Iran elections: what changed and what it means
Tehran (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
Elections in Iran have led to a reshaping of political forces in the Islamic republic and benefited President Hassan Rouhani following a nuclear deal with world powers last summer.
In a ballot on Friday for parliament an alliance of pro-Rouhani reformists and moderates gained seats, conservative numbers were cut and hardliners who had opposed the nuclear agreement were all but wiped out.
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How plants protect photosynthesis from oxygen
Stanford CA (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
During the daytime, plants convert the Sun's energy into sugars using photosynthesis, a complex, multi-stage biochemical process. New work from a team including Carnegie's Mark Heinnickel, Wenqiang Yang, and Arthur Grossman identified a protein needed for assembling the photosynthetic apparatus that may help us understand the history of photosynthesis back in the early days of life on Earth, a t ...
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U.S. Air Force reveals first image of B-21 stealth bomber
Orlando, Fla. (UPI) Mar 01, 2016 -
The U.S. Air Force on Friday released the first image of its future Long-Range Strike Bomber - an aircraft that has been given the designation B-21.
The LRS-B, to be manufactured by Northrop Grumman, strongly resembles the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which has been in service for nearly 20 years.
Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James announced the new bomber at the Air For ...
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The sponges strike back
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
Reaggregation of marine sponges' cells helped the scientists to come closer to understanding of the origin and early evolution of multicellular animals.The work was published in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology.
Andrey Lavrov and Igor Kosevich, MSU biologists, researched the ability of the cells of marine sponges (Porifera) to reaggregation - a pro ...
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Royal Navy submarine tests new command-and-control system
London (UPI) Feb 29, 2016 -
The Royal Navy's newest submarine has test fired her first torpedo using a new British-designed and built command-and-control system.
The common combat system used by the Astute-class submarine HMS Artful was made by BAE Systems in collaboration with Thales UK. It "functions as the digital 'brain' of the boat controlling its 'eyes', 'ears' and 'nervous system,'" the Ministry of Defense ...
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Plankton feces could move plastic pollution to the ocean depths
Exeter, UK (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
Plastic waste could find its way deep into the ocean through the faeces of plankton, new research from the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory shows. The study is further evidence of the widespread impact plastic pollution could have on the marine environment.
Researchers have found tiny marine creatures called zooplankton readily ingest "microplastics", plastic debris smal ...
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Britain's Trident Nuclear Program at Risk From Unmanned Sub Drones
Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 01, 2016 -
The UK Trident nuclear deterrent program - at the center of a row over its replacement - is at risk from a new generation of cheap underwater drones which could render the whole basis of submarine deployment useless, according to a new report.
The UK parliament is due to make a decision on replacing its ageing fleet of Vanguard class submarines, which carry the Trident II D-5 ballistic mis ...
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Watching new species evolve in real time
London, UK (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
Sometimes evolution proceeds much more rapidly than we might think. Genetic analysis makes it possible to detect the earliest stages of species formation and to gain a better understanding of speciation processes.
For example, a study just published in PLOS Genetics by researchers from Eawag and the University of Bern - investigating rapid speciation in threespine stickleback in and around ...
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US Military Space Budget 2017
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
Twenty days ago, President Obama sent his proposed FY 2017 budget to Congress. It included a request for $582.7 billion in discretionary budget authority to fund DOD. This request complies with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which requires both funding stability and protection from the damage of sequestration.
The proposed budget reflects recent strategic threats and changes that have ...
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New theory of deep-ocean sound waves may aid tsunami detection
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
Acoustic-gravity waves are very long sound waves that cut through the deep ocean at the speed of sound. These lightning-quick currents can sweep up water, nutrients, salts, and any other particles in their wake, at any water depth. They are typically triggered by violent events in the ocean, including underwater earthquakes, explosions, landslides, and even meteorites, and they carry information ...
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Missing Hong Kong bookseller says on TV he was 'not abducted'
Hong Kong (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo appeared on television Monday insisting he had not been abducted by mainland authorities, in a case that has sparked a backlash over Chinese interference in the city.
British citizen Lee is one of five Hong Kong booksellers known for publishing titles critical of Beijing who have gone missing in recent months.
It was the first time Lee, 65, had spoken ...
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Dolby plays to eyes as well as ears with new technologies
San Francisco (AFP) Mar 01, 2016 -
At the entrance of Dolby headquarters in San Francisco, a ribbon of television screens plays synchronized videos that change in time to sound effects.
The display mirrors Dolby's recent efforts to move beyond sound enhancement to improve what people see when they watch films.
Several of the movies up for Oscars on Sunday in Los Angeles were made with Dolby Vision, which has become an ind ...
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US releases Iraq dam collapse evacuation advice
Baghdad (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
The US embassy in Iraq has released evacuation recommendations it said could help save up to 1.5 million lives at risk from a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam.
Concern has grown in recent months over a possible collapse of Iraq's largest dam, which would unleash a wave that would devastate second city Mosul and flood much of the capital Baghdad.
The dam in northern Iraq was built on ...
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'Paywalls' become the norm at US newspapers: survey
Washington (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
The vast majority of US newspapers have implemented digital subscriptions or "paywalls" to cope with the decline in print, a survey showed Monday.
The survey by the American Press Institute showed 77 of the 98 US newspapers with circulation above 50,000 used some type of online subscription model.
That is a major shift from 2010, when only six newspapers used digital subscriptions, the s ...
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Turtles' vulnerable start to life on Philippine coast
Morong, Philippines (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
Hundreds of tiny turtle hatchlings emerge above a Philippine beach at night and immediately look to the sea, hoping to beat huge odds and start a remarkable trans-oceanic journey lasting decades.
The olive ridleys, each shorter than a credit card, are among five species of sea turtles in the Philippines that are in danger of extinction, mostly because they are prized as a protein-rich food. ...
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Oil rebounds on China stimulus move
London (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
World oil prices rebounded Monday after China's latest stimulus move boosted hopes of strengthening demand in the key energy consumer.
Around 1700 GMT, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April rose 78 cents at $33.56 per barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for April advanced 96 cents to $36.06 compared with Friday's close.
China's central bank on Mon ...
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'Localists' gain foothold as democracy camp wins key Hong Kong vote
Hong Kong (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp won a key by-election Monday, with one young activist who advocates independence from China also taking tens of thousands of votes in closely-watched polls at a time of rising political tension.
While it was a candidate from one of the established pro-democracy parties who won the election, the results showed growing support for the more radical "localist" move ...
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MEO Australia gets support for Cuban oil program
Melbourne (UPI) Feb 29, 2016 -
MEO Australia Ltd. said it was able to raise more than $1 million to help finance its fledgling exploration program for oil near the coast of Cuba.
Cuba-focused and London-based investor Leni Gas Cuba took a 15.8 percent stake in MEO Australia in exchange for $1.4 million to support an exploration program covering 900 square miles of an oil exploration block near the coast of Cuba.
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Former TEPCO bosses indicted over Fukushima disaster
Tokyo (AFP) Feb 29, 2016 -
Three former executives of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant operator were indicted Monday over the 2011 atomic accident, in what will be the first criminal trial linked to the disaster.
Ex-Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, and former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro were formally charged with professional negligence resulting in deaths and injury fo ...
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Gazprom production falters
Moscow (UPI) Feb 29, 2016 -
Though output was enough to satisfy export demands, Russian energy company Gazprom said its production for 2015 was less than the previous year.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin to discuss corporate results for last year. Miller told the president that full-year gas production amounted to about 1.47 billion cubic feet, which was less tha ...
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Microorganisms duke it out within algal blooms
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
An unseen war rages between the ocean's tiniest organisms, and it has significant implications for understanding the ocean's role in climate change, according to a new study.
David Needham and Jed Fuhrman from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences sampled water off the coast of Southern California over the course of five months, almost every day shortly after an algal bloo ...
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Genel takes charge on lower Kurdish oil estimate
London (UPI) Feb 29, 2016 -
Lower crude oil prices and a downward revision in the recoverable reserve estimate in the Kurdish north of Iraq means a charge on the books, Genel Energy said.
An internal review of the Taq Taq basin in the Kurdish north of Iraq put the estimated recoverable proven and probable reserves at 356 million barrels, about half as much as estimated in June 2011.
The company reported net ...
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Fossil find reveals just how big carnivorous dinosaur may have grown
London, UK (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
An unidentified fossilised bone in a museum has revealed the size of a fearsome abelisaur and may have solved a hundred-year old puzzle.
Alessandro Chiarenza, a PhD student from Imperial College London, last year stumbled across a fossilised femur bone, left forgotten in a drawer, during his visit to the Museum of Geology and Palaeontology in Palermo Italy. He and a colleague Andrea Cau, a ...
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Oil prices up on Saudi market pledge
New York (UPI) Feb 29, 2016 -
A pledge Monday from Saudi Arabia to work with fellow producers to achieve market stability gave momentum to an emerging rally in crude oil prices.
The Saudi Cabinet of Ministers met Monday in Riyadh to review market sentiments expressed last week at an international energy conference in Houston.
Ministers issued a statement through the official Saudi Press Agency saying the gove ...
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How to make a tiny volcanic island
Boulder CO (SPX) Mar 01, 2016 -
On Nov. 20, 2013, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force discovered a small islet near Nishinoshima volcano, Ogasawara Islands, Japan. The exact date of the initial eruption that spawned the islet is unknown, but a thermal anomaly was detected in the area in early November 2013.
Fukashi Maeno and colleagues are investigating the creation of this islet, which on the day of its discovery was ...
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