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New Holographic Method Could Be Used For Lab-on-a-chip TechnologiesResearchers have developed a technique that uses a laser and holograms to precisely position numerous tiny particles within seconds, representing a potential new tool to analyze biological samples or create devices using nanoassembly.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Boosting The Power Of Solar CellsNew ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Gene Required For Radiation-induced Protective Pigmentation Also Promotes Survival Of Melanoma CellsScientists have new insight into the response of human skin to radiation and what drives the most aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer. The research may be useful in the design of new strategies for prevention of malignant melanoma.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Blast From The Past: Astronomers Resurrect 16th-Century SupernovaAstronomers have used light echoes as a time machine to unearth secrets of one of the most influential events in the history of astronomy -- a stellar explosion witnessed on Earth more than 400 years ago. By using a Galactic cloud as interstellar “mirror,” astronomers have now re-analyzed the same light seen on Earth in the 16th century and have, for the first time, determined the exact type of the explosion that happened.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm New Image Processing System Detects MoodsResearchers are developing a computer image processing system that detects and classifies human facial expressions. The aim of this system is to take and analyze photos of individuals, potentially in areas of high traffic where security is a primary concern, such as an airport.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Genes Determine Whether Sugar Pills WorkIt is a well-known fact in drug trials that individuals can respond just as well to placebos, sugar pills, as to the active drug. On the other hand, it is difficult to explain why only certain people get better from placebos. Researchers have now found gene variants that can impact the placebo effect and a mechanism in the brain that characterizes those who respond to placebos.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm How To Destroy An Asteroid: Blowing Up Killer Space Rocks Without Dangerous DebrisAstrophysicists agree that the best method for avoiding a catastrophic collision would be to change the path of the asteroid heading toward our planet. But to do that, scientists need to be able to predict what would happen if they attempted an explosion.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Genetic Screening No Better Than Traditional Risk Factors For Predicting Type 2 DiabetesScreening for a panel of gene variants associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes can identify adults at risk for the disorder but is not significantly better than assessment based on traditional risk factors such as weight, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Treating Sleep Apnea In Alzheimer's Patients Helps CognitionContinuous positive airway pressure treatment seems to improve cognitive functioning in patients with Alzheimer's disease who also suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Polymers 'Battered' With Nanoparticles Could Create Self Healing Paints And Clever PackagingResearch chemists have devised an elegant process which simply and cheaply covers small particles of polymer with a layer of silica-based nanoparticles. The final result provides a highly versatile material that can be used to create a range of high performance materials such as: self healing paints, and clever packaging that can be tailored to let precise levels of water, air or both pass in a particular direction.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Teddy bears go on space missionFour British teddy bears this week ascended to the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere. Boldly going where few cuddly toys have gone before, the teddynauts were dressed in special spacesuits designed and made by 11- and 12-year-old pupils from Parkside and Coleridge community colleges as part of a project with Cambridge University's spaceflight student club. The space mission, aiming to get pupils excited about science and engineering, launched from Churchill College, Cambridge on Monday. From there the four intrepid space pioneers, floated upwards to a height of 30,000 metres with a foam padded box containing cameras attached to a helium balloon. The teddy bears spent two hours and nine minutes in flight, reaching near space, above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere. They endured temperatures of between -40C and -53C, depending on the effectiveness of their spacesuits. All four landed safely just north of Ipswich to be retrieved by the team of student scientists who had travelled from Cambridge by car, following their progress via an onboard GPS system. "This was a really fun thing to do. The best bit was when we set the balloon off with the bears," said Aiyana Stead, 12. Megan Makinson, also 12, added: "It was really fun when the balloon was blowing up. We had to hold it in the freezing winds. It felt like we were being smothered by a giant dumpling." Teacher Steve Hinshelwood, who runs science clubs at Parkside and Coleridge, said the children had great fun as they tried to turn their original spacesuit designs into something they could actually make. "Suddenly scientific ideas such as insulation, convection, conduction and radiation became important. Thinking about weight made ideas of buoyancy, pressure and the composition of the atmosphere relevant," he said. "The need to get the teddies back gave the students a chance to think about computer control and radio communications. "I don't think that the students realised how much science they were learning – they were just having fun." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:23 pm Conservation group sues for walrus protection (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:13 am Russia will cut gas supply if Ukraine does not pay: Putin (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 10:47 am Study illuminates star explosion from 16th century (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:11 am Is Technology Rewiring Our Brains?Some scientists think so.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:47 am Bogus Stem Cell Therapies Sold on Internet (HealthDay)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:47 am Ancient supernova mystery solvedAstronomers have captured light echoes of the historic supernova of 1572, which overturned Aristotle's theory of the universe.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:57 am O'Brien out at CNN as network ends space missionNEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CNN will close its dedicated unit that covered environmental, science and space stories.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:55 am CNN Guts Its Science Coverage
CNN is shuttering its Miles O'Brien-led science unit in what may be a sign of things to come for science news desks across the country. Though the cut comes amidst thousands of layoffs across the reporting landscape, CNN maintains that the move is strategic in nature, and not related to the current economic climate. "We want to integrate environmental, science and technology reporting into the general editorial structure rather than have a stand alone unit," CNN said in a statement sent to Wired.com. "Now that the bulk of our environmental coverage is being offered through the Planet in Peril franchise which is produced by the [Anderson Cooper 360] program, there is no need for a separate unit." While that articulates some kind of plan for environmental coverage, it begs the question: what's going to happen to CNN's space and science coverage without the network's primary space and science team? There is science occurring all over this imperiled planet that is not environmental in nature. Mediabistro blog, TVNewser, broke the story of O'Brien's departure earlier today. Miles O'Brien released a predictably milquetoast statement through CNN. Wired.com could not independently reach him for comment. See Also:
Image: flickr/mybloodyself WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:52 am Single cancer cell 'poses danger'Cancer researchers may have underestimated the power of some cancers to spread and cause new tumours, say US researchers.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:45 am Letters: The young are the key to fighting climate changeLetters: The world leaders and scientists meeting to tackle climate change should listen to younger voicesSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:30 am A tool bag lost by an astronaut should be visible in the north skyA tool bag lost while an astronaut was working on the International Space Station should be visible from the Highlands.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:24 am Michael Pollitt on turning waste glycerol from biofuels into high-value hydrogen gasScientists are developing techniques to turn waste glycerol from biofuels into high-value hydrogen gas, writes Michael PollittSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:07 am Fossil provides glimpse of giant flying reptileSoaring overhead in the Cretaceous skies with taut, leathery wings longer than a family car, it would have made an unnerving sight. Scientists who analysed a fossil that lay in a German museum for years after its discovery have glimpsed for the first time one of the most imposing of the prehistoric flyers. Lacusovagus magnificens, or "magnificent lake wanderer", is the largest toothless prehistoric flying reptile ever found. It was preserved in lake sediments from the Araripe basin in north-east Brazil, a site well-known for its excellently preserved fossils. "Some of the previous examples we have from this family in China are just 60cm long - as big as the skull of the new species," said Mark Witton from the school of earth and environmental science at the University of Portsmouth. Interpreting the fossil was difficult because of the unusual position in which it had lain. "Usually fossils like this are found lying on their sides but this one was lying on the roof of its mouth and had been rather squashed, which made even figuring out whether it had teeth difficult," Witton said. The beast would have had a wingspan of around five metres and stood over a metre tall at the shoulder. Its wide mouth suggests it was able to tackle large prey. Although large, Lacusovagus was smaller than some of the giant toothed flying reptiles, such as Quetzalcoatlus, which was the size of a Spitfire, with a wingspan of 11 or 12 metres. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:07 am New research reveals humans really can smell fearThe smell of fear, one of the most terrible cliches of pulp fiction, is actually founded in fact, scientists claim today. People can unconsciously detect whether someone is stressed or scared by smelling a chemical pheromone released in their sweat, according to researchers who have investigated the underarm secretions of petrified skydivers. The team found that the smell of fear triggered a heightened response in brain regions associated with fear when inhaled by volunteers in a brain scanner. The research suggests that, like many animal species, humans can detect and subconsciously respond to pheromones released by other people. The research was funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency - the Pentagon's military research wing - raising speculation that it is a first step to isolating the fear pheromone for use in warfare, perhaps to induce terror in enemy troops. But Darpa denied that it had any military plans for fear pheromones or plans to fund further research into the field. Dr Lilianne Mujica-Parodi at Stony Brook University in New York