Science news

• Borrowed genes give mums the blues

  26-07-2017 21:45
  
  Scientists have genetically modified chrysanthemums to be “true blue” for the first time.
  
  Read more

• Diesel and petrol car ban: Clean air strategy 'not enough'

  26-07-2017 20:55 via bbc.co.uk
  The clean air strategy should include a scrappage scheme and clean air zones, campaigners say.
  
  Read more

• 'This guy thinks he is a bald eagle': young hawk defies odds in Sidney, B.C.

  26-07-2017 19:46 via cbc.ca
  A young red-tailed hawk that has been raised by a pair of bald eagles in a Sidney, B.C., nest continues to defy the odds.
  
  Read more

• Balloons will broadcast the 2017 solar eclipse live from on high

  26-07-2017 19:30
  
  Astrophysicist Angela Des Jardins is coordinating the first-ever livestream of a solar eclipse filmed from balloons.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Expert eavesdroppers occasionally catch a break

  26-07-2017 19:15
  Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses the many ways we watch, listen and learn about science.
  
  Read more

• Readers question hominid family tree

  26-07-2017 19:04
  Readers sent feedback on hominid origins, fast cameras, slimy sea creatures and more.
  
  Read more

• Perovskites power up the solar industry

  26-07-2017 18:00
  
  Perovskites are the latest hot materials in solar energy production.
  
  Read more

• Can we create life from scratch? Scientists start with yeast

  26-07-2017 17:22 via cbc.ca
  The research may reveal basic, hidden rules that govern the structure and functioning of genomes. But it could also open the door to life with new and useful characteristics.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• More hints of Martian hot springs may hold promise for Mars 2020 mission

  26-07-2017 17:10
  
  An analysis of ridges in a crater of Margaritifer Terra on Mars offers evidence of ancient hot springs and also hints at the potential for finding signs of life.
  
  Read more

• 50 employees at Wisconsin company agree to get optional microchip implants

  26-07-2017 16:35 via cbc.ca
  A Wisconsin vending machine company is offering its employees a chance to have a microchip implanted in their hands that they could use to buy snacks, log in to computers or use the copy machine.
  
  Read more

• Reaching for the Stars, Breakthrough Sends Smallest-Ever Satellites into Orbit

  26-07-2017 16:00 via rss.sciam.com
  Despite technical glitches and regulatory hurdles, nanosatellite swarms could someday be the cornerstone for revolutionary interplanetary or even interstellar space-science missions
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Vegan advert claiming 'Humane milk is a myth' cleared by ASA

  26-07-2017 15:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Complaints from the dairy industry are dismissed as vegan group's advert is given the green light.
  
  Read more

• Learning from Nature: Moth Eyes Inspire Nonreflective Screen Coating

  26-07-2017 13:30 via rss.sciam.com
  A new technique could make digital devices easier to read in bright sunlight 
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Passers-by rescue dolphin on Weymouth beach

  26-07-2017 13:22 via bbc.co.uk
  People wade into the water to help save a dolphin which was stranded close to the shore
  
  Read more

• Quantum tunneling takes time, new study shows

  26-07-2017 13:00
  
  A new measurement disfavors the idea that electrons can escape atoms instantaneously.
  
  Read more

• With new ventures to show, MIT Hacking Medicine shares its model for success

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Cell Press) Since 2010, MIT Hacking Medicine has grown from a one-time event to a global brand, with more than 80 healthcare hackathons being hosted this year, from Cambridge, Mass., to Quito, Ecuador. At least 15 groups have started companies and raised more than $100 million in venture funding after meeting at a Hacking Medicine event. In a commentary published July 26 in Cell Systems, the organizers describe how their model stands apart from typical hackathons.
  
  Read more

• Using powerful Dark Energy Camera, scientists reach the cosmic dawn

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Arizona State University) Arizona State University astronomers Sangeeta Malhotra and James Rhoads, working with international teams in Chile and China, have discovered 23 young galaxies, seen as they were 800 million years after the Big Bang. The results from this sample have been recently published in the Astrophysical Journal.
  
  Read more

• Understanding cell segregation mechanisms which help prevent cancer spread

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (The Francis Crick Institute) Scientists have uncovered how cells are kept in the right place as the body develops, which may shed light on what causes invasive cancer cells to migrate.
  
