BBC Science/Nature

Space.com

Satellite Radar Photo Shows Eerie Space Station
A newly released photo from a German satellite has revealed the International Space Station (ISS) as an eerie apparition glowing in X-rays.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Smithsonian Rolls Out Red Carpet for Hubble 3D Premiere
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Tuesday for the world premiere of the Hubble 3D IMAX film.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Air Force to Test New Hypersonic Aircraft
The U.S. Air Force is gearing up for the first of four planned test flights of a hypersonic aircraft designed to operate for much longer durations and cover far greater distances than previous platforms of its type.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

International Space Station Could Fly Through 2028, NASA Partners Say
The International Space Station could continue to fly through 2028, eight years longer than current plans, the countries backing the outpost have said.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Water Discovered in Apollo Moon Rocks Likely Came from Comets
Genuine lunar water has been discovered in Apollo moon rocks, a finding that suggests the wet stuff originally came from comets.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Historic Space Antenna Starts Vital Repairs
NASA has begun vital repairs on its giant Mars Antenna at the Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Florida Lawmakers Pushing for Space Shuttle Extension, New Rocket
Florida lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation to extend the shuttle beyond its scheduled retirement
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Life-Enabling Molecules Spotted in Orion Nebula
NASA's Herschel telescope finds signatures of life-enabling molecules in Orion nebula.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Sun's Nemesis Pelted Earth with Comets, Study Suggests
Is our Sun part of a binary star system? Some have suggested an unseen companion star, nicknamed "Nemesis," is sending comets towards Earth.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

Just One Hitch in Choosing China's First Women Astronauts
China has selected two female pilots as its first women astronauts, but they had to pass the marriage test first.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:11pm

ScienceDaily

Shocking recipe for making killer electrons
Take a bunch of fast-moving electrons, place them in orbit and then hit them with the shock waves from a solar storm. What do you get? Killer electrons. That's the shocking recipe revealed by ESA's Cluster mission.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

Years of smoking associated with lower Parkinson's risk, not number of cigare...
Researchers have new insight into the relationship between Parkinson's disease and smoking. Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease. A new study shows that smoking for a greater number of years may reduce the risk of the disease, but smoking a larger number of cigarettes per day may not reduce the risk.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

If bonobo Kanzi can point as humans do, what other similarities can rearing r...
You may have more in common with Kanzi, Panbanisha and Nyota, three language-competent bonobos living at Great Ape Trust, than you thought. And those similarities, right at your fingertip, might one day tell scientists more about the effect of culture on neurological disorders that limit human expression. A recently published pointing study supports the assertion that the success of language studies with bonobos is tied to rearing.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

Movement disorder symptoms are lessened by an antibiotic: Treating worms with...
Discovery of an antibiotic's capacity to improve cell function in laboratory tests is providing movement disorder researchers with leads to more desirable molecules with potentially similar traits, according to scientists.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

Inventing new oat and barley breads
Scientists are working on a delicious new all-oat or all-barley bread.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

Massage eases anxiety, but no better than simple relaxation does
A randomized trial shows three months after 10 massages, patients' anxiety symptoms were halved -- an improvement like that previously reported with psychotherapy, medications, or both. But the trial also found massage no more effective than simple relaxation.
11 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm

Traces of the past: Computer algorithm able to 'read' memories
Computer programs have been able to predict which of three short films a person is thinking about, just by looking at their brain activity. The research provides further insight into how our memories are recorded.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:00pm

Mother's flu during pregnancy may increase baby's risk of schizophrenia
Rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregnant had smaller brains and showed other brain changes similar to those observed in human patients with schizophrenia, a study has found.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:00pm

Atmospheric nanoparticles impact health, weather professor says
Nanoparticles are atmospheric materials so small that they can't be seen with the naked eye, but they can very visibly affect both weather patterns and human health all over the world -- and not in a good way, according to a new study.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:00pm

Scientists make important discovery in gene regulation
Scientists have a greater understanding of how our genes are controlled following a major research project. The findings of the study, which looked at how proteins work as teams to control genes in the cells, could also help to unravel the mechanisms of disease such as cancer.
11 Mar 2010 at 4:00pm

Scientific American

Sushi chef, restaurant charged with serving whale

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A California sushi chef and the restaurant in which he worked have been charged with illegally serving meat from an endangered Sei whale, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, and the parent company of the popular restaurant The Hump in Santa Monica were charged late on Wednesday with violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act which makes it illegal to sell any kind of whale meat.

