Science news

• Someone is spying on cellphones in the nation's capital

  03-04-2017 23:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Someone is using devices known as IMSI catchers to spy on cellphones in the area around Parliament Hill, a months-long CBC News/Radio-Canada investigation has found.
  
  Read more

• Out-of-body experiments show kids’ budding sense of self

  03-04-2017 22:15
  
  Sensing that “my body is me” starts early and develops over many years.
  
  Read more

• 3 tigers rescued from maggot-infested crate at Beirut airport

  03-04-2017 21:38 via cbc.ca
  
  ​Three Siberian tiger cubs destined for a zoo in war-torn Syria were rescued by a Lebanese animal rights group after being trapped in an unmarked, maggot-infested crate in Beirut's airport for almost a week.
  
  Read more

• Then and now: Photographers document rapid melting of world's glaciers

  03-04-2017 21:36 via cbc.ca
  
  Over the past decade, scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want others to see how a warming planet is melting masses of ice in a series of before and after photos.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• China introduces facial recognition technology to dispense toilet paper

  03-04-2017 18:33 via cbc.ca
  
  ​Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in China's capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take.
  
  Read more

• Students design $25 prosthetic arm created with bike pump, balloon and sugar

  03-04-2017 17:50 via cbc.ca
  
  All that was needed for a six-person team to create a prosthetic arm capable of gripping, picking up and releasing objects was a bike pump, some sugar and a balloon.
  
  Read more

• First fluorescent frogs might see each others’ glow

  03-04-2017 16:00
  
  A polka dot frog, the first known fluorescent amphibian, may get a visibility boost in twilight and moonlight.
  
  Read more

• ‘Specimens’ goes behind the scenes of Chicago’s Field Museum

  03-04-2017 13:00
  
  The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago puts seldom-seen specimens on display in a new exhibit to highlight the crucial role of museum objects in scientific research.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• UTA assistant professor awarded APS's Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) The American Physical Society has awarded Benjamin Jones, assistant professor of Physics at The University of Texas at Arlington, the Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics, which is widely considered the most prestigious dissertation award in the field.
  
  Read more

• Trends in college attendance rates in rural America

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Penn State) The benefits of obtaining a college degree are higher than ever in the current economy, as researchers estimate that by the year 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require postsecondary education.
  
  Read more

• Traumatic brain injuries leave women prone to mental health problems

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (The Endocrine Society) Traumatic brain injuries affect the body's stress axis differently in female and male mice, according to research presented at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting, ENDO 2017, in Orlando, Fla. The results could help explain why women who experience blast injuries face a greater risk of developing mental health problems than men.
  
  Read more

• The secret to staying motivated

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Society for Consumer Psychology) Researchers have discovered that our source of motivation switches about halfway through the process of pursuing a goal. People who lose interest in reaching a goal may benefit from trying different motivation strategies.
  
  Read more

• SwRI-built storm-scanning satellites enter operations phase

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Southwest Research Institute) NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission has successfully completed its development and commissioning phase and moved into the operations phase. The constellation of eight microsatellites -- the first engineered and fabricated by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) -- has now started on-orbit instrument calibration and validation and is on track to collect data for the 2017 hurricane season.
  
  Read more

• Study finds 1 secret to successful schools that costs nothing

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Ohio State University) Most factors that help make schools successful cost lots of money -- think teachers, technology and textbooks. But a new study suggests one factor that doesn't need any cash to implement can play an important role in helping students succeed at even the most disadvantaged schools. That factor is what scientists call social capital.
  
  Read more

• Stress a common seizure trigger in epilepsy, UC study affirms

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center) The relationship between stress and seizures has been well documented over the last 50 years. A recent review article in the European journal Seizure, by researchers at University of Cincinnati Epilepsy Center at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, looks at the stress-seizure relationship and how adopting stress reduction techniques may provide benefit as a low risk form of treatment.
  
  Read more

• Society considers people with mental illnesses to be more dangerous than they are

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Basel) How dangerous does the general public consider mentally ill people to be? Scientists at the University of Basel and the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel have investigated the factors that influence social stigma. The journal Scientific Reports published the results.
  
  Read more

• Smoking hot: UC study finds heat of hookah pipe the biggest health culprit for smokers

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Cincinnati) Hookah-tobacco users might want to rethink how they heat up their water pipes, based on research by chemists at the University of Cincinnati. Tobacco in hookah pipes is normally burned with specially made charcoal briquettes, which can contain heavy metals or other toxins. But a study by the University of Cincinnati found that a popular alternative -- electric heating disks sold in most tobacco shops -- might be far more harmful to your health.
  
  Read more

• Reversing aging now possible!

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)) DGIST's research team identified the mechanism of reversible recovery of aging cells by inducing lysosomal activation. The team opened a new horizon of aging recovery research by changing the irreversibility paradigm of aging.
  