State and her team taped absorbent pads to the armpits of 20 novice skydivers - 11 men and nine women - on their first tandem jump. The pads soaked up sweat before they leapt from the plane and as they fell. For comparison, the team collected sweat from the same individuals as they ran on a treadmill for a similar duration at the same time of day they had made their jump. They transferred the two types of sweat to nebulisers and asked volunteers in a brain scanner to breath it in. The team did not tell the volunteers about the experiment. New Scientist magazine reported that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus - brain regions associated with fear - were more active in people who breathed in the "fear" sweat. The volunteers in the brain scanner were unable consciously to distinguish between the two types of sweat. In a conference presentation last year, Mujica-Parodi wrote: "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone ... our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'." She declined to comment further on the results because the study is under review with a scientific journal. Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist at the King Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London, told New Scientist that the idea that a fear pheromone could be developed as a chemical weapon was scientifically implausible. He said that a purely physiological cue was not enough to induce fear. Most researchers do not believe that humans can detect pheromones. In other mammals this is done using a structure in the nose called the vomeronasal organ. Although humans have one of these it is not connected to the brain. However, human pheromones could still be detected elsewhere and some small studies have suggested that human behaviour can be modified by an alarm pheromone. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:07 am Editorial: In praise of ... antsEditorial: A creature whose lifestyle is an irresistible metaphor for human organisationsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:06 am Feeling Blue? Yellow is the New BlackPantone company says yellow is in.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:36 pm How Fishy Technology Could Power the Future (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies - the power of the future.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:33 pm How Fishy Technology Could Power the FutureA new technology inspired by fish could extract energy from slow-moving currents.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:18 pm Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations for Neurotoxin
The ruling, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in October, was supposed to be formalized on Monday. That deadline passed, but the agency expects to announce its decision by the year's end, before president-elect Barack Obama takes office. It could take years to reverse. Critics accuse the EPA of ignoring expert advice and basing their decision on an abstract model of perchlorate exposure, rather than existing human data. "We know that breast milk is widely contaminated with perchlorate, and we know that young children are especially vulnerable. We have really good human data. So why are they putting a model front-and-center?" said Anila Jacobs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. "And they used a model that hasn't yet gone through the peer-review process." The ruling is one of dozens planned for the final days of the Bush administration. Others include a relaxing of air pollution standards for aging power plants, and a reduction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's traditional role in evaluating the impact of federal projects on endangered species. These have received more attention than the status of perchlorate, a chemical found mostly in jet rocket fuel and detected in 35 states and 153 water public water systems. It is known to lower thyroid hormone levels in women; it poses a particular threat to pregnant women and breast-feeding children, whose long-term neurological development can be stunted by youthful hormone imbalances. As many as 40 million Americans may now be exposed to unsafe levels of perchlorate, and the EPA's own analysis puts the number at 16 million. The most comprehensive human exposure study, which measured unexpectedly high perchlorate levels and correlated them with thyroid hormone drops, was concluded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007. Environmental health advocates saw the study as supporting tightened restrictions on perchlorate levels in drinking water — something the EPA had been loathe to do under the Bush administration. The study was not considered in the anticipated ruling, which could effectively end federal monitoring of perchlorate in drinking water. "If you used the human studies from the CDC, then you would be forced to regulate it, because we know there are health effects at current levels of exposure," said Jacobs. Benjamin Blount, co-author of the CDC's study, would not comment on the EPA's decision, but said that infants — who consume, proportional to their body weight, about six times more water than adults — "are thought to have a higher dose than at any other life stage." The EPA declined to comment on why they used a model rather than the CDC's data in deciding that regulating perchlorate would not provide "a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems." In a November letter to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, the EPA's own Science Advisory Board questioned the model. "Its soundness will not be publicly vetted," they wrote. Only one of two peer reviews invited by the agency has been received, and that was announced only today on the EPA's website. "The Science Advisory Board believes that more time is needed for the decision process and for scientific input," said Joan Rose, a Michigan State University water researcher and chair of the Board's Drinking