Friday, April 6, 2012

Daily News Digest: Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Friday, April 6, 2012 12:01 AM PDT
Today's Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
CERN revs up hopes for smashing year for physics
Thu,5 Apr 2012 12:06 PM PDT
Reuters - GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists came closer than ever to witnessing "Big Bang"-style conditions on Thursday after revving up the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN research centre to smash sub-atomic particles together faster and harder than ever before. Physicists in the control rooms punched the air as multi-colored arcs flashed across their screens, debris thrown up by the collisions of some of the millions of protons flung around the vast underground circuit at close to the speed of light. "This is a great start to the 2012 run. ... Full Story
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Ammonia used in many foods, not just "pink slime"
Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:36 PM PDT
Reuters -

Packs of ground beef are seen in a crate at the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market meat processing facility in RiversideNew York (Reuters) - Surprise rippled across America last month as a new wave of consumers discovered that hamburgers often contained ammonia-treated beef, or what critics dub "pink slime". What they may not have known is that ammonia - often associated with cleaning products - was cleared by U.S. health officials nearly 40 years ago and is used in making many foods, including cheese. Related compounds have a role in baked goods and chocolate products. Using small amounts of ammonia to make food is not unusual to those expert in high-tech food production. ...


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Gene studies begin to unravel autism puzzle
Wed,4 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - A sweeping study of hundreds of families with autism has found that spontaneous mutations can occur in a parent's sperm or egg cells that increase a child's risk for autism, and fathers are four times more likely than mothers to pass these mutations on to their children, researchers said on Wednesday. The results of three new studies, published in the journal Nature, suggest mutations in parts of genes that code for proteins - called the exome - play a significant role in autism. ... Full Story
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S.Africa, Australia in celestial spat for new telescope
Mon,2 Apr 2012 10:11 AM PDT
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG/CANBERRA (Reuters) - Deadly rivals on the rugby field, cricket pitch and in the underground mining sector, South Africa and Australia are now squaring off in a new contest: to win the right to host the world's most powerful telescope. The duo are finalists in a tender to host the device, known as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any other telescope on the planet, according to the international consortium funding the 2 billion euro ($2.66 billion) project. ... Full Story
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Factbox: A look at the groundbreaking SKA telescope
Mon,2 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa and Australia are fighting for the right to host what will be the world's most powerful radio telescope, a device called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The international consortium funding the project is expected to announce the winner this week. Here are some key facts about the SKA: It will use 3,000 antennas and receptors to detect radio frequency signals from deep space that are then processed by a super computer. The SKA will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any other telescope on the planet. ... Full Story
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"Speed of light" experiment professor resigns
Fri,30 Mar 2012 04:22 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - The Italian professor who led an experiment which initially appeared to challenge one of the fundaments of modern physics by showing particles moving faster than the speed of light, has resigned after the finding was overturned earlier this month. Italy's national institute of nuclear physics INFN said on Friday that Antonio Ereditato had stepped down as coordinator of the so-called OPERA experiment but had no comment beyond saying it "took note" of his decision. It was not immediately possible to reach Ereditato for a comment. ... Full Story
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Studies show how pesticides make bees lose their way
Thu,29 Mar 2012 11:04 AM PDT
Reuters -

File photograph shows a bee sitting on a Marigold flower in a field of a private plantation near the village of PishchalovoLONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered ways in which even low doses of widely used pesticides can harm bumblebees and honeybees, interfering with their homing abilities and making them lose their way. In two studies published in the journal Science on Thursday, British and French researchers looked at bees and neonicotinoid insecticides - a class introduced in the 1990s now among the most commonly used crop pesticides in the world. In recent years, bee populations have been dropping rapidly, partly due to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder. ...


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Maths and Olympics: How fast could Usain Bolt run?
Thu,29 Mar 2012 03:48 AM PDT
Reuters -

World record holder Usian Bolt of Jamaica listens to a reporter's question after advancing in his men's 100 meter heat at the Jamaican Athletics National Championship in KingstonLONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt, already the world's fastest man, could lop another 0.18 seconds off his 100 meter sprint world record even without running any faster. It's just a question of getting a few conditions right - and doing the maths. Luckily for the top Jamaican sprinter, John Barrow, a professor of mathematical sciences at Britain's Cambridge University, has done the calculations for him. ...


