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Friday, February 13, 2009
Coffee Break: Feb. 13

Draft of Neanderthal genome created ... New details surface on hot springs on Mars ... Scientists make heart muscle cells using the skin ... Why laughing from spotted hyenas is not funny ... Costs for Large Hadron Collider soar ... An ancient virus responsible for wasps' sting ... Maps suggest little water on the moon ... Finally, 13 facts about Friday the 13th.

By Brett Molina

Thursday, February 12, 2009
A colorful view of the Carina Nebula

Nebulaxblog330

The European Southern Observatory just released this gorgeous image of the Carina Nebula as strong winds and radiation penetrate.

The nebula -- which sits about 7,500 light years away -- achieves its red and purple hues from hot hydrogen soaking in radiation produced by monster baby stars.  The cloud of dust and gas contains over a dozen stars, each with a mass at least 50 to 100 times that of the Sun.

The image was produced using the Wide Field Imager attached to a telescope at the ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

By Brett Molina

Coffee Break: Feb. 12

Pair of satellites collide 500 miles up ... Collision highlights growing concerns ... Potential solution for growing human tissue: cotton candy ... How sleep helps form memories ... Dark comets could threaten Earth ... What our faces tell us about our personalities ... View plans for India's first manned spaceship ... Finally, what if Charles Darwin were alive today?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Using genome sorting to study Shakespeare's works

Shakespearexmugshot A genome-sorting tool offers insight into Shakespeare and Homer, reports one chemist.  Sung-Hou Kim of Lawrence Berkeley (Calif.) National Laboratory details "feature frequency profiles", a technique for finding family trees among everything from viruses to works of art, in a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal report.

Analyzing Shakespeare, the method throws doubt on the famed playwright authoring Pericles, Prince of Tyre, but suggest he penned the comedy Two Noble Kinsmen, both works long debated by literary scholars. Sorting word choices among famous literary works created a family tree stretching from The Odyssey to Pride and Prejudice. The method also allows sorting of relationships between far-flung forms of life, from mammals to viruses, based on common proteins found among species. Eventually, Kim aspires to sort all music by notes, creating the ultimate iPod organizer.

By Dan Vergano
Photo by AP

Coffee Break: Feb. 11

The science behind falling in love ... New procedure allows people to move prosthetic arms with their brain ... How body language reveals your wealth ... Breaking down cell division ... View fireworks display from flaring Gamma-ray star ... Watch 'Arctic unicorns' during migration ... Astronomy's bad guys ... Blame your genes for bad luck in the stock market ... Finally, planet-hunting telescope preps for launch.

By Brett Molina

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Coffee Break: Feb. 10

Happy 200th birthday, Darwin ... Tracing the origins of medieval manuscripts ... New device great at reading minds ... Researchers find proof of dramatic rise in sea level 400,000 years ago ... An Antarctic worm that makes antifreeze ... Large Hadron Collider delayed until September ... The science behind preserving art ... Study suggests salamanders quietly disappearing ... Finally, astronaut's video ridicules NASA.

By Brett Molina

Monday, February 9, 2009
Report: Doctor 'misreported' research on link between childhood vaccines, autism

An English doctor who linked childhood vaccines to autism, "changed and misreported results in his research," reports the London Times.

In 1998, a group led by researcher Andrew Wakefield reported in The Lancet medical journal that eight children out of a dozen who received Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccinations developed autism symptoms days afterward.

However, investigative reporter Brian Deer says that medical records of the children shows all but one had such symptoms before the shots, and that journal reports of inflammatory bowel disease linked to the shots were untrue.

Measles inoculation rates dropped nationwide in the United Kingdom following the report; two children there last year died of the disease. All of the researchers involved in the study deny misconduct, says the Times. "Through his lawyers, Wakefield this weekend denied the issues raised by our investigation, but declined to comment further."

By Dan Vergano

Army freezes research at troubled bioterrorism lab

The army has frozen biodefense research at its chief -- troubled -- bioterrorism lab, reports Science Insider. United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) commander Col. John Skvorak suspended all research with "select agents", bugs such as anthrax, to account for all dangerous materials at the Ft. Detrick, Md., lab.

The lab was home to Bruce Ivins, suspected by the FBI as the source of the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings. In a memo, Skvorak said that USAMRIID had not applied record keeping of its select agents and toxins in line with the standard required by the Department of Defense, according to Science Insider. "I believe that the probability that there are additional vials of BSAT [biological select agents and toxins] not captured in our database is high," Skvorak wrote.

