Science news

• Researchers say it's time to crack open AI 'black boxes' and look for the biases inside

  18-10-2017 22:57 via cbc.ca
  As algorithms make more critical decisions affecting our lives, it has become more difficult to understand and challenge how those decisions are made, a new report says.
  
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• Watch a human paraglide through a starling-filled sky

  18-10-2017 21:41 via cbc.ca
  Spanish paraglider Horacio Llorens flies with the 'Black Sun' - a biannual gathering of up to a million starlings that swoop together through the skies of Denmark.
  
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• Scientists Zero In on a New Target for Obesity

  18-10-2017 20:00 via rss.sciam.com
  A compound that helps rodents and monkeys slim down could offer a promising approach for human therapies
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• Animal study reveals how a fever early in pregnancy can cause birth defects

  18-10-2017 20:00
  
  Using chicken embryos, study shows that heat itself, not an infectious agent, is the driving factor behind certain heart and facial birth defects.
  
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• The newest AlphaGo mastered the game with no human input

  18-10-2017 19:00
  
  AlphaGo Zero is the first AI system of its kind to learn the game just by playing against itself.
  
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• AI versus AI: Self-Taught AlphaGo Zero Vanquishes Its Predecessor

  18-10-2017 19:00 via rss.sciam.com
  DeepMind’s Go game-playing AI—which dominated its human competition—just got better
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• Conspiring with engineers helps make science great

  18-10-2017 18:30
  Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says the passion to acquire knowledge and apply it lives in both engineers and scientists.
  
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• Readers question photons colliding, black sea snakes and more

  18-10-2017 18:15
  Readers had questions about brain flexibility, black sea snakes and photon collisions.
  
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• Being a vampire can be brutal. Here’s how bloodsuckers get by.

  18-10-2017 18:00
  
  Blood-sucking animals have specialized physiology and other tools to live on a diet rich in protein and lacking in some nutrients.
  
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• U.S. Democrats slam Arctic drilling plan as 'polar payout' to Big Oil

  18-10-2017 16:56 via cbc.ca
  Democrats and environmental groups denounced a Republican plan to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying it would defile a crown jewel of U.S. wilderness to promote oil exports to China and other nations.
  
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• Twitter vows to crack down on nude photos tweeted without consent

  18-10-2017 14:40 via cbc.ca
  Twitter says it's making policy changes to crack down on sexual harassment, including 'creep shots' taken without consent. It will also target hate and tweets that glorify or condone violence.
  
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• SpaceX, Spacecom to launch new satellites after explosion last year

  18-10-2017 13:01
  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Space Communications has signed a deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch two communication satellites into orbit, after a prior attempt ended in disaster.
  
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• Moms tweak the timbre of their voice when talking to their babies

  18-10-2017 13:00
  
  Mothers shift the timbre, or quality, of their voice when talking to their babies, a change that happens in many different languages.
  
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• N.S. community prepares for economic liftoff from proposed spaceport

  18-10-2017 11:55 via cbc.ca
  Some residents are already making plans to cash in on proposed $100-million satellite launch facility.
  
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• WPI researchers developing autonomous snake-like robots to support search-and-rescue teams

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) A team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received a three-year, $400,000 award from the National Science Foundation to create autonomous snake-like robots that can navigate more naturally and easily through the rubble, confined spaces, and rough terrain left in the aftermath of a disaster and send images and information to search-and-rescue teams. The goal is to give the robots with the autonomy to navigate through the environment witho
  
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• UCI scientists see order in complex patterns of river deltas

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of California - Irvine) River deltas, with their intricate networks of waterways, coastal barrier islands, wetlands and estuaries, often appear to have been formed by random processes, but scientists at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions see order in the apparent chaos.
  
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• UC Riverside physicists win two awards at Science Hack Day

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of California - Riverside) The University of California, Riverside won two medals -- 'Best in Show' and 'Most Whimsical Hack' -- at the eighth annual 'Science Hack Day: San Francisco,' the world's premier science-themed hackathon. Hackathons are Silicon Valley-inspired challenges to rapidly prototype hardware and software. 'Science Hack Day: San Francisco' took place Oct. 14-15, 2017. Designers, developers, scientists, and anyone excited about making things with science were welcome
  
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• This nanoelectronics breakthrough could lead to more efficient quantum devices

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Concordia University) Researchers from Concordia have made a breakthrough that could help your electronic devices get even smarter.Their findings, which examine electron behaviour within nanoelectronics, have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
  
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• Tecnalia wins the European Innovation Award for a failure prediction system for Industry

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Elhuyar Fundazioa) Tecnalia, the technological research and development centre, has received the highest award in the field of European innovation for its development of a failure prediction system for Industry 4.0 patented by NEM Solutions. The European Innovation Award was jointly granted to TECNALIA and NEM Solutions by EARTO, the highest European association in the field of innovation, for the 'Impact Delivered' category which rewards the best technology transfer practice.
  
