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takyon writes:

A museum has released a computer-generated image of a man derived from his 1,600-1,900-year-old skeleton:

A computer-generated image of a man who lived in Roman Britain more than 1,600 years ago has gone on display. The depiction of Leasowe Man, named after the Merseyside town where he was found in 1864, is on show at the Museum of Liverpool. It said the image "raises lots of questions... about his life". Curator Liz Stewart said they were unable to ascertain his hair and eye colours but it was "most likely" he had the tones shown in the picture. The image of "Merseyside's oldest skeleton" was created by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University's Face Lab, which conducts archaeological and forensic work.

Radiocarbon dating has previously found that the skeleton, now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, is between 1,600 and 1,900 years old.

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takyon writes:

The Wellcome Trust has recommended that scientists publish their research in free, open access journals, rather than "hybrid" publications it operates:

Expensive research journal subscriptions could be on the way out, if the Wellcome Trust has its way. The moneybags UK research foundation has published a report favoring free, so-called open access, journals over those that charge a fee for access. The report reviewed the activities of research institutions that received funding from the trust. It found that it is cheaper, and thus a better use of grants, to place papers in freely available journals.

Meanwhile, the trust feels it's not getting enough bang for its bucks from hybrid publications. These hybrids charge scientists a decent wedge of cash to publish their work, charge people for journal subscriptions, and offer access to individual articles for free. In other words, the foundation would rather scientists submit their work to open-access journals, which are cheaper than hybrids in terms of publication and subscription costs. "We find that hybrid open access continues to be significantly more expensive than fully open access journals, and that as a whole, the level of service provided by hybrid publishers is poor and is not delivering what we are paying for," the trust said.

Related: Wellcome Trust and COAF Open Access Spend, 2014-15

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takyon writes:

An extradited businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack US defense contractors and send export-controlled data to China:

A businessman from China pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major US defense contractors including Boeing Co, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Su Bin, 50, faces up to five years in jail for allegedly conspiring with two other people in China to obtain sensitive military information and export it illegally. Su's attorney Robert Anello said in an email: "In resolving this matter Su Bin hopes to move on with his life."

According to US government court filings, Su began working in 2008 to target US companies. In 2010, he emailed a file to an unnamed individual in China which contained information about Boeing's C-17 military transport aircraft. Su also helped his co-conspirators decide which company employees to target, and translated documents from English to Chinese. Arrested in Canada in 2014, Su ultimately consented to US extradition, the Justice Department said. Canadian media reported in January that two Chinese soldiers conspired with Su to obtain blueprints for F-35s and other jets.

The F-35 design documents are a trap!

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

When cancer cells migrate from the primary tumor they have to squeeze through densely packed cells of the tumor and surrounding microenvironment. New research (DOI: 10.1126/science.aad7297) shows that the physical stress of migrating through tight spaces can result in the rupture of the nuclear envelope and damage to the cell's genome:

See also: Cells can do the twist, but sometimes their nuclei burst

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Phoenix666 writes:

As Yves Meyer was getting ready to publish a detailed mathematical proof that he had spent months working on, he decided do a final search of the existing literature. In the reference list of one of the papers he had just peer-reviewed, he noticed what he describes as a "bizarre" paper published in 1959 by Andrew Paul Guinand. Upon further investigation, he was shocked to discover that Guinand had formulated the exact same proof to solve the same problem that Meyer had been working on, though the solution had remained deeply buried and completely forgotten.

Meyer, a Professor Emeritus at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, accordingly revised and published his paper [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600685113], which appeared just a few weeks ago in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In his work, he proves that there is not just one, but many Poisson summation formulas, using a simpler solution than was previously known.

Meyer—who has spent his career making fundamental contributions to wavelet theory and number theory, and recently won the Gauss Prize—explains that at first he was somewhat embarrassed that someone else had made the same discovery many decades earlier. However, he also interprets the experience as an example of a more universal pattern: that all of human discovery builds on what comes before.

"Suddenly I understood what I have been steadily doing in my scientific life," Meyer told Phys.org. "I was transmitting a heritage. Today I can express my gratitude to Guinand, who was a great person, both as a human being and as a mathematician."

That's a tale to strike terror into the heart of every grad student...

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

The future in home delivery is quickly approaching -- in fact, it's travelling at six kilometres per hour and has that milk you ordered 10 minutes ago. [...] Under a new company called Starship, the creators of Skype have begun testing an autonomous delivery robot capable of rolling to your house with whatever items you’ve ordered from local businesses.

