KVCR Science News

Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:24:00 -0700

Scientists have discovered water that has been trapped in rock for more than a billion years. The water might contain microbes that evolved independently from the surface world, and it's a finding that gives new hope to the search for life on other planets.

Cloning, Stem Cells Long Mired In Legislative Gridlock

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:08:00 -0700

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The news that U.S. scientists have successfully cloned a human embryo seems almost certain to rekindle a political fight that has raged, on and off, since the announcement of the creation of Dolly the sheep in 1997.

"The issue of legislation on human cloning is about to get hot again," says Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School.

Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:33:00 -0700

Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells.

The accomplishment is a long-sought step toward harnessing the potential power of embryonic stem cells to treat many human diseases. But the work also raises a host of ethical concerns.

Google Fights Glass Backlash Before It Even Hits The Street

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:54:00 -0700

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Google Glass isn't even for sale yet, but it's already facing backlash.

There have been articles in the Atlantic and Wired mocking techies who have a pair, and even Saturday Night Live got in on the jabbing at the technology.

Will Tweaking Windows 8 Be Enough To Revive The PC?

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:11:00 -0700

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When Microsoft introduced Windows 8 last year, the software giant billed the new operating system as one of the most critical releases in its history. The system would bridge the gap between personal computers and the fast-growing mobile world of tablets and smartphones.

U.S. Turns Up Heat On Costly Commercial Cyber Theft In China

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:21:00 -0700

American companies that do business with China make good money. They also lose a lot of money there to cyber thieves, who routinely hack into the computers of the U.S. firms and steal their trade and technology secrets.

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer Expands Parental Leave

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:26:00 -0700

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who sparked plenty of discussion about work-life balance when she prohibited telecommuting this past winter, took a step in the opposite direction, Tuesday: Mayer expanded Yahoo's parental leave policy.

Will Bureaucracy Keep The U.S. Drone Industry Grounded?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:08:00 -0700

Americans are suspicious of drones. Reports of the unmanned aerial vehicles' use in war zones have raised concerns about what they might do here at home. For instance, in Seattle earlier this year, a public outcry forced the police department to abandon plans for eye-in-the-sky UAV helicopters.

Can You Hear Me Now? Cellphone Satellites Phone Home

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:56:00 -0700

Smartphones can check e-mail, record videos and even stream NPR. Now NASA has discovered they make pretty decent satellites, too. Three smart phones launched into space this past Sunday are orbiting above us even now, transmitting data and images back to Earth. The PhoneSats, which cost just a few thousand dollars each, could usher in big changes for the satellite industry.

A Tale Of Mice And Medical Research, Wiped Out By A Superstorm

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:01:00 -0700

When Superstorm Sandy inundated lower Manhattan last year, thousands of lab animals drowned and many scientists lost months or even years of work. One of those scientists is Gordon Fishell, a brain researcher at New York University.

Google Agrees To Change Display Of Search Results In Europe

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:56:00 -0700

Google has agreed to modify the way it displays search results in Europe as part of a deal to end a probe by the EU's anti-trust body. But rivals Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle will first have to sign off on the changes, reports say.

As ZDNet writes:

AP's Twitter Account Running Again Following Tuesday's Hack

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:03:00 -0700

"The @AP Twitter account, which was suspended after being hacked, has been secured and is back up. Thank you for your patience."

That's the word Wednesday morning from The Associated Press.

Gynecologists Question Use Of Robotic Surgery For Hysterectomies

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:43:00 -0700

Bolstered by a recent study that found doctors performing hysterectomies performed using a pricey robot didn't produce better results for patients than ordinary — and cheaper — procedures, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently threw down a latex gauntlet against the use of robots.

Boston Search Shines Spotlight On Surveillance Cameras

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:04:00 -0700

Footage from surveillance cameras along the Boston Marathon route gave the FBI early clues about the bombing suspects. And prosecutors say they'll use some of those images to try to prove their criminal case against 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. But the proliferation of cameras in America's big cities is raising some tricky questions about the balance between security and privacy.

Why Amazon Supports An Online Sales-Tax Bill

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:39:00 -0700

If you:

1. Live in a state that charges sales tax

and

2. Buy something from an online store that does not charge you sales tax,

then you are supposed to:

Trees On Top Of Skyscrapers? Yes! Yes, Say I. No! No, Says Tim

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:53:00 -0700

This isn't finished. But it will be. Two residential towers, dense with trees, will have their official opening later this year in downtown Milan, Italy, near the Porta Garibaldi railroad station. (The image is not a photograph, but an architect's rendering. The towers are built and the trees are going in right now.) I love this. I think these towers are gorgeous. Milan is a very polluted town; these trees will cleanse the air, pumping out oxygen and greening the cityscape. I think cities one day could look like mountain vistas; I'm enthralled.

Scientists Sequence Genome Of 'Living Fossil' Fish

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:33:00 -0700

Scientists have unraveled the genome of the coelacanth, a rare and primitive fish once thought to be extinct, shedding light on how closely it's related to the first creatures to emerge from the sea.

