Sci-Tech news

• South Dakota bill leaves evolution skepticism up to teachers

  21-02-2017 23:33
  
  South Dakota legislators are weighing whether to let teachers decide how much skepticism to work into lessons on contentious scientific topics such as evolution and climate change.
  
  Read more

• Bye Bye, Bao Bao: Panda leaves Washington for China

  21-02-2017 23:33
  
  One of Washington's most popular residents left town on Tuesday: Bao Bao, the National Zoo's uber-popular young female panda, headed to her new home in China.
  
  Read more

• New metamaterial is proved to be the world's first to achieve the performance predicted by theoretical bounds

  21-02-2017 22:44
  
  In 2015 UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer and materials scientist Jonathan Berger developed an idea that could change the way people think about high-performance structural materials. Two years later, his concept is paying research dividends.
  
  Read more

• Genetic data show mainly men migrated from the Pontic steppe to Europe 5,000 years ago

  21-02-2017 22:41
  
  A new study, looking at the sex-specifically inherited X chromosome of prehistoric human remains, shows that hardly any women took part in the extensive migration from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe approximately 5,000 years ago. The great migration that brought farming practices to Europe 4,000 years earlier, on the other hand, consisted of both women and men. The difference in sex bias suggests that different social and cultural processes drove the two migrations.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Winners, losers among fish when landscape undergoes change

  21-02-2017 22:07
  
  As humans build roads, construct buildings and develop land for agriculture, freshwater ecosystems respond ? but not always in the ways one might expect.
  
  Read more

• Fermi finds possible dark matter ties in Andromeda galaxy

  21-02-2017 22:00
  
  NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found a signal at the center of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that could indicate the presence of the mysterious stuff known as dark matter. The gamma-ray signal is similar to one seen by Fermi at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.
  
  Read more

• Likelihood of dieting success lies within your tweets

  21-02-2017 21:45
  
  There is a direct link between a person's attitude on social media and the likelihood that their dieting efforts will succeed.
  
  Read more

• New design for longer lasting night-vision cameras

  21-02-2017 21:36
  
  With the amazing ability to survey areas in complete darkness, night-vision cameras have revolutionized the security industry. But the materials and technology embodied in current cameras tend to degrade under temperature stress, causing night-vision devices to frequently break.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Over time, nuisance flooding can cost more than extreme, infrequent events

  21-02-2017 21:34
  
  Global climate change is being felt in many coastal communities of the United States, not always in the form of big weather disasters but as a steady drip, drip, drip of nuisance flooding.
  
  Read more

• NASA sees development of South Pacific's Tropical Cyclone Bart

  21-02-2017 21:28
  
  Tropical Cyclone Bart has developed in the Southern Pacific Ocean, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the storm early on Feb. 21.
  
  Read more

• WhatsApp's 'Status' Update Borrows From Snapchat

  21-02-2017 21:18 via nbcnews.com
  
  WhatsApp is launching a new Status feature that looks a lot like Instagram and Snapchat stories.
  
  Read more

• Can Uber Weather Sex Harassment Scandal?

  21-02-2017 20:01 via nbcnews.com
  
  Uber needs to conduct a thorough and open investigation and quickly dismiss employees who participated or failed to report sexual harassment, experts say.
  
  Read more

• Researchers recalibrate shark population density using data they gathered during eight years of study on Palmyra atoll

  21-02-2017 19:56
  
  Many shark populations around the world are known to have declined over the past several decades, yet marine scientists lack important baseline information about what a healthy shark population looks like. A clearer picture is now coming into focus—thanks to a team of scientists who investigated the size of an unfished community of reef sharks.
  
  Read more

• NASA spots short-lived Tropical Cyclone Alfred

  21-02-2017 19:56
  
  NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the Southern Pacific Ocean's newly formed tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria. By the next day Alfred made landfall and weakened to a remnant low pressure area.
  
