Science Headlines for October 14, 2009

World's Smallest Computers Made of DNA and Other Biological Molecules Made to 'Think' Logically

The world's smallest computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, just got more "user friendly."
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Suppressing A Gene In Mice Prevents Heart From Aging, Preserves Its Function

In a mouse study, suppressing the activity of a key gene prevented age-related cardiac changes and preserved much of the heart's function. The study provides more evidence that physicians may one day prevent age-related heart failure in humans.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

New Type Of Flying Reptile: Darwin's Pterodactyl Preyed On Flying Dinosaurs

Researchers have identified a new type of flying reptile, providing the first clear evidence of an unusual and controversial type of evolution.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Recent 'Momentum' Influences Choices Of Baby Names, Professors Find

New research suggests that the change in popularity of babies' names over time increasingly influences naming decisions in the United States. Like momentum traders in the stock market, parents today appear to favor names that have recently risen in popularity relative to names that are on the decline.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Bioluminescence Imaging Used For Eye Cancer Detection

At the moment, doctors rely on biopsy analysis to determine the progression of eye cancer. However, researchers now believe that a new technology, bioluminescence imaging, will allow doctors to detect tumors earlier and quickly choose a method of treatment that doesn't necessarily involve eye surgery.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Microchips Result In Higher Rate Of Return Of Shelter Animals To Owners

Animals shelter officials housing lost pets that had been implanted with a microchip were able to find the owners in almost three out of four cases in a recently published national study. According to the research, the return-to-owner rate for cats was 20 times higher and for dogs 2.5 times higher for microchipped pets than were the rates of return for all stray cats and dogs that had entered the shelters.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Bizarre Galaxy Is Result Of Pair Of Spiral Galaxies Smashing Together

A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures what appears to be one very bright and bizarre galaxy, but is actually the result of a pair of spiral galaxies that resemble our own Milky Way smashing together at breakneck speeds. The product of this dramatic collision, called NGC 2623, or Arp 243, is about 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

Triggers Found In Cells' Transition From Colitis To Cancer

In findings that may help explain why patients with colitis have up to a 30-fold risk of developing colon cancer compared with people without the disease, researchers reveal that inflamed but noncancerous colon tissue taken from human patients transformed into tumors in mice.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

Elderly Immune System Needs A Boost: Older Cancer Sufferers Need Treatments Tailored To Their Aging Immune Systems

Elderly cancer patients need a combination of treatments tailor-made to their specific needs to successfully combat the disease. A new review examines the effects of aging on the immune system and strategies used to activate a stronger antitumor immune response in the elderly, including genetic modifications in animal models.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

Magnetic Nanotags Spot Cancer In Mice Earlier Than Methods Now In Clinical Use

Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip. The sensor is up to 1,000 times more sensitive than technology now in clinical use, accurate regardless of which bodily fluid is being analyzed and can detect biomarker proteins over a concentration range three times broader than existing methods.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

Tsunami drill across Indian Ocean

Eighteen countries around the Indian Ocean hold an exercise to evaluate the region's tsunami early warning systems.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Oct 2009 | 4:17 am

Noise pollution threatens animals

Noise pollution is becoming a major threat to the welfare of wildlife, according to a scientific review.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Oct 2009 | 3:36 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - The storm system in the Eastern Pacific that once was Super Typhoon Melor in the Western Pacific was forecast to continue to bringing wet and windy conditions across the West Coast on Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 3:19 am

Patricia weakens to remnant low in Pacific (AP)

AP - Patricia has weakened to a remnant low, a day after prompting officials in Mexico's Los Cabos resorts to close schools and ready emergency shelters.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 3:15 am

Huge dinosaur find in China 'may include new species' (AFP)

AFP - Paleontologists in east China may have discovered the remains of a new species of dinosaur at what is said to be the world's largest group of fossilised dinosaur bones, state media said Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 2:22 am

Texas heavy industries worry about EPA crackdown (AP)

AP - For 15 years, environmentalists have complained that state regulations have allowed the powerful oil and chemical industries to skirt Clean Air Act standards in Texas, the nation's foremost producer of industrial air pollution.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Oct 2009 | 1:13 am

New flying reptile fossils found

Fossils of a new type of flying reptile which lived 160 million years ago are found in China, bridging an evolutionary gap.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Oct 2009 | 10:15 pm

