Science news

• Meet the planet that's hotter than most stars

  08-06-2017 23:49 via cbc.ca
  
  Astronomers have discovered a 300-million-year-old planet that's a scorching 4,315 C.
  
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• Quantum nanoscope: Seeing electrons surfing the waves of light on graphene

  08-06-2017 20:56
  Researchers have studied how light can be used to 'see' the quantum nature of an electronic material. They managed to do that by capturing light in a net of carbon atoms and slowing down light it down so that it moves almost as slow as the electrons in the graphene.
  
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• Neutrons zero in on elusive magnetic Majorana fermion

  08-06-2017 20:56
  Neutron scattering has revealed in unprecedented detail new insights into the exotic magnetic behavior of a material that could pave the way for quantum calculations far beyond the limits of a computer's binary code. A research team has confirmed magnetic signatures likely related to Majorana fermions--elusive particles that could be the basis for a quantum bit, or qubit, in a two-dimensional graphene-like material, alpha-ruthenium trichloride.
  
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• How the brain recognizes what the eye sees

  08-06-2017 20:56
  New work outlining the brain's visual process could improve self-driving cars and point to therapies for sensory impairment, suggest investigators.
  
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• Wide-Open accelerates release of scientific data by identifying overdue datasets

  08-06-2017 20:55
  Advances in genetic sequencing and other technologies have led to an explosion of biological data, and decades of openness (both spontaneous and enforced) mean that scientists routinely deposit data in online repositories. But researchers are only human and may forget to tell a repository to release the data when an article is published.
  
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• Sanitation access linked to children's growth and health

  08-06-2017 20:55
  An estimated 1 billion people in the world live without access to any type of sanitation facility, such as a toilet or latrine. Sanitation access is known to be associated with the risk of transmitting certain diseases, including parasitic worms. But the impacts don't stop there. For children, living in a community with poor levels of sanitation access increases their odds of stunted growth, anemia, and diarrhea, even if their household has access to a sanitation facility.
  
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• Obesity increases risk of complications after shoulder joint replacement surgery

  08-06-2017 20:55
  For patients undergoing shoulder joint replacement surgery (arthroplasty), higher body mass index is linked to increased complications -- including the need for 'revision' surgery, reports a new study.
  
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• New software tool could help doctors diagnose genetic diseases

  08-06-2017 20:55
  An open-source software tool called Mendel,MD could help doctors analyze patients' genetic data in order to diagnose diseases caused by mutations.
  
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• Molecular code for melanin-like materials

  08-06-2017 20:55
  
  A new approach for producing materials that mimic the properties of melanin has now been developed. It also provides unprecedented control over expressing specific properties of the biopolymer, according to a paper. The discovery could enable the development of cosmetic and biomedical products.
  
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• Genetic mutations predict patient response to immunotherapy

  08-06-2017 20:55
  Results of a new clinical study establish particular genetic defects in tumors as clinical indicators for successful response to a type of immunotherapy called PD-1 blockade.
  
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• Composition of Earth-size planets in TRAPPIST-1 system

  08-06-2017 20:55
  An astrophysics researcher has identified the possible compositions of the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Using thousands of numerical simulations to identify the planets stable for millions of years, Quarles concluded that six of the seven planets are consistent with an Earth-like composition. The exception is TRAPPIST-1f, which has a mass of 25 percent water, suggesting that TRAPPIST-1e may be the best candidate for future habitability studies.
  
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• Climate change might help pests resist corn’s genetic weapon

  08-06-2017 20:23
  
  Rising temperatures may allow pests to eat corn that is genetically modified to produce an insect-killing toxin.
  
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• Research for an oil (palm) change

  08-06-2017 19:34
  A new technique shows great promise for helping oil palm growers optimize production and reduce environmental impacts. The research focused on crop yield, nitrous oxide emissions and nitrogen leaching.
  
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• Not so elementary: Physicists review three experiments that hint at a phenomenon beyond the Standard Model of particle physics

  08-06-2017 19:33
  Scientists reviewed three experiments that hint at a phenomenon beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, outlines a new report.
  
