Science news

• GM to build renewable generator to turn landfill gas to energy

  08-12-2017 19:52 via cbc.ca
  General Motors of Canada is proposing to build a renewable energy project at its St. Catharines Propulsion Plant that will use landfill gas to generate electricity and heat to power the plant.
  
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• Most complete map of Titan reveals connected seas and cookie-cutter lakes

  08-12-2017 18:40
  
  The latest map of Titan, based on all the data from the Cassini spacecraft, displays new details about the moon’s lakes and seas.
  
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• When tumors fuse with blood vessels, clumps of breast cancer cells can spread

  08-12-2017 17:42
  
  Breast cancer tumors may merge with blood vessels to help the cancer spread.
  
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• 'All of our team was in tears': Video shows polar bear starving in the North

  08-12-2017 17:19 via cbc.ca
  A new video shows disturbing images of a starving polar bear, and the conservation group that filmed it believes climate change may be to blame.
  
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• Federal bills on carbon pricing, coal, clean fuels expected in 2018

  08-12-2017 15:53 via cbc.ca
  Environmental advocates say 2018 is going to have to be a banner year for environmental legislation, regulation and strategies or Canada's climate plan is going to end up on the scrap heap of climate promises past.
  
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• French Zoo Offers Rare Look at Baby Manatee

  08-12-2017 14:00 via rss.sciam.com
  Newborn manatee Kali’na weighed 33 pounds; her twin sister drowned
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• Some high-temperature superconductors might not be so odd after all

  08-12-2017 13:00
  
  Unusual high-temperature superconductors might be explained by standard superconductivity theory.
  
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• This Sunday, Look Up and Wave at Kepler

  08-12-2017 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  As its mission draws to a close, the planet-hunting space telescope will turn its gaze homeward to snap a picture of Earth
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• 'Wow, it's actually beating': Novoheart creates tiny heart-like structure with stem cells to test new drugs

  08-12-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  Novoheart Ltd. is the first in the world to use stem cells to grow miniature human heart-like valves and wants to use them to test new drugs — technology that may lead to fewer animals being used as test subjects and save big pharmaceutical firms billions.
  
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• Some texts considered private, even after they've been sent: Supreme Court

  08-12-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  An Ontario man convicted of trafficking handguns has been acquitted with a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that finds the text messages used to charge and prosecute him should have been considered private.
  
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• Rampant social media misuse puts future of popular platforms at risk

  08-12-2017 11:00 via cbc.ca
  Social media was designed to help us keep up with friends and share photos, to unite diverse people with distinct ideas and democratize the way we discover information. Instead, they’ve fostered the rampant spread of propaganda and untruths, enabled cyber bullying, and amplified social divisions.
  
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• What's in a name? How Taking a spouse's surname can define power in marriage

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) A new study led by a UNLV psychology professor shows that a wife's choice of surnames may influence perceptions of her husband's personality and the distribution of power in the marriage.
  
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• USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture invests in the safety, health of farmers

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (National Institute of Food and Agriculture ) The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced $836,494 in support for farmer safety and health. Through education, this support aims to help prevent fatalities and serious injuries associated with the farming profession, and provide assistance to those in need.
  
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• USC researchers develop method to ensure human rights in public health services

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Southern California) When measuring the success of public health work -- from immunizations to family planning services -- experts rely on sets of standardized indicators. But these indicators often neglect the voices and human rights of people who use the services, according to USC researchers. The USC Program on Global Health & Human Rights and the World Health Organization developed a new method to determine the extent to which commonly used public healt
  
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• UIC gets Department of Energy grant to advance combined heat and power systems

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Illinois at Chicago) The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a five-year, $4.2 million grant from the US Department of Energy to help industrial, commercial, institutional and utility entities evaluate and install highly efficient combined heat and power (CHP) technologies.
  
