Science news

• Robots boldly go where no one has gone before: Bob McDonald

  28-04-2017 22:40 via cbc.ca
  
  For space exploration, robots deliver a lot of bang for your buck.
  
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• Trump administration wins victory in effort to roll back Obama climate change efforts

  28-04-2017 22:06 via cbc.ca
  
  At the Trump administration's request, a federal appeals court agreed Friday to postpone a ruling on lawsuits challenging Obama-era restrictions on carbon emissions.
  
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• Facebook isn't doing enough to control violent posts, says expert

  28-04-2017 21:13 via cbc.ca
  
  Violent acts being filmed and posted to social media have many asking whether it's possible to reverse the trend of violent video sharing.
  
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• Lungs enlist immune cells to fight infections in capillaries

  28-04-2017 21:01
  
  Immune cells in the lungs provide a rapid counterattack to bloodstream infections, a new study in mice finds.
  
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• Nerve cell miswiring linked to depression

  28-04-2017 19:30
  
  A gene helps nerve cell axons extend to parts of the brain to deliver serotonin, a brain chemical associated with depression.
  
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• Ocean acidification may hamper food web’s nitrogen-fixing heroes

  28-04-2017 19:00
  
  A new look at marine Trichodesmium microbes suggests trouble for nitrogen fixation in an acidifying ocean.
  
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• Humpback whale babies 'whisper' to their moms to avoid detection by predators

  28-04-2017 18:19 via cbc.ca
  
  New research suggests newborn humpback whales "whisper" to their mothers, which could be to avoid detection by predators such as killer whales.
  
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• HPV vaccine as cancer prevention is a message that needs to catch on

  28-04-2017 18:00
  
  Vaccination against HPV is cancer prevention, but low vaccination rates suggest that message isn’t clear.
  
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• Robots and new technology take the stage in battle against invasive species

  28-04-2017 16:40 via cbc.ca
  
  In the fight against alien animals that invade and overrun native species, the weird and wired wins.
  
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• The Pentagon's Seek-and-Destroy Mission for Counterfeit Electronics

  28-04-2017 13:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  DARPA is developing microscopic chips to help crack down on knockoff parts destined for weapons and satellite systems
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• Key Einstein principle survives quantum test

  28-04-2017 13:28
  
  Particles in quantum superposition adhere to the equivalence principle in atomic test.
  
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• The Brain Has Its Own "Autofill" Function for Speech

  28-04-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  The neural version of a texting app anticipates what comes next when we hear speech
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• This box can see through walls — and it could shake up home security

  28-04-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Aura looks for intruders based on the subtle disturbances in wireless spectrum their movements make, like ripples in a lake.
  
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• China to begin construction of manned space station in 2019

  28-04-2017 06:52
  
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will begin construction of a permanent manned space station in 2019 after carrying out a successful in-orbit refueling from its Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft, officials leading the project said on Friday.
  
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• WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction established at Weill Cornell Medicine

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Weill Cornell Medicine) Weill Cornell Medicine today announced a gift made by WorldQuant, LLC ('WorldQuant') and Igor Tulchinsky that will further realize the promise of precision medicine. The $5 million gift establishes a new initiative that will use predictive tools to enhance Weill Cornell Medicine's capability to diagnose and treat a variety of illnesses, with the goal of improving outcomes for patients.
  
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• When the smoke clears... tobacco control in post-conflict settings

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (ecancermedicalscience) In new research published today by King's College London - Institute of Cancer Policy and the Conflict & Health Research Group in the journal ecancermedicalscience, the difficulties of prioritizing preventable disease and long term health issues in post conflict zones are explored.
  
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• Variations in tuition at public universities have grown, masking the cost of attendance

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (New York University) Differences in undergraduate tuition rates by a student's degree program or year of study have become increasingly prevalent over the past 25 years, finds a study by New York University's Steinhardt School, Arizona State University, and the University of Louisville.
  
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• UTA student wins UT System Regents award

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) UTA senior Frederick Tran won the 2017 Regents' Outstanding Arts and Humanities Award in Creative Writing, Short Fiction.
  
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• UTA professor's book explains complex world of public health, individual medical services

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) A book from a UTA associate professor explains why the United States has the health system it has.
  
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• UTA Libraries awarded grant to test maker literacies program

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) A UTA team will use an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to identify and collaborate with three pilot sites to test the effectiveness of early-stage maker-based competencies, previously developed by a UTA task force, on undergraduate learning.
  
