 The inbis channel: The most complete submarine cartography
A scientific study describes for the first time the submarine cartography of a high-latitude system in the IBIS channel, which covers tens of kilometers in the northern western area of the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Ocean. This channel is one of the few submarine valleys in polar latitudes that kept its geological architecture during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
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 Ariane 6 maiden flight will deploy satellites for OneWeb, additional launches booked
Evry, France (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
OneWeb is the developer of a new global, high-speed, low latency satellite-based network designed to address the most demanding global connectivity challenges worldwide. Ariane 6 will be available to OneWeb from the second half of 2020 to provide launch capacity that supports the full deployment and replenishment of the OneWeb constellation.
The launch service agreement specifies the use o
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Lockheed Martin's First Smart Satellites are Tiny with Big Missions
Denver CO (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
Lockheed Martin has announced a new generation of space technology launching this year that will allow satellites to change their missions in orbit. Satellites that launched one, ten or even fifteen years ago largely have the same capability they had when they lifted off.
That's changing with new architecture that will let users add capability and assign new missions with a software push,
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Uncertain projections help to reveal the truth about future climate change
Exeter UK (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
A team of four scientists from the US and the UK explain how differing climate model projections can be used collectively to reduce uncertainties in future climate change, in a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Despite major advances in climate modelling over the last 30 years, there are still a wide range of projections for global warming by 2100, even when the same sc
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NASA's Greenland mission still surprises in year four
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 19, 2019
Only seven months after NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission wrapped its last field campaign on the world's largest island, an OMG crew is back in Greenland to collect more data.
With two or three field projects a year since 2016, no wonder OMG has made the most comprehensive measurements yet of how ocean water lapping at the undersides of Greenland's melting glaciers affects them
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Key Space Launch System Stage Separation Mechanism Installed
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
NASA and its industry partners continue their steady progress toward launching the nation's newest rocket, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Engineers and technicians at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are integrating components with the SLS launch vehicle stage adapter, which connects the core stage of the world's most powerful rocket with its interim cryogenic propu
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Pentagon establishing new agency to oversee US military space technology development
Washington (Sputnik) Mar 15, 2019
The Department of Defence (DoD) is creating a new Space Development Agency (SDA) oversee the development of sensors and weapons to counter advances by Russia and China, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a memo published on Thursday.
"Continuing actions by our near-peer competitors, China and Russia, suggest that they will attempt to deny, degrade or destroy US space capabil
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Sniffing out Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to progressive brain cell death and extensive loss of motor function. Despite much research being conducted on this disease, there are no definitive diagnostic tests currently available. Now, researchers report the identification of compounds that make up the signature odor of the disease with the help an individual who can detect Parkinson's through smell.
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'Chronoprints' identify samples by how they change over space and time
Modern analytical tools like mass spectrometers can identify many unknown substances, allowing scientists to easily tell whether foods or medicines have been altered. However, the cost, size, power consumption and complexity of these instruments often prevent their use in resource-limited regions. Now, researchers report that they have developed a simple, inexpensive method to identify samples by seeing how they react to a change in their environment.
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OneWeb starts to mass-produce satellites in Florida
Merritt Island, FL (UPI) Mar 21, 2019
In the shiny white laboratory that is OneWeb Satellites' new Florida manufacturing plant, a historic first happened this week: The first few mass-produced satellites ever to be built in Florida started coming together.
Workers in lab coats and hairnets pushed solar panels into cabinets where bright lights checked for fractures. Satellite frames covered in gold-colored film, about the size
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Frequency Electronics to qualify atomic clocks for potential use on GPS 3F Satellites
Mitchel Field NY (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
As a risk reduction effort for the U.S. Air Force's GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) satellite program, Frequency Electronics, Inc. (NASDAQ-FEIM) received a contract from Lockheed Martin Space, valued at $5.9 million, for the qualification of FEI's Digital Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard (DRAFS).