Australia fails to plug oil leak

A second attempt to stop oil pouring into Australian waters after a rig accident in the Timor Sea fails.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Oct 2009 | 8:46 pm

Satellites track ospreys out to Africa

Two ospreys being tracked using satellite technology during their migration from the Highlands have reached Africa.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Oct 2009 | 7:08 pm

NASA invites Twitter fans to space shuttle launch (AFP)

AFP - NASA invited fans on Twitter to get front-row seats for next month's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 6:46 pm

Colo. gov touts 'new energy economy' at conference (AP)

AP - Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter says his state's efforts to build a new energy economy can provide a model for addressing climate change and other challenges facing the country and world.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 6:19 pm

Scientist: Dinos trampled after death by own kind (AP)

AP - A vast collection of broken dinosaur bones unearthed in southeast Utah indicates they were smashed underfoot by other dinosaurs shortly after they died, according to paleontologists.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 6:16 pm

New Dino-Eating Pterosaur Evolved in Unusual Way

A new, prehistoric, flying reptile provides evidence for a controversial type of evolution.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 5:55 pm

'Missing link' pterosaur found in China (AFP)

AFP - Chinese and British palaeontologists have identified a crow-sized fossil that they believe fills a key gap in our understanding of the mysterious flying reptiles known as pterosaurs.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 5:33 pm

U2 Makes Outer Space Call (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - As if being an astronaut wasn't already a dream job, add personal calls from the band U2 to the list of perks in space.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 5:30 pm

Flying Reptile May Have Snatched Dinosaurs in Midair (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - A crow-sized reptile sporting a lengthy tail likely soared through the skies some 160 million years ago, snatching feathered dinosaurs and tiny flying mammals from the air, suggest fossils of a newly identified pterosaur.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 5:16 pm

Flying Reptile May Have Snatched Dinosaurs in Midair

Fossils from a small flying reptile fill evolutionary gap.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 5:02 pm

Giant Invasive Snakes Threaten U.S. Wildlife, People

Nine different species of exotic giant snakes, released into the wild by irresponsible pet owners, could pose a major threat to U.S. wildlife, according to a new report published today by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Although pet constrictors start out small and cute, the largest snakes can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh as much as 200 pounds. The enormous reptiles end up in the wild when they’re abandoned by overwhelmed owners, or when they use their impressive musculature to escape from inadequate enclosures.

Tens of thousands of giant Burmese pythons already inhabit parts of southern Florida, and now scientists say at least eight other species of giant snakes have the potential to breed and thrive in parts of the United States, threatening already-fragile native ecosystems and putting 150 endangered species at risk.

“They will eat almost every vertebrate of the right size, but they mostly prefer birds and mammals,” said USGS biologist Gordon Rodda, who co-authored the 350-page study. “We’ve pulled a number of endangered species out of their stomachs.”

In addition, Rodda said all nine species are large enough to kill an adult human, although fatalities are rare. For example, despite the large population of captive Burmese pythons in the United States, the first unprovoked fatal attack was recorded earlier this year, when a pet python escaped from its cage and killed a 2-year-old child.

“There have been recorded fatalities from these species,” Rodda said. “Personally, I don’t think it’s a big deal, but if I had a small child, I would be mindful of that risk if the child was in an area where there might be pythons.”

Individual snakes from all nine species have been found in the United States, but so far only three species — Burmese pythons, boa constrictors and northern African pythons — have established breeding populations in the wild, all currently confined to southern Florida. Based on the snakes’ preferred climate range, potential ecological impact and prevalence in trade and commerce, the report classified five species as high risk and the other four as medium risk to native ecosystems.

A preference for warm weather means most of the snakes could only survive in Florida, southern Texas, Hawaii or tropical islands like Guam and Puerto Rico. Still, Rodda said a few species could potentially spread throughout many of the southern states. “The most temperate of the species is the Burmese python,” he said. “That’s the one that really goes up both coasts and across the southern U.S.”

The hardy animals tolerate urban and suburban environments quite well, and boa constrictors and northern African pythons have both been spotted in the Miami metropolitan area.

Unfortunately, once invasive snakes have taken hold in a particular region, the researchers say they’re almost impossible to get rid of, in part because elaborate camouflage makes the snakes very hard to spot. Some progress has been made in terms of radio-tracking and trapping the snakes, but despite several years of effort, Florida’s population of Burmese pythons and boa constrictors shows no sign of shrinking.