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• Thin layers of water hold promise for the energy storage of the future

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (North Carolina State University) Researchers have found that a material which incorporates atomically thin layers of water is able to store and deliver energy much more quickly than the same material that doesn't include the water layers. The finding raises some interesting questions about the behavior of liquids when confined at this scale and holds promise for shaping future energy-storage technologies.
  
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• Testosterone makes men less likely to question their impulses

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (California Institute of Technology) A new study shows that testosterone makes men less likely to realize when they're wrong.
  
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• Study finds primary school children get less active with age

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Bristol) There is an age-related decline in children's physical activity levels as they progress through primary school, according to a British Heart Foundation-funded study.
  
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• Study examines state of social, personality psychology research

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois at Chicago) University of Illinois at Chicago researchers conducted two studies to examine the state and quality of social and personality research and how practices have changed, if at all.
  
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• Study: Bonobos may be better representation of last common ancestor with humans

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (George Washington University) A new study examining the muscular system of bonobos provides firsthand evidence that the rare great ape species may be more closely linked, anatomically, to human ancestors than common chimpanzees.
  
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• Scientists set record resolution for drawing at the one-nanometer length scale

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory) Using a specialized electron microscope outfitted with a pattern generator, scientists turned an imaging instrument into a lithography tool that could be used to create and study materials with new properties.
  
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• Overdose prevention and naloxone rescue among family members of people who use opioids

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Boston University Medical Center) Family members are often the ones who administer naloxone during an opioid overdose and should be considered as part of the larger response to help curb fatal overdoses. These findings demonstrate the important role that educating family members about overdoses and how to obtain and administer naloxone could play an important role in helping decrease the number of fatal opioid overdoses.
  
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• No religion as a 'new religion'?

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics") Renowned sociologist Linda Woodhead assumes Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professorship at the Cluster of Excellence -- Research on the growing number of non-religious people in Europe and the USA -- in a public lecture on May 8: 'Is 'No Religion' the New Religion?'
  
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• New Singapore research center for big data analytics and Artificial Intelligence

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Nanyang Technological University) Those without knowledge of computer programming could soon design their own games and applications using a new edutainment software being developed by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).
  
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• New organic lasers one step closer to reality

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Kyushu University, OPERA) Researchers at Kyushu University's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research have developed an optically pumped organic thin-film laser that can continuously emit light for 30 ms, which is more than 100 times longer than previous devices.
  
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• NASA selects ASU's 'ShadowCam' to fly on Korea Pathfinder lunar orbiter

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Arizona State University) NASA has selected an instrument developed by Mark Robinson of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) and Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) to map the terrain and search for evidence of frost or ice deposits in the Moon's permanently shadowed regions (PSRs).
  
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• NASA eyes intensifying Tropical Cyclone Frances

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Two NASA satellites provided forecasters in Australia with visible and rainfall data as Tropical Cyclone Frances strengthened in the western Timor Sea. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the storm that showed a cloud-filled eye, while the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM core satellite found heaving rainfall occurring.
  
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• Modern metabolic science yields better way to calculate indoor CO2

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) The air we breathe out can help us improve the quality of the air we breathe in. But to do so, one needs a reliable way to calculate the concentration of carbon dioxide we produce indoors. Researchers at NIST and George Mason University have developed a new computation method that uses well-established concepts from the study of human metabolism and exercise physiology to significantly improve how this important data is derived.
  
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• Medical guidelines for astronauts to be launched in the US

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Plymouth) Scientists at the University of Plymouth and Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK, are helping to write the medical rulebook that will keep astronauts fit and healthy during long trips through the solar system. Learning from the rulebook could also inform human health on Earth.
  
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• ICCP director Axel Timmermann receives Milutin Milankovic Medal

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Institute for Basic Science) ICCP Director Axel Timmermann receives Milutin Milankovic Medal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).
  
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• Hybrid heterostructures with programmable potentials

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Graphene Flagship) In a novel controllable chemical method, Flagship researchers have created hybrid nanomaterials that can be tailored to have programmable electronic and optical properties -- ideal for designing new types of electronics with new functionalities.
  
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• Hybrid circuits can increase computational power of chaos-based systems

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (North Carolina State University) New research from North Carolina State University has found that combining digital and analog components in nonlinear, chaos-based integrated circuits can improve their computational power by enabling processing of a larger number of inputs.
  
