Science news

• Uber silent on use of secret 'Greyball' tracking tool in Canada

  07-03-2017 22:09 via cbc.ca
  
  The ride-hailing Uber service will not confirm whether it used a clandestine tool dubbed 'Greyball' to deceive regulatory and law enforcement authorities in Canadian cities.
  
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• Posters and shirts turned into FM radio transmitters thanks to new technique

  07-03-2017 22:08 via cbc.ca
  
  A team of engineers at the University of Washington has demonstrated new technology that can turn everyday objects into tiny FM radio stations.
  
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• When less is essential to keep the brain going

  07-03-2017 21:51
  Scientists have found that supply of the enzyme Rab4 could make a significant difference in the formation and organization of synapses. Interestingly, a reduced supply of the enzyme could increase the assembly of the synapse in neuronal networks, as well as corresponding brain functions.
  
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• Vision, not limbs, led fish onto land 385 million years ago

  07-03-2017 21:25
  A new study suggests it was the power of the eyes and not the limbs that first led our aquatic ancestors to make the leap from water to land. The researchers discovered that eyes nearly tripled in size before -- not after -- the water-to-land transition. Crocodile-like animals saw easy meals on land and then evolved limbs that enabled them to get there, the researchers argue.
  
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• PTSD risk can be predicted by hormone levels prior to deployment, study says

  07-03-2017 21:25
  Some soldiers might have a hormonal predisposition to experience such stress-related disorders, new research suggests.
  
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• Search and interrogate: What you need to know when crossing U.S. border

  07-03-2017 20:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Canadian passport holders in recent weeks have shared troubling stories about their experiences at U.S. border checkpoints, spurring privacy and legal concerns about what travellers should expect.
  
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• Scientists show how to amplify or stifle signals for immune responses

  07-03-2017 20:27
  Immunologists pioneered an approach to observe in real time what excites T cells at the nanoscale, pinpointed the pathway that controls immune response and identified drugs that could equip scientists with the ability to manipulate the immune system and prevent disease.
  
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• Incidence of dementia in primary care increased in the Netherlands over 23 years

  07-03-2017 20:27
  The incidence of registered dementia cases has increased slightly over a 23-year period (1992 to 2014) in the Netherlands, according to a new study.
  
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• Equation helps to explain plant growth

  07-03-2017 20:27
  A new biology breakthrough has important implications for plants as they adapt to a warming environment, say authors of a new report.
  
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• Promising new strategy to attack the most lethal brain tumor in children

  07-03-2017 20:18
  Researchers have revealed new insight into how the most deadly pediatric brain tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), may develop. They also have identified a compound that targets the "on" switch for cancer-promoting genes, which resulted in shrinking tumor size and increased survival in an animal model of DIPG. Preparations for a clinical trial are now under way.
  
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• New study examines whether dogs are feline-friendly, or not

  07-03-2017 20:18
  While most behavioral assessments focus on dogs’ responses to visual stimuli, the study found that dogs rely heavily on another sense, hearing.
  
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• New biomarker 'bim' could enable smarter treatment for melanoma patients

  07-03-2017 20:18
  Over the past few years, checkpoint blockade immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment and helped many patients who were previously considered untreatable. Now, new discoveries could help make these and other immunotherapies even more transformative for patients.
  
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• Hiring data creates risk of workplace bias

  07-03-2017 20:18
  American employers increasingly rely on large datasets and computer algorithms to decide who gets interviewed, hired or promoted. While these data algorithms can help to avoid biased human decision-making, they also risk introducing new forms of bias or reinforcing existing biases, suggests a new report.
  
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• Snake bite? Chemists figure out how to easily and cheaply halt venom's spread

  07-03-2017 20:12
  Chemists have developed a way to neutralize deadly snake venom more cheaply and effectively than with traditional anti-venom -- an innovation that could spare millions of people the loss of life or limbs each year.
  
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• Group tolerance linked to perceptions of fairness and harm

  07-03-2017 20:12
  A new study of groups in tension or conflict found evidence that people are willing to share a society with those of differing beliefs as long as they believe that those groups share a commitment to universal moral values such as fairness and harm.
  
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• Key mutation in melanoma suppresses the immune system

  07-03-2017 19:11
  Researchers have identified a specific mutation that allows melanoma tumor cells to remain undetected by the immune system.
  
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• 'Black swan' events strike animal populations

  07-03-2017 19:11
  A new analysis is the first to document that "black swan" events also occur in animal populations and usually manifest as massive, unexpected die-offs.
  
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• Small molecules fighting aging-related diseases

  07-03-2017 19:10
  For the first time an international research network has succeeded in producing small molecules able to activate the enzyme sirtuin 6. Furthermore, the scientists were able to reveal the structural basis of such processes. These findings will enable the development of drugs that might support the fight against aging-related diseases.
  
