Science news

• Say what? How a Canadian company can clone your voice

  25-04-2017 22:19 via cbc.ca
  
  Computer voices are about to get a lot more convincing. A new Canadian startup says it can clone your voice and make you say anything.
  
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• ‘Fossil’ groundwater is not immune to modern-day pollution

  25-04-2017 22:12
  
  Ancient groundwater that is thousands of years old is still susceptible to modern pollution, new research suggests.
  
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• How Gut Bacteria Tell Their Hosts What to Eat

  25-04-2017 21:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
   By suppressing or increasing cravings, microbes help the brain decide what foods the body “needs” 
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• Facebook facing criticism after Thai man kills daughter live

  25-04-2017 20:45 via cbc.ca
  
  A Thai man filmed himself killing his 11-month-old daughter in two video clips posted on Facebook before committing suicide, police said on Tuesday.
  
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• Unphosphorylated ISGF3 drives constitutive expression of interferon-stimulated genes to protect against viral infections

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Interferon (IFN)–stimulated genes (ISGs) are antiviral effectors that are induced by IFNs through the formation of a tripartite transcription factor ISGF3, which is composed of IRF9 and phosphorylated forms of STAT1 and STAT2. However, we found that IFN-independent ISG expression was detectable in immortalized cell lines, primary intestinal and liver organoids, and liver tissues. The constitutive expression of ISGs was mediated by the unphosphorylated ISGF3 (U-ISGF3) complex, consisting of
  
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• Papers of note in Science Translational Medicine 9 (386)

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  This week’s articles describe a new hydrogel that promotes chronic wound healing and a way to limit intestinal tissue damage from radiation, chemo, or hematopoietic cell transplant therapies.
  
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• Papers of note in Science 356 (6335)

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  This week’s articles highlight a peptide that controls myoblast fusion; a metabolic adaptation that enables naked mole-rats to resist the detrimental effects of anoxia; a transcription factor that coordinates signaling in the mammary epithelial stem cell niche; and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of the response to an environmental stimulus.
  
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• Papers of note in Nature 544 (7650)

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  This week’s articles show that vesicle fusion proteins are involved in long-term potentiation and highlight the structural properties that contribute to functional differences between angiotensin II receptors.
  
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• p53 dynamics in response to DNA damage vary across cell lines and are shaped by efficiency of DNA repair and activity of the kinase ATM

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  Cellular systems show a wide range of signaling dynamics. Many of these dynamics are highly stereotyped, such as oscillations at a fixed frequency. However, most studies looking at the role of signaling dynamics focus on one or a few cell lines, leaving the diversity of dynamics across tissues or cell lines a largely unexplored question. We focused on the dynamics of the tumor suppressor protein p53, which regulates cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in response to DNA damage. We established live-c
  
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• Discovering relationships between nuclear receptor signaling pathways, genes, and tissues in Transcriptomine

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  We previously developed a web tool, Transcriptomine, to explore expression profiling data sets involving small-molecule or genetic manipulations of nuclear receptor signaling pathways. We describe advances in biocuration, query interface design, and data visualization that enhance the discovery of uncharacterized biology in these pathways using this tool. Transcriptomine currently contains about 45 million data points encompassing more than 2000 experiments in a reference library of nearly 550 d
  
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• Blocking a signal to host cell histones

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  A plant pathogen suppresses the host immune response by preventing histone acetylation.
  
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• Active life, active antitumor defense

  25-04-2017 19:50 via stke.sciencemag.org
  An active lifestyle in mice stimulates adrenergic signaling in the nervous system that enhances the function of antitumor natural killer cells.
  
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• Meet Steve, the curious ribbon of purplish light discovered in Alberta skies

  25-04-2017 19:18 via cbc.ca
  
  Alberta sky watchers chasing the northern lights have partnered with scientists on the discovery of a curious ribbon of purplish light that everyone is calling "Steve." The feature is attracting attention for its unexpected name, as well as how it was discovered.
  
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• How a dolphin eats an octopus without dying

  25-04-2017 19:00
  
  An octopus’s tentacles can kill a dolphin — or a human — when eaten alive. But wily dolphins in Australia have figured out how to do this safely.
  