  Read more

• Historic Manhattan cathedral activates eco-friendly power

  21-02-2017 19:19
  
  The historic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan has activated a geothermal plant—part of a series of environmentally friendly upgrades.
  
  Read more

• Chemists reveal novel biocatalysts for bioactive alkaloid synthesis

  21-02-2017 19:18
  
  Alkaloids are natural nitrogen-containing compounds produced by plants and microbes. These molecules, such as morphine and quinine, are important human medicines. Alkaloids are typically polycyclic in nature. While the polycyclic characteristics are important for their bioactivities, these features impede their chemical syntheses in the laboratory and their applications as pharmaceuticals.
  
  Read more

• Engineers overcome a hurdle in growing a revolutionary optical metamaterial

  21-02-2017 18:53
  
  When John Crocker, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science was a graduate student, his advisor gathered together everyone in his lab to "throw down the gauntlet" on a new challenge in the field.
  
  Read more

• Science vs. the sea lamprey

  21-02-2017 18:52
  
  Of all the fishy predators in the Great Lakes, few are more destructive than the sea lamprey. There's something of a horror movie in their approach: jawless, they attach to prey such as salmon, whitefish or trout with a sucker mouth and drain the victim of its blood and lymph.
  
  Read more

• New studies quantify the impacts of water use on diversity of fish and aquatic insects in NC streams

  21-02-2017 18:51
  
  The health of fish and aquatic insects could be significantly affected by withdrawals of fresh water from the rivers and streams across North Carolina according to a new scientific assessment.
  
  Read more

• Colorado River flows will keep shrinking as climate warms

  21-02-2017 18:51
  
  Warming in the 21st century reduced Colorado River flows by at least 0.5 million acre-feet, about the amount of water used by 2 million people for one year, according to new research from the University of Arizona and Colorado State University.
  
  Read more

• Prediction: More gas-giants will be found orbiting Sun-like stars

  21-02-2017 18:49
  
  New planetary formation models from Carnegie's Alan Boss indicate that there may be an undiscovered population of gas giant planets orbiting around Sun-like stars at distances similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn. His work is published by The Astrophysical Journal.
  
  Read more

• NASA's SnowEx challenges the sensing techniques... 'until they break'

  21-02-2017 18:49
  
  A NASA-led team will kick off an ambitious airborne campaign to determine which combination of sensors would work best at collecting global snow-water measurements from space—critical for understanding and managing the world's freshwater resources. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland are providing technology to the mission.
  
  Read more

• Radiocarbon dating and DNA show ancient Puebloan leadership in the maternal line

  21-02-2017 18:46
  
  Discovering who was a leader, or even if leaders existed, from the ruins of archaeological sites is difficult, but now a team of archaeologists and biological anthropologists, using a powerful combination of radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA, have shown that a matrilineal dynasty likely ruled Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico for more than 300 years.
  
  Read more

• Scientists combine the ultra-fast with the ultra-small to pioneer microscopy at terahertz frequencies

  21-02-2017 18:45
  
  For the first time ever, scientists have captured images of terahertz electron dynamics of a semiconductor surface on the atomic scale. The successful experiment indicates a bright future for the new and quickly growing sub-field called terahertz scanning tunneling microscopy (THz-STM), pioneered by the University of Alberta in Canada. THz-STM allows researchers to image electron behaviour at extremely fast timescales and explore how that behaviour changes between different atoms.
  
  Read more

• Model of CRISPR, phage co-evolution explains confusing experimental results

  21-02-2017 18:44
  
  A Rice University study suggests that researchers planning to use the CRISPR genome-editing system to produce designer gut bacteria may need to account for the dynamic evolution of the microbial immune system.
  
  Read more

• Prides, protection and parks: Africa's protected areas can support four times as many lions

  21-02-2017 18:43
  
  New York, NY-Africa's protected parks and reserves are capable of supporting three to four times as many wild lions if well funded and managed, according to a new report led by Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization.
  
