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. Louisiana is holding a runoff for U.S. Senator, while Alaska has uncalled races for both U.S. Senate and Governor, and Vermont has an unresolved race for Governor. 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, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
This week's featured story comes from Climate Central via Discovery News.
2014 Will Go Down As Hottest In California’s History
by Andrea Thompson, Climate Central
Nov 5, 2014 02:15 PM ET
Book it: This year will go down as the hottest in California’s history.
With just two months left in the year, there’s a better than 99 percent chance that 2014 will be the warmest year on record for California, according to National Weather Service meteorologists.
The state has been baking in above-average temperatures all year — setting a record for thewarmest first six months of any year this June — thanks to a persistent atmospheric pattern that has also mired California in a major drought. The heat has only exacerbated the drought’s effects, and the state is in dire need of a really wet winter, an uncertain prospect right now.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
WATCH THIS SPACE!
I am Not a Scientist
by diligentbureaucrat
Editorial Cartoon - GOP And Science
by claytoonz
Kitchen Table Kibitzing 11/8/2014: Stopped Clock
by Chrislove
The Daily Bucket - It's On
by enhydra lutris
Colbert Mercilessly Mocks Republican Climate Change Deniers
by Desi
This week in science: let the games begin!
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
University of Bonn (Germany) via PhysOrg: Seeing dinosaur feathers in a new light
October 30, 2014
Why were dinosaurs covered in a cloak of feathers long before the early bird species Archaeopteryx first attempted flight? Researchers from the University of Bonn and the University of Göttingen attempt to answer precisely that question in their article "Beyond the Rainbow" in the latest issue of the renowned journal Science. The research team postulates that these ancient lizards had a highly developed ability to discern color. Their hypothesis: The evolution of feathers made dinosaurs more colorful, which in turn had a profoundly positive impact on communication, the selection of mates and on dinosaurs' procreation.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
The Creators Project: Make It Wearable Finalists | Meet Team Nixie
Team Nixie (http://flynixie.com) is developing the first wearable drone camera, which can be worn around your wrist. The team won the Grand Prize for the Intel Make It Wearable Challenge on November 3, 2014.
University of California Berkeley: How fast can an epidemic spread?
Three scenarios comparing the spread of an epidemic based on the increasing likelihood that people travel long distances from the center of the outbreak.
The two-dimensional model takes into account only those people who are susceptible and those who are infected. The epidemics start in the center of each square and, as time progresses, spread in space. Long-range jumps – mimicking air travel, for example – lead to sub-outbreaks. If long-distance jumps are rare, the main outbreak will quickly merge with the satellite outbreaks, leading to a rippling, wave-like growth (left). As the likelihood of long-distance jumps increases, the epidemic spread exhibits a super-linear power-law growth (center), stretched exponential or “metastatic” growth (right) or, in a worst case scenario, exponential growth (not shown).
Also see the related story under Health.
Colorado State University: Colorado State University Researchers Discover Common Drug Kills Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes
Colorado State University researchers have discovered that a common and cheap medication used to fight roundworm and other parasites that plague people in Africa may offer an important strategy in the fight against malaria. The drug could prevent the transmission of malaria by killing mosquitoes, according to a CSU study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Also see the related story under Health.
NASA: Orion flight test previewed on This Week @NASA
A NASA media briefing on Nov. 6 at Kennedy Space Center highlighted the fully assembled Orion spacecraft and details of its first test flight, scheduled for Dec. 4. The 4 and-a-half hour flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1, will send Orion 3,600 miles from Earth on a two-orbit flight to confirm its critical systems are ready for the challenges of eventually sending astronauts on deep space missions to an asteroid and Mars. Also, Delta IV Heavy wet dress test, Next ISS crew trains, Space agency leaders support ISS, Curiosity confirms orbital data and more!
Science at NASA: ScienceCasts: How to Land on a Comet
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is about to attempt something "ridiculously difficult" - landing a probe on the surface of a speeding comet.
Science at NASA: ScienceCasts: The Cloudy Future of Arctic Sea Ice
As climate change continues to hammer Arctic sea ice, pushing back its summertime boundaries to record-high latitudes, NASA is flying an innovative airborne mission to find out how these developments will affect worldwide weather.
JPL: NASA Rocket Experiment Finds Flood of Cosmic Light
A NASA sounding rocket experiment has detected a surprising surplus of infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, a diffuse cosmic glow as bright as all known galaxies combined. The glow is thought to be from orphaned stars flung out of galaxies.
Also see the related story under Astronomy.
JPL: Q&Alien: What’s in an Exoplanet Name?
Exoplanets – planets around other stars – are pretty weird places. But why are their names things like HD 20504b and Kepler-12c rather than Alderaan or Vulcan? PlanetQuest explains.
Discovery News: Should We Worry About An Avalanche On An Asteroid?
In 2029, a football field-sized asteroid is going to fly so close to Earth that it's going to trigger a series of massive avalanches. Amy explains why we Earthlings have nothing to worry about.
Astronomy/Space
University of Arizona via PhysOrg: Black holes come to the big screen
by Daniel Stolte
Nov 06, 2014
The new movie "Interstellar" explores a longstanding fascination, but UA astrophysicists are using cutting-edge technology to go one better. They're working on how to take pictures of the black hole at the center of the galaxy.
What does a black hole look like up close?
When the sci-fi movie "Interstellar"—hitting theaters this week—wows audiences with its computer-generated views of one of most enigmatic and fascinating phenomena in the universe, University of Arizona astrophysicists Chi-kwan Chan, Dimitrios Psaltis and Feryal Ozel are likely to nod appreciatively and say something like, "Meh, that looks nice, but check out what we've got."