Seeing The World Through Google-Colored Glasses

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:22:00 -0700

Google Glass is no longer merely a prototype. Tuesday, the company began delivering its high-tech glasses to a select group of test-customers. The gadget looks kind of like a pair of eyeglasses, except it doesn't always have lenses and it has a tiny screen, about the size of the end of my pinkie, perched just above and to the right of the wearer's right eye.

NPR.org Hacked; 'Syrian Electronic Army' Takes Responsibility

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:14:00 -0700

The Two-Way, NPR.org and some of NPR's Twitter accounts were hacked late Monday by an organization that's said to support Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, as this statement from NPR reports:

Supreme Court Asks: Can Human Genes Be Patented?

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:15:00 -0700

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Same-sex marriage got huge headlines at the Supreme Court last month, but in the world of science and medicine, the case being argued on Monday is far more important. The lawsuit deals with a truly 21st century issue — whether human genes may be patented.

In NASA's Budget: Plans To 'Shrink-Wrap' An Asteroid

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:23:00 -0700

When President Obama released his 2014 budget for the federal government on Wednesday, much of it was spreadsheets and tables. But one corner of NASA's budget looked like something out of a movie script.

Listen Up To Smarter, Smaller Hearing Aids

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 07:53:00 -0700

One day in the fall of 2010, composer Richard Einhorn woke up and realized there was something horribly wrong with his hearing.

"There was an enormous, violent buzzing in my ears," he says. "And I realized that my right ear had gone completely deaf."

How Close Is Doomsday?

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:14:00 -0700

How close are we to the end? How close are we to being among the last humans to ever live? Depending on who you are — your religion, politics, relative degree of pessimism or optimism — that question is bound to bring up images of some particular kind of cataclysm. It could be an all-out nuclear exchange or a climate change-driven mass extinction. But what if there was a way of answering the doomsday question in the most generic way possible.

Obama's Plan To Explore The Brain A 'Most Audacious Project'

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:20:00 -0700

President Obama has announced an ambitious plan to explore the mysteries of the human brain.

In a speech Tuesday, Obama said he will ask Congress for $100 million in 2014 to "better understand how we think and how we learn and how we remember." Other goals include finding new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.

Obama Says $100 Million Will Be Invested In Brain-mapping Initiative

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:13:00 -0700

Adding some details to an initiative he announced during his latest State of the Union address, President Obama on Tuesday said that federal agencies plan to spend $100 million to jump start an effort to map the human brain. It's research that could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of brain disorders.

As All Things Considered has reported:

Why Not Apologizing Makes You Feel Better

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:14:00 -0700

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To err is human.

So is refusing to apologize for those errors.

From toddlers and talk show hosts to preteens and presidents, we all know people who have done stupid, silly and evil things, then squared their jaws and told the world they've done nothing wrong.

Commute From Earth To Space Station Just Got Shorter

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:36:00 -0700

Three astronauts have arrived at the International Space Station after being the first to try out a new "express" shortcut that slashes their launch-to-docking commute from two days to just six hours.

From The Stone Age To The Digital Age In One Big Leap

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:26:00 -0700

In the heart of the Amazon in western Brazil, an Indian tribe called the Surui lived in the Stone Age as recently as the late 1960s. They wore loincloths, hunted monkeys with bows and arrows, and knew little of the increasingly modernized country in which they lived.

What's Behind The 'Fairy Circles' That Dot West Africa?

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:00:00 -0700

There's a mystery in West Africa that's puzzled scientists for years. Strange circles of bare soil appear in grassland; they're commonly called "fairy circles." These naturally occurring shapes last for decades, until the grass eventually takes over and the circles fade.

Six-Legged Critters In Dicey Places: What Science Reporters Do To Get Your Attention

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:11:00 -0700

We're not as daring as Magellan (who died) or Columbus (who went crazy) or Henry Hudson (who froze), but in our dainty little way, we take astonishing risks. Well, maybe not astonishing. Maybe just embarrassing.

Socrates (In The Form Of A 9-Year-Old) Shows Up In A Suburban Backyard In Washington

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:24:00 -0700

When he rang the doorbell, Zia hadn't planned to step inside. He was there to pick up his fiancee who was babysitting, but she couldn't leave (the parents were running late) so Zia agreed to hang out for a bit. His fiancee said, "Let me introduce you to the kids" — the 2-year-old girl, the 7-year-old boy and, most important, squatting, with no shoes on, surrounded by ants on the back patio, the oldest — the 9-year-old — the one he would make world-famous on YouTube.

Solar-Powered Plane Uses Its Lightness To Fly In The Dark

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:58:00 -0700

Next month, a very odd looking plane will take off from Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., and head east to New York. The Solar Impulse — the world's first solar-powered plane — is capable of flying nonstop all day and all night. Its creators plan to fly it across the U.S. this spring, and by 2015 they hope to fly a similar aircraft around the world.

Scientists Use Antacid To Help Measure The Rate Of Reef Growth

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:15:00 -0700

NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day 4: Richard catches up with one of the gurus of climate science out on the reef.

South Korea Says Cyberattack That Paralyzed Computers Was Traced To Chinese IP

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:26:00 -0700

South Korea has traced a cyberattack that paralyzed more than 30,000 computers on Wednesday to a Chinese Internet protocol address, the Korean Communications Commission said Thursday.

