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8,465 articles from FEBRUARY 2012

• WEDNESDAY 29. FEBRUARY, 2012
• 21:55 Reversing Alzheimer's gene 'blockade' can restore memory, other cognitive functions

  Read the story at ScienceDaily
  Neuroscientists have shown that an enzyme overproduced in the brains of Alzheimer's patients creates a blockade that shuts off genes necessary to form new memories. Furthermore, by inhibiting that enzyme in mice, the researchers were able to reverse Alzheimer's symptoms.  

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• 21:55 Who's in the know? To a preschooler, the person doing the pointing

  Read the story at ScienceDaily
  If you want a preschooler to get the point, point. That's a lesson that can be drawn from a new study. As part of their investigation of how small children know what other people know, the authors found they were able to mislead preschoolers with the simple introduction of a pointing gesture.  

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• 21:50 Effects of a concussion may last longer than symptoms

  Read the story at ScienceDaily
  A new study shows that physiological problems stemming from a concussion may continue to present in the patient even after standard symptoms subside.  

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• 21:24 Mobile phone running low on battery? Charge up with water

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  It is the nightmare of the wired world -- a smartphone low on battery.  

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• 21:15 Doomsday Seed Vault's Birthday Brings 25,000 Gifts (LiveScience.com)

  Read the story at Yahoo!
  LiveScience.com - This week, the Doomsday Seed Vault in Norway is scheduled to receive nearly 25,000 samples of seeds from around the world, including those of grains that grow on one of the world's highest mountain ranges and a plant whose stems redden an Ecuadorean drink on the "Day of the Dead."  

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• 21:00 The asteroid with a 625-1 chance of hitting the earth

  Read the story at Guardian Unlimited Science
  

  The body known as '2001 AG5' might hit the Earth in 2040. But what else has the same kind of odds?

  We need to talk. You'd better sit down. According to astronomers at the Mount Lemmon observatory in Arizona, there is an asteroid – they're calling it "2001 AG5" – whose current orbit gives it a one in 625 chance of hitting Earth in 2040. The asteroid is only 460ft wide, not big enough to kill us all, but it could obliterate a city if it lands on one. Further observations will be carried out next year, but at the moment that's where things stand: 625-1.

  Worried? Should you be? Odds like these are rather hard to quantify emotionally, especially when something so important is at stake. "It's pretty much an outsider in betting terms," says Graham Sharpe at William Hill. "I don't think too many people will be losing sleep over a 625-1 shot." No. Paddy Power, for example, offer odds of 625-1 that Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards will light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony in London.

  You will also have noticed that 625 is 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, so the chances of a 625-1 shot happening are the same as the chances of four accumulated 5-1 shots coming home. Thus the likelihood of this asteroid hitting Earth in 2040 is about the same as David Miliband being the next Labour leader and Spain winning the next World Cup and Jessica Ennis winning the next BBC Sports Personality of the Year and Kate Middleton's labour lasting between 18 and 21 hours when and if she eventually gives birth. If that seems unwieldy, two 25-1 shots would also do, such as Thierry Henry becoming the next permanent Arsenal manager and William and Kate's first child being albino.

  For balance, do bear in mind that the odds for a fairly frequent flier of dying in a commercial plane crash are in the region of 500,000 to one. So if you're frightened of flying, you should be terrified of this.

  • Mathematics
  • Space
  • Gambling
  • Astronomy

  Leo Benedictus

  
  

  guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

  
  

   

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• 20:49 Green Blog: On Our Radar: A Coal-Free Chicago?

  Read the story at NYT > Science
  The mayor had warned Midwest Generation to either broker a deal on curbing pollution from two power plants or face the prospect of an ordinance that would force the utility to shut them down within two years.
  
   

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• 20:47 Fracking Law Changes at the Local, State and Federal Level (ContributorNetwork)

  Read the story at Yahoo!
  ContributorNetwork - Questions about possible water contamination, earthquakes and job creations are commonplace during natural gas discussions. The Environmental Protection Agency is working to complete a research study on the impact of hydraulic fracturing. The Yale Undergraduate Journal of Politics posed a unique question on the matter this week. The Politic pondered the idea that fracking is far more of a local or regional issue than a federal one.  

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• 20:44 MEA study: Baltimore could be offshore wind hub (AP)

  Read the story at Yahoo!
  AP - A study produced for the Maryland Energy Administration says Baltimore has the potential to become a hub for offshore wind power companies.  

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• 20:38 Giant Bloodsuckers! Oldest Fleas Discovered

  Read the story at Discovery
  The most ancient fleas were five to 10 times the size of modern bloodsuckers.  

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• 20:37 Facebook Business Users Get Timeline Pages

  Read the story at Sci-Tech Today
  Businesses will now have Timeline-equipped pages on Facebook. The popular social network announced Wednesday new designs for pages intended for commercial use, whether companies, celebrities, brands or campaigns.