The contract's intent is to qualify FEI's DRAFS for potential use on the new GPS IIIF satellite
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NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
A NASA spacecraft that will return a sample of a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu to Earth in 2023 made the first-ever close-up observations of particle plumes erupting from an asteroid's surface. Bennu also revealed itself to be more rugged than expected, challenging the mission team to alter its flight and sample collection plans, due to the rough terrain.
Bennu is the target of NASA's Or
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United Launch Alliance launches WGS-10 satellite for USAF
Cape Canaveral AFS FL (SPX) Mar 15, 2019
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the tenth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite for the U.S. Air Force lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 on March 15 at 8:26 p.m. EDT. ULA has been the exclusive launch provider for all ten WGS satellites.
"We are very proud to deliver this critical asset to orbit in support of the U.S. and Allied warfighters deployed around th
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UK industry to help answer fundamental questions about universe
London, UK (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
A major new physics facility near Chicago is expected to have UK technology at its heart, and lead to significant spin-off opportunities for UK companies.
The new PIP-II particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) will power the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which aims to address key questions about the origins and structure of the universe. The UK
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Northrop Grumman awarded $713M for missile defense system for Poland
Washington (UPI) Mar 15, 2019
The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman a $713 million contract to provide a missile system for Poland as the United States considers setting up a major military base in the former Communist nation.
The contract is for the first phase of Poland's Wisla Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, Northrop Gumman said in news releases Wednesday. Patriots are deployed in t
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NASA schedules its first women-only spacewalk
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
U.S. space agency NASA will send astronauts Anne McClain, 39, and Christina Koch, 40, on NASA's first women-only spacewalk on March 29.
The all-female spacewalk will be supported by a female ground crew: Mary Lawrence will serve as lead flight director and Jackie Kagey will be lead spacewalk flight controller at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
It's a fitting milestone for Wom
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Measuring impact of drought on groundwater resources from space
Tempe AZ (SPX) Mar 21, 2019
A team of ASU scientists has been using the latest space technology, combined with ground measurements, to assess the health of one of the nation's most important sources of underground water, a large aquifer system located in California's San Joaquin Valley.
The team, comprised of School of Earth and Space Exploration researchers Chandrakanta Ojha, Susanna Werth, and Manoochehr Shirzaei,
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Baby step towards breath-testing for gut disorders
Small children may one day avoid invasive, painful and often traumatic esophageal tube-testing for gut damage and celiac disease with a new method of simply blowing into a glass tube to provide effective diagnoses. Research describes an exciting new breath test that could have global implications on how to detect gastrointestinal damage.
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Brain-inspired AI inspires insights about the brain (and vice versa)
Researchers have described the results of experiments that used artificial neural networks to predict with greater accuracy than ever before how different areas in the brain respond to specific words. The work employed a type of recurrent neural network called long short-term memory (LSTM) that includes in its calculations the relationships of each word to what came before to better preserve context.
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Protein linked to cancer growth drives deadly lung disease
A protein associated with cancer growth appears to drive the deadly lung disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to new research. The discovery, made in laboratory mice and human tissue samples, may have implications for treating the disease using existing anti-cancer therapies that inhibit the protein PD-L1.
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 Scientists Find That Anesthetics Can Weaken Traumatic Memories
Some memories can leave us scarred for life. For example, the memory of a dog attack may leave even the most canine-loving person terrified of every pooch they come across. Fortunately, traumatic memories may not be permanent. In a new study, researchers have discovered that a general anesthetic can weaken emotionally disturbing memories. The find means a routine anesthetic could potentially treat psychiatric disorders such as phobias and anxiety.
"This is proof of principle," said...
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Robotic 'gray goo'
Researchers have demonstrated for the first time a way to make a robot composed of many loosely coupled components, or 'particles.' Unlike swarm or modular robots, each component is simple, and has no individual address or identity. In their system, which the researchers call a 'particle robot,' each particle can perform only uniform volumetric oscillations (slightly expanding and contracting), but cannot move independently.
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Sustainable fisheries and conservation policy
There are roughly five times as many recreational fishers as commercial fishers throughout the world. And yet, the needs and peculiarities of these recreational fishers have largely been ignored in international fisheries and conservation policy.