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• Three kinds of information from a single X-ray measurement

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena) The way in which electronic devices operate relies on the interaction between various materials. For this reason, researchers need to know exactly how specific chemical elements inside a computer chip or a transistor diode behave, and what happens when these elements bond. Physicists of University Jena, Germany, have now developed an innovative method that enables them to obtain several different types of information simultaneously from the interior of a na
  
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• Study reveals Viagra to be 'ineffective' for fetal growth restriction

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Liverpool) A University of Liverpool led international clinical trial has found an anti-impotence drug to be ineffective at improving outcomes for pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction.
  
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• Scientists channel graphene to understand filtration and ion transport into cells

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and their colleagues have demonstrated that nanometer-scale pores etched into layers of graphene can provide a simple model for the complex operation of ion channels.
  
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• Revolutionizing electronics using Kirigami

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Toyohashi University of Technology) A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering and the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) at Toyohashi University of Technology has developed an ultrastretchable bioprobe using a 'Kirigami' designs.The Kirigami-based bioprobe enables one to follow the shape of spherical and large deformable biological samples such as heart and brain tissues.In addition, its low strain-force characteristic
  
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• Research leads to call for lung health screening at top football clubs

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Kent) New research from the University of Kent has discovered that nearly three in 10 elite footballers at top clubs in England have undetected lung and airway problems that could impair their on-field performance.The findings of this study will be presented at a British Thoracic Society meeting on Dec. 8 by lead researcher Anna Jackson, who will also call for all top football clubs to implement a lung health screening program.
  
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• Paper heralds new science collaboration with Middle East

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University) A new science initiative aims to connect Western and Middle Eastern communities.
  
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• NUS scientist develops 'toolboxes' for quantum cybersecurity

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (National University of Singapore) A quantum information scientist from the National University of Singapore has developed efficient 'toolboxes' comprising theoretical tools and protocols for quantifying the security of high-speed quantum communication.
  
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• nTIDE November 2017 Jobs Report: Ongoing job gains bode well for Americans with disabilities

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Kessler Foundation) The job outlook remained positive for Americans with disabilities, with yet another month of gains in the major economic indicators, according to today's National Trends in Disability Employment -- Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). This upward trend now extends to 20 consecutive months of gains in the labor market for people with disabilities.
  
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• New study shows HIV-infected women not using statins as recommended

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) A new study has shown that HIV-infected women do not use statins as recommended by the most recent guidelines.
  
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• Mars' atmosphere well protected from the solar wind

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Swedish Research Council) Despite the absence of a global Earth-like magnetic dipole, the Martian atmosphere is well protected from the effects of the solar wind on ion escape from the planet. New research shows this using measurements from the Swedish particle instrument ASPERA-3 on the Mars Express spacecraft. The results have recently been presented in a doctoral thesis by Robin Ramstad, Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Umeå University, Sweden.
  
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• Many more bacteria have electrically conducting filaments

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) Microbiologists led by Derek Lovley at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who is internationally known for having discovered electrically conducting microfilaments or 'nanowires' in the bacterium Geobacter, announce in a new paper this month that they have discovered the unexpected structures in many other species, greatly broadening the research field on electrically conducting filaments.
  
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• Long-term prevention of organ rejection

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Konstanz) The Konstanz immunologist Professor Marcus Groettrup and his team have developed a procedure for preventing organ rejection in rats after renal transplantation, and for suppressing the creation of antibodies in the recipients' immune systems. Immunoproteasome inhibition, which suppresses the production of antibodies, is crucial to this process. The research results were published in Kidney International. The title of the original publication is: 'Immunoproteasome inhibit
  
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• Industrial Revolution left a damaging psychological 'imprint' on today's populations

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Cambridge) Study finds people in UK and US areas historically reliant on coal-based industries have more 'negative' personality traits. Psychologists suggest this cognitive die may well have been cast at the dawn of the industrial age.
  
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• How individuals with schizophrenia view their experiences and confidence in judgments may influence treatment targets

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) A schizophrenia patient's own perceptions of their experiences -- and confidence in their judgments -- may be factors that can help them overcome challenges to get the life they wish, suggests a new paper published in Clinical Psychological Science from researchers at Penn Medicine's Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center.
  
