Science news

• Air quality: Challenge against government plan rejected

  05-07-2017 20:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The case was brought over cutting levels of nitrogen dioxide.
  
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• We need to talk about the future of sex robots, experts say

  05-07-2017 20:43 via cbc.ca
  
  Move over blow-up dolls, the sex robots are here.
  
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• Bringing nature into your backyard

  05-07-2017 19:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How urban gardens are connecting with nature to bring wildlife into the city.
  
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• Double-duty DNA plays a role in birth and death

  05-07-2017 18:00
  
  Coronary artery disease may be the price humans pay for improved fertility.
  
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• Trump administration plans to challenge climate science in series of debates

  05-07-2017 17:08 via cbc.ca
  
  The Trump administration will soon begin a review that will question the veracity of the climate change science used by President Barack Obama's administration as the basis for environmental regulations.
  
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• A quarter century ago, the qubit was born

  05-07-2017 17:00
  
  The invention of the qubit a quarter century ago enabled the quantum information revolution.
  
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• Democrat Tackles Climate Change Issues, Defying GOP Leadership

  05-07-2017 16:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Congressperson Eddie Bernice Johnson plans to hold a series of round tables on critical science issues, including ocean acidification and environmental justice
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• 50 years ago, a millionth of a degree above absolute zero seemed cold

  05-07-2017 13:00
  
  Today, scientists have reached temperatures less than a billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
  
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• Quantum Computers Compete for "Supremacy"

  05-07-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Two technologies may be on the verge of surpassing even the most powerful digital computers in a year or so, but key challenges remain unsolved
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• When temps rise, Japanese quail require a breeze

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) Tiny Japanese quail eggs are a small niche market in the United States, but they're a big business in Brazil where they are sold fresh in grocery stores in egg cartons that hold 30 of the small, speckled delicacies, and are a hard-boiled staple on restaurant salad bars. Recent research from the University of Illinois helps Brazilian producers understand the birds' behavior under wind and temperature variables a
  
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• What kind of Facebook user are you?

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Brigham Young University) Researchers from Brigham Young University asked people why they Facebook, then identified four categories of users.
  
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• Visualizing whole-body cancer metastasis at the single-cell level

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (RIKEN) Researchers at the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBic) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) have developed a method to visualize cancer metastasis in whole organs at the single-cell level. Published in Cell Reports, the study describes a new method that combines the generation of transparent mice with statistical analysis to create 3-D maps of cancer cells throughout the body and organs.
  
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• University of Toronto study shows our faces reveal whether we're rich or poor

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Toronto) A study by social psychologists at University of Toronto shows that people can reliably tell if someone is richer or poorer than average just by looking at a neutral face without any expression. This is due to visibility of the positions of muscles that become etched in the face over time as a result of repeated life experiences.
  
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• University of Illinois researchers combat VR eye strain with new display method

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois College of Engineering) Liang Gao, an assistant professor electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduate student Wei Cui have created a new optical mapping 3-D display that makes VR viewing more comfortable.
  
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• Transfer of atomic mass with a photon solves the momentum paradox of light

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Aalto University) A novel discovery solves the centennial momentum paradox of light. In a recent publication, Aalto University researchers show that in a transparent medium each photon is accompanied by an atomic mass density wave. The optical force of the photon sets the medium atoms in motion and makes them carry 92 percent of the total momentum of light, in the case of silicon.
  
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• Training can improve athletes' stereo vision

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (IOS Press) Stereo vision allows individuals to perceive depth differences in their surroundings. Important to pedestrians and drivers, for example, depth perception plays a key role in many sporting activities.
  
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• Tracking humans in 3-D with off-the-shelf webcams

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Saarland University) Many applications require that people and their movements are captured digitally in 3-D in real-time. Until now, this was possible only with expensive systems of several cameras, or by having people wear special suits. Computer scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science have developed a system that requires only a single video camera. It can even estimate the 3-D pose of a person acting in a pre-recorded video, for instance a YouTube video.
  
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• To treat or not to treat

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of California - Santa Barbara) It's a mark on your skin you've never noticed before. It's a spot with irregular borders, or a mole that seems to be changing. Maybe it's a wound that does not heal.
  
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• Three-dimensional chip combines computing and data storage

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Researchers at Stanford and MIT have used two complementary nanotechnologies to develop a 3-D computer chip that could enable new generation of energy-efficient electronics for data-intensive applications.
  
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• The surprising trend in extramarital sex in America

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Utah) Older Americans are cheating on their spouses more than their younger counterparts, with 20 percent of married Americans over age 55 reporting they've engaged in extramarital sex. Just 14 percent of those under age 55 say they've cheated.
  
