Science news

• How to protect your personal info on Facebook

  21-03-2018 22:43 via cbc.ca
  Facebook users who are worried about protecting their personal information in the wake of the alleged privacy breach by Cambridge Analytica have a few options at their disposal.
  
  Read more

• 'Horrified' scientists watch killer whale infanticide

  21-03-2018 22:32 via cbc.ca
  Marine scientists in B.C. have for the first time seen a killer whale drown a baby of the same species.
  
  Read more

• Virologist Robert Redfield Named as Next CDC Director

  21-03-2018 21:57 via rss.sciam.com
  The Maryland-based clinician will not require Senate confirmation-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• False alarms may be a necessary part of earthquake early warnings

  21-03-2018 21:20
  
  To give enough time to take protective action, earthquake warning systems may have to issue alerts long before it’s clear how strong the quake will be.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 'Major breach of trust': Zuckerberg says Facebook made mistakes on Cambridge Analytica

  21-03-2018 21:01 via cbc.ca
  Breaking five days of silence, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for a "major breach of trust," admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect user data in light of a privacy scandal involving a Trump-connected data-mining firm.
  
  Read more

• 'Speaking glove' translates sign language into speech

  21-03-2018 20:29 via cbc.ca
  Three polytechnic students in western India have developed a 'speaking glove' for the speech impaired that can interpret sign language and convert the message into speech through a mobile application.
  
  Read more

• Breaking up is hard to do: Why leaving Facebook is more difficult than it looks

  21-03-2018 20:17 via cbc.ca
  Facebook's latest privacy scandal, involving Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of users in order to influence elections, has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network.
  
  Read more

• No opting out: Canadians soon to get emergency alerts on their phones

  21-03-2018 19:07 via cbc.ca
  Officials in Canada will soon be able to send a localized alert compelling compatible phones on an LTE network to emit an alarm — the same shrill beeping that accompanies TV and radio emergency alerts — and display a bilingual text warning in emergencies including Amber Alerts, forest fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks or severe weather.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Uber Self-Driving Car Fatality Reveals the Technology's Blind Spots

  21-03-2018 18:30 via rss.sciam.com
  The ride-sharing company has halted its autonomous vehicle testing while it investigates the accident in Arizona-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Facebook, Cambridge Analytica sued in U.S. by users over data harvesting

  21-03-2018 15:54 via cbc.ca
  Facebook Inc. and the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica have been sued in the United States for obtaining information belonging to 50 million of the social media company's users without permission.
  
  Read more

• Ralph Steadman's World of Endangered Animals

  21-03-2018 15:30 via rss.sciam.com
  The legendary cartoonist highlights Earth’s most vulnerable species, using his lavish, eccentric style-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
  Read more

• Canadian NASA astronaut blasts off for space station

  21-03-2018 14:51 via cbc.ca
  A NASA astronaut with ties to Canada launched aboard a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station today on a visit that will last nearly six months.
  
  Read more

• Male birth control pill passes a safety test

  21-03-2018 14:00
  
  A prototype contraceptive for men safely reduced testosterone and other reproductive hormones during a month-long treatment.
  
  Read more

• Minke whale captured in rare underwater footage

  21-03-2018 13:47 via cbc.ca
  Researchers have captured rare underwater footage of minke whales in Antarctica that could reveal new insights about their lifestyles.
  
  Read more

• Meet the giants among viruses

  21-03-2018 12:00
  
  For decades, all viruses were thought to be small and simple. But the discovery of more and more giant viruses shows that’s not the case.
  
  Read more

• Canada is dragging its feet in protecting Wood Buffalo National Park, critics say

  21-03-2018 10:00 via cbc.ca
  One year after a United Nations agency warned about the environmental health of Canada's largest national park, First Nations and environmental groups say not enough has been done to respond.
  
  Read more

• Reactor's neighbours alarmed over radioactive toxins in river

  21-03-2018 09:00 via cbc.ca
  The dumping of radioactive matter and other contaminants into the Ottawa River from an inactive nuclear reactor northwest of the capital is causing concern among Indigenous communities, environmental groups and others who monitor toxic waste.
  
  Read more

• New titanium industry could grow out of oilsands waste

  21-03-2018 09:00 via cbc.ca
  After several years and nearly $100 million of research and testing, engineers say they have developed new technology to extract valuable metals from waste products in the Alberta oilsands.
  
  Read more

• 'Wiggling and jiggling': Study explains how organisms evolve to live at different temperatures

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Bristol) The brilliant physicist Richard Feynman famously said that, in principle, biology can be explained by understanding the wiggling and jiggling of atoms. For the first time, new research from the University of Bristol, UK and the University of Waikoto, New Zealand explains how this 'wiggling and jiggling' of the atoms in enzymes -- the proteins that make biological reactions happen -- is 'choreographed' to make them work at a particular temperature.
  