Water Committee. Even Michael Dourson, a researcher at the nonprofit Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment project who accepts the EPA's model, doesn't understand why the EPA favored it over human studies. "The data is on pregnant women and babies, and these studies are quite powerful," he said. "If they could spend more time to make their decision, I'd recommend looking at it." According to EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones, the agency expects to announce a decision "by the end of the year." There is little reason to think the ruling will change from its current form. "This administration has been adamant about not regulating perchlorate," said Mae Wu, an attorney at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. If the rulings go through, Congress may still take action. California congresswomen Barbara Boxer and Hilda Solis, both Democrats, have each drafted legislation that would force the EPA to regulate perchlorate, though it could take years to go into effect. States still have the option of regulating perchlorate on their own — but this is not easy, said Charles DeSaillan, New Mexico's assistant attorney general for natural resources. "We have fairly limited resources. Historically we've relied on the federal drinking water standards, and adopted those," he said. "In order for us to adopt our own, we'd have to do all the science, all of the research, hire the experts, and go through a regulatory process which would be opposed by the Department of Defense and Department of Energy." New Mexico is home to several prominent military testing facilities, and has the highest average perchlorate exposures in the country. "It'd be long and difficult. Eventually we may do it. But it's easier for us to rely on the EPA. This is their job. And in the case of perchlorate, they don't seem to be doing it," said DeSaillan. See Also:
Images: 1. Baby nursing from a bottle / pfly 2. Map of perchlorate manufacturer locations / EPA WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:07 pm Greenhouse gas emissions increase in US (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:00 pm Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains? (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:07 pm New fabric can wipe away toxic chemicals: studyCHICAGO (Reuters) - A new dry wipe can clean up chemical agents such as mustard gas, giving soldiers a more convenient way to deal with toxic materials on the battlefield, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:40 pm Noisy oceans 'threaten sea life'Increasing noise pollution in the world's oceans is threatening the survival of whales and dolphins, a UN-backed conference says.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:36 pm Venus ultraviolet puzzle 'solved'Scientists have cracked one of the many mysteries of Earth's nearest planetary neighbour Venus.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:01 pm Cancer Stem Cells May Not Be the Supervillains We Thought
The controversial idea that all tumors are created by cancer stem cells received a setback Wednesday. The theory holds that a tiny percentage of cancer cells — perhaps one in a million or one in 10,000 — are responsible for creating tumors. Like evil relatives of standard organ-forming stem cells, cancer stem cells build tumors. It's an appealing idea because it provides a new, well defined target for treatment. But a new study casts doubt on the idea that only a few cancer cells are able to generate tumors. By tweaking the experimental design other cancer researchers had been using — the new study used a different type of mice — a highly-respected stem cell oncologist found that as many as 25 percent of melanoma cells were capable of reproducing. What makes the study particularly surprising is that its lead author was a founder of Oncomed, the leading cancer stem cell biotech startup, and comes out of the University of Michigan, where much of the early work on cancer stem cells was conducted. "We're not trying to claim there is no merit to the field, but we think that the frequency of cancer stem cells will be much higher," said Sean Morrison, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and coauthor of the study in Nature Thursday. "And there will be some cancers like melanoma where lots of cells will be tumorigenic and it won't be possible to treat those cancers by treating a small subset of cells." The cancer stem cell theory of tumor creation had taken the field of oncology by storm. It promised an entirely new class of cancer treatments. In fact, a raft of new drugs designed to attack cancer stem cells are just entering clinical trials. While Oncomed has been a leader in the biotech space — signing a $1.4 billion commercialization deal with GlaxoSmithKline, the largest ever biotech deal for a preclinical stage company — major pharmaceutical companies are beginning to develop their own drugs based on the research. Now, the underlying premise of those studies and drugs is being called into question. Long-time critics of the cancer stem cell theory like Johns Hopkins oncologist, Scott Kern, are pleased. "The paper seems in line with what one should expect," Kern wrote in
an email. "Solid tumors (the carcinomas, brain tumors, and
