Science news

• Summer drought puts Alberta's westslope cutthroat trout 'in crisis,' wildlife groups warn

  31-08-2017 22:14 via cbc.ca
  Hot, dry weather and low water flows have left Alberta's westslope cutthroat trout on the brink of extinction, according to local wildlife groups.
  
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• Astronomers detect 15 signals from mysterious object in distant galaxy

  31-08-2017 21:52 via cbc.ca
  While looking for signs of intelligent life, astronomers have detected 15 fast radio bursts from a distant galaxy.
  
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• MacEwan University defrauded of $11.8M in online phishing scam

  31-08-2017 21:47 via cbc.ca
  An Edmonton university lost $11.8 million after staff failed to call one of its vendors to verify whether emails requesting a change in banking information were legitimate.
  
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• Measuring the cost of quality measurement

  31-08-2017 21:12
  Less than 2 decades after publication of the National Academy of Medicine's (formerly the Institute of Medicine) Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, quality measurement has become routine and widespread throughout the US health care system.
  
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• Insect eyes inspire new solar cell design

  31-08-2017 21:12
  Packing tiny solar cells together, like micro-lenses in the compound eye of an insect, could help scientists overcome a major roadblock to the development of perovskite photovoltaics.
  
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• Discovery may be key to obesity, Diabetes Rx

  31-08-2017 21:12
  Research has demonstrated the potential of a protein to treat or prevent metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes.
  
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• Just how dangerous are those chemicals burning in Texas?

  31-08-2017 21:10 via cbc.ca
  A police deputy was sent to hospital after inhaling fumes from an explosion, fire and smoke at a flooded chemical plant outside Texas. Here’s what we know about the chemicals burning there.
  
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• Forget wolf culls: researcher says more moose and deer hunting would help B.C. caribou

  31-08-2017 20:33 via cbc.ca
  A University of Alberta researcher says culling wolves is a "Band-Aid," and taking away the wolves' other prey is a better way to protect caribou.
  
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• Clues to why leaves come in many sizes

  31-08-2017 20:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists are closer to solving one of the big puzzles of the plant world - why leaf size matters.
  
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• Tiny quantum storage device fits on a chip

  31-08-2017 20:00
  
  Photon information processing on nanoscale could enable future communication networks.
  
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• The intestinal microbiota regulates body composition through NFIL3 and the circadian clock

  31-08-2017 19:24
  The intestinal microbiota has been identified as an environmental factor that markedly affects energy storage and body-fat accumulation in mammals, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that the microbiota regulates body composition through the circadian transcription factor NFIL3. Nfil3 transcription oscillates diurnally in intestinal epithelial cells, and the amplitude of the circadian oscillation is controlled by the microbiota through group 3 innate lymphoid cells, STAT3
  
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• Structure of the complete elongation complex of RNA polymerase II with basal factors

  31-08-2017 19:24
  In the early stage of transcription, eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) exchanges initiation factors with elongation factors to form an elongation complex for processive transcription. Here we report the structure of the Pol II elongation complex bound with the basal elongation factors Spt4/5, Elf1, and TFIIS. Spt4/5 (the Spt4/Spt5 complex) and Elf1 modify a wide area of the Pol II surface. Elf1 bridges the Pol II central cleft, completing a "DNA entry tunnel" for downstream DNA. Spt4 and the
  
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• Structural basis of the redox switches in the NAD+-reducing soluble [NiFe]-hydrogenase

  31-08-2017 19:24
  NAD+ (oxidized form of NAD:nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)–reducing soluble [NiFe]-hydrogenase (SH) is phylogenetically related to NADH (reduced form of NAD+):quinone oxidoreductase (complex I), but the geometrical arrangements of the subunits and Fe–S clusters are unclear. Here, we describe the crystal structures of SH in the oxidized and reduced states. The cluster arrangement is similar to that of complex I, but the subunits orientation is not, which supports the hypothesis tha
  
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• Response to Comment on "Active sites for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol on Cu/ZnO catalysts"

