Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
With the general election concluded, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in states with runoff elections, other unresolved races for U.S. Senator or Governor, and Democratic victories for U.S. Senator or Governor, in addition to universities in cities with runoff or special elections. Louisiana is holding a runoff for U.S. Senator, while Alaska has uncalled races for both U.S. Senate and Governor, Vermont has an unresolved race for Governor, and Austin, Texas, has a runoff election for Mayor. Democrats won elections for U.S. Senator in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Democrats won elections for Governor in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from the states of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Vermont and the city of Austin, Texas.
This week's featured story comes from Discovery News and Space.com.
We Just Landed On A Comet!
Earlier this morning, the Rosetta satellite successfully landed a probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko! Trace is here to explain how the European Space Agency managed to do this.
Comet Landing - Surface and Descent Pics Beamed To Earth | Video
A soft landing on the surface of comet 67P/C-G was successfully completed on Nov. 12th, 2014. The Philae lander and its mothership Rosetta probe both snapped imagery of the descent. Also, the first image taken from the surface of a comet is snapped by the lander.
Double Comet Landing? Philae Probe May Have Bounced During Touchdown.
The European spacecraft that performed the first-ever soft landing on a comet might have done so not just once, but twice.
The Philae lander, part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta mission, made history Wednesday morning (Nov. 12) when it touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. But the probe's anchoring harpoons didn't fire as planned, and Philae may have bounced off the surface before settling back onto the icy body once again, mission officials said.
"Maybe today, we didn't just land once — we even landed twice," Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the DLR German Aerospace Center, said during a news conference Wednesday.
Philae Comet Lander Falls Silent as Batteries Run Out
The first spacecraft ever to land on a comet has fallen silent, entering a potentially long, cold sleep after running out of power.
The European Space Agency's Philae lander completed its last transmission Friday (Nov. 14) at 7:36 p.m. EST (0036 GMT) before settling into a hibernation state as its batteries ran out. The probe had been studying the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for 57 hours when it went to sleep, possibly for good.
More stories after the jump, including more Rosetta videos in comments.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
How Free IS Free will?
by brilyn37
Global Warming = More Lightning and More Wildfires; Deniers Dig In
by xaxnar
This week in science: two-lobes of a world
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Discovery News: Woolly Mammoth Brain Found: Time To Clone?
In 2010, a woolly mammoth was discovered near Russia. New research says describes her brain as the best specimen in history! Catie Wayne is here to discuss what this could mean for the future of cloning.
NASA: Orion rolled out and mated on This Week @NASA
In preparation for its first spaceflight test next month, NASA’s Orion spacecraft was transported from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Abort System Facility to Space Launch Complex 37 at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 11, arriving at the launch pad early Nov. 12. NASA’s new deep space exploration capsule then was attached to the top of the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it to space for the Dec. 4 test. Also, ISS crew returns safely, Earth Science research to continue with developing nations, Rosetta update, Rocks and Robots and more!
NASA: Get Ready to Celebrate 25 years of Hubble!
April 24, 2015 marks the historic launch of the Hubble Space Telescope aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Join in the celebration and stay in the loop with #Hubble25
JPL: What’s Up for November 2014.
Twin meteor showers feature the slow Taurids and the swift Leonids while Rosetta's lander Philae is scheduled to land on Comet C-G and transmit data from the surface about the comet's composition.
Astronomy/Space
University of Delaware: 'Failed Stars'
UD conference focuses on understanding brown dwarfs and exoplanets
9:33 a.m., Nov. 13, 2014--A recent conference at the University of Delaware brought together astrophysicists who are seeking to understand the often mysterious celestial objects known as brown dwarfs, sometimes called “failed stars.”
Many times larger than a giant planet like Jupiter, but smaller than the smallest star, brown dwarfs were first detected in 1995. Unlike a star, which generates so much heat in its center that it shines with its own light, brown dwarfs — like planets — are too cool to produce their own light but instead reflect light from other sources.