[...] The robot has sensors that let it stop and avoid any pedestrians or other obstacles. It's also monitored by humans, who can take over if there are any problems, or activate a speaker to let thieves know they're being filmed. [...] Starship has already tested their creation in the U.K. and is now letting it drive around Washington D.C., with hopes it'll soon begin crawling around sidewalks everywhere.

Source: Self-driving robot might be future of home delivery

takyon: We reported on this Skype robot and similar services back in November.

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Phoenix666 writes:

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States produced 254 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2013. And though 87 million tons of that material from the landfill was diverted through recycling and composting, what if the nation could do better? What if landfills could become local sources of clean energy production? Better yet, what if all waste streams, like those from agricultural, livestock, and food production, could essentially become fuel refineries at a local level?

It's a question being asked by a collaboration of National Laboratory researchers who want to create energy conversion technologies designed to mine the carbon out of waste processes that traditionally have been an environmental burden to the planet and a disposal headache for humans.

"The idea of using waste as energy source really isn't new," said Cynthia Jenks, Assistant Director of Scientific Planning and Division Director for Chemical and Biological Sciences for the Ames Laboratory. "For example, some municipal and regional utilities already burn landfill waste as a source for electrical power. But we think there are better, cleaner, and more efficient ways to get at that carbon and use the potential energy from it."
...
The goals are specific. Make the technology as simple as possible, yet adaptable to diverse waste streams. Locate it right at the waste stream source, whether it's a landfill, livestock farm, or commercial facility. Make it easy and economical to produce and deliver through the use of modular manufacturing.

Even the idea is recycled.

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takyon writes:

Michael Hayden has suggested that a British exit from the European Union could enhance UK's security:

A former CIA director has said the European Union "in some ways gets in the way" of security services, as the debate continues over whether the UK would be safer in or out of the EU. Retired general Michael Hayden told the BBC the union was "not a natural contributor to national security".

Home Secretary Theresa May has said there are "good reasons" on the security front to stay in the EU. An in-out referendum on UK membership of the EU takes place on 23 June. Security has been a key argument in the debate so far, with In campaigners saying being in the EU makes the UK safer, and Out campaigners arguing the opposite. It has intensified following Tuesday's terror attacks on Brussels, which claimed 31 lives. Former MI6 head Sir Richard Dearlove said EU-based security bodies were of "little consequence" and that leaving the EU could boost Britain's security. But the former head of GCHQ, Sir David Omand, has said the UK enjoys the best of both worlds by staying in - remaining part of an established information-sharing network while still retaining control of the border.

EU lawmakers are skeptical of a new data-sharing agreement with the U.S.:

European Union lawmakers and privacy officials expressed skepticism March 17 that the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield pact will prove a viable replacement for the invalidated U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework.

At a hearing on Privacy Shield held by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), lawmakers said that there seemed to be inadequate safeguards against U.S. intelligence agency bulk collection of EU citizen's personal data transferred to the U.S. by companies. Lawmakers also said that an U.S. State Department ombudsman—to be created within the Privacy Shield pact to hear EU citizens complaints about U.S. government surveillance of their data—has insufficient legal standing and independence.

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Phoenix666 writes:

The Rockefeller Family Fund is proud to announce its intent to divest from fossil fuels. The process will be completed as quickly as possible, as we work around the complications of modern finance, which is increasingly dominated by alternative investments and hedge funds.

While the global community works to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, it makes little sense—financially or ethically—to continue holding investments in these companies. There is no sane rationale for companies to continue to explore for new sources of hydrocarbons. The science and intent enunciated by the Paris agreement cannot be more clear: far from finding additional sources of fossil fuels, we must keep most of the already discovered reserves in the ground if there is any hope for human and natural ecosystems to survive and thrive in the decades ahead.

We would be remiss if we failed to focus on what we believe to be the morally reprehensible conduct on the part of ExxonMobil. Evidence appears to suggest that the company worked since the 1980s to confuse the public about climate change's march, while simultaneously spending millions to fortify its own infrastructure against climate change's destructive consequences and track new exploration opportunities as the Arctic's ice receded. Appropriate authorities will determine if the company violated any laws, but as a matter of good governance, we cannot be associated with a company exhibiting such apparent contempt for the public interest.

The full statement is here. The Rockefeller fortune was founded on oil, with its company Standard Oil. Their divestment from fossil fuels is as significant as it would be with Bill Gates going all in on FOSS and panning Microsoft.

takyon: As reported at Reuters, CBS, and The Guardian. The NYT and CBC also report that the Securities and Exchange Commission is forcing Exxon Mobil to put a climate change resolution to a shareholder vote.

