’s defenses.
  
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• Wild boars roam Czech forests - and some of them are radioactive

  22-02-2017 18:31
  
  PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic has an unusual problem this winter with its wild boar meat, a local delicacy. The boars are radioactive.
  
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• Most scientists 'can't replicate studies by their peers'

  22-02-2017 17:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Science is facing a "reproducibility crisis" as scientists fail to reproduce others' work, it is claimed.
  
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• Plane flies along Antarctica's giant Larsen crack

  22-02-2017 17:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New video is released of the Antarctic ice crack that promises to produce a giant berg.
  
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• Human Activity Will Heat Alaskan Skies--Deliberately and Picturesquely

  22-02-2017 14:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  This week powerful radio waves will disturb the ionosphere to probe satellite disruptions and create strange glows
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• 'It's like nothing else on earth': Rarest of gemstones fuels boom for Alberta miners

  22-02-2017 14:08 via cbc.ca
  
  A Calgary-based mining company says its operation will quadruple in size within 12 months — thanks to prehistoric squid-like creatures transformed into gemstones that can only be found in one spot in the world, southern Alberta.
  
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• GPS glitch delays SpaceX cargo ship docking at space station

  22-02-2017 14:04
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX called off the docking of a Dragon cargo ship at the International Space Station on Wednesday due to a problem with the capsule’s GPS navigation system, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
  
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• Ancient DNA Yields Unprecedented Insights into Mysterious Chaco Civilization

  22-02-2017 13:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The results suggest that a maternal “dynasty” ruled the society’s greatest mansion for more than 300 years, but concerns over research ethics cast a shadow on the technical...
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• Indian sungazers keep up family tradition for four generations

  22-02-2017 13:09
  
  KODAIKANAL, India (Reuters) - In the early morning darkness, Devendran P. walks up a hill to a solar observatory in India's southern hill town of Kodaikanal, trudging the same path his father and grandfather walked in a century-old family tradition of studying the sun.
  
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• Too many stinkbugs spoil the wine

  22-02-2017 13:00
  
  Stinkbugs can ruin wine if enough are accidentally processed alive with the grapes. Three or fewer stinkbugs per grape cluster don’t have a noticeable effect on red wine.
  
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• 'Alarming' superbugs a risk to people, animals and food, EU warns

  22-02-2017 12:24
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Superbug bacteria found in people, animals and food across the European Union pose an "alarming" threat to public and animal health having evolved to resist widely used antibiotics, disease and safety experts warned on Wednesday.
  
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• The world needs digital rules of war

  22-02-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Like its namesake, this digital Geneva Convention would aim to protect civilians from being caught in the virtual crossfire of cyberwarfare.
  
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• OpenSignal ranking of mobile data speeds places Canada 12th out of 87 countries

  22-02-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  An international ranking of mobile networks has found that Canadians have some of the fastest data speeds in the world.
  
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• Major discovery on planets 'beyond our solar system' coming from NASA

  22-02-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  NASA scientists will hold a news conference later this afternoon, when they say they'll reveal a significant finding "beyond our solar system."
  
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• Canada places 12th in mobile data speeds out of 87 countries, OpenSignal says

  22-02-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  An international ranking of mobile networks has found that Canadians have some of the fastest data speeds in the world.
  
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• US children's hospital helps save life of baby hippo

  22-02-2017 09:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Doctors from a children's hospital have saved the life of a premature baby hippo.
  
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• What do your co-workers really think of you?

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Washington University in St. Louis) Everyday in the workplace, colleagues actively compete for a limited amount of perks, including raises, promotions, bonuses and recognition. But new research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that, more than often than not, people fall short in determining which co-workers might be trying to edge them out on the job.
  
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• We read emotions based on how the eye sees

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Association for Psychological Science) We use others' eyes -- whether they're widened or narrowed -- to infer emotional states, and the inferences we make align with the optical function of those expressions, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research reveals, for example, that people consistently associate narrowed eyes -- which can enhance visual discrimination -- with discrimination-related emotions inclu
  
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• Up to 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day may prevent 7.8 million premature deaths

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Imperial College London) A fruit and vegetable intake above five-a-day shows major benefit in reducing the chance of heart attack, stroke, cancer and early death.This is the finding of new research, led by scientists from Imperial College London, which analyzed 95 studies on fruit and vegetable intake.
  
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• Uncertainty perception drives public's trust, mistrust of science

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Carnegie Mellon University) Many policies -- from medicine to terrorism -- depend on how the general public accepts and understands scientific evidence. People view different branches of sciences as having different amounts of uncertainty, which may not reflect the actual uncertainty of the field. Carnegie Mellon University researchers took the first step to understanding more of the whole picture by measuring scientific uncertainty broadly -- across many areas of science, not just topics that
  
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• Ultracool dwarf and the seven planets

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (ESO) Astronomers have found a system of seven Earth-sized planets just 40 light-years away. They were detected as they passed in front of their parent star, the dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Three of them lie in the habitable zone and could harbour water, increasing the possibility that the system could play host to life. It has both the largest number of Earth-sized planets yet found and the largest number of worlds that could support liquid water.
  
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• Ultracool dwarf and the 7 planets

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (ESO) Astronomers have found a system of seven Earth-sized planets just 40 light-years away. They were detected as they passed in front of their parent star, the dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Three of them lie in the habitable zone and could harbor water, increasing the possibility that the system could play host to life. It has both the largest number of Earth-sized planets yet found and the largest number of worlds that could support liquid water.
  