The conference last month at UD, titled “The Brown Dwarf to Exoplanet Connection Conference: Making Sense of Atmospheres and Formation,” was chaired by John Gizis, professor of physics and astronomy. He said the goal was for scientists focused on brown dwarfs and on exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, to discuss how both types of objects formed and how the two research areas overlap.
University of Hawaii: UH astronomer shares $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
November 14, 2014
UH astronomer John Tonry has been named a recipient of the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed. He shares the award with the other members of the High-Redshift Supernova Search Team and with members of the Supernova Cosmology Project.
In all, 50 astronomers played a role in the research, and each will get a piece of the $3 million prize, which will be split between two research teams. This work had previously won the 2006 Shaw Prize in astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics, but those prizes went only to the leaders of the two research teams, Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt.
Said Tonry after learning of the prize, "While it was a thrill to be part of a team whose work won a Nobel Prize and to travel to Sweden for the ceremony, being recognized directly by the Breakthrough Prize is particularly gratifying."
University of Hawaii: First observations of the surfaces of objects from the Oort Cloud
November 10, 2014
Astronomers are announcing today the discovery of two unusual objects in comet-like orbits that originate in the Oort cloud but with almost no activity, giving scientists a first look at their surfaces. These results, presented today at the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Tucson, Arizona, are particularly intriguing because the surfaces are different from what astronomers expected. They give us clues about the movement of material in the early solar system as the planets were assembled.
On August 4, 2013, an apparently asteroidal object, C/2013 P2 Pan-STARRS, was discovered by the Pan STARRS1 survey telescope (PS1) on Haleakala, Maui, Hawai'i. What made this object unique is its orbit – that of a comet coming from the Oort cloud, with an orbital period greater than 51 million years, yet no cometary activity was seen. The Oort cloud is a spherical halo of comet nuclei in the outer solar system that extends to about 100,000 times the Earth-sun distance, which is known as 1 astronomical unit, or 1 AU.
“Objects on long-period orbits like this usually exhibit cometary tails, for example comet ISON and comet Hale Bopp, so we immediately knew this object was unusual,” explained team leader Dr. Karen Meech at UH Manoa's Institute for Astronomy. “I wondered if this could be the first evidence of movement of solar system building blocks from the inner solar system to the Oort cloud.”
Climate/Environment
BBC: Climate change 'will make lightning strike more'
By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News
Global warming will significantly increase the frequency of lightning strikes, according to US research.
The research, published in Science, was carried out with the help of data from a US network of lightning detectors.
The teams says they have calculated how much each extra degree in temperature will raise the frequency of lightning.
"For every two lightning strikes in 2000, there will be three lightning strikes in 2100," said David Romps, at the University of California, Berkeley.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
LiveScience: Earth Had Warmest October on Record
By Brian Kahn, Climate Central
November 14, 2014 09:53pm ET
For the third month in a row, global temperatures reached record territory according to newly available data from NASA. And if one global temperature record isn’t enough, the Japanese Meteorological Agency also provided new data on Friday that showed the warmest October on record.
Data from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) show this October was 1.4°F above the 1951-1980 average they use as their baseline. That didn’t set a monthly mark, as did August and September, but rather tied 2005 as the warmest October since 1880. That keeps 2014 on track to be the hottest year on record.
While individual hot years or months don’t necessarily stand out, it’s notable that all 10 of the warmest years on record have all come since 1998, one of the clearest signs that the climate is warming due in large part to greenhouse gas emissions.
University of Hawaii: Ocean warming picks up speed, hits warmest temperatures ever recorded
November 14, 2014
This summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface temperatures ever recorded since their systematic measuring started. Temperatures even exceeded those of the record-breaking 1998 El Niño year, according to the analysis of recent climate data by Axel Timmermann, climate scientist and professor, studying variability of the global climate system at the International Pacific Research Center at UH Manoa.
From 2000-2013 the rise in global ocean surface temperatures paused, in spite of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. This period, referred to as the Global Warming Hiatus, raised much public and scientific interest. However, as of April 2014, ocean warming has picked up speed again, according to Timmermann’s analysis of ocean temperature datasets.
“The 2014 global ocean warming is mostly due to the North Pacific, which has warmed far beyond any recorded value...and has shifted hurricane tracks, weakened trade winds, and produced coral bleaching in the Hawaiian Islands," he says.