“At this time, we have no tools that would likely suffice to eradicate a big population of snakes once they had spread,” said USGS biologist Robert Reed, the other co-author of the study, who presented the findings today at a congressional briefing. “Instead of looking at the pound of cure,” he said, “maybe it’s time to look at the pound of prevention.”

The results of the study, along with more than 1,500 public comments solicited by the Department of Interior, will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide how to prevent further spread of the giant constrictors. One option would be to place them on a list of injurious species under the federal Lacey Act, which would make it illegal to import the snakes or carry them across state lines.

Of course, reptile enthusiasts don’t want to curb the sale of these exotic snakes, and the researchers point out that owning a snake has educational value. “We can testify to these snakes’ attraction personally, as we both have kept pet giant constrictors,” the scientists wrote. “Thus the social value of protecting native ecosystems must be weighed against the social value of fostering positive attitudes about the protection of nature through giant constrictor ownership.”

Regardless of whether these giant snakes are eventually classified as injurious, the Fish and Wildlife Service says they’re taking steps to reduce breeding populations in Florida and prevent further snake invasion.

“It’s going to take a huge public education and outreach initiative to make people understand the value of being responsible pet owners,” said FWS spokesperson Ken Warren. “We don’t pretend that there’s any easy solution, but no action is not an option.”

Image 1: Burmese python (Python molurus). Roy Wood/National Park Service.
Image 2: A researcher measures the length of a captured Burmese python. Lori Oberhofer/NPS.

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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Oct 2009 | 4:18 pm

Giant Invasive Snakes Threaten U.S. Ecosystems

Some giant snake species would pose a threat to U.S. ecological systems if they were ever established here, a new report finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 3:28 pm

Birds Line Nests with Natural Antibacterials

Why do birds line their nests with aromatic herbs?
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 2:45 pm

What 50 Years of Space Exploration Looks Like

National Geographic maps out all the missions sent out into the solar system.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 2:26 pm

European commands the ISS

Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne talks of his pride at taking command of the International Space Station.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Oct 2009 | 1:12 pm

Jupiter Moon’s Ocean Could Be Rich in Oxygen

europarise

FAJARDO, Puerto Rico — If there are any fish on Jupiter’s moon Europa, they can breathe easy.

Researchers hunting for signs of life beyond Earth have long been drawn to Europa because several features of the moon’s icy surface — including its bright color, networks of long fractures and crater-free terrain — suggest that the moon contains a vast ocean buried under the ice. Now one researcher has calculated that the proposed ocean may receive about 100 times more oxygen than previous models indicated — enough to support respiration by 3 million tons of fish or their Europan equivalent.

Oxygen, generated by charged particles striking water molecules on the moon’s surface, would take 1 to 2 billion years to begin seeping into the ocean, calculated Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson. That delay would have been critical for supporting life because it would have allowed time for primitive organisms to develop the ability to use oxygen. If oxygen instead had been immediately released into the ocean, it would have destroyed fledgling life through the well-known process oxidation, commented Jonathan Lunine, also of the University of Arizona, who was not part of the study.

Greenberg reported the findings October 9 at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences.

Theorists had previously calculated that the charged particles striking Europa would produce oxygen within the top few centimeters of the moon’s crust. Small impacts from space debris would then kick up material that would bury this oxygenated layer to a depth of a few meters. The new part of the story, said Greenberg, came when he considered Europa’s youthful, nearly crater-free appearance. The paucity of craters indicates that the crust is continually resurfaced. Today’s crust is only 50 million years old, even though the moon formed soon after the solar system’s birth 4.56 billion years ago.

Over a period of about 50 million years, a layer of ice 300 meters thick slowly rises from below, eventually covering the moon’s surface and erasing old craters, Greenberg suggested. As a result of this facelift, Europa’s oxygenated layer grows increasingly thick, until after about 1 to 2 billion years the entire ice layer is oxygen-rich, Greenberg said. At that point, ice melting at the bottom of the frozen layer would begin delivering oxygen into the buried proposed ocean at a faster rate than previously estimated, resulting in about 100 times more oxygen in the ocean.

Image: NASA

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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Oct 2009 | 12:49 pm

Vatican Celebrates History of Astronomy

The Vatican is commemorating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first observations.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 12:35 pm

BLOG: Giant Snakes Invading U.S.