NASA via PhysOrg:
Universe is brighter than we thought according to NASA rocket experiment
by Whitney Clavin
Nov 07, 2014
A NASA sounding rocket experiment has detected a surprising surplus of infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, a diffuse cosmic glow as bright as all known galaxies combined. The glow is thought to be from orphaned stars flung out of galaxies.
The findings redefine what scientists think of as galaxies. Galaxies may not have a set boundary of stars, but instead stretch out to great distances, forming a vast, interconnected sea of stars.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory via PhysOrg: Birth of planets revealed in astonishing detail in ALMA's 'best image ever'
Nov 06, 2014
Birth of planets revealed in astonishing detail in ALMA's 'best image ever'
Astronomers have captured the best image ever of planet formation around an infant star as part of the testing and verification process for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array's (ALMA) new high-resolution capabilities.
This revolutionary new image reveals in astonishing detail the planet-forming disk surrounding HL Tau, a Sun-like star located approximately 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.
ALMA uncovered never-before-seen features in this system, including multiple concentric rings separated by clearly defined gaps. These structures suggest that planet formation is already well underway around this remarkably young star.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
UCLA: UCLA astronomers solve puzzle about bizarre object at the center of our galaxy
Latest research suggests enormous black hole drove two binary stars to merge into one
Stuart Wolpert
November 03, 2014
For years, astronomers have been puzzled by a bizarre object in the center of the Milky Way that was believed to be a hydrogen gas cloud headed toward our galaxy’s enormous black hole.
Having studied it during its closest approach to the black hole this summer, UCLA astronomers believe that they have solved the riddle of the object widely known as G2.
A team led by Andrea Ghez, professor of physics and astronomy in the UCLA College, determined that G2 is most likely a pair of binary stars that had been orbiting the black hole in tandem and merged together into an extremely large star, cloaked in gas and dust — its movements choreographed by the black hole’s powerful gravitational field. The research is published today in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD aims to send rocket into space
By Gary Robbins
7:36 p.m.Nov. 6, 2014
UC San Diego will attempt to become the first university in the country to launch a rocket into the low reaches of space, a project that's currently being developed by student engineers working with money provided by industry.
...
Plans call for sending a 25-foot to 30-foot rocket at least 62 miles high, then have it fall back to earth in a remote area of Nevada. Many schools have tried without success to shoot such a vehicle into space. UCSD is informally competing with the University of Southern California and Boston University to set the record.
University of California at Berkeley: Synthetic biology could be big boost to interplanetary space travel
By Robert Sanders, Media Relations
November 5, 2014
BERKELEY — Genetically engineered microbes could help make manned missions to Mars, the moon and other planets more practical, according to a new analysis by UC Berkeley and NASA scientists.
In the cover story of today’s issue of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, four bioengineers describe how synthetic biology – what some have termed “genetic engineering on steroids” – could allow space travelers to use microbes to produce their own fuel, food, medicines and building materials from raw feedstocks readily available on Mars or the moon, instead of carrying all supplies aboard the spacecraft or making them at the destination with conventional non-biological methods.
“Our analysis indicates that (synthetic biology) has a good chance of being a disruptive space technology by providing substantial savings over current techniques,” said first author Amor Menezes, a postdoctoral scholar in UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). “One goal of our paper is to advocate for an expanded role for synthetic biology in space science, with a view toward future mission deployment.”
University of Colorado: Mars spacecraft, including MAVEN, reveal comet flyby effects on Martian atmosphere
November 7, 2014
Two NASA and one European spacecraft, including NASA’s MAVEN mission led by the University of Colorado Boulder, have gathered new information about the basic properties of a wayward comet that buzzed by Mars Oct. 19, directly detecting its effects on the Martian atmosphere.
Data from observations carried out by MAVEN, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft revealed that debris from the comet, known officially as Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, caused an intense meteor shower and added a new layer of ions, or charged particles, to the ionosphere. The ionosphere is an electrically charged region in the atmosphere that reaches from about 75 miles (120 kilometers) to several hundred miles above the Martian surface.
Using the observations, scientists were able to make a direct connection between the input of debris from the meteor shower to the subsequent formation of the transient layer of ions – the first time such an event has been observed on any planet, including Earth, said the MAVEN research team.
Climate/Environment
University of California: Toxic airborne pollutants linger long after tobacco smoke clears
By Julie Chao, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Monday, November 3, 2014
Ever walked into a hotel room and smelled old cigarette smoke? While the last smoker may have left the room hours or even days ago, the lingering odors — resulting from noxious residue that clings to walls, carpets, furniture or dust particles — are thanks to thirdhand smoke.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who have made important findings on the dangers of thirdhand smoke and how it adsorbs strongly onto indoor surfaces, have published a new study assessing the health effects of thirdhand smoke constituents present in indoor air. Looking at levels of more than 50 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and airborne particles for 18 hours after smoking had taken place, they found that thirdhand smoke continues to have harmful health impacts for many hours after a cigarette has been extinguished.
“In the U.S., the home is now where nonsmokers are most exposed to second- and thirdhand smoke. The goal of our study is to provide information supporting effective protective measures in the home. The amount of harm is measurable even several hours after smoking ends,” said chemist Hugo Destaillats, lead author of the study. “Many smokers know secondhand smoke is harmful, so they don’t smoke when their kids are present. But if, for example, they stop smoking at 2 p.m. and the kids come home at 4 p.m., our work shows that up to 60 percent of the harm from inhaling thirdhand smoke remains.”
Their study, “Inhalable Constituents of Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke: Chemical Characterization and Health Impact Considerations,” has been published online in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Biodiversity
Penn State University: Diet affects pesticide resistance in honey bees
By Sara LaJeunesse
November 3, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Feeding honey bees a natural diet of pollen makes them significantly more resistant to pesticides than feeding them an artificial diet, according to a team of researchers, who also found that pesticide exposure causes changes in expression of genes that are sensitive to diet and nutrition.
