Science X Newsletter Sunday, Feb 14

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for February 14, 2016:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- A new form of frozen water? Scientists reveal new ice with record-low density
- Most precise measurement of reactor antineutrino spectrum reveals intriguing surprise
- Loss of sleep during adolescence may be a diabetes danger
- Organic photovoltaic cells: Heliatek claims conversion efficiency record
- Women accepted as better coders as long as no gender link
- Intelligent robots threaten millions of jobs
- 150,000 Antarctica penguins die after iceberg grounding: study
- Detective scientists discover ancient clues in mummy portraits
- Progress in fighting cancer and infections with T cell therapy
- Does living near an oil or natural gas well affect your drinking water?
- What values are important to scientists?
- Loss for words can be a rare brain disorder, not Alzheimer's
- NYC waters are teeming with plastic particles, study finds
- Men face higher risk of cancers linked to oral sex
- Noise harder on children than adults, hinders how they learn

Astronomy & Space news

	Caught in the act: Astronomers find a rare supernova 'impostor' in a nearby galaxy Breanna Binder, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Astronomy and lecturer in the School of STEM at UW Bothell, spends her days pondering X-rays.
	Proto-planet has two masters A Rice University researcher will discuss images that may show the formation of a planet—or a planetary system—around a distant binary star at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., today.

Technology news

	Using stories to teach human values to artificial agents The rapid pace of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised fears about whether robots could act unethically or soon choose to harm humans. Some are calling for bans on robotics research; others are calling for more research to understand how AI might be constrained. But how can robots learn ethical behavior if there is no "user manual" for being human?
	Picasa being shuttered in shift to Google Photos Google on Friday said it will be shuttering Picasa to shift its focus to the new Google Photos service launched less than a year ago.
	Organic photovoltaic cells: Heliatek claims conversion efficiency record Note that number, 13.2 percent. Heliatek, in its research for new organic absorber materials, said it set a new organic photovoltaic (OPV) world record. A world record for what? The record is for the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity using organic photovoltaic cells.
	Women accepted as better coders as long as no gender link Wow, gender bias has appearances of residing in computer programming—off the charts, so to speak, but accorded serious attention in a new study. The findings come from scientists at California Polytechnic State University and North Carolina State University.
	Intelligent robots threaten millions of jobs Advances in artificial intelligence will soon lead to robots that are capable of nearly everything humans do, threatening tens of millions of jobs in the coming 30 years, experts warned Saturday.
Engineering surgery for children What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than help save a child's heart? That's what Vittoria Flamini, an industry assistant professor in Tandon's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has in mind.
	What Facebook's policy on nudity means in practice What are Facebook's rules for posting nude images?
	NBA becomes first with 1 bln likes, followers The NBA claimed a social media milestone on Friday, saying it has become the first professional sports league to surpass one billion social media likes and followers.
Teen arrested in Britain linked to hack of US spy chiefs British police said Friday they had arrested a teenager on hacking charges, as media reports said the youth was suspected of cracking the personal accounts of top US intelligence officials.
	US, Canada and Mexico sign clean energy pact Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a draft agreement Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions while increasing their energy interdependence.
Square surges after Visa reveals details of stake Shares in Square leapt Friday after financial giant Visa revealed details of its stake in the mobile payments group led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
	Documents show Volkswagen resisted Takata air bag recall Volkswagen resisted U.S. government efforts to recall more cars and trucks to fix potentially deadly Takata air bags—telling safety regulators that a recall isn't necessary.
Incentivizing citizen science discovery for a sustainable world Strides are being made with wildlife conservation that invites recreational wildlife enthusiasts to report online observations that help with modeling and migration. Work is also being done to use crowdsourcing to help discover new materials for more environmentally friendly fuels, batteries, etc.
When machines can do any job, what will humans do? Rice University computer scientist Moshe Vardi expects that within 30 years, machines will be capable of doing almost any job that a human can. In anticipation, he is asking his colleagues to consider the societal implications. Can the global economy adapt to greater than 50 percent unemployment? Will those out of work be content to live a life of leisure?
'Coworking' grows amid search for new office lifestyle When Lance Macon started his real estate consulting firm, he did not want a traditional office. But he wasn't going to work out of his home or a coffee shop either.
Navy considers electric gun for a Zumwalt-class destroyer Development of a futuristic weapon depicted in video games and science fiction is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to skip an at-sea prototype in favor of installing an operational unit aboard a destroyer planned to go into service in 2018.
Dr. Dre making Apple's first original TV show: report Rap music legend Dr. Dre is starring in Apple's first original television show, according to a story published Friday in the Hollywood Reporter.
	1,000 pages of Clinton emails released; 84 classifications The State Department has released more than 1,000 new pages of Hillary Clinton's emails.
	Hong Kong hosts Valentine's Day with 25,000 LED roses It's like a romantic scene out of one of South Korea's sappy soap dramas—tens of thousands of illuminated roses forming an impressive backdrop for the lead actor and actress to declare their love for each other.
	Munn, Segel help film academy honor inventors, engineers Subjects like rapid prototyping, 3-D texture painting and the intricacies of digital media review systems became comic material Saturday for Olivia Munn and Jason Segel, hosts of the film academy's Scientific and Technical Awards. Or at least they tried their best.
1930s electricity coops takes Internet initiative The Delta-Montrose Electric Association's recent decision to start a broadband company reflects frustrations across rural America that being unconnected hurts business, hampers access to health care and leaves students behind.
Feds seek borehole test for potential hot nuke waste burial The federal government plans to spend $80 million assessing whether its hottest nuclear waste can be stored in 3-mile-deep holes, a project that could provide an alternative strategy to a Nevada repository plan that was halted in 2010.

