Science news

• Super Mario Odyssey caps off a banner year for Nintendo

  30-10-2017 22:49 via cbc.ca
  Aside from shortages of its Switch and Super NES Classic consoles because of high demand, 2017 has been a banner year for Nintendo.
  
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• State-sponsored cyberattacks on Canada successful about once a week

  30-10-2017 22:47 via cbc.ca
  The Canadian government's computer networks have, in the past, been hit by state-sponsored cyber-attacks about 50 times a week, and at least one of them usually succeeded, according to the secretive agency charged with preventing such attacks.
  
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• Scary as they are, few vampires have a backbone

  30-10-2017 21:00
  
  Researchers speculate on why there are so few vampires among vertebrates.
  
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• 9/11 WTC responders show increased physical disability due to PTSD

  30-10-2017 20:46
  A new study of more than 1,100 WTC responders indicates a significant increase in physical disability among the responders.
  
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• Less but more frequent exercise best to reduce weight? Study provides a clue

  30-10-2017 20:45
  Low magnitude, high frequency mechanical stimulation (LMMS) reduces adipose (fat) tissue and thus may be a method of reducing weight and health risks such as diabetes. A new study takes this concept to another level.
  
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• Voltage-driven liquid metal fractals

  30-10-2017 20:44
  Researchers have found that gallium indium (EGaIn), a liquid metal with one of the highest surface tensions, can be induced to spread and form patterns called fractals with the application of low voltage. The work has implications for controlling the shape of liquid metals.
  
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• The advent of 'green' cattle

  30-10-2017 20:44
  Implications of livestock farming on climate change should not be drawn from aggregate statistics, reveals a study based on a new method of carbon footprinting for pasture-based cattle production systems that can assess the impacts of individual animals.
  
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• Right whales, already an endangered species, may face a dim future

  30-10-2017 20:44
  Researchers show that right whales, already an endangered species, may face a dim future.
  
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• Making glass invisible: A nanoscience-based disappearing act

  30-10-2017 20:44
  By texturing glass surfaces with nanosized features, scientists almost completely eliminated surface reflections -- an achievement that could enhance solar cell efficiency, improve consumers' experience with electronic displays, and support high-power laser applications.
  
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• It's mathematically impossible to beat aging, scientists say

  30-10-2017 20:44
  Current understanding of the evolution of aging leaves open the possibility that aging could be stopped if only science could figure out a way to make selection between organisms perfect. However, the solution isn't that simple, researchers have found.
  
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• Examining potatoes' past could improve spuds of the future

  30-10-2017 20:44
  Examining the ancestors of the modern, North American cultivated potato has revealed a set of common genes and important genetic pathways that have helped spuds adapt over thousands of years. New research shows potential genetic keys that could ensure the crop will thrive in the future.
  
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• Photons are caught behaving like superconducting electrons

  30-10-2017 20:21
  
  Light particles, or photons, swap energy like electrons in a superconductor.
  
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• Astronomers discover 'sunscreen' snow on distant exoplanet

  30-10-2017 19:26 via cbc.ca
  More than 1,700 light-years from Earth lies a sizzling hot planet orbiting another star. While temperatures can soar to 2,700 C, the planet also produces some unique precipitation in the form of "sunscreen" snow.
  
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• Greenhouse gas concentrations surge to new record

  30-10-2017 19:19
  Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to the highest level in 800,000 years, according to a new report. The abrupt changes in the atmosphere witnessed in the past 70 years are without precedent.
  
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• Study may add to resource managers' toolbox

  30-10-2017 19:13
  Fish 'condition' can help guide management efforts for Chesapeake Bay, suggests a new research study.
  
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• Could a Machine Identify Suicidal Thoughts?

  30-10-2017 17:30 via rss.sciam.com
  A new study uses brain imaging to separate those who think about and even attempt suicide from those who don’t 
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• Here’s the real story on jellyfish taking over the world

  30-10-2017 17:18
  
  In 'Spineless', a former marine scientist reconnects with the seas and science through her obsession with these enigmatic creatures.
  
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• Scary enough for you? No human is writing these stories

  30-10-2017 17:09 via cbc.ca
  Don't throw away your Stephen King collection just yet. But the Master of the Macabre might want to keep an eye out behind him, because scientists have just unleashed a nightmare machine on a mission to churn out its own bone-chilling tales.
  
