Science news

• Trump budget cuts US cash for International Space Station

  12-02-2018 23:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Mr Trump's proposed budget includes funds to transition the space station from public to private.
  
  Read more

• 14 cattle eyeworms removed from Oregon woman’s eye

  12-02-2018 23:34
  
  Oregon woman has the first ever eye infection with the cattle eyeworm Thelazia gulosa.
  
  Read more

• NASA Budget Proposal Defunds Space Station, Space Telescopes and More

  12-02-2018 23:00 via rss.sciam.com
  The White House’s controversial plans for U.S. space science and exploration could ignite a budgetary battle with Congress-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Girl power: life's going swimmingly for all-female fish species

  12-02-2018 21:58
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An all-female freshwater fish species called the Amazon molly that inhabits rivers and creeks along the Texas-Mexico border is living proof that sexual reproduction may be vastly over-rated.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Trump wants business to take over space station from NASA by 2025

  12-02-2018 21:43 via cbc.ca
  The Trump administration wants NASA out of the International Space Station by 2025, and private businesses running the place instead.
  
  Read more

• Antarctic iceberg expedition set to reveal hidden realm

  12-02-2018 21:22 via bbc.co.uk
  Footage shows the iceberg scientists hope will reveal an Antarctic realm hidden for thousands of years.
  
  Read more

• Unilever threatens to pull ads from social media companies due to 'toxic' children's content

  12-02-2018 21:06 via cbc.ca
  Consumer goods giant Unilever is threatening to pull ads from popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Google if they do not do more to protect children from "toxic" online content.
  
  Read more

• New crayfish that doesn't need males to mate becomes all-powerful

  12-02-2018 18:13 via bbc.co.uk
  The self-cloning species, which can be bought in North America, is banned in Europe and two US states.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Researchers Find No Strong Link between Prenatal Ultrasounds and Autism

  12-02-2018 17:00 via rss.sciam.com
  New study provides more evidence early pregnancy scans are not tied to the disorder-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Watch a newborn octopus hatch from its egg

  12-02-2018 15:46 via cbc.ca
  A remarkable video showing the birth of an octopus at the Virginia Aquarium has been viewed more than 2 million times on social media.
  
  Read more

• More than 500 scientists demand improved pollution laws in Canada

  12-02-2018 15:37 via cbc.ca
  More than 500 scientists are sending a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today, asking him to seriously consider making changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that would put the onus on companies to show their products are safe before they're ever put on the market.
  
  Read more

• 5 ways the heaviest element on the periodic table is really bizarre

  12-02-2018 15:00
  
  Called oganesson, element 118 has some very strange properties, according to theoretical calculations by physicists.
  
  Read more

• Robots take to the slopes on sidelines of Winter Games

  12-02-2018 14:49
  DUNNAE, South Korea (Reuters) - While Alpine skiers fought high winds at the Pyeongchang Games on Monday, there were no such problems for robots competing in their own "Olympics" ski challenge.
  
  Read more

• UK team set for giant Antarctic iceberg expedition

  12-02-2018 14:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists investigate undersea life exposed by the iceberg that broke away from the Antarctic Peninsula.
  
  Read more

• Submersibles Peer into the Greatest Living Light Show on Earth [Video]

  12-02-2018 14:00 via rss.sciam.com
  Researchers hope to get people talking about our beautiful, complex oceans-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Ancient ozone holes may have sterilized forests 252 million years ago

  12-02-2018 13:00
  
  Swaths of barren forest may have led to Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
  
  Read more

• Gender gap shows high-tech sector still stuck in the past — and it could prove costly

  12-02-2018 10:00 via cbc.ca
  A new report about Canada's tech sector shines a light on who works in the digital economy. The good news is there are lots of jobs for skilled workers. The bad news? It's still an uphill battle getting women into the tech workforce.
  
  Read more

• Wiley, the Austrian Academic Library Consortium and the Austrian Science Fund announce combined open access and subscription agreement

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Wiley) John Wiley and Sons Inc. (NYSE:JWa) (NYSE:JWb), the Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) today announced a three-year combined open access publication and subscription agreement.
  
  Read more

• Why so many doctors in the UK are at risk of burnout

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Lancaster University) More than half of GPs in the UK are planning to leave general practice says the first look at the recruitment crisis.More than a thousand GPs have sought professional help from the NHS GP Health Service in the past year, with most cases involving stress, anxiety and depression and about 2% addiction.One in four have already left the profession but only one in five new medical graduates choose to become GPs.
  