"Honey bees are exposed to hundreds of pesticides, while they are foraging on flowers and also when beekeepers apply chemicals to control bee pests," said Christina Grozinger, professor of entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research, Penn State. "Our study demonstrates that exposure to non-lethal doses of at least two of these pesticides causes large changes in the expression of genes involved in detoxification, immunity and nutrition-sensing. This is consistent with results from previous studies that have found that pesticide exposure compromises bees' immune systems. Furthermore, our study reveals a strong link, at the molecular level, between nutrition, diet and pesticide exposure."
Exploring this link further, the researchers found that diet significantly impacts how long bees can survive when given lethal doses of a pesticide.
Penn State University: Never-before-seen insights into deer movement offered on research website
By Jeff Mulhollem
November 5, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Two years into a study of factors influencing forest regeneration in Pennsylvania, researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are offering never-before-seen insights into deer movement.
As part of the research, the study maintains 40 deer, both male and female, fitted with GPS radio-collars on four study tracts of between 25 and 40 square miles each in Bald Eagle, Rothrock and Susquehannock state forests. The collars transmit data and receive commands via satellite and can be remotely signaled to change the time between location fixes.
Lead researcher Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology, believes animations showing deer movement from 2013 will be of great interest to hunters and other wildlife lovers. "New technology allows us to get deer locations as often as every 20 minutes, plus we can turn those sequences of locations into video simulations showing how deer move across the landscape," he said.
Biotechnology/Health
University of California: How important is long-distance travel in the spread of epidemics?
By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
The current Ebola outbreak shows how quickly diseases can spread with global jet travel.
Yet, knowing how to predict the spread of these epidemics is still uncertain, because the complicated models used are not fully understood, says a University of California, Berkeley biophysicist.
Using a very simple model of disease spread, Oskar Hallatschek, assistant professor of physics, proved that one common assumption is actually wrong. Most models have taken for granted that if disease vectors, such as humans, have any chance of “jumping” outside the initial outbreak area — by plane or train, for example — the outbreak quickly metastasizes into an epidemic.
Hallatschek and coauthor Daniel S. Fisher of Stanford University found instead that if the chance of long-distance dispersal is low enough, the disease spreads quite slowly, like a wave rippling out from the initial outbreak. This type of spread was common centuries ago when humans rarely traveled. The Black Death spread through 14th century Europe as a wave, for example.
UCLA: UCLA study finds tai chi reduces inflammation in breast cancer survivors
Practicing the ancient Chinese martial art could potentially lower the risk for cancer recurrence
Reggie Kumar
November 06, 2014
UCLA researchers have discovered that the Chinese practice of tai chi can reduce inflammation in people who have had breast cancer, thereby reducing a risk factor for the recurrence of the cancer.
Current research indicates that women diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 10 years are three times more likely to suffer from lack of sleep. Insomnia can lead to increases in inflammation, which places breast cancer survivors at risk for cancer recurrence as well as cardiovascular disease.
Colorado State University: Researcher: Fight malaria with deadly mosquito meals
by Coleman Cornelius
5 Nov 2014
A Colorado State University microbiologist is examining a new way to halt malaria – one of the world’s most severe public-health problems – by turning prevention on its head. He plans to give potential human victims a common antiparasitic drug that, when ingested by mosquitoes in a blood meal, kills insect vectors that spread the deadly disease.
Brian Foy, an associate professor in CSU’s Arthropod-borne and Infectious Disease Laboratory, won a coveted Grand Challenges Explorations grant of $100,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The sum is small, yet the initial grant is significant for stimulating an innovative approach with the potential for more funding ahead.
Foy’s idea might seem blood simple.
Colorado State University: Camels emit dangerous MERS virus, CSU confirms
By Jeff Dodge
November 6, 2014
In a finding with global health implications, a research team led by a doctoral student at Colorado State University has confirmed for the first time that camels vent volumes of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, making them the likeliest suspect for spreading the pathogen to people.
Now the CSU team is testing a vaccine that could keep camels from shedding the MERS virus, which has caused acute respiratory illness in about 900 people across the Arabian Peninsula since it was identified in 2012.
The CSU researchers, partnering with an arm of the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that infected camels shed large amounts of MERS virus, primarily through their nostrils. They also established for the first time that the virus develops in the animals’ upper respiratory system, and that camels shed infectious virus for up to a week.
Penn State University: Battling drug-resistant pathogens
Biologist Andrew Read argues for new treatment strategies in race against rapidly evolving 'bugs.'
By David Pacchioli
November 5, 2014
Evolution kills people. Andrew Read has been saying so for years. But he never actually saw it firsthand until he worked this summer in a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
That's when Read, who is Evan Pugh Professor of Biology at Penn State, stepped away from his busy University Park lab to study the problem of drug resistance up close, sifting through massive clinical databases and consulting with infectious-disease specialists struggling with difficult cases in real time. He well remembers the first patient he saw die.
"She had a chronic bacterial infection which was unable to be cleared out," he says. "She had been in and out of the hospital for months. The docs who were treating her used one drug after another. When resistance arose, they tried another. Finally, they just ran out of drugs."
Penn State University: 3-D printing brings biomedical, Penn State research projects to fruition
Jennifer Cifelli
November 4, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- 3-D printing -- a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file -- is leading the way in biotechnology, making open-heart surgery a bit less frightening for patients and surgeons.