  Read more

• UMass Amherst astronomer receives Fulbright Scholar Award for studies in South Africa

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) Beginning in September, Katz will embark upon a series of three visits lasting a few months each to work with colleagues at the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and the South African Astronomical Observatory to create computer simulations modeling galaxy formation. They will also build a large new array of radio telescopes to detect hydrogen in distant galaxies. The Fulbright award will pay for his travel and local support in Ca
  
  Read more

• Triple-layer catalyst does double duty

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Rice University) A single, robust catalyst that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen has been developed with Earth-abundant materials that approach the efficiency of more expensive platinum, according to Rice and University of Houston scientists.
  
  Read more

• Trees can make or break city weather

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (University of British Columbia) Even a single urban tree can help moderate wind speeds and keep pedestrians comfortable as they walk down the street, according to a new University of British Columbia study that also found losing a single tree can increase wind pressure on nearby buildings and drive up heating costs.
  
  Read more

• Traces of adaptation and cultural diversification found among early North American stone tools

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Smithsonian) Using new 3-D methods to analyze stone projectile points crafted by North America's earliest human inhabitants, Smithsonian scientists have found that these tools show evidence of a shift toward more experimentation about 12,500 years ago, following hundreds of years of consistent stone-tool production. The findings provide clues into changes in social interactions during a time when people are thought to have been spreading into new parts of North America.
  
  Read more

• This week from AGU: Researchers uncover 200-year-old sunspot drawings in Maine

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (American Geophysical Union) This week from AGU is a compilation of recent publications featuring research published in an AGU journal.
  
  Read more

• The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2017 Annual Meeting

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (American Institute of Biological Sciences) For this episode of BioScience Talks, we chatted with presenters and personnel from SICB's 2017 annual meeting, which was held earlier this year in New Orleans.
  
  Read more

• Team receives nearly $11 million COBRE grant to establish neuroscience research center

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Kansas State University) The National Institutes of Health is awarding a Kansas State University-led team of psychological sciences researchers with a prestigious five-year, $10.6 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, grant.
  
  Read more

• Talking to yourself in the third person can help you control emotions

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Michigan State University) The simple act of silently talking to yourself in the third person during stressful times may help you control emotions without any additional mental effort than what you would use for first-person self-talk -- the way people normally talk to themselves.  
  
  Read more

• Taking cue from nature, Disney Research designs machines that bend

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Disney Research) Replacing rigid joints and linkages with mechanisms that bend offers a number of potential advantages, even as it makes designing devices more difficult. A computational design tool developed by Disney Research promises to make this transition from rigid to compliant mechanisms easier.
  
  Read more

• Study calls for review into census capture of 'mixed' populations

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Taylor & Francis Group) Current methods of capturing mixed race/ethnicity populations in global censuses are unreliable, and must be reviewed to ensure increasingly diverse populations are effectively reported, a study published today in Ethnic and Racial Studies suggests.
  
  Read more

• Studies help understand why some people are so sure they're right

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Case Western Reserve University) Two studies examine the personality characteristics that drive dogmatism in the religious and nonreligious.In both groups, higher critical reasoning skills were associated with lower levels of dogmatism. But these two groups diverge in how moral concern influences their dogmatic thinking.
  
  Read more

• Stanford researchers engineer 3-D hydrogels for tissue-specific cartilage repair

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Unlike the one-size-fits-all, homogeneous approach to tissue engineering for cartilage replacement, a new study reports the ability to encapsulate cartilage-forming chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells in 3-D hydrogels within a stiffness gradient.
  
  Read more

• Somersaulting simulation for jumping bots

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Association for Computing Machinery) In recent years engineers have been developing new technologies to enable robots and humans to move faster and jump higher. Soft, elastic materials store energy in these devices, which, if released carefully, enable elegant dynamic motions. A pair of new computational methods developed by a team of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Toronto and Adobe Research takes first steps towards automating the design of the dyna
  
  Read more

• Scientists propose new approach to hitting the gym

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (James Cook University) James Cook University sports scientists are warning that fatigue from weight training can carry over to endurance training and the two activities must be better coordinated to maximise athletes' performance.
  
  Read more

• Satellite sees Tropical Depression Greg as a ghostly swirl of clouds

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Depression Greg appears as a ghostly swirl of low clouds on satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite on July 27.
  
  Read more

• Risk for bipolar disorder associated with faster aging

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (King's College London) New King's College London research suggests that people with a family history of bipolar disorder may 'age' more rapidly than those without a history of the disease.
  
  Read more

• Rise in e-cigarettes linked to rise in smokers quitting, say researchers

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (BMJ) The recent rise in e-cigarette use among US adult smokers is associated with a significant increase in smoking cessation, finds a study published in The BMJ.
  