LiveScience: Feel the Heat: Fourth-Warmest October for U.S.
By Brian Kahn, Climate Central
November 13, 2014 05:48pm ET
It might be chilly (OK, downright Arctic) in the middle third of the U.S. these days, but if you live there, you can warm yourself with memories of October. According to new data released Thursday, October wasn’t just a little warm, it was the fourth-warmest October for the lower 48 on record and not a single state recorded below normal temperatures.
In what’s been the year of the great weather schism, October showed reconciliation is possible. Warm weather that has been the hallmark of the West this year was also seen spreading across the South and Northeast. The only spot with near-normal temperatures was the Upper Midwest, though near normal probably sounds downright balmy to folks in Detroit who just weathered overnight lows of minus-14°F.
37 of the contiguous 48 states experiencing above-normal temperatures, that put the national average temperature 3°F above normal. That makes it the fourth warmest among the past 120 Octobers according to the new data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Not a single state saw below normal temperatures, the first time that’s happened since July 2013.
Northern Illinois University: Sucked into the polar vortex
NIU analysis of last winter shows widespread impacts of bitter cold
November 13, 2014
With the unseasonably frigid air this week, memories resurfaced of last winter’s biting cold, brought on by the dreaded polar vortex.
But as NIU climatologist David Changnon points out, it’s not simply the cold that makes us miserable.
Changnon, who has been studying the impacts of last winter for an upcoming publication, can describe the countless ways in which the winter hurt, ranging from U.S. flight delays and Great Lakes shipping slowdowns to a plethora of potholes and water main breaks.
It all amounted to an economic punch in the nose.
University of Massachusetts: New Study Shows Childhood Asthma Due to Living near Major Roadways Cost Los Angeles Residents $441 Million in 2007 Alone
Team of researchers led by a UMass Amherst resource economist shows the financial burden of asthma totals $3,000 per year per affected child
November 7, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – Asthma caused or worsened by living near major roadways cost Los Angeles County more than $441 million in 2007 alone, according to a new peer-reviewed article by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Southern California and the University of Basel, Switzerland.
In the report published in the November issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a team of researchers led by Sylvia Brandt, associate professor of public policy and resource economics at UMass Amherst, calculated the total costs that asthma imposes on children and families living within 75 meters of freeways, highways and major arterial roads, including the direct costs of medical care and the problem of having to manage and live with the disease. They also measured the specific impact of two forms of air pollution on those costs: the pollution that comes from living near a major roadway and higher levels of ground-level ozone (O3) or nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
In a previous study published in 2012, Brandt and her team had found that living near a major roadway causes new cases of childhood asthma, while regional air pollutants such as NO2 and O3 trigger breathing problems in children who suffer from asthma. In the latest study, they found that these factors together impose tremendous economic costs on asthma sufferers, their families and their communities. In Los Angeles County in 2007 alone, the burden of childhood asthma was approximately $3,000 per affected child, and all cases of asthma created a total cost of $441 million to the county. Because 32 percent of children in L.A. County are covered by public health insurance, an equivalent proportion of those direct costs are borne by taxpayers. Since many children live near major roadways throughout the United States, and the study’s results are relevant to other large urban areas, the authors estimate that their findings about local spending imply billions of dollars are spent annually on a national scale.
Biodiversity
BBC: Six Scottish wildcat conservation areas identified
Six priority areas for Scottish wildcat conservation have been identified following research commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
Wildcats becoming an endangered species due to mixing with domestic cats, disease and loss of habitat.
Thee Angus Glens, Strathbogie in Aberdeenshire, Strathavon in Moray and Morvern, Strathpeffer and Dulnain in the Highlands are the six areas.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette: Newsweek features student’s discovery of ‘zombie fungus’
November 12, 2014
A University of Louisiana at Lafayette student has discovered a “zombie fungus” that’s been off scientists’ radar for almost a century, Newsweek reports this week.