  Read more

• Urgent care center growth in claim lines more than 7 times that of ER from 2007 to 2016

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (FAIR Health) To provide clarity in a rapidly changing healthcare environment, FAIR Health is introducing two new ways to derive insights from healthcare data: FH Healthcare Indicators™ and the FH Medical Price Index™. Drawing on the independent nonprofit's national database of billions of privately insured healthcare claims -- the largest in the country -- these two tools apply different approaches to illuminate different aspects of the national healthcare sector.
  
  Read more

• Sex workers need workplace regulations to improve safety: Study

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of British Columbia) Canada's sex workers, many of whom work indoors, are enterprising and vigilant when it comes to protecting themselves against exploitation, assault or robbery. They set a relaxing atmosphere, insist on a no-drugs rule, keep self-defence tools at the ready and maintain good relationships with landlords in order to avoid eviction.
  
  Read more

• Scientists use diamond in world's first continuous room-temperature solid-state maser

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Imperial College London) The breakthrough means masers -- the microwave version of lasers -- could now be used more widely in a range of applications.
  
  Read more

• Researchers link dietary supplement DHA to higher fat-free body mass in children

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Kansas) University of Kansas researchers have reported that pregnant women who consumed a supplement of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a nutrient added to U.S. infant formulas since 2002, tend to have children with higher fat-free body mass at 5 years old.
  
  Read more

• Researchers explore enzymetic activities based on nanocomplex sensors

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (World Scientific) A team of researchers from Ludong University compared the susceptibility of different triangle silver nanoprisms (TSNPRs) towards H2O2 and elucidated the influence of capping agents and structural size on the etching process, with the aim of optimizing TSNPRs for H2O2 etching-based biosensors, such as glucose and glucose oxidase. The result of their research was recently published in a paper in Nano.
  
  Read more

• Radar images show large swath of Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Southern Methodist University) Radar satellite images show a large swath of Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates, according to a geophysical team from Southern Methodist University. Analysis of the images with oil activity data from the Texas Railroad Commission suggests decades of oil activity have destabilized localities of the 4,000-square-mile area, which is populated by small towns, roadways and a vast network of oil and gas pipelines and storage tanks.
  
  Read more

• Racial disparities in HIV control persist despite equal access to care

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Researchers report that racial disparities in HIV control (viral load) exist even when patients have equal access to care, as shown in a study of black and white HIV-infected patients treated in the Veterans Administration (VA) health system.
  
  Read more

• Pregnancy and motherhood during surgical training: Results of a nationwide survey

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Brigham and Women's Hospital) Research reveals significant cultural challenges and infrastructure shortcomings that led respondents to seriously consider leaving residency and report they would advise against pursuing a career in surgery.
  
  Read more

• Predators learn to identify prey from other species

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) Predatory bats learn both from other members of their own species and from other predatory bat species.
  
  Read more

• Pioneers of computer architecture receive ACM Turing Award

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Association for Computing Machinery) ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery (www.acm.org), today named John L. Hennessy, former President of Stanford University, and David A. Patterson, retired Professor of the University of California, Berkeley, recipients of the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award for pioneering a systematic, quantitative approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with enduring impact on the microprocessor industry.
  
  Read more

• Physicists reveal material for high-speed quantum internet

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have 'rediscovered' a material that can lay the foundation for ultrahigh-speed quantum internet. Their paper published in npj Quantum Information shows how to increase the data transfer rate in unconditionally secure quantum communication lines to more than 1 gigabit per second, making quantum internet as fast as its classical counterpart.
  
  Read more

• Online tech is changing the dynamics of gift-giving

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Cornell University) Online gift-giving is spreading in social networks and causing people to give more gifts -- online and in person -- according to a new study led by René Kizilcec, Cornell University assistant professor of information science. About half of these gifts were unlikely to have occurred offline or via another online channel.
  
  Read more

• NIH-supported international team confirms new genetic mutation link to ALS

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (NIH/National Institute on Aging) Kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A), a gene previously linked to two rare neurodegenerative disorders, has been definitively connected to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by an NIH-supported international team from several of the world's top ALS research labs.
  
  Read more

• New valve technology promises cheaper, greener engines

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Waterloo) Technology developed at the University of Waterloo reliably and affordably increases the efficiency of internal combustion engines by more than 10 per cent.
  
  Read more

• New technologies and computing power to help strengthen population data

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Southampton) Research led by the University of Southampton is helping governments in low-income countries strengthen their capacity to build and use population maps, to plan for the future and respond to emergencies.
  
  Read more

• New robotic arm that could service satellites or pick apples developed at Ben-Gurion University

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) 'The configuration of the MASR robot combines the best characteristics of existing robot technologies to achieve a high level of accuracy and control,' he says. 'In addition, the ability to add or subtract up to four links in less than a minute makes it possible to target quick repairs in isolated sections.'
  