  Read more

• Study details ringed structure of ORC in DNA replication

  21-02-2017 18:42
  
  An international collaboration of life scientists, including experts at Van Andel Research Institute, has described in exquisite detail the critical first steps of DNA replication, which allows cells to divide and most advanced life, including human, to propagate.
  
  Read more

• New data about two distant asteroids give a clue to the possible 'Planet Nine'

  21-02-2017 18:40
  
  The dynamical properties of these asteroids, observed spectroscopiccally for the first time using the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS, suggest a possible common origin and give a clue to the existence of a planet beyond Pluto, the so-called 'Planet Nine.'
  
  Read more

• Researchers document second case of 'Down syndrome' in chimps

  21-02-2017 18:38
  
  Japanese researchers have confirmed the second case known to science of a chimpanzee born with trisomy 22, a chromosomal defect similar to that of Down syndrome (or trisomy 21) in humans. The report on Kanako, a 24-year-old female chimp born into captivity, was led by Satoshi Hirata of Kyoto University in Japan, and appears in the journal Primates, published by Springer. The authors also describe their attempts to improve the quality of life of this chimpanzee, through providing and managing opp
  
  Read more

• Tune your radio: Galaxies sing when forming stars

  21-02-2017 18:37
  
  A team led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has found the most precise way ever to measure the rate at which stars form in galaxies using their radio emission at 1-10 Gigahertz frequency range.
  
  Read more

• Scientists remove reliance on seasonality in new broccoli line, potentially doubling yield

  21-02-2017 18:35
  
  Scientists at the John Innes Centre are developing a new line of fast-growing sprouting broccoli that goes from seed to harvest in 8-10 weeks. It has the potential to deliver two full crops a season in-field or it can be grown all year round in protected conditions, which could help with continuity of supply, as growers would no longer be reliant on seasonal weather conditions.
  
  Read more

• New approach to measure fluid drag on the body during swimming

  21-02-2017 18:29
  
  A key factor to improve swimming performance is reducing resistance that water exerts on the moving body. This resistance, known as drag, is influenced by factors including the stroke rate, swimmer's size, and swimming speed. The range of factors, along with the motion of the swimmer, have made it difficult to measure drag accurately.
  
  Read more

• DOOMED is new online learning approach to robotics modeling

  21-02-2017 18:27
  
  Robotics researchers have developed a novel adaptive control approach based on online learning that allows for the correction of dynamics errors in real time using the data stream from the robot. The strategy is described in an article published in Big Data.
  
  Read more

• Italy cabbies clash with riot police during strike over Uber

  21-02-2017 18:12
  Thousands of taxi drivers protesting legislation they say will favor Uber clashed with riot police Tuesday, intensifying a weeklong cab strike that has crippled transport in Rome, Milan and Turin
  
  Read more

• Scientists present the smallest member of the CRISPR-Cas9 family developed to date

  21-02-2017 17:17
  
  Scientists at the Center for Genome Engineering, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), in collaboration with KIM Eunji (ToolGen Inc.) and KIM Jeong Hun (Seoul National University) have engineered the smallest CRISPR-Cas9 to date, delivered it to the muscle cells and in the eyes of mice via adeno-associated viruses (AAV) and used it to modify a gene causing blindness. Published on Nature Communications, this CRISPR-Cas9 system, originated from Campylobacter jejuni (CjCas9), is expected to
  
  Read more

• Cutting-edge cameras reveal the secret life of dolphins

  21-02-2017 17:15
  
  A world-first study testing new underwater cameras on wild dolphins has given researchers the best view yet into their hidden marine world.
  
  Read more

• Waste silicon sawdust recycled into anode for lithium-ion battery

  21-02-2017 17:14
  
  Researchers have created a high performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using waste silicon (Si) sawdust.
  