Stephen Saltamachia, a senior majoring in microbiology at UL Lafayette, discovered the rare, furry fungus while working at Acadiana Park Nature Station in Lafayette. He spotted a carpenter ant queen wandering outside, which caught his attention since a queen rarely leaves her nest.
“A born naturalist, Saltamachia suspected that the ant might be parasitized by a brain-manipulating pathogen often called 'zombie fungus,' which causes infected insects to behave abnormally,” an article posted on Newsweek’s website late Monday states.
University of Vermont: The Midge that Eats More Kale
by Joshua Brown
November 11, 2014
Three years ago, Tony Lehouillier began to worry about some of his purple kale. “It was just weird looking,” he says, cupping his hands around a tall stalk on his farm near Johnson, Vt. “Then the top would start to die. Plants would fold over.” Others had strangely puckered leaves and brown scarring. The blighted kale didn’t necessarily die, but it wasn’t marketable either. For Lehouillier, one of Vermont’s largest organic growers of kale and other cabbage-family crops -- like broccoli -- the mysterious damage looked like disaster.
It turned out the culprit was a tiny pest called swede midge. Soon, Lehouillier was in touch with Yolanda Chen, an assistant professor in UVM's Department of Plant and Soil Science -- the only researcher in the United States actively studying the midge.
The swede midge is a threat not only to the viability of Lehouillier's farm but to local organic production of these key crops throughout the state -- unless Chen and her students find a way to fight the fly.
Southern Illinois University: Researchers study bison return to Illinois
by Tim Crosby
November 7, 2014
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- After a nearly 200-year absence, Illinois is once again a home where the buffalo -- bison, that is -- roam.
The wild bison, trucked into the state from nature preserves in Iowa, Missouri and South Dakota in October, are back in the Prairie State thanks to the efforts of a major wildlife conservation group. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is also playing a major role in the effort, and could be for some time to come.
Researchers from SIU already are involved with the project with The Nature Conservancy on its Nachusa Grasslands, a 2,500-acre area of native and restored prairie in northern Illinois where a diverse herd of 30 bison recently were re-introduced. The animals are wandering a 500-acre portion of the area, with another 1,000 acres opening up for them in 2015, once fencing is completed.
University of Massachusetts: Tracking Atlantic Bluefin Tuna from the Air to Estimate Populations
UMass Amherst expert receives NOAA grant to design and carry out aerial surveys
November 12, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – A new grant will allow fisheries oceanographer Molly Lutcavage, director of the Large Pelagics Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Gloucester Marine Research Station, with postdoctoral fellow Angelia Vanderlaan and colleagues, to design, conduct and analyze the first autonomous aerial vehicle surveys of Atlantic bluefin tuna to provide fishery-independent regional estimates of their numbers.
Funded recently by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) one-year, $145,694 grant, she and her team will develop new analytical techniques next season to provide a more quantitative method of estimating the size and number of individuals within surface schools of the most important commercial tuna species in the Atlantic. At present these estimates are made subjectively by observers and/or spotter pilots.
Lutcavage says, “The goal is to combine high-resolution, aerial imagery taken using an unmanned aerial vehicle with sonar acoustic surveys to improve the quality of Atlantic bluefin tuna stock assessments. To achieve this, we’ll need to complete some smaller pilot studies to make sure the techniques we plan to use are giving us accurate information and to allow us to remove biases inherent in aerial surveys.”
Biotechnology/Health
Louisiana State University: Fresh Perspective: Molecular biologist shares insights on her discoveries
November 12, 2014
While early in her career in graduate school, esteemed molecular biologist Gisela Storz serendipitously discovered a small RNA molecule in the bacteria, E. coli, which opened new doors in the field of bacterial genetics.
“I did the wrong experiment,” she said. “I made a mistake and I ran a different gel, which separates things of a smaller size. I also used a probe that was too big. So just by chance, it picked up this really small transcript whose expression was induced.”
But by looking where no one else had, it led her on a path of discovery that has become her life’s work as the Deputy Director of the Cell Biology and Metabolism Program at the National Institutes of Child Health and Development.
