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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for November 29, 2013:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Visualize this: Automated UV laser microsurgery simplifies microscopy and neurophysiology experiments in live animals- Investigation reveals black market in China for research paper authoring
- Snapshots differentiate molecules from their mirror image
- Japanese firm proposes LUNA RING to send solar energy from moon to Earth
- 3-D images, with only one photon per pixel
- Look, but don't touch: US law and the protection of lunar heritage
- Neurobiologists investigate neuronal basis of crows' intelligence
- Scientists explore memories, true and false
- Bone grafting improvements with the help of sea coral
- Researchers apply Benford's law to physics exams to see if they can do better than chance
- Controversy over the use of Roman ingots to investigate dark matter and neutrinos
- Scientists seek a newer, cheaper solar panel
- Techies vs. NSA: Encryption arms race escalates
- Hydrogen could save regional railways
- Did Comet ISON survive? Scientists see tiny hope (Update)
Space & Earth news
Environment group sues China oil giant for nearly $10 mn
A Chinese government-backed environmental group said Friday it has launched legal action against state-owned oil giant PetroChina for almost $10 million over pollution.
Space image: Aorounga Crater, Chad
This image from Japan's ALOS satellite shows the Aorounga Crater in northern Chad.
Image: Comet ISON on Thanksgiving Day
Comet ISON has moved quite close to the sun as seen by from ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured at 10:51 a.m. EST on Nov. 28, 2013.
Elucidating heavy precipitation events
It is difficult to forecast heavy precipitation events accurately and reliably. The quality of these forecasts is affected by two processes whose relative importance has now been quantified by a team at the Laboratoire d'Aérologie (CNRS / Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier). The researchers have shown that these processes should be taken into account in low wind speed events. Their findings should help forecast these events, which repeatedly cause significant damage, especially in south-eastern France. They are first published online the November 28, 2013 in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
ESA's new vision to study the invisible Universe
The hot and energetic Universe and the search for elusive gravitational waves will be the focus of ESA's next two large science missions, it was announced today.
New generation of climate models capable of simulating abrupt climate change
Scientists have, for the first time, demonstrated that climate models are able to simulate past abrupt changes in the Earth's climate – giving more confidence in predictions of future global climate change.
A self-healing satellite? Students seek your funds to launch prototype
Imagine if your spacecraft was punctured and it could do the repair itself, without the need of you going outside on a dangerous spacewalk. Well, a Canadian team has a prototype idea that could lead to self-healing structures in space. The concept is all set, and they're asking for financial help to launch it on crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter.
This rover could hunt for lunar water and oxygen in 2018
In 2018, NASA plans to go prospecting at the moon's south pole with a rover—possibly, a version of the Canadian one in the picture above. The idea is to look for water and similar substances on the lunar surface, with an eye to learn more about living off the land, so to speak.
Telescope to track space junk using youth radio station
A combination of pop songs, talkback radio and cutting-edge science has enabled Australian astronomers to identify a way to prevent catastrophic, multi-billion dollar space junk collisions, a new study has revealed.
In the Mojave, a scientist-entrepreneur works to 're-create Martians'
The sun is fading, the temperature is dropping and this desert party is just getting started.
Penn State racing to be the first college on the moon
Pennsylvania State University is racing to be the first college on the moon. Since 2011, a team of faculty, researchers, and students has been hatching "Lunar Lion," a robotic spacecraft that is four feet in diameter and weighs 500 pounds. The team hopes that by landing in December 2015 and completing a precise series of tasks, it will win an international competition known as the Google Lunar Xprize.
With mountains of data, tech experts work to help farms weather climate shifts
If farmers can't change the weather - or a seesawing climate - perhaps data-crunchers can outwit Mother Nature.
SpaceX postpones first satellite launch
Private US company SpaceX postponed the launch of a rocket carrying its first telecommunications satellite on Thursday after two unsuccessful attempts at take-off.
44 million stars and counting: Astronomers play Snap and remap the sky
(Phys.org) —Tens of millions of stars and galaxies, among them hundreds of thousands that are unexpectedly fading or brightening, have been catalogued properly for the first time.