  31-08-2017 19:24
  In their Comment on the our recent Report, Nakamura et al. argue that our x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis was affected by the presence of formate species on the catalyst surface. This argument is not valid because the reactant gases were evacuated at temperatures from 525 to 575 kelvin, conditions under which formate is not stable on the catalyst surface. An analysis of the XPS results obtained after exposing zinc oxide/copper (111) [ZnO/Cu(111)] surfaces to hydrogen (H2) and mix
  
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• Island biogeography: Taking the long view of natures laboratories

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Islands provide classic model biological systems. We review how growing appreciation of geoenvironmental dynamics of marine islands has led to advances in island biogeographic theory accommodating both evolutionary and ecological phenomena. Recognition of distinct island geodynamics permits general models to be developed and modified to account for patterns of diversity, diversification, lineage development, and trait evolution within and across island archipelagos. Emergent patterns of diversit
  
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• Hydrogenation of fluoroarenes: Direct access to all-cis-(multi)fluorinated cycloalkanes

  31-08-2017 19:24
  All-cis-multifluorinated cycloalkanes exhibit intriguing electronic properties. In particular, they display extremely high dipole moments perpendicular to the aliphatic ring, making them highly desired motifs in material science. Very few such motifs have been prepared, as their syntheses require multistep sequences from diastereoselectively prefunctionalized precursors. Herein we report a synthetic strategy to access these valuable materials via the rhodium–cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (C
  
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• Global climatic drivers of leaf size

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Leaf size varies by over a 100,000-fold among species worldwide. Although 19th-century plant geographers noted that the wet tropics harbor plants with exceptionally large leaves, the latitudinal gradient of leaf size has not been well quantified nor the key climatic drivers convincingly identified. Here, we characterize worldwide patterns in leaf size. Large-leaved species predominate in wet, hot, sunny environments; small-leaved species typify hot, sunny environments only in arid conditions; sm
  
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• Glia relay differentiation cues to coordinate neuronal development in Drosophila

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Neuronal birth and specification must be coordinated across the developing brain to generate the neurons that constitute neural circuits. We used the Drosophila visual system to investigate how development is coordinated to establish retinotopy, a feature of all visual systems. Photoreceptors achieve retinotopy by inducing their target field in the optic lobe, the lamina neurons, with a secreted differentiation cue, epidermal growth factor (EGF). We find that communication between photoreceptors
  
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• Fertile offspring from sterile sex chromosome trisomic mice

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Having the correct number of chromosomes is vital for normal development and health. Sex chromosome trisomy affects 0.1% of the human population and is associated with infertility. We show that during reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), fibroblasts from sterile trisomic XXY and XYY mice lose the extra sex chromosome through a phenomenon we term trisomy-biased chromosome loss (TCL). Resulting euploid XY iPSCs can be differentiated into the male germ cell lineage and functiona
  
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• Dynamic multinuclear sites formed by mobilized copper ions in NOx selective catalytic reduction

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Copper ions exchanged into zeolites are active for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitrogen oxides (NOx) with ammonia (NH3), but the low-temperature rate dependence on copper (Cu) volumetric density is inconsistent with reaction at single sites. We combine steady-state and transient kinetic measurements, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations to demonstrate that under reaction conditions, mobilized Cu ions can travel through zeolite windows and form transient
  
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• Comment on "Active sites for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol on Cu/ZnO catalysts"

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Kattel et al. (Reports, 24 March 2017, p. 1296) report that a zinc on copper (Zn/Cu) surface undergoes oxidation to zinc oxide/copper (ZnO/Cu) during carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation to methanol and conclude that the Cu-ZnO interface is the active site for methanol synthesis. Similar experiments conducted two decades ago by Fujitani and Nakamura et al. demonstrated that Zn is attached to formate rather than being fully oxidized.
  
