Sci-Tech news

• Secret Service Agent Gets 6 Years in Silk Road Theft

  07-12-2015 23:35 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The judge called Shaun Bridges' behavior a "shocking and reprehensible abandonment of his public duty."
  
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• High-energy X-rays give industry affordable way to optimize cast iron

  07-12-2015 23:26
  
  Cast iron can be modified through the manufacturing process to optimize its mechanical and physical properties, such as strength and durability.
  
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• Google's Schmidt: Tech Must Work to Combat Hate

  07-12-2015 23:19 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  In a New York Times op-ed, Google's Eric Schmidt urged tech companies and governments to fight both censorship and hate speech online.
  
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• DOT challenges cities to envision future transportation

  07-12-2015 23:10
  
  The Department of Transportation is challenging cities to envision how new technologies and data can improve the movement of people and goods.
  
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• Early progress at UN talks seeking to avert climate disaster

  07-12-2015 23:00
  
  Ministers seeking to avoid climate catastrophe reported rare cooperation Monday as they launched five days of frenetic negotiations in Paris to reach a historic global deal.
  
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• Secret Service agent sentenced in online currency theft

  07-12-2015 22:55
  
  A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Secret Service agent to nearly six years in prison following his conviction on charges related to the theft of electronic currency during a high-profile investigation into the online drug bazaar Silk Road.
  
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• 36 countries launch world alliance for geothermal energy

  07-12-2015 22:47
  
  Thirty-six countries gave the official start Monday to an initiative to promote geothermal energy in developing economies as a cleaner alternative to oil, gas and coal.
  
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• Teens think Facebook uncool, but still use it

  07-12-2015 22:46
  
  American teens think Facebook has definitely lost its cool factor, but use it as much as ever.
  
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• PC market woes show no sign of easing

  07-12-2015 22:45
  
  Global PC sales are still falling, and will likely remain on the decline through 2016, a market tracker said Monday.
  
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• RHIC particle smashups find that shape matters

  07-12-2015 22:44
  
  Peering into the seething soup of primordial matter created in particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)-an "atom smasher" dedicated to nuclear physics research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory-scientists have come to a new understanding of how particles are produced in these collisions. This understanding represents a paradigm shift consistent with the presence of a saturated state of gluons, super-dense fields of the glue-like particles
  
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• How fresh is your maple syrup?

  07-12-2015 22:38
  
  The maple syrup that's tapped from the tree may not be as fresh as you think it is.
  
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• Cities support a greater number of threatened species than non-urban areas

  07-12-2015 22:38
  
  The earth is facing a catastrophic species extinction crisis. The dominant approach to conservation has been to focus on protecting pristine environments, but new research from Australia demonstrates that on average, urban environments contain disproportionately more threatened protected species in a given area than non-urban environments.
  
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• Could hippos be meat eaters?

  07-12-2015 22:37
  
  People often think hippos are herbivores with big smiling faces. Every now and then, reports of a hippo of hunting down prey, eating a carcass, or stealing prey from a crocodile are heard, but they're typically considered 'aberrant' or 'unusual' behaviour.
  
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• A new genus of plant bug, plus four new species from Australia

  07-12-2015 22:37
  
  A new genus of plant bug and four new species have been discovered in Australia. The newly discovered insects, which belong to the family Miridae and the subfamily Phylinae, are described in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.
  
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• Researchers assess contaminants in New York City's community gardens

  07-12-2015 22:36
  
  While community gardens provide benefits including urban green space, opportunities for recreation, art expression, social gathering, and improved diets, urban gardening may also increase the opportunity for exposure to common urban soil contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
  
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• Invasive ants threaten native Australian butterfly

  07-12-2015 22:36
  
  A widespread invasive ant species is posing a significant threat to native Australian butterflies.
  
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• First code improvements adopted based on NIST Joplin tornado study

  07-12-2015 22:36
  
  Protecting schools and their associated high-occupancy buildings from the most violent tornadoes is the goal of the first approved building code changes based on recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) technical investigation into the impacts of the deadly tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011.
  
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• Warm nights could flood the atmosphere with carbon under climate change

  07-12-2015 22:14
  
  The warming effects of climate change usually conjure up ideas of parched and barren landscapes broiling in a blazing sun, its heat amplified by greenhouse gases. But a study led by Princeton University researchers suggests that hotter nights may actually wield much greater influence over the planet's atmosphere as global temperatures rise—and could eventually lead to more carbon flooding the atmosphere.
  