Indian Ocean phenomenon helping to predict extreme weather
A phenomenon in the Indian Ocean that affects events in southeast Australia is helping to predict extreme weather up to six months in advance.
Astro-virology
In HG Wells' 'The War of the Worlds', the invading Martians were beaten by that most unassuming of combatants – the common cold. Could the reverse happen and alien viruses pose a threat to human astronauts when they land on Mars? This intriguing question is asked by Dale Griffin in a new paper for the journal Astrobiology, who also asks whether our first evidence of extraterrestrial life could come in the shape of viruses.
Look, but don't touch: US law and the protection of lunar heritage
With India and China planning lunar surface missions, privately-funded space entrepreneurs competing for the US$40 million Google Lunar X Prize and discussions around lunar mining intensifying, working out what to do with our moon's cultural heritage is becoming urgent.
Did Comet ISON survive? Scientists see tiny hope (Update)
A comet that gained an earthly following because of its bright tail visible from space was initially declared dead after essentially grazing the sun. Now, there is a silver of hope that Comet ISON may have survived.
Technology news
Rare earths and our insatiable appetite for digital memory
This week a dozen protesters travelled from Malaysia to Australia to protest outside the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Lynas Corporation, an Australian rare earth mining company, for the third year running.
Enhancing the efficiency of complex computations
Planning a trip from Berlin to Hamburg, simulating air flows around a new passenger airplane, or friendships on Facebook – many computer applications model relationships between objects by graphs (networks) in the sense of discrete mathematics. An important method to manage complex computations on steadily growing networks is graph partitioning. The KIT computer scientists Professor Peter Sanders and Dr. Christian Schulz have now released the Karlsruhe High Quality Partitioner (KaHIP). The solutions produced by this tool presently are the best worldwide.
Small company helps Twitter make money (Update)
Twitter just issued its IPO but a lingering question is how the popular worldwide microblog company will turn a profit. One U.S. company thinks it has found one way to help Twitter, and itself, make money.
Brazil confirms satellite deal after US spying outcry
Brazil's state-owned telecom provider Telebras signed a $560 million contract to deliver a satellite for secure communications on Thursday, following months of outrage over revelations of US cyber-spying.
A virtual factory you can feel
Industrial processes have been mechanized, electrified and digitized. In the next step they become intelligent. However, the lines between virtual and real worlds become only slowly blurred. At EuroMold in Frankfurt researchers will demonstrate leadoff Industry 4.0 applications with a miniature factory from 3 to 6 December.
Students update classic animation technique
(Phys.org) —Computer Graphics students at Victoria University have created an alternative to an animation technique used by studios such as Disney and Pixar.
How computers changed chess
For his precocity, newly crowned World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen was named "The Mozart of chess". For his tenacity and comfort with long games he was dubbed "The Nadal of chess". More prosaically, the BBC called him "The Justin Bieber of chess".
Electricity generated from gravity
Mexican entrepreneurs developed a system capable of using the vehicular flow to generate electric energy. This development has the potentiality to produce sufficient electricity to power up a household through a device that "catches" the force of the moving cars.
Data mining social media opinions
A European collaboration has analysed thousands of microblogging updates to help them develop an opinion detector for data mining the social media lode and extracting nuggets of information that could be gold dust for policy makers, marketing departments and others looking for emerging trends and attitudes. Details are to be published in the International Journal of Electronic Business.
Mobile shopping transforms holiday retail season
If the crowds at the mall seem a bit thinner this holiday season, it may be because more shoppers are at home, buying gifts on an iPad.
Consumers enamored with mobile banking, experts say
Snap, tap and done. That's the catchy mantra of mobile banking, increasingly touted by financial institutions as a way to oh-so-easily pay bills, check balances and deposit checks from your cellphone. And consumers are heeding the call.
Locked cellphones are no longer a lock
Uncle Sam wants to hand you the keys to your cellphone. A federal agency is pressing wireless phone companies to start "unlocking" customers' phones, possibly by the time you exchange gifts for the holidays.