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• Conservative Hunters and Fishers May Help Determine the Fate of National Monuments

  30-10-2017 14:30 via rss.sciam.com
  Sporting groups have entered the political fray in the monuments debate
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• Conservative Hunters & Fishers May Help Determine the Fate of National Monuments

  30-10-2017 14:30 via rss.sciam.com
  Sporting groups have entered the political fray in the monuments debate
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Global CO2 levels shot up at record speed in 2016

  30-10-2017 14:10 via cbc.ca
  The UN weather agency is warning that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere increased at record-breaking speed last year.
  
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• Zika hasn’t been in the news much, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone

  30-10-2017 12:00
  
  Cases of Zika have dropped as more people become exposed, but the virus will likely emerge again in the future.
  
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• AI Scans Twitter for Signs of Opioid Abuse

  30-10-2017 11:45 via rss.sciam.com
  Geotagged tweets using slang like “dummies,” “Captain Cody” or other drug handles could help pinpoint clusters of opioid problems more quickly than traditional methods do
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016

  30-10-2017 11:00 via bbc.co.uk
  CO2 in Earth's atmosphere jumped to a record in 2016, says the World Meteorological Organization.
  
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• Headwinds caused by warm weather a danger to migratory birds

  30-10-2017 10:00 via cbc.ca
  An unseasonably warm autumn in Nova Scotia could create a deadly challenge for some migratory birds, according to biologists.
  
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• Corals eat plastic the way humans eat junk food — because it's tasty

  30-10-2017 10:00 via cbc.ca
  Plastics are abundant in our oceans. Now scientists have found that coral — which already faces numerous threats and have seen a decline in staggering numbers — may be feeding on it not because it resembles prey, but because it actually tastes good.
  
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• Willingness to take risks -- a personality trait

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Basel) People differ in their willingness to take risks. An individual's propensity for risk taking can also vary across domains. However, there is new evidence showing that there is also a general factor of individual risk preference, which remains stable over time -- akin to the general Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Researchers from Switzerland and Germany report these findings based on over 1500 participants in the journals Science Advances and Nature Human Behaviour.
  
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• VTT's EUR 3 million investment accelerates the development of new kinds of fibre products

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) Cellulose and other fibres are future materials that can replace many plastic and mineral-based materials in the industrial sector.
  
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• VTT-originated Spectral Engines develops a portable drug screening device for police officers

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) Spectral Engines, a growth company that originated at VTT, is about to launch a portable drug screening device police patrols can use for rapid and cost-efficient on-site screening of suspected drugs.
  
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• Virtual reality reduces phantom pain in paraplegics

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) Virtual reality reduces phantom body pain in paraplegics and creates the illusion that they can feel their paralyzed legs being touched again. The results could one day translate into therapies to reduce chronic pain in paraplegics.
  
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• UT professor studies effects of medicaid expansion

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Tennessee at Knoxville) UT social work professor Sunha Choi recently published an article in Population Health Management on the effects of Medicaid expansion on low-income individuals' access to health care.
  
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• University of Delaware's Thomas Epps named American Physical Society Fellow

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Delaware) Thomas H. Epps, III, the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware, has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
  
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• University of Delaware professor wins IEEE award

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Delaware) Guang Gao, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, has received the 2017 B. Ramakrishna (Bob) Rau Award from the IEEE Computer Society. it is awarded annually for an outstanding, innovative contribution to microarchitecture, use of novel microarchitectural techniques or compiler/architecture interfacing.
  
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• UNIST unveils new fast-charging, high-energy electric-car battery technology

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology(UNIST)) An international team of researchers, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has presented a novel hydrogen isotope separation system based on a porous metal organic framework (MOF). Their work has been selected to appear on the cover of the October 2017 issue of JACS.
  
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• Umbilical cord blood improves motor skills in some children with cerebral palsy

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (Duke University Medical Center) An infusion of cells from a child's own umbilical cord blood appears to improve brain connectivity and motor function in children with spastic cerebral palsy, according to a randomized clinical trial published this week by Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
  
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• UIC hopes to reduce LGBTQ youth homelessness

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Illinois at Chicago) A new website, '3/40 Blueprint,' was recently launched by the University of Illinois at Chicago as a primary site for identifying promising practices that serve LGBTQ youth who are experiencing homelessness and to publish new information on the struggles of this vulnerable population.
  
