Science X Newsletter Week 37

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 37:

	Sexploits of Diego the Tortoise save Galapagos species He's over 100 years old, but his sex life is the stuff of legend. Diego the Tortoise is quite the ladies' man, and his exploits have helped save his species from extinction.
	Black hole hidden within its own exhaust Supermassive black holes, millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun, are found at the centers of galaxies. Many of these galactic behemoths are hidden within a thick doughnut-shape ring of dust and gas known as a torus. Previous observations suggest these cloaking, tire-like structures are formed from the native material found near the center of a galaxy.
	New discovery shatters previous beliefs about Earth's origin A new study led by Western University's all-star cosmochemist Audrey Bouvier proves that the Earth and other planetary objects formed in the early years of the Solar System share similar chemical origins – a finding at odds with accepted wisdom held by scientists for decades.
	For first time, researchers see individual atoms keep away from each other or bunch up as pairs If you bottle up a gas and try to image its atoms using today's most powerful microscopes, you will see little more than a shadowy blur. Atoms zip around at lightning speeds and are difficult to pin down at ambient temperatures.
	Killing superbugs with star-shaped polymers, not antibiotics Tiny, star-shaped molecules are effective at killing bacteria that can no longer be killed by current antibiotics, new research shows.
	Russian geneticist repeats dog domestication with foxes in just fifty years (Phys.org)—A Russian geneticist, the BBC is reporting, replicated the process that led to the domestication of the dog, with foxes, over the course of just fifty years. Curious about the means by which dogs became domesticated, Dmitry Belyaev began a breeding program in the late 1950's aimed at replicating the process using foxes.
	Mapping our galaxy: The Milky Way revealed The European Space Agency will unveil on Wednesday a three-dimensional map of a billion stars in our galaxy that is 1,000 times more complete than anything existing today.
	A riddle for our time One of the most remarkable successes of astrophysics in the last century was its discovery that the age of the universe as measured by its oldest stars was about the same as the age estimated in an entirely different way, from the recession of galaxies. Both came up with surprisingly long times—billions of years—providing reassuring confirmation that both were probably on the right track. But the two values were not identical and scientists very quickly realized a major discrepancy: the oldest stars were older than the universe itself. Refinements to the measurements and the models to resolve this contradiction were underway until 1998 when cosmic acceleration was discovered. It proved, in a single sweep, that the universe was actually much older than had been thought, and in particular was older than the oldest stars.
	Largest-ever study reveals environmental impact of genetically modified crops According to new research from University of Virginia economist Federico Ciliberto, widespread adoption of genetically modified crops has decreased the use of insecticides, but increased the use of weed-killing herbicides as weeds become more resistant.
	Unintended consequences of creating the world's first semisynthetic organism (Phys.org)—In 2014, the incorporation of two artificial letters of genetic code into the DNA of Escherichia coli gave the bacteria the distinction of becoming the world's first stable semisynthetic organism.
	'Thermal metamaterial' innovation could help bring waste-heat harvesting technology to power plants, factories An international research team has used a "thermal metamaterial" to control the emission of radiation at high temperatures, an advance that could bring devices able to efficiently harvest waste heat from power plants and factories.
	Hungry startup uses robots to grab slice of pizza Did robots help make your pizza?
	One billion stars in 3-D: Gaia's billion-star map hints at treasures to come The first catalogue of more than a billion stars from ESA's Gaia satellite was published today – the largest all-sky survey of celestial objects to date.
	Explaining why the universe can be transparent Two papers published by an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside and several collaborators explain why the universe has enough energy to become transparent.
	Chemistry says Moon is proto-Earth's mantle, relocated Measurements of an element in Earth and Moon rocks have just disproved the leading hypotheses for the origin of the Moon.
	Newborn gut microbiome predicts later allergy and asthma The microbes living in a baby's gut during its first month of life may directly impact the developing immune system, leading to a higher risk of allergies and asthma later in childhood, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. The findings highlight the importance of developing early interventions to improve microbial health in young infants.
	Why are there so many species of bugs, but so few species of human? Looking around at the natural world, have you ever wondered why some groups of organisms contain huge numbers of species while others are seemingly barren?
	Scientists make embryos from non-egg cells Scientists have shown for the first time that embryos can be made from non-egg cells, a discovery that challenges two centuries of received wisdom.
	High number of pesticides within colonies linked to honey bee deaths Honey bee colonies in the United States have been dying at high rates for over a decade, and agricultural pesticides—including fungicides, herbicides and insecticides—are often implicated as major culprits. Until now, most scientific studies have looked at pesticides one at a time, rather than investigating the effects of multiple real-world pesticide exposures within a colony.
	Astronomers observe star reborn in a flash An international team of astronomers using Hubble have been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years dramatic increases in the temperature of the star SAO 244567 have been observed. Now the star is cooling again, having been reborn into an earlier phase of stellar evolution. This makes it the first reborn star to have been observed during both the heating and cooling stages of rebirth.

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