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• {beta}2-Adrenoreceptor is a regulator of the {alpha}-synuclein gene driving risk of Parkinsons disease

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Copy number mutations implicate excess production of α-synuclein as a possibly causative factor in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Using an unbiased screen targeting endogenous gene expression, we discovered that the β2-adrenoreceptor (β2AR) is a regulator of the α-synuclein gene (SNCA). β2AR ligands modulate SNCA transcription through histone 3 lysine 27 acetylation of its promoter and enhancers. Over 11 years of follow-up in 4 million Norwegians, the β2AR agonis
  
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• An algal photoenzyme converts fatty acids to hydrocarbons

  31-08-2017 19:24
  Although many organisms capture or respond to sunlight, few enzymes are known to be driven by light. Among these are DNA photolyases and the photosynthetic reaction centers. Here, we show that the microalga Chlorella variabilis NC64A harbors a photoenzyme that acts in lipid metabolism. This enzyme belongs to an algae-specific clade of the glucose-methanol-choline oxidoreductase family and catalyzes the decarboxylation of free fatty acids to n-alkanes or -alkenes in response to blue light. Crysta
  
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• A microtubule-organizing center directing intracellular transport in the early mouse embryo

  31-08-2017 19:24
  The centrosome is the primary microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) of most animal cells; however, this organelle is absent during early mammalian development. Therefore, the mechanism by which the mammalian embryo organizes its microtubules (MTs) is unclear. We visualize MT bridges connecting pairs of cells and show that the cytokinetic bridge does not undergo stereotypical abscission after cell division. Instead, it serves as scaffold for the accumulation of the MT minus-end–stabilizing p
  
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• Scientists discover 200-million-year-old embryo in ichthyosaur fossil

  31-08-2017 18:39 via cbc.ca
  A giant water-dwelling reptile that roamed the oceans 200 million years ago was discovered to have been pregnant at the time of its death. Researchers hope this will help shed light on the ancient species.
  
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• India's eighth navigation satellite implodes on take off

  31-08-2017 17:38
  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's eighth navigation satellite imploded shortly after lift off on Thursday, state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
  
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• U.S. couple suing Amazon alleging fake eclipse glasses damaged their vision

  31-08-2017 17:02 via cbc.ca
  A couple from South Carolina have launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against Amazon for selling counterfeit eclipse-viewing glasses they allege resulted in permanent vision damage.
  
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• Everything you wanted to know about those horrifying fire ant rafts

  31-08-2017 16:36 via cbc.ca
  No doubt you've seen the horrifying images of rafts of thousands of fire ants floating through the floodwaters left by Tropical Storm Harvey. Here's everything you wanted to know about them.
  
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• Fiery re-creations show how Neandertals could have easily made tar

  31-08-2017 15:00
  
  Neandertals could have made tar with simple methods and materials on hand, new experiments show.
  
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• Flood capital

  31-08-2017 14:02 via bbc.co.uk
  The reasons why the fourth-largest city in the US has become its flood capital.
  
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• Hyperloop pod breaks own high-speed record

  31-08-2017 13:58 via bbc.co.uk
  More tests next month might mean the pods for the science-fictional transport system hit 500 km/h
  
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• When It Comes to Evolution, Microbes Have to Pick and Choose

  31-08-2017 13:00 via rss.sciam.com
  Bacteria face trade-offs when optimizing traits involved in antibiotic resistance
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Tabby’s star is probably just dusty, and still not an alien megastructure

  31-08-2017 13:00
  
  New looks at older data on the weirdly flickering Tabby’s star muddy possible explanations — but it’s still probably not aliens.
  
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• Amazon study discovers 381 new species in two-year period

  31-08-2017 12:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Conservation charity WWF warns that the species were found in areas at risk from human activity.
  
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• Science funding: Will 'picking winners' work?

  31-08-2017 11:09 via bbc.co.uk
  Why has the government returned to an industrial strategy abandoned in the 1980s?
  
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• From fraud to murder, why forensics firms are selling software to smart home sleuths

  31-08-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  Sensing a shift in where digital evidence can hide, forensics examiners are looking beyond smartphones and laptops to a new crop of internet-connected sensors.
  
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• Tufts University water systems engineer named a 2017 American Geophysical Union Fellow

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Tufts University) Richard M. Vogel, professor emeritus and research professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering, has been elected a 2017 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), in recognition of his visionary research on water resource systems engineering.
  
