Amazon trees could survive global warming
Some good news, for a change: a new genetic analysis indicates that many Amazon tree species are likely to survive global warming in the coming century, contrary to previous findings.
But things are never that easy, and University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Christopher Dick and his colleagues warn that extreme drought and forest fires will have an impact, and that over-exploitation of the region's resources continues to be a problem. |  |
Fish attracted to same-sex flirts
Female fish are attracted to males that "flirt" with other males, a study has found.
Scientists in Germany studied the behaviour of tropical fish Poecilia mexicana, known as Atlantic mollies. The female fish are known to "mate copy" - preferring to mate with males they have seen interacting sexually with other fish. Researchers found that females still took an interest in males when their flirtations were with the same sex. |  |
New Insight into the (Epi)Genetic Roots of Homosexuality
For an evolutionary biologist, homosexuality is something of a puzzle. It’s a common trait, found in up to 10% of the population. It appears to be run in families, suggesting that it is hereditary, at least in part. And yet it defies the very reason why traits are passed on from generation to generation. How could something that hinders childbearing be passed down so frequently from parents to children?
Researchers at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) think they may have an answer. |  |
NASA Eyes Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa
SAN FRANCISCO — Though NASA is devoting many of its exploration resources to Mars these days, the agency still has its eye on an icy moon of Jupiter that may be capable of supporting life as we know it.
Last week, NASA officials announced that they plan to launch a $1.5 billion rover to Mars in 2020, adding to a string of Red Planet missions already on the docket. The Curiosity rover just landed this past August, for example, and an orbiter called Maven and a lander named InSight are slated to blast off in 2013 and 2016, respectively. |  |
Saturn Moon Enceladus Eyed for Sample-Return Mission
SAN FRANCISCO — Scientists are developing a mission concept that would snag icy particles from Saturn's moon Enceladus and return them to Earth, where they could be analyzed for signs of life.
The spacecraft would fly through the icy plume blasted into space by geysers near Enceladus' south pole, then send the collected particles back to our planet in a return capsule. Enceladus may be capable of supporting life, and the flyby sample-return mission would bring pieces from its depths to Earth at a reasonable price, researchers said. |  |
Men Were Last on Moon 40 Years Ago Today
The last men to walk on the moon blasted off its surface for a final time 40 years ago today.
After three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow lunar valley, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt lit the engine on the upper (ascent) stage of their lunar module "Challenger" and launched off the surface at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT) on Dec. 14, 1972. The last word spoken by a man on the moon (to date) — "Ignition" — was voiced by Schmitt, the first geologist and professional scientist to fly on a NASA mission. Cernan, as Apollo 17 commander, delivered the order to leave — "Let's get off" — just moments before. |  |
Twin NASA spacecraft prepare to crash into moon
Twin lunar-orbiting NASA spacecraft that have allowed scientists to learn more about the internal structure and composition of the moon are being prepared for their controlled descent and impact on a mountain near the moon's north pole at about 2:28 p.m. PST (5:28 p.m. EST) Monday, Dec. 17.
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Company unveils small personal-sized hydroelectricity generator
Japanese company Ibasei has unveiled a new idea in hydroelectricity generation; a turbine that can be placed in virtually any fast moving stream or river to generate small amounts of electricity for immediate use or as a charging station. Called the Cappa, it resembles an engine on a jet aircraft and can be easily placed into a location in just minutes.
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Overeating now bigger global problem than lack of food
The largest ever study into the state of the world's health has revealed that, for the first time, the number of years of healthy living lost as a result of people eating too much outweigh the number lost by people eating too little.
The Global Burden of Disease report – a massive research effort involving almost 500 scientists in 50 countries – also concludes that we have finally got a handle on some common infectious diseases, helping to save millions of children from early deaths. But collectively we are spending more of our lives living in poor health and with disability. |  |
Internet remains unregulated after UN treaty blocked
A proposed global telecoms treaty that would give national governments control of the internet has been blocked by the US and key western and African nations. They said they are "not able to sign the agreement in its current form" at the end of a International Telecoms Union (ITU) conference in Dubai.
The move seems to safeguard the role of the internet as an unregulated, international service that runs on top of telecoms systems free of direct interference by national governments. |  |
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
If you've ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you've ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.
Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who's ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a "record" financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.
Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who's ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a "record" financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.
Insecticide regulators ignoring risk to bees, say MPs
The safety of the world's most widely used insecticide has been questioned by a parliamentary inquiry, with MPs accusing regulators of "turning a blind eye" to the risk for bees.
A growing body of scientific evidence has linked the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides on crops to a serious decline in the bees and other pollinators, which are vital in producing a third of all food. The inquiry has uncovered evidence, apparently ignored by regulators, that the toxic insecticide can build up in soil to levels likely to be lethal to most insects, including the bees that overwinter in soil. |  |
Honey bees' genetic code unlocked
Researchers say they have unlocked the genetic secrets of honey bees' high sensitivity to environmental change.