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• SwRI scientists dig into the origin of organics on Ceres

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Southwest Research Institute) Since NASA's Dawn spacecraft detected localized organic-rich material on Ceres, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been digging into the data to explore different scenarios for its origin. After considering the viability of comet or asteroid delivery, the preponderance of evidence suggests the organics are most likely native to Ceres.
  
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• Supervisor support critical to employee well-being and workforce readiness

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (American Psychological Association) Nearly half of American workers are concerned about the changing nature of work, and although most report that they have the skills they need to perform their current job well, those without supervisor support for career development are more likely to distrust their employer and plan on leaving within the next year, according to a new survey released by the American Psychological Association.
  
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• Solar eruptions could electrify martian moons

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Powerful solar eruptions could electrically charge areas of the Martian moon Phobos to hundreds of volts, presenting a complex electrical environment that could possibly affect sensitive electronics carried by future robotic explorers, according to a new NASA study. The study also considered electrical charges that could develop as astronauts transit the surface on potential human missions to Phobos.
  
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• Separating methane and CO2 will become more efficient

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (KU Leuven) To make natural gas and biogas suitable for use, the methane has to be separated from the CO2. This involves the use of membranes: filters that stop the methane and let the CO2 pass through. Researchers at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, have developed a new membrane that makes the separation process much more effective.
  
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• Riddle of matter remains unsolved: Proton and antiproton share fundamental properties

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz) Physicists in the BASE collaboration at the CERN research center have been able to measure the magnetic force of antiprotons with almost unbelievable precision.
  
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• Researchers watch in real time as fat-encased drug nanoparticles invade skin cells

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus) A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published today in the journal ACS Nano describes the use of cutting-edge microscopy technology to visualize how liposomes escape from blood vessels into surrounding cells in a living mouse, offering clues that may help researchers design better drug delivery systems.
  
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• Researchers take to tech to study toxic cyanobacteria with $1.47M NASA grant

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies) With support from a $1.47 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Dartmouth, and the University of New Hampshire are developing high-tech tools to monitor cyanobacteria in lakes, predict impending blooms, and identify factors that are degrading water quality.
  
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• Researchers customize catalysts to boost product yields, decrease separation costs

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) For some crystalline catalysts, what you see on the surface is not always what you get in the bulk, according to two studies led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The investigators discovered that treating a complex oxide crystal with either heat or chemicals caused different atoms to segregate on the surface, i.e., surface reconstruction. Those differences created catalysts with dissimilar behaviors, which encouraged different react
  
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• Research sheds new light on early turquoise mining in Southwest

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Arizona) Researchers are blending archaeology and geochemistry to get a more complete picture of turquoise's mining and distribution in the pre-Hispanic Southwest.
  
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• Research examines benefits of palliative care in heart failure treatment

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences) University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers reviewed existing evidence and found that heart failure patients receive significantly less palliative care than patients with other illnesses, despite evidence that such care improves symptom management and quality of life.
  
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• Research demonstrates method to alter coherence of light

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Brown University) In a finding that could have broad applications in optical devices, Brown University researchers have shown that they can transform incoherent light to almost fully coherent and vice versa.
  
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• Poll: Despite mobile options and cord-cutting, sports fans still turn on the TV

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Massachusetts Lowell) Despite the growth of mobile technology and viewing options, when sports fans want to watch a game, they turn to traditional live TV, according to results of a UMass Lowell-Washington Post poll released today.
  
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• Police satisfaction in developing countries dependent on less corruption

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Kent) Improving police satisfaction in developing nations will require a reduction in corruption and greater public security and safety, a new study by researchers at the universities of Kent and Utrecht has shown.
  
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• Physics boosts artificial intelligence methods

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (California Institute of Technology) Researchers from Caltech and the University of Southern California (USC) report the first application of quantum computing to a physics problem.
  
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• Penn study shows how female immune cells keep their second x chromosome shut off

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Pennsylvania) In a new study, a team from the University of Pennsylvania describes how X chromosome inactivation is regulated in the immune system's B cells as they develop in bone marrow and when they encounter antigens.
  