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• Technique could aid mass production of biodegradable plastic

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Introducing a simple step to the production of plant-derived, biodegradable plastic could improve its properties while overcoming obstacles to manufacturing it commercially, says new research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Jiangnan University.
  
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• Study reveals ways collegiate sports venues can achieve 'zero waste'

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (University of Missouri-Columbia) Researchers at the University of Missouri recently published a study analyzing waste and recyclables during Mizzou's 2014 home football season. By implementing several recommendations the team developed, such as offering better recycling receptacles and better sorting options for waste, sporting venues could be well on their way to achieving environmental benefits that exceed the standards for 'zero-waste' operations.
  
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• Study identifies new genetic risk factor for developing autism spectrum disorder

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Oregon Health & Science University) An international team led by researchers at OHSU in Portland, Oregon has applied a new systematic analysis to a cohort of 2,300 families who have a single child affected with autism. The study focused on identifying and characterizing low-lying genetic mutations that may have been missed in previous research, given these mutations are only present in a fraction of the bulk DNA of an individual.
  
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• Scientists propose method to improve microgrid stability and reliability

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Chinese Association of Automation) The power grid has a large reserve of energy to continue in an active state, while a microgrid quickly spends its reserve. The microgrid's renewable reserve, however, makes the microgrid system an attractive power prospect worth pursuing, and a collaborative team of researchers have proposed a way to better control the easily spent microgrids.
  
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• Satellite eyes Tropical Storm Irma swirling in eastern Atlantic

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Irma in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and captured a visible image of the storm on the move.
  
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• Protein transport channel offers new target for thwarting pathogen

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Oregon State University) A bacterium that attacks people suffering from chronic lung disease and compromised immune systems could be halted by disrupting the distribution channels the organism uses to access the nutrient-rich cytoplasm of its host cell.
  
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• Noise reduction: Scientists clear the chatter of buck converters

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Chinese Association of Automation) Buck converters, also known as step down converters, are chatty Cathys. The systems put out less power than they receive, and the tracking signals in the output can get stuck -- the result is a small but harmful frequency fluctuation. A research team composed of scientists from Golestan University, Concordia University, and Delft University of Technology has proposed a way to cut the chatter. The researchers published their study in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automat
  
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• New findings on brain functional connectivity may lend insights into mental disorders

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Wolters Kluwer Health) Ongoing advances in understanding the functional connections within the brain are producing exciting insights into how the brain circuits function together to support human behavior -- and may lead to new discoveries in the development and treatment of psychiatric disorders, according to a review and update in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
  
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• New boarding procedures, smaller cabin size may limit infection on planes

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (Florida State University) During major epidemics, cramped airplane cabins are fertile ground for the spread of infection, but new research suggests changing routine boarding protocols could be a key to reducing rampant transmission of disease.
  
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• NASA sees Typhoon Sanvu's large eye

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Typhoon Sanvu developed an eye that was about 28 nautical-miles wide when NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead and captured an image.
  
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• NASA sees powerful thunderstorms in Tropical Storm Lidia's center

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The Eastern Pacific Ocean's potential tropical cyclone has developed into Tropical Storm Lidia. NASA's Aqua satellite observed some very high, towering thunderstorms in two areas of the storm and because of its close proximity to land, warnings are already in effect for areas in Mexico.
  
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• NASA scientists seek to improve sea ice predictions

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is in a downward spiral, with summer minimum extents about 40 percent smaller than in the 1980s. But predicting how the sea ice is going to behave in a particular year is tricky: There are still many unknowns about the conditions of the sea ice cover, to say nothing of the difficulties of forecasting weather and ocean behavior over seasonal timescales.
  
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• MIT Portugal PhD graduate researcher developed a chatbot that already is a reference in healthcare

  31-08-2017 06:00
  (MIT Portugal Program) Florence is an online personal health assistant that helps users to manage their health & wellness care.This 'virtual friend' has evolved from being a simple symptom checker to become focused on two main features with high demand: health tracking and med & pill reminding, powered by an intelligent automated messaging system.
  
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