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• The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group announces Allen Discovery Center at UW Medicine

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Allen Institute) The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group announced today the creation of an Allen Discovery Center for Cell Lineage Tracing at UW Medicine. The Allen Discovery Center will use newly developed technology to create global maps of development that reveal the relationships between the vast numbers of diverse cells that make up a single organism, with major impacts across developmental biology, neuroscience, cancer biology, regenerative medicine and other fields.
  
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• The misappropriation of the identities of famous people on Twitter

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Seville) The development of supposed self-image on the part of those who are parodied, attacks on the image of internet users and the threats to image by third parties are the most common strategies from users of these profiles,
  
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• The costs of coal storage and its impact on disadvantaged communities

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Carnegie Mellon University) While the negative health and environmental effects of mining and burning coal are well documented, simply transporting and storing coal can also adversely affect the health outcomes of individuals living near coal-fired power plants. New research explores the health and environmental costs of coal storage and transportation, finding that increases in the level of coal stockpiles held by US power plants increase local air pollution levels, which in turn increases the
  
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• The comeback kid -- black phosphorus and its new potential

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (American Chemical Society) When it was discovered over a century ago, black phosphorus was considered relatively useless. Over the past five years, however, the engineers and chemists have become intrigued by the material for its potential as an ultra-thin semiconductor, possibly ushering in a new age of flexible and smaller electronics. Now, one group reports in Nano Letters that some commonly held assumptions about black phosphorus are incorrect and that the material is exceptionally tunable.
  
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• Synthetic horns may save rhinos if they are not like the real thing

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Wake Forest University) To help stem the tide of rhino poaching, some biotech companies are seeking to develop and manufacture synthetic horns that are identical to the real thing. New research shows that, for conservation purposes, it may be beneficial to produce synthetic horns that are engineered to be undesirable but difficult for buyers to distinguish from wild horns to create uncertainty in the market and drive out wild horn suppliers through adverse selection.
  
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• Study: Handshaking viewed more positively by Westerners than by East Asians

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Westerners view handshaking more positively than do East Asians, researchers report in a new study. Western men also rate handshakes initiated by men and women differently, the study found.
  
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• Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, July 2017

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) ORNL-led team integrates Earth systems with human impact data for climate predictions with fewer uncertainties; ORNL to develop secure platform to analyze large health datasets for Dept. of Veterans Affairs; ORNL neutrons used to resolve debate over origins of metallic glass behavior; ORNL studies 3-D printing materials that crosslink without heat; New web-based calculator by ORNL shows energy-savings potential of airtight buildings; ORNL combines 3-D printing
  
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• Stand Up To Cancer and PBS LearningMedia program student searched for answers at TGen

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (The Translational Genomics Research Institute) Teleia Taumanu, a senior at Mesa's Red Mountain High School, is doing something fishy this summer at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).As part of the nationwide 2017 Emperor Science Award program, an initiative designed to encourage high school students to explore careers in science, Teleia will work as a summer intern under the guidance of TGen Professor Dr. Haiyong Han, advancing the study of pancreatic cancer by caring for the
  
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• Spinning around: A room temperature field-effect transistor using graphene's electron spin

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Graphene Flagship) Graphene Flagship researchers based at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden have published in Nature Communications a research paper showing a graphene-based spin field-effect transistor operating at room temperature. Using the spin of the electrons in graphene and other layered material heterostructures the researchers have produced working devices as a step towards integrating spintronic logic and memory devices.
  
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• Smarter control for border patrol

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Arizona College of Engineering) As the United States expands surveillance technologies on it southern border with Mexico, operating them effectively grows more challenging. Systems and industrial engineers at the University of Arizona are building a framework for border surveillance that uses artificial intelligence, based on realistic computer simulations, to integrate data from different sources and respond in real time.
  
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• 'Smart' transformers could make reliable smart grid a reality

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (North Carolina State University) A new study using complex computational models finds that smart solid-state transformers could be used to make a stable, reliable 'smart grid' -- allowing the power distribution system to route renewable energy from homes and businesses into the power grid.
  
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• Sex now needs to be included as a biological variable in NIH-funded research, but how?

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) instituted a policy that now expects sex to be considered as a variable, much like a subject's age or weight, in the biomedical research it funds, but researchers appear unclear what this should entail.
  
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• Self-driving cars may soon be able to make moral and ethical decisions as humans do

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Frontiers) A ground-breaking new study challenges the assumption that moral decisions are strongly context dependent and cannot be modeled or described algorithmically, finding that human behavior in dilemma situations can be modeled by a simple value-of-life-based model. The research suggests that human moral behavior can be well-described by algorithms and used by machines to manage moral dilemmas on the road.
  
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• Saving the paintbrush lily from extinction

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Stellenbosch University) Since the 1990s, the Duthie Reserve in Stellenbosch, South Africa, is home to the only remaining viable population of Haemanthus pumilio in the world. A major project is now underway to conserve the remaining 60 individuals.
  