Half a century ago, thousands of pregnant women in 46 countries took a drug for morning sickness that would later be discovered to cause severe malformations in developing fetuses. Worldwide, roughly 10,000 affected children nicknamed "thalidomide babies" were born with multiple defects, including the characteristic shortened upper limbs (a condition known as phocomelia, Greek for "seal limbs"), before the drug was discontinued in 1961 after four years on the market.

An electric insulator, in the simplest terms, blocks the flow of electric current. So it would be a bit counterintuitive, to say the least, if a current on one side of an insulator could produce voltage on the other. [More]

Dear EarthTalk: I have a new linoleum floor, which I chose partly for its ecofriendliness. How do I clean and maintain it without using harsh or toxic chemicals? --A. J. Maimbourg, via e-mail

Think arranged marriages are loveless? Not so, says psychologist Robert Epstein, a contributing editor for Scientific American MIND magazine. He spoke March 10 at the 92nd Street Y’s Tribeca site in New York City:

“And there’s even a study published in India [Usha Gupta and Pushpa Singh of the University of Rajasthan, 1982] but using an American love scale, called the Rubin Love Scale, that compared love in love marriages in India, because they have those, too, to love in arranged marriages. And in this particular study, love in the love marriages starts out very high. And then over time it decreases. That’s what all of our studies show. And in the arranged marriages--and this is true in my work, too--we see the love starting out relatively low. Because in some cases the people barely know each other, sometimes they’ve had a half an hour of contact in total before they got married. And then it increases gradually, surpasses the love in the love marriages at about five years. And 10 years out it’s twice as strong.”

In May 2006 Dwayne Berg woke up on a gurney in a Seattle emergency room, an IV in his arm and a team of doctors and nurses working him up. The last thing the 42-year-old financial executive could remember was running on a treadmill at his gym, part of his regular fitness regimen. He had suffered a seizure and tumbled off the machine, and although he had not hurt himself in the fall, doctors had asked for an MRI scan of his brain to see if they could find a cause for the seizure.

They did, and the news was not good: the scan showed a large mass in the left frontal lobe that turned out to be a malignant glioma, a brain cancer that is almost invariably fatal. Berg underwent standard treatment: an operation to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation to eradicate any cancer cells that might remain.

Imagine suffering from the crushing weight of major depression, then finally getting diagnosed and starting treatment with a drug--only to realize after two months that the medication, despite its unpleasant side effects, is not alleviating your depression. Unfortunately, this experience is far from rare: more than two thirds of patients with depression have no luck with the first medication they are prescribed and must also endure the withdrawal effects that come with discontinuing a drug before trying a new one. Finding the right treatment can prove a lengthy, painful process of trial and error. A new technology, however, may bypass this ordeal by gauging very early in a treatment regimen how well a drug is working based on the patient’s brain waves.

The technology, called quantitative electro­enceph­alography (QEEG), measures a person’s brain-wave pattern with EEG and then compares it with a database of normal samples to detect abnormal function. In a study published in the September 2009 issue of the journal Psychiatry Research , scientists used QEEG to record brain activity in subjects with major depressive disorder before they began treatment, after one week on an antidepressant and after eight weeks on the drug--the period it takes such drugs to achieve full effect. Changes in the QEEG readout after just one week of medication predicted 74 percent of the time whether patients would experience either a recovery or a remission of symptoms by the end of eight weeks.

BOSTON--Economic bubbles are now famous, and the collapse of the dot-com business a decade ago made the bursting of bubbles infamous. A panel of experts here at the Going Green East conference yesterday ended up in a lively, entertaining and, at times, contentious debate over whether the growth of so-called clean tech--renewable energy and environmentally friendly technologies--has entered the bubble stage, if that bubble is bursting...or if a bubble has ever existed.

Lucky for anyone reading these words, the conference organizers at Always On videotaped the panel and have already posted it online for viewing. (Use this link then scroll two thirds down the page to the embedded session title "The Cleantech Bubble?".) The first 10 minutes have some of the best fireworks from two pioneers of major technology ramp-ups, including Bob Metcalfe , who invented the Ethernet and drove the vast growth of the Internet, and George Gilder , whose prognostications about hot telecomm technologies and the darling companies behind them greatly pumped up the dot-com bubble. If you listen even longer you'll hear all four panelists ultimately bash subsidies for technology of all kinds, itself worth the price of admission--which in this case, is free.