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• Hubble's bright shining lizard star

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The bright object seen in this Hubble image is a single and little-studied star named TYC 3203-450-1, located in the constellation of Lacerta (The Lizard). The star is much closer than the much more distant galaxy.
  
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• How do babies coordinate gestures and vocalization?

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of the Basque Country ) Asier Romero-Andonegi, Aintzane Etxebarria-Lejarreta, Ainara Romero-Andonegi and Irati de Pablo-Delgado, lecturers and researchers at the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Education in Bilbao, have studied how 9 to 13-month-old babies tackle the shift from early babbling to the use of combinations of gestures and speech. The work The interrelation of gestures and vocalization in early communication functions: Evidence from Basque language has been published in the importan
  
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• Harvard & UT researchers propose systems connection in acupuncture & 21st century medicine

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Harvard University's renown fascia researcher Helene Langevin, MD, and co-author Rosa Schnyer, PhD, LAc propose that elements of classical acupuncture 'are related to important 21st century advances in physiology and medicine, including systems biology, cross-system integration, matrix biology and mechanotherapeutics.'
  
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• Fast, low energy, and continuous biofuel extraction from microalgae

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Kumamoto University) Researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan used a nanosecond pulsed electric field to extract hydrocarbons from microalgae. By using the shorter duration pulse, they were able to extract a large amount of hydrocarbons from the microalgae in a shorter amount of time, using less energy, and in a more efficient manner than current methods.
  
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• Expert unravels disease that took the hearing of world-famous painter

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Maryland School of Medicine) Francisco Goya is the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th century. In 1793, Goya, then 46, came down with a severe, undiagnosed illness. His hearing never returned. Now, a hearing expert has developed a diagnosis. She thinks Goya likely suffered from an autoimmune disease.
  
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• Discovery of a facile process for H2 production using ammonia as a carrier

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Oita University) Researchers at Oita University, Japan, have created a new process for producing H2 from ammonia with rapid initiation that requires no external heat source, giving hope for the increased global use of H2 as an efficient and clean energy source.
  
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• Dawn of organic single crystal electronics

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (National Institutes of Natural Sciences) Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences (Japan) have developed a method for high performance doping of organic single crystal.Furthermore, they succeeded in the Hall effect measurement of the crystal -- the world's first case.The research has been published in the Advanced Materials.
  
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• Bacteria with Midas touch for efficient gold processing

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Adelaide) Special 'nugget-producing' bacteria may hold the key to more efficient processing of gold ore, mine tailings and recycled electronics, as well as aid in exploration for new deposits, University of Adelaide research has shown.
  
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• Astrophysicists discovered a star polluted by calcium

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Lomonosov Moscow State University) An international team of astrophysicists led by a scientist from the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Lomonosov Moscow State University reported the discovery of a binary solar-type star inside the supernova remnant RCW 86. Spectroscopic observation of this star revealed that its atmosphere is polluted by heavy elements ejected during the supernova explosion that produced RCW 86.
  
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• AI-based smartphone application can predict user's health risks

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed artificial intelligence (AI)-based data analysis methods used in a smartphone application of Odum Ltd.
  
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• A material inspired by a sea worm changes according to the environment

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology) The gelatinous jaw of a sea worm, which becomes hard or flexible depending on the environment around it, has inspired researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a new material that can be applied to soft robotics. Despite having the texture of a gel, this compound is endowed with great mechanical resistance and consistency, and is able to adapt to changing environments.
  
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• $2.4 million grant funds new new Biomedical Big Data to Knowledge Training Program

  28-04-2017 06:00
  
  (Penn State) A new $2.4-million program, funded by grants from the US National Library of Medicine and Penn State University, establishes the Biomedical Big Data to Knowledge Training Program. Its mission is to train the next generation of data scientists in order to assure that the vast wealth of biomedical data resulting from significant scientific discoveries can be mined quickly and efficiently in order to achieve useful results for human health and healing.
  
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• Boreal Shield lakes resemble prehistoric oceans, researchers say

  28-04-2017 00:03 via cbc.ca
  
  Lakes that dot Canada's Boreal Shield region offer important information about greenhouse gases and early life forms, their numbers potentially revolutionizing studies into Earth's early life forms.
  
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