25 articles from SUNDAY 8.12.2019
Blue Origin gets set to send thousands of postcards to space and back on test flight
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture says it's targeting Tuesday for the next uncrewed flight test of its New Shepard suborbital spaceship, with a cargo manifest that should warm kids' hearts for the holidays. The company said in a tweet today that it'll fly thousands of postcards that have been gathered through its educational program, known as the Club for the Future....
Starwatch: Saturn courts Venus in the evening sky
The two very different planets meet this week near the south-west horizon, before Saturn disappears behind the sunTwo very different planets meet in the evening near the south-western horizon this week. Venus is the nearest planet to the earth. It is almost identical to our planet in terms of size, yet its closer proximity to the sun has rendered it a hellish world, with surface temperatures...
Online watchdog keeping tabs on federal environmental promises
There is a new online watchdog keeping track of the environment promises of the federal Liberal minority...
How can you conquer ordinary, everyday sadness? Think of it as a person
New research suggests anthropomorphising your emotions can help you control them. But how do you actually go about it?In the Pixar film Inside Out, the emotions of an 11-year-old girl are personified as perky Joy, petulant Disgust and hulking Anger. Sadness – voiced by The American Office’s Phyllis Smith – is, predictably, a downer with a deep side-parting and a chunky knit. Amy Poehler’s...
Mike Horn and Boerge Ousland: North Pole explorers complete epic trek
The Norwegian-South African duo met up with a rescue team as they were dangerously low on food.
Lucy in the Sky review – earthbound tale of an obsessed astronaut
Natalie Portman shines but Noah Hawley’s fact-based drama lacks the right stuffNatalie Portman stars in a drama that is loosely based on the case of Lisa Nowak, the Nasa astronaut who was disgraced after attacking the girlfriend of her ex-lover. The feature debut from Noah Hawley pushes the idea that, once someone has ventured into space, readjusting to life back on Earth can be a struggle. This...
Tigers, elephants and pangolins suffer as global wildlife trafficking soars
Dozens of species are now at risk but a conference this week will showcase new technology that could help stop the illegal tradeThe two young women who arrived at Heathrow in February 2014 en route to Düsseldorf were carrying nondescript luggage. Customs officers were suspicious nevertheless and looked inside – to find 13 iguanas stuffed into socks inside the cases. Astonishingly, 12 of the...
Israeli fish farmers give peckish pelicans free lunch
Migratory pelicans have long raided Israeli fish farms, which try to deter them with loudspeakers, laser beams and by firing blank rounds from rifles.
Bangladesh tears down brick kilns to fight toxic smog
Excavators flanked by Bangladesh riot police are at work demolishing illegal soot-belching brick kilns around the smog-choked capital Dhaka, forcing migrant labourers out of work and back to their villages.
Built on sand: Dutch find unlikely ally against water
The Netherlands is deploying an unlikely ally as climate change intensifies the low-lying country's age-old fight against floods: more than 666,000 truckloads of sand to shore up a crucial dike.
Venice tide barriers pass another test but skeptics remain
Floated along by barge , one of the 10-ton barriers designed to relieve Venice's perennial flooding looks like a giant plaything: an oversized hinged yellow Lego.
Gene editing will let us control our very evolution. Will we use it wisely? | Dan Rather
I’ve covered some of the biggest stories of our age, but this is the biggest and could change what it means to be humanWe live in a time when science and technology are having an impact on our society in more and more ways. And the decisions that shape how these new fields of knowledge develop ultimately affect all of us. Related: Human Nature review – quiet revolution that began in a yoghurt...
A person's perception of risk can tell us about their chances of opioid relapse
People in treatment for opioid addiction are more likely to relapse when they become more tolerant of risks, according to a study by Rutgers and other institutions. The findings can help clinicians better predict which patients are most vulnerable.
Breakthrough made in detecting carbon impurities in gallium nitride crystals via light
Carbon impurity has long hindered efficiency in nitride-based electronic and optical devices. But Researchers at Tohoku University, have discovered a method that can quickly detect carbon impurity using light.
Computer game may help to predict reuse of opioids
A computer betting game can help predict the likelihood that someone recovering from opioid addiction will reuse the pain-relieving drugs, a new study shows.
Corals survive to tell the tale of Earth's newest island eruption
Coral reefs on a tiny island in the South Pacific have shown incredible resilience and recovery from a recent but very severe disturbance: a volcanic eruption that created a new island.
Follicular lymphoma remission for 2+ years indicates disease-free status could be lifelong
People with follicular lymphoma, a slow-growing lymphatic-system cancer, who have been treated and are in remission for at least two years, may no longer have what has been considered an incurable disease based on highly sensitive testing; this means they no longer need therapy or active follow-up.
No radiation needed for many aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients
Most people diagnosed with the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma can safely skip radiation treatment after a clear PET scan, according to new clinical trial results released today at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.
Probiotics and prebiotics work differently in girls and boys according to piglet study
Baby boy's and girl's immune systems respond differently to prebiotics and probiotics, according to new research. The paper published in Frontiers in Immunology today [9 December] suggests that differences in male and female immunity begin much earlier than previously thought.
Study finds decrease in eye exposures from household cleaners; experts urge proper storage
A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital analyzed data regarding eye exposures associated with household cleaning products from 2000 through 2016 and found a decrease in the number of exposures during this period. However, the number of these exposures among young children remains high.