  Read more

• Using injectable self-assembled nanomaterials for sustained delivery of drugs

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Northwestern University) New injectable delivery system forms a non-inflammatory depot that can continuously release drug carriers for months at a time after a single administration.
  
  Read more

• UCI-led study identifies 'hot spots' of water quality violations

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of California - Irvine) While serious violations like those in the Flint, Michigan, crisis are rare, ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water poses challenges for communities across the country, according to a recent study led by the University of California, Irvine.
  
  Read more

• Twenty-five years of satellite data confirm rising sea levels

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of South Florida (USF Health)) Satellite data predicts current acceleration rate will cause a dramatic rise in sea level by 2100.
  
  Read more

• Tropical Cyclone Gita packs heavy rain, warnings now for Tonga and Fiji

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Hurricane Gita strengthened into a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Feb. 12 and triggered warnings in Tonga and Fiji. NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM core satellite analyzed Tropical Cyclone Gita and found heavy rainfall occurring within the system. On Feb. 12, Gita was bringing that heavy rain to Tonga and Fiji where warnings were posted. NASA's Terra satellite also provided a visible image of the storm, which had developed an eye.
  
  Read more

• Too much TV at age 2 makes for less healthy adolescents

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of Montreal) Skipping breakfast, eating junk food and doing less well in school might all result from watching TV too young, a Canadian study finds.
  
  Read more

• Today's highest quality composite-piezoelectric developed at NUST MISIS

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (National University of Science and Technology MISIS) NUST MISIS scientists jointly with an international group of scientists have managed to develop a composite material that has the best piezoelectric properties today. The research results were published in Scientific Reports journal.
  
  Read more

• Tiny drug-delivering capsules could sustain transplanted insulin-producing cells

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) A drug-carrying microsphere within a cell-bearing microcapsule could be the key to transplanting insulin-secreting pig pancreas cells into human patients whose own cells have been destroyed by type I diabetes.
  
  Read more

• TACC, DOD engage in four-year transformational design project

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center) TACC today announced that it has partnered with the US Department of Defense (DOD) to provide researchers with access to advanced computing resources as part of an effort to develop novel computational approaches for complex manufacturing and design problems.
  
  Read more

• Study suggests way to attack deadly, untreatable nerve tumors

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) Genomic profiling of mostly untreatable and deadly nerve sheath tumors led scientists to test a possible therapeutic strategy that inhibited tumor growth in lab tests on human tumor cells and mouse models, according to research in the journal Cancer Cell. When the international team of researchers analyzed complete screens of genes and genetic material in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), it revealed previously unknown genetic info
  
  Read more

• Study finds gender and skin-type bias in commercial artificial-intelligence systems

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) A new paper from the MIT Media Lab's Joy Buolamwini shows that three commercial facial-analysis programs demonstrate gender and skin-type biases, and suggests a new, more accurate method for evaluating the performance of such machine-learning systems.
  
  Read more

• Star architecture and its impact on the city

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Technical University of Munich (TUM)) The Guggenheim Museum by star architect Frank Gehry led to an economic boom in the Spanish city of Bilbao. This 'Bilbao Effect' is appealing to many urban planners and politicians who look to better position their cities in economic and social terms by building exceptional architectural projects. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have studied three projects to investigate whether or not the desired effects materialize.
  
  Read more

• Some black and Latino Christians rely on religion for healing

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Rice University) Christians who are comparatively well-represented in the medical field, like Korean-Americans, understand the relationship between faith and health differently than those who are not, like African-Americans and Latinos.
  
  Read more

• Solving the dark energy mystery: A new assignment for a 45-year-old telescope

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Today, the dome closes on the previous science chapters of the 4-meter Mayall Telescope in Arizona so that it can prepare for its new role in creating the largest 3-D map of the universe. This map could help to solve the mystery of dark energy, which is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe.
  
  Read more

• Single trapped atom captures Science Photography competition's top prize

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) An image of a single positively-charged strontium atom, held near motionless by electric fields, has won the overall prize in a national science photography competition, organised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).'Single Atom in an Ion Trap', by David Nadlinger, from the University of Oxford, shows the atom held by the fields emanating from the metal electrodes surrounding it. The distance between the small nee
  
  Read more

• Sibling bullying makes psychotic disorders three times more likely

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of Warwick) People who were bullied by siblings during childhood are up to three times more likely to develop psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia in early adulthood, according to new research by the University of Warwick.
  
