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Top Science News

September 9, 2016

Not One, but Four Giraffe Species

A Tenth of World's Wilderness Lost Since 1990s

Hundreds of Undiscovered Black Holes Revealed

Rare Fossil Relic of Early Milky Way

Sep. 8, 2016 — Up until now, scientists had only recognized a single species of giraffe made up of several subspecies. But, according to the most inclusive genetic analysis of giraffe relationships to date, ... read more

Sep. 8, 2016 — Researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology show catastrophic declines in wilderness areas around the world over the last 20 ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — Computer simulations of a spherical collection of stars known as 'NGC 6101' reveal that it contains hundreds of black holes, until now thought impossible. Recent observations already found black hole ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — A fossilized remnant of the early Milky Way harboring stars of hugely different ages has been revealed by an international team of astronomers. This stellar system resembles a globular cluster, but ... read more

Latest Top Headlines

updated 1:43am EDT

New Vaccination Strategies Coach Immune System to Make HIV-Neutralizing Antibodies

Sep. 8, 2016 — New approaches that could spur the human body to produce HIV-blocking antibodies have been successful in mice mimicking the human immune system, according to five ... read more

Brain Connections Are More Sophisticated Than Thought

Sep. 8, 2016 — Inhibitory connections between neurons act as the brain's brakes, preventing it from becoming overexcited. Researchers thought inhibitory connections were less sophisticated than their excitatory counterparts because relatively few proteins were known to exist at these structures. But a new study ... read more

New 'Trojan Horse' Antibody Strategy Shows Promise Against All Ebola Viruses

Sep. 8, 2016 — A new therapeutic strategy to target a hidden Achilles' heel shared by all known types of Ebola virus has been outlined by researchers. Two antibodies developed with this strategy blocked the invasion of human cells by all ... read more

Air Pollution a Risk Factor for Diabetes, Say Researchers

Sep. 8, 2016 — Exposure to air pollution at the place of residence increases the risk of developing insulin resistance as a pre-diabetic state of type 2 diabetes, ... read more

New Material to Revolutionize Water Proofing

Sep. 8, 2016 — A new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water has been developed by researchers. The new protective coating could eventually be used to waterproof mobile phones, prevent ice from forming on airplanes or protect boat hulls ... read more

Expanding When It Shouldn't: New Material With Exceptional Negative Compressibility

Sep. 7, 2016 — Our intuition tells us that a sample of material compressed uniformly from all sides should reduce its dimensions. Only a few materials subjected to hydrostatic compression exhibit the opposite behavior, expanding slightly in one or two directions. ... read more

Reconciling Dwarf Galaxies With Dark Matter

Sep. 7, 2016 — Dwarf galaxies are enigmas wrapped in riddles. Although they are the smallest galaxies, they represent some of the biggest mysteries about our universe. While many dwarf galaxies surround our own Milky Way, there seem to be far too few of them compared with standard cosmological models, which ... read more

Atomic Scale Pipes Available on Demand and by Design

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers have discovered how to create the smallest ever water and gas pipes that are only one atom ... read more

Unprecedented Atmospheric Behavior Disrupts One of Earth's Most Regular Climate Cycles

Sep. 8, 2016 — A team of scientists has discovered an unexpected disruption in one of the most repeatable ... read more

Kill Them With Cuteness: The Adorable Thing Bats Do to Catch Prey

Sep. 8, 2016 — A bat's head waggles and ear wiggles synch with its sonar vocalizations to help it hunt, demonstrating how movement can enhance senses like sight and hearing -- not just in bats, but in dogs and cats, and even ... read more

New Reptile Species from 212 Million Years Ago

Sep. 8, 2016 — An extinct reptile related to crocodiles that lived 212 million years ago in present day New Mexico has been named as a new species, Vivaron haydeni, ... read more

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: World's Largest Reforestation Program Overlooks Wildlife

Sep. 7, 2016 — New research found that China's reforestation program, the world's largest, overwhelmingly leads to the planting of monoculture forests that fall short of restoring the biodiversity of native forests -- and can even harm existing wildlife. The ... read more

Italy Quake Death Toll Nears 250, Rescue Work Intensifies

'Earth-Like' Planet Found Just Outside Solar System

Arctic Ice Melting in 2016 Heat: NASA

The Real Culprit Behind The Common Cold Might Be ... Camels?