  Read more

• Researchers find shoulder pad foam layer plays role in fewer concussions

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Simon Fraser University) Simon Fraser University researchers have found that a simple modification to hockey players' shoulder pads could have an impact on shoulder-to-head contact, the most common cause of concussions in ice hockey.
  
  Read more

• Researchers document how melanoma tumors form

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Iowa) University of Iowa researchers have documented in continuous, real time how melanoma cells form tumors. The team report the process is similar to that of breast cancer cells and have successfully screened for two antibodies that stopped tumor formation in both cancers. Results published in the journal PLOS One.
  
  Read more

• Research Society on Alcoholism grants Dr. Samuel W. French 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (LA BioMed) The Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), an organization of researchers who specialize in the study of alcoholism, will honor Samuel W. French, MD, a lead researcher at LA BioMed, with its prestigious 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding work in the field of alcohol research at the organization's annual scientific meeting in Denver on June 28.
  
  Read more

• Research measures potentially damaging free radicals in cigarette smoke

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Penn State) Smoking cigarettes can lead to illness and death. Free radicals, which are atoms or groups of atoms with unpaired electrons, in inhaled smoke are thought to be partly responsible for making smokers sick. Now researchers from Penn State College of Medicine and College of Agricultural Sciences report a method for measuring free radicals in cigarette smoke that could help improve our understanding of the relationship between these substances and health.
  
  Read more

• Progesterone and bisexuality: Is there a link?

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Springer) Bisexuality is quite common among men and women whose mothers received additional doses of the sex hormone progesterone while pregnant. This is one of the findings of a study led by June Reinisch, Director Emerita of The Kinsey Institute in the US, published in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. The study tracked the sexual development of 34 Danes whose mothers were treated with the hormone to prevent miscarriage.
  
  Read more

• New natural estrogen-progesterone capsule reduces postmenopausal hot flashes

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (The Endocrine Society) A natural, or bioidentical, combined estradiol-progesterone capsule (TX-001HR) significantly decreases the frequency and severity of moderate to severe hot flashes in postmenopausal women, the Replenish study finds. Results of this phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial will be presented Monday at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
  
  Read more

• New experimental drug offers hope for menopausal women with frequent hot flushes

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Imperial College London) Women plagued by frequent hot flushes during the menopause could cut the number of flushes by almost three-quarters, thanks to a new drug compound.
  
  Read more

• NASA's solar dynamics observatory captured trio of solar flares April 2-3

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The sun emitted a trio of mid-level solar flares on April 2-3, 2017. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the three events.
  
  Read more

• Meningitis bacteria adapting to STI niche, genetic analysis shows

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Emory Health Sciences) N. meningitidis, usually associated with meningitis and sepsis, is the cause of a recent cluster of sexually transmitted infections in Columbus, Ohio and in other US cities. The bacterium appears to be adapting to a urogenital environment, an analysis of its DNA shows.
  
  Read more

• In US military, white kids, officers' kids more likely to use diabetes technology

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (The Endocrine Society) Even with equal access to healthcare in the United States military, significant disparities in caring for children with type 1 diabetes still exist, new research reports. The results of the study will be presented Monday, April 3, at ENDO 2017, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando.
  
  Read more

• Higher anabolic hormone levels predict lower risk of worsening frailty in men

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (The Endocrine Society) A new study suggests that middle-age and elderly men are less likely to develop worsening frailty if they have high levels of certain anabolic hormones, which are muscle- and bone-building hormones. The study results will be presented Sunday at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
  
  Read more

• Ethics complicate clinical interpretation & reporting of human genome sequence results

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Medical use of a patient's genomic sequence information can improve diagnostic capabilities and enable personalized therapies, but technical and practical barriers to understanding the clinical implications of sequence data and interpreting them for patients are contributing to ongoing ethical concerns.
  
  Read more

• Do smart songbirds always get the girl?

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Florida Atlantic University) Compelling evidence shows females prefer mates with better cognitive abilities in a number of animals and even humans. For male songbirds, their ability to sing complex songs has been suggested to signal cognitive ability and is vital for attracting females as well as repelling rival males. What's not clear is how female songbirds can judge the cognitive abilities of potential mates, which is a necessary first step if smarter mates are preferred over their not-as-sm
  
  Read more

• Boys from low income families move less

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Eastern Finland) Parents' income and educational level are associated with their children's physical activity and screen time, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. Lower income and educational levels were associated with less supervised physical activity in particular. In boys, these were also associated with more screen time.
  
  Read more

• Addressing urban health challenges and opportunities on a global scale

  03-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Georgetown University Medical Center) 'Urban Health: A Global Challenge' is a free satellite session on April 6, organized by Georgetown University, the International Society for Urban Health, and the New York Academy of Medicine. The session precedes the 2017 Annual CUGH Global Health Conference in Washington, DC.
  
  Read more

Follow @ScienceUKnews on Twitter!