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• Two Princeton astrophysicists receive funding to study merging neutron stars

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (PrincetonUniversity) The TEAMS consortium (Towards Exascale Astrophysics of Mergers and Supernovae), including Princeton University's Adam Burrows and David Radice, will investigate how stellar explosions create elements. "Merging neutron stars produce the heaviest elements," Burrows said, "but the oxygen we breathe, the iron in our hemoglobin, the calcium in our bones, the fluorine in our toothpaste -- these sorts of things are unambiguously products of supernova explosions: the death of a mas
  
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• Tourassi named top scientist at ORNL's annual Awards night

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Georgia Tourassi of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate has received the ORNL Director's Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.
  
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• Study shows how memories ripple through the brain

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Using an innovative "NeuroGrid" technology, scientists showed that sleep boosts communication between two brain regions whose connection is critical for the formation of memories.
  
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• Social media data use needs tighter research controls, experts say

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Edinburgh) Information shared on social media is being regularly used in research projects without users' consent, a study from the University of Edinburgh suggests. Experts have called for tighter control of the practice, with fresh guidelines needed to ensure personal data is being used appropriately.
  
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• Scientists penetrate mystery of raging black hole beams

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Southampton) They are nature's very own Death Star beams -- ultra-powerful jets of energy that shoot out from the vicinity of black holes like deadly rays from the Star Wars super-weapon. Now a team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has moved a step closer to understanding these mysterious cosmic phenomena -- known as relativistic jets -- by measuring how quickly they 'switch on' and start shining brightly once they are launched.
  
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• Satellite shows Post-tropical Cyclone Selma dissipate

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NOAA's GOES East satellite provided an image of Post-Tropical Cyclone Selma as it dissipated near the border of El Salvador and Honduras.
  
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• Satellite animation shows Tropical Storm Philippe absorbed by frontal system

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NOAA's GOES-East satellite provided days of infrared and visible imagery that showed the quick development and demise of Tropical Storm Philippe in the Atlantic Ocean. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a look at Philippe when it was in its "prime" as a tropical storm near Key West.
  
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• Sanford Health to study alternatives to opioids

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (Sanford Health/Sanford Research) Sanford Health is one of three sites in the US to launch a study to determine if non-opioid medications are as effective in managing pain after carpal-tunnel surgery.
  
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• Right-handed baseball players more successful when batting left-handed

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (Anglia Ruskin University) It is known that baseball players who bat left-handed are overrepresented in the sport. But new research by David Mann (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Florian Loffing (University of Oldenburg) and Peter Allen (Anglia Ruskin University) shows that baseball players who bat left but throw right-handed have a surprising advantage, and have a more successful career, than players who bat and throw left-handed.
  
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• Rheumatology leaders praise bipartisan framework to repeal medicare therapy caps

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (American College of Rheumatology) The Medicare therapy caps were originally introduced in 1997 as a part of the Balanced Budget Act.Arbitrary caps on outpatient therapy services covered by Medicare -- including physical therapy, speech language pathology, and occupational therapy -- were put in place in order to reduce federal spending and balance the federal budget.
  
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• Research pinpoints powerful biomarker of ,ultiple sclerosis

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Sydney) A breakthrough study led by the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has revealed unique molecules in the blood of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that could become definitive diagnostic biomarkers of the world's most common neurologic disability in young adults. Published today in Nature Scientific Reports, the discovery identifies tiny 'dysregulated' micro-RNA molecules that correctly diagnose MS and discriminate between patie
  
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• Research aims to help renewable jet fuel take flight

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Delaware) The International Air Transport Association predicts that 7.2 billion passengers will fly in 2035, nearly doubling the 3.8 billion in 2016. So how do we make flying easier on the environment? Instead of petroleum, University of Delaware researchers have developed new processes to ramp up production of bio-based fuel made from corncobs and wood chips.
  
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• Preparing for the power outages and water shortages of the next disaster

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Delaware) A team from the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center has received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to study critical infrastructure and how people adapt to power outages and water shortages after disasters so that policymakers, businesses and individuals can adequately prepare for the future.
  
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• Pitt and UPMC researchers collaborate to save more organs for transplants

  30-10-2017 05:00
  (University of Pittsburgh) The National Institutes of Health awarded a four-year, $1.3 million R01 grant to a University of Pittsburgh research collaboration between the Department of Surgery and the Department of Industrial Engineering. The study titled 'An Organ Perfusion Stent as an Alternative to Surgery in Donor Organ Recovery' will develop a dual chamber organ perfusion stent made of smart material to direct selective blood flow during transplant surgeries.
  
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