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• OUP to publish the Society of Behavioral Medicine journals

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Oxford University Press USA) Oxford University Press and the Society of Behavioral Medicine are pleased to announce their new partnership to publish Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Translational Behavioral Medicine, the society's two peer-reviewed, Journal Citation Reports indexed journals.
  
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• Online resource enables open data sharing for rare Mendelian diseases

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (American Society of Human Genetics) MyGene2, a new open data resource, helps patients with rare genetic conditions, clinicians, and researchers share information, connect with one another, and enable faster gene discovery, according to results presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2017 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.
  
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• NTU and Saab partnership to develop innovative high-end digital technology

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Nanyang Technological University) Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and Swedish defence and security technology leader Saab will set up a joint research centre as part of a collaboration to develop research projects and programmes in high-end digital technology. The collaboration with NTU is the first of its kind in Asia for Saab.
  
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• Nice ice, maybe: Study finds water-repelling surfaces ease ice removal

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) A new study has discovered that ice grows differently on water-absorbent vs. water-repellent surfaces. The research suggests that applying water-repellent coatings to windshields before winter storms -- or engineering surfaces that inherently repel water -- could enable a strong breeze to handle the burden of ice removal.
  
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• Newly described process in Parkinson's protein as a potential new therapy route

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)) An international group of researchers led by Professor Wim Versées (VIB-VUB) has unraveled the workings of an essential mechanism in 'Parkinson's protein' LRRK2. Their study demonstrates a direct link between the protein's 'dimerization' -- two copies that are bound together -and mutations that lead to Parkinson's disease. This process could eventually lead to a promising therapy route.
  
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• New material for digital memories of the future

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Linköping University) Professor Martijn Kemerink of Linköping University has worked with colleagues in Spain and the Netherlands to develop the first material with conductivity properties that can be switched on and off using ferroelectric polarisation.
  
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• New Amazon threat? Deforestation from mining

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Vermont) Sprawling mining operations in Brazil have caused roughly 10 percent of all Amazon rainforest deforestation between 2005 and 2015 -- much higher than previous estimates -- says the first comprehensive study of mining deforestation in the iconic tropical rainforest. Surprisingly, the majority of mining deforestation (a full 90%) occurred outside the mining leases granted by Brazil's government, the new study in Nature Communications finds.
  
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• Nature or nurture? Innate social behaviors in the mouse brain

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (California Institute of Technology) The brain circuitry that controls innate, or instinctive, behaviors such as mating and fighting was thought to be genetically hardwired. Not so, neuroscientists now say.
  
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• NASA's ICON explores the boundary between earth and space

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) On Dec. 8, 2017, NASA launches the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, a low-Earth orbiting satellite that will give us new information about how Earth's atmosphere interacts with near-Earth space.
  
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• NASA team finds noxious ice cloud on saturn's moon titan

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Researchers with NASA's Cassini mission found evidence of a toxic hybrid ice in a wispy cloud high above the south pole of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
  
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• More than 75 percent decrease in total flying insect biomass over 27 years

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (PLOS) The total flying insect biomass decreased by more than 75 percent over 27 years in protected areas, according to a study published Oct. 18, 2017, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Caspar Hallmann from Radboud University, The Netherlands, and colleagues.
  
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• Mating induces sexual inhibition in female jumping spiders

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (PLOS) After mating for the first time, most females of an Australian jumping spider are unreceptive to courtship by other males, and this sexual inhibition is immediate and often lasts for the rest of their lives, according to a study published Oct. 18, 2017, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Vivian Mendez from Macquarie University, Australia, and colleagues.
  
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• Mass killings happen randomly, yet rate has remained steady, study finds

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Mass killings may have increasing news coverage, but the events themselves have happened at a steady rate for more than a decade, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers. Furthermore, some types of mass-killing events seem to occur randomly over time, making prediction difficult and response crucial.
  
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• Making big data a little smaller

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) Harvard computer scientist found that the Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma, a 30-year-old therum, is the best approach to pre-process large data into a manageably low dimension for algorithmic processing.
  
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• Life in the city: Living near a forest keeps your amygdala healthier

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) MRI study analyzes stress-processing brain regions in older city dwellers.
  
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• Is 3-D printing living up to the hype?

  18-10-2017 06:00
  (American Chemical Society) The growth in 3-D printing is allowing manufacturers to reduce production time and save money. Metal fabrication shops, industrial firms and engineers are also capitalizing on the technology. But the predicted mass production of 3-D printed products for consumers has not yet come to pass. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, explains how industry is using the technology.
  
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