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takyon writes:

Local councils across England and Wales have recommended a tax break on ciders and wines with less alcohol by volume, in order to combat drinking problems:

Weaker beers, ciders, wines and sprits are what is needed to tackle drink-related health problems, local councils have said. The Local Government Association (LGA) has also called on ministers to extend tax breaks on lower-strength 2.8% beers to include ciders and wines. The call has been welcomed by industry bodies. The LGA represents 370 councils in England and Wales with responsibility for public health. The cost to the NHS of dealing with excessive alcohol consumption is estimated to be £3.5bn a year, according to the LGA.

Tony Page, the licensing spokesman for the LGA, said: "Increasing the availability of zero alcohol and weaker strength drinks will help people live healthier lives by helping to control drinking levels and tackle the harm caused by excessive drinking. With a new generation of non-drinkers on the rise, there is a growing demand for greater choice in alcohol-free and weaker drinks, with several 'dry bars' opening up across the country. Tax breaks for beer have helped fuel a rise in low-strength products. This should now be extended to cider, wine and spirits." He also said that drinking habits were changing and "brewers needed to capitalise on this by producing a range of different options" for people.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that excessive consumption of alcohol is also associated with violent crime. In just over a half of all instances of violent crime in England and Wales in 2013-14, the victim believed that the perpetrator was drunk.

According to the UK's Department of Health, there is no "safe" level of drinking.

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takyon writes:

Scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute have created a new synthetic organism with the least amount of genes seemingly possible needed to live independently. Almost a third of the organism's genes are of unknown function:

In 2010 the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) shocked the scientific world by creating the first synthetic cell, Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0, which contained slightly over 1 million base pairs and 901 genes. This was a significant achievement in the field of synthetic biology and allowed scientists to ask questions about which genes and metabolic pathways were absolutely essential for sustaining organismal life processes. Yet, the researchers felt they could improve upon their original design and strip away even more genes without compromising the cell's overall health.

Now, the team of scientists from JCVI that were involved with version 1.0 teamed up with researchers from Synthetic Genomics (SGI) to assemble the first minimal synthetic bacterial cell, which they dubbed JCVI-syn3.0. Using JCVI-syn1.0 as a template, the investigators created an organism that has almost half the number of base pairs (531,560) of the original and a total of 473 genes, making it the smallest genome of any organism that can be grown in laboratory media. Astonishingly, of these genes, 149 are of unknown biological function.

Also at The Washington Post , The Atlantic , BBC News, and Scientific American .

Here's a story about the "artificial life" breakthrough from 2010.

Design and synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad6253)

2010 article: Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.1190719)

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c0lo writes:

Special Broadcasting Service Australia reports that an experimental hybrid fish spawned alone in its little fish tank:

Imagine the shock when you check your aquarium with a lone female fish only to discover it's somehow managed to produce four babies.

This recently happened to researchers at Hull University in the UK - the fish in question was a hybrid of two common fish varieties from the cichlid family, a popular type of tropical freshwater fish you'd often find in home aquariums.

An experimental cross between the genetically close Pundamilia pundamilia and Neochromis omnicaeruleus, the unassuming yellow-coloured female was kept in isolation in a small aquarium to be individually photographed, just like 80 of its female siblings.

To researchers' surprise, one day they found that despite isolation, this fish had managed to spawn, producing actual fish babies.

While such feats in fish are not entirely unheard of, this wasn't really supposed to happen, and was documented as a super-rare case of 'selfing' in a sexually reproducing vertebrate species. The results were published this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science [open, DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150684].

Now, selfing stands for self-fertilisation in biology: it's when an organism has all the necessary tools to reproduce and doesn't need the help of a member of the opposite sex to have babies. You'll recognise that as a pretty common occurrence in flowers (think self-pollination), and also hermaphroditic animals such as freshwater snails.

However, vertebrates normally stick to actually having sex of some sort, exchanging reproductive material between the male and the female.

Note: selfing is different from parthenogenesis (producing viable offsprings without contribution from the male sex).
(maybe needless to say, taking selfies won't directly result in getting pregnant).

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Individuals with a psychiatric disorder involving recurrent bouts of extreme, impulsive anger--road rage, for example--are more than twice as likely to have been exposed to a common parasite than healthy individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis.

In a study involving 358 adult subjects, a team led by researchers from the University of Chicago found that toxoplasmosis, a relatively harmless parasitic infection carried by an estimated 30 percent of all humans, is associated with intermittent explosive disorder and increased aggression.

The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on March 23, 2016.

"Our work suggests that latent infection with the toxoplasma gondii parasite may change brain chemