Science news

• A key virus fighter is implicated in pregnancy woes

  05-01-2018 21:41
  
  In mice, activating a key component of the body’s antiviral machinery in response to a Zika infection can cause harm to developing fetuses.
  
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• ‘Laid-back’ bonobos take a shine to belligerents

  05-01-2018 21:18
  
  Unlike people, these apes gravitate toward those who are unhelpful.
  
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• Meet the Canadian who helped coin the term 'weather bomb'

  05-01-2018 19:56 via cbc.ca
  Weather bomb, bombogenesis. Whatever you call it, it's big, powerful and has impacted tens of thousands of people. Meet John Gyakum who helped bring the term to the public consciousness.
  
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• Officials killing off coral-eating starfish in Great Barrier Reef

  05-01-2018 17:25 via cbc.ca
  A major outbreak of coral-eating starfish has been found munching Australia's world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, scientists said on Friday, prompting the government to begin culling the spiky marine animals.
  
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• 2018’s Top 10 science anniversaries

  05-01-2018 15:00
  
  2018’s Top 10 anniversaries include notable birthdays and discoveries in math, science and medicine.
  
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• Clouds that are more 'sensitive' to pollution are speeding up Arctic warming

  05-01-2018 14:00 via cbc.ca
  A new study from the University of Utah found air pollution from around the world ends up in Arctic clouds, which are more sensitive than others around the world.
  
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• A 'blanket' over the Arctic? Study looks at how air pollution affects clouds over the North

  05-01-2018 14:00 via cbc.ca
  A new study from the University of Utah found air pollution from around the world ends up in Arctic clouds, which are more sensitive than others around the world.
  
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• The largest known prime number has 23 million-plus digits

  05-01-2018 13:00
  
  A newly found prime number smashes the previous record for largest prime.
  
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• Florida iguanas falling from trees

  05-01-2018 12:59 via bbc.co.uk
  They're not dead, just chilling in cool temperatures in the US.
  
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• Icebergs Can Be Green, Black, Striped, Even Rainbow [Slide Show]

  05-01-2018 12:45 via rss.sciam.com
  Seawater, algae and lack of cracks can create colors other than white -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• 'Latte levy' of 25p urged by MPs in bid to cut cup waste

  05-01-2018 12:36 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK throws away 2.5 billion non-recyclable coffee cups every year, MPs say.
  
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• Trial of laser beams to scare sea eagles from lambs

  05-01-2018 12:12 via bbc.co.uk
  The beams will be shone on a hillside to see if they scare the birds away from sheep flocks.
  
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• Braer: The huge oil spill that Shetland survived

  05-01-2018 11:33 via bbc.co.uk
  On 5 January 1993 an oil tanker ran aground off Shetland spilling 85,000 tonnes of crude oil.
  
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• Cardiff University scientists' drugs test breakthrough

  05-01-2018 07:38 via bbc.co.uk
  After 10 years, a team at Cardiff University helps identify a process to speed up drug development.
  
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• UTA civil engineering researcher to lead pipeline-coating project spanning six states

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (University of Texas at Arlington) Six state transportation departments and a national cooperative have awarded a University of Texas at Arlington pipeline researcher a $400,000 grant to develop design methodologies for lining their storm-water pipes with a sprayed polymer or cement-like material coating that can extend the design life of those pipes.
  
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• Use of mobile devices at home can carry conflict to workplace, UTA study says

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (University of Texas at Arlington) A University of Texas at Arlington researcher is part of a team of authors who have found that using a mobile device at home for work purposes has negative implications for the employee's work life and also their spouse.
  
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• Ultrafine fibers have exceptional strength

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT researchers have developed a process to produce ultrafine fibers -- whose width is measured in nanometers -- that are exceptionally strong, tough, inexpensive, and easy to produce, and could be choice materials for many applications, such as protective armor.
  
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• Tobacco shops associated with crime in urban communities of color

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (University of California - Riverside) Tobacco shops, also known as smoke shops, may represent potential 'nuisance properties' in urban communities of color, a study led by a researcher at the University of California, Riverside has found. Nuisance properties are properties where unsafe activities affecting public health and safety occur repeatedly. The study focused on 2014 violent and property crime data from South Los Angeles, a large urban community whose homicide rate is nearly four times t
  
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• The CSI effect: Viewing TV crime shows does not make better criminals

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz) In an experimental study, the German researchers have been able to find no evidence of a correlation between watching forensic science TV shows and the ability to get away with committing a crime.
  
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• Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may reduce fertility of daughters

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Society for Endocrinology) Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may impair the future fertility of female offspring, according to a review published in Endocrine Connections. The article reviews three separate rodent studies that all report altered development in the reproductive systems of female offspring from mothers given paracetamol during pregnancy, which may impair their fertility in adulthood.
  
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• Study boosts hope for cheaper fuel cells

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Rice University) Simulations by Rice University scientists show how carbon nanomaterials may be optimized to replace expensive platinum in cathodes for electricity-generating fuel cells.
  
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• Special star is a Rosetta Stone for understanding the sun's variability and climate effect

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Aarhus University) A large international team of scientists has found a star that can help shed light on the physics underlying the solar dynamo. The team has combined observations from the Kepler spacecraft with ground-based observations as far back as 1978, thereby reconstructing a 7.4-year cycle in this star. The star is almost identical to the Sun, except for the chemical composition. That makes it a Rosetta Stone for the study of stellar dynamos.
  
