Science news

• The moon might have had a heavy metal atmosphere with supersonic winds

  30-06-2017 23:31
  
  Heat from a glowing infant Earth could have vaporized the moon’s metals into an atmosphere as thick as Mars’, a new simulation shows.
  
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• The southern drawl gets deconstructed

  30-06-2017 21:14
  
  Analysis of the diversity of vowel sounds found in southern accents could help developers of speech recognition software.
  
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• Dragonflies reveal how biodiversity changes in time and space

  30-06-2017 20:49
  
  In one of the first studies of its kind, ecologists monitored East Texas dragonfly communities for years to show that simple mechanisms could be used to predict how biodiversity varies across time and space.
  
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• Black carbon varies, but stubbornly persists, in snow and ice around the world

  30-06-2017 20:07
  A new study comparing dissolved black carbon deposition on ice and snow in ecosystems around the world (including Antarctica, the Arctic, and alpine regions of the Himalayas, Rockies, Andes, and Alps) shows that while concentrations vary widely, significant amounts can persist in both pristine and non-pristine areas of snow.
  
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• United Launch Alliance beats SpaceX to win Air Force launch

  30-06-2017 20:03
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co , for the first time beat Elon Musk's SpaceX in competition for an Air Force satellite launch, both launch companies said on Friday.
  
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• New clues found to common respiratory virus

  30-06-2017 17:55
  
  Scientists have solved the structure of a protein that helps a common respiratory virus evade the immune system. The team has identified critical parts of the protein that could be targeted with drugs or vaccines, opening up the possibility of preventing or treating an infection that sickens thousands of babies and elderly people every year.
  
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• The Black Forest and climate change

  30-06-2017 16:50
  
  Silver and Douglas firs could replace Norway spruce in the long run due to their greater resistance to droughts.
  
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• Sport feels less strenuous if you believe it's doing you good

  30-06-2017 16:50
  "Sport is too much like hard work." For many, that is reason enough to pass when it comes to exercise. But does sport really have to make you break into a sweat? Psychologists have discovered that one's own expectations have a major influence on just how strenuous one perceives a unit of sport to be.
  
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• Size not important for fish in the largest mass extinction of all time

  30-06-2017 16:50
  Understanding modern biodiversity and extinction threats is important. It is commonly assumed that being large contributes to vulnerability during extinction crises. However, researchers have found that size played no role in the extinction of fish during the largest mass extinction of all time.
  
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• Mistaken identity of East Asian vine species resolved after 100 years

  30-06-2017 16:50
  
  New light has been shed on a misclassified vine species in the Ryukyu Islands of East Asia. This plant was first discovered in 1917 in Taiwan, when it was provisionally identified as Kadsura japonica. The plant was recently spotted again after 100 years, and further investigation proved that it was in fact a different species: Kadsura matsudae.
  
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• Miniature technology, big hope for disease detection

  30-06-2017 16:50
  
  Researchers develop a simple printing method to create effective disease detection tools.
  
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• Liquid biopsies: A non-invasive look at treatment response

  30-06-2017 16:50
  A new study shows that so-called "liquid biopsies", blood tests that detect circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), may not only sound an early alert that a treatment's effect is diminishing, but may also help explain why -sometimes offering clues about what to do next.
  
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• How the liver unclogs itself

  30-06-2017 16:50
  
  Scientists have described the mechanical principles adopted by liver cells as they remove excess bile during obstructive cholestasis.
  
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• How telomeres protect cells from premature senescence

  30-06-2017 16:50
  Researchers have further uncovered the secrets of telomeres, the caps that protect the ends of our chromosomes. They discovered that an RNA molecule called TERRA helps to ensure that very short (or broken) telomeres get fixed again. The work provides new insights into cellular processes that regulate cell senescence and survival in aging and cancer.
  
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• Exposure to cardiovascular risk factors linked with arterial distensibility in adolescence

  30-06-2017 16:50
  The longitudinal study on children and adolescents is unique worldwide. The study shows that cardiovascular risk factors, such as overweight, high blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and insulin resistance, are associated with arterial distensibility in adolescence.
  
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• Widely Used Pesticide Is a Buzzkill for Honeybees

  30-06-2017 15:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Findings add fuel to the debate over whether a commonly used chemical damages insect populations
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Birds become immune to influenza

  30-06-2017 14:57
  
  An influenza infection in birds gives a good protection against other subtypes of the virus, like a natural vaccination, according to a new study.
  