University of Illinois: Microtubes create cozy space for neurons to grow, and grow fast
Liz Ahlberg, Physical Sciences Editor
11/11/2014
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Tiny, thin microtubes could provide a scaffold for neuron cultures to grow so that researchers can study neural networks, their growth and repair, yielding insights into treatment for degenerative neurological conditions or restoring nerve connections after injury.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison created the microtube platform to study neuron growth. They posit that the microtubes could one day be implanted like stents to promote neuron regrowth at injury sites or to treat disease.
“This is a powerful three-dimensional platform for neuron culture,” said Xiuling Li, U. of I. professor of electrical and computer engineering who co-led the study along with UW-Madison professor Justin Williams. “We can guide, accelerate and measure the process of neuron growth, all at once.”
University of Illinois: Some plants regenerate by duplicating their DNA
Diana Yates, Life Sciences Editor
11/11/2014
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When munched by grazing animals (or mauled by scientists in the lab), some herbaceous plants overcompensate – producing more plant matter and becoming more fertile than they otherwise would. Scientists say they now know how these plants accomplish this feat of regeneration.
They report their findings in the journal Molecular Ecology.
Their study is the first to show that a plant’s ability to dramatically rebound after being cut down relies on a process called genome duplication, in which individual cells make multiple copies of all of their genetic content.
Psychology/Behavior
University of Massachusetts: Why Discrimination Persists in Education and Health Care and How to Change It
UMass Amherst researcher and colleagues propose science-based interventions
November 13, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – A report released today by several leading social scholars including Linda R. Tropp of the University of Massachusetts Amherst addresses a great American racial disconnect: the vast majority of Americans believe racism is wrong, yet the evidence overwhelmingly shows that race often determines how we treat each other.
In “The Science of Equality Volume I: Addressing Implicit Bias, Racial Anxiety and Stereotype Threat in Education and Health Care,” a group of social scientists and legal scholars in partnership with the Perception Institute introduce the first in a series of landmark reports intended to help understand the challenges associated with achieving racial equality and provide evidence-based, tested solutions to address them.
As Tropp explains, the “Science of Equality” report focuses on three key factors that are critical to understanding the ways in which people often act differently towards others based on their race or ethnicity. The first is implicit bias, the automatic associations and attitudes linked to race and ethnicity. Second is racial anxiety, the fear that you will be judged because of your race, and, especially if you are white, that you will be assumed to be racist. Third is stereotype threat, the concern that you will confirm negative stereotypes about your group.
Archeology/Anthropology
University of Alaska at Fairbanks: Archaeologists discover remains of Ice Age infants in Alaska
Marmian Grimes
11/10/14
The remains of two Ice Age infants, buried more than 11,000 years ago at a site in Alaska, represent the youngest human remains from that era ever found in northern North America, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The site and its artifacts provide new insights into funeral practices and other rarely preserved aspects of life among people who inhabited the area thousands of years ago, according to Ben Potter, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the paper's lead author.
Potter led the archaeological team that made the discovery in fall of 2013 at an excavation of the Upward Sun River site, near the Tanana River in central Alaska. The researchers worked closely with local and regional Native tribal organizations as they conducted their research. The National Science Foundation funded the work.
BBC: Amphipolis skeleton from Alexander's time found in Greece
By Giorgos Christides
Archaeologists in northern Greece have found a skeleton inside a tomb from the time of Alexander the Great, during a dig that has enthralled the public.
The burial site at Amphipolis is the largest ever discovered in Greece.
The culture ministry said the almost intact skeleton belonged to a "distinguished public figure", given the tomb's dimensions and lavishness.
Chief archaeologist Katerina Peristeri said "the tomb in all probability belongs to a male and a general".
Science Network Western Australia via PhysOrg: Archaeologists unearth ancient coins and dietary options
by Geoff Vivian
Nov 13, 2014
Finding a cache of 2200-year-old coins buried in the remains of an Egyptian house sparked honours student Liesel Gentelli's interest in coins, inspiring her to pursue postgraduate studies in forensics.
Ms Gentelli is one of two UWA archaeologists invited to excavate Tell Timai, the remains of the Greco-Roman town of Thmuis in Egypt.