Scientists from the UK and Australia think their findings could help show links between nutrition, environment and the insects' development. It could, they suggest, offer an insight into problems like Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious cause of mass bee deaths globally. The findings appear in Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. |  |
Beetle thought to have been extinct 100 years ago has ‘flown back on a bee’
A species of beetle thought to be extinct for more than 100 years has been found on the coast of Britain after flying in – on the back of a bee.
The Mediterranean oil beetle was believed to have died out in the UK and was last seen in 1906 in Essex. But the species has now been spotted on National Trust land between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail on the Devon coast. It is thought the parasite beetle may have travelled back to England on bees flying across the English Channel. |  |
Biggest survey of rainforest arthropods gives insights into jungle ecosystems
The most comprehensive survey of a tropical rainforest ever undertaken has estimated that one rainforest in Panama is home to over 25,000 different species of insects and other arthropods. It's the most thorough study of any arthropod habitat undertaken to date.
Arthropods are the most common phylum in the natural world, but their sheer diversity and ubiquity makes it difficult to grasp exactly how many of them are scurrying around the ecosystems of the world. Previous studies have relied on samples of a few thousand insects, spiders or beetles at once, and extrapolated from there to form estimates over wider areas. |  |
Scientists crowdsource to decode genetic code of ash dieback fungus
British scientists trying to beat ash dieback disease are seeking the "wisdom of the crowd" in order to analyse the genes of the fungus that causes it.
Genetic data collected from infected trees in Ashwellthorpe wood in Norfolk will be posted on the Sainsbury Laboratory website this Friday at the new OpenAshDieback site, with the aim of finding out what makes the fungus that causes dieback attack the ash – and the best methods to halt or slow its spread. |  |
Newly discovered slow loris species already threatened
A new species of primate, a "big-eyed" and venomous slow loris, has been identified in Borneo by researchers.
But the new loris is already under threat from the Asian pet trade in part because its "teddy-bear face" make it attractive for illegal poaching, the team of UK and US scientists said. Analysing the facial markings of slow loris in the Indonesia island, the researchers concluded that the nocturnal Nycticebus kayan is new to science, and two others that were previously considered sub-species should be recognised as unique species in their own right. |  |
GravityLight: lighting for developing countries.
GravityLight is a revolutionary new approach to storing energy and creating illumination. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight which powers GravityLight, creating 30 minutes of light on its descent. For free.
Following the initial inspiration of using gravity, and years of perspiration, we have refined the design and it is now ready for production. We need your help to fund the tooling, manufacture and distribution of at least 1000 gravity powered lights. We will gift them to villagers in both Africa and India to use regularly. |  |
Archaeologists Uncover Europe's First Civilization
A team of archaeologists have unearthed additional evidence of what may have been Europe's first civilization at a site located near the town of Pazardzhik in southern Bulgaria. Known as Yunatsite, it is a Tell (mound containing archaeological remains) about 110 meters in diameter and 12 meters high, rising above fields next to a small Bulgarian village by the same name. The Tell contains remains of an urbanized settlement dated at its earliest to the early fifth millenium BC.
Directed by Yavor Boyadzhiev of the National Institute of Archaeology and Museums, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, excavators have unearthed artifacts such as weapons, Spondylus jewels, decorated fineware pottery, shards marked by characters/pictograms, and evidence of structures dated to 4900 BC... |  |
Evidence of early life on land draws ire from scientists
Life may have first emerged on land about 100 million years earlier previously thought, suggests a study that has scientists up in arms, many of whom are arguing that the research paper should never been published in the first place.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, suggests that ancient fossilized creatures found in Southern Australian sediments actually came from land, not from the ocean. If the findings are true, the fossils would have been lichenlike plants that first colonized land, not ocean-dwelling ancestors of jellyfish. |  |
Twin Grail probes readied for Monday's crash into moon
Two NASA moon probes will end their gravity-mapping mission in spectacular fashion on Monday, crashing intentionally into a cliff near the lunar north pole.
The twin Grail spacecraft, known as Ebb and Flow, will slam into the raised rim of a moon crater at 5:28 p.m. EST Monday, mission team members said Thursday. The probes will impact about 20 seconds apart, with each traveling at 3,760 mph (6,050 kph) or so. The crash zone is far from any area where previous moon missions — such as NASA's Apollo efforts — touched down, so Grail's final moments won't endanger sites of historical importance, officials said. |  |
N. Joseph Woodland, Inventor of the Bar Code, Dies at 91
N. Joseph Woodland, who six decades ago drew a set of lines in the sand and in the process conceived the modern bar code, died on Sunday at his home in Edgewater, N.J. He was 91.
His daughter Susan Woodland confirmed the death. A retired mechanical engineer, Mr. Woodland was a graduate student when he and a classmate, Bernard Silver, created a technology — based on a printed series of wide and narrow striations — that encoded consumer-product information for optical scanning. |  |
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