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This 'Cannonball' Pulsar is Racing at Escape Speed Across the Milky Way
Astronomers discovered a pulsar, a kind of zombie star, racing across the galaxy so quickly that it could get from the Earth to the moon in six minutes flat. The dead star has a tail pointing back toward the remnant of a supernova that exploded 10,000 years ago. Astronomers suspected this might have provided the kick that sent the pulsar speeding off, but had to wait for 10 years of telescope data to make their case convincing.
A pulsar is the rapidly spinning neutron star left over a...
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Improper removal of personal protective equipment contaminates health care workers
More than one-third of healthcare workers were contaminated with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) after caring for patients colonized or infected with the bacteria, according to a new study. The study found that 39 percent of workers made errors in removing personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns and gloves, increasing the incidence of contamination.
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Turn off a light, save a life
We all know that turning off lights and buying energy-efficient appliances affects our financial bottom line. Now, according to a new study, we know that saving energy also saves lives and even more money for consumers by alleviating the costs of adverse health effects attributed to air pollution.
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A mating war in diving beetles has stopped the evolution of species
In nature, males eager attempts to mate with females can be so extreme that they will harm females. Such negative impact of mating interactions has been suggested to promote the emergence of new species under some circumstances. Surprisingly, one type of diving beetle species now show that this conflict between the sexes can instead lead to an evolutionary standstill in which mating enhancing traits in males and counter-adaptations in females prevent the formation of new species.
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 What Is Your Metabolism?
You've probably heard the word "metabolism," especially as it relates to weight loss or gain. But what is your metabolism, what does it do, and do you have any control over it?
-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
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Assessment tool predicts chronic fatigue syndrome 6 months after mono
To assess risk factors for chronic fatigue syndrome after mononucleosis, researchers developed and validated a scale for rating the severity of mononucleosis. In a study with 126 college students, they found that participants with a higher mononucleosis severity score had over three times the risk of meeting two or more sets of diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome after six months.
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Older patients with Crohn's disease benefit from new medications
Combining medications that suppress the immune system has been successful in treating young patients with Crohn's disease, but some physicians have been reluctant to use this strategy in older patients because of concerns about safety. Now a new study indicates that older patients can be safely and effectively treated with such combined immunosuppression as well.
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An Important Group of European Hunter-Gatherers Taught Themselves To Farm
Some 12,000 years ago, the land was exceptionally fertile curving up from the Nile River basin across Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, down into the Tigris River Valley. The area's earliest settlers grew wheat, barely and lentils. Some kept pigs and sheep. Farming soon replaced hunting and foraging as a way of life there. The region became known as the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of agriculture.
This pastoral lifestyle eventually spread across Europe from a place called Anatolia, which sit...
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As if by magic: Program lights up cancer-causing mutations
By conjuring the spell 'Lumos!' wizards in the mythical world of Harry Potter could light up the tip of their magic wands and illuminate their surroundings. So, too, does LumosVar, a computer program 'light up' cancer-causing genetic Var-ients, or mutations, illuminating how physicians might best treat their patients.
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Effects on offspring of epigenetic inheritance via sperm
As an organism grows and responds to its environment, genes in its cells are constantly turning on and off, with different patterns of gene expression in different cells. But can changes in gene expression be passed on from parents to their children and subsequent generations? Researchers have now demonstrated that epigenetic information carried by parental sperm chromosomes can cause changes in gene expression and development in the offspring.
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Cities rethink parking as ride-hailing grows and parking revenue declines
A new study found that people who use ride-hailing are willing to pay more to avoid driving, including the stress and cost of parking. As a result, cities are seeing a reduction in parking demand, particularly at restaurants and bars, event venues, and airports. That reduction could push cities to reconsider and replace parking infrastructure, leading to more vibrant cities and less dependency on cars.
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Gene variant associated with cellular aging
It is well known that psychiatric stress is associated with accelerated aging. Now, a new study shows that a gene mutation interacts with multiple types of psychiatric stress including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain and sleep disturbances in association with cellular aging.
