Sci-Tech news

• Figuring out how fast Greenland is melting

  05-07-2017 23:03
  
  A new analysis of Greenland's past temperatures will help scientists figure out how fast the island's vast ice sheet is melting, according to a new report from University of Arizona atmospheric scientists.
  
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• Researchers demonstrate first hot plasma edge in a fusion facility

  05-07-2017 23:02
  
  Two major issues confronting magnetic-confinement fusion energy are enabling the walls of devices that house fusion reactions to survive bombardment by energetic particles, and improving confinement of the plasma required for the reactions. At the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), researchers have found that coating tokamak walls with lithium— a light, silvery metal— can lead to progress on both fronts.
  
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• Jailbird: Swiss collector sentenced for filching feathers

  05-07-2017 22:50
  
  A Swiss hawk enthusiast was on Wednesday sentenced to three years behind bars for stealing more than 10,000 bird feathers worth an estimated $6 million from European museums.
  
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• Krill hotspot fuels incredible biodiversity in Antarctic region

  05-07-2017 22:38
  
  There are so many Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean that the combined mass of these tiny aquatic organisms is more than that of the world's 7.5 billion human inhabitants.
  
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• First battery-free cellphone makes calls by harvesting ambient power

  05-07-2017 22:38
  
  University of Washington researchers have invented a cellphone that requires no batteries—a major leap forward in moving beyond chargers, cords and dying phones. Instead, the phone harvests the few microwatts of power it requires from either ambient radio signals or light.
  
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• Neutrons detect elusive Higgs amplitude mode in quantum material

  05-07-2017 22:36
  
  A team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has used sophisticated neutron scattering techniques to detect an elusive quantum state known as the Higgs amplitude mode in a two-dimensional material.
  
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• Greenland's summer ocean bloom likely fueled by iron

  05-07-2017 22:34
  
  Iron particles catching a ride on glacial meltwater washed out to sea by drifting currents is likely fueling a recently discovered summer algal bloom off the southern coast of Greenland, according to a new study.
  
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• Cognitive Function and Menstruation, It's a Mythical Link

  05-07-2017 22:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Menstruating women experience no changes in cognition, according to a new study from Swiss and German researchers.It's a pervasive stereotype: cognitive performance is different when women are on their periods. It's an idea that has implications for women's professional lives, extending even to the last presidential election. However, there isn't reliable scientific research backing this ill-informed belief up, and what little exists is underwhelming and inconsistent. To explore this not
  
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• New Mexico firm uses motion of the ocean to bring fresh water to coastal communities

  05-07-2017 21:59
  
  Hurricane Katrina whipped up huge, powerful waves that caused severe destruction in 2005 along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Their size and strength convinced Phil Kithil of Santa Fe, New Mexico, there had to be a way to harness that energy.
  
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• These saucer-shaped clouds look just like UFOs

  05-07-2017 21:56
  
  Head Trip But they don't come from outer space.
  The disc-shaped formations lot like UFOs, but this alien atmospheric phenomenon starts right here on Earth.
  
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• Custom-made clothes for all within reach says top designer

  05-07-2017 21:38
  
  Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato claimed Wednesday that he has cracked a digital technique which could revolutionise fashion with mass made-to-measure clothes.
  
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• What moral code should your self-driving car follow?

  05-07-2017 21:29
  
  From Our Blogs: Nexus Media News Teaching a robot to make ethical decisions is pretty complicated.
  Scientists say it is possible to program self-driving cars to make ethical decisions the same way humans would. Read on.
  
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• UNESCO urges Poland to stop logging ancient forest

  05-07-2017 21:20
  
  UNESCO on Wednesday "strongly" urged Poland to stop logging the older parts of the ancient Bialowieza forest, a world heritage site that includes some of Europe's last primeval woodland.
  
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• Sixth MOX nuclear shipment leaves France for Japan

  05-07-2017 21:11
  
  A cargo of reprocessed nuclear fuel containing highly radioactive plutonium left the French port of Cherbourg for Japan under heavy security on Wednesday as demonstrators protested against the transport.
  
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• The big ecological roles of small natural features

  05-07-2017 21:07
  
  Ecologists and conservationists have long recognized that keystone species have major ecological importance disproportionate to their abundance or size. Think beavers, sea stars and prairie dogs—species that keep a ecosystem balanced.
  
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• New framework accounts for conflicting estimates of global temperature increases

  05-07-2017 21:05
  
  Harvard University researchers have resolved a conflict in estimates of how much the Earth will warm in response to a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
  
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• Has the Sun blown its top?

  05-07-2017 21:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  It sure looks that way in this animation showing the Sun up close and personal. And there are two other 'holes' visible as well.
  https://youtu.be/tqRhW0Oh-a8A big dark area in the north polar region makes it appear as if the Sun has blown its top. And in a way, it has.You can see what's going on by watching the animation above. It's based on data acquired by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft over 48 hours, starting on July 3rd and continuing into today (the 5th). Two other l
  
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• In the egg, American bullfrogs learn how to avoid becoming lunch

  05-07-2017 21:01
  
  When exposed to potential predators as an embryo, the invasive American bullfrog becomes harder to kill when it becomes a tadpole, according to a new study by Oregon State University researchers.
  