A tell is a large mound formed by the remains of an abandoned town or city, and Thmuis was a port on a former Nile delta channel which has since silted up.
Asahi Shimbun (Japan): Scientists: Glass dish unearthed in Nara came from Roman Empire
By KAZUTO TSUKAMOTO/ Staff Writer
KASHIHARA, Nara Prefecture--A glass dish unearthed from a burial mound here is the first of its kind confirmed to have come to Japan from the Roman Empire, a research team said.
A round cut glass bowl, discovered with the glass plate, was found to have originated in Sassanid Persia (226-651), the researchers said.
The dish and bowl were retrieved together from the No. 126 tumulus of the Niizawa Senzuka cluster of ancient graves, a national historic site. The No. 126 tumulus dates back to the late fifth century.
LiveScience: 1,000-Year-Old Tomb Reveals Murals, Stars & Poetry
by Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor
A 1,000-year-old tomb with a ceiling decorated with stars and constellations has been discovered in northern China.
Found not far from a modern day railway station, the circular tomb has no human remains but instead has murals which show vivid scenes of life. "The tomb murals mainly depict the daily domestic life of the tomb occupant," and his travels with horses and camels, a team of researchers wrote in their report on the tomb recently published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of New Orleans: Leading Archeologist Visits UNO, Speaks about Poverty Point, a New World Heritage Site in Louisiana
November 14, 2014
Ancient monumental earthworks in Northeast Louisiana created more than three thousand years ago by some of the earliest known Americans recently gained status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next week, a leading anthropologist visits the University of New Orleans to tell us about it.
The University of New Orleans Departments of Anthropology and Urban Studies invited Poverty Point Station Archaeologist, Dr. Diana Greenlee, to campus Thursday, to discuss the earthen mounds and the UNESCP inscription process in a talk entitled "Poverty Point World Heritage Site: New Name, Same Amazing Place." Greenlee is expected to inform students about the preservation of a unique and amazing part of Louisiana's –and the World's—past.
The exceptional archeological site, which is called Poverty Point and located along Bayou Macon in the lower Mississippi delta between Monroe, La. and Vicksburg, Miss., gained inscription – and international status -- on the World Heritage list maintained by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in June. The World Heritage List highlights the world's most important natural wonders and cultural sites. The list includes more than 1,000 sites in 161 countries, including: the the Cahokia Mounds, Machu Picchu, the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge.
Paleontology/Evolution
University of Louisiana at Lafayette: Scientist studies evolution of 'electric organs'
November 11, 2014
Dr. James Albert jabs the exposed end of a length of coated wire into the water of a small aquarium, home of a tiny electric eel the size of pocket comb.
The associate professor of biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette waves the metal prongs around like a wand, sending electrical impulses into a black box at the other end of the wire. The electronic box crackles like an old transistor radio searching for a signal. The popping sounds grow louder as his hand nears the eel, which emits an electric current it uses to stun prey, defend itself, navigate and communicate.
Albert is an ichthyologist, or a scientist who studies fishes—their anatomy, evolution, behavior, genetics, and, during a 10-year research project, their potential for medical advances. His favorites, and the ones he has studied the most, are electric eels, which get their name from their long body shape and are actually a specialized kind of fish.
I went to the University of Michigan with James as a fellow grad student in biology. Nice to see where he's ended up.
Geology
Discovery News: Could a Carbon-Scrubbing Rock Slow Climate Change?
by Patrick J. Kiger
Nov 14, 2014 02:12 PM ET
The big climate news this week has been a surprise agreement between the Obama Administration and China to work together in curbing carbon emissions, but some think it’s already too late for such measures to make a dent in global warming. That’s led to a revival of interest in a more radical solution: Geoengineering, in which massive measures would be used to alter the planet and mitigate the effects of human burning of fossil fuels.
One such geoengineering solution, featured in a recent articles in the New York Times and the online publications Grist and Inhabitat, would utilize olivine minerals, a group of abundant green-tinted silicates that are formed from the cooling of magma after volcanic eruptions.
In additional to having once been a favorite gemstone of the ancient Egyptians, olivine has another quality that intrigues geoengineering proponents: When left out in the open and combined with moisture under natural conditions, olivine absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and forms magnesium carbonate and silicic acid, which stores the carbon.
LiveScience: Lava Sets Home on Fire in Hawaii (Video)
by Megan Gannon, News Editor
November 11, 2014 11:23am ET
A stream of lava from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has been creeping toward a small town for months, and yesterday (Nov. 10), the molten rock finally ignited its first home.
The empty house in the village of Pahoa was set ablaze just before noon local time (5 p.m. EST), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island has been continuously erupting for more than 30 years.
Energy
Illinois State University: Illinois State Solar Car unveiling before heading to Abu Dhabi
November 11, 2014
The Illinois State University Solar Car Team will hold an unveiling of the Mercury 4 solar car on Sunday, Nov. 16, at noon in the foyer of the at the Science Laboratory Building. Members of the crew will be available to answer questions about the car. The three-hour event is open to the public.
The car will be shipped Nov. 17 to Abu Dhabi, to prepare for the first-ever Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge. The team will be competing with “Merc 4” from Jan. 15 to 19, 2015, with 20 other solar car teams from around the world in a 1,200-kilometer race that will start and end in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Illinois State students will be traveling to Abu Dhabi for the race, driving the student-designed vehicle that has seen more than a thousand miles in solar car races in the U.S.
Physics
University of Texas: Lighter, Cheaper Radio Wave Device Could Transform Telecommunications
Radio wave circulator developed by researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering.
Nov. 10, 2014
AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a milestone in modern wireless and cellular telecommunications, creating a radically smaller, more efficient radio wave circulator that could be used in cellphones and other wireless devices, as reported in the latest issue of Nature Physics.
The new circulator has the potential to double the useful bandwidth in wireless communications by enabling full-duplex functionality, meaning devices can transmit and receive signals on the same frequency band at the same time.
The key innovation is the creation of a magnetic-free radio wave circulator.
Chemistry
Popular Science: Newlight Technologies Aircarbon
Plastic from Thin Air
By Jennifer Bogo and Emily Gertz
Humans produce 660 billion pounds of plastic a year, and the manufacturing process creates three times as much carbon dioxide by weight as actual plastic. “That’s an insane amount of material,” says Newlight Technologies CEO Mark Herrema. “Wouldn’t we be better off using plastic as a conveyor belt for capturing and sequestering carbon emissions instead?” That’s exactly what his company does.
Hat/Tip to FarWestGirl and palantir for these stories.
University of Hawaii: Researchers: Key building block of life may have come from deep space
November 13, 2014
Researchers at UH Manoa's Department of Chemistry have provided compelling evidence that glycerol, a key molecule in the origin of Earth’s living organisms, may have occurred in space more than 4 billion years ago. Glycerol represents the central building block in cells – the smallest structural and biological unit of all known living organisms on Earth.
The newly published research paper Synthesis of Prebiotic Glycerol in Interstellar Ices was authored by Professor Ralf Kaiser, and Drs. Surajit Maity and Brant M. Jones of the W.M. Keck Research Laboratory in Astrochemistry at UH Ma-noa. The research details the methods used to re-create in a laboratory how glycerol could have been formed in astrophysically relevant ices by ionizing radiation in interstellar space and carried by meteorites and comets to Earth prior to the existence of life.
In an ultra-high vacuum chamber cooled down to 5 degrees above absolute zero (5 Kelvin), the Hawai?i team simulated icy "sand grains" coated with an alcohol – methanol. When zapped with high-energy electrons to simulate the cosmic rays in space, methanol reacted to form complex, organic compounds – specifically glycerol.
Science Crime Scenes
ASOR Blog: Extensive Recent Looting Revealed
The very important ancient site of Mari (Tell Hariri) in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, which appears on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, has recently seen a pronounced increase in looting under ISIL control. Artifacts stolen from this and other heritage sites are sold to collectors, and the proceeds fund ISIL. On Tuesday, November 11th, imagery was taken of the site of Mari by a Digital Globe satellite which reveals widespread looting. In the hours after the image was taken, the ASOR SHI team analyzed the image to detail in red the extents of visible damage and looting. The areas show a marked increase from the looting seen at the site on an earlier image taken on March 25, 2014.