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• How individuals with Schizophrenia view their experiences and confidence in judgments may influence

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) A schizophrenia patient's own perceptions of their experiences -- and confidence in their judgments -- may be factors that can help them overcome challenges to get the life they wish, suggests a new paper published in Clinical Psychological Science from researchers at Penn Medicine's Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center.
  
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• How a seahorse-shaped brain structure may help us recognize others

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Harvard Medical School) Study in mice reveals an oxytocin-sensitive brain circuit that regulates social memory formation, recognitionResults shed light on brain's ability to sort out confusion by reconciling conflicting social stimuliScientists map the neural pathway that relays social memories throughout various brain regionsFindings propel understanding of anomalies in social behavior seen in neurodevelopmental, neurologic and psychiatric disorders.
  
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• Hot bodies are attractive

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of California - Berkeley) You might think that a hot object pushes atoms and molecules away due to radiation pressure. But a UC Berkeley team showed that for a polarizable atom, the opposite occurs: the hot object attracts it. Using an atom interferometer, they found the attraction was 20 times stronger than the gravitational attraction between a tungsten object and a cesium atom. Though negligible in most situations, next-generation gravitational wave experiments may have to take th
  
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• Guanidinium stabilizes perovskite solar cells at 19 percent efficiency

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) Incorporating guanidinium into perovskite solar cells stabilizes their efficiency at 19 percent for 1,000 hours under full-sunlight testing conditions. The study, carried out by EPFL, is published in Nature Energy.
  
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• ERC grant: €2 million for synthetic biology at TU Darmstadt

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Technische Universitat Darmstadt) The European Research Council awards an ERC Consolidator Grant to professor Heinz Koeppl and supports him for a period of five years with a total of €2 million. This will further strengthen the activities of TU Darmstadt in the domain of synthetic biology.
  
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• Data center platform on private equity funds levels reliability on investment decision

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) A solution developed by Pebay, a Brazilian firm, aggregates information on cash flow, returns and investor moves from all the 500-plus funds in Brazil, providing investors with comparative analysis.
  
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• CU Boulder solar instruments, experiments headed for space

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Colorado at Boulder) A solar instrument package designed and built by the University of Colorado Boulder to help monitor the planet's climate is now set for launch Dec. 12 aboard a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  
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• Children bear the brunt of secondhand smoke in Bangladesh

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of York) Children in Bangladesh are being exposed to high levels of secondhand smoke despite laws banning smoking in public spaces, a study carried out by the University of York suggests.
  
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• Can data save dolphins?

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) After a collaboration between NASA scientists and marine biologists, new research rules out space weather as a primary cause of animal beachings.
  
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• Boosting the antibiotic arsenal

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT researchers have discovered a way to make bacteria more vulnerable to a class of antibiotics known as quinolones, which include ciprofloxacin and are often used to treat infections such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.
  
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• Ben-Gurion U. software enables standard cameras to capture hyperspectral images and video

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) The game-changing software captures the spectral signature of every pixel in a single image - a significant improvement over current spectrometric technology, which can only measure one point or line at a time. Currently, hyperspectral cameras are expensive, cumbersome and slow, with a single picture taking as long as 60 seconds.
  
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• Announcement: Wyss Center workshop on lightsheet microscopy

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering) We are pleased to announce that the first Wyss Center workshop on lightsheet microscopy will be held from 19 - 22 March 2018 at Campus Biotech in Geneva, Switzerland.
  
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• A search for innovative ways to deal with self-harm

  08-12-2017 06:00
  (University of Strathclyde) New ways of enhancing online support to deal with self-harming behaviour are being explored by the University of Strathclyde, in collaboration with Scottish mental health charity Health in Mind.
  
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• This invasive species makes a great Christmas tree, and you can get one for free

  08-12-2017 05:29 via cbc.ca
  Free Christmas trees are available in Alberta and Saskatchewan this weekend, for a good cause as the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) hosts two tree harvesting events in an attempt to get rid of invasive spruce trees.
  
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• Tools made of astronaut poop could solve space problems, as U of C project flushes competition in Boston

  08-12-2017 01:36 via cbc.ca
  A team of Calgary students has flushed the competition with their project that sets out to convert astronaut poop into handy tools while also reducing space waste.
  
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