As appetite for content grows, AT&T navigates video convergence
More and more, AT&T Inc. is becoming a creator of content, not just a conduit.
Modern relationships made, marred, mended by technology
Lia MacDonald sat down at her laptop and clicked on Facebook. There he was, her old flame, asking for her. It had been years since their last encounter, long before she met her husband, started a family and moved across the globe. She answered back.
Convenience of technology comes at a cost
As he rose to his feet from a knuckle-dragging crouch, primitive cave man wrapped his newly evolved opposable thumbs around the handy tools of his time - a club or spear - and instantly his life got easier. Two million years later, we have ascended from the apes to the apps. With a fierce, prehensile hold on the bedrock tool of our time, 21st century man wraps his life around a most modern convenience - the smartphone - and begins his day, thumbs flying.
Will electricity save the car?
Cars defined the 20th century … [They] shaped the wars that were fought, the way cities developed and how people and goods were moved around … [As] we look to alternative technologies to fuel more than a billion cars and trucks on the world's roads, the most efficient transport solutions are more likely to re-power these vehicles rather than replace them.—Sparking an Electric Vehicle Debate in Australia, by the Energy Supply Association of Australia.
US eyes phase-out of old telephone network
America's plain old telephone network is rapidly being overtaken by new technology, putting US regulators in a quandary over how to manage the final stages of transformation.
Hydrogen could save regional railways
There is increasing talk of electrification of the UK's railway network. But electrification is an expensive business, requiring much new hardware including masts, wiring, substations and so on. Such an investment can be justified for heavily used lines such as urban metro systems and inter-city routes, but not on less used lines such as regional routes. Railways will continue to need an energy supply system that does not rely on electrification for the foreseeable future.
Scientists seek a newer, cheaper solar panel
Solar panels generate electricity by absorbing sunlight, but that is only half the battle. Once electrons in the panel are energized, they must be channeled in the same direction - a process that typically requires a panel made with layers of two kinds of material.
Techies vs. NSA: Encryption arms race escalates
Encrypted email, secure instant messaging and other privacy services are booming in the wake of the National Security Agency's recently revealed surveillance programs. But the flood of new computer security services is of variable quality, and much of it, experts say, can bog down computers and isn't likely to keep out spies.
Japanese firm proposes LUNA RING to send solar energy from moon to Earth
(Phys.org) —Japanese construction firm Shimizu Corp. has unveiled a proposal that entails building a solar panel array around the moon's equator, then sending the power it collects back to Earth. They are calling the project LUNA RING.
Medicine & Health news
N. Korea produces more food, but malnutrition persists: UN
North Korea has increased food production for a third straight year, but malnutrition remains widespread, UN agencies say, voicing particular concern over stunting in children.
Australia: Change to bicycle helmet laws could be a fatal mistake
Road safety researchers said a Queensland Parliament Committee Report recommendation letting adults off the hook from wearing bike helmets could result in a spike of potentially fatal head injuries.
Indian toddler with swollen head undergoes more surgery
Doctors conducted reconstructive surgery Friday on a two-year-old Indian girl to correct a rare disorder that caused her head to balloon to twice its normal size, a neurosurgeon said.
Is S.Africa's HIV treatment success breeding complacency?
South Africa has been hailed as a model for HIV treatment, but some now fear its very success may be breeding complacency and making people less careful about infection.
Mobility explains the association between social activity and mortality risk in older people
Social activity and health correlate in old age, but less is known about what explains this association. The results of a study carried out in the Gerontology Research Center showed that part of the association between social activity and mortality was mediated by mobility among older men and women. Of other potential mediators, having less depressive symptoms and better cognitive functioning are merely prerequisites for social activity.
Greece: HIV curbed among drug users
Health officials in Greece say an overhauled AIDS-prevention program has helped curb an alarming spike in the number of cases among drug users.
MERS virus strikes Jordan couple in UAE
Two new cases of the potentially deadly MERS respiratory virus, including a heavily pregnant woman, have been reported in the United Arab Emirates, media Friday cited health authorities as saying.