  Read more

• Science self-corrects: Cancer gene does not pass reproducibility test

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) About 10 years ago, several labs discovered that a gene called MELK is overexpressed, or turned on to a high degree, in many cancer cell types. This evidence has prompted multiple ongoing clinical trials to test whether drugs that inhibit MELK can treat cancer in patients. Now, CSHL researchers report that MELK is not actually involved in cancer.It's a story about how science self-corrects.
  
  Read more

• 'Science in Exile'

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (TWAS) A new film from TWAS explores the journey of scientists in flight from war and in search of a safe place to continue their work.
  
  Read more

• Risk of fatal traffic crash higher during annual 4/20 cannabis celebration

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of British Columbia) US drivers are more likely to be in a fatal traffic crash during the annual April 20 cannabis celebration. Twenty-five years' worth of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes after 4:20 pm on April 20 is higher compared to the same time intervals on control days one week earlier and one week later.
  
  Read more

• Researchers inhibit cancer metastases via novel steps

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Case Western Reserve University) In one of the first successes of its kind, researchers have inhibited the spreading of cancer cells from one part of the body to another. In doing so, they relied on a new model of how cancer metastasizes that emphasizes epigenetics, which examines how genes are turned on and off.
  
  Read more

• Progress, but far from perfection, on avoiding risky sedatives in older adults

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) They help many people sleep, or feel calmer or less anxious. But in older people, they also double the risk of car crashes, falls and broken hips. That's why the medications known as benzodiazepines show up on international guidelines as drugs that very few people over the age of 65 should take. Yet a sizable percentage of adults in that age group still have an active prescription for one, according to new research.
  
  Read more

• Programming drones to fly in the face of uncertainty

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CSAIL ) MIT CSAIL system enables drones to fly through forests and avoid obstacles by harnessing uncertainty.
  
  Read more

• Predictors for infidelity and divorce highlighted in new research

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Florida State University) New research from Florida State University highlights ways to keep love and also identifies clear predictors for failed relationships.
  
  Read more

• Opioid use increases risk of serious infections

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don't use opioids.
  
  Read more

• No llamas required

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Harvard Medical School) Antibodies made by camels, llamas and alpacas allow scientists to study the structure and function of proteins in disease and health.While valuable, the approach is time-consuming, costly and often unsuccessful.Overcoming this barrier, scientists have devised a faster, cheaper and more reliable way to create these critical antibodies using yeast in a test tube.
  
  Read more

• NIR light may identify breast cancer patients who will benefit most from chemotherapy

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science) A new optical imaging system developed at Columbia University uses red and near-infrared light to identify breast cancer patients who will respond to chemotherapy. The imaging system may be able to predict response to chemotherapy as early as two weeks after beginning treatment. Findings from a first pilot study of the new imaging system -- a noninvasive method of measuring blood flow dynamics in response to a single breath hold --
  
  Read more

• New technology enables identification of biomarkers for a wide range of diseases

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University) Scientists have developed a way to identify biomarkers for a wide range of diseases by assessing the antibodies we are making to the complex sugars coating our cells.The new, highly sensitive Luminex Multiplex Glycan Array enables the kind of volume needed to establish associations between antibody levels in our blood to these complex sugars, or glycans, and conditions from cancer to autoimmune disease and dementia, they report in the journal Na
  
  Read more

• New sustainable production method could advance plastics and pharmaceuticals

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (University of Texas at Austin) A team of chemical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin has developed a new, cost-effective method for synthetically producing a biorenewable platform chemical called triacetic acid lactone (TAL) that can be used to produce innovative new drugs and sustainable plastics at an industrial scale.
  
  Read more

• New model for evaluating rangeland systems launches

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Colorado State University) A new global rangeland model allows people to understand how changes in climate will potentially impact rangelands.
  
  Read more

• New method for waking up devices

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Stanford University) A device that's turned off doesn't suck battery life, but it also doesn't work. Now a low-power system that's always on the alert can turn devices on when they are needed, saving energy in the networked internet of things.
  
  Read more

• New machine learning algorithm uncovers time-delayed interactions in cells

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Northwestern University) A new algorithm uses time-series data to show the cause-and-effect interactions that take place inside of living cells.
  
  Read more

• New fuel cell demonstrates exceptional power density and stability

  12-02-2018 06:00
  (Northwestern University) By combining a high-activity cathode with a new composition of matter, fuel cell operates at 500-degrees Celsius -- a commercialization sweet spot.
  
  Read more

Follow @ScienceUKnews on Twitter!