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• Study: Handshaking viewed more positively by Westerners than by East Asians

  05-07-2017 20:56
  
  Westerners view handshaking more positively than do East Asians, researchers report in a new study. Western men also rate handshakes initiated by men and women differently, the study found.
  
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• Relationship builder, selfie, town crier or window shopper: What kind of Facebook user are you?

  05-07-2017 20:55
  
  On an average day, 1.28 billion people check it. Monthly? Nearly 2 billion. And according to one recent estimate, the average Facebook user spends 35 minutes a day on the platform—which makes for a whole lot of daily and monthly minutes.
  
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• Researchers provide new insights on the connection between autophagy and lifespan

  05-07-2017 20:54
  
  Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have undertaken the first ever comprehensive analysis of autophagy in a living animal during aging. "Autophagy," which means "self-eating" based on its Greek roots, is the normal physiological process the body's cells use to remove viruses, bacteria, and damaged material from the cell. Autophagy also helps cells "clean house" by recycling building blocks—similar to the way we recycle glass, plastic and metal. In recent
  
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• Ancient animal thought to be first air breather on land loses claim to fame

  05-07-2017 20:53
  
  Some good scientific sleuthing by an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin has helped rewrite one of the earliest chapters in the planet's evolutionary history. The research, led by the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, has shown that the millipede thought to be the world's oldest known air-breathing land creature is in fact about 14 million years younger than previously thought and cannot be the original land breather.
  
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• The surprising trend in extramarital sex in America

  05-07-2017 20:51
  
  America's generation gap is surfacing in a surprising statistic: rates of extramarital sex.
  
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• Calm lakes on Titan could mean smooth landing for future space probes

  05-07-2017 20:50
  
  The lakes of liquid methane on Saturn's moon, Titan, are perfect for paddling but not for surfing. New research led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that most waves on Titan's lakes reach only about 1 centimeter high, a finding that indicates a serene environment that could be good news for future probes sent to the surface of that moon.
  
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• Cutting the cost of ethanol, other biofuels and gasoline

  05-07-2017 20:49
  
  Biofuels like the ethanol in U.S. gasoline could get cheaper thanks to experts at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Michigan State University.
  
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• Volvo goes electric, ditches cars powered solely by gas

  05-07-2017 20:42
  
  Volvo will start putting electric motors in all its cars from 2019, becoming the first major automaker to forgo traditional engines that rely exclusively on internal combustion
  
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• Greener molecular intermediates may aid drug design

  05-07-2017 20:38
  
  Scientists at Rice University have simplified their approach to synthesize a highly versatile family of precursors en route to biologically active compounds. Their method should make drug design and development cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
  
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• Investigating folding stability and dynamics of proteins

  05-07-2017 20:37
  
  Hydrogels are polymer materials that can absorb a large amount of water, making them flexible like human tissue. They are used in a number of medical applications, including contact lenses, wound dressings, and facial reconstruction.
  
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• 2-D layered devices can self-assemble with precision

  05-07-2017 20:37
  
  Squid-inspired proteins can act as programmable assemblers of 2D materials, like graphene oxide, to form hybrid materials with minute spacing between layers suitable for high-efficiency devices including flexible electronics, energy storage systems and mechanical actuators, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.
  
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• When temps rise, Japanese quail require a breeze

  05-07-2017 20:36
  
  Tiny Japanese quail eggs are a small niche market in the United States, but they're a big business in Brazil where they are sold fresh in grocery stores in egg cartons that hold 30 of the small, speckled delicacies, and are a hard-boiled staple on restaurant salad bars. Recent research from the University of Illinois helps Brazilian producers understand the birds' behavior under wind and temperature variables and suggests environmental changes to boost their egg-laying productivity.
  
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• Synthetic horns may save rhinos if they are not like the real thing

  05-07-2017 20:31
  
  Every eight hours, a rhinoceros is slaughtered in South Africa. Rhino poaching in South Africa surged from 83 in 2008 to a record 1,215 in 2014 to meet demands by newly-affluent Asian countries, where the horn is a key ingredient in traditional medicines.
  
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• Engineers find way to evaluate green roofs

  05-07-2017 20:27
  
  Green infrastructure is an attractive concept, but there is concern surrounding its effectiveness. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are using a mathematical technique traditionally used in earthquake engineering to determine how well green infrastructure works and to communicate with urban planners, policymakers and developers.
  
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• Penn interactive map shows community traits built from more than 37 billion tweets

  05-07-2017 20:26
  
  It's no secret that communities across the United States differ greatly. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's World Well-Being Project sought a simple way to capture, explore and share such differences on a large scale. Their end goal: to provide individuals with valuable insights about where they live and offer comparisons to other communities.
  
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• Recreating interstellar ions with lasers

  05-07-2017 20:21
  
  Trihydrogen, or H3+, has been called the molecule that made the universe, where it plays a greater role in astrochemistry than any other molecule. While H3+ is astronomically abundant, no scientist understood the mechanisms that form it from organic molecules.
  
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• Ukraine says it foiled 2nd cyberattack after police raid

  05-07-2017 20:03
  
  Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says that authorities have avoided a second cyberattack
  
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• Skin microbe diversity can vary with forest type and habitat in Brazilian frogs

  05-07-2017 20:00
  
  The diversity of microbes on the skin of frog species in Brazil's Atlantic Forest can vary with habitat, according to a study published July 5, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ananda Brito de Assis from University of São Paulo, Brazil, and colleagues.
  
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• Marine parasites: Different strokes for different folks

  05-07-2017 20:00
  
  The bigger the host, the better for its guests. That certainly holds for parasitic barnacles. A new study confirms the link and reveals the strategy adopted by these unusual crustaceans in the early phases of the evolution of their lifestyle.
  
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• Global ocean health relatively stable over past five years

  05-07-2017 20:00
  
  While global ocean health has remained relatively stable over the past five years, individual countries have seen changes, according to a study published July 5, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Benjamin Halpern from University of California Santa Barbara, USA and colleagues.
  
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• Photobucket Users Upset Over $400 'Ransom'

  05-07-2017 19:42 via nbcnews.com
  
  If you've cruised around Amazon, eBay and other popular websites, you may have noticed an unusual number of images have been removed from listings.
  
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• ESO Captures Face-On View of the Barred Spiral Galaxy Messier 77

  05-07-2017 19:41 via scitechdaily.com
  
  This newly released face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77 comes from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The image does justice to the galaxy’s...
  The post ESO Captures Face-On View of the Barred Spiral Galaxy Messier 77 appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• NASA's Juno spacecraft is about to peer into the depths of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

  05-07-2017 19:28
  
  SpaceWe're getting our closest view ever of the 10,000-mile-wide storm.
  NASA’s Juno spacecraft will come closer to the furious tempest than any spacecraft ever before, hopefully solving some mysteries in the process. Read on.
  
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• Radioactive Elements in Cas A Provide Glimpses into the Explosion of Massive Stars

  05-07-2017 19:21 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using elaborate computer simulations, researchers show how radioactive elements in gaseous supernova remnant Cassiopeia A can provide glimpses into the explosion of massive stars. Stars...
  The post Radioactive Elements in Cas A Provide Glimpses into the Explosion of Massive Stars appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Science Says: Too early for forecast on Lyme disease ticks

  05-07-2017 19:12
  
  Is this a bad year for ticks and Lyme disease? The evidence is patchy and the science complicated
  
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• Ancient Romans were way better at making concrete

  05-07-2017 19:11
  
  ScienceThe ocean didn't break it down— it only made it stronger.
  Romans were better than us at a lot of things. Read on.
  
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• Three-dimensional chip combines computing and data storage

  05-07-2017 19:00
  
  As embedded intelligence is finding its way into ever more areas of our lives, fields ranging from autonomous driving to personalized medicine are generating huge amounts of data. But just as the flood of data is reaching massive proportions, the ability of computer chips to process it into useful information is stalling.
  
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• Sulfide-producing bacteria dominate hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells

  05-07-2017 19:00
  
  Researchers have found that the microbes inhabiting a hydraulically fractured shale formation produce toxic, corrosive sulfide through a poorly understood pathway. The team's findings, published this week in mSphere, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, reveal that the oil and gas industry may need new ways to monitor and mitigate sulfide-producing bacteria in fractured shales.
  
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• New study shows West Antarctic Ice Sheet loss over the last 11,000 years

  05-07-2017 19:00
  
  Reporting this week in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) explains that wind-driven incursions of warm water forced the retreat of glaciers in West Antarctica during the past 11,000 years. These new results enable researchers to better understand how environmental change may impact future sea-level rise from this climate-sensitive region.
  
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• Malaria parasites able to sense their hosts calorie intake

  05-07-2017 19:00
  
  Even though malaria still kills one child every minute, the vast majority of those infected still survive, with roughly 200 million new infections every year. A new study has shown that the infectious agent responsible for malaria, the Plasmodium parasite, is able to to sense and actively adapt to the host's nutritional status. Using mouse models of malaria infection, scientists led by Maria M. Mota from Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon (iMM Lisboa), found that mice who ate 30% fewer ca
  
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• Detailed study reveals genes are constantly rearranged by cells

  05-07-2017 19:00
  
  Moving genes about could help cells to respond to change according to scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK and the Weizmann Institute, Israel. Changing the location of a gene within a cell alters its activity. Like mixing music, different locations can make a gene 'louder' or 'quieter', with louder genes contributing more actively to the life of a cell.
  
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• Researchers Manipulate Nanoscale Particles with Light

  05-07-2017 18:53 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Scientists from MIT have created in simulations the first system in which particles — ranging from roughly molecule to bacteria-sized — can be manipulated by...
  The post Researchers Manipulate Nanoscale Particles with Light appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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