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• Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere

  08-06-2017 19:24
  The origin of cometary matter and the potential contribution of comets to inner-planet atmospheres are long-standing problems. During a series of dedicated low-altitude orbits, the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) on the Rosetta spacecraft analyzed the isotopes of xenon in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The xenon isotopic composition shows deficits in heavy xenon isotopes and matches that of a primordial atmospheric component. The present-day Earth
  
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• Self-repairing cells: How single cells heal membrane ruptures and restore lost structures

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Many organisms and tissues display the ability to heal and regenerate as needed for normal physiology and as a result of pathogenesis. However, these repair activities can also be observed at the single-cell level. The physical and molecular mechanisms by which a cell can heal membrane ruptures and rebuild damaged or missing cellular structures remain poorly understood. This Review presents current understanding in wound healing and regeneration as two distinct aspects of cellular self-repair by
  
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• Relativistic deflection of background starlight measures the mass of a nearby white dwarf star

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Gravitational deflection of starlight around the Sun during the 1919 total solar eclipse provided measurements that confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity. We have used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the analogous process of astrometric microlensing caused by a nearby star, the white dwarf Stein 2051 B. As Stein 2051 B passed closely in front of a background star, the background star’s position was deflected. Measurement of this deflection at multiple epochs allowed
  
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• Regenerating optic pathways from the eye to the brain

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Humans are highly visual. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons that connect the eyes to the brain, fail to regenerate after damage, eventually leading to blindness. Here, we review research on regeneration and repair of the optic system. Intrinsic developmental growth programs can be reactivated in RGCs, neural activity can enhance RGC regeneration, and functional reformation of eye-to-brain connections is possible, even in the adult brain. Transplantation and gene therapy may serve to rep
  
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• Polymeric peptide pigments with sequence-encoded properties

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Melanins are a family of heterogeneous polymeric pigments that provide ultraviolet (UV) light protection, structural support, coloration, and free radical scavenging. Formed by oxidative oligomerization of catecholic small molecules, the physical properties of melanins are influenced by covalent and noncovalent disorder. We report the use of tyrosine-containing tripeptides as tunable precursors for polymeric pigments. In these structures, phenols are presented in a (supra-)molecular context dict
  
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• PCGF3/5-PRC1 initiates Polycomb recruitment in X chromosome inactivation

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Recruitment of the Polycomb repressive complexes PRC1 and PRC2 by Xist RNA is an important paradigm for chromatin regulation by long noncoding RNAs. Here, we show that the noncanonical Polycomb group RING finger 3/5 (PCGF3/5)–PRC1 complex initiates recruitment of both PRC1 and PRC2 in response to Xist RNA expression. PCGF3/5–PRC1–mediated ubiquitylation of histone H2A signals recruitment of other noncanonical PRC1 complexes and of PRC2, the latter leading to deposition of histo
  
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• Palladium-catalyzed carbon-sulfur or carbon-phosphorus bond metathesis by reversible arylation

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Compounds bearing aryl-sulfur and aryl-phosphorus bonds have found numerous applications in drug development, organic materials, polymer science, and homogeneous catalysis. We describe palladium-catalyzed metathesis reactions of both compound classes, each of which proceeds through a reversible arylation manifold. The synthetic power and immediate utility of this approach are demonstrated in several applications that would be challenging to achieve by means of traditional cross-coupling methods.
  
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• Neutron scattering in the proximate quantum spin liquid {alpha}-RuCl3

  08-06-2017 19:24
  The Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KQSL) is an exotic emergent state of matter exhibiting Majorana fermion and gauge flux excitations. The magnetic insulator α-RuCl3 is thought to realize a proximate KQSL. We used neutron scattering on single crystals of α-RuCl3 to reconstruct dynamical correlations in energy-momentum space. We discovered highly unusual signals, including a column of scattering over a large energy interval around the Brillouin zone center, which is very stable with temp
  
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• Mechanism of transmembrane signaling by sensor histidine kinases

  08-06-2017 19:24
  One of the major and essential classes of transmembrane (TM) receptors, present in all domains of life, is sensor histidine kinases, parts of two-component signaling systems (TCSs). The structural mechanisms of TM signaling by these sensors are poorly understood. We present crystal structures of the periplasmic sensor domain, the TM domain, and the cytoplasmic HAMP domain of the Escherichia coli nitrate/nitrite sensor histidine kinase NarQ in the ligand-bound and mutated ligand-free states. The
  
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• Mapping the human DC lineage through the integration of high-dimensional techniques