  Read more

• Rice U. scientists map ways forward for lithium-ion batteries for extreme environments

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Rice University) Rice University materials scientists map the possibilities to improve commercial lithium-ion batteries expected to operate in extreme hot or cold.
  
  Read more

• Researchers develop model to predict and prevent power outages using big data

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Texas A&M University) High-speed winds during a thunderstorm may cause trees around an electric grid to crash into the distribution system feeders causing an outage in that area. Currently, most utility companies diminish such accidents by scheduling regular tree-trimming operations. This effort is costly and is based on a rotational approach to different service areas, which may take months and sometimes years before all trees are trimmed.
  
  Read more

• Researchers develop DNA sunscreen that gets better the longer you wear it

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Binghamton University) Why use regular sunscreen when you can apply a DNA film to your skin? Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a coating made out of DNA that gets better at protecting skin from ultraviolet light the more you expose it to the sun, and it also keeps your skin hydrated.
  
  Read more

• Quantifying lower limb muscle weakness in Osteogenesis Imperfecta type IV

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (International Osteoporosis Foundation) To date, muscle function, and in particular that of the lower extremity, in OI type IV has not been investigated systematically. This study now assesses upper and lower extremity muscle function finding that lower limb weakness may contribute to limitations in mobility in people with OI Type IV despite multidisciplinary treatment.
  
  Read more

• Penn Medicine neurosurgeon named alpha Omega Alpha Fellow in Leadership

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) Timothy H. Lucas, II, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Translational Neuromodulation Lab in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2017 Fellow in Leadership Award by Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society.
  
  Read more

• Osaka solar scientists rough up silicon panels to boost light capture

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Osaka University) Osaka University scientists enhance conversion efficiency of crystalline Si solar cells by effectively preventing reflection loss, passivating a submicron silicon structure, and adding a rough nanoscale surface texture using simple and inexpensive processes.
  
  Read more

• Novel thermal ablation system for transdermal drug delivery

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Kumamoto University) The size of protein-based drug molecules prevents their absorption into the body when taken orally making injection (intramuscularly, subcutaneously, intravenously, etc.) the only effective delivery method. Research into transdermal drug delivery systems to make taking these drugs easier and cheaper has lead Japanese researchers to develop a new transdermal thermal abrasion system. It uses near-infrared light to irradiate gold nanorods in a gel skin patch to increase skin p
  
  Read more

• New grant supports comprehensive research on traumatic brain injury

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Brown University) With a better understanding how traumatic brain injuries occur, a Brown-led research team hopes to develop new standards for head protection and next-generation helmets.
  
  Read more

• New global aging index gauges health and wellbeing of aging populations

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health) Researchers have developed a new barometer that estimates how countries are adapting to the dramatic increases in the number and proportion of older persons. The Index is composed of specific measures across five social and economic Indicators that reflect the status and wellbeing of older persons in a country and which can be followed over time and used to compare across nations.
  
  Read more

• New 3-D technique uses water and robotics to reconstruct complex objects

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) 'Using a robotic arm to immerse an object on an axis at various angles, and measuring the volume displacement of each dip, we combine each sequence and create a volumetric shape representation of an object,' says Professor Andrei Scharf, of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Computer Science.
  
  Read more

• New 10-MW offshore wind generator prototype

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (Elhuyar Fundazioa) Tecnalia has led a European consortium to develop a novel, 10-MW wind generator that is light and reliable and based on superconducting materials.
  
  Read more

• NASA's webbcam shows Webb telescope chilling in Chamber A

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The temperature of Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston is steadily dropping, creating a frigid environment for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope that is in stark contrast to the heat of the city.
  
  Read more

• NASA's Terra Satellite catches the end of Tropical Depression Kulap

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Depression Kulap as the storm was winding down in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Strong wind shear was affecting the storm as a result of nearby Typhoon Noru.
  
  Read more

• NASA watching Typhoon Noru head west in Northwestern Pacific

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's Aqua satellite provided a near-infrared look at Typhoon Noru as it continued its western track at sea, far to the southeast of Japan.
  
  Read more

• NASA sees newly formed Tropical Storm Nesat near Philippines

  26-07-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Storm Nesat formed early on July 26 just east of the Philippines and NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead gathering temperature data to determine the location of the most powerful storms. Imagery showed strong storms from Nesat's western side were affecting the central Philippines.
  
  Read more

Follow @ScienceUKnews on Twitter!