In the Center of Network-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion’s (NC2IF) Extreme Events Laboratory (EEL) at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), home of the Center’s MakerBot Replicator 2 3-D printer, research may not be of life and death importance, but it still carries significance. The researchers work to connect the technology of 3-D printing with organizations and departments across Penn State that can utilize printers to make research projects more feasible and cost effective.
“Our general research looks at the impact of using 3-D printing to rapidly prototype devices, and to create prototypes in order to obtain feedback from potential users,” said David Hall, a professor of IST and founding director of NC2IF.
Psychology/Behavior
Penn State University: Future family and career goals evident in teenage years
By Lauren Milideo
November 4, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Career and family, often seen as competing parts of life, can actually complement each other, and when young people's goals for the future encompass family and career, the outcome is more likely to be success in both arenas, according to Penn State researchers.
"I'm really interested in career development, but also how that interacts with family life," says Bora Lee, postdoctoral scholar, human development and family studies. "I was interested in how adolescents weighed their goals within work and family domains."
The researchers used selected records from a larger dataset initially collected for the Youth Development Study, which took place from 1988 through 2009. This study included responses from 995 subjects, at ages 14 to 15 and again at 17 to 18 years old, to questions about anticipated future importance of career and family, as well as respondents' "self-efficacy beliefs" about these goals. Self-efficacy beliefs were a rating of a respondent's certainty that she or he would achieve an aim, and showed how confident teen respondents were that they would realize family and career goals in the future. Then, as adults aged 35 to 36 years old, the same subjects responded to questions regarding their "perceived success in work life" and "perceived success in family life," according to the researchers, whose work appears in the Journal of Vocational Behavior.
Archeology/Anthropology
Siberian Times (Russia): Children from lost civilisation 'helped build' geoglyph some 6,000 years ago
By Anna Liesowska
Remarkable new details about giant moose released as archaeologists confirm stone structure is world's oldest.
Children were involved in the construction of a geoglyph in the Urals which was only discovered thanks to images taken from space. It predates Peru's famous Nazca Lines by thousands of years, archaeologists have announced. But they are no nearer answering why ancient man made it, nor can they yet fathom which group built the geoglyph; archeological traces found so far in the area do not show a culture with sufficient refinement.
The Daily Mail (UK): Mystery of Jordan's Big Circles: Ancient stone rings in the desert have left archaeologists baffled
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline
Eight big circles have been recorded in west central Jordan, between Wadi el-Hasa and the edge of Shara escarpment
There is a second group, made of four Big Circles just north of Azraq Oasis in the Middle Eastern country
In addition, a more recent Big Circle was spotted on satellite imagery in 2002 near Homs in Syria
...
Their purpose is not known and archaeologists will need to excavate the sites to accurately date them
However, materials suggest they range from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period, up to the 7th century
Associated Press via PhysOrg: Ancient shipwreck discovered near Aeolian Islands
by Jason Dearen
Oct 27, 2014
The divers descended 410 feet (125 meters) into dark Mediterranean waters off Italy, their lights revealing the skeleton of a ship that sank thousands of years ago when Rome was a world power. A sea-crusted anchor rested on a rock. The ship's cargo lay scattered amid piles of terra cotta jars, called amphora.
Highly trained technical divers with a Florida-based group called Global Underwater Explorers—GUE for short—are helping Italian researchers to unlock an ancient shipwreck thought to date to the second Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. Able to descend hundreds of feet (meters) further than most divers, they aide the archaeologists by swimming about the wreck fetching artifacts—as no robotic submersible can.
The Daily Telegraph (UK): Mexico 'powder-glittered tunnel' reveals ancient relics
Mexican archaeologists have said a powder-glittered tunnel filled with ritual objects could lead to royal tombs in the ancient city of Teotihuacan
By Olivia Rzadkiewicz, Video source ITN
A year-long exploration of a tunnel sealed almost 2,000 years ago at the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan yielded thousands of relics and the discovery of three chambers that could hold more important finds, Mexican archaeologists said Wednesday.
Project leader Sergio Gomez said researchers recently reached the end of the 340-foot tunnel after meticulously working their way down its length, collecting relics from seeds to pottery to animal bones.
Worcester News (UK): Roman skeletons found in Worcestershire
by James Connell
ROMAN age skeletons have been unearthed at a school in Worcestershire.
The two incomplete adult skeletons, an adult female and a younger adult male, during building works at Overbury Primary School, near Bredon in February this year.
Experts from the Worcestershire County Council Archives and Archaeology Service have now confirmed that remains are from Roman times.
Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey): New mosaics unearthed in ancient city of Zeugma
GAZI.ANTEP – Anadolu Agency
This year’s round of excavations in Gaziantep’s ancient city of Zeugma have ended, as the restoration period now begins
Three new mosaics have been unearthed during the Muzalar House excavations in the ancient city of Zeugma in Turkey's southern province of Gaziantep.
The uncovered mosaics were displayed at a press conference attended by Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Sahin and the head of the excavations, Professor Kutalmis Görkay.
Görkay said excavations at Zeugma, which was one of the most important centers in the Eastern Roman Empire, had started in 2007, adding that good progress had been made with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and Is Bank.
The Jakarta Post (Indonesia): Fossilized maize, rice found in Temanggung
Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post
Liyangan archaeological site on the slope of Mount Sindoro in Temanggung regency, Central Java, has again proven its position as home to one of main archeological findings in Indonesia after archeologists from the Yogyakarta Archeology Agency found the fossilized remnants of staple foods, comprising maize and rice, still inside a bamboo basket at the site.
The archeologists said the finding indicated that Indonesia had long been part of an international agriculture network because maize was not endemic to Java and at the site they had also found many artifacts from other countries, especially China.
BBC: Rewriting history: 400-year-old battle in County Fermanagh
By Julian Fowler
A project has unearthed some surprises about a 400-year-old battle in County Fermanagh, rewriting history books.
In 1594, soldiers loyal to Queen Elizabeth I, sent to relieve a garrison besieged by Irish chieftain Hugh Maguire in Enniskillen Castle, were ambushed as they crossed the Arney River.
The troops were massacred and their supplies were thrown into the river.
It became known as the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits.
Irish Times: Hoard of 17th century artefacts found at Rathfarnham Castle
Items revealing lives of ‘elite’ family found in underground lair by construction workers
A near perfect hoard of 17th century artefacts has been discovered in an underground lair of Rathfarnham Castle, revealing intimate details of the lives of the family who lived there and wider Irish society during that period.
The hoard was discovered about a month ago by construction workers installing a lift shaft at the castle. It was found in a sealed lair between two stone floors at the bottom of one of the castle towers.
Associated Press via Erie Times-News: A Headless Ranger? Mystery at Colonial burial site
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) — Sleepy Hollow has the legend of the Headless Horseman. Does a community 150 miles farther up the Hudson River have a Headless Ranger buried in an unmarked cemetery from the 18th century?
In the middle of the Hudson sits Rogers Island, site of a 34-acre parcel considered the birthplace of today's U.S. Army Rangers. The town and village of Fort Edward had long sought purchase of the land and with its completion also gained control of an unmarked Colonial-era cemetery that could hold the remains of hundreds of people, including some of the famous frontier fighters known as Rogers' Rangers.
CNN via Valley News: Underwater jigsaw puzzle of Captain Cook's ship Endeavour
By Matt Majendie CNN
(CNN) -- This is no treasure hunt for a casket of gold at the bottom of the ocean.
Instead, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, with this search potentially for no more than a few partly rotten timber frames on Newport Harbor's sea floor.
For years, the whereabouts of one of the most famous ships in nautical history -- HMS Endeavour -- has remained a mystery.
"I don't like to call it treasure as there's no gold or silver," Dr Kathy Abbass, the executive director of Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, a not-for-profit organization set up in 1992 set up to study the area's maritime history, told CNN. "But it's an intellectual treasure."
The Endeavour is now believed to have been intentionally sunk -- in a new life and under a new name -- during the American Revolution in 1778.
Polish Press Agency: Signs carved in the trees reveal the mysteries of the past
The discovery of carvings in the trees allowed to uncover an unknown episode of the Mie;dzyrzecz Fortification Region near Chycina in the Lubusz province. This is one of the first attempts to draw attention to such objects as archaeological and historical sources.
"In the woods along the remains of trenches, a group of beech trees grow, on which inscriptions and drawings are carved. The content carved in the trees allowed us to determine the exact date of construction of the field fortifications and retrace their history" - explains Dr. Dawid Kobialka in an interview with PAP. The research team members are also Maksymilian Frackowiak and Kornelia Kajda. All three are Poznan archaeologists associated with the Institute of Prehistory at AMU.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology via PhysOrg: A/C came standard on armored dinosaur models
November 8, 2014
Sweating, panting, moving to the shade, or taking a dip are all time-honored methods used by animals to cool down. The implicit goal of these adaptations is always to keep the brain from overheating. Now a new study shows that armor-plated dinosaurs (ankylosaurs) had the capacity to modify the temperature of the air they breathed in an exceptional way: by using their long, winding nasal passages as heat transfer devices.
Led by paleontologist Jason Bourke, a team of scientists at Ohio University used CT scans to document the anatomy of nasal passages in two different ankylosaur species. The team then modeled airflow through 3D reconstructions of these tubes. Bourke found that the convoluted passageways would have given the inhaled air more time and more surface area to warm up to body temperature by drawing heat away from nearby blood vessels. As a result, the blood would be cooled, and shunted to the brain to keep its temperature stable.
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology via PhysOrg: African diamond mine reveals dinosaur and large mammal tracks
Nov 05, 2014
Unexpectedly one of the largest diamond mines in Africa, Catoca in Angola, holds 118 million year old dinosaur, crocodile and large mammal tracks. The mammal tracks show a raccoon-sized animal, during a time when most were no larger than a rat.
Nearly 70 distinct tracks were recovered in the Catoca mine in Angola. All the tracks were found in a small sedimentary basin, formed about 118 Ma, during the Early Cretaceous, in the crater of a kimberlite pipe.
University of Alberta (Canada) via PhysOrg: Duck-billed dinosaurs were no sitting ducks, research shows
November 6, 2014
If you ever find yourself wandering lost in Jurassic Park or time-warped back 70 million years, University of Alberta paleontologists Scott Persons and Phil Currie are two guys you would want with you. The two scientists have just published a new paper on tyrannosaur avoidance strategies, looking into how other dinosaurs coexisted with the colossal carnivores and offering new insight into a prehistoric mystery of survival.
"When it comes to avoiding predators, big animals have it hard," says lead author Scott Persons, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences. "When trouble comes, tiny creatures can hide in the bushes, run up a tree or escape inside a burrow, but an animal the size of a big herbivorous dinosaur couldn't exactly conceal itself behind the nearest shrub or beneath a convenient rock or tree root."
Instead, most families of plant-eating dinosaurs evolved specific adaptations to help them cope with their meat-eating adversaries. Some, like Triceratops, evolved big horns that made them too dangerous to attack. Others evolved bony suits of spiky armour that turned them into walking fortresses. A few others evolved lightweight bodies and extra-long legs that gave them the speed to reliably outrun predators. But one group has always appeared virtually defenceless: the hadrosaurs—better known as the duck-billed dinosaurs.
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology via PhysOrg: Exquisite ancient horse fossil preserves uterus with unborn foal
Nov 06, 2014
A specimen of the ancient horse Eurohippus messelensis has been discovered in Germany that preserves a fetus as well as parts of the uterus and associated tissues. It demonstrates that reproduction in early horses was very similar to that of modern horses, despite great differences in size and structure. Eurohippus messelensis had four toes on each forefoot and three toes on each the hind foot, and it was about the size of a modern fox terrier. The new find was unveiled at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Berlin.
The specimen was discovered by a team from the Senckenberg Research Institute nearly 15 years ago, but its extent was not fully appreciated until it was studied using micro x-ray. The micro x-ray analysis revealed a structure known as the broad ligament that connects the uterus to the backbone and helps support the developing foal. Remnants of the wrinkled outer uterine wall became visible after the specimen was prepared, a feature shared between Eurohippus and modern horses. The placenta in this specimen is only the second one that has been described for a fossil placental mammal.
The Atlantic: The Resurrection of the Dodo
Paleontologists have released the first ever 3-D scans of the extinct, flightless bird which could help them learn how the animal moved.
Nicholas St. Fleur
Alas, the poor dodo. All that remains of this extinct flightless bird’s legacy are a single complete skeleton and a synonym for “dimwit.”
But from those bones, researchers may now be able to recreate the 3-feet tall bird. Using a 3-D laser, paleontologists from the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts made the first ever full 3-D dodo scans. The team presented the scans for the first time Thursday at the Society for Vertebrate Archaeology’s annual conference in Berlin.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of California: Newly found fossil fills evolutionary gap
By Kat Kerlin, UC Davis
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The first fossil of an amphibious ichthyosaur has been discovered in China by a team led by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The discovery is the first to link the dolphinlike ichthyosaur to its terrestrial ancestors, filling a gap in the fossil record. The fossil is described in a paper published in advance online Nov. 5 in the journal Nature.
The fossil represents a missing stage in the evolution of ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles from the Age of Dinosaurs about 250 million years ago. Until now, there were no fossils marking their transition from land to sea.
“But now we have this fossil showing the transition,” said lead author Ryosuke Motani, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “There’s nothing that prevents it from coming onto land.”
Motani and his colleagues discovered the fossil in China’s Anhui Province. About 248 million years old, it is from the Triassic period and measures roughly 1.5 feet long.
Geology
LiveScience via Discovery News: Crater Hunters Find New Clues to Ancient Impact Storm
by Becky Oskin, LiveScience
Nov 3, 2014 04:00 PM ET
Back when Wisconsin and western Russia once shared an address south of the equator, a violent collision in the asteroid belt blasted Earth with meteorites.
The space rock smashup showered Earth with up to 100 times more meteorites than today's rate (a rock the size of a football field hits the planet about every 10,000 years). Yet, only a dozen or so impact craters have been found from the ancient bombardment 470 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period. Most are in North America, Sweden and western Russia. There are only about 185 known impact craters on Earth of any age, while the moon has more than 100,000.
But the number of Ordovician craters may soon take off. That's because it's easier and cheaper than ever to hunt down evidence that confirms an impact. The clinchers include shocked minerals, deformed rocks and structural features that match other craters.
Energy
Agence France Press via Discovery News: Japan Will Restart First Reactor Since Fukushima
Nov 7, 2014 12:50 AM ET
The final obstacle to restarting two nuclear reactors in Japan was removed Friday when local politicians granted approval for a plant to go back online, more than three years after the Fukushima disaster.
The green light from the assembly and governor of Kagoshima prefecture, in the south of the country, marks a victory for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe which has faced significant public opposition to its drive to re-start nuclear power generation.
"I want to inform the economy, trade and industry minister about my understanding of the government's policy to push for restarting nuclear power plants," Governor Yuichiro Ito told a news conference, adding he had considered "various situations comprehensively."
Physics
UCLA: Researchers hit milestone in accelerating particles with plasma
Technique is powerful, efficient enough to drive future particle accelerators
UCLA Newsroom
November 05, 2014
Researchers from UCLA and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have shown that a promising technique for accelerating electrons on waves of plasma is efficient enough to power a new generation of shorter, more economical accelerators. This could greatly expand their use in areas such as medicine, national security, industry and high-energy physics research.
This achievement is a milestone in demonstrating the practicality of plasma wakefield acceleration, a technique in which electrons gain energy by essentially surfing on a wave of electrons within an ionized gas.
Using SLAC’s Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests, a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, the researchers boosted bunches of electrons to energies 400 to 500 times higher than they could reach traveling the same distance in a conventional accelerator. Just as important, energy was transferred to the electrons much more efficiently than in previous experiments. This crucial combination of energy and efficiency had never been reached before. The results are described in a paper to be published in the Nov. 6 issue of the journal Nature.
Chemistry
New York University via Science Daily: Transitions between states of matter: It’s more complicated, scientists find
November 6, 2014
The seemingly simple process of phase changes -- those transitions between states of matter -- is more complex than previously known. New work reveals the need to rethink one of science's building blocks and, with it, how some of the basic principles underlying the behavior of matter are taught in our classrooms.
Science Crime Scenes
Al-Ahram (Egypt): Giza men arrested after digging up ancient temple under house
Men carrying out illegal excavation work found the remains of an Egyptian temple from the reign of New Kingdom King Tuthmose III
Nevine El-Aref
Seven residents of a Giza district have been arrested after they illegally excavated the area beneath their home and found the remains of an ancient Egyptian temple.
The huge limestone blocks, engraved with hieroglyphic texts, date from the reign of the New Kingdom's King Tuthmose III, and were found in the Hod Zeleikha area of Al-Badrasheen district.
The Art Newspaper (UK): St Louis society attempts second sale of antiquities
The Archaeological Institute of America might revoke the group’s charter
By Garry Shaw.