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• New protein discovered in aging, cancer

  07-03-2017 19:10
  A protein has been found to have a previously unknown role in the ageing of cells, according to an early study. The researchers hope that the findings could one day lead to new treatments for aging and early cancer.
  
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• Tungsten examined in extreme environments to improve fusion materials

  07-03-2017 19:09
  A fusion reactor is essentially a magnetic bottle containing the same processes that occur in the sun. Deuterium and tritium fuels fuse to form a vapor of helium ions, neutrons and heat. As this hot, ionized gas -- called plasma -- burns, that heat is transferred to water to make steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. The superheated plasma poses a constant threat to the reactor wall and the divertor (which removes waste from the operating reactor to keep the plasma hot enough to burn
  
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• Caffeine boosts enzyme that could protect against dementia

  07-03-2017 19:09
  Researchers have identified 24 compounds -- including caffeine -- with the potential to boost an enzyme in the brain shown to protect against dementia.
  
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• Survival instinct, not family bonds, weave massive spider colonies together

  07-03-2017 19:08
  Spiders will live in groups if environmental conditions make it too difficult for single mothers to go it alone, new research shows.
  
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• Species appears to evolve quickly enough to endure city temperatures

  07-03-2017 19:08
  Urban acorn ants collected in Cleveland appear to have taken no more than 100 years -- no more than 20 generations -- to evolve and thrive in their heat-trapping city home. The capability suggests the species may be able to cope with other sources of rising temperatures.
  
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• Ovarian cancer researchers find biomarker linked to prognosis in aggressive disease type

  07-03-2017 19:08
  Ovarian cancer researchers have identified a protein biomarker expressed on the surface of tumor cells in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common and lethal subtype of the disease.
  
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• New NOAA satellite captures unprecedented view of lightning over Texas

  07-03-2017 19:08 via cbc.ca
  
  A new satellite is helping meteorologists better understand and forecast storms.
  
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• Multilab replication project examines cooperation under time pressure

  07-03-2017 19:08
  In 2012, a trio of psychological scientists reported research showing that people who made quick decisions under time pressure were more likely to cooperate than were people who were required to take longer in their deliberations. A new multi-laboratory effort was partially successful in replicating those results.
  
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• Fault system off San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles counties could produce magnitude 7.3 earthquake

  07-03-2017 19:08
  The Newport-Inglewood and Rose Canyon faults had been considered separate systems but a new study shows that they are actually one continuous fault system running from San Diego Bay to Seal Beach in Orange County, then on land through the Los Angeles basin.
  
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• Controlling energy production by calcium is an organ-specific affair

  07-03-2017 19:08
  Researchers have shown that the composition of the mitochondrial calcium portal (the protein that regulates when and how much calcium enters) is different depending on the organ in the body, and this difference allows mitochondria to tune their energy output by decoding a pattern of amplitude and/or frequency of calcium oscillations inside a cell. The results could shed light on our basic understanding of organ health and disease.
  
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• White rhino found slain with its horn sawed off at French zoo

  07-03-2017 18:09 via cbc.ca
  
  A white rhino was shot dead and had its horn hacked off at a zoo outside Paris — much to the astonishment of the people who work there.
  
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• Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin signs Eutelsat as first customer

  07-03-2017 18:08
  
  (Reuters) - Blue Origin, a rocket company owned by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has signed France's Eutelsat Communications SA as its first customer for satellite launch services, he said on Tuesday.
  
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• Fleets of drones could pollinate future crops

  07-03-2017 18:00
  
  Chemist Eijiro Miyako turned a lab failure into a way to rethink artificial pollination.
  
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• New drug combination targets aggressive blood cancer

  07-03-2017 17:45
  A pair of drugs that may be a one-two punch needed to help combat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer that kills nearly three-fourths of patients within five years of diagnosis, is the focus of a new multi-center clinical trial that will enroll patients at three sites across the U.S.
  
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• Computer models could allow researchers to better understand, predict adverse drug reactions

  07-03-2017 17:45
  Computer model shows what happens at the molecular level during severe allergic reactions to abacavir, a common HIV drug
  
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• Progress towards a circuit diagram of the brain

  07-03-2017 17:35
  Precise knowledge of the connections in the brain – the links between all the nerve cells – is a prerequisite for better understanding this most complex of organs. Now researchers have developed a new algorithm for analyzing image data.
  
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• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos signs first Blue Origin rocket customer

  07-03-2017 17:32 via cbc.ca
  
  Blue Origin, a rocket company owned by Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has signed Eutelsat Communications SA as its first customer for satellite launch services, he said on Tuesday.
  