  The new pages could help boost Facebook's appeal on Wall Street, if it needs a boost, as the company is getting ready for an initial public offering. Facebook is highlighting the ability for businesses to brand a page with their own cover photo, showcase the most important news on the page's timeline, regularly pin a new post to the top of each page, and manage the page's activities and messages from one place.

  Dashboard for Administrators

  The company said that a variety of well-known companies have already adopted the new pages, including the TODAY Show on NBC, Starbucks, Nike, The New York Times and Microsoft Windows.

  To the right of the featured cover photo, other photos or apps, such as an events calendar, can be posted. Administrators will acquire new messaging functionality, which did not exist before, or they can disable that ability. In the old Facebook pages, companies could not message from Facebook.

  The dashboard will help administrators keep track of page activity, respond to timeline commenters, see analytics and view likes, notifications and messages.

  Timeline shows photos and posts in two columns, backward in time, instead of simply one post after another in one column. Its design is considered more inviting for viewers to peruse the Facebook history of the page's owner.

  The Timeline function started appearing for personal profiles last fall, and it has been the subject of discussion as users assess whether they liked having their Facebook history more exposed.

  Timeline Pruning

  Previously, older posts were buried way down on other screens, but now they're part of a more accessible history. Although originally optional for personal profiles, Timeline is now being made mandatory by the...

   

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• 20:24 A bad day on Venus gets even worse

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Contrary to its alluring name, Venus is the planet from hell, with an atmosphere so hot, toxic and heavy that any visitor would risk being simultaneously melted, suffocated and crushed.  

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• 20:24 Adapting personal glucose monitors to detect DNA

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  An inexpensive device used by millions of people with diabetes could be adapted into a home DNA detector that enables individuals to perform home tests for viruses and bacteria in human body fluids, in food and in other substances, scientists are reporting in a new study. The report on this adaptation of the ubiquitous personal glucose monitor, typically used to test blood sugar levels, appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.  

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• 20:24 Contamination of La Selva geothermal system in Girona, Spain

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Monitoring the construction of wells, avoid over-exploiting cold groundwater close to hot groundwater, and controlling mineral water extraction. These are the recommendations from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, after analysing the contamination of La Selva geothermal system, above all by arsenic pollution. In this region, which is known for its spa resorts and bottling plants, as well as in other Catalan coastal mountain ranges, uranium levels higher than what is recommended by the WHO have been detected.  

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• 20:24 Dinosaurs had fleas too -- giant ones, fossils show

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  In the Jurassic era, even the flea was a beast, compared to its minuscule modern descendants. These pesky bloodsuckers were nearly an inch long.  

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• 20:24 How to rediscover life on Earth by looking at the Moon

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  (PhysOrg.com) -- By observing the Moon using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found evidence of life in the universe -- on Earth. Finding life on our home planet may sound like a trivial observation, but the novel approach of an international team may lead to future discoveries of life elsewhere in the Universe. The work is described in a paper to appear in the March 1, 2012, issue of the journal Nature.  

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• 20:24 Nature Commentary investigates synthetic-biology disaster

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Experts say at least $20 million to $30 million in government research is needed over the next decade to adequately identify and address the possible ecological risks of synthetic biology, an emerging area of research focused on the design and construction of new biological parts and systems, or modification of existing ones, to create new applications in areas ranging from energy to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.  

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• 20:24 S.Africa mulls shark net for Cape Town beach

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Officials in South Africa's tourist drawcard of Cape Town said Wednesday that a trial shark net is being considered for a top swimming beach where three attacks, two deadly, have taken place.  

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• 20:24 Scientists learn how insects 'remodel' their bodies between life stages

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  It's one of life's special moments: a child finds a fat caterpillar, puts it in a jar with a twig and a few leaves, and awakens one day to find the caterpillar has disappeared and an elegant but apparently lifeless case now hangs from the twig.  

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• 20:24 Study shows earthworms to blame for decline of ovenbirds in northern Midwest forests

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  A recent decline in ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla), a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.  

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• 20:24 Team reveals oldest fossilized forest

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  An international team, including a Cardiff University researcher, who previously found evidence of the Earth's earliest tree, has gone one step further. The research team has now unearthed and investigated an entire fossil forest dating back 385 million years.  

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• 20:24 Universal charger tantalisingly close for mobiles

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Mobile phone users are tantalisingly close to the day when they can power up any phone with the same charger.  

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• 20:24 When continents collide: A new twist to a 50 million-year-old tale

  Read the story at PhysOrg
  Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia, a collision that gave rise to the tallest landforms on the planet, the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau.  

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• 20:22 Earthworms to blame for decline of ovenbirds in northern Midwest forests

  Read the story at ScienceDaily
  A recent decline in ovenbirds, a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.  

  Permalink | collapse
• 20:22 How insects 'remodel' their bodies between life stages

  Read the story at ScienceDaily
  How is it that an insect can remake itself so completely that it appears to be a different creature altogether, not just once, but several times in its lifetime? Working with fruit flies scientists found that genes whose expression is induced by pulses of steroid hormone are key to these transformations. A similar mechanism may underlie puberty -- the human analog of metamorphosis.  

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