sarcomas) will not be found to follow the stem cell theory." But even critics like Kern, who had previously attacked the math underlying the cancer stem cell theory as "weak," and Morrison believe that the cancer stem cell model will work for some tumor types, particularly leukemia. It's the concept's broad application to all sorts of cancers that worried both Morrison and Kern. The seductive symmetry of having "bad" stem cells along with the standard ones could have led researchers to push the theory beyond what the science could support. "When you look back at science, it's the theories that make the most intuitive sense that people run with before the data exists," Morrison said. But cancer stem cell researcher Max Wicha, another cofounder of Oncomd and oncologist at the University of Michigan, countered that just because the new mouse model generated large numbers of tumorigenic cells, doesn't mean that it's necessarily a better model than the one they'd long been using. "[Morrison's work] is very interesting and important but we need to look at the different mouse models and see which provides the best representation of what's in patients," Wicha said. Both mouse models have been engineered to lack a high-functioning immune system because the standard mouse immune system would kill the human cancer cells that the researchers are trying to study. That necessary change, however, is also a major source of uncertainty in cancer stem cell research. The humans that will eventually be treated have standard immune systems, so how much to tweak the mice to allow the tumor cells to grow is a major variable. Morrison's mice have even weaker immune defense systems than those used by Wicha and other cancer stem cell researchers. "He's saying that we may have underestimated the number of tumorigenic cells," Wicha said. "I say his new model may have overestimated that number." Wicha also points to evidence outside the mouse models that only a small number of cancer stem cells are responsible for building tumors. Wicha noted previous studies showing that some cancer cells express many of the same genes that standard stem cells do. "These are cells which have stem cell properties," he said. Soon, however, some of these battles will become moot as results start to roll in from clinical trials in humans. Right now, drugs designed to combat cancer stem cells are only in phase I safety trials, but they will be heading to phase II, where their efficacy will begin to be tested, within a year or two. "Those will really tell us whether the clinical endpoints will improve," Wicha said. "If we start seeing any improvement in survival and the patients doing better, it'll all take off." Many oncologists will be watching how Oncomed's lead drug candidate OMP-21M18 does when it finishes up its first trial. "If the therapeutic shows a benefit to patients, then all of these scientific concerns go by the wayside," Morrison said. "And even if the model is flawed in fundamental ways, if it led them to a good therapeutic, that's still worth a lot." Morrison remains skeptical, however, that any silver bullet will ever be found for cancer, arguing that his new paper shows just how complex cancer is turning out to be. "The reality is that cancer is an extraordinarily resourceful disease and every time there has been a new idea, people have seized on it to make it the big answer," he said. "Cancer is resourceful enough that there isn't going to be a big answer." Citation: "Efficient tumour formation by single human melanoma cells" by Elsa Quintana, Mark Shackleton, Michael S. Sabel, Douglas R. Fullen, Timothy M. Johnson and Sean J. Morrison. Nature: doi:10.1038/nature07567 See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:39 pm Global Warming to Help Crabgrass Take Over LawnsCrabgrass will get a strong assist from global warming in its campaign to take over your lawn.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:39 pm LA delays decision on scrapping elephant exhibit (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:21 pm Is Technology Rewiring Our Brains?Introducing the teenage brain, on Google.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:15 pm New flying reptile species foundA new fossil species of flying reptile - with a wingspan the size of a family car - has been uncovered by scientists.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:14 pm Nuclear Fusion Moves One Step CloserMIT research finds way around one snag in creating nuclear fusion reactors.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:42 pm Arctic tundra emits methane even in winterLONDON (Reuters) - The arctic tundra emits the same amount of methane in winter as in the warmer months, a surprising finding that bolsters understanding of how greenhouse gases interact with nature, researchers said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:17 pm Astronomers ID Supernova First Seen 400 Years AgoBy studying a "light echo" astronomers identify what a Dane saw 400 years ago.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:15 pm Rocket company sells discount rides to spaceCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space tourism race heated up on Tuesday when a second company began offering tickets for suborbital rides at less than half the price of competitor Virgin Galactic's.Source: Reuters: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:03 pm Ancient Supernova Explosion Glimpsed Anew
A supernova explosion first seen from Earth 436 years ago has come back to life for astronomers in a time-travel-like astronomical twist. By observing light from supernova SN 1572 that was slowed on its trip to Earth by dust particles, scientists can watch the outburst now as it would have looked originally. When the explosion first appeared in the sky in 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe named it “Stella Nova” or “New Star” because it looked like an extremely bright star that hadn’t been there before. Astronomers today call it Tycho's supernova. “Tycho Brahe was closer to the supernova idea than others,” said Oliver Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, and co-author of the study which appears in Nature Thursday. “He immediately recognized that this was an extraordinary event. He was really ahead of his time.” Radio waves from remnants of the gases emitted by Tycho's supernova were first discovered in 1952, and in 1960, faint light was identified with an Earth-based telescope. Today when scientists aim their telescopes at the same spot, they see the gas left over from the supernova (shown in image above). Krause's team used a new method to watch the supernova explosion as it would have looked in 1572.