By Dan Vergano

A different kind of fox hunt

Foxblog Sweater makers aren't the only worries for Chile's guanacos -- biologists Monday report the first confirmed case of culpeo foxes hunting these wild llamas.

A Wildlife Conservation Society team caught the foxes in mid-chase at Karukina reserve, a 700,000-acre old-growth forest and report the findings in the March Mammalia journal.

Previously, pumas were the only known guanaco predator. In 2007, the study reports several cases of culpeos attacking the llama and the guanacos forming defensive herds in response (and also adult ones kicking a troublesome fox.)

The study looks at predator-prey relationships aimed at securing the guanaco population, which was heavily cut by sheep farming destroying their habitat in earlier decades.

By Dan Vergano
Photo by Cristobal Briceño, WCS

Coffee Break: Feb. 9

Super-Earths point to crowded universe ... How molten glass becomes solid ... Researchers claim to have found mythic birthplace of Zeus ... Study outlines why trusting your gut works ... Snapshots of photosynthesis ... Asteroid may strike Earth in 160 years ... Oldest human hair reportedly found ... Finally, test balloon from NASA breaks endurance record.

By Brett Molina

Friday, February 6, 2009
Scientists warn of fake Facebook pages

Phony Facebook pages are sweeping the stem cell world, report scientists and bioethicists, the latest victims of bogus pages on the popular social-networking site.

"There appears to be an imposter(s) creating fake Facebook web pages," wrote university of Wisconsin bioethicist R. Alta Charo in an alert sent Thursday. "This is common, but I have learned that a slew of stem cell researchers at the (University of Wisconsin) have one, as do I, and now I learn the problem is shared with some folks in the national stem cell advocacy world."

The phony Facebook pages are benign so far, researchers report, containing faked photos and news of fictitious seminars. Medical anthropologist Linda Hogle of the University of Wisconsin says a colleague spotted her phony page in October and Facebook has not responded to requests made since then to remove the page.

"This is worrisome at any time, but particularly so for anyone teaching, or doing public service, or involved in areas of research that some members of the public find objectionable and might want to disrupt," Hogle says.

Facebook has not replied to a request for comment.

By Dan Vergano

Arctic waters closed to commercial fishing

Fishingblog A federal fisheries council in Seattle voted unanimously Thursday to close U.S. Arctic waters to commercial fishing in order to protect marine life.

The move comes as warming temperatures continue to melt sea ice above the Arctic Circle. No commercial fishing currently occurs in the region but the concern is that it will begin as navigable waters replace the ice.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to only allow fishing by Native Americans in a 200 nautica-mile-wide region of federal waters in the Bering Strait and Beaufort Sea. After a 60-day public comment period, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials will decide whether to enact the closure.

By Dan Vergano
Photo: A fishing boat in the Arctic (NOAA)

Coffee Break: Feb. 6

Study suggests blue sparks creativity, red bolsters attention to detail ... Black wolves can thank dogs for their distinctive coats ... For killer whales, older mothers are best ... Arctic enjoying unusually warm weather ... A close-up view of the Coma Galaxy ... Parasitic butterfiles trick their hosts using music ... Fossil shows how turtles got their shells ... Mars rover Opportunity sidelined ... Finally, scientists believe China earthquake was caused by a dam.

By Brett Molina

Thursday, February 5, 2009
Coffee Break: Feb. 5

Report says nation's crimes labs need better scientific practices ... One fish, two fish: Seuss-like sea creatures found ... Oldest fossils of animals found ... Research determines why bees enjoy social interaction ... Giant star factory discovered ... Mars in 3-D ... Scientists prepare to unveil Neanderthal genome ... Finally, a fluffy galaxy.

By Brett Molina

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Coffee Break: Feb. 4

NASA delays shuttle launch ... New system for tracking wild animals emerges ... Ancient whales left the ocean to give birth ... Frog with transparent skin discovered ... Early humans had powerful jaws ... Predicting the end of the solar system ... Hong Kong researchers create "invisibility umbrella" ... Finally, what ants can teach us about traffic control.

By Brett Molina

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Smallest exoplanet in space discovered

Planetblog European astronomers Tuesday report the discovery of the smallest exoplanet -- only twice the size of Earth -- spotted circling a nearby Sun-like star.

Don't pack your bags for "COROT-Exo-7b" yet though, as the European Space Agency says the star-hugging planet enjoys temperatures as high as 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit and may be covered in lava.