  Read more

• More black police won't result in fewer police-involved homicides of black citizens

  21-02-2017 17:13
  
  Hiring more black police officers is not a viable strategy for reducing police-involved homicides of black citizens in most cities, according to new Indiana University research that is the first in-depth study of this increasingly urgent public policy question.
  
  Read more

• Dream of energy-collecting windows is one step closer to reality

  21-02-2017 17:12
  
  Researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of Milano-Bicocca are bringing the dream of windows that can efficiently collect solar energy one step closer to reality thanks to high tech silicon nanoparticles.
  
  Read more

• Researchers helping intelligence analysts make smart decisions

  21-02-2017 17:11
  
  Researchers at George Mason University are developing a tool combining intelligent computer software and high-level crowdsourcing that will allow intelligence analysts to give sound advice to decision makers in high-pressure situations.
  
  Read more

• Experiments call origin of Earth's iron into question

  21-02-2017 17:09
  
  New research from The University of Texas at Austin reveals that the Earth's unique iron composition isn't linked to the formation of the planet's core, calling into question a prevailing theory about the events that shaped our planet during its earliest years.
  
  Read more

• Understanding 'glass relaxation' and why it's important for next-generation displays

  21-02-2017 17:00
  
  Next-generation displays will feature increased resolution and performance, but getting there will require a shift to smaller individual pixel sizes and a tightening of the tolerance for glass relaxation. Display manufacturers can account for a certain level of relaxation in the glass, referring to the intermolecular rearrangement, if it's known and reproducible. But fluctuations in this relaxation behavior tend to introduce uncertainty into the manufacturing process, possibly leading to misalig
  
  Read more

• Tiny nanoclusters could solve big problems for lithium-ion batteries

  21-02-2017 16:36
  
  As devices become smaller and more powerful, they require faster, smaller, more stable batteries. University of Illinois chemists have developed a superionic solid that could be the basis of next-generation lithium-ion batteries.
  
  Read more

• Scientists release final report, recommendations from the 2016 US National Ocean Exploration Forum

  21-02-2017 16:36
  
  Ocean explorers need to think "beyond the ships" and plan ahead to an age of SuBastian and the Roboats—a new world of marine technology characterized by autonomy, sensors, precision, miniaturization, machine learning and artificial intelligence, telepresence, better forms of energy storage, and sharing to boost asset utilization.
  
  Read more

• WATCH: Pope issues warning to teens about dangers of texting

  21-02-2017 16:30
  
  The Pontiff tells teenagers not to text during meals.
  
  Read more

• New Research Confirms Vitamin D Protects Against Respiratory Diseases

  21-02-2017 16:30 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research confirms that Vitamin D supplements are effective in preventing respiratory diseases, showing that daily or weekly supplementation had the greatest benefit for individuals...
  The post New Research Confirms Vitamin D Protects Against Respiratory Diseases appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
  Read more

• Scientists find genetic mutations that drive antibiotic resistance

  21-02-2017 16:13
  
  Scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have identified novel mutations in bacteria that promote the evolution of high-level antibiotic resistance.
  
  Read more

• How habitat destruction figures in long-term survival plans

  21-02-2017 16:13
  
  Some organisms might have an interesting strategy for long-term survival: switching between two unsustainable forms of behaviour that, when kept unchecked, can actually cause them to wipe out their own homes.
  
  Read more

• New approach for the capture of tumor-derived exosomes from a prostate cancer cell line

  21-02-2017 16:10
  
  In a new paper in Springer's Journal of Materials Science, researchers at Washington State University report a new approach for the effective capture of tumor-derived exosomes from a prostate cancer cell line. Exosomes are small secreted vesicles that play a key role in intercellular communication and cancer progression.
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Court weighs debate over Ohio execution process

  21-02-2017 16:03
  A federal appeals court is hearing arguments over the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection process as the state hopes to start carrying out executions once again
  
  Read more

Follow @NewslockSciTech on Twitter!