“Usually these objects happen very distantly. The only thing is the bright flash of the supernova and then it’s gone,” Krause said. “You cannot determine the progenitor, and you also cannot say what happens afterward. Now the nice thing here is this explosion happened a long time ago, and now its supernova remnant is visible.” Using the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii, the team took detailed measurements that revealed the chemical composition of the exploding star, and were able to determine that the supernova is of a class called “Type 1a.” These events occur when mass from a larger star pours onto a smaller white dwarf star, and eventually tips the dwarf over its weight limit, causing the star to collapse in a powerful explosion. When SN 1572 first occurred, it puzzled most sky watchers. Many suggested that it was a comet, since those were the only other heavenly objects known to sometimes appear and disappear. It was only until much later, in the early 20th century, that astronomers first understood that a supernova represents a star’s death.
Image: MPIA/Spitzer Space Telescope/Chandra X-Ray Observatory /Calar Alto 3.5m Telescope Source: Wired: Wired Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm New Light Shed on Ancient Exploding Star (SPACE.com)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:10 pm New Light Shed on Ancient Exploding StarSubaru telescope used to observe supernova light echoes to determine blast's origin.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:04 pm Study Explains Dark Spots on VenusVenus' clouds give up some of their secrets.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:01 pm Sumatra Fault Primed for More Mega-QuakesDespite a history of huge quakes, the Sumatra fault remains tense and unpredictable.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:00 pm The smell of fear is real, say scientistsThe smell of fear, one of the most terrible cliches of pulp fiction, is founded in fact, scientists claim today. People can unconsciously detect whether someone is stressed or scared by smelling a chemical pheromone released in their sweat, according to researchers who have investigated the underarm secretions of petrified skydivers. The team found that the smell of fear triggered a heightened response in brain regions associated with fear when inhaled by volunteers in a brain scanner. The research suggests that like many animal species, humans can detect and subconsciously respond to pheromones released by other people. The research was funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency – the Pentagon's military research wing – raising speculation that it is a first step to isolating the fear pheromone for use in warfare, perhaps to induce terror in enemy troops. But DARPA denied that it had any military plans for fear pheromones or plans to fund further research into the field. Dr Lilianne Mujica-Parodi at Stony Brook University in New York State and her team taped absorbent pads to the armpits of 20 novice skydivers – 11 men and nine women – who were doing their first tandem jump. The pads soaked up sweat before they leaped from the plane and as they fell. For comparison, the team collected sweat from the same individuals as they ran on a treadmill for a similar duration at the same time of day they had made their jump. They transferred the two types of sweat to nebulisers and asked volunteers in a brain scanner to breathe it in. To avoid biasing the results, the team did not tell the volunteers anything about the experiment. New Scientist magazine reported that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus – brain regions associated with fear – were more active in people who breathed in the "fear" sweat compared with the control. The volunteers in the brain scanner were unable consciously to distinguish between the two types of sweat and rated them both as mild and non-aversive. In a conference presentation last year, Mujica-Parodi wrote: "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone … Our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'." She declined to comment further on the results because the study is under review with a scientific journal. Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist at the King Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London told New Scientist that the idea that a fear pheromone could be developed as a chemical weapon is scientifically implausible. He said that a purely physiological cue is not enough to induce fear if people are not in a frightening situation. "You can generate the physical symptoms of fear but people don't necessarily get scared," he said. The findings will be controversial because most researchers do not believe that humans can detect pheromones. In other mammals, this is done using a structure in the nose called the vomeronasal organ. Although humans have one of these it is not connected to the brain. However, human pheromones could still be detected elsewhere and some small studies have suggested that human behaviour can be modified by an alarm pheromone. In one study in 2002, for example, 60 women were asked to distinguish between sweat pads worn by women who had watched the horror film Candyman or a documentary. They rated the sweat from the scary film watchers as stronger, less pleasant and smelling more "like aggression". guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:59 pm Oldest Marijuana Stash FoundA blue-eyed man was buried 2,700 years ago in China with his stash of marijuana.