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• Space fever: Weightlessness increases astronauts' body temperature

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) Astronauts float weightlessly through space, and the condition of weightlessness is something many would love to experience. However, in addition to producing both physical and psychological stress, a trip into space affects our core body temperature. Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have observed that astronauts run hot when exposed to weightlessness, and that, even at rest, their body temperature is approximate
  
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• Room-temperature multiferroic thin films and their properties

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Tohoku University have developed high-quality GFO epitaxial films and systematically investigated their ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties. They also demonstrated the room-temperature magnetocapacitance effects of these GFO thin films.
  
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• Research paves the way for treatment strategies of multidrug-resistant chronic infections

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Technical University of Denmark) A new study published in Cell Press finds that antibiotic treatment of chronic infections can be optimized by targeting vulnerabilities of antibiotic-resistant pathogens paving the way for more effective treatment strategies.
  
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• Proceed to checkout? Not on your mobile, say researchers

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (University of East Anglia) Shoppers hoping to bag a bargain in the post-Christmas sales are much less likely to go through with their purchases if they are using phones and tablets to buy goods online.This is because consumers often worry they are not seeing the full picture on a mobile app or that they could be missing out on special offers or overlooking hidden costs, according to new research.
  
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• Pioneering startup at Brazilian IoT industry sold in 2017 more than 20,000 devices

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) Technology fully designed in Brazil connects non-automated machines to the internet, enabling an online performance monitoring by storing and controlling sensor data which is then transmitted to the web. The startup DEV Tecnologia strives for a business model based no longer on selling machines but on selling product-service systems (PSS).
  
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• nTIDE December 2017: Year-end job numbers cap record year for Americans with disabilities

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Kessler Foundation) Americans with disabilities continued to show strong gains in the labor market, 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. This upward trend, which began in the last quarter of 2016, has reached 21 consecutive months for this population.An approach that is achieving success is public-private partnerships like NYC: ATWORK, which are helping
  
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• nTIDE Dec 2017: Yearend job numbers cap record year for americans with disabilities

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Kessler Foundation) Americans with disabilities continued to show strong gains in the labor market, 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. This upward trend, which began in the last quarter of 2016, has reached 21 consecutive months for this population.An approach that is achieving success is public-private partnerships like NYC: ATWORK, which are helping
  
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• NASA catches Tropical Cyclone Ava's landfall on Madagascar's coast

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Ava as it made landfall along the coast of northeastern Madagascar.
  
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• Molecular imaging technique identifies lung nodules for resection in osteosarcoma patient

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (SPIE--International Society for Optics and Photonics) Utility of near-infrared molecular imaging in a patient undergoing pulmonary metastasectomy for osteosarcoma has been reported by researchers from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Purdue University. The work is reported in an article in the Journal of Biomedical Optics published this week by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
  
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• Mirror neuron activity predicts people's decision-making in moral dilemmas

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (University of California - Los Angeles) Mirror neuron activity predicts certain decisions in the face of moral dilemmas; findings could one day benefit people with mental disorders that make social communication difficult
  
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• Inattentional blindness

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) Drivers' limited capacity to process the myriad details they absorb could explain why they sometimes fail to avoid crashes with motorcycles.
  
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• Harnessing the potential of blockchain to transform education

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (European Commission Joint Research Centre) Blockchain technology can help improve old models of data management and bring benefits to learners and educational institutions in the EU -- if policymakers are well prepared to embrace the change.
  
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• Family Medicine and Community Health Journal Volume 5, Issue Number 4 publishes

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Family Medicine and Community Health) The December 2017 issue includes an editorial, five original research articles, one case study, one systematic review and two China Focus articles addressing various topics in family medicine in both China and internationally.
  
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• Depression in black adolescents requires different treatment

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Rutgers University) Black adolescents express depressive symptoms differently than people from other age and racial groups, requiring that clinicians take this into account when developing treatment plans, according to a new study led by a Rutgers University-Camden researcher.
  
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• Batman's Gotham City provides test case for community resilience model

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Colorado State University) If a community is resilient, it can withstand and recover from an unanticipated disaster, like an earthquake, fire or flood.But since every disaster and every community is unique, a uniform measure for defining 'resilience' has been hard to come by for engineers and social scientists.A new study offers an innovative approach to defining resilience that could help communities better prepare for hazards.
  
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• Back to the future

  05-01-2018 06:00
  (Rothamsted Research) Modern farming owes much to long-standing research that continues to pump out results and to provide valuable perspectives to guide the future of agricultural science, achievements that will be celebrated at a three-day international conference in May. The Future of Long-Term Experiments in Agricultural Science, from 21-23 May, is being organized by the Association of Applied Biologists at Rothamsted Conference Centre to mark the 175th anniversary of the start of scientific
  
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• DNA analysis of mummified 2-year-old from 16th century shows she died of hepatitis B

  05-01-2018 00:46 via cbc.ca
  An international team of disease detectives has shed new light on a virus that kills almost a million people around the world each year by probing an unusual source — the mummified remains of a young child who died about 450 years ago in Renaissance Italy.
  
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• DNA analysis of mummified 2-year-old from 16th century shows he died of hepatitis B

  05-01-2018 00:46 via cbc.ca
  An international team of disease detectives has shed new light on a virus that kills almost a million people around the world each year by probing an unusual source — the mummified remains of a young child who died about 450 years ago in Renaissance Italy.
  
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• NASA is headed to Earth’s outermost edge

  05-01-2018 00:03
  
  NASA’s upcoming GOLD mission will study the charged border between Earth and space.
  
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