T-Cell Therapy Gives Hope for Advanced Lymphoma

Stem Cell Therapy Gives Paralyzed Man Use of Arms

Experimental Drug Could Stop Melanoma

Making Long-Lasting Memories Easily

Sep. 7, 2016 — Data has been released from an early-phase study of patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who received JCAR014, a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell treatment, and chemotherapy. CAR T ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — After receiving a stem cell injection into his spine, Kris Boesen, who was paralyzed from his neck to his toes after a car accident, is regaining ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — An experimental cancer drug works differently than intended and shows significant promise for stopping melanoma and possibly other forms of ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — Imagine if playing a new video game or riding a rollercoaster could help you prepare for an exam or remember other critical information. A new study in mice shows this link may be ... read more

Latest Health Headlines

updated 1:43am EDT

The Influence of Fat When Gut Bacteria Is Reduced by Antibioticsm

Sep. 8, 2016 — Additional insight has been shed on how bacteria in the gut, or lack thereof, influences intestinal mast cells (MMC) activation and perhaps fat absorption. Mast cells are intimately involved with the immune system in the ... read more

Scientists Find Culprit Responsible for Calcified Blood Vessels in Kidney Disease

Sep. 8, 2016 — Scientists have implicated a type of stem cell in the calcification of blood vessels that is common in patients with chronic kidney disease. The research will guide future studies into ways to block minerals from building up inside blood vessels and ... read more

Reactive Oxygen Species Switch Immune Cells from Migratory to Murderous

Sep. 8, 2016 — Neutrophils are the superheroes of the body's immune system. Normally mild-mannered, they travel through the bloodstream until they reach an emergency situation, such as a cut or infection, where they switch into battle-mode to engulf and destroy foreign invaders. Neutrophils use ROS concentration to determine when to stop migrating and start killing, report ... read more

Life After Fitbit: Appealing to Those Who Feel Guilty Vs. Free

Sep. 8, 2016 — Is life better or worse after sticking your Fitbit in a drawer? Researchers surveyed hundreds of people who had abandoned self-tracking tools and found emotions ranged from guilt to indifference to relief that the tracking experience was ... read more

Stroke: Study Examines Risk, Risk Factors for Depression

Sep. 7, 2016 — During the first three months after stroke, the risk for depression was found to be eight times higher than in a reference population of people without stroke, according to a new ... read more

Paying Do-Gooders Makes Them Less Persuasive

Sep. 8, 2016 — People who receive a financial incentive to raise money for a charity they care about are actually less effective in soliciting donations, even when potential donors have no idea that incentives were involved, according to new findings. The research suggests that incentives may have this effect because they result in the fundraisers coming off as less sincere to the people they're trying to ... read more

Common Molecular Mechanism of Parkinson's Pathology Discovered in Study

Sep. 8, 2016 — Intracellular defects that lead to cells' failure to decommission faulty 'power packs' known as mitochondria cause nerve cells to die, triggering the symptoms of ... read more

Neuroscience: Linking Perception to Action

Sep. 8, 2016 — A researcher studying how the brain uses perception of the environment to guide action has a new understanding of the neural circuits responsible for transforming sensation into ... read more

Open Floor Plans May Lead to More Eating

Sep. 8, 2016 — Dining environments can have serious consequences for eating behaviors, say investigators. The study findings may have important implications not only for college and university students, but also for people who need to eat in health care, group home and military ... read more

Physical Activity May Offset Some of Alcohol's Lethal Harms

Sep. 7, 2016 — Exercising, at even basic recommended weekly physical activity levels (at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity), may offset some of the harmful effects of drinking alcohol, suggests new research. This first-of-its-kind study found that for alcohol drinkers, physical activity may decrease the risks of dying both from cancer and from 'all-cause mortality' that is, deaths from any ... read more

Pet Therapy Can Combat Homesickness

Sep. 8, 2016 — The expression "dog is man's best friend" might have more weight in the case of first-year university students suffering from homesickness, according to a new study. The study shows that animal-assisted therapy can help students combat homesickness and could be a useful tool in lowering ... read more

Summer Learning Programs Can Benefit Low-Income Students, Study Finds

Sep. 7, 2016 — During long summers, children may forget many of the lessons they learned from the prior school year -- particularly low-income children who may have access to few enrichment activities. But new research finds that high-quality summer programs can help boost achievement in both reading and math among low-income children who attend such programs ... read more

In Iran, Kidney Donors Get Paid

Pfizer Buys Antibiotics Business

British Officials Want A Worldwide Ban On Microbeads In Cosmetics

How A Florida Teen Survived A Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Infection

Amazing Compounds Inside Uranus and Neptune?

