Sci-Tech news

• Is replacing coal with natural gas actually good for the climate?

  07-11-2016 23:28
  
  Just ten years ago, around half of all electricity generation in the U.S. was powered by coal. Today, that number has dropped to one third. Over that same time period, electricity generation powered by natural gas has jumped from around 20% to 33%. This trend is expected to continue, with natural gas becoming the primary way that Americans get their electricity. And while we know that natural gas emits less carbon dioxide than coal, that doesn't mean that other emissions related to the productio
  
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• NASA astronaut casts lone vote from space

  07-11-2016 23:27
  
  In a US presidential election that's already been out of this world, the lone American astronaut in outer space has cast his vote, NASA said Monday.
  
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• Newspaper woes drag News Corp to loss

  07-11-2016 23:25
  
  Weakness in newspaper advertising dented quarterly results of News Corp., which swung to a loss in the past quarter of declines in advertising and circulation, results showed Monday.
  
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• Researchers use graphene templates to make new metal-oxide nanostructures

  07-11-2016 23:24
  
  Researchers from Brown University have found a new method for making ultrathin metal-oxide sheets containing intricate wrinkle and crumple patterns. In a study published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers show that the textured metal-oxide films have better performance when used as photocatalysts and as battery electrodes.
  
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• Zika Vaccine Trial Starts; Treatment Possible

  07-11-2016 23:14 via nbcnews.com
  Researchers have found a possible treatment for Zika virus as a U.S. team started a new trial of a Zika vaccine Monday.
  
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• This NASA astronaut voted from space

  07-11-2016 22:49 via rss.cnn.com
  
  From infinity and beyond, he found a way to vote.
  
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• Tech Tips to Guide You Through Election Day

  07-11-2016 22:10 via nbcnews.com
  
  With one more week to go before Election Day, tech companies are pulling out all the stops to help engage voters.
  
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• Mislabeled seafood may be more sustainable, new study finds

  07-11-2016 21:42
  
  It's no secret that mislabeling is rampant around the world. Recent studies estimate up to 30 percent of seafood served in restaurants and sold in supermarkets is actually something other than what is listed on the menu or label.
  
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• FBI Scanned Emails the Same Way Your Boss Reads Yours

  07-11-2016 21:41 via nbcnews.com
  
  Scanning 650,000 emails in a little more than a week may sound like a daunting task, but it's one that is surprisingly easy with software.
  
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• Getting to the root of it: Predicting root biomass with electrical capacitance

  07-11-2016 21:34
  
  Unless we're weeding the garden or tripping over one sticking out of the ground, for most of us the root systems of plants are out of sight and out of mind. But, for nearly all plants, roots are essential. They are the conduit for water and nutrients, and therefore a critical element to everything from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, and many of the medicines that treat our illnesses.
  
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• Gene network controls how many flowers and fruits plants will make in critical growth window

  07-11-2016 21:17
  
  There is staggering diversity in the number of flowers produced by each of the 2,800 or so species of plants in the nightshade family, which includes economically important crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes. Some nightshades, such as pepper, produce a single flower, while others, such as tomatoes, give rise to branches bearing multiple flowers.
  
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• Silicon Valley Donated 60 Times More to Clinton Than to Trump

  07-11-2016 21:15 via nbcnews.com
  Clinton attracted 97 percent of big tech money, with the other 3 percent split between Trump, Gary Johnson, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
  
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• Researchers want to use hardware to fight computer viruses

  07-11-2016 21:15
  
  Fighting computer viruses isn't just for software anymore. Binghamton University researchers will use a grant from the National Science Foundation to study how hardware can help protect computers too.
  
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• Bushmeat hunting drives biodiversity declines in Central Africa

  07-11-2016 21:15
  
  Hunting has dramatically reduced wildlife biodiversity in forests near rural villages in the Central African nation of Gabon, a new Duke University-led study finds.
  
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• 'Millions' needed to continue Europe's Mars mission: ESA chief

  07-11-2016 21:14
  
  The European Space Agency (ESA) needs "several hundred millions" of euros for its troubled ExoMars exploration of the Red Planet, director general Jan Woerner said Monday.
  
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• Young birds less honest when competing against siblings

  07-11-2016 21:00
  
  Chicks that are competing with siblings or whose parents are likely to die or switch partners tend to be less honest when begging for food, research into sibling rivalry in birds by Oxford University scientists has found.
  
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• Variable tree growth after fire protects forests from future bark beetle outbreaks

  07-11-2016 21:00
  
  Do severe wildfires make forests in the western United States more susceptible to future bark beetle outbreaks?
  
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• Tracing the ivory trail: Clues in poached ivory yield ages and locations of origin

  07-11-2016 21:00
  
  More than 90 percent of ivory in large seized shipments came from elephants that died less than three years before, according to a new University of Utah study. Combining radiocarbon ivory dating with genetic analysis provides a picture of when and where poachers are killing elephants, useful tools in the ongoing battle against illegal animal product trade. The study was published November 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
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• Could an iron-grabbing molecule help prevent UTIs? New vaccine shows promise in mice

  07-11-2016 21:00
  
  For most invading bacteria, the bladder is not a friendly place.
  