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Dendritic cells (DC) are professional antigen-presenting cells that orchestrate immune responses. The human DC population comprises two main functionally specialized lineages, whose origins and differentiation pathways remain incompletely defined. Here, we combine two high-dimensional technologies—single-cell messenger RNA sequencing (scmRNAseq) and cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF)—to identify human blood CD123+CD33+CD45RA+ DC precursors (pre-DC). Pre-DC share surface markers with
  
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• Macrophage function in tissue repair and remodeling requires IL-4 or IL-13 with apoptotic cells

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Tissue repair is a subset of a broad repertoire of interleukin-4 (IL-4)– and IL-13–dependent host responses during helminth infection. Here we show that IL-4 or IL-13 alone was not sufficient, but IL-4 or IL-13 together with apoptotic cells induced the tissue repair program in macrophages. Genetic ablation of sensors of apoptotic cells impaired the proliferation of tissue-resident macrophages and the induction of anti-inflammatory and tissue repair genes in the lungs after helminth i
  
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• Local amplifiers of IL-4R{alpha}-mediated macrophage activation promote repair in lung and liver

  08-06-2017 19:24
  The type 2 immune response controls helminth infection and maintains tissue homeostasis but can lead to allergy and fibrosis if not adequately regulated. We have discovered local tissue-specific amplifiers of type 2–mediated macrophage activation. In the lung, surfactant protein A (SP-A) enhanced interleukin-4 (IL-4)–dependent macrophage proliferation and activation, accelerating parasite clearance and reducing pulmonary injury after infection with a lung-migrating helminth. In the p
  
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• Inflammation and metabolism in tissue repair and regeneration

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Tissue repair after injury is a complex, metabolically demanding process. Depending on the tissue’s regenerative capacity and the quality of the inflammatory response, the outcome is generally imperfect, with some degree of fibrosis, which is defined by aberrant accumulation of collagenous connective tissue. Inflammatory cells multitask at the wound site by facilitating wound debridement and producing chemokines, metabolites, and growth factors. If this well-orchestrated response becomes d
  
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• Decarboxylative borylation

  08-06-2017 19:24
  The widespread use of alkyl boronic acids and esters is frequently hampered by the challenges associated with their preparation. We describe a simple and practical method to rapidly access densely functionalized alkyl boronate esters from abundant carboxylic substituents. This broad-scope nickel-catalyzed reaction uses the same activating principle as amide bond formation to replace a carboxylic acid moiety with a boronate ester. Application to peptides allowed expedient preparations of α-
  
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• Cardiac regeneration strategies: Staying young at heart

  08-06-2017 19:24
  The human heart is continually operating as a muscular pump, contracting, on average, 80 times per minute to propel 8000 liters of blood through body tissues each day. Whereas damaged skeletal muscle has a profound capacity to regenerate, heart muscle, at least in mammals, has poor regenerative potential. This deficiency is attributable to the lack of resident cardiac stem cells, combined with roadblocks that limit adult cardiomyocytes from entering the cell cycle and completing division. Insigh
  
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• Activity-based protein profiling reveals off-target proteins of the FAAH inhibitor BIA 10-2474

  08-06-2017 19:24
  A recent phase 1 trial of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor BIA 10-2474 led to the death of one volunteer and produced mild-to-severe neurological symptoms in four others. Although the cause of the clinical neurotoxicity is unknown, it has been postulated, given the clinical safety profile of other tested FAAH inhibitors, that off-target activities of BIA 10-2474 may have played a role. Here we use activity-based proteomic methods to determine the protein interaction landscape of B
  
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• A maternal-effect selfish genetic element in Caenorhabditis elegans

  08-06-2017 19:24
  Selfish genetic elements spread in natural populations and have an important role in genome evolution. We discovered a selfish element causing embryonic lethality in crosses between wild strains of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The element is made up of sup-35, a maternal-effect toxin that kills developing embryos, and pha-1, its zygotically expressed antidote. pha-1 has long been considered essential for pharynx development on the basis of its mutant phenotype, but this phenotype arises
  
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• Tackling infectious disease, one protein at a time

  08-06-2017 18:45
  
  A team of scientists has solved the 3-D structure of 1,000 proteins from more than 70 organisms that cause infectious disease in people. The proteins come from microbes that cause several serious diseases, including tuberculosis, Listeria, Giardia, Ebola, anthrax, C. diff., Legionella, Lyme, chlamydia and the flu.
  