Earth's Carbon Points to Planetary Smashup

First Gravitational Waves Form Quickly

Supernova That Wasn't: Tale of 3 Cosmic Eruptions

Sep. 6, 2016 — Scientists have discovered that the depths of Uranus, Neptune and their satellites may contain extraordinary compounds, such as carbonic and ... read more

Sep. 5, 2016 — Research suggests that virtually all of Earth's life-giving carbon could have come from a collision about 4.4 billion years ago between Earth and an embryonic planet similar to ... read more

Sep. 5, 2016 — If two galaxies collide, the merging of their central black holes triggers gravitational waves, which ripple throughout space. An international research team has now calculated that this occurs ... read more

Sep. 2, 2016 — Long-term observations with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that Eta Carinae, a very massive star system that has puzzled astronomers since it erupted in a supernova-like event in the mid 19th ... read more

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 1:43am EDT

Chemists Devise Revolutionary 3-D Bone-Scanning Technique

Sep. 8, 2016 — A scanning technique for bones has been created that does not expose patients to X-ray radiation but provides exceptional 3-D images from which diagnoses and prognoses can be made. Their technique now provides information on bone quality as well as ... read more

Textile Fiber Waste Helps Improve the Sustainability of Materials

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers have developed a panel with textile waste that improves both the thermal and acoustic conditions of buildings and reduces the energy impact associated to the production of construction materials and greenhouse ... read more

Saskatchewan Uranium Mining Emits Few Greenhouse Gases, Study Shows

Sep. 8, 2016 — The mining and milling of Canadian uranium contributes very few greenhouse gases to nuclear power’s already low emissions, a research group ... read more

The Enigma Machine Takes a Quantum Leap

Sep. 6, 2016 — Researchers have moved beyond the theoretical in demonstrating that an unbreakable encrypted message can be sent with a key that's far shorter than the message -- the first time that has ever ... read more

Avoiding 'Traffic Jam' Creates Impossibly Bright 'Lighthouse'

Sep. 8, 2016 — The central energy source of enigmatic pulsating Ultra Luminous X-ray sources (ULX) could be a neutron star according to numerical simulations. ULXs, which are remarkably bright X-ray sources, were thought to be powered by ... read more

Detailed Age Map Shows How Milky Way Came Together

Sep. 6, 2016 — Using colors to identify the approximate ages of more than 130,000 stars in the Milky Way's halo, astronomers have produced the clearest picture yet of how the galaxy formed more than 13.5 billion years ... read more

Nanotubes Morphed Into Tougher Carbon for Spacecraft, Satellites

Sep. 6, 2016 — Researchers turn nanotubes into nanodiamonds and other forms of carbon by smashing them into a target at hypervelocity. The results will help in the design of light, strong materials for ... read more

NASA's SDO Witnesses a Double Eclipse

Sep. 2, 2016 — Early in the morning of Sept. 1, 2016, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, caught both Earth and the moon crossing in front of the sun. SDO keeps a constant eye on the sun, but during SDO's semiannual eclipse seasons, Earth briefly blocks SDO's line of sight each day -- a consequence of ... read more

Smartphone Hacks 3-D Printer by Measuring 'Leaked' Energy and Acoustic Waves

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers illustrate how smartphones, due to their ubiquity and sophisticated gadgetry, can easily hack 3-D printers by measuring 'leaked' energy and acoustic waves that emanate from the printers. The work is eye-opening because it shows how ... read more

Negative Experiences on Facebook Linked to Increased Depression Risk in Young Adults

Sep. 8, 2016 — Negative experiences on Facebook may increase the risk of depressive symptoms, suggesting that online social interactions have important consequences for mental health, a unique new study of young adults ... read more

Smart Buoy for Measuring Water Pollutants

Sep. 8, 2016 — All over the world, lakes, rivers, and coastal waters are threatened by high nutrient inputs. Nitrate or phosphates from waste-waters or fertilizers causes eutrophication. The consequence: Algae, in particular cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), grow uncontrollably and may release toxic substances. ... read more

Algorithm Detects Online Fraudsters

Sep. 8, 2016 — An algorithm makes it easier to determine if someone has faked an Amazon or Yelp review or if a politician with a suspiciously large number of Twitter followers might have bought and paid for that ... read more

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'Robo-Taxis' Roam Around the Streets of Singapore

British Officials Want A Worldwide Ban On Microbeads In Cosmetics

Wearable Device Delivers Automatic Support for Weak Muscles

The First Star-Visiting Probe Will Need Some Ambitious Engineering

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Environment News

September 9, 2016

Increased Ocean Acidification Is Due to Humans

360-Million-Year-Old Tetrapod Rewrites Sea ...