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• A new approach against Salmonella and other pathogens

  07-11-2016 21:00
  
  Researchers from MIT and the University of California at Irvine have developed a new strategy to immunize against microbes that invade the gastrointestinal tract, including Salmonella, which causes more foodborne illness in the United States than any other bacteria.
  
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• Tesla to End Unlimited Free Use of Supercharging Stations

  07-11-2016 20:18
  Electric car maker Tesla Motors says it will end unlimited free use of its worldwide charging station network
  
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• 'I Voted From Space': Lone American off Planet Casts Ballot

  07-11-2016 20:15
  The lone American off the planet has cast his vote from space
  
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• Software 'bots' distort Trump support on Twitter: study

  07-11-2016 18:29
  
  Software robots generated a significant number of Twitter messages in support of Donald Trump, distorting the Republican presidential nominee's backing on the social network, a study showed Monday.
  
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• Print newspapers are dead? Not after historic elections

  07-11-2016 18:29
  
  Print newspapers may be disappearing like the home telephone, but not after Election Day.
  
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• Nanocellulose in medicine and green manufacturing

  07-11-2016 18:17
  
  What if you could take one of the most abundant natural materials on earth and harness its strength to lighten the heaviest of objects, to replace synthetic materials, or use it in scaffolding to grow bone, in a fast-growing area of science in oral health care?
  
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• NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Measures a Day on Saturn

  07-11-2016 18:12 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Measuring the exact length of a Saturn day is turning out to be a bigger challenge than originally thought. Over more than a decade in Saturn orbit, Cassini’s instruments have wrestled with confusing measurements to determine the planet’s precise rotation rate. The mission’s final year and unprecedented trajectory will carry Cassini to unexplored regions so […]
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• Bat fatalities at wind farms prove unpredictable

  07-11-2016 18:00
  
  Costly ecological impact assessments (EcIAs) completed prior to the building of wind farms have failed to protect bats from fatal collisions with the spinning blades. Researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 7 say that, for reasons that aren't yet entirely clear, that's because surveys of bat activity conducted only before building begins are poor predictors of future bat fatalities.
  
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• Aging bonobos in the wild could use reading glasses too

  07-11-2016 18:00
  
  As people age, they often find that it's more difficult to see things up close. Reading a newspaper suddenly requires a good pair of reading glasses or bifocals. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 7 find that the same goes for bonobos, one of human's closest primate relatives along with chimpanzees, even though they obviously don't read.
  
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• Scientists Identify Potential Treatment for Fatal Leptospirosis

  07-11-2016 17:38 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research on leptospirosis sheds light on how the disease causes death and reveals a potentially novel treatment. While rare in the United States, leptospirosis remains an important health threat for impoverished populations in developing countries, causing more than one million illnesses and 60,000 deaths annually. The reasons why leptospirosis causes life-threatening manifestations, such as […]
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• New coral research exposes genomic underpinnings of adaptation

  07-11-2016 17:34
  
  Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have observed for the first time that separate populations of the same species—in this case, coral—can diverge in their capacity to regulate genes when adapting to their local environment. The research, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, reveals a new way for populations to adapt that may help predict how they will fare under climate change.
  
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• New advance in RNA studies holds out hope for cancer drug development

  07-11-2016 17:28
  
  An international research team led by the University of Leicester has made a breakthrough advance that could pave a new route for the development of anti-cancer drugs.
  
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• Astronomers Study the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54

  07-11-2016 17:27 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A team of astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has modeled the detailed shape of the pulsar wind nebula created by PSR B0355+54. Neutron stars are the detritus of supernova explosions, with masses between one and several suns and diameters only tens of kilometers across. A pulsar is a spinning neutron star with a […]
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• Patagonian fossil leaves reveal rapid recovery from dinosaur extinction event

  07-11-2016 17:25
  
  Ancient feeding marks from hungry insects in South American leaf fossils are shedding new light on the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.
  
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• Scientists present the most accurate time measurements of quantum jumps to date

  07-11-2016 17:24
  
  When a quantum system changes its state, this is called a quantum jump. Usually, these quantum jumps are considered to be instantaneous. Now, new methods for high-precision measurements allow us to study the time evolution of these quantum jumps. On a time scale of attoseconds, there time structure becomes visible. It is he most accurate time measurement of quantum jumps to date.
  
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• Diamond collection brings deep Earth to the surface

  07-11-2016 17:17
  
  Researchers at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and University of British Columbia recently analyzed diamonds from the Museum's collection and learned how an unusual chunk of Africa formed.
  
