Monday, December 19, 2016

Science X Newsletter Week 50

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 50:

Verlinde's new theory of gravity passes first test

A team led by astronomer Margot Brouwer (Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands) has tested the new theory of theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde (University of Amsterdam) for the first time through the lensing effect of gravity. Brouwer and her team measured the distribution of gravity around more than 33,000 galaxies to put Verlinde's prediction to the test. She concludes that Verlinde's theory agrees well with the measured gravity distribution. The results have been accepted for publication in the British journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

File compression format found to alter timbre of music causing loss of some emotional context

(TechXplore)—A small team of researchers with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has found that compressing recorded music into the MP3 format results in the loss of emotional tones, leaving the result with less depth. In their paper published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, the researchers describe their study of the impact of compressing recordings of musical instruments and which instruments suffer the most degradation.

Cellular reprogramming reverses signs of aging

Graying hair, crow's feet, an injury that's taking longer to heal than when we were 20—faced with the unmistakable signs of aging, most of us have had a least one fantasy of turning back time. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute have found that intermittent expression of genes normally associated with an embryonic state can reverse the hallmarks of old age.

Study shows fasting kills cancer cells of common childhood leukemia

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that intermittent fasting inhibits the development and progression of the most common type of childhood leukemia.

Mexico scrambles to save world's smallest porpoise (Update)

Mexican authorities and scientists are scrambling to save the world's smallest porpoise, the vaquita marina, from extinction, capturing illegal "ghost" fishing nets while hoping to make specimens reproduce in captivity.

World's smallest radio receiver has building blocks the size of two atoms

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have made the world's smallest radio receiver - built out of an assembly of atomic-scale defects in pink diamonds.

Surge in methane emissions threatens efforts to slow climate change

Global concentrations of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and cause of climate change, are now growing faster in the atmosphere than at any other time in the past two decades.

Orgasms used as sexual currency, research shows

Humans have evolved to use intense sexual pleasure, especially orgasm, to control our partners, according to new research.

Lab confirms vitamin D link to autism traits

Researchers at The University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute have found a link between vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy and increased autism traits.

Europe's own satnav, Galileo, due to go live

Seventeen years and more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) later, Europe's Galileo satnav system is set to go live on Thursday, promising to outperform US and Russian rivals while boosting regional self-reliance.

Unexpected interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter in mini-spiral galaxies

Statistical analysis of mini-spiral galaxies shows an unexpected interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter. According to the SISSA study recently published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, where the relationship is obvious and cannot be explained in a trivial way within the context of the Standard Model, these objects may serve as "portals" to a completely new form of Physics which can explain phenomena like matter and dark energy.

New diamond harder than a jeweller's diamond, cuts through ultra-solid materials

The Australian National University (ANU) has led an international project to make a diamond that's predicted to be harder than a jeweller's diamond and useful for cutting through ultra-solid materials on mining sites.

Why we walk on our heels instead of our toes

James Webber took up barefoot running 12 years ago. He needed to find a new passion after deciding his planned career in computer-aided drafting wasn't a good fit. Eventually, his shoeless feet led him to the University of Arizona, where he enrolled as a doctoral student in the School of Anthropology.

Many GMO studies have financial conflicts of interest

Financial conflicts of interest were found in 40 percent of published research articles on the genetically modified crops, also known as GMO crops, French researchers said this week.

Rings around young star suggest planet formation in progress

Rice University astronomers and their colleagues have for the first time mapped gases in three dark rings around a distant star. The rings mark spaces where planets are thought to have formed from dust and gas around the star.

Study suggests rats smile with their ears

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with the University of Bern in Switzerland has found that as part of feeling happiness, rats undergo a slight physical change. As the team notes in their paper uploaded to the peer-reviewed open access site PLOS ONE, the rats under study demonstrated happiness by lowering their ears.

The quantum computers of the future will work equally well with encrypted and unencrypted inputs

When future users of quantum computers need to analyze their data or run quantum algorithms, they will often have to send encrypted information to the computer.

Stem cell 'living bandage' for knee injuries trialled in humans

A 'living bandage' made from stem cells, which could revolutionise the treatment and prognosis of a common sporting knee injury, has been trialled in humans for the first time by scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol.

Ancient human ancestor was one tall dude, his footprints say

He stood a majestic 5-foot-5, weighed around 100 pounds and maybe had a harem. That's what scientists figure from the footprints he left behind some 3.7 million year ago.

Mitigating the risk of geoengineering: Aerosols could cool the planet without ozone damage

The planet is warming at an unprecedented rate and reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses alone is not enough to remove the risk.


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