science

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Obama Names 4 Top Science Advisers

(Newser) - Barack Obama today selected a Harvard physicist and a marine biologist for key science posts, in a sign he plans a more aggressive response to global warming than did the Bush administration. John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco are leading experts on climate change who have advocated forceful government action. “...

Plagiarism Case Evolves Against Darwin

Analysts spark furor by saying he stole theory of evolution

(Newser) - As Darwin fans gear up for the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, some analysts are calling the renowned naturalist a cheat, the Wall Street Journal reports. Alfred Russel Wallace is widely considered the co-founder of evolutionary theory, but some revisionists say Darwin cribbed the notion from Wallace....

Obama Picks Physicist as Science Adviser

Harvard energy expert to get key role, cheering scientists

(Newser) - Barack Obama will appoint Harvard physicist John P. Holdren as science adviser this weekend, pointing to an expanded role for science in the next administration, the Boston Globe reports. Holdren is versed in energy, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. Coming on the heels of Nobel laureate Steven Chu’s nomination...

'Dead Water' May Explain Drownings
'Dead Water' May Explain Drownings
Dec 18, 2008 4:56 PM CST

'Dead Water' May Explain Drownings

Wave phenomenon that slows ships may affect humans, too

(Newser) - Swimmers sometimes complain that water can be “evil,” but water is water, right? Wrong. So-called dead water—a naval phenomenon that happens when waves form between layers of warmer and cooler water, reducing a ship’s speed—may affect swimmers too, the New Scientist reports. And it might...

Did Volcanoes Drive Dinos to Extinction?

Scientists question 30-year-old crater theory

(Newser) - Colossal, repeated volcanic eruptions in India 65 million years ago released sulfuric gases that sent the dinosaurs, well, the way of the dinosaurs, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A group of scientists at a Bay Area conference this week is questioning the decades-held theory that a meteor killed off dinosaurs....

Barbies of the Future May Grow on Trees

Researchers use wood and wax to make biodegradable alternative

(Newser) - Wooden toys may not be so 1850s, scientists say. A bioplastic made from trees has been used to make everything from golf tees to car parts in recent years, but its sulfurous stink kept it out of the toy market. Now a sulfur-free version of "liquid wood" is available,...

Scientists Map DNA of Woolly Mammoth

Neanderthals, early humans could be next

(Newser) - Scientists have pieced together the nearly complete genome of the woolly mammoth from a hair strand found in Siberia, National Geographic reports. It's the first time scientists have decoded the nuclear DNA of an extinct species. The development makes it theoretically possible for the mammoths to roam the earth again...

Scientists Snap First Images of New Planets

Three-planet, one-planet systems caught on camera

(Newser) - Scientists have photographed planets outside our solar system for the first time, Space.com reports. One team captured images of a three-planet system orbiting a star in the Pegasus constellation, while another group snapped a planet rotating around the star Fomalhaut. The planets can't support life or little green men,...

Mars Lander Falls Silent
 Mars Lander Falls Silent 
Nov 10, 2008 5:11 PM CST

Mars Lander Falls Silent

Phoenix lacks the solar power to continue its mission

(Newser) - The Martian autumn has cut power to NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, ending its mission of scientific discovery, NASA reports. As anticipated, shorter days and increasingly overcast skies are preventing sufficient solar energy from reaching the lander’s power cells. It has already collected data for 2 months longer than...

Perfect Swing? Forget the Wrists

Drive guided by when power applied, not golfer's strength

(Newser) - After decades of laborious calculations, a Canadian professor says he's discovered the precise mechanics of the perfect golf swing. It’s all in the arms, it turns out—not the wrists. By measuring professional swings caught in high-speed photos, Robin Sharp has determined that the optimum swing doesn’t depend...

Young Island Is Scientists' Playground

Surtsey, formed off Iceland in 1963 eruption, is no-tourists-allowed model of evolution

(Newser) - On Surtsey, off Iceland's coast, scientists take life one species at a time, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Since the island erupted from the ocean in 1963, only researchers have been permitted to visit and catalog its colonization by external species. With 2½ acres of land eroding each year, they’...

Warmer Feelings Flow From Cozy Hands: Scientists

Study suggests holding warm objects inspires more generous emotions

(Newser) - The temperature of whatever you’re holding may affect your mood, HealthDay reports. Two new studies, published in Science, indicate that holding warm objects tends to make people act more generously and see strangers in a kinder light than those holding something cold. “Simply holding a warm or cold...

Chemistry Nobel Goes to 3 Who Found Glowing Protein

Compound vital to Alzheimer's research

(Newser) - The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded today to three scientists who discovered green fluorescent protein, a compound that allows biochemists to study cellular processes. The glowing protein, first found in jellyfish more than 40 years ago, can be attached to other structures and has been critical in research on...

Physics Nobel to 3 Who Studied World's Origin

Work on 'broken symmetry' paved way for hadron collider

(Newser) - The Nobel Prize for physics was awarded today to three researchers whose work on "broken symmetry" has clarified the origins of the universe. Their theories—a cornerstone of the so-called Standard Model of physics—explain how the world came into being after the Big Bang; although huge amounts...

Lack of Control Breeds Superstition

(Newser) - Superstitions and conspiracy theories all boil down to control issues, a new study says. When subjects in a University of Texas test were made to feel out of control, they saw more patterns that did not exist—whether images in a fuzzy picture or links between unconnected actions. Which is...

It's Snowing on Mars
 It's Snowing on Mars 
Sep 30, 2008 4:27 AM CDT

It's Snowing on Mars

Phoenix lander can't tell whether wet stuff is reaching ground

(Newser) - Snow has been falling nightly in the Mars atmosphere for about a month now, giving scientists more reason to believe that life may have once existed in the red planet's polar regions. Lasers onboard the Phoenix lander have tracked icy snow falling for a mile from clouds drifting 2.5...

Harry Potter Portal Is Possible: Experts

It's a trick of the light

(Newser) - Harry Potter's invisibility cloak might be a real stretch, but scientists are now closer to making hidden portals like the one in an apparently solid wall that Harry uses to reach the train to Hogwarts, Nature reports. Objects made with so-called metamaterials—electrical devices that react oddly to light—can...

Atom Smasher Out 2 Months
 Atom Smasher Out 2 Months 
Sep 20, 2008 10:53 AM CDT

Atom Smasher Out 2 Months

Experiments postponed; heating and recooling elements takes weeks

(Newser) - It turns out that the glitch with the Large Hadron Collider is worse than originally thought and will keep the massive atom smasher out of commission for at least 2 months, the Telegraph reports. The collider, which seeks to replicate the Big Bang and solve mysteries of creation, began to...

Advertisers Go for the Nose
 Advertisers Go for the Nose 
Sep 17, 2008 8:51 PM CDT

Advertisers Go for the Nose

It's not just perfume in magazines anymore

(Newser) - If you think scented advertising begins and ends with old-school scratch-and-sniff ads, brace yourself, and your nose, for a coming assault. It's sort of a double-whammy in the advertising world, Salon reports: Marketers are learning more every day about how smells hold sway over our emotions, and chemists can synthesize...

Honeybees Do Puzzling 'Wave' to Scare Enemies

(Newser) - Honeybees flip over en masse and reflect light with their bellies for a reason, scientists have found: It's to scare off enemies. Bee experts knew that giant honeybees in Southeast Asia flipped over by the hundreds or even thousands but only recently discovered they were warding off predatory wasps. What...

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