Sept. 7, 2016 – Tiny magnetic particles from air pollution have for the first time been discovered to be lodged in human brains– and researchers think they could be a possible cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at Lancaster University found abundant magnetite nanoparticles in the brain tissue from 37 individuals aged three to 92-years-old who […]
Sci/Tech
Hubble discovers rare fossil relic of early Milky Way
September 7, 2016 – Terzan 5, 19 000 light-years from Earth, has been classified as a globular cluster for the forty-odd years since its detection. Now, an Italian-led team of astronomers have discovered that Terzan 5 is like no other globular cluster known. The team scoured data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the […]
American Academy of Pediatrics: Non-medical exemptions to immunizations should be eliminated
ELK GROVE, IL, September 5, 2016 – Most parents who are hesitant about vaccines are not opposed to immunizing their children, but rather are unsure or have questions. And the best source of answers is their pediatrician. To equip pediatricians for these conversations, the American Academy of Pediatrics is publishing a new clinical report, “Countering […]
Philae found!
September 5, 2016 – Less than a month before the end of the mission, Rosetta’s high-resolution camera has revealed the Philae lander wedged into a dark crack on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The images were taken on 2 September by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera as the orbiter came within 2.7 km of the surface and clearly show […]
Jupiter’s North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System
September 2, 2016 – NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas-giant planets. Juno successfully executed the […]
How segregationists sold their message on US television
August 31, 2016 – The effective use of national television broadcasts by white segregationists during the civil rights movement could provide valuable insights into the persistence of white nationalism in the United States today in a project by a PhD student from the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham. Scott Weightman is the recipient of a […]
Study finds shark fins & meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer’s disease
MIAMI, Aug. 29, 2016 – In a new study, University of Miami (UM) scientists found high concentrations of toxins linked to neurodegenerative diseases in the fins and muscles of 10 species of sharks. The research team suggests that restricting consumption of sharks can have positive health benefits for consumers and for shark conservation, since several […]
Showing Toxic Algal Blooms’ True Colors
August 29, 2016 – Explosive growth of cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, is nothing new. In fact, such cyanobacteria probably produced the original oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere billions of years ago. But when certain kinds of cyanobacteria multiply rapidly and release toxins, the result is a harmful algal bloom (HAB), a subject of intense concern […]
Some Breast Cancer Patients With Low Genetic Risk Could Skip Chemotherapy, Study Finds
August 25, 2016 – Early-stage breast cancer patients whose tumors carry genetic markers associated with a low risk of disease recurrence may not need to undergo chemotherapy, suggests a new study that employed a test devised by a UC San Francisco researcher. In the study, reported today, August 24, 2016, in The New England Journal […]
Solar energy boosted by new forecasting system
BOULDER, Colo. August 24, 2016 – A cutting edge forecasting system developed by a national team of scientists offers the potential to save the solar energy industry hundreds of millions of dollars through improved forecasts of the atmosphere. The new system, known as Sun4CastTM, has been in development for three years by the National Center […]
Astronomy shown to be set in standing stone
Aug. 17, 2016 – University of Adelaide research has for the first time statistically proven that the earliest standing stone monuments of Britain, the great circles, were constructed specifically in line with the movements of the Sun and Moon, 5000 years ago. The research, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, details the use […]
NASA Study Analyzes Four Corners Methane Sources
August 15, 2016 – In an extensive airborne survey, a NASA-led team has analyzed a previously identified “hot spot” of methane emissions in the Four Corners region of the United States, quantifying both its overall magnitude and the magnitudes of its sources. The study finds that just 10 percent of the individual methane sources are […]
Hubble’s fireball
August 15, 2016 – This dramatic burst of colour shows a cosmic object with an equally dramatic history. Enveloped within striking, billowing clouds of gas and dust that form a nebula known as M1-67, sits a bright star named Hen 2-427 (otherwise known as WR 124). This star is just as intense as the scene […]
‘Chemtrails’ not real, say leading atmospheric science experts
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 12, 2016 – Well-understood physical and chemical processes can easily explain the alleged evidence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program, commonly referred to as “chemtrails” or “covert geoengineering,” concludes a new study from Carnegie Science, University of California Irvine, and the nonprofit organization Near Zero. Some groups and individuals erroneously believe […]
Ten trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our galaxy
Aug. 12, 2016 – Lie on the beach this summer and your body will be bombarded by about sextillion photons of light per second. Most of these photons, or small packets of energy, originate from the Sun but a very small fraction have travelled across the Universe for billions of years before ending their existence […]
Slower snowmelt affects downstream water availability in western mountains
RENO, Nev. August 12, 2016 – Western communities are facing effects of a warming climate with slower and earlier snowmelt reducing streamflows and possibly the amount of water reaching reservoirs used for drinking water and agriculture, according to a study published in July. “As the climate warms, there is actually a slower snowmelt – both […]
Textbook story of how humans populated America is ‘biologically unviable,’ study finds
Aug. 11, 2016 – The established theory about the route by which Ice Age peoples first reached the present-day United States has been challenged by an unprecedented study which concludes that their supposed entry route was “biologically unviable”. The first people to reach the Americas crossed via an ancient land bridge between Siberia and Alaska […]
A.I. Could Be a Firefighter’s ‘Guardian Angel’
August 11, 2016 – Firefighters have only their wits and five senses to rely on inside a burning building. But research developed in part by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, may change that, introducing artificial intelligence (AI) that could collect data on temperatures, gases and other danger signals and guide a team of first […]
New map details threat of Zika across Europe, US
LAWRENCE, KS, Aug. 10, 2016 – With Zika sparking anxiety at the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, and now being transmitted in Florida through contact with mosquitoes, accurately mapping the distribution of the virus is increasingly urgent. Accounting for a host of often-overlooked drivers of transmission, a team of University of Kansas researchers has mapped […]
1967 solar storm nearly took US to brink of war
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 9, 2016 — A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force’s budding efforts to monitor the sun’s activity, a new study finds. On May 23, 1967, the Air Force […]