|  NASA's black-hole-hunter catches its first 10 supermassive black holes  | NASA's black-hole-hunter spacecraft, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has "bagged" its first 10 supermassive black holes. The mission, which has a mast the length of a school bus, is the first telescope capable of focusing the highest-energy X-ray light into detailed pictures. | Read More » Hubble catches a spiral in the air pump  | Lying more than 110 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Antlia (The Air Pump) is the spiral galaxy IC 2560, shown in a new image from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. At this distance it is a relatively nearby spiral galaxy, and is part of the Antlia cluster -- a group of over 200 galaxies held together by gravity. This cluster is unusual; unlike most other galaxy clusters, it appears to have no dominant galaxy within it. | Read More » Researchers read the coffee grounds and find a promising energy resource for the future  | What's usually considered old garbage might be a promising asset for our energy supply, according to researchers. | Read More » Copper destroys highly infectious norovirus  | Scientists have discovered that copper and copper alloys rapidly destroy norovirus – the highly-infectious sickness bug. Worldwide, norovirus is responsible for more than 267 million cases of acute gastroenteritis every year. | Read More » Microbes help beetles defeat plant defenses  | Some symbiotic bacteria living inside Colorado potato beetles can trick plants into reacting to a microbial attack rather than that of a chewing herbivore, according to a researchers who found that the beetles with bacteria were healthier and grew better. | Read More » New camouflage coating fabricated from squid protein  | What can the US military learn from a common squid? A lot about how to hide from enemies, according to researchers. | Read More » Lung cancer drug could aid plight of ectopic pregnancy patients  | Women with ectopic pregnancies could be spared surgery if they are treated with a lung cancer drug, a study suggests. Researchers treated ectopic pregnancies -- where an embryo implants inside the Fallopian tube -- by combining an existing treatment with a lung cancer therapy. | Read More » Turning to parasites as potential disease fighters  | Researchers have described exciting progress in harnessing the human immune system's reaction to the presence of parasitic worms, as a way to lessen susceptibility to type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, as well as for use in promoting wound healing. | Read More » Butterfly wings inspire new technologies: From fabrics and cosmetics to sensors  | A new study has revealed that the stunning iridescent wings of the tropical blue Morpho butterfly could expand the range of innovative technologies. Scientific lessons learned from these butterflies have already inspired designs of new displays, fabrics and cosmetics. | Read More » Testes size correlates with men's involvement in toddler care  | Men with smaller testes are more likely to be involved in hands-on care of their toddlers, a new study by anthropologists finds. Smaller testicular volumes also correlate with more nurturing-related brain activity in fathers. The data suggest that the biology of human males reflects a trade-off between investments in mating versus parenting effort. | Read More » Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds  | Mars rovers, such as Curiosity, currently can't make science decisions on their own. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say. To help future rover missions spend less time waiting for instructions from Earth, scientists have developed an advanced two-lens camera, called TextureCam, that can think about the pictures it snaps and make science-based decisions. | Read More » A swarm on every desktop: Robotics experts learn from public  | The next experiment from Rice University's Multi-Robot Systems Laboratory (MRSL) could happen on your desktop. Researchers are refining their control algorithms for robotic swarms based upon data from free online games. To demonstrate the kind of complex behaviors the algorithms can achieve, researchers videotaped an experiment in which a single controller used simple group commands to direct 12 robots into a complex shape -- a capital R. | Read More » Rainfall in South Pacific was more variable before 20th century  | A new reconstruction of climate in the South Pacific during the past 446 years shows rainfall varied much more dramatically before the start of the 20th century than after. The finding, based on an analysis of a cave formation called a stalagmite from the island nation of Vanuatu, could force climate modelers to adjust their models. | Read More » Breaking deep-sea waves, as high as a skyscraper, reveal mechanism for global ocean mixing  | Oceanographers for the first time recorded an enormous wave breaking miles below the surface in a key bottleneck for global ocean circulation. | Read More » Tool created to avert future energy crisis  | Scientists have created a new measurement tool that could help avoid an energy crisis like the one California endured during the early 2000s and better prepare the electricity market for the era of the smart grid. | Read More » The chemistry behind the character of bourbon, scotch and rye  | Whiskeys have long captivated the senses of connoisseurs, whether with smokiness and a whiff of vanilla or a spicy character with hints of caramel, and now, the emerging chemistry of "brown spirits" is proving that they have distinct chemical signatures to match the complex combinations of grains, barrels, aging and other factors that yield the liquid gold poured into each bottle. With sales of boutique bourbons and other small-batch whiskeys booming, scientists have now revealed the chemical fingerprinting of whiskeys. | Read More » Indy 500 race cars showcase green fuels  | Mention cars that get barely 3 miles to a gallon and are built for speed rather than cleanliness, and images of gas-guzzling, pollution-belching menaces burning leaded gasoline or nitro may spring to mind. But experts today described how ethanol blends used as fuel in the race cars of the Indianapolis 500 actually make those emissions cleaner than cars on the street. | Read More » Vehicle/motorcycle accident regularity possibly linked to brain miscalculating time of impact of smaller objects  | Results show that small, near objects can appear farther away than larger, farther objects. | Read More » New ten second sourcing technology set to transform archaeology  | Researchers have developed a method of sourcing obsidian artifacts that takes only 10 seconds -- dozens of times faster than the current methods -- with a handheld instrument that can be used at archaeological excavations. | Read More » Breakthrough in cryptography could result in more secure computing  | New research could result in a change in how to secure computations. | Read More » Translating nature's library yields drug leads for aids, cancer, Alzheimer's disease  | An ingredient in a medicinal tea brewed from tree bark by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa — studied by scientists over the last 25 years — is showing significant promise as a drug lead in the long-sought goal of eliminating the AIDS virus from its sanctuaries in the body and thus eradicating the disease, a scientist said. | Read More » Toward treating disease the way artificial limbs replace the function of lost arms and legs  | The vision for a new branch of medicine, inspired by the ancient field that began with peg legs and hand hooks has been named "molecular prosthetics." Scientists have described advances toward making molecular prosthetics a reality, including progress in developing a platform that would revolutionize the now-tedious processes of making or synthesizing the ingredients for those drugs. | Read More » Toward making people invisible to mosquitoes  | In an advance toward providing mosquito-plagued people, pets and livestock with an invisibility cloak against these blood-sucking insects, scientists today described discovery of substances that block mosquitoes' ability to smell and target their victims. | Read More » How bedbugs shrug off pesticides and simple measures to deal with it  | The bedbug's most closely guarded secrets — stashed away in protective armor that enables these blood-sucking little nasties to shrug off insecticides and thrive in homes and hotels. The talk includes implications for millions of people trying to cope with bed bug infestations that have been resurging for more than a decade. | Read More » Recycled sewage water is safe for crop irrigation, study suggests  | The first study under realistic field conditions has found reassuringly low levels of chemicals from pharmaceuticals and personal care products in crops irrigated with recycled sewage water, scientists have reported. | Read More » The new allure of electric cars: Blazing-fast speeds  | Already noted for saving gasoline and having zero emissions, electric cars have quietly taken on an unlikely new dimension –– the ability to reach blazing speeds that rival the 0-to-60 performance of a typical Porsche or BMW, and compete on some race courses with the world's best gasoline-powered cars, an authority has said. | Read More » New 'artificial nose' device can speed diagnosis of sepsis  | Disease-causing bacteria stink — literally — and the odor released by some of the nastiest microbes has become the basis for a faster and simpler new way to diagnose serious blood infections and finger the specific microbe, scientists have reported. | Read More » Commercial baby foods don't meet infants' weaning needs  | UK commercial baby foods don't meet infants' dietary weaning needs, because they are predominantly sweet foods that provide little extra nutritional goodness over breast milk, indicates new research. | Read More » Dingo wrongly blamed for extinctions  | Dingoes have been unjustly blamed for the extinctions on the Australian mainland of the Tasmanian tiger (or thylacine) and the Tasmanian devil, a study has found. | Read More » Oil industry and household stoves speed Arctic thaw  | Gas flaring by the oil industry and smoke from residential burning contributes more black carbon pollution to Arctic than previously thought -- potentially speeding the melting of Arctic sea ice and contributing to the fast rate of warming in the region. | Read More » Screening for minor memory changes will wrongly label many with dementia, warn experts  | A political drive, led by the UK and US, to screen older people for minor memory changes (often called mild cognitive impairment or pre-dementia) is leading to unnecessary investigation and potentially harmful treatment for what is arguably an inevitable consequence of aging, warn experts. | Read More » New evidence that orangutans and gorillas can match images based on biological categories  | The ability to form a general concept that connects what we know about the members of a category allows humans to respond appropriately when they encounter a novel member of that category. At an early age, children form categories to, for example, differentiate animals from inanimate objects and to differentiate dogs from cats. New research shows that other apes may form similar categories to represent different types of animals. | Read More » Maya dismembered their enemies  | Researchers have discovered a mass grave in an artificial cave in the historical Maya city of Uxul (Mexico). Marks on the bones indicate that the individuals buried in the cave were decapitated and dismembered around 1,400 years ago. The scientists assume that the victims were either prisoners of war or nobles from Uxul itself. | Read More » Changing breakfast habits may not affect weight  | New research shows while there's an association between breakfast habits and obesity, some practices by scientists have led the evidence for a causal claim to be exaggerated. | Read More » Motorized microscopic matchsticks move in water with sense of direction  | Chemists, physicists and computer scientists have come together to devise a new powerful and very versatile way of controlling the speed and direction of motion of microscopic structures in water using what they have dubbed chemically 'motorized microscopic matchsticks'. | Read More » Cyborg astrobiologist uses phone-cam to search for signs of life  | A novel, hybrid part-human, part-machine visual system that uses a simple mobile phone camera has been developed to search for evidence of past or present life in planetary analogue sites on Earth. | Read More » Spectrometer will help astrobiologists hunt for traces of Martian life  | An instrument similar to those used on Earth by art detectives and to sense explosives at airports will be taken into space for the first time by ExoMars, the European Space Agency's mission to Mars in 2018. This Raman spectrometer will help space scientists hunt for traces of Martian life. | Read More » Water hidden in the Moon may have proto-Earth origin  | Water found in ancient Moon rocks might have actually originated from the proto-Earth and even survived the Moon-forming event. Scientists have studied the amount of water within lunar rocks returned during the Apollo missions. | Read More » Phaethon confirmed as rock comet by STEREO vision  | The Sun-grazing asteroid, Phaethon, has betrayed its true nature by showing a comet-like tail of dust particles blown backwards by radiation pressure from the Sun. Unlike a comet, however, Phaethon's tail doesn't arise through the vaporization of an icy nucleus. During its closest approach to the Sun, researchers believe that Phaethon becomes so hot that rocks on the surface crack and crumble to dust under the extreme heat. | Read More » Bilingual education has spillover effect  | Bilingual education programs have a substantial spillover effect on the students they're not designed for. Elementary students who speak English as their home language and were enrolled in schools with bilingual education programs performed much better on state math and reading tests than native English-speaking students at schools without bilingual education programs. | Read More » Micro-gels from tiny ice algae play an important role in polar ocean carbon budgets  | Secretion of polysaccharides from the micro community living within the sea ice stick organism together and forms greater particles introducing a rapid transport of carbon to the seafloor. New research now makes it possible to forecast the importance for the global carbon budget of this transport. | Read More » New magnetic semiconductor material holds promise for 'spintronics'  | Researchers have created a new compound that can be integrated into silicon chips and is a dilute magnetic semiconductor -- meaning that it could be used to make "spintronic" devices, which rely on magnetic force to operate, rather than electrical currents. | Read More » Extreme life forms: Life found in the sediments of an Antarctic subglacial lake for the first time  | Evidence of diverse life forms dating back nearly a hundred thousand years has been found in subglacial lake sediments by scientists. The possibility that extreme life forms might exist in the cold and dark lakes hidden kilometers beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has fascinated scientists for decades. | Read More » How do consumers compare prices? It depends on how powerful they feel  | Your reaction to the price on a bottle of wine or another product is partly a response to how powerful you feel, according to a new study. | Read More » State e-waste disposal bans have been largely ineffective  | One of the first analyses of laws banning disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) in landfills has found that state e-waste recycling bans have been mostly ineffective, although California's Cell Phone Recycling Act had a positive impact. However, e-waste recycling rates remain "dismally low," and many demographic groups remain unaware of their alternatives, according to a new study. | Read More » Wishes benefit seriously ill children and their parents  | New research has shown that schemes that grant children with a life threatening illness a special wish have a positive impact on their and their family's wellbeing. | Read More » Life deep down: A new beautiful translucent snail from the deepest cave in Croatia  | An expedition in the deepest cave system in Croatia, Lukina Jama–Trojama, discovered a beautiful new species of a tiny translucent snail. The newly discovered species belongs to the evolutionary intriguing genus Zospeum, where representatives are exclusively known from the underground. The animal was found at the remarkable depth of 980 m. | Read More » The price of envy: How do consumers react to flattering salespeople?  | Consumers have negative reactions to flattery by salespeople, even if they think the compliments are sincere, according to a new study. But disliking a salesperson doesn't mean a customer won't buy from the store. | Read More » Why are consumers more likely to participate in online gaming than gambling?  | Consumers are more likely to participate in online betting if it's called "gaming" rather than "gambling," according to a new study. | Read More » Scientists aim to develop intelligent and wearable body 'exoskeleton'  | Scientists are designing a human-guided exoskeleton to improve work safety and enhance productivity in the industrial environment. | Read More » Device gives scientists front-row seat to lightning strikes  | Scientists have developed a valuable tool to help determine how lightning is spawned, to map strikes and to better predict severe weather. | Read More » The real reason to worry about bees  | Honey bees should be on everyone's worry list, and not because of the risk of a nasty sting, an expert on the health of those beneficial insects. Despite years of intensive research, scientists do not understand the cause, nor can they provide remedies, for what is killing honey bees. | Read More » Ants turn unwelcome lodgers into a useful standing army  | Mercenary soldiers are notoriously unreliable because their loyalty is as thin as the banknotes they get paid, and they may turn against their employers before moving on to the next dirty job. Not so in fungus-farming ants, where a new study reports that permanent parasites that are normally a chronic social burden protect their hosts against a greater evil. | Read More » Effects of climate change on West Nile virus  | Projections of how climate change may affect the populations of West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes across the southern United States over the coming 40 years have been recently developed. While changes are expected to vary strongly with region, the southern states should expect a general trend toward longer seasons of activity and smaller midsummer populations. | Read More » Older adults gauge their partner's feelings through knowing, not seeing  | Compared to younger adults, older people are less adept at reading emotion in their spouse's face. But when their spouse isn't present, older and younger adults are equally able to discern their significant others' moods, according to new research. | Read More » Four common genetic variants associated with blood pressure in African-Americans  | A landmark study has discovered four novel gene variations associated with blood pressure in African Americans. Compared to Americans of European-ancestry, African-Americans' increased hypertension prevalence contributes to a greater risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, and end-stage renal disease. | Read More » Strain of MERS coronavirus engineered for use in a vaccine  | Scientists have developed a strain of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus that could be used as a vaccine against the disease. | Read More » Positive emotion increases life satisfaction and creates a happy state  | By combining the experience of self-reported positive and negative emotions among 1,400 US-residents, researchers created four affective profiles which they then used to discern differences in happiness, depression, life satisfaction and happiness-increasing strategies. The differences between these profiles suggested that promoting positive emotions can positively influence a depressive-to-happy state, as well as increasing life satisfaction. | Read More » Kids get more exercise in smart growth neighborhoods  | Children who live in smart growth neighborhoods, designed to improve walkability, get 46 percent more moderate or vigorous physical activity than those who live in conventional neighborhoods, finds a new study. | Read More » Household routines may help reduce BMI in minority children  | An intervention to improve household routines known to be associated with obesity increased sleep duration and reduced TV viewing among low-income, minority children, and the approach may be an effective tool to reduce body mass index (BMI) in that population, according to a study. | Read More » Statins being overprescribed for kidney disease patients  | A new analysis concludes that large numbers of patients in advanced stages of kidney disease are inappropriately being prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol -- drugs that offer them no benefit and may increase other health risks such as diabetes, dementia or muscle pain. | Read More » Think twice, speak once: Bilinguals process both languages simultaneously  | Bilingual speakers can switch languages seamlessly, likely developing a higher level of mental flexibility than monolinguals, according linguistic researchers. | Read More » Irregular periods in young women can be cause for concern  | While irregular periods are common among teenage girls, an underlying hormonal disorder may be to blame if this problem persists. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is an endocrine disorder that is characterized by an excess of androgens or male hormones in the body. The imbalance of hormones interferes with the growth and release of eggs from the ovaries, which can prevent ovulation and menstruation. | Read More » Archaeologists have excavated well-preserved Roman soldier's chain mail  | Archaeologists made a spectacular discovery in their excavations of a Roman-Germanic battlefield at the Harzhorn in Lower Saxony. While exploring the area near Kalefeld in the Northeim district north of Göttingen, the researchers found the chain mail of a Roman soldier from the Third Century AD. It was the first time that such a well-preserved piece of body armor was excavated on a Roman-Germanic battlefield. This piece of equipment, worn on the body, made it possible to reconstruct an individual story in the battle. | Read More » Anti-counterfeiting ink for enhancing product authenticity and traceability  | In a bid to enhance product authenticity and traceability, researchers have developed an innovative anti-erasing ink for use in various kinds of fast-moving consumer goods such as food, drink and drug packaging. | Read More » Doctor turns to singing and social media to change medical practice  | A doctor from the UK has shown how an innovative music video can help increase awareness of how to treat asthma. | Read More » Changing part of central line could reduce hospital infections  | Simply replacing the connector in the IV system in patients with central lines could help reduce deadly bloodstream infections, researchers have found. | Read More » Researchers find what's missing in teen health programs  | Adding a mental health component to school-based lifestyle programs for teens could be key to lowering obesity, improving grades, alleviating severe depression and reducing substance use, a new study suggests. | Read More » Antisocial texting by teens linked to bad behavior  | New research examines antisocial texting habits in teenagers as a predictor for later deviant behavior by tracking teenagers' texts throughout the ninth grade. Self-reports and parent/teacher assessments revealed that students who texted about antisocial behaviors, such as fighting or drug use, were more likely to engage in the activities by the end of the year. | Read More » Autoimmune disease strategy emerges from immune cell discovery  | Scientists have identified a new way to manipulate the immune system that may keep it from attacking the body's own molecules in autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. | Read More » Scientists create new memories by directly changing the brain  | By studying how memories are made, neurobiologists created new, specific memories by direct manipulation of the brain, which could prove key to understanding and potentially resolving learning and memory disorders. | Read More » Possibility of selectively erasing unwanted memories  | For the first time, scientists have been able to erase dangerous drug-associated memories in mice and rats without affecting other more benign memories. The surprising discovery points to a clear and workable method to disrupt unwanted memories while leaving the rest intact. | Read More » Early-onset Parkinson's disease linked to genetic deletion  | Scientists have found a new link between early-onset Parkinson's disease and a piece of DNA missing from chromosome 22. The findings help shed new light on the molecular changes that lead to Parkinson's disease. | Read More » Brain circuitry loss may be an early sign of cognitive decline  | The degeneration of a small, wishbone-shaped structure deep inside the brain may provide the earliest clues to future cognitive decline, long before healthy older people exhibit clinical symptoms of memory loss or dementia. | Read More » | |
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