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• New molecular structure reveals how bluetongue virus enters host cells

  07-12-2015 22:14
  
  A five-year research partnership between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has revealed the atomic-level structure of the bluetongue virus (BTV), a disease that has killed an estimated two million cattle in Europe over the past two decades. The results are published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
  
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• More aggressive climate policies are needed to save the future poor

  07-12-2015 22:13
  
  People often believe that future generations will be better off than their predecessors, but that may be a dangerous assumption when it comes to climate change, according to new Princeton research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
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• Increased CO2 in the atmosphere has altered photosynthesis of plants over the 20th century

  07-12-2015 22:11
  
  Researchers at Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have discovered that increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have shifted photosynthetic metabolism in plants over the 20th century. This is the first study worldwide that deduces biochemical regulation of plant metabolism from historical specimens. The findings are now published in the leading journal PNAS and will have an impact on new models of future CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
  
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• New innovative method for delivering genes into cells

  07-12-2015 22:10
  
  Living cells express genes involved in physiological functions like development and metabolism via complex mechanisms. The cell membrane protects the genome from various exogenous molecules. Cell transfection is a fundamental technique that is used to deliver molecules, such as nucleic acids, proteins, and drugs, into living cells. The technique has been implicated in the development of a broad spectrum of life science applications.
  
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• Scientists find widespread ear tumors—and promising solution—for endangered Catalina Island foxes

  07-12-2015 22:05
  
  Until recently, endangered foxes on California's Catalina Island were suffering from one of the highest prevalences of tumors ever documented in a wildlife population, UC Davis scientists have found. But treatment of ear mites appears to be helping the wild animals recover.
  
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• Breaking bread with colleagues boosts productivity

  07-12-2015 22:03
  
  Plenty of companies invest big money to provide their employees with upscale workplace eateries or at least catered meals. But are those companies getting a good return on their investment? According to a new Cornell University study, the answer is yes.
  
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• Researchers find molecular shift that stops stem cells in Drosophila from making tumors

  07-12-2015 22:02
  
  University of Oregon scientists studying neural stem cells in the fruit fly Drosophila have uncovered a molecular change experienced by stem cells as they age. During development of the central nervous system, a protein is expressed that blocks tumor formation.
  
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• Including plant acclimation to temperature change improves climate models

  07-12-2015 22:01
  
  Including plants' acclimation to changes in temperature could significantly improve the accuracy of climate models, a Purdue University study shows.
  
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• New study of environmental attitudes nine distinct segments of American population

  07-12-2015 22:00
  
  Americans' attitudes about environmental issues aren't simply polarized into pro- and anti-environment, but rather are spread across a diverse spectrum. A new study from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies finds that attitudes about environmental issues are influenced by a combination of experience, interaction with natural environments, and religious and political views about the responsibilities of humankind a
  
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• What makes Tom Hanks look like Tom Hanks?

  07-12-2015 21:56
  
  Tom Hanks has appeared in many acting roles over the years, playing young and old, smart and simple. Yet we always recognize him as Tom Hanks. Why? Is it his appearance? His mannerisms? The way he moves?
  
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• New method for observing viruses may shed light on how to stop them

  07-12-2015 21:48
  
  Want to make a virus? It's easy: combine one molecule of genomic nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA, and a handful of proteins, shake, and in a fraction of a second you'll have a fully-formed virus.
  
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• A cure for medical researchers' big data headache

  07-12-2015 21:47
  
  As medical research has become more specialized, the scientific community's understanding of the human body has increased, resulting in enhanced treatments, new drugs, and better health outcomes.
  
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• How Zuckerberg could prevent gun violence

  07-12-2015 21:12 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Sreedhar Potarazu: The Facebook founder and other business leaders should push for ways to use big data to anticipate and prevent violence and terrorism
  
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• Unless they crane their necks all sperm would only turn left

  07-12-2015 21:00
  
  Spermatozoa need to crane their necks to turn right to counteract a left-turning drive caused by the rotation of their tails, new research has found.
  
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• Unexpected wood source for Chaco Canyon great houses

  07-12-2015 21:00
  
  The wood in the monumental "great houses" built in Chaco Canyon by ancient Puebloans came from two different mountain ranges, according to new research from the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.
  
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• New technique captures diverse effects of cavitation bubbles on individual cells

  07-12-2015 21:00
  
  Duke researchers have devised a way to take an in-depth look at a poorly understood phenomenon that commonly occurs in medical procedures using therapeutic ultrasound, such as shattering kidney stones, delivering drugs to cells, and, most recently, breaking the blood-brain barrier.
  
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• Gut bacteria important factor in cockroach gathering

  07-12-2015 21:00
  
  North Carolina State University research shows that bacteria in the gut of German cockroaches play a major role in how the cockroaches gather together, or aggregate. The findings could lead to more efficient roach baits and traps.
  
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• Dinosaur relatives and first dinosaurs more closely connected than previously thought

  07-12-2015 21:00
  
  A new study by a team of scientists from Argentina, Brazil, California and the Natural History Museum of Utah at the University of Utah has determined that the time elapsed between the emergence of early dinosaur relatives and the origin of the first dinosaurs is much shorter than previously believed. The discovery not only places a new timeline on the connection between early dinosaur relatives and the first dinosaurs in this particular geologic formation, but also in other formations across th
  
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• Florida Man Linked to JPMorgan Hacking Case Indicted

  07-12-2015 20:53 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Yuri Lebedev was arrested in July along with another man for engaging in a conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
  
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• Watch: Sleeping in Space

  07-12-2015 20:41 via abcnews.go.com
  
  NASA Astronaut Terry Virts explains how astronauts sleep aboard the International Space Station
  
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• Fusion Power Could Be Here By 2020, U.K. Company Says

  07-12-2015 20:24 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  A U.K. company says it could be as little as five years from making "reactor relevant" fusion.
  
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• Second time lucky for Japan's Venus orbiter?

  07-12-2015 19:15
  
  Japan’s Akatsuki Venus probe tried to enter the planet’s orbit Sunday, five years after its last attempt ended in failure.
  
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• Stonehenge stones may have been first erected in another country

  07-12-2015 19:08
  
  Stonehenge may reside in England, but it "was a Welsh monument from its very beginning."
  
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• Huge organs defy austerity for tiny cave snails in the subterranean realm

  07-12-2015 18:40
  
  While most of the knowledge about tiny snails comes from studying empty shells sifted out from piles of dust and sand, the present research is the first contemporary microscopic exploration of organs in cave snails tinier than 2 mm. The paper, published in the open-access journal Subterranean Biology, reveals that underneath the seemingly fragile shells of the Zospeum genus, there are strikingly huge organs.
  
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• Tiny drug-laden 'popping bubbles' lead triple attack treatment for liver cancer

  07-12-2015 18:39
  
  In an interdisciplinary collaboration between prominent academic and industry investigators, researchers have discovered a novel method for repositioning an FDA-approved anti-cancer compound so it can specifically target liver cancer tumors. A 'triple attack' technique combining chemotherapy, thermal ablation, and hyperthermia provided a highly targeted, yet minimally invasive approach.
  
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• Take the A train? Apple, Google and other apps can tell you

  07-12-2015 18:30
  
  HopStop, a pioneer in offering transit directions in major cities, disappeared in October—not because it failed, but because Apple bought it and shut it down after putting its engineers to work building Apple's own transit-navigation service. That feature went live on Apple Maps in September, narrowing a major feature gap with Google Maps.
  
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• Climate talks a chance to 'rise to history': UN

  07-12-2015 18:29
  
  Ministers from around the planet launched a five-day scramble in Paris Monday to answer "the call of history" with a deal to spare mankind from climate disaster.
  
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• Key Twitter events: Paris attacks, #BlackLivesMatter

  07-12-2015 18:17
  
  The Paris attacks in January and November were among the key news events shared on Twitter this year, the social network said in a roundup Monday of 2015 trends.
  
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• New research sheds light on mercury pollution in estuaries, food chain

  07-12-2015 18:16
  
  Two studies by Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues shed new light on mercury pollution in the waters of the northeastern United States.
  
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• Climate change governs a crop pest, even when populations are far-flung

  07-12-2015 18:16
  
  As delegates from 195 nations meet in Paris to debate mankind's response to global climate change, scientists from the University of Kansas and Rothamsted Research in England today issue a study of a major crop pest that underlines how "climate is changing in more ways than just warming."
  
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• Nanotube letters spell progress: Team analyzes stiffness of individual branching nanotubes

  07-12-2015 18:14
  
  Never mind the ABCs. Rice University scientists interested in nanotubes are studying their XYΩs.
  
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• Russia loses a satellite in another setback to its space program

  07-12-2015 18:13
  
  The Soyuz-2.1B rocket carrying two satellites was launched Dec. 5 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Russian north-western Arkhangelsk region.
  
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