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• Researchers make significant progress in engineering digestive system tissues

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center) Researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have reached important milestones in their quest to engineer replacement tissue in the lab to treat digestive system conditions -- from infants born with too-short bowels to adults with inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, or fecal incontinence.
  
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• Remote Amazonian cities more vulnerable to climate change

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Lancaster University) Roadless cities have been found to be more vulnerable to the effects of flooding, because they tend to be less-developed and have inadequate sanitation, exposing inhabitants to environmental pollution and contaminated water.
  
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• Recreating interstellar ions with lasers

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Michigan State University) Trihydrogen, or H3+, has been called the molecule that made the universe, where it plays a greater role in astrochemistry than any other molecule. While H3+ is astronomically abundant, no scientist understood the mechanisms that form it from organic molecules.
  
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• Re-making planets after star-death

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Royal Astronomical Society) Astronomers Dr. Jane Greaves, of the University of Cardiff, and Dr. Wayne Holland, of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, may have found an answer to the 25-year-old mystery of how planets form in the aftermath of a supernova explosion. The two researchers will present their work on Thursday, July 6, at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull, and in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  
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• Quantum dots make the leap from TVs to antibacterial eye drops

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (American Chemical Society) Quantum dots are transforming electronic displays on TVs and tablets. But now, one group reports in ACS Nano that these tiny structures may someday provide relief for eye infections resulting from contact lens wear, trauma or some types of surgeries.
  
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• PolyU develops sprayable sensing network technology for structural health monitoring

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University ) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University research team developed a novel breed of nanocomposites-inspired sensors which can be sprayed directly on flat or curved engineering structural surfaces, such as train tracks and airplane structures. The sprayed sensors can be networked, to render rich real-time information on the health status of the structure under monitoring.
  
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• People with tic disorders at increased suicide risk

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Elsevier) People with Tourette's disorder or chronic tic disorder are over four times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry. Dr. David Mataix-Cols of Karolinska Institute, Sweden, led the study of the largest group of patients with tic disorders in the world.
  
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• Penn interactive map shows community traits built from more than 37 billion tweets

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Pennsylvania) Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's World Well-Being Project sought a simple way to capture, explore and share community differences on a large scale. Their end goal: to provide individuals with valuable insights about where they live and offer comparisons to other communities. The result is the Well-Being Map, an interactive, freely available tool based on the statistical language analysis of more than 37 billion publicly shared, geo-tagged tweets and
  
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• One-step protein purification achieves high yields, purity and activity

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Alabama at Birmingham) A novel method to improve the high-yield, high-purity, high-activity purification of complex proteins by 10- to 500-fold has been developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.The new method offers crucial advantages to both researchers and the pharmaceutical industry, and is potentially the most efficient and universal tool for high-throughput studies of many significant biological systems and may aid large-scale production of therapeutic proteins.
  
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• Next generation quantum telecommunications

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Lancaster University) A Lancaster physicist is working with industrial partners to develop quantum technologies which will revolutionize telecommunications.Future quantum and classical optical communication technology requires the mass production of very low cost components which can be operated at room temperature and at telecoms wavelengths. A patent is pending on the technologies which will enable mobile devices with unprecedented speed, uncrackable security and lower cost.
  
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• New Mexico firm uses motion of the ocean to bring fresh water to coastal communities

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (DOE/Sandia National Laboratories) Working with scientists at Sandia National Laboratories through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance program, a Santa Fe company has produced a pump system that uses wave power to send pressurized seawater onto shore where it is desalinated without the use of external energy.
  
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• Neutrons detect elusive Higgs amplitude mode in quantum material

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) A team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has used sophisticated neutron scattering techniques to detect an elusive quantum state known as the Higgs amplitude mode in a two-dimensional material.
  
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• 'Near-zero-power' temperature sensor could make wearables, smart devices less power-hungry

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of California - San Diego) Electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a temperature sensor that runs on only 113 picowatts of power -- 628 times lower power than the state of the art and about 10 billion times smaller than a watt. This near-zero-power temperature sensor could extend the battery life of wearable or implantable devices that monitor body temperature, smart home monitoring systems, Internet of Things devices and environmental monitoring
  
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• Navy's top leader to speak at Naval Future Force S&T Expo

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (Office of Naval Research) Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, and Gen. Paul Selva, vice chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be among the keynote speakers at the Office of Naval Research's (ONR) biennial 2017 Naval Future Force Science and Technology (S&T) Expo.
  
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• NASA's Aqua Satellite sees Extra-Tropical Cyclone Nanmadol's remnants east of Japan

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean early on July 5 and captured an image of the remnants of Tropical Depression Nanmadol.
  
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• Moms, kids and TV: A complicated relationship that's not all bad

  05-07-2017 06:00
  
  (University of Michigan) Watching television sometimes gets a bad rap -- especially where children and screen time are concerned -- but not all of it's deserved.
  
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