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• In major breakthrough, tiny Utah firm regenerates skin, hair in pigs

  08-06-2017 18:40
  
  (Reuters) - A small U.S. biotech has successfully regenerated skin and stimulated hair growth in pigs with burns and abrasions, paving the way for a scientific breakthrough that could lead to the regeneration of fully functional human skin.
  
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• Setting stretch goals can undermine organizational performance, new study shows

  08-06-2017 18:37
  While the general consensus regarding stretch goals is that they boost drive, innovation, and improve organizational performance, new research shows that this is the exception, and not the rule. For many organizations, stretch goals can serve to undermine performance.
  
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• Nanoparticles and magnets offer new, efficient method of removing oil from water

  08-06-2017 18:37
  
  Engineering researchers used magnetic nanoparticles to separate oil from water through a simple process that relies on electrostatic force and a magnet. The engineers believe their new technique could improve water treatment for oil and gas production, more efficiently clean up oil spills and potentially remove lead from drinking water.
  
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• Monkey see, monkey do, depending on age, experience and efficiency

  08-06-2017 18:37
  
  Wild capuchin monkeys readily learn skills from each other -- but that social learning is driven home by the payoff of learning a useful new skill.
  
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• Extinct early whales listened like their relatives on land, fossil evidence shows

  08-06-2017 18:36
  
  Whales show surprisingly vast differences in hearing ability. Baleen whales tune into infrasonic sounds to communicate over long distances. Toothed whales do just the opposite, relying on ultrasonic frequencies too high for humans to hear. Now researchers have fossil evidence from extinct early whale species to suggest that those differences in hearing arose only after whales evolved into the fully aquatic animals we know today.
  
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• Developing fetuses react to face-like shapes from the womb

  08-06-2017 18:36
  
  It's well known that young babies are more interested in faces than other objects. Now, researchers have the first evidence that this preference for faces develops in the womb. By projecting light through the uterine wall of pregnant mothers, they found that fetuses at 34 weeks gestation will turn their heads to look at face-like images over other shapes.
  
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• Brain imaging reveals neural roots of caring

  08-06-2017 18:36
  
  When others suffer, we humans empathize. Our feelings of empathy take different forms, such as distress when we imagine and internalize someone's pain and compassion as we sympathize with their condition. These different feelings involve distinct patterns of brain activity, according to a study. Feelings of empathy may seem subtle and personal, but this study found that the brain patterns associated with these feelings are consistent and predictable across individuals.
  
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• For humans, the appeal of looking at faces starts before birth

  08-06-2017 18:00
  
  New research suggests that 8-month-old fetuses, like newborns, are particularly interested in looking at faces.
  
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• Ancient Fossils from Morocco Mess Up Modern Human Origins

  08-06-2017 18:00 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Dated to more than 300,000 years ago, the finds raise key questions about the defining features of Homo sapiens and how our kind came to be
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Trump's decision to pull out of climate deal could accelerate damage to his properties

  08-06-2017 17:23 via cbc.ca
  
  President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement could accelerate damage to his family's real estate empire in the coming decades, especially his properties that lie just feet from the encroaching sea in low-lying South Florida.
  
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• Therapy could stop superbugs on farms

  08-06-2017 16:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers show that it might be possible to develop an alternative to antibiotics for treating diseases in pigs and humans
  
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• Quack science

  08-06-2017 16:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The biological trick that allows a female mandarin duck to become a male.
  
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• It’s best if babies don’t drink their fruit as juice

  08-06-2017 13:00
  
  New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend no fruit juice for babies younger than 1 year old.
  
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• Plastic-Eating Worms Could Inspire Waste-Degrading Tools

  08-06-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Wax moth larvae can consume and degrade polyethylene at an impressive rate
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Objective truth ‘only hope' of democracy

  08-06-2017 10:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Neil deGrasse Tyson challenges the treatment of science in the Trump administration
  
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• Renewables provide more than half UK electricity for first time

  08-06-2017 10:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The National Grid says alternative fuel generated more electricity than coal and gas in the UK on Wednesday.
  
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• 'Monster' rocket 'selfie' delights India

  08-06-2017 06:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Onboard footage from the Indian space agency's 640-tonne rocket has been widely shared on Twitter.
  
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• Your smile gives you away

  08-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Southern California) Researchers from USC's Institute for Creative Technologies study how reacting with a smile affects game outcomes, hoping one day to empower virtual humans with this knowledge.
  
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