"For the first time, we have unambiguously detected a planet that is 'rocky' in the same sense as our own Earth," says the ESA's Malcolm Fridlund, in a statement. "This discovery is a very important step on the road to understanding the formation and evolution of our planet."

COROT-Exo-7b zips around its star once every 20 days, making its orbit closer to its sun than Mercury in our own solar system. The COROT spacecraft detected the planet as it passed in front of its star, a "transit" that slightly dimmed the star's light. The planet may be covered in boiling steam, if the water content of the planet was sufficiently high, the discovery team says.

Update:  Planetary theorist Alan Boss at the Carnegie Institute of Washington says that an earlier-detected planet, Gliese 876 d, is likely less hefty than the newly-announced transit planet. Gliese 876 d likely weighs about 7.5 times as much as Earth, but was detected by a different method, one requiring astronomers to analyze gravitational wobbles of stars triggered by planets. "The claim that is the "smallest exoplanet" found to date is not correct," Boss says, by email.

By Dan Vergano
Photo: Planet COROT-Exo-7b moves in front of sun (ESA)

Coffee Break: Feb. 3

Structural damage could cut life of space station short ... Scientists make big jump in teleporting ... Experts question crying as catharsis ... Study links woman's reproductive ability to their belly button ... How bees learn to count ... Astronomers find link between black holes, galaxy formation ... Iran launches first homegrown satellite ... How babies learn language ... Finally, study suggests birds outsmarted doomed dinosaurs.

By Brett Molina

Monday, February 2, 2009
Shipwreck discovered in the English Channel

Victory_shipwreckxlarge Shipwreck explorers report the discovery of a vanished English flagship, the HMS Victory.  It was lost in 1744 along with its bronze cannons, gold coins and entire crew in the English Channel.

Odyssey Marine Exploration reported the discovery as part of the Discovery Channel's "Treasure Quest" program.  The find is controversial, because Odyssey is a publicly traded for-profit company.   Odyssey, which has found other shipwrecks, makes money by selling relics it recovers from the sea floor. (The company also creates museum exhibits and contributes to books and other ventures.)

"Odyssey has been cooperating closely with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) on the project," says the firm in a statement, disclosing the wreck turned up 62 miles away from its long-supposed grave on a reef in the English Channel.

The team recovered two bronze cannons from the site and suggest "a substantial amount of gold and silver" was aboard the Victory when it was lost in a gale. Odyssey released a preliminary archeological report Monday.

By Dan Vergano
Photo: An arm measures the bore hole of a 42-pound bronze cannon on the shipwreck site of HMS Victory. (AP/Odyssey Marine Exploration)

Study disputes 'hybrid' embryos

Cow, mouse and rabbit eggs failed to produce human embryonic stem cells in cloning experiments, researchers reported Monday. The Cloning and Stem Cells journal report echoes earlier failed attempts to produce "hybrid" human embryonic stem cells as a way to sidestep human egg shortfalls and ethical concerns about such cells.

In the study, led by Young Chung of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., researchers inserted human cell DNA into the animal eggs and then cloned the combination, as well as cloning 49 human eggs donated from fertility clinic patients.

"The (animal) hybrids just fail to express the genes needed to develop properly," compared to human egg-derived embryonic cells, says senior study author Robert Lanza of ACT. Echoing past results, the findings "call into question the potential use of these discordant animal (egg) sources to generate patient-specific stem cells," concludes the study.

"We biologists refrain from using  terms like 'impossible',  'inconceivable', but it seems an extremely remote possibility to establish embryonic stem cells using (cloned) embryos unless the two species are close relatives," says stem cell biologist Zeki Beyhan of Michigan State University in Lansing, who was not part of the study.

By Dan Vergano

Tropical turtle found in arctic Canada

Turtlefossil Scientists working in freezing arctic Canada have made a surprise discovery -- the fossil of a tropical, freshwater, Asian turtle.

What was it doing there?

The University of Rochester research team theorizes that the turtles once migrated from Asia to North America by swimming across a freshwater sea.  And get this -- the warm freshwater sea actually floated on top of the salty Arctic Ocean.  (Previous migration theories had animals walking from Asia to Alaska across a frozen sea.)

The fresh water came from rivers pouring into the sea, the scientists theorize.  The Arctic Ocean was once far more isolated than it is today.

By Michelle Kessler
Photo: The fossil of the turtle Aurorachelys. (University of Rochester)