MIAMI--Malaria continues to be a global scourge, sickening some 300 million to 500 million people annually. Most of the resulting one million to three million malaria deaths occur in regions where it is highly endemic, such as sub-Saharan Africa and parts of south Asia.  [More]

USGS Earthquake Activity

M 3.5, Southern Alaska
March 11, 2010 22:31:47 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 4:31pm

M 2.8, Northern California
March 11, 2010 21:56:56 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:56pm

M 4.9, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile
March 11, 2010 21:50:07 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:50pm

M 2.5, Northern California
March 11, 2010 21:33:50 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:33pm

M 2.5, Central California
March 11, 2010 21:15:25 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:15pm

M 3.3, Southern California
March 11, 2010 21:09:25 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:09pm

M 5.0, Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia
March 11, 2010 21:09:08 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 3:09pm

M 5.8, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile
March 11, 2010 20:11:20 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 2:11pm

M 5.5, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile
March 11, 2010 19:28:07 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 1:28pm

M 3.4, Southern Alaska
March 11, 2010 17:51:30 GMT
11 Mar 2010 at 11:51am

LA Times Science

Pill found to outdo lotion in tough head-lice cases
Despite results of a study, the chief author says ivermectin is not advised for first-line use, and it's not approved in the U.S. for use against lice.

Head lice are itchy, nasty nuisances that can be hard to get rid of. Can a pill provide relief? A new study has found that in tough cases, an oral medication kills the parasites more effectively than a prescription lotion applied to the scalp.

11 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

Panel urges more choice in birth after C-section
A National Institutes of Health panel says vaginal birth after caesarean is reasonably safe and should be more widely available. Many hospitals ban the practice as a matter of policy or liability.

Vaginal birth after caesarean, or VBAC, is reasonably safe and should be more widely available, a National Institutes of Health advisory panel concluded Wednesday.

11 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

U.S. moves to list loggerhead turtles as endangered
With populations continuing to decline, wildlife agencies issue a plan to designate critical habitat zones to protect the species. Such listing could affect offshore drilling and other activities.

Federal agencies are proposing to increase protections for loggerhead turtles, the long-lived sea creatures known for their big heads and capacity to swim thousands of miles across the Pacific.

10 Mar 2010 at 11:51pm

Invasive heart test may be overused, researchers say
Almost 66% of patients who undergo cardiac catheterization despite no previous diagnosis of heart disease receive results indicating no 'significant' blockage, study finds.

Nearly two-thirds of those who undergo an invasive heart test called cardiac catheterization when they do not have diagnosed heart disease receive a clean bill of health, suggesting that the expensive procedure -- which exposes the patient to substantial amounts of radiation -- may be overused, researchers reported Wednesday.

11 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

Researchers confirm safety of kidney donations
After the procedure, the donors live as long or longer than those in the general population.

People who donate a kidney to a sick friend or relative live at least as long as others in the general population and may live somewhat longer because they tend to take better care of themselves after the procedure, researchers reported Tuesday.

10 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

Early-pregnancy weight gain linked to gestational diabetes
Adding pounds during the first trimester can increase the danger of the disease, which can affect both the mother and infant even after birth.

Women have long been told that gaining weight before becoming pregnant or being overweight at the start of pregnancy puts them at higher risk for gestational diabetes. But a new study finds that the first trimester is the most crucial time for weight gain that can increase the danger of developing the condition.

23 Feb 2010 at 2:00am

Obesity risks start before birth
Prenatal, infancy, early childhood — factors in all may affect a person’s future weight and health.

Pam Levin's daughter weighed less than 5 pounds at birth. But by the time the child turned 3, Levin and her husband had begun to bristle at some of the comments about her. "People would say, ‘She's chunky' or ‘She's a big girl,'" Levin says.

8 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

A lot is riding on SpaceX rocket
The Hawthorne firm's Falcon 9 is a major contender to cheaply carry astronauts and cargo into orbit.

A new rocket 18 stories tall and waiting to be launched from a pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., could determine the fate of a private aerospace venture in Hawthorne -- and even possibly NASA's space program.

8 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

Chilean earthquake moved entire city 10 feet, researchers say
GPS measurements show the city of Concepcion shifted to the west. The magnitude 8.8 quake also moved the capital of Santiago about 11 inches west-southwest.

The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion -- the closest urban area to the quake's epicenter -- at least 10 feet west, American researchers said Monday.

9 Mar 2010 at 2:00am

Study: Women who drink moderately tend to gain less weight in midlife
Women who abstained put on more pounds than those who had a drink or two per day. But researchers warn against an alcohol diet.

Women who drink moderate amounts of alcohol don't gain as much weight in midlife as those who abstain, a study has found. However, drinking should not be heralded as a new diet, said the authors and alcohol abuse experts.

9 Mar 2010 at 2:00am