The leadership of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) has once again condemned the St Louis chapter of its organisation for consigning artefacts to auction. Held by the society since 1911-12, the two objects, a Mayan vase from Quiriqua in Honduras (est £3,800-£5,000) and a Zapotec urn from Monte Alban, Mexico (est £1,900-£3,100) are due to be sold at Bonhams, New York, on 12 November. Last month, the group put up its “Harageh Treasure” of Egyptian artefact for auction at Bonhams London, but the collection was pulled at the last minute and privately acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an undisclosed sum.
The Nation (Thailand): More than 4,000 rats killed at Indian hospital
November 6, 2014 3:48 pm
New Delhi (dpa) - A pest control firm exterminated 4,400 rats over two days at a state-run hospital in India, with thousands still on the premises, its chief executive said Thursday.
Maharaja Yeshwantrao in Indore, about 800 kilometres south of Delhi, is still home to more than 10,000 rodents, said Sanjay G Karmakar, head of Laxmi Fumigation and Pest Control Service Ltd.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
Associated Press via Omaha World-Herald: The Colosseum: Ancient ruin or modern venue?
MILAN (AP) — Don't expect gladiators to make a latter-day comeback. And soccer has already been ruled out.
But an archaeologist's proposal to return the Colosseum's storied arena to the state it was in when gladiators sparred with lions, has sparked a lively debate over appropriate uses of the monument that symbolizes the glories of ancient Rome.
This is Oxfordshire (UK): City centre student flats plan ‘could harm Medieval street’
by Dan Robinson, Reporter covering Witney and West Oxfordshire. Call me on 01865 425483
published Wednesday 5 November
A MEDIEVAL street in Oxford city centre could be harmed if 133 student rooms are built, according to a heritage group.
The Oxford Preservation Trust is worried that plans to redevelop a building in Queen Street could have an impact on the area’s Anglo-Saxon origins.
English Heritage also believes the site has “high potential for archaeological remains of national importance”.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of California: UC confirms continued support of Lick Observatory
By Hilary Lebow, UC Santa Cruz
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
The University of California Office of the President has reversed a previous decision to pull funding from Lick Observatory by 2018, according to a written statement issued by UC Provost Aimee Dorr.
The letter confirms that Lick Observatory operations will continue under the management of UC Observatories (UCO), the multi-campus astronomical research unit headquartered at UC Santa Cruz.
In the letter to UCO Interim Director Claire Max, Dorr wrote: "Given the current state of affairs and trajectory for UCO and UC astronomy, we are rescinding the stipulations in our September 16, 2013 letter as to how Lick is to be funded and managed. It is no longer UCOP's intention to require that Lick Observatory be self supporting, begin a glide path to self-supporting status no later than FY 2016-17, or be managed by an entity other than UCO."
The letter gives the UCO director, with advice from the UCO Advisory Committee and others, the flexibility to determine the best distribution of available UC resources between Lick and other UC-related astronomical facilities such as the 10-meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, the instrumentation labs at UC Santa Cruz and UCLA, and the future Thirty Meter Telescope now under construction.
University of California: Coexist or perish, wildfire analysis says
UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Many fire scientists have tried to get Smokey the Bear to hang up his “prevention” motto in favor of tools like thinning and prescribed burns, which can manage the severity of wildfires while allowing them to play their natural role in certain ecosystems.
But a new international research review says the debate over fuel-reduction techniques is only a small part of a much larger fire problem that will make society increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic losses unless it changes its fundamental approach from fighting fire to coexisting with fire as a natural process.
The paper, “Learning to Coexist with Wildfire,” to be published in the Nov. 6 issue of the journal Nature, examines research findings from three continents and from both the natural and social sciences. The authors conclude that government-sponsored firefighting and land-use policies actually encourage development on inherently hazardous landscapes, amplifying human losses over time.
The study continues as
New global wildfire analysis indicates humans need to coexist and adapt at the University of Colorado.
“We don’t try to ‘fight’ earthquakes—we anticipate them in the way we plan communities, build buildings and prepare for emergencies. We don’t think that way about fire, but our review indicates that we should,” said lead author Max Moritz of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. “Human losses will only be mitigated when land-use planning takes fire hazards into account in the same manner as other natural hazards, like floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.”
...
“We are in dire need of a more sustainable coexistence with wildfire,” said Research Scientist Tania Schoennagel of CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, a study co-author. “Unless we plan for fire as an inevitable and natural process, it will continue to have serious social and ecological consequences.”
L.A. Times: Op-Ed As species decline, so does research funding
Sen. Coburn's misrepresentation of our research has the potential to affect wildlife conservation for years to come.
By Terrie M. Williams
November 6, 2014
As I rubbed the frostbite out of my hands on returning from a seal survey on Antarctic ice recently, I was informed that I had the dubious distinction of making the Top 5 in the 2014 list of wasteful scientists compiled by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). According to Coburn's “Wastebook,” I had egregiously squandered $856,000 of taxpayer money on training mountain lions to walk on a treadmill.
The project the senator referred to was to design and test a new high-tech wildlife collar that measured the instantaneous energy use, hunting behavior and movement patterns of large carnivores such as mountain lions. Our goal was to provide a new tool for wildlife conservation. The project took four years and involved many biologists, engineers, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate students and research technicians.
Ultimately, we developed an innovative technology for monitoring wild carnivores. And, yes, the research involved calibrating the specially designed collars on three mountain lions trained to walk on a treadmill; this was followed by tests on free-ranging wild lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Penn State University: Penn State faculty, alums write Best Paper on parks, health partners
By Jennifer Miller
November 3, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Journal of Parks and Recreation Administration (JPRA), the official publication of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, has named a paper written by Penn State faculty and alumni as Best Paper for 2014.
