Synthetic fish measures wild ride through dams
Richland WA (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
In the Pacific Northwest, young salmon must dodge predatory birds, sea lions and more in their perilous trek toward the ocean. Hydroelectric dams don't make the trip any easier, with their manmade currents sweeping fish past swirling turbines and other obstacles. Despite these challenges, most juvenile salmon survive this journey every year.
Now, a synthetic fish is helping existing hydroe ...
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A slightly more acidic ocean may help coral species
Boston MA (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Researchers from Northeastern University's Marine Science Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that moderate ocean acidification and warming can actually enhance the growth rate of one reef-??building coral species. Only under extreme acidification and thermal conditions did calcification decline.
Their work, which was published Wednesday in the journal Pro ...
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Tell-tales of war: Traditional stories highlight how ancient women survived
Eugene OR (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Through the ages, women have suffered greatly because of wars. Consequently, to protect themselves and their offspring, our female ancestors may have evolved survival strategies specific to problems posed by warfare, says Michelle Scalise Sugiyama of the University of Oregon in the US.
Her findings, based on the comprehensive analysis of traditional stories from across the world, are publi ...
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Scientists on NOAA-led mission discover new coral species off California
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
A NOAA-led research team has discovered a new species of deep-sea coral and a nursery area for catsharks and skates in the underwater canyons located close to the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries off the Sonoma coast.
In the first intensive exploration of California's offshore areas north of Bodega Head, a consortium of federal and state marine scientists use ...
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Gardeners of Madagascar rainforest at risk
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
A majority of Madagascar's 101 species of lemurs are threatened with extinction, and that could have serious consequences for the rainforests they call home. A new study by Rice University researchers shows the positive impacts lemurs can have on rainforest tree populations, which raises concerns about the potential impact their disappearance could have on the region's rich biodiversity.
A ...
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Increase in ozone-destroying substances - but Montreal Protocol on track
Leeds, UK (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Research from the University of Leeds and an international team of scientists has shown a recent increase in atmospheric hydrogen chloride (HCI), a substance linked to destruction of the ozone layer.
It was anticipated that there would be a decline in HCI under the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of ozone-depleti ...
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Grass pollen and allergen exposure set to rise
Amherst MA (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Results of a new study by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst strongly suggest that there will be notable increases in grass pollen production and allergen exposure up to 202 percent in the next 100 years, leading to a significant, worldwide impact on human health due to predicted rises in carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) due to climate change.
While CO2 stimulates rep ...
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Analysing heat waves - new index allows predicting their magnitude
Brussels, Belgium (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
JRC scientists have developed a new index to measure the magnitude of heat waves, in cooperation with colleagues from five research organisations. According to the index projections, under the worst climate scenario of temperature rise nearing 4.8 C, extreme heat waves will become the norm by the end of the century.
Heat waves like the one that hit Russia in summer 2010, the strongest on r ...
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New research explores scent communication in polar bears
San Diego CA (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
New research conducted by a team of conservation scientists provides the first systematic examination of the social information polar bears may glean from scent left in the paw prints of other polar bears.
The authors also suggest that scent communication in polar bears may be compromised if climate-change driven sea ice losses in the Arctic intensify. This research was undertaken by the S ...
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UW study shows direct brain interface between humans
Seattle WA (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Sometimes, words just complicate things. What if our brains could communicate directly with each other, bypassing the need for language? University of Washington researchers have successfully replicated a direct brain-to-brain connection between pairs of people as part of a scientific study following the team's initial demonstration a year ago.
In the newly published study, which involved ...
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Life in Earth's primordial sea was starved for sulfate
Vancouver, Canada (SPX) Nov 11, 2014 -
The Earth's ancient oceans held much lower concentrations of sulfate-a key biological nutrient-than previously recognized, according to research published this week in Science.
The findings paint a new portrait of our planet's early biosphere and primitive marine life. Organisms require sulfur as a nutrient, and it plays a central role in regulating atmospheric chemistry and global climate ...
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UT Arlington physics group combining photonics and biotech
Arlington TX (SPX) Nov 12, 2014 -
A University of Texas at Arlington physics team is using their expertise in the field of optics and photonics to advance new methods in areas such as mapping the neural circuitry of the brain and guiding neurons to potentially repair damage in the body.
Samarendra Mohanty, an assistant professor of physics, leads the Biophysics and Physiology Lab in the UT Arlington College of Science. He ...
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China shows off new stealth fighter
Zhuhai, China (AFP) Nov 12, 2014 -
China's new stealth jet fighter rocketed skywards Wednesday as Beijing puts on an unprecedented display of openness - and military force - at the country's premier airshow.
The black J-31 rose in a nearly vertical climb on take-off in Zhuhai before circling back and doing two rolls, in the aircraft's first announced public appearance.
The plane's existence has been the subject of rumou ...
