Posts

From a low-flying helicopter, conservationist Marc Ancrenaz peered down at the homogeneous rows of trees in a Borneo palm oil plantation and spotted something that made his heart sink: an orangutan nest. Until that moment 15 years ago, he had never seen one so out of place, away from its traditional rain forest habitat. “I thought, at this time, that these animals were doomed,” because it would be difficult for them to find sufficient food in such a setting, says Ancrenaz, who is scientific director for the France-based orangutan-conservation group Hutan....

By Cheryl Jones Scientists are planning an attempt to extract DNA from the “hobbit” Homo floresiensis, the 1-meter-tall extinct distant relative of modern humans that was unearthed in Indonesia, following a study that suggests problems in standard sampling methods in ancient-DNA research could have thwarted previous efforts.This year, geneticists at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) at the University of Adelaide hope to recover DNA from a roughly 18,000-year-old H....

As the U.S. recoils from the divisions of recent years and the scientific community tries to rebuild trust in science, scientists may be tempted to reaffirm their neutrality. If people are to trust us again, as I have frequently heard colleagues argue, we have to be scrupulous about not allowing our values to intrude into our science. This presupposes that value neutrality is necessary for public trust and that it is possible....

A rare solar eclipse is darkening skies from China to Texas today (May 20), and has crowds of eager skywatchers and photographers hoping to see the sun transform into a dazzling “ring of fire.” The so-called annular solar eclipse is not completely blocking the sun (like a total eclipse would). Instead, the moon will cover up to 94 percent of the sun at the eclipse’s peak, leaving a bright ring of light – called an annulus, which means ring-like — around the moon’s disc, NASA scientists said....

Imagine the world tried geoengineering, and imagine it worked. For 50 years we manage to keep the planet at its current temperature, sea levels stabilize, endangered species rebuild, and all this while we’re still burning fossil fuels at a leisurely pace. Then China is hit by a freak, devastating drought, and India is hammered by severe flooding. They blame the geoengineering experiment for disrupting global rainfall cycles and demand its immediate termination....

When Albert Einstein was working on his equations for the theory of general relativity, he threw in a cosmological constant to bring the universe into harmonious equilibrium. But subsequent observations by Edwin Hubble proved that the universe was not static. Rather, galaxies were flying apart at varying speeds. Einstein abandoned the concept, calling it the biggest blunder of his life’s work. Observations in the 1990s, however, proved that the universe was not only flying apart, it was doing so faster and faster....

The U.S. political-economic system gives evidence of a phenomenon known as “instrument instability.” Policy makers at the Federal Reserve and the White House are attempting to use highly imperfect monetary and fiscal policies to stabilize the national economy. The result, however, has been ever-more desperate swings in economic policies in the attempt to prevent recessions that cannot be fully eliminated. President Barack Obama’s economic team is now calling for an unprecedented stimulus of large budget deficits and zero interest rates to counteract the recession....

The U.S. is experiencing a mental health crisis. According to recent surveys, rates of depression, anxiety and opioid addiction, particularly among young people, are alarmingly high. Also mounting are rates of suicide, hate crimes and rampage killings, as is the demand for mental health services. A survey published in January by the California Health Care Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than half of those surveyed thought their communities lacked adequate mental health care providers and that most people with mental health conditions are unable to get needed services....

Yvonne Y. Clark, or Y.Y., taught at Tennessee State University, a historically Black university, for 55 years. In this episode, we hear from Y.Y.’s colleagues, students and family members about who she was as an educator and how she’s remembered. We’ll also explore where historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) stand today—particularly, the reason they graduate so many many successful Black scientists, compared with other institutions, and their place in the future of science....

By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - Eight days after returning from a trip to the Middle East, a 68-year-old South Korean man developed a cough and fever. He visited four health facilities seeking treatment and inadvertently triggered the biggest outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outside that region, and what is verging on national panic at home. President Park Geun-hye has said everything must be done to stop the outbreak that has infected 34 other people in South Koreaas of Thursday, and killed two of those....