Toni Liechty, Andrew Mowen, Laura Payne, Karla Henderson, Jason Bocarro, Candice Bruton and Geoffrey Godbey are the authors of "Public Park and Recreation Managers’ Experiences with Health Partnerships," which appeared in the Summer 2014 edition of JPRA.
The purpose of the authors’ study was to explore experiences with health partnerships from the perspective of park and recreation managers, as public health concerns are on the rise (e.g., obesity and chronic disease) and public health organizations are seeking to increase effectiveness and efficiency through partnerships as research exploring partnerships with park and recreation managers is limited.
Overall, participants suggested that in the current fiscal climate health partnerships represent a viable strategy for pooling resources to increase efficiency and expand services to the community.
Science Education
Springer Science and Business Media via Science Daily: Lifestyle education crucial to help young Americans control their blood pressure
November 6, 2014
Far too many "teachable moments" are lost in a doctor's office during which young adults with hypertension could have learned how to reduce their blood pressure, experts say. In fact, only one in every two hypertensive young Americans do in fact receive such advice and guidance from a healthcare provider within a year from being diagnosed, a study shows.
Science Writing and Reporting
University of California at Berkeley: Helping parents navigate the ‘New Puberty’ for today’s girls
By Sarah Yang, Media Relations
November 6, 2014
BERKELEY — Does your 8-year-old daughter need a training bra? If so, you’re not alone. Studies have established that girls today are entering puberty earlier than their counterparts several decades ago.
The beginning of menstruation, or menarche, starts six months earlier on average than 40 years ago, but breast development is starting two years earlier. The clock has also moved up for other early pubertal signs, including body odor and the growth of pubic hair.
It is a trend that demands attention, and the authors of The New Puberty aim to help by providing parents with practical tools to navigate their way through this important stage of their daughters’ lives.
Penn State University: Women's sexual journey is usually an evolution, not revolution
By Matt Swayne
November 3, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- From motherhood to menopause, from marriage to divorce, women's sexual experiences have profound -- and often unexpected -- effects on not just their sexuality, but also on their feelings of self-worth, according to a Penn State Abington sociologist.
"Studying sexuality and women's sexual agency is important because sexuality has been linked to physical health and mental well-being," writes Beth Montemurro, associate professor of sociology, in "Deserving Desire" (Rutgers University Press, 2014). "Sexuality is a prime source of identification."
As women mature, their attitudes on sex, relationships and self-worth evolve in surprising ways, said Montemurro, who interviewed 95 women between the ages of 20 and 68 years old for the book. This evolution often seems at odds with media portrayals and cultural expectations of women, she added.
University of California: Historian serves up the story of Chinese food in America
By Laura Rico, UC Irvine
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Before fast food and home delivery, there was chop suey and red leather booths. American Chinese food was a precursor to ubiquitous chain restaurants, democratizing the once-exclusive dining-out experience for working-class whites, African Americans and Jews.
The influence of Chinese cuisine throughout the 20th century and beyond is told in "Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America," by UC Irvine history professor Yong Chen. The new book opens with a question: Why is Chinese food so popular in the United States?
“Americans fell in love with Chinese food not because of its gastronomic excellence, but because of its affordability and convenience,” Chen said. “They preferred the quick and simple dishes of China while shunning its haute cuisine.”
"Chop Suey, USA," published by Columbia University Press, sheds light on the critical yet overlooked role that Chinese fare has played in developing the American way of life and expanding access to it.
Science is Cool
University of Rochester via PhysOrg: Sustainability, astrobiology illuminate future of life in universe, civilization on Earth
November 6, 2014
Human-caused climate change, ocean acidification and species extinctions may eventually threaten the collapse of civilization, according to some scientists, while other people argue that for political or economic reasons we should allow industrial development to continue without restrictions.
In a new paper, two astrophysicists argue that these questions may soon be resolvable scientifically, thanks to new data about the Earth and about other planets in our galaxy, and by combining the earth-based science of sustainability with the space-oriented field of astrobiology.
"We have no idea how long a technological civilization like our own can last," says University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank. "Is it 200 years, 500 years or 50,000 years? Answering this question is at the root of all our concerns about the sustainability of human society."
The Nation (Thailand): Soi Dog Foundation wins 2014 'Thailand green excellence' award in UK
November 4, 2014 6:12 pm
Soi Dog Foundation, the Phuket-based dog and cat welfare charity founded in 2003, was Monday awarded the 2014 Animal Welfare category award in the Thailand Green Excellence Awards by HRH Princess Ubol Ratanarachakanya Siriwatanaphanwadi at a ceremony in London.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
UCLA: Scholar revives antiquated media machines for digital-age audiences
A pioneer in the field of media archaeology
Logan Linnane
November 04, 2014
With an office full of antique projectors known as “magic lanterns” and a conviction to retell media history, Erkki Huhtamo has pioneered the field of media archaeology, compelling us to think about the cultural history of 21st century media through the machines that were the precursors to today’s digital cams and movie projectors.
Having begun this quest more than 20 years ago in his native Finland, Huhtamo, a professor of design media arts as well as film, television and digital media, has sought not only to record the history of media through his writings, art and exhibitions, but to entertain modern-day audiences with productions using these antique machines.
From the 17th to the 19th century, magic lantern shows were the principal medium for watching projected images. Long before movie theaters, magic lantern projectors were used to present hand-painted glass slides, accompanied by performances that were sometimes reminiscent of shadow puppetry. Such projections were also used as a teaching tool in the academic world as well as for private entertainment in the home. Huhtamo combines these artistic and academic purposes in his magic lantern performances, giving his spectators an opportunity to relive a visual experience that has long since vanished.
