Science X Newsletter Sunday, Dec 7

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for December 7, 2014:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Apple patent focuses on tools for commuters
- Answers in a shake with Microsoft's Torque (w/ Video)
- Earnings show less for left-handed, says study
- Artificial intelligence: Hawking's fears stir debate
- Olive oil apocalypse as fly drives up price of extra virgin
- NASA craft to probe Pluto after nine-year journey
- Researchers convert sunlight to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency
- The yin-yang of polar sea ice
- Tiny motions bring digital doubles to life (w/ Video)

Astronomy & Space news

	NASA craft to probe Pluto after nine-year journey An American probe that will explore Pluto woke up from its slumber Saturday, after a nine-year journey to take a close look at the distant body for the first time.
	Orion launch is trial by fire for Apollo-era heat shield NASA's Orion vehicle aims to carry humans farther into space than ever before, but its protective heat shield is basically the same as that used for the Apollo Moon missions four decades ago.
China's Long March puts satellite in orbit on 200th launch China Sunday put into orbit a satellite jointly developed with Brazil after the 200th launch of its Long March rocket family, state media reported.

Technology news

	Apple patent focuses on tools for commuters Should you take the arthritic trolley today or the local bus with over a dozen stops? Where do you change? When does the bus stop running? Once on the N line, does it pass close enough to the shop? If you waited for the express bus, would you get there sooner or later? Commuters have questions and smartphone-derived data are always welcomed.
	Answers in a shake with Microsoft's Torque (w/ Video) Microsoft Garage is what it sounds like, a techie haven where hackers, inventors and hackers who are potentially good inventors can pass around ideas and engage in team work so that ideas grow into real projects. Torque is one of those results. On Friday Microsoft said that it has a Torque app, powered by Bing, for Android.
	Artificial intelligence: Hawking's fears stir debate There was the psychotic HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the humanoids which attacked their human masters in "I, Robot" and, of course, "The Terminator", where a robot is sent into the past to kill a woman whose son will end the tyranny of the machines.
	Researchers convert sunlight to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency UNSW Australia's solar researchers have converted over 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity, the highest efficiency ever reported.
	Tiny motions bring digital doubles to life (w/ Video) Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems unveil new technology for motion and shape capture (MoSh) that helps animators jump the "Uncanny Valley" by turning a few moving dots into detailed body shapes that jiggle and deform like real humans.
	Is Uber car service really worth $40 billion? (AP)—Can a company that didn't exist five years ago, an upstart with a knack for angering regulators who could close it down, really be worth $40 billion?
Internet in Cuba only for the rich—or resourceful With their smartphones and tablet computers, they look much like young people anywhere in the world.
	Iran minister says all web surfers to be 'identified' Iran's telecommunications minister has said his technicians are developing a system to identify any Internet user in the country at the moment of log-on, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday.
NKorea denies Sony hack, calls it 'righteous deed' (AP)—North Korea released a statement Sunday that clearly relished a cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which is producing an upcoming film that depicts an assassination plot against Pyongyang's supreme leader.
	Moscow metro's Wi-Fi revolution as city gets wired Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin built Moscow's spectacularly beautiful metro as an example to the world, a symbol of "radiant Communist future".
	Bondi beach cameras eye more Aussie rescues Australia's best known lifeguard Bruce 'Hoppo' Hopkins knows there's nothing better than the naked eye to spot the dangers of the surf—rip currents and sharks.
Corrupt Apple exec sentenced to 1 year in prison (AP)—A former Apple executive who sold some of the iPhone maker's secrets to suppliers will serve a year in prison and repay $4.5 million for his crimes.
	Second Vietnam blogger arrested on anti-state charges Vietnamese police arrested a prominent blogger Saturday, the second writer seized in the last fortnight as the country's communist authorities keep up their long-running crackdown on online dissent.

