Science News

[Duke of Buckingham]

New View of Primordial Universe Confirms Sudden "Inflation" after Big Bang

The Planck space telescope's picture of the cosmic microwave background sheds fresh light on the first instants following the birth of the universe and suggests that it's about 80 million years older than previously thought

By Mark Peplow and Nature magazine



The Planck space telescope has delivered the most detailed picture yet of the cosmic microwave background, the residual glow of the Big Bang.

Scientists unveiling the results from the €600 million European Space Agency (ESA) probe said that they shed fresh light on the first instants of our Universe’s birth. They also peg the age of the Universe at 13.81 billion years — slightly older than previously estimated.

“For cosmologists, this map is a goldmine of information,” says George Efstathiou, director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, UK, one of Planck’s lead researchers.

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...after-big-bang



Landslides detected from afar

Seismic fingerprints reveal that rock avalanches have occurred

By Erin Wayman



A computer and a comfortable chair may be all that’s necessary to investigate catastrophic landslides in the farthest reaches of the world. Researchers have developed a way to remotely detect the events using energy unleashed by landslides, just as geologists identify earthquakes using waves of energy.

The technique provides a three-dimensional look at a landslide’s trajectory down a slope. As a result, it may help scientists unravel the complicated physics governing these natural disasters, the researchers ...

More on: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...cted_from_afar

[Duke of Buckingham]

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[Duke of Buckingham]

Alzheimer plaque components fight inflammation
In mice, bits of proteins can treat condition resembling multiple sclerosis

By Nathan Seppa
Web edition: April 3, 2013

Tiny components of amyloid plaques, the notorious protein clumps found littering the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, might fight inflammation. Researchers report that several of these sticky protein fragments, or peptides, glom onto inflammatory compounds and reverse paralysis in mice that have a condition similar to multiple sclerosis. A fragment of tau protein, which shows up in other brain deposits in Alzheimer’s patients, has a similar effect.

When tested on blood taken from three MS patients, the tau peptide weeded out some inflammatory culprits there, too, researchers report in the April 3 Science Translational Medicine.

More on: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...t_inflammation

[Duke of Buckingham]

Penis size does matter
Women tend to consider men with lengthier members more visually attractive
By Rachel Ehrenberg
Web edition: April 8, 2013

A perennial topic of locker room banter and sex columns has caught the attention of scientists: Do women find bigger penises more attractive? The answer, it turns out, is yes. But it’s not a purely bigger-is-better relationship. The attractiveness of a larger penis is intertwined with height and body shape, new research suggests.

Much research has been devoted to the male genitalia of insects, beasts, fish and fowl. But man has fallen by the wayside, says Brian Mautz, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Ottawa in Canada who led the new work. The handful of studies that have examined whether penis length in Homo sapiens affects attractiveness have looked at penis size alone, rather than size as part of a package of traits. And research that has relied on direct questioning of women has yielded mixed results: Depending on the study, women prefer longer penises or wider penises, or think penis size is unimportant.

More on: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...ze_does_matter

[Duke of Buckingham]

"Way Too Bright" Supernova Eludes Astronomers

A 2010 supernova, one of the brightest ever seen, has yielded conflicting interpretations

By John Matson


SPOT ON: Supernova PS1-10afx as it appeared in 2010, with the background light of the sky subtracted. Image: Courtesy R. Chornock et al.

All supernovae are bright. When a star ends its life in a cataclysmic explosion, it emits a burst of energy and light that can outshine the rest of the galaxy in which it resides. But some supernovae are a little too bright—at least from the standpoint of the researchers trying to figure out what caused them.

A supernova discovered in August 2010 at the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii falls into that category. The supernova, PS1-10afx, is so far away that its light has taken nine billion years—more than half the age of the universe—to reach Earth. And at that distance, its apparent glow implies that the supernova shone with the luminosity of 100 billion suns at the source. But whether PS1-10afx is a superluminous cataclysm that defies explanation or a somewhat humdrum supernova that only appears extraordinary because of a chance cosmic alignment depends on whom you ask. In newly published studies, two teams of researchers have taken opposing positions on this question.

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rnova-new-type

[zombie67]

Not so much news, but science video...

[Duke of Buckingham]

New Hypothesis Explains Why We Sleep [Preview]

During sleep, the brain weakens the connections among nerve cells, apparently conserving energy and, paradoxically, aiding memory
By Giulio Tononi and Chiara Cirelli

Every night, while we lie asleep, blind, dumb and almost paralyzed, our brains are hard at work. Neurons in the sleeping brain fire nearly as often as they do in a waking state, and they consume almost as much energy. What is the point of this unceasing activity at a time when we are supposedly resting? Why does the conscious mind disconnect so completely from the external environment while the brain keeps nattering on?

See more on:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...T_EVO_20130722

[Duke of Buckingham]

How Pesticides Can Cause Parkinson's

Foreign chemicals may prevent the brain from disposing of its own toxic waste

By Melinda Wenner Moyer

Many studies over the past decade have pointed to pesticides as a potential cause of Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative condition that impairs motor function and afflicts a million Americans. Yet scientists have not had a good idea of how these chemicals harm the brain. A recent study suggests a possible answer: pesticides may inhibit a biochemical pathway that normally protects dopaminergic neurons, the brain cells selectively attacked by the disease. Preliminary research also indicates that this pathway plays a role in Parkinson's even when pesticides are not involved, providing an exciting new target for drug development.



More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...AT_MB_20130724

[zombie67]

"may prevent"..."potential cause"..."suggests a possible answer"..."pesticides may inhibit"

Science in the news is almost always junk. And when reporters use BS words like those, run away.

Seriously everyone, think about this: Have you ever seen or read a news article about something you are actually intimately involved in? And if so, how much of the story has was accurate? My personal experience is that the news report is screwed up and wrong for almost all of the pertinent facts!

The point: If they cannot get right the one thing thing that you do know something about, why do you think they are getting right all other the stuff that you are not an expert on?

Have you ever seen a TV program, concerning a topic about which you were actually knowledgeable, spew forth anything other than total BS? I don't think I can recall one :-( It's scary! --Malcolm Hoar

Edit: P.S. Duke, this is not a slam on you. You find interesting science stories and share them with us, and that's good! I am just being grumpy about the sloppy fourth estate.

[John P. Myers]

"may prevent"..."potential cause"..."suggests a possible answer"..."pesticides may inhibit"

I agree with you 100%. I've never heard facts being stated by a scientist, or anyone else, using words like "may, potential, suggests, possible, can...etc." Any single occurrence of any one of those words renders it not a fact, but a guess, hunch, hypothesis, or (more likely) propaganda. Never get science news from a non-scientific source*.

*Back in the 80's, Scientific American was actually scientific. Now it's just commercialized garbage with a dash of paranoia, propaganda and fear-mongering with writers who hold no scientific degree in anything whatsoever.