Non-native species of boas, anacondas and pythons are on the rise and pose threats.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 12:20 pm

Ion Tiger Takes to the Skies

The Ion Tiger has set an unofficial flight endurance record for a fuel-cell flying vehicle by soaring for almost an entire day.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 12:03 pm

Monkeys Fall Into ‘Uncanny Valley,’ Just Like Humans

Monkeys are freaked out by almost-but-not-quite-real depictions of themselves. That tendency is well documented in humans, but has never before been seen in another species.

To test their preference, researchers showed macaque monkeys real pictures, digital caricatures and realistic reconstructions of other monkey faces. To the latter, the macaques repeatedly averted their eyes.

“The visual behavior of the monkeys falls into the uncanny valley just the same as human visual behavior,” wrote Princeton University evolutionary biologists Shawn Steckinfinger and Asif Ghazanfar in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The “uncanny valley” was identified in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masahito Mori, who noticed that people presented with likenesses of increasing realism respond with increasing empathy, right up to the point where the likenesses are almost real. At that point, people are repulsed. The sudden dip in graphs describing their response gave the phenomenon its name.

Many explanations have been suggested for the uncanny valley, which has also been blamed for the box-office failure of movies like Beowulf and Final Fantasy. Perhaps almost-real humans look a bit too much like corpses for our comfort; perhaps they’re so real that they engage our brains’ mate-recognition or disease-avoidance systems, which promptly identify poor partners or sick individuals.

The PNAS results don’t favor any one of these explanations, but do suggest that the uncanny valley has evolutionary origins deep in the primate psyche.

It remains to be seen how the monkeys would react to a simian version of The Polar Express.

Images: PNAS

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Citation: “Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley.” By S. Steckenfinger & A Ghazanfar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol 106. No. 40, October 12, 2009.

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecosystem and planetary tipping points.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Oct 2009 | 11:44 am

BLOG: Need Tech Support? Call Mrs. Brady

Floh Club, named after Florence Henderson, offers IT help to Baby Boomers.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 11:40 am

BLOG: Alternative Orion Capsule Gets Testing

What looks like NASA's Orion capsule, costs about the same, but isn't made of metal?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 11:14 am

Recycled Plastic Bridges Can Support Tanks

Bridges made from recycled plastic are not only functional, but also cost-effective.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 11:05 am

New Fan Works Without Blades

Without blades, a new invention from James Dyson creates a smoother flow of air compared to conventional fans.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 10:37 am

Clever New Fan Has No Blades

James Dyson, the British inventor behind the vacuums, has invented a fan that has no blades.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 10:31 am

Powerful Ideas: Navy Plans Robotic Barnacle Buster

A new barnacle-scraping robot may be a welcome addition to a ship's crew.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 10:07 am

Rare Frog Species Hit Hardest by Deadly Fungus

Deadly chytrid fungus hits rare frog species the hardest.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 9:50 am

Swine Flu Kills as Lungs Fail

Respiratory failure and lung inflammation are main killers in swine flu deaths.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 9:45 am

Glacier Melt in India Endangers Local Population

Melting glaciers in India threatens the water supply of millions of people.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2009 | 9:10 am

For women on HRT, tenderness may be warning sign

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women whose breasts became tender after taking hormone replacement therapy had nearly twice the risk of developing breast cancer than women whose breasts did not become tender on the drugs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Oct 2009 | 8:28 am

Rare Crow, Thought Extinct, Is Rediscovered

Endangered all-black Indonesian crow, thought extinct, is rediscovered.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Oct 2009 | 8:04 am

Galactic Hookup Spawns Celestial Offspring

crazydoublegalaxy

This bizarre-looking two-armed galaxy, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, is actually two spiral galaxies in a high-speed collision 250 million light-years away.

The crash and resulting mixing of mass and gas sparked new star birth that is visible in the arms. The arm on the right also has many star clusters that are brighter than anything nearby our own galaxy.

This star merger is taking place in the constellation Cancer and is known as NGC 2623. Because it is so bright in the infrared, it belongs to a group of galaxies known as luminous infrared galaxies (LIRG) being studied in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) project.

Image: NASA, ESA and A. Evans (Stony Brook University, New York)

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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 13 Oct 2009 | 8:02 am

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