Strange Fossil: Snake Eats Lizard Eats Beetle

Spider Webs for Transmitting Vibrations

Sep. 7, 2016 — Oceanographers report that the northeast Pacific Ocean has absorbed an increasing amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide over the last decade, at a rate that mirrors the increase of carbon dioxide ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers have shown that fossils of the 360 million-year-old tetrapod Acanthostega, one of the iconic transitional forms between fishes and land ... read more

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists have examined a spectacular discovery from the UNESCO World Heritage site Messel Pit: A fossil snake in whose stomach a lizard can be ... read more

Sep. 6, 2016 — Two years ago, scientists revealed that, when plucked like a guitar string, spider silk transmits vibrations across a wide range of frequencies, carrying information about prey, mates and even the ... read more

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 1:43am EDT

Ginger, Chili Peppers Could Work Together to Lower Cancer Risk

Sep. 7, 2016 — For many people, there's nothing more satisfying than a hot, spicy meal. But some research has suggested that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, might cause cancer. Now researchers show in mouse studies that the pungent compound in ginger, 6-ginergol, could counteract capsaicin's potentially harmful effects. In combination with the capsaicin, 6-gingerol could lower the ... read more

Bacteria Supply Their Allies With Munitions

Sep. 8, 2016 — Bacteria fight their competitors with molecular spear guns, the so-called Type VI secretion system. When firing this weapon they also unintentionally hit their own kind. However the related bacteria strains benefit from coming under fire. They recycle the protein components of the spear guns and ... read more

The History of Beer Yeast

Sep. 8, 2016 — Today's industrial yeast strains are used to make beer, wine, bread, biofuels, and more, but their evolutionary history is not well studied. Researchers have now described a family tree of these microbes with an emphasis on beer yeast. The resulting genetic relationships reveal clues as to when ... read more

Cover Crop Mixtures Increase Agroecosystem Services, First-of-Kind Study Suggests

Sep. 8, 2016 — Planting a multi-species mixture of cover crops -- rather than a cover crop monoculture -- between cash crops, provides increased agroecosystem services, or multifunctionality, according ... read more

Yellow or Black, Large or Small? Ant Color and Body Size Respond Strongly to Environment

Sep. 8, 2016 — A study of ants across three continents has revealed that their color and size is strongly influenced by their environment, and that the dominant color and average body size can change from year to year as temperatures vary. This finding has ... read more

Fish 'Biowaste' Converted to Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Sep. 6, 2016 — Large quantities of fish are consumed in India on a daily basis, which generates a huge amount of fish 'biowaste' materials. In an attempt to do something positive with this biowaste, a team of researchers explored recycling the fish byproducts into an energy harvester for ... read more

Tapping the Unused Potential of Photosynthesis

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists have reengineered the fundamental process of photosynthesis to power useful chemical reactions that could be used to produce biofuels, pharmaceuticals and ... read more

Pushing a Parasite from Land to Sea

Sep. 6, 2016 — Higher levels of rainfall and coastal development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean, according to a study. The work advances earlier work by tracking the parasite T. gondii to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to ... read more

Historical Coexistence With Dingoes May Explain Bandicoot Avoidance of Domestic Dogs

Sep. 7, 2016 — Domestic dogs and cats were introduced to Tasmania two centuries ago, but bandicoots still fail to recognize these introduced predators as threats, according a ... read more

13th Century Maya Codex, Long Shrouded in Controversy, Proves Genuine

Sep. 7, 2016 — The Grolier Codex, an ancient document that is among the rarest books in the world, has been regarded with skepticism since it was reportedly unearthed by looters from a cave in Chiapas, Mexico, in the 1960s. But a meticulous new study of the codex has yielded a startling conclusion: The codex is ... read more

Similarities Found Between How Ancient and Modern Fish Survived Youth

Sep. 6, 2016 — The discovery of a group of young, prehistoric fish fossils provides some insights into the way the extinct creatures survived their youth -- and how fish today might be similar ... read more

An Exceptional Palaeontological Site Going Back 100,000 Years Is Unearthed in Arrasate

Sep. 6, 2016 — An important site containing at least 40 species reflecting fauna during the Upper Pleistocenewas discovered in 2012 by quarry workers after carrying out a blasting operation. When they spotted the presence of a great many fossil remains in the clay ... read more