We Have Liftoff: Apollo Rocket Engines Reportedly Pulled From Ocean Floor

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:13:00 -0700

Rocket engines that may have powered the flight of the first man to walk on the moon have been recovered off the coast of Florida from a depth of nearly three miles beneath the ocean's surface.

South Korea Eyes Pyongyang After Possible Cyberattack

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:45:00 -0700

Computer networks at South Korea's three main broadcasters and major banks crashed simultaneously Wednesday, leading to speculation that it was caused by a North Korean cyberattack.

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency:

Seniors Flirt With AARP's Online Dating Service

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:06:00 -0700

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Here's the plan: Find someone, get married, grow old together. But what if you've done that, and suddenly you find yourself back at square one?

For those 50 and older, AARP is helping to find that special someone.

"I never expected to be single and 50," says Dina Mande of Santa Monica, Calif., a frequent user of the site.

Syrian Cyber-Rebel Wages War, One Hack At A Time

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:43:00 -0700

The Internet is a battleground in Syria, a place where President Bashar Assad's regime has mounted a sophisticated surveillance campaign that includes monitoring and arresting activists by tracking their Facebook pages.

The Syrian Electronic Army, an arm of the Syrian military, is in charge of the monitoring.

Controlling Your Computer With A Wave Of Your Hand

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:33:00 -0700

If you've had wrist and shoulder pain from clicking a mouse, relief may be in sight. This spring, a new motion sensing device will go on sale that will make it possible for the average computer user to browse the Web and open documents with a wave of a finger.

Past Century's Global Temperature Change Is Fastest On Record

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:19:00 -0800

There's plenty of evidence that the climate has warmed up over the past century, and climate scientists know this has happened throughout the history of the planet. But they want to know more about how this warming is different.

Why The Library Of Congress Has A Lock On Your Phone

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:13:00 -0800

What it means to own something in the digital age is being re-negotiated.

Few of us own the music we listen to or the movies we watch in exactly the same way we did a decade ago. And today if you buy a smartphone from a cellphone company, what you can legally do with it — how and where you can use it — may be proscribed even if that phone is fully bought and paid for.

Elephant Poaching Pushes Species To Brink Of Extinction

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:10:00 -0800

A new study of Central African forest elephants has found their numbers down by 62 percent between 2002 and 2011. The study comes as governments and conservationists meet in Thailand to amend the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Wanna Play? Computer Gamers Help Push Frontier Of Brain Research

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:44:00 -0800

People can get pretty addicted to computer games. By some estimates, residents of planet Earth spend 3 billion hours per week playing them. Now some scientists are hoping to make use of all that human capital and harness it for a good cause.

Street Lights, Security Systems And Sewers? They're Hackable, Too

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:26:00 -0800

Allegations that the Chinese military has been hacking U.S. corporations are raising tensions. But in the case of a full-fledged cyberwar, things would look very different.

"Our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems," President Obama said in his State of the Union address last month.

Mouse Study Sheds Light On Why Some Cancer Vaccines Fail

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:20:00 -0800

In the quest for better cancer medicines, vaccines that treat rather than prevent disease are getting lots of attention.

More than 90 clinical trials have tested therapeutic vaccines in cancer patients, but the results have been a mixed bag.

Scientists Report First Cure Of HIV In A Child Say It's A Game-Changer

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:41:00 -0800

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Scientists believe a little girl born with HIV has been cured of the infection.

She's the first child and only the second person in the world known to have been cured since the virus touched off a global pandemic nearly 32 years ago.

After Delay, SpaceX Dragon Reaches Space Station

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 09:14:00 -0800

The Dragon has been captured. The SpaceX unmanned craft connected with the International Space Station at 5:31 a.m. ET, NASA tweeted. The spacecraft arrived a day late due to mechanical problems after Friday's launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark," space station commander Kevin Ford said, according to The Associated Press.

Kim Dotcom Loses Court Battle In Megaupload Extradition Case

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:16:00 -0800

Kim Dotcom, founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload, says he will take his fight against extradition to the United States to New Zealand's highest court, after an appeals court ruled in the U.S. government's favor Friday.

At issue is the amount of evidence Dotcom's defense team is entitled to see at the extradition hearing. An appeals court overruled a lower court's decision that the U.S. government had to provide more than a summary of its case against the Internet entrepreneur.

Seeking A 'Field Of Dreams' For A Rising Drone Industry

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:40:00 -0800

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In three years, the federal government is expected to open the skies for the civilian use of drones. But before that, the Federal Aviation Administration will set up six drone test sites around the country. Stiff competition to get one of the sites is anticipated — driven by hopes of attracting thousands of new jobs.

What's That Thing Hanging Outside My Bathroom Window? My Neighbor's Drone

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:15:00 -0800

"Holy [expletive]! writes Joel Johnson, "I've got my own flying drone." He's so giddy, he can barely contain himself. "I'm going to fly a drone! ... I'm basically the CIA and a spaceman all in one ... I'm going to get arrested, and I'm going to be a hero."