Medicine & Health news

	Zika virus persisted in man's semen for two months: report A man in Britain who was infected with Zika while traveling to the Cook Islands showed evidence of the mosquito-borne virus in his semen for two months, health officials said Friday.
Study of cognitive development in deaf children revisits longstanding debate A team of researchers at the University of Connecticut is reexamining a decades-long debate as to whether deaf children should learn sign language to maximize their potential for optimal development.
	Language juggling rewires bilingual brain Bilinguals use and learn language in ways that change their minds and brains, which has consequences—many positive, according to Judith F. Kroll, a Penn State cognitive scientist.
	Noise harder on children than adults, hinders how they learn From the cacophony of day care to the buzz of TV and electronic toys, noise is more distracting to a child's brain than an adult's, and new research shows it can hinder how youngsters learn.
	Men face higher risk of cancers linked to oral sex Men are twice as likely as women to get cancer of the mouth and throat linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, researchers say.
	Loss of sleep during adolescence may be a diabetes danger How much slow-wave sleep a teenage boy gets may predict whether he is at risk for insulin resistance and other health issues, according to Jordan Gaines, a Penn State neuroscience researcher.
	Progress in fighting cancer and infections with T cell therapy The quest to bring immunotherapy into widespread clinical use against cancer and infectious diseases has made great strides in recent years. For example, clinical trials of adoptive T cell therapy are yielding highly promising results. The latest progress is being reported at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 2016) by three international leaders in the field: Prof. Dirk Busch of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Prof. Chiara Bonini of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute, and Prof. Stanley Riddell of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington.
	Loss for words can be a rare brain disorder, not Alzheimer's A mysterious brain disorder can be confused with early Alzheimer's disease although it isn't robbing patients of their memories but of the words to talk about them.
	Will you be turning left or right for that Valentine's Day kiss—It'll depend on who you're kissing As Valentine's Day approaches, love is in the air. One sure-fire way to express love towards someone, be it a partner or even a child, is with a kiss. A recent study in Laterality demonstrates how the direction turned during a kiss differs depending on whether the kiss is shared between romantic partners or between a parent and child.
US scientists travel to Colombia for Zika collaboration American scientists traveled to Colombia to investigate the mosquito-borne Zika virus and help find a vaccine for the disease that is plaguing Latin America, the US ambassador to Bogota said Friday.
	Eating breakfast could help obese people get more active Eating breakfast causes obese people to be more active, according to the latest research published from researchers at the University of Bath (UK).
Hawaii declares emergency over mosquito-borne illnesses Hawaii Gov. David Ige declared a state of emergency to fight mosquito borne illnesses including dengue fever and the Zika virus.
France's 104-year-old twins say closeness is the secret When they were born premature in 1912, doctors gave Paulette and Simone the slimmest chance of survival. But 104 years later, the French twins say there's a simple secret to their longevity: sticking together.
	How learning languages translates into health benefits for society The advantages of speaking a second language - for health and mental ability - are to come under the spotlight at an event at the AAAS annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Zika likely to spread to large Brazilian cities: expert The Zika virus, linked to a surge in infants born with abnormally small heads, is likely to spread this year to Brazil's densely populated cities where it has barely surfaced, a top health official told AFP.
	Five tips for making marriage work this Valentine's Day This Valentine's Day, six million people expect or are planning a marriage proposal. Each year, 2.2 million marriages take place in the United States—40 to 50 percent of those will end in divorce.
	Brazil's Zika-related abortion debate sparks backlash Before her son was born, Danielle Alves didn't know Luiz Gustavo would have microcephaly, a condition that has left the 3-year-old so disabled he can't walk, talk or eat without help.
	Stan Riddell, Fred Hutch cancer immunotherapy innovator, to present at AAAS Annual Meeting Dr. Stanley Riddell, an immunotherapy researcher and oncologist at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, on Feb. 14 will present an update on new adoptive T-cell strategies for cancer at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
Speech disorder called apraxia can progress to neurodegenerative disease It may start with a simple word you can't pronounce. Your tongue and lips stumble, and gibberish comes out.
	Focus on basic determinants to address stunting globally, professor says Mother and child malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries encompasses a range of conditions including maternal wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, foetal growth restriction and stunting - a height that is below the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards median - of children younger than five years.
Big data and patient-powered research aim to solve complex diseases Over the past forty years, little has been learned about how to prevent, diagnose and effectively treat one of the most complex infectious diseases in the country—chronic Lyme disease. But now, big data tools like patient registries have the potential to change that.
	Brazil troops battle Zika mosquitoes More than 200,000 army, navy and air force troops fanned out across Brazil on Saturday to teach people how to eliminate the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the Zika virus that many health officials believe is linked to severe birth defects.