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Iran shows its copy of US drone in flight
Tehran (AFP) Nov 12, 2014 -
State television aired footage Wednesday of the test flight of a drone which Iran says it reverse engineered from a US aircraft that came down over its territory in 2011.
The 30-second clip, broadcast before the midday news and filmed from a helicopter as well as from the ground, showed a delta-winged aircraft in flight.
It came after the commander of the air wing of the elite Revolution ...
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Research reveals the real cause of death for some starburst galaxies
Lawrence KS (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
Like hedonistic rock stars that live by the "better to burn out than to fade away" credo, certain galaxies flame out in a blaze of glory. Astronomers have struggled to grasp why these young "starburst" galaxies - ones that are very rapidly forming new stars from cold molecular hydrogen gas up to 100 times faster than our own Milky Way - would shut down their prodigious star formation to join a c ...
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From doomsday to fact: Science lifts veil on comets
Paris (AFP) Nov 12, 2014 -
For millennia, the sight of a comet filled humans with awe or dread.
The birth of Jesus, the assassination of Julius Caesar, the Great Plague of London, the coming of war or peace, bountiful harvests or famine... all thought to be portended by cosmic herald.
Bit by bit, mysticism about comets has been replaced by fact as scientists discover more about these epic and ancient travellers of ...
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Firms flock to China's fast-growing aviation market
Zhuhai, China (AFP) Nov 11, 2014 -
Global aviation firms flocked to China on Tuesday to show off their wares as economic development and an expanding middle class promise a bonanza in one of the world's fastest-growing aircraft markets.
Chinese defence companies and the People's Liberation Army's air force are also putting the latest weaponry on parade at the country's premier Zhuhai airshow this week, including the new J-31 ...
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NASA X-ray Telescopes Find Black Hole May Be a Neutrino Factory
Huntsville AL (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
The giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be producing mysterious particles called neutrinos. If confirmed, this would be the first time that scientists have traced neutrinos back to a black hole.
The evidence for this came from three NASA satellites that observe in X-ray light: the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift gamma-ray mission, and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescop ...
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Cassini probe measures sea depth on Saturn's moon Titan
Washington (UPI) Nov 12, 2014 -
According to new radar measurements recorded by NASA's Cassini probe, the largest hydrocarbon sea on Saturn's moon Titan, Kraken Mare, is at least 115 feet deep - and maybe more.
Cassini recently bounced radar off Kraken Mare's eastern shore as it circled Saturn; depths there ranged from 66 to 115 feet. But the area explored by Cassini's instruments is only a sliver of the sizable 154, ...
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Meteorite grains tell shocking tale of solar system birth
Tucson AZ (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
The most accurate laboratory measurements yet made of magnetic fields trapped in grains within a primitive meteorite are providing important clues to how the early solar system evolved. The measurements point to shock waves traveling through the cloud of dusty gas around the newborn Sun as a major factor in solar system formation.
The results appear in a paper published Nov. 13 in the jour ...
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The Answer is Blowing in the Intergalactic Wind
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
Astronomers from the University of Toronto and the University of Arizona have provided the first direct evidence that an intergalactic "wind" is stripping galaxies of star-forming gas as they fall into clusters of galaxies. The observations help explain why galaxies found in clusters are known to have relatively little gas and less star formation when compared to non-cluster or "field" galaxies. ...
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Time-lapse video shows Orion's move to Cape Canaveral launch pad
Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) Nov 12, 2014 -
After plans to move Orion were nixed on Monday as a result of strong winds and lightning storms, the future of NASA's manned missions was relocated to its new home atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket at Space Launch Complex 37.
The spacecraft's journey began at 8:30 Tuesday night, as engineers wheeled the 46,848-pound vehicle out of the Launch Abort System Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Cent ...
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DARPA-Funded Inflatable Robotics Helps Spark Idea for Silver Screen Star
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
The giant, balloon-like inflatable robot named Baymax in Disney's Big Hero 6 has its roots in real-world research conducted by iRobot Corporation, Carnegie Mellon University and Otherlab under DARPA's Maximum Mobility Manipulation (M3) program.
The film's co-director, Don Hall, has said he was inspired to cast Baymax as an air-filled, soft robot after he saw an inflatable robotic arm on a ...
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Despite landing bounce, comet probe working well
Paris (AFP) Nov 13, 2014 -
Europe's comet probe Philae was "working well" despite a rough-and-tumble touchdown that left it partly shadowed from battery-boosting sunlight, ground controllers said Thursday.
Clearly relieved, they reported that in the first 24 hours after its historic landing, the lab had sent home a slew of data and images from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - though from a mystery location.
New ...
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Mars, too, has macroweather
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Nov 14, 2014 -
Weather, which changes day-to-day due to constant fluctuations in the atmosphere, and climate, which varies over decades, are familiar. More recently, a third regime, called "macroweather," has been used to describe the relatively stable regime between weather and climate.
A new study by researchers at McGill University and UCL finds that this same three-part pattern applies to atmospheric ...
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