BBC: Puppy smuggling risks rabies outbreak, Dogs Trust warns
An increasing number of dogs are being transported to the UK from eastern Europe, risking an outbreak of rabies, a charity has warned.
Undercover footage recorded by the Dogs Trust shows vets in Hungary and Lithuania creating false passports and falsifying papers.
It says some puppies are not being vaccinated and others are too young.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
LiveScience: US-China Climate Accord Gives Hope for Global Agreement
by Megan Gannon, News Editor
November 13, 2014 07:02am ET
The United States and China surprised climate-policy watchers this week by announcing a rare accord to cut carbon pollution. As details of the agreement are released, experts are hopeful that cooperation between the world's two biggest economies, and two biggest carbon emitters, bodes well for an as-yet elusive global climate pact.
"For many years, the reluctance of the U.S. and China to make strong commitments has been an oft-used excuse by other countries to not take action," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
"In fact, many in the U.S. Congress have resisted taking action because they argued that China wasn't acting," Leiserowitz told Live Science in an email. "And many Chinese leaders have long used the same argument about the United States to avoid making their own commitments. This very public and early agreement by the two largest national emitters in the world should help break the long-standing logjam in the international negotiations."
University of Vermont: UVM Research to Play Important Role in Setting Federal Food Safety Guidelines
by Jeffrey Wakefield
November 11, 2014
The University of Vermont has received a $500,000 three-year grant from the Food and Drug Administration to determine how long E. coli will survive in raw manure applied to soil as crop fertilizer.
The results of the research trials, which began last week, will help inform an important revision of a proposed produce safety rule in the Food Safety Modernization Act, the most sweeping reform of food safety regulation in over 70 years.
The 2011 law was prompted by a spate of deadly incidents involving hamburger and spinach contaminated with a rare pathogenic form of the E. coli bacterium, O157:H7. Initially it called for a nine-month waiting period before crops fertilized with raw manure, which can contain E. coli, although very rarely the dangerous type, could be sold.
Science Education
Louisiana State University: Shell Funds Ocean Science Student Assistantships
November 12, 2014
Shell recently awarded the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program at Louisiana State University a $50,000 grant that will fund up to four student assistantships.
“Sea Grant is pleased that Shell decided to support our continued efforts for education and workforce development by supporting these student assistantships,” said Robert Twilley, Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) Executive Director. The funding will be used to support the education of undergraduate and graduate students.
“Being responsible stewards of the environment is important to Shell, and supporting education programs seeking to better understand the interrelated and interconnected systems that impact the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem is just one way we are helping to make a difference,” said Mary Grace Anderson, Vice President of Safety, Environment and Social Performance, Shell Upstream Americas. “Louisiana Sea Grant’s efforts to educate future scientists in our communities benefit the Gulf of Mexico, while providing valuable data that can help guide responsible operations in these waters.”
Science Writing and Reporting
University of Texas: UT Austin Ranks Among World’s Best in Scientific Productivity
Nov. 12, 2014
AUSTIN, Texas — The Nature Index, a new ranking from the prestigious journal Nature, rates The University of Texas at Austin No. 26 among the world's most productive scientific research institutions.
UT Austin ranks No. 15 among all U.S. universities and No. 7 among public universities.
The ranking, which includes nonacademic institutions, is based on research productivity in the world's top science journals.
Science is Cool
LiveScience: 11 Odd Facts About 'Magic' Mushrooms
by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor
At first glance, Psilocybe cubensis doesn't look particularly magical. In fact, the scientific name of this little brown-and-white mushroom roughly translates to "bald head," befitting the fungus's rather mild-mannered appearance. But those who have ingested a dose of P. cubensis say it changes the user's world.
The mushroom is one of more than 100 species that contain compounds called psilocybin and psilocin, which are psychoactive and cause hallucinations, euphoria and other trippy symptoms. These "magic mushrooms" have long been used in Central American religious ceremonies, and are now part of the black market in drugs in the United States and many other countries, where they are considered a controlled substance.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