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• Faux womb keeps preemie lambs alive

  25-04-2017 18:30
  
  A device can keep premature lambs alive for a month in womblike conditions.
  
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• Murdered woman's Fitbit logged steps after husband said she died

  25-04-2017 18:11 via cbc.ca
  
  ​Police in Connecticut have cited Fitbit records in an arrest warrant for a 40-year-old man charged with killing his wife in 2015.
  
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• Homo naledi’s brain shows humanlike features

  25-04-2017 18:08
  
  South African Homo species had small but humanlike brain, scientists say.
  
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• Fiat Chrysler expands Google self-driving car fleet to 500

  25-04-2017 18:05 via cbc.ca
  
  ​Fiat Chrysler and Google for the first time will offer rides to the public in the self-driving vehicles they are building under an expanding partnership, with Google expanding its fleet to 500 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans.
  
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• Oldest evidence of patterned silk loom found in China

  25-04-2017 13:00
  
  Chinese finds offer earliest look at game-changing weaving machine.
  
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• Air pollution levels in Toronto subways highest among country's 3 major rapid transit systems

  25-04-2017 12:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Toronto's subway stations and trains had the highest levels of air pollution of Canada's three major rapid transit systems, following by Montreal's Metro and Vancouver's Skytrain systems, a newly released study has found.
  
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• Facebook says its mind-reading project is all about improving our lives. Yeah... right

  25-04-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Let's get one thing straight: this innovation isn't for us. It's for them, and for the advertisers and other players benefiting from our data.
  
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• Warm winds: New insight into what weakens Antarctic ice shelves

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (British Antarctic Survey) New research describes for the first time the role that warm, dry winds play in influencing the behaviour of Antarctic ice shelves.
  
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• SwRI-led team discovers lull in Mars' giant impact history

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Southwest Research Institute) From the earliest days of our solar system's history, collisions between astronomical objects have shaped the planets and changed the course of their evolution. Studying the early bombardment history of Mars, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the University of Arizona have discovered a 400-million-year lull in large impacts early in Martian history.
  
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• New survey hints at exotic origin for the Cold Spot

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Royal Astronomical Society) A supervoid is unlikely to explain a 'Cold Spot' in the cosmic microwave background, according to the results of a new survey, leaving room for exotic explanations like a collision between universes. The researchers, led by postgraduate student Ruari Mackenzie and Professor Tom Shanks in Durham University's Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, publish their results in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  
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• NASA examines newly formed Tropical Depression 3W in 3-D

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Depression 03W formed in the Pacific Ocean west of Guam on April 24, 2017, and data from the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM core satellite was used to look at the storm in 3-D.
  
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• Movie research results: Multitasking overloads the brain

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Aalto University) Previous research shows that multitasking, which means performing several tasks at the same time, reduces productivity by as much as 40%. Now a group of researchers specialising in brain imaging has found that changing tasks too frequently interferes with brain activity. This may explain why the end result is worse than when a person focuses on one task at a time.
  
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• Astrophysicists studied the 'rejuvenating' pulsar in a neighboring galaxy

  25-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Lomonosov Moscow State University) The Lomonosov Moscow State University scientists published the results of a study of the unique ultra-slow pulsar XB091D. This neutron star is believed to have captured a companion only a million years ago and since then, has been slowly restoring its rapid rotation. The young pulsar is located in one of the oldest globular star clusters in the Andromeda galaxy, where the cluster may once have been a dwarf galaxy.
  
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• Arctic climate warming higher and faster than expected

  25-04-2017 03:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A new international report shows that Arctic temperatures are rising higher and faster than expected, and the effects are already being felt around the world.
  
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• Fossil find reveals skunk-sized predator roamed Egypt 34 million years ago

  25-04-2017 01:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists have discovered a small, skunk-sized mammalian carnivore with a fearsome set of teeth that likely preyed on human ancestors.
  
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• Scientists invent more accurate way to measure oilsands pollution

  25-04-2017 00:04 via cbc.ca
  
  Federal government scientists say they've found a more accurate way to measure pollution from the oilsands.
  
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