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• Zoning in on specifics of Mediterranean diet for colorectal health

  30-06-2017 14:53
  The benefits of a "Mediterranean diet" (MD) are well-known when it comes to colorectal protection, but it's hard to know specifically what elements of the diet are the healthiest.
  
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• Doctors divided about tutoring future colleagues

  30-06-2017 14:53
  Professionally active doctors increasingly hesitate to take on the task of tutoring students from undergraduate medical education. Stress and pressure from higher up, and sometimes also from colleagues, contributes to this ambivalence.
  
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• Wilderness areas are being destroyed but the World Heritage Convention can protect them

  30-06-2017 14:50
  A new study urges the UNESCO World Heritage Convention to better conserve wilderness areas within Natural World Heritage Sites. The study revealed that only 1.8 percent of the world's wilderness is protected in these sites.
  
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• Subtle molecular changes along the upper digestive tract could guide cancer therapy

  30-06-2017 14:50
  Based on a new molecular study of tissues biopsied from various parts of the upper digestive tract, researchers have identified significant, if subtle, differences in gene mutations and other factors that could help in developing more tailored treatment options for cancer patients.
  
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• Overactive scavenger cells may cause neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's

  30-06-2017 14:50
  For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a surprising effect of microglia, the scavenger cells of the brain: If these cells lack the TDP-43 protein, they not only remove Alzheimer's plaques, but also synapses. This removal of synapses by these cells presumably lead to neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
  
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• Ancient Swiss reptile shows its bizarre scale armor for the first time

  30-06-2017 14:50
  
  Grisons, 241 million years ago -- Instead of amidst high mountains, a small reptile suns itself on an island beach in a warm shallow sea, where many fish and marine reptiles frolic. This is the story told by an excellently preserved new discovery of the reptile Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi.
  
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• Quantum Computing Becomes More Accessible

  30-06-2017 14:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Increased testing of quantum computing techniques will open the door to solving new kinds of problems
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Sustainable Design of Communities Dramatically Reduces Waste

  30-06-2017 13:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Moving beyond the green-home level, ambitious projects are attempting to join blocks of buildings into a single sustainable unit
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• The blue wings of this dragonfly may be surprisingly alive

  30-06-2017 13:00
  
  The wings of adult morpho dragonflies show tiny respiratory channels that may support a complex of nanostructures that shine blue.
  
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• Light-Powered Computers Brighten AI's Future

  30-06-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Optical computers may have finally found a use—improving artificial intelligence
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Why an asteroid (probably) won't wipe us out

  30-06-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  You've likely heard of a "doomsday asteroid" poised to collide with Earth. But the good news is, astronomers have yet to find one. But that doesn't mean we're completely out of the woods in our cosmic shooting gallery.
  
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• Wayne State receives NIH award to study genetic factors that impact benefit of exercise

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research) A team of researchers led by Robert Wessells, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University, has received a two-year, $423,500 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health for the project, 'Octopamine mediates benefits of endurance exercise in Drosophila.'
  
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• UTA 2017 interdisciplinary research grants focus on cancer, drug testing, helping youth

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Texas at Arlington) The University of Texas at Arlington has awarded three new seed grants for interdisciplinary research projects that propose new ways to treat skin cancer, provide a new technique for more rapid and cost-effective evaluation of chemotherapy drugs, and to develop innovative programs to reduce the mental health risks of homeless youth.
  
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• Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome: System to help patients communicate

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Bielefeld University) A new device is meant to help people with severe brain damage to communicate with others. The NeuroCommTrainer is supposed to understand brain signals, and enable the patient to respond with a 'yes' or a 'no' using electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements.Best of all, the system helps train patients to control their brain activity in a targeted way. The NeuroCommTrainer project has now begun and is funded with €1.87 million.
  
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• Uniting lost voices

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Arizona State University) Bioarchaeology is a young but quickly growing field that studies how people from the past lived and died. However, it faces a problem: there are many different approaches to and even definitions of bioarchaeological research, making it difficult to share findings across disciplines, organizations and geographic borders. Bioarchaeology International is a new, first-of-its-kind journal specifically dedicated to bioarchaeological research. Its goal is to help unify perspe
  
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• Tiny 'motors' are driven by light

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT researchers have simulated the first system in which particles can be manipulated by a beam of ordinary light. The advance brings us closer to real-world interactions between light and matter at atomic scales.
  
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• Table top plasma gets wind of solar turbulence

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) Scientists from India and Portugal recreate solar turbulence on a table top using a high intensity ultrashort laser pulse to excite a hot, dense plasma and followed the evolution of the giant magnetic field generated by the plasma dynamics. This opens the possibility of studying astrophysical phenomena like the evolution of stars, in the lab.
  