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• Wise deliberation sustains cooperation

  07-03-2017 17:29
  Giving people time to think about cooperating on a task can have a positive effect if they are big-picture thinkers, but if they tend to focus on their own, immediate experience, the time to think may make them less cooperative, research has found.
  
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• Understanding the motion of vortex domain walls in ferromagnetic nanowires

  07-03-2017 17:29
  Almost all information that exists in contemporary society is recorded in magnetic media, like hard drive disks. Researchers are studying the motion of vortex domain walls -- local regions of charge that collectively store information via their configuration -- driven by magnetic fields in ferromagnetic nanowires, which are configured in a straight line with an asymmetric Y-like branch.
  
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• Manufacturing method may help keep work in high-cost areas

  07-03-2017 17:29
  A new study describes seru as a cellular assembly approach. The system appears to offer promise for manufacturing in dynamic, high-cost markets.
  
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• Craters show Earth is bombarded at random

  07-03-2017 17:29
  Asteroids don't hit our planet at regular intervals, as was previously thought. Earth scientists have reached this conclusion after analyzing impact craters formed in the last 500 million years, concentrating on precisely dated events.
  
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• Asian carp and old Chicago waterways

  07-03-2017 17:29
  Asian carp, currently confined to the Mississippi River system, are threatening to invade Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Researchers reaffirm that providing safe drinking water to Chicago residents must remain the number one priority; however, the Asian carp must be blocked to prevent them from getting into the Great Lakes.
  
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• Americans are having sex less often, new study shows

  07-03-2017 17:29
  While the topic of sex is less taboo than it was a generation ago, that doesn't necessarily mean people are having more of it. According to a new study, Americans who were married or living together had sex 16 fewer times per year in 2010-2014 compared to 2000-2004. The survey also found that overall, Americans had sex about nine fewer times per year in 2010-2014 compared to 1995-1999.
  
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• Team examines molecular-level problems of heart disease

  07-03-2017 17:28
  In a recent study, researchers teamed up with cardiologists and heart therapy scientists from across the U.S. and Europe and found that dysfunction at the molecular level is present in heart failure. Understanding this abnormality could lead to new approaches for treating the number one killer among men and women worldwide.
  
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• Synchrotron sheds (X-ray) light on carbon chemistry at ocean surfaces

  07-03-2017 17:28
  Carbonate, bicarbonate, and carbonic acid emerge when atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, which is the largest sink for this greenhouse gas. Researchers are interested in better understanding the carbonate system to potentially help facilitate carbon sequestration schemes, to help mitigate climate change. Recently, researchers made breakthrough discoveries about the carbonate species' behavior at saltwater surfaces, like that of the ocean.
  
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• Study tests the 'three-hit' theory of autism

  07-03-2017 17:28
  Could a genetic predisposition to autism together with early stress have a more detrimental effect on boys than on girls? In experiments with mice, researchers found evidence that three factors -- genes, environment, and sex -- work together to produce problems with social interaction, a hallmark of autism.
  
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• Newly discovered DNA enhancers help switch on colorectal cancer

  07-03-2017 17:28
  Genetic mutations can increase a person's cancer risk, but other gene 'enhancer' elements may also be responsible for disease progression, according to new research. In a breakthrough study, scientists discovered changes in specific regions of DNA, outside of colorectal cancer genes, that 'enhance' harmful gene expression to help grow tumors.
  
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• Going glassy: Revealing structure and dynamics of glassy polymers during transition

  07-03-2017 17:28
  Computational physicists and chemists have shed new light on how the polymer structure bears on the glass-transition temperature in the forming of glass in atactic polystyrene (PS), a commonly used glass substance.
  
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• Diabetes drug may be effective against deadly form of breast cancer, study suggests

  07-03-2017 17:28
  Researchers have discovered that a metabolic enzyme called AKR1B1 drives an aggressive type of breast cancer. The study, 'AKR1B1 promotes basal-like breast cancer progression by a positive feedback loop that activates the EMT program,' suggests that an inhibitor of this enzyme currently used to treat diabetes patients could be an effective therapy for this frequently deadly form of cancer.
  
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• Understanding what's happening inside liquid droplets

  07-03-2017 17:27
  For most people, the drip, drip, drip of a leaking faucet would be an annoyance. But what happens inside droplets is the stuff of serious science.
  
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• Researchers solve the mystery of the acid pump

  07-03-2017 17:27
  Researchers have succeeded in identifying the mechanisms involved in what is known as the acid pump, which at the cellular level pumps acid into the stomach -- in some cases leading to gastric ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
  
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• Light rain can spread soil bacteria far and wide, study finds

  07-03-2017 17:27
  A good rain can have a cleansing effect on the land. But a new study reports that, under just the right conditions, rain can also be a means of spreading bacteria. Using high-resolution imaging, researchers observed the effect of raindrops falling on dry soil laden with bacteria.
  
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