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• UC professor lifts the curtain on Rome's first imperial family

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Cincinnati) From Augustus to Nero, Romans treated the Julio-Claudian emperors like gods during their reigns and condemned them as monsters after their deaths. A new book by a University of Cincinnati classicist offers the first detailed study of how the only surviving literary witness to the dynasty's rise and fall reinterprets the history of Rome's first imperial family.
  
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• Tiny fibers open new windows into the brain

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) For the first time, a single multifunction flexible fiber no bigger than a human hair, developed by researchers at MIT and elsewhere, has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical and chemical signals back and forth into the brain.
  
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• The never-ending story: Chemicals that outlive -- and harm -- us

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Green Science Policy Institute) Chemical manufacturers have agreed to pay $670 million in damages to people with cancer and other health harm from exposure to a recently phased-out highly fluorinated chemical. In a peer-reviewed feature article to appear February 22nd in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers highlight that thousands of related chemicals continue to provide water-repellant, stain-resistant, and non-stick properties to furniture, carpets, outdoor gear, c
  
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• tDCS combined with computer games at home reduces cognitive symptoms of multiple sclerosis

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine) Led by researchers at NYU Langone's Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center, a new study reports that participants with multiple sclerosis who used tDCS while playing the cognitive training computer games designed to improve information processing abilities showed significantly greater gains in cognitive measures than those who played the computer games alone.Importantly, the participants completed the cognitive training
  
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• Study supports use of aspiration as frontline thrombectomy therapy for acute ischemic stroke

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Merryman Communications) Results of the ASTER Trial provide additional evidence of Penumbra's aspiration system as an effective frontline thrombectomy approach for acute ischemic stroke as part of the ADAPT (A Direct Aspiration, First Pass Technique) technique. The data showed that the ADAPT technique compared favorably: 85.4 percent of patients treated with aspiration achieved the primary endpoint of TICI 2b/3 at the end of the procedure compared with 83.1 percent of patients treated with sten
  
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• Study: Changing the environment within bone marrow alters blood cell development

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Researchers at the University of Illinois report they can alter blood cell development through the use of biomaterials designed to mimic characteristics of the bone marrow.
  
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• Sorting out risk genes for brain development disorders

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine) Gene discovery research is uncovering similarities and differences underlying a variety of disorders affecting the developing brain, including autism, attention deficits, tics, intellectual impairments, developmental delays and language difficulties. Researchers found some genes are more closely associated with autism and others with intellectual impairments, but many times there is overlap, indicating some genes pose broader risks.Certain g
  
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• Social information from friends, experts could help reduce uncertainty in crowdfunding

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Binghamton University) Social information gathered from friends and experts, depending on the complexity of the product, can decrease uncertainty in crowdfunding campaigns, according to research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
  
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• Serendipity uncovers borophene's potential

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Northwestern University) Northwestern University engineers discover that an organic material self-assembles directly next to borophene, forming an ideal interface for electronic applications.
  
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• Scientists decipher the nanoscale architecture of a beetle's shell

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Ruiguo Yang, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and his colleagues found a way to analyze the fibrous nanostructure of a beetle's lightweight but durable shell.
  
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• Scientists create a nano-trampoline to probe quantum behavior

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Bar-Ilan University) For the first time, scientists have measured quantum criticality by developing a thin membrane suspended in air by very narrow bridges, thereby forming a 'nano-trampoline'. This enabled specific heat measurements of thin films through a quantum phase transition from a superconducting state to an electrically insulating state close to absolute zero temperature, and is expected to be a milestone in the understanding of physical processes that govern the behavior of ultrathin
  
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• Science versus the 'Horatio Alger myth'

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory) In a new study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have taken a condensed matter physics concept usually applied to the way substances such as ice freeze, called 'frustration,' and applied it to a simple social network model of frustrated components. They show that inequality of wealth can emerge spontaneously and more equality can be gained by pure initiative.
  
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• Russian and Indian scientists collaborate on development of a new type accumulator

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University) In mid-February 2017 researchers of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) and the University of Madras obtained support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research for implementation of the project to create new materials for accumulators of capacitor type. The project should be completed within three years.
  
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• Researchers uncover brain circuitry central to reward-seeking behavior

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of North Carolina Health Care) UNC scientists found that as mice learn to associate a particular sound with a rewarding sugary drink, one set of prefrontal neurons becomes more active and promotes reward-seeking behavior while other prefrontal neurons are silenced, and those neurons act like a brake on reward-seeking.
  
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• Researchers reverse high blood pressure in offspring of hypertensive rats

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Iowa) University of Iowa researchers have demonstrated how harmful health complications passed from mother rats to their offspring can be reversed. The tests may point the way toward preventing the transfer of certain health conditions from human mothers to their children.
  
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• Researchers gain insight into a physical phenomenon that leads to earthquakes

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Pennsylvania) Researchers at UPenn provide insight into a phenomenon called ageing that leads to more powerful earthquakes.
  
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• Researchers find insight into the simplest substitution reaction via Walden inversion mechanism

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters) A research term led by Prof. ZHANG Donghui from State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics has carried out an accurate quantum dynamics study of the H' + CH4 ¡ú CH3H' + H substitution reaction and its isotope analogies. The reaction is the simplest reaction proceeding through the back-side attack Walden inversion mechanism, with a D3h transition state and a static barrier height of 1.6 eV.
  
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• Researchers aim to disrupt egg production in dengue- and Zika-spreading mosquito

  22-02-2017 06:00
  
  (University of California - Riverside) The mosquito Aedes aegypti, which can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, and yellow fever virus, requires a blood meal to develop eggs.One way to control the spread of these diseases is to tamper with the reproductive events that follow this mosquito's blood meal. A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has explored this at the molecular level.They focused on microRNAs, which play a critical role in mosquito egg maturation
  
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