Italy Quake Kills 159 as Rescuers Race to Find Survivors

Italy Quake Death Toll Nears 250, Rescue Work Intensifies

Cleanup Begins After Devastating Indiana Tornadoes

Quake Reduces Italian Village to Ruins

Learning Foreign Languages Sharpens Our Minds

Pain from Childhood Bullying Persists For Decades

LED-Lighting Influences the Activity of Bats

People Enhanced Environment Over 13,000 Years

Sep. 2, 2016 — Scientists say the more foreign languages we learn, the more effectively our brain reacts and processes the data accumulated in the course of ... read more

Sep. 1, 2016 — Childhood bullying inflicts the same long-term psychological trauma on girls as severe physical or sexual abuse, suggests a new survey of college students led by bullying ... read more

Sep. 1, 2016 — The widespread replacement of conventional bulbs in street lighting by energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has considerable influence on bats as urban nocturnal hunters. Opportunistic bats ... read more

Aug. 30, 2016 — Human occupation is usually associated with deteriorated landscapes, but new research shows that 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia's coastal First Nations has had the opposite ... read more

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 1:43am EDT

Surgery at High-Quality Hospitals Costs Medicare Less Than at Low-Quality Hospitals

Sep. 7, 2016 — Patients who had major surgery at high-quality hospitals in the United States cost Medicare less than those who had surgery at low-quality hospitals, according to a new ... read more

Cost of Incarceration in the U.S. More Than $1 Trillion

Sep. 7, 2016 — The cost of incarceration in the United States exceeds $1 trillion, or six percent of gross domestic product, and dwarfs the amount spent on corrections alone, finds a new ... read more

Making of a Mistake: UK Police Lineups Deliver Significantly Worse Results Than US Equivalent, New Research Shows

Sep. 6, 2016 — Lineup procedures (or ‘identity parades’) used in UK criminal investigations deliver significantly less accurate results than the American equivalent, new research shows. Differences between the use of photo and video, and delivery of images can affect accuracy, they say, while calling for more scientific methods of eyewitness ... read more

Introducing Diversity in Online Language Analysis

Sep. 7, 2016 — For the past 30 years, computer science researchers have been teaching their machines to read standard English -- for example, by assigning back issues of the Wall Street Journal -- so computers can learn the English they need to run search engines like Google. But using only standard English has left out whole segments of society who use dialects and non-standard varieties of English, and the ... read more

Emotionally Invested Parents Give Children a Leg Up in Life

Sep. 7, 2016 — Children with emotionally invested parents are more likely to be successful, a study ... read more

Mobile Media, Visual Art Making Boost School Engagement

Aug. 31, 2016 — Keeping teens focused on what's happening in class rather than their electronic device is a tall order, given that 73 per cent of them have access to a smartphone -- and most would prefer to be on Instagram than at school. But what if making, sharing, liking and commenting on photos was part of the curriculum instead of a forbidden ... read more

Parents' Math Skills 'Rub Off' on Their Children

Sep. 1, 2016 — Parents who excel at math produce children who excel at math. This is according to a recent study that shows a distinct transfer of math skills from parent to child. The study specifically explored intergenerational transmission -- the concept of parental influence on an offspring's behavior or psychology -- in mathematic ... read more

Fair or Unfair? Facial Cues Influence How Social Exclusion Is Judged

Aug. 29, 2016 — People are often excluded from social groups. Whether uninvolved observers find this acceptable or not may depend on the facial appearances of those excluded. The exclusion of cold and incompetent looking people is more likely to ... read more

Women Do Ask for Pay Rises but Don’t Get Them

Sep. 5, 2016 — New research shows that women ask for wage rises just as often as men, but men are 25 per cent more likely to get a raise when they ... read more

Nonwork Orientations Are Related to Higher Career and Life Satisfaction

Aug. 31, 2016 — When planning a career, many people take nonwork orientations into account, such as family, personal interests and civic engagement. Psychologists have found out that people who strongly consider the role of the family in career planning report more satisfaction with their career and their lives in general. Surprisingly, nonwork orientations also showed no negative effects on ... read more

How Telecommuting Can Cause Leadership Issues

Aug. 25, 2016 — Wherever your organization falls on the spectrum of telecommuting and virtual teams, new research reveals something about leadership and telecommuting that everyone should take ... read more

Music at Work Increases Cooperation, Teamwork

Aug. 23, 2016 — Music can have important effects on the cooperative spirits of those exposed to music, researchers report. A new article describes two studies they conducted to test the effect of different types of music on the cooperative behavior of individuals working as ... read more

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