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• Carefully chosen wording can increase donations by over 300 percent

  07-11-2016 17:17
  
  A forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, based on the psychology of sympathy, shows that small changes in the wording of a fundraising letter can increase donations by over 300 percent.
  
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• From the Panama Papers to an intelligence service for your own business

  07-11-2016 17:16
  
  In 2016 more than a hundred newspapers and others published revelations on tax avoidance and evasion. They were based on the Panama Papers, a collection of data that comprises 2.6 terabytes of information and 11.5 million documents. In 2015 this was leaked to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung; an international group of journalists evaluated it over the course of a year. Now, computer scientists at the Max Planck spin-off Ambiverse have analyzed the data with software in a few hours, obtaining new results
  
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• You can thank our pre-mammalian ancestors for your sexy teeth

  07-11-2016 17:15
  
  Next time you're getting ready for a hot date and pause to flash a toothy grin at yourself in the mirror, thank your ancestors.
  
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• Hubble Views Lenticular Galaxy NGC 1222

  07-11-2016 17:14 via scitechdaily.com
  
  This newly released Hubble image shows lenticular galaxy NGC 1222, which is located 100 milion light-years away. NGC 1222, seen in this image taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), is a galaxy with a rather eventful story to tell. NGC 1222 has been described as a […]
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• The Caucasus as an 'island' in the 'sea' of steppes: New insights in mosquito evolution

  07-11-2016 17:12
  
  From a geographical point of view, the Caucasus is far from an island or even a peninsula, being a relatively big mountainous region appearing as a fence at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. However, a study into the chromosome structure of mosquito larvae of the species Glyptotendipes salinus, living by a saltwater lake in the foothills of the Caucasus, suggests that the region could be imagined as an "island" in the "sea" of steppes.
  
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• Ill-treatment and working the night shift increases nurse turnover

  07-11-2016 17:10
  
  Workplace incivility, characterised by subtle forms of mistreatment (such as a dismissive gesture, raised voices or harsh words) can lead to lower job satisfaction, psychological stress, and a decline in physical health. These negative effects eventually result in higher employee turnover.
  
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• Increasing cost of natural hazards as climate changes

  07-11-2016 17:06
  
  A new comprehensive study of Australian natural hazards paints a picture of increasing heatwaves and extreme bushfires as this century progresses, but with much more uncertainty about the future of storms and rainfall.
  
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• Pollution emitted near equator has biggest impact on global ozone

  07-11-2016 17:00
  
  Since the 1980s, air pollution has increased worldwide, but it has increased at a much faster pace in regions close to the equator. Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now reveals that this changing global emissions map is creating more total ozone worldwide compared to the amount of pollution being emitted, signaling an effect that could be difficult to reign in without strategic policy planning.
  
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• Lasers + anti-lasers: Marriage opens door to development of single device with exceptional range of optical capabilities

  07-11-2016 17:00
  
  Bringing opposing forces together in one place is as challenging as you would imagine it to be, but researchers in the field of optical science have done just that.
  
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• Dependency can be an evolutionary advantage

  07-11-2016 16:30
  
  It has been known for quite some time that genetically modified bacteria, which have lost their ability to produce certain amino acids and retrieve these nutrients from their environment grow better than bacteria, which produce all nutrients themselves (see press release Division of Labor in the Test Tube, December 2, 2013). This led Christian Kost, leader of the study and now professor at the University of Osnabrück, to inquire whether natural selection would favor the loss of abilities, t
  
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• Life took hold on land 300 million years earlier than thought

  07-11-2016 16:29
  
  Life took hold on land at least as early as 3.2 billion years ago, suggests a study by scientists from Berlin, Potsdam and Jena (Germany). The team led by Sami Nabhan of the Freie Universität Berlin studied ancient rock formations from South Africa's Barberton greenstone belt.
  
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• CyLab researchers create network traffic visualization tool to help thwart cyber attacks

  07-11-2016 16:29
  
  Last month, tens of websites including Amazon, Netflix and others fell victim to one of the largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in history, temporarily crashing under the weight of huge amounts of fake traffic orchestrated by malicious hackers. At Carnegie Mellon, research out of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute shows that the tools needed to thwart these kinds of attacks are on the horizon.
  
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• Tesla to end free use of supercharging stations

  07-11-2016 16:22
  
  Electric car maker Tesla Motors says it will end free use of its worldwide charging station network.
  
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• Report of different Samsung phone model exploding

  07-11-2016 16:21
  
  A Samsung phone user in France says her Galaxy J5 smartphone caught fire and exploded on Sunday. The model is different from the Galaxy Note 7 that has been recalled worldwide.
  
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• Herbivory and climate change factors may significantly increase BVOC emissions from boreal conifers

  07-11-2016 16:20
  
  Boreal conifer forests are sources of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions into the atmosphere. Global warming exposes boreal trees to biotic stress caused by insect outbreaks and they are also affected by abiotic climate change factors.
  
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