  Read more

• New Jersey Health Foundation funds stroke study by Kessler Foundation & Stevens Institute

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Kessler Foundation) Karen Nolan, PhD, senior research scientist at Kessler Foundation, will collaborate with Stevens Institute of Technology on a grant from New Jersey Health Foundation. With this $35,000 grant, investigators will develop and test the SAFE (Stevens Ankle-Foot Electromechanical) Orthosis, an adaptive oscillator-based assistive device with sensory stimulation to facilitate recovery of gait symmetry in stroke survivors.
  
  Read more

• New interactive map shows climate change everywhere in world

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Cincinnati) University of Cincinnati geography professor Tomasz Stepinski created a new interactive map that allows students or researchers to compare the climates of places anywhere in the world. The map draws on five decades of public meteorological data recorded from 50,000 international weather stations around the Earth. And it uses prediction models to display which parts of the globe will experience the most or least climate change in the next 50 years.
  
  Read more

• New design produces true lithium-air battery

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Illinois at Chicago) Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new lithium-air battery that works in a natural-air environment and still functioned after a record-breaking 750 charge/discharge cycles. Their findings are reported in the journal Nature.
  
  Read more

• New data confirm increased frequency of extreme weather events

  21-03-2018 05:00
  ( European Academies' Science Advisory Council, Leopoldina - Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften) New data confirm increased frequency of extreme weather events, European national science academies urge further action on climate change adaptation. Man-made climate change has been proven to have increased recent extreme rainfall and associated floods; coastal flooding due to sea-level rise; heatwaves in Australia, China, and Europe; and increased risks of wildfires with implications for humans
  
  Read more

• Neuroscientists develop potential tools for the study of brain function

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Missouri-Columbia) A team of University of Missouri neuroscientists are inching closer to developing the tools needed to decipher the brain. Now, the team has published a new paper that demonstrates how these proteins can be used as tools to regulate the activity of individual neurons in the brain through changes in temperature. These tools will advance fundamental brain research and potentially lead to 'deep brain stimulation' treatments used for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patie
  
  Read more

• Neglect common in English care homes

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University College London) The largest-ever survey of care home staff in England, led by UCL researchers, has found that neglectful behaviors are widespread.
  
  Read more

• NASA finds major Tropical Cyclone Marcus getting stronger

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Now a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Tropical Cyclone Marcus continues to strengthen as it moves south and keeps off-shore from Western Australia. NASA's Terra satellite looked at Marcus in infrared light and saw a well-organized hurricane with a wide eye.
  
  Read more

• Nanomaterials hold promise for producing hydrogen from water

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Houston) Hydrogen holds promise as an inexpensive form of clean energy, but finding an efficient and affordable way to produce the fuel from water -- a technique known as water-splitting -- remains a key scientific challenge. A researcher from the University of Houston is working with a colleague in Taiwan to use hollow gold-silver nanoshells to boost the efficiency of photocatalysts, which generate hydrogen from water, powered only by sunlight.
  
  Read more

• Mumps resurgence likely due to waning vaccine-derived immunity

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) A resurgence of mumps in the US among vaccinated young adults appears to be due to waning of vaccine-induced immunity, according to a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analysis. Researchers found vaccine-derived immune protection against mumps lasts about 27 years after the last dose. The findings suggest that, in addition to the currently recommended two doses of mumps vaccine in childhood, a third dose at age 18 may help sustain protection.
  
  Read more

• Model created to help life insurers calculate breast cancer survivors' risk of death

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation) As early detection and treatment of breast cancer improves, more and more women are surviving the disease. However, they still face challenges, which include determining the moment when it might be reasonable to state they are 'cured' of the disease, and obtaining life insurance. At the European Breast Cancer Conference Dutch researchers describe how they have created a model to help life insurers calculate breast cancer survivors' risk of death more accur
  
  Read more

• Medicating for mental health

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Guelph) University of Guelph researchers found evidence that a single bout of exhaustive exercise protects against acute olanzapine-induced hyperglycemia.
  
  Read more

• Mat baits, hooks and destroys pollutants in water

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Rice University) A polymer mat developed at Rice University has the ability to fish biologically harmful contaminants from water through a strategy known as 'bait, hook and destroy.'
  
  Read more

• Long forgotten, 1970s gay health clinics served as front line for AIDS crisis

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Kansas) A new book by a University of Kansas researcher of the history of sexuality and US social movements documents a how well-developed network of gay health clinics already existed in some US cities when the AIDS epidemic struck.
  
  Read more

• Learning to see

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (Massachusetts General Hospital) Researchers with the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new technique based on artificial intelligence and machine learning that should enable clinicians to acquire high-quality images from limited data.
  
  Read more

• Konstanz researcher receives research fellowship in the field of acoustics

  21-03-2018 05:00
  (University of Konstanz) The Acoustical Society of America has selected Dr Yuning Guo of the University of Konstanz as its 2018-2019 Frederick V. Hunt Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Acoustics. Her successful research proposal entitled "Terahertz coherent phonons in thermal conduction modulation" will help advance research in the field of physical acoustics by providing useful insights into how to manipulate heat in non-metallic materials.
  
  Read more

Follow @ScienceUKnews on Twitter!