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Seeing through food and drug fakes and frauds
A simple new technique developed by engineers can detect fake drugs from a video taken as the sample undergoes a disturbance. Called 'chronoprinting,' the technology requires only a few relatively inexpensive pieces of equipment and free software to accurately distinguish pure from inferior food and medicines.
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Measuring impact of drought on groundwater resources from space
A team of scientists has been using the latest space technology, combined with ground measurements, to assess the health of one of the nation's most important sources of underground water, a large aquifer system located in California's San Joaquin Valley.
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Gut instinct: Bile acid-triggered bacterial adaptation characterized
An international team has shown how the Salmonella protein RamR senses bile acids present in the gut, leading to the activation of a multidrug efflux system that helps bacterial cells to get rid of toxins. This system helps the bacteria to survive and colonize this habitat despite harsh conditions. These findings could form the basis for new therapeutic approaches aimed at combating bacterial infection.
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Human microbiome metabolites tip the scale in intestinal E. coli infections
A multi-disciplinary team of biological engineers, microbiologists, and systems biologists, whose goal it is to uncover the causes of tolerance to infection exhibited by certain individuals or species, has now succeeded in modeling infection of human colon with EHEC in vitro using a microfluidic Organ-on-a-Chip (Organ Chip) culture device.
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How our body 'listens' to vibrations
We all know the feeling of a mobile phone vibrating in our hands. We perceive these vibrations so clearly thanks to specialized receptors that transduce them into neural signals sent to our brain. But how does the latter encode their physical characteristics? Neuroscientists have discovered that feeling a phone vibrate or hearing it ring is ultimately based on the same brain codes.
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Visualizing better cancer treatment
Researchers have engineered nanoscale protein micelles capable of both delivering chemotherapeutic drugs and of being tracked by MRI. The innovation allows researchers to administer therapy while noninvasively monitoring the therapeutic progress and drastically reducing the need for surgical intervention. They biosynthesized a protein block copolymer containing amino acid building blocks with fluorinated thermoresponsive assembled protein (F-TRAP), which assembles into a nanoscale micelle with t
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How Did Dinosaurs Hear The World? Alligators Give Us Clues
How did dinosaurs hear? Researchers now have an idea thanks to alligators. In a new study, researchers have discovered that American alligators process sounds the same way that barn owls and chickens do. And because birds and reptiles last shared a common ancestor nearly 250 million years ago, the finding means the shared hearing strategy originated before dinosaurs existed.
"We know so little about dinosaurs," Catherine Carr, a biologist at the University of Maryland in College Park, who
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Israeli Moon Lander to Touch Down Near Apollo Landing Sites Next Month
Beresheet, the first privately launched moon lander, has a site selected -- and it's in a fairly familiar locale.
Scientists at Israeli spaceflight company SpaceIL, working with Jim Head of Brown University -- who also worked on the Apollo missions --Â chose Mare Serenitatis as the landing spot for their historic moon landing. It's free of large rocks and craters, obstacles that can prove hazardous or even fatal to landers, something that also appealed to a very different set of moon mi...
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Bacterial contamination in household and office building tap water
Water is a source of concern for disseminating the bacteria Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium avium, which cause lung disease (legionellosis and pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterium disease, respectively). A new study has examined the presence of these microbes in tap water from residences and office buildings across the United States.
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Independent Discussion Sections?
Scientific papers should have two Discussion sections - one written by the authors, and the other by an independent researcher.
According to a new paper from Michael S. Avidan, John P. A. Ioannidis and George A. Mashour, this "second discussant" system could help ensure more balanced and objective inference in science.
The authors begin by noting that while the reproducibility crisis has focussed attention on the Methods and Results sections of papers, Discussion sections are not free
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Skin diseases are more common than we think
Skin diseases are ranked as the fourth most common cause of human illness, but many affected people do not consult a physician. A new study estimates the prevalence of skin diseases outside the typical medical setting.
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Hidden proteins found in bacteria
Scientists have developed a way to identify the beginning of every gene -- known as a translation start site or a start codon -- in bacterial cell DNA with a single experiment and, through this method, they have shown that an individual gene is capable of coding for more than one protein.