The brain is an exceedingly complex machine that harbors about 100 trillion neural connections. So it comes as no surprise that neuroscientists make great efforts to reduce or represent that complexity in their research with innovative imaging techniques. For all the time and creativity poured into publication-worthy imagery, however, most of it never leaves the pages of academic journals. Daniel Margulies of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and other neuroscientists thought it was time for a change....

A whole new set of ungovernable pathogens are being loosed on the world’s blood supplies. A warming climate has allowed blood-borne tropical diseases to flourish where once they were unheard of, and they’re getting around. The state of blood supplies became worrisome after tennis star Arthur Ashe’s death from AIDS 20 years ago in 1993 – the result of an HIV-tainted transfusion administered during a routine heart bypass operation in the late 1980s....

Raw sewage, industrial runoff, trash, algal blooms. Each has plagued Guanabara Bay, the site of the sailing events at this summer’s Olympics in Rio. Although local officials have taken pains to try to sanitize the water ahead of the Games, those efforts have fallen short of Olympic organizers’ and athletes’ expectations. Unsurprisingly, some Olympians are on edge. Sailors preparing for windsurfing or one-person dinghy events, for example, must overcome an extra hurdle: They must attempt to steer clear of refuse and avoid diarrheal disease as they race on the area’s famous waters....

COVID-19 has spurred massive changes in how the world works, learns and does business—changes made possible by the internet and digital infrastructure. But without power, there is no internet. The entire digital ecosystem relies so heavily on reliable, affordable electricity, from home internet connections to the base stations that underpin cellular networks to the data centers that store the internet’s content. This means that countries with weak power infrastructures—which were already struggling to compete in the new digital economy—are facing bleak prospects in a post-lockdown world in which Zoom, Dropbox and Google Classroom are the new office or school....

Sumqayit in Azerbaijan gained the dubious distinction this week of being added to Blacksmith Institute’s top 10 list of the world’s most polluted sites. Yet another heir to the toxic legacy of Soviet industry, the city of 275,000 souls bears heavy metal, oil and chemical contamination from its days as a center of chemical production. As a result, local Azeris suffer cancer rates 22 to 51 percent higher than their countrymen and their children suffer from a host of genetic defects ranging from mental retardation to bone diseases....

In recent years, brain-mapping initiatives have been popping up around the world. They have different goals and areas of expertise, but now researchers will attempt to apply their collective knowledge in a global push to more fully understand the brain. Thomas Shannon, US Under Secretary of State, announced the launch of the International Brain Initiative on September 19 at a meeting that accompanied the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York City....

Alaska’s iconic caribou herds appear to be surviving changes in the Arctic climate, despite shifts in the time periods during which their food supplies are most plentiful, according to a recent study. The report indicated that Alaska caribou apparently aren’t facing what is known as a mismatch, a phenomenon created when caribou give birth to calves at a similar time each year, while a warming climate causes food supplies to peak earlier in the year....

By Ewen CallawayA new blood test diagnoses Alzheimer’s disease by sensing molecules produced by the immune systems of people with the neurodegenerative condition.So far, the test has been applied to just a small number of blood samples, but if proven on a larger scale, the assay could help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in combination with other tests, says Thomas Kodadek, a professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida....

By Alison AbbottA mysterious blue sheen that is creeping over precious archaeological artefacts has sparked a political firestorm in Italy. Scientists are battling local authorities to save the damaged collection–and determine who is to blame.The prehistoric treasures–including human bones and stone tools–come from sites near Verona, which were inhabited by some of Europe’s last known Neanderthals when anatomically modern humans were beginning to dominate the region. Scientists say that comparing DNA from the remains with DNA from Neanderthal bones found elsewhere may show how the last Neanderthals moved across the continent seeking refuge, for example....

How and why do fireflies light up? —G. RICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. Marc A. Branham, assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains: A chemical reaction inside fireflies enables them to light up, a process called bioluminescence. A glow is emitted when oxygen in cells combines with calcium, the energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and luciferin pigments in the presence of the enzyme luciferase....