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Japan bees cook enemy in 'hot defensive bee ball'
Thu,29 Mar 2012 01:25 AM PDT
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Don't mess with Japanese honeybees. Not only do they cooperate to attack their enemies, researchers now say their brains may actually be processing and responding to the threat. When confronted with their arch-enemy, the aggressive giant Asian hornet, the honeybees will attack it by swarming en masse around the hornet and forming what scientists call a "hot defensive bee ball" - a move unique to their species. With up to 500 bees all vibrating their flight muscles at once, the bee ball cooks the hornet to death. ... Full Story
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Scientists pin down historic sea level rise
Thu,29 Mar 2012 01:20 AM PDT
Reuters -

To match Reuters Life! story ANTARCTICA-WORK/PENGUINSLONDON (Reuters) - The collapse of an ice sheet in Antarctica up to 14,650 years ago might have caused sea levels to rise between 14 and 18 meters (46-60 feet), a study showed on Wednesday, data which could help make more accurate climate change predictions. The melting of polar ice could contribute to long-term sea level rise, threatening the lives of millions, scientists say. ...


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European cargo vessel docks with space station
Wed,28 Mar 2012 05:44 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - An unmanned European supply vessel carrying more than six tonnes of freight docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday reinforcing Europe's role in the functioning of the ISS, space officials said. European Space Agency (ESA) officials said the docking of Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was flawless when it eased into place without any intervention from astronauts in the space station. They put the official docking time with the ISS at 2233 GMT and approximately 30 minutes later initial electrical connections to the ISS were confirmed. ... Full Story
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In cancer science, many "discoveries" don't hold up
Wed,28 Mar 2012 11:09 AM PDT
Reuters -

A laboratory researcher in a file photo. REUTERS/Sebastian DerungsNEW YORK (Reuters) - A former researcher at Amgen Inc has found that many basic studies on cancer -- a high proportion of them from university labs -- are unreliable, with grim consequences for producing new medicines in the future. During a decade as head of global cancer research at Amgen, C. Glenn Begley identified 53 "landmark" publications -- papers in top journals, from reputable labs -- for his team to reproduce. Begley sought to double-check the findings before trying to build on them for drug development. Result: 47 of the 53 could not be replicated. ...


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Scientists pin down historic sea level rise
Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:13 AM PDT
Reuters -

To match Reuters Life! story ANTARCTICA-WORK/PENGUINSLONDON (Reuters) - The collapse of an ice sheet in Antarctica up to 14,650 years ago might have caused sea levels to rise between 14 and 18 metres (46-60 feet), a study showed on Wednesday, data which could help make more accurate climate change predictions. The melting of polar ice could contribute to long-term sea level rise, threatening the lives of millions, scientists say. ...


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Slices of Einstein's brain show "the mind as matter"
Tue,27 Mar 2012 07:06 AM PDT
Reuters -

An anatomical model of a human head is seen at an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in LondonLONDON (Reuters) - We've pickled it, desiccated it, drilled it, mummified it, chopped it and sliced it over centuries, yet as the most complex entity in the known universe, the human brain remains a mysterious fascination. With samples of Albert Einstein's preserved brain on slides, and specimens from other famous and infamous heads such as the English mathematician Charles Babbage and notorious mass murderer William Burke, an exhibition opening in London this week is seeking to tap into that intrigue. ...


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Director James Cameron awestruck at ocean's deepest spot
Mon,26 Mar 2012 11:24 PM PDT
Reuters -

James Cameron gives two thumbs-up as he emerges from the Deepsea Challenger submersible after his successful solo dive to the deepest-known point on Earth reaching the bottom of the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench southwest of Guam(Reuters) - Returning from humankind's first solo dive to the deepest spot in the ocean, filmmaker James Cameron said he saw no obvious signs of life that might inspire creatures in his next "Avatar" movie but was awestruck by the "complete isolation." The Oscar-winning director and undersea explorer said his record-setting expedition to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 7 miles beneath the surface of the western Pacific, not only capped seven years of painstaking preparation but was the "culmination of a lifelong dream. ...


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