Today's Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Tiny, new African dinosaur species unveiled
Wed,3 Oct 2012 06:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new dinosaur the size of a house cat and described as a cross between "a bird, a vampire and a porcupine" has been identified in a piece of rock from South Africa. University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, who published the findings on Wednesday in the online scientific journal ZooKeys, said in an interview with Reuters he actually made the discovery of the small-bodied herbivore in 1983. ...
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Insight: Delays dog U.S. government loans to green energy projects
Wed,3 Oct 2012 04:41 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year after the U.S. government raced to meet a deadline to finish loan agreements with dozens of clean energy companies, less than half the total money promised has been handed over. Technical questions and companies' own failures in hitting contractual milestones are behind some of the holdups. But government officials fearful of taking a risk on firms that could collapse may have also caused some of the delays. ...
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Rapid gene machines used to find cause of newborn illnesses
Wed,3 Oct 2012 02:27 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have sequenced the entire genetic code of four gravely ill newborns and identified genetic diseases in three of them in two days, quick enough to help doctors make treatment decisions. Doctors behind the preliminary study released on Wednesday say it demonstrates a practical use for whole genome sequencing, in which researchers analyze all 3.2 billion chemical "bases" or "letters" that make up the human genetic code. "It is now feasible to decode an entire genome and provide interim results back to the physician in two days," said Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
Boost for land speed record bid after successful rocket test
Wed,3 Oct 2012 08:46 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The British team behind a project to build a 1,000 mph car have cleared a key hurdle with a successful test of the rocket they hope will push the vehicle well beyond the sound barrier. The rocket will be twinned with a fighter jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon on the Bloodhound supersonic car in a bid to smash the existing world land speed record of 763 mph set 15 years ago by the same team in Thrust SSC. ... Full Story | Top |
Lost in migration: Earth's magnetic field overdue a flip
Wed,3 Oct 2012 08:41 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The discovery by NASA rover Curiosity of evidence that water once flowed on Mars - the most Earth-like planet in the solar system - should intensify interest in what the future could hold for mankind. The only thing stopping Earth having a lifeless environment like Mars is the magnetic field that shields us from deadly solar radiation and helps some animals migrate, and it may be a lot more fragile and febrile than one might think. Scientists say earth's magnetic field is weakening and could all but disappear in as little as 500 years as a precursor to flipping upside down. ...
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Russia says first year-long ISS mission planned for 2015
Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:04 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - The first year-long mission to the International Space Station may begin in March 2015, following an agreement between ISS partners who have previously sent crews for six months, the Russian space agency director said on Tuesday. Alexei Krasnov, in charge of manned flights at Roscosmos, said the decision was made by participants at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, this week. ... Full Story | Top |
Nuclear "birth control" helps Croatia fruit farmers fight flies
Tue,2 Oct 2012 06:22 AM PDT
Reuters - OPUZEN, Croatia/VIENNA (Reuters) - At the height of the tangerine season in Croatia's Neretva river delta, two pickup trucks scour a maze of water channels carrying an odd-looking contraption: a mortar-like pipe spraying orchards with sterilized flies. Each launch sends into the air thousands of males of the fruit fly, one of the most harmful orchard pests, in what advocates say is a prime example of how nuclear science can benefit both agriculture and the environment. ... Full Story | Top |
Mandolinist, neurosurgeon among winners of 2012 "Genius" grants
Mon,1 Oct 2012 07:12 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - A bluegrass musician and a pediatric surgeon were among 23 of the world's most creative and original thinkers to be awarded no-strings-attached $500,000 "genius" grants this year, a U.S. charitable organization said on Monday. Also among the 2012 MacArthur Foundation fellows are a celebrated fiction writer, a Washington Post reporter and a Boston man who makes some of the finest violin bows the modern world has ever seen. Since the program was initiated in 1981, the John D. and Catherine T. ... Full Story | Top |
Pesticide use ramping up as GMO crop technology backfires: study
Mon,1 Oct 2012 06:18 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of "superweeds" and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study. Genetically engineered crops have led to an increase in overall pesticide use, by 404 million pounds from the time they were introduced in 1996 through 2011, according to the report by Charles Benbrook, a research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University. ... Full Story | Top |
Genetically engineered cow makes anti-allergy milk
Mon,1 Oct 2012 12:21 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers in New Zealand have genetically engineered a cow to produce milk with very little of a protein that causes an allergic reaction in some children. They hope the technique, which uses a process called RNA interference that reduces the activity of certain genes without eliminating it completely, can be used to control other traits in livestock. With mothers breastfeeding less, cows' milk is an increasing source of protein for babies, but the different composition of cows' milk can cause an allergic reaction. ... Full Story | Top |
Amsterdam goes green with electric scooter taxis
Mon,1 Oct 2012 06:23 AM PDT
Reuters - AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Six years ago Dutchman Ruben Beugels was on an Amsterdam tram that broke down, leaving him stuck in an out-of-the way place, and late for an appointment when he couldn't quickly find another means of transport. "I was very frustrated at being late, and it was then that I thought, hey a scooter would be able to get me to my meeting on time," said Beugels, founder of Hopper, Europe's first electric taxi scooter service, which will debut in Amsterdam on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
UK plan to merge Antarctic, ocean research stirs science row
Mon,1 Oct 2012 06:02 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A British government plan to merge its Antarctic research division with a centre studying the oceans has triggered protests from scientists who said it would cut studies of polar climate change and rising sea levels. They said the British Antarctic Survey had a strong history of discovery including, in 1985, of a hole in the ozone layer that protects the planet from harmful solar rays. That helped spur a 1987 United Nations treaty on damaging chemicals. ... Full Story | Top |
Mars rover finds first evidence of water: a river of it
Thu,27 Sep 2012 02:35 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, dispatched to learn if the most Earth-like planet in the solar system was suitable for microbial life, has found clear evidence its landing site was once awash in water, a key ingredient for life, scientists said Thursday. Curiosity, a roving chemistry laboratory the size of a small car, touched down on August 6 inside a giant impact basin near the planet's equator. The primary target for the two-year mission is a three-mile (five-km) -high mound of layered rock rising from the floor of Gale Crater. ...
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New "extreme" Hubble shows deepest view yet of night sky
Tue,25 Sep 2012 03:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  Cape Canaveral, Florida (Reuters) - Piecing together 10 years of Hubble Space Telescope images, astronomers on Tuesday unveiled the deepest view yet of a small sliver of the night sky, revealing a kaleidoscope of galaxies and other celestial objects. The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, adds another 5,500 galaxies to Hubble's 2003 and 2004 view into a tiny patch of the farthest universe. Hubble returned to the same target more than 50 times over the past decade, racking up an additional 2 million seconds of exposure time. ...
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Florida wants NASA land to develop commercial spaceport
Sun,23 Sep 2012 01:29 PM PDT
Reuters - CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - With an eye toward developing a commercial spaceport, Florida has asked NASA to transfer 150 acres of land north of the shuttle launch pads and the shuttle runway to Space Florida, the state's aerospace development agency. "Florida believes that the properties identified in this request are excess to the needs of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
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