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| | Scientists tune into blue whale songs with defense technology
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists are using military technology for locating submarines to track rare blue whales hundreds of kilometers away by eavesdropping on their distinctive songs. Blue whales can communicate with each other over an entire ocean basin by emitting low frequency sounds, or deep songs. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division started using directional sonobuoys this year to detect whale sounds -- a big improvement on the standard visual method of monitoring whales. "Ultimately we're trying to get an abundance estimate for blue whales. ... Full Story | Top |
FACTBOX-Nobel: The man and the prizes
(Reuters) - Here is a look at dynamite tycoon Alfred Nobel and the annual prizes which he bequeathed before the first of them is awarded on Monday. THE MAN: As well as being an inventor and businessman, Nobel dabbled in writing plays and poetry. Nobel never married and was constantly on the move. French writer Victor Hugo called him "Europe's richest vagabond". He once described himself in this way: "Pathetic half life, should have been suffocated by a humane doctor as he sobbingly made his entry into life ... His only request: not to be buried alive. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan author, "spooky" science up for cut-price Nobels
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Japanese author who writes of love and isolation, researchers into "spooky" quantum physics and experts on economic inequality have all been tipped as possible Nobel Prize-winners ahead of the start to the annual awards on Monday. Medicine, physics and chemistry laureates will receive their Nobels first in Stockholm next week, followed later by economics. But for many outside the world of science, the literature and peace prizes are the most widely discussed at the dinner table. ... Full Story | Top |
Tiny, new African dinosaur species unveiled
 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
 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
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
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
 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
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
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
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
(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
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
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
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 |
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