Spotlight Science News. 10-11 December 2018.
10 hours ago in Space Exploration
Accessed on 11 December 2018, 0212 UTC.
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Comment: Here are today’s top science news stories from https://phys.org. Views expressed in this science news summary are those of the reporters and correspondents.
Thanks for joining us today.
Until next time,
Russ Roberts
https://hawaiisciencedigest.blogspot.com
Spotlight Science News
Sprayable gel could help the body fight off cancer after surgery
Many people who are diagnosed with cancer will undergo some type of surgery to treat their disease—almost 95 percent of people with early-diagnosed breast cancer will require surgery and it’s often the first line of treatment …
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Humans may be reversing the climate clock, by 50 million years
Our future on Earth may also be our past. In a study published Monday (Dec. 10, 2018) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that humans are reversing a long-term cooling trend tracing back …
‘Dropout’ rate for academic scientists has risen sharply in past 50 years, study finds
Half of the people pursuing careers as scientists at higher education institutions will drop out of the field after five years, according to a new analysis from researchers at Indiana University Bloomington.
Ocean fertilization by unusual microbes extends to frigid waters of Arctic Ocean
Microbes that provide natural fertilizer to the oceans by “fixing” nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form useable by other organisms were once thought to be limited to warm tropical and subtropical waters. Now, however, …
Brainwaves suppress obvious ideas to help us think more creatively
The human brain needs to suppress obvious ideas in order to reach the most creative ones, according to scientists at Queen Mary University of London and Goldsmiths, University of London.
Regrowing damaged nerves hinges on shutting down key genes
Neurons in the brain and spinal cord don’t grow back after injury, unlike those in the rest of the body. Cut your finger, and you’ll probably be back to using it in days or weeks; slice through your spinal cord, and you likely …
Bioenergy crops could be as bad for biodiversity as climate change
A large scale expansion in bioenergy crop production could be just as detrimental to biodiversity as climate change itself, according to new research.
Using machine learning to detect unreliable Facebook pages
A growing number of companies and individuals worldwide are creating Facebook pages for marketing and advertising purposes. This is because Facebook offers the possibility to communicate to potential or existing customers …
Shape-shifting origami could help antenna systems adapt on the fly
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have devised a method for using an origami-based structure to create radio frequency filters that have adjustable dimensions, enabling the devices to change which signals …
OSIRIS-REx discovers water on asteroid, confirms Bennu as excellent mission target
From August through early December, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft aimed three of its science instruments toward Bennu and began making the mission’s first observations of the asteroid. During this period, the spacecraft traveled …
New bug prompts earlier end to Google+ social network
Google said Monday it will close the consumer version of its online social network sooner than originally planned due to the discovery of a new software bug.
Studies reveal role of red meat in gut bacteria, heart disease development
In concurrent studies, Cleveland Clinic researchers have uncovered new mechanisms that demonstrate why and how regularly eating red meat can increase the risk of heart disease, and the role gut bacteria play in that process.
Rapid genetic evolution linked to lighter skin pigmentation in a southern African population
Populations of indigenous people in southern Africa carry a gene that causes lighter skin, and scientists have now identified the rapid evolution of this gene in recent human history.
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe enters interstellar space
For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the …
Dopamine’s yin-yang personality: It’s an upper and a downer
For decades, psychologists have viewed the neurotransmitter dopamine as a double-edged sword: released in the brain as a reward to train us to seek out pleasurable experiences, but also a “drug” the constant pursuit of which …
Team finds evidence for carbon-rich surface on Ceres
A team led by Southwest Research Institute has concluded that the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is rich in organic matter. Data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft indicate that Ceres’s surface may contain several times the concentration …
Topological matters: Toward a new kind of transistor
Billions of tiny transistors supply the processing power in modern smartphones, controlling the flow of electrons with rapid on-and-off switching.
Some brain tumors may respond to immunotherapy, new study suggests
Immunotherapy has proved effective in treating a number of cancers, but brain tumors have remained stubbornly resistant. Now, a new study suggests that a slow-growing brain tumor arising in patients affected by neurofibromatosis …
How catnip makes the chemical that causes cats to go crazy
Researchers at John Innes Centre have shed light on how catnip—also known as catmint—produces the chemical that sends cats into a state of wanton abandon.
Compelling evidence for small drops of perfect fluid
Nuclear physicists analyzing data from the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research at Brookhaven National …
Scientists brew lava and blow it up to better understand volcanoes
What happens when lava and water meet? Explosive experiments with manmade lava are helping to answer this important question.
Strep bacteria compete for ‘ownership’ of human tissue
A well-accepted principle in the animal kingdom—from wasps to deer—is that creatures already occupying a habitat nearly always prevail over competitors from the same species that arrive later. Such infighting for the …
Frog sex in the city: Urban tungara frogs are sexier than forest frogs
By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban environments, according to the United Nations. But as cities spread, wild animals will also have to adapt. In Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers …
Simple tips to curb overindulgence can help stop pounds piling on at Christmas
A study by the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University has shown that regular weighing at home and simple tips to curb excess eating and drinking can prevent people from piling on the pounds at Christmas.
Regular problem solving does not protect against mental decline
The well known ‘use it or lose it’ claim has been widely accepted by healthcare professionals, but researchers in the Christmas issue of The BMJ find that regularly doing problem solving activities throughout your lifetime …
Cataclysmic variable ES Ceti has an accretion disk, study suggests
Smelling the forest not the trees: Why animals are better at sniffing complex smells
Animals are much better at smelling a complex “soup” of odorants rather than a single pure ingredient, a new study by the University of Sussex has revealed.
Engineers produce smallest 3-D transistor yet
Researchers from MIT and the University of Colorado have fabricated a 3-D transistor that’s less than half the size of today’s smallest commercial models. To do so, they developed a novel microfabrication technique that modifies …
Life in deep Earth totals 15 to 23 billion tons of carbon—hundreds of times more than humans
Barely living “zombie” bacteria and other forms of life constitute an immense amount of carbon deep within Earth’s subsurface—245 to 385 times greater than the carbon mass of all humans on the surface, according to scientists …
Solar activity research provides insight into sun’s past, future
Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo of Southwest Research Institute and José Manuel Vaquero of the University of Extremadura have developed a new technique for looking at historic solar data to distinguish trustworthy observations …
10 hours ago in Space Exploration