Medicine & Health news

	Olive oil apocalypse as fly drives up price of extra virgin New research from Harvard University suggests it could put years on your life.
Positive study data could improve standard of care for Hodgkin lymphoma patients In a late-stage clinical trial, Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients who received brentuximab vedotin (BV) post-transplant lived longer without disease progression than patients who received only supportive care. This is the first time a study has demonstrated that adding a maintenance therapy after transplant can improve outcomes. The study, led by Craig H. Moskowitz, MD, Clinical Director of the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
	Benefits persist in T cell therapy for children with relapsed leukemia An innovative cell therapy against a highly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) continues to show highly promising results in children treated in a pilot study. Ninety-two percent of the 39 children receiving bioengineered T cells had no evidence of cancer at one month after treatment, with this complete response persisting in some cases for more than two years. The personalized cell therapy reprograms a patient's immune system and offers the potential of long-term success.
Studies show immunotherapy drugs improve outcomes in Hodgkin lymphoma patients In recent years, a number of scientific breakthroughs have led to the development of drugs that unleash the power of the immune system to recognize and attack cancer. Studies presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) highlight the enormous potential these novel treatments have for patients with a variety of hematologic disorders.
Unprecedented benefit seen in test of three-drug treatment for multiple myeloma In the treatment of multiple myeloma, the addition of carfilzomib to a currently accepted two-drug combination produced significantly better results than using the two drugs alone, according to a worldwide research team led by investigators from Mayo Clinic.
Immunotherapy achieves breakthrough result in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma A therapy that liberates the immune system to attack cancer cells drove Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) into complete or partial remission in fully 87 percent of patients with resistant forms of the disease who participated in an early-phase clinical trial, investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and partnering institutions report in a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Francisco.
	Sleep-disordered breathing linked to functional decline (HealthDay)—For older women, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with functional decline, according to a study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
	Peer education helpful for diabetes patients in distress (HealthDay)—Peer education improves mental status in type 2 diabetes patients who have emotional disorders, according to research published online Nov. 16 in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.
	Vigorous back massage can cause spinal injury (HealthDay)—Traumatic spinal subdural hematoma can occur after vigorous back massage, according to a case study published in the Dec. 1 issue of Spine.
Circulating RNA may provide prognostic tool for multiple myeloma The "molecular mail" sent by multiple myeloma cells provides clues to how well patients with the disease are likely to respond to treatment, according to a study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Stem cell transplant without radiation or chemotherapy pre-treatment shows promise Researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center report promising outcomes from a clinical trial with patients with a rare form of bone marrow failure who received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) after pre-treatment with immunosuppressive drugs only. This is the first trial reporting successful transplant in dyskeratosis congenita (DC) patients without the use of any radiation or conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy beforehand.
Young adults with ALL benefit from therapies developed for children Results from a large, prospective clinical trial add to mounting evidence that adolescent and young adult patients—aged 16 to 39 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)—tend to fare better when treated with high-intensity pediatric protocols than previous patients who were treated with standard adult regimens.
Study shows new kind of targeted drug has promise for leukemia patients A new type of cancer therapy that targets an oncometabolite produced dramatic results in patients with advanced leukemia in an early-phase clinical trial. The study, led by Eytan M. Stein, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
Study shows improved survival in aggressive acute myeloid leukemia Patients who relapse in their battle with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may benefit from a phase three study of therapies that combine an existing agent, cytarabine, with a newer compound, vosaroxin.
Official: 4 new polio cases detected in Pakistan (AP)—A health official in Pakistan says four new polio cases have been detected in the country, bringing the number of children affected by the crippling disease this year to 276.
New sight hope for six left blind by India cataract surgery Doctors may be able to restore the vision of at least six of the 20 people blinded by botched free cataract surgery in northern India, a government official said on Saturday.
US plane in emergency Italy stop after passengers, crew fall ill A US Airways plane made an emergency landing in Rome on Saturday after two passengers and 11 members of the crew were taken ill.
Taiwanese man faces fine over false Ebola report A Taiwanese man faces a fine after telling doctors he had travelled to Africa and had symptoms of Ebola, sparking emergency quarantine measures at a hospital, officials said Sunday.

Biology news

Texas biologists warm chilled sea turtles (AP)—Marine biologists have flown dozens of endangered sea turtles from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Galveston, Texas, for treatment of hypothermia.

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