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IPCC is underselling climate change
A new study has revealed that the language used by the global climate change watchdog, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is overly conservative - and therefore the threats are much greater than the Panel's reports suggest.
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Drinking hot tea linked with elevated risk of esophageal cancer
Previous studies have revealed a link between hot tea drinking and risk of esophageal cancer, but until now, no study has examined this association using prospectively and objectively measured tea drinking temperature. A new study achieved this by following 50,045 individuals aged 40 to 75 years for a median of 10 years.
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Does pregnancy history affect cognitive function?
Healthy cognitive aging is a public health priority, especially as the US population grows older. Until now, not much has been known about the link between pregnancy history and cognitive function in older women. A new study finds that there does not appear to be a link.
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New study reshapes understanding of how the brain recovers from injury
Each year, approximately 265,000 Americans have a stroke that causes visual impairment. New research sheds light on how the damage in the brain caused by a stroke can lead to permanent vision impairment. The findings could provide researchers with a blueprint to better identify which areas of vision are recoverable, facilitating the development of more effective interventions to encourage vision recovery.
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Local extinction of Southern California mountain lions possible within 50 years
Two isolated mountain lion populations in southern California's Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains are at risk of local extinction, perhaps as soon as within 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. The extinction risk is due to low genetic diversity and mortality that affects the stability of the population. But increasing connectivity could help.
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Wildlife tourism may negatively affect African elephants' behavior
Increasing numbers of tourists are interested in observing wildlife such as African elephants, and income generated from tourism potentially aids in the protection of animals and their habitats. However, a new study reveals that wildlife tourism may be a stressor for free-ranging elephants.
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Does alcohol consumption have an effect on arthritis?
Several previous studies have demonstrated that moderate alcohol consumption is linked with less severe disease and better quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but a new study suggests that this might not be because drinking alcohol is beneficial.
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Balance of two enzymes linked to pancreatic cancer survival
New research sets the stage for clinicians to potentially one day use levels of a pancreatic cancer patient's PHLPP1 and PKC enzymes as a prognostic, and for researchers to develop new therapeutic drugs that inhibit PHLPP1 and boost PKC as a means to treat the disease.
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Evidence rogue waves are getting more extreme
Research suggests that 'rogue' waves are occurring less often, but becoming more extreme. Scientists have, for the first time, used long-term data from a wide expanse of ocean to investigate how these rare, unexpected and hazardous ocean phenomena behave.
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It's spring already? Physics explains why time flies as we age
Researchers have a new explanation for why those endless days of childhood seemed to last so much longer than they do now -- physics. According to the theory, the apparent temporal discrepancy can be blamed on the ever-slowing speed at which images are obtained and processed by the human brain as the body ages.
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Carbon monoxide detectors could warn of extraterrestrial life
Riverside CA (SPX) Mar 20, 2019
Carbon monoxide detectors in our homes warn of a dangerous buildup of that colorless, odorless gas we normally associate with death. Astronomers, too, have generally assumed that a build-up of carbon monoxide in a planet's atmosphere would be a sure sign of lifelessness.
Now, a UC Riverside-led research team is arguing the opposite: celestial carbon monoxide detectors may actually alert us
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'Rubble pile' asteroid holds clues to Earth's water story
Paris (AFP) March 19, 2019
An asteroid described as a "pile of rubble" is rich in hydrated minerals that could help solve the mystery of how Earth got its water, scientists said Tuesday.
The Ryugu asteroid, around 300 million kilometres (185 million miles) from Earth, is estimated to be between 100 million and one billion years old.
It appears to have broken off from a parent body, according to observations from
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NASA's Mars 2020 rover is put to the test
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 20, 2019
In a little more than seven minutes in the early afternoon of Feb. 18, 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 rover will execute about 27,000 actions and calculations as it speeds through the hazardous transition from the edge of space to Mars' Jezero Crater. While that will be the first time the wheels of the 2,314-pound (1,050-kilogram) rover touch the Red Planet, the vehicle's network of processors, sensors
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