Biology news

	'Jaws' may help humans grow new teeth, shark study suggests A new insight into how sharks regenerate their teeth, which may pave the way for the development of therapies to help humans with tooth loss, has been discovered by scientists at the University of Sheffield.
	Urbanization leads to change in type of bacteria in the home Whether it's a jungle hut or a high-rise apartment, your home is covered in bacteria, and new research from the Amazon suggests city dwellers might want to open a window.
	Rare beluga data show whales dive to maximize meals Children's singer and songwriter Raffi may have brought beluga whales into popular culture with his 1980 song "Baby Beluga," but surprisingly little is actually known about the life and ecology of these elusive marine mammals that live in some of the world's most remote, frigid waters.
	Feds: Remove 3 California foxes from endangered species list Federal wildlife officials recommended Friday that three fox subspecies native to California's Channel Islands be removed from the endangered species, saying their populations have made an historic recovery.
Positive signs for endangered monk seal population Hawaii's monk seal population is improving slowly, though researchers warn it'll take many more good years to reverse a decline that's been ongoing since the 1950s.
New appreciation for human microbiome leads to greater understanding of human health University of Oklahoma anthropologists are studying the ancient and modern human microbiome and the role it plays in human health and disease. By applying genomic and proteomic sequencing technologies to ancient human microbiomes, such as coprolites and dental calculus, as well as to contemporary microbiomes in traditional and industrialized societies, OU researchers are advancing the understanding of the evolutionary history of our microbial self and its impact on human health today.
	Peacock-culling plan ruffles feathers in India's Goa The chief minister of India's popular tourist state of Goa moved to smooth ruffled feathers on Saturday after a proposal to reclassify the national bird, the peacock, as vermin sparked an outcry.

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