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• Spinning electrons open the door to future hybrid electronics

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Linköping University) A discovery of how to control and transfer spinning electrons paves the way for novel hybrid devices that could outperform existing semiconductor electronics. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Linkoping University in Sweden demonstrate how to combine a commonly used semiconductor with a topological insulator, a recently discovered state of matter with unique electrical properties.
  
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• SmartPractice donates $50,000 toward TGen liquid biopsy research

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (The Translational Genomics Research Institute) In support of efforts to find better ways of diagnosing and monitoring breast cancer patients, SmartPractice today donated $50,000 to the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).This SmartPractice gift will support TGen's development of 'liquid biopsies,' which are simple, low-cost, non-invasive blood tests that can help clinicians more accurately treat patients with cancer.
  
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• Self-powered system makes smart windows smarter

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Princeton University, Engineering School) Researchers developed a new type of smart window: a self-powered version that promises to be inexpensive and easy to apply to existing windows, with potential to save heating and cooling costs. The window powers itself with a transparent solar cell that harvests near-ultraviolet light.
  
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• Researchers find out how bromine fits into Venusian chemistry

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) Venus and Earth are almost twins as planets, but they have evolved very differently so studying atmosphere of Venus might help us understand why Earth evolved as it has. In 2012, Vladimir Krasnopolsky from MIPT created a photochemical model incorporating numerous components of the atmosphere of Venus - at that time he supposed that hydrogen bromide could be one of them. Last year he and his colleague Denis Belyaev from Space Research Institute went to
  
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• Power to the people

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of California - Santa Barbara) The first rule of advocating for climate change-related legislation is: You do not talk about 'climate change.' The term has become so polarizing that its mere mention can cause reasonable people to draw seemingly immutable lines in the political sand.
  
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• Pipetting in space

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Konstanz) NASA funds a Konstanz-based biologist's idea for developing an automated diagnostic device suitable for use in space flight.
  
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• Picture overload hinders children's word learning from storybooks

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Sussex) While publishers look to produce ever more colourful and exciting texts to entice buyers, University of Sussex psychologists have shown that having more than one illustration per page results in poorer word learning among pre-schoolers.
  
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• Older Americans don't get -- or seek -- enough help from doctors & pharmacists on drug costs

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) The majority of Americans over age 50 take two or more prescription medicines to prevent or treat health problems, and many of them say the cost weighs on their budget, a new poll finds. But many older adults aren't getting -- or asking for -- as much help as they could from their doctors and pharmacists to find lower-cost options, the data reveal. This suggests an opportunity for clinicians and patients to talk more about drug costs.
  
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• No pain, no gain?

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Freiburg) A study shows that people find sport less strenuous if they believe it's doing them good.
  
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• New method of measurement could lead to cheaper, more accurate sensors

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Waterloo) New method of measurement could lead to cheaper, more accurate sensors.
  
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• New measurement will help redefine international unit of mass

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring mass, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made their most precise determination yet of Planck's constant, an important value in science that will help to redefine the kilogram, the official unit of mass in the SI, or international system of units.
  
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• Most reproductive-age women using opioids also use another substance

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences) The majority of reproductive-age and pregnant women who use opioids for non-medical purposes also use at least one other substance, ranging from nicotine or alcohol to cocaine, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis. It was the first to look at use of multiple substances in a nationally representative group of US women age 18 to 44.
  
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• Mid-infrared images from the Subaru telescope extend Juno spacecraft discoveries

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (National Institutes of Natural Sciences) Subaru Telescope images reveal weather in Jupiter's atmosphere in the mid-infrared.High-resolution thermal imaging of Jupiter by the COoled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS) mounted on the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea is providing information that extends and enhances the information that the Juno mission is gathering in its unprecedented mission to probe that planet's interior and deep atmospheric structure together with details of the magne
  
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• Method elucidates inner workings of neural networks

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) A new technique helps elucidate the inner workings of neural networks trained on visual data.
  
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• Japanese children learn to write through rhythm

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Kobe University) How do we learn to write? A Japanese study looked at the development of writing skills in Japanese first-grade students, and revealed aspects of handwriting development that have been largely neglected in research carried out in Latin alphabet communities.
  
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• In urban Baltimore, poor neighborhoods have more mosquitoes

  30-06-2017 06:00
  
  (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies) A new study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology reports that in Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhoods with high levels of residential abandonment are hotspots for tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus). This environmental injustice may leave low-income urban residents more vulnerable to mosquito-borne disease.
  
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