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:33 pm SLIDE SHOW: Ancient Shaman Buried With StashSee pictures revealing the oldest marijuana stash ever found.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:33 pm Swedish researchers create body-swap illusionWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers using closed-circuit televisions to create an illusion have made volunteers virtually swap bodies, even making women believe they were in a man's body and vice-versa.Source: Reuters: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 4:04 pm Consumers: Be Wary of Stem Cell Treatment AdsConsumers should be wary of Web sites from clinics that offer stem cell treatments.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:40 pm Giant flying reptile – terror of Cretaceous skiesSoaring overhead in the Cretaceous skies with taut leathery wings longer than a family car, they would have made an unnerving sight. Now scientists, analysing a fossil that had lain for years after its discovery in a German museum, have for the first time glimpsed one of the most imposing of the prehistoric flyers. Lacusovagus magnificens, the magnificent lake wanderer, is the largest prehistoric flying reptile without teeth ever to have been found. The name comes from its preservation in lake sediments of the Araripe basin in north-east Brazil, a site well known for its excellently preserved fossils. "Some of the previous examples we have from this family in China are just 60cm long – as big as the skull of the new species," said Mark Witton a postgraduate student in the school of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Portsmouth, "Put simply, it dwarfs any chaoyangopterid we've seen before by miles." The chaoyangopterids are a family of toothless pterosaurs and the fossil is the first of the family to be found in Brazil. "The discovery of something like this in Brazil – so far away from its closest relatives in China – demonstrates how little we actually know about the distribution and evolutionary history of this fascinating group of creatures," Witton said. Interpreting the fossil was difficult because of its unusual preservation. "Usually fossils like this are found lying on their sides but this one was lying on the roof of its mouth and had been rather squashed, which made even figuring out whether it had teeth difficult," said Witton. From the skull he was able to extrapolate that the beast would have had a wingspan of around five metres and stood more than a metre tall at the shoulder. It also had a wide mouth suggesting that it was able to tackle large prey. "The remains are very fragmentary, however, so we need more specimens before we can draw any conclusions," Witton said. Although large, Lacusovagus was much smaller than some of the giant toothed flying reptiles. Quetzalcoatlus, named after the Aztec winged serpent god, was the size of a spitfire with a wingspan of 11 to 12 metres. It had a massively elongated fourth digit on its "hands" and fibres in the wing membrane for added support. Another species that may have been even bigger is Hatzegopteryx thambema, which is known from a single specimen discovered in Romania. Its bone structure resembles expanded polystyrene – presumably for extra lightness to allow flight. The smallest pterosaur ever discovered is Nemicolopterus crypticus, meaning "hidden flying forest dweller". Discovered in north-east China it was the size of a blackbird with a wingspan of just 25cm. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:19 pm Obese children risk thyroid damageWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obese children may be damaging their thyroids, creating a vicious cycle of metabolism and overweight, Italian researchers reported on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:13 pm Best Female Figure Not an HourglassThe hourglass figure may not be all it's cracked up to be.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:06 pm 'Smart' Fabric Glows in Response to AllergensNanotube-dipped threads light up when they encounter encroaching pollen.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:02 pm Giant wind farm gets the go-aheadOne of the world's largest wind farms, which will help power around a half a million homes, has been approved.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 2:39 pm Rare Gorilla Twins Born in UgandaTwin mountain gorillas are born in Uganda and survive harsh November rains.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 2:02 pm Super-Ant Taking Over EuropeScientists say if it is not stopped, it will reach Northern Germany, Scandinavia and Britain.Source: Livescience.com | 3 Dec 2008 | 1:44 pm Sea's pollution hotspots 'missed'Large sources of pollution to the Baltic Sea have been missed by existing monitoring efforts, according to a Swedish study.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 12:56 pm Beware. Triffids!Why the enduring love affair with man-eating plants?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:36 am The Nation's Weather (AP)
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