UN finds mother-to-child HIV infections decreasing
The U.N. Children's Fund says it is alarmed about increasing HIV and AIDS rates among adolescents over the last seven years and is advocating an aggressive program that includes condom distribution and antiretroviral treatment.
Sweden divided over criminalising HIV unprotected sex
When Lina Afvander got her HIV diagnosis, it came with a set of prescriptions and a disclosure obligation, which legally requires HIV-positive people in Sweden to reveal their status before having sex.
The potential pandemic
In 2011, scientists successfully engineered a lethal avian flu virus to be transmissible between birds as well as mammals and possibly humans. The novel virus, a genetically engineered variation of H5N1 avian influenza, sparked an enormous debate among both the research community and the public about how to manage such research and whether it should even be carried out at all.
Crisis or catastrophe: Research analyzes mortality rates
New research from the University of Toronto Scarborough shows that when it comes to defining what makes an event catastrophic in terms of the death rate—whether it's an outbreak of war, famine, disease and even extreme weather—the devil can be found in the demographic details.
Urine test could help detect aggressive bladder cancer
A simple urine test could distinguish between aggressive and less aggressive bladder cancers according to a new Cancer Research UK study published in the British Journal of Cancer.
The pauses that refresh the memory
Sufferers of schizophrenia experience a broad gamut of symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions as well as disorientation and problems with learning and memory. This diversity of neurological deficits has made schizophrenia extremely difficult for scientists to understand, thwarting the development of effective treatments. A research team led by Susumu Tonegawa from the RIKEN–MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics has now revealed disruptions in the activity of particular clusters of neurons that might account for certain core symptoms of this disorder.
New study identifies the signal that guides the migration and differentiation of enteric neuron precursors
Neural development involves the proliferation and migration of immature neurons, followed by their differentiation into the multiple cell types that make up the nervous system. These processes are poorly understood but are known to require the coordinated activity of dozens of transcription factors and signaling molecules. Hideki Enomoto, Toshihiro Uesaka and colleagues from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have now identified a molecule that controls the migration and differentiation of a large population of neurons in the gut, known as the enteric nervous system (ENS).
Researchers find gene responsible for susceptibility to panic disorder
A study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience points, for the first time, to the gene trkC as a factor in susceptibility to the disease. The researchers define the specific mechanism for the formation of fear memories which will help in the development of new pharmacological and cognitive treatments.
Mitochondria separate their waste
In order to protect themselves from harmful substances, cells need to keep the mitochondria - the boiler room, so to speak - shipshape. Up to now, it was unclear whether this housekeeping work involves sorting out defective proteins when they digest mitochondria. Dr. Jörn Dengjel from the Center for Biological Systems Analysis (ZBSA), Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), and the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies of the University of Freiburg has now discovered in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, that the proteins are sorted out during the constant fusion and fission of mitochondria. The team published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
Mediterranean diet without breakfast the best choice for diabetics, new study says
For patients with diabetes, it is better to eat a single large meal than several smaller meals throughout the day. This is the result of a current dietary study at Linköping University in Sweden.
Scientists find mystery virus in camels in Qatar
Health officials say they have found a mysterious respiratory virus in a herd of camels in Qatar linked to two human cases of the disease.
Cyclin D1 governs microRNA processing in breast cancer
Cyclin D1, a protein that helps push a replicating cell through the cell cycle also mediates the processing and generation of mature microRNA (miRNA), according to new research publishing November 29 in Nature Communications. The research suggests that a protein strongly implicated in human cancer also governs the non-protein-coding genome. The non-coding genome, previously referred to as junk DNA, makes up most of the human genome, and unlike the coding genome, varies greatly between species.
Malaria vaccine offers new mode of protection against disease
(Medical Xpress)—A novel malaria vaccine developed at Oxford University has shown promising results in the first clinical trial to test whether it can protect people against the mosquito-borne disease.
The heart's own stem cells play their part in regeneration
(Medical Xpress)—Up until a few years ago, the common school of thought held that the mammalian heart had very little regenerative capacity. However, scientists now know that heart muscle cells constantly regenerate, albeit at a very low rate. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, have identified a stem cell population responsible for this regeneration. Hopes are growing that it will be possible in future to stimulate the self-healing powers of patients with diseases and disorders of the heart muscle, and thus develop new potential treatments.
Scientists explore memories, true and false
(Medical Xpress)—Not all memories are good and some might be so bad that they are debilitating; successful ways of coping with bad memories are to transform them into learning experiences and to derive strength from adversity. Another human reaction is to allow the memories to block the ability to move forward. In short, dwelling on rather than learning from the past is not a good thing. For some people who suffer trauma, though, moving forward may be far easier said than done. Scientists recognize the effects that events such as bombs, childhood abuse, and serious accidents have on human behavior and are exploring ways in which memory affects human behavior. In particular, a recent article in Popular Science calls attention to studies that are exploring ways to erase and even edit memories. "The hope is that this research will lead to medical treatments, especially for addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."
Visualize this: Automated UV laser microsurgery simplifies microscopy and neurophysiology experiments in live animals
(Medical Xpress)—Although in vivo microscopy is a vital tool for monitoring cellular and neurophysiological processes, preparing live animals for microsurgery has traditionally had several significant limitations – namely, it takes time, requires a great deal of skill, and places constraints on what can be experimentally accomplished. Recently, however, scientists at Stanford University devised a largely automated protocol that addresses these limitations, and can be used in both optical and electrophysiological studies, by employing a highly precise pulsed excimer UV laser. The researchers not only used fruit flies as a model, but also demonstrate their technique in nematodes, ants, and the mouse cranium. Moreover, they see their findings as being of great value in neuroscience for investigating neuronal plasticity, learning, and memory.
Biology news
Ship strike kills two whales in Norfolk waters
Two dead minke whales have been found on Norfolk beaches in the past week.
Protecting vital crops in China
Evidence of disease in oilseed rape crops across China and how it may spread has been mapped by researchers led by the University of Hertfordshire - providing new strategic information on crop protection to the Chinese government.
Mutations in the mantled howler provoked by disturbances in its habitat
The disturbances of the habitat could be affecting the populations of the mantled howler, or golden-mantled howling monkey, (Alouatta palliate Mexicana) who in an extreme case could be developing mutations that make them less resistant to diseases and climate events, reveled by a study of the Ecology Institute.
Fish monitoring stepped up in bid to stop invasive species
An invasive fish species currently occupying the Chapman River is being monitored in research exploring the effectiveness of different capture methods.
Study shows the impact of polyandry on reproductive success in fire salamanders
Researchers at Bielefeld University and the Technische Universität Braunschweig are the first to confirm the benefit of multiple paternities for a vertebrate under completely natural conditions. Together with their team, Dr. Barbara Caspers and Dr. Sebastian Steinfartz have shown that female fire salamanders mate with several males under natural conditions (so-called polyandry). This grants them fitness-relevant benefits by increasing their number of offspring. The results of their study are being published this Friday (29 November) in the Early View version of Molecular Ecology.
Barcodes for trees: Study identifies genetic fingerprints of endangered conifers
In the tropics and subtropics, many evergreen conifers are endangered. Biologists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have collected the world's largest Podocarpaceae collection. Together with colleagues from The New York Botanical Garden, they sequenced characteristic parts of the DNA of these conifers in order to generate a "DNA barcode" for each species. With the help of this genetic fingerprint, unknown individuals can be assigned to the respective Podocarpaceae species, which are often very similar in appearance. Thus, individuals of endangered populations can be identified more easily. The team reports in the journal PLOS ONE.
Neurobiologists investigate neuronal basis of crows' intelligence
Scientists have long suspected that corvids – the family of birds including ravens, crows and magpies – are highly intelligent. Now, Tübingen neurobiologists Lena Veit und Professor Andreas Nieder have demonstrated how the brains of crows produce intelligent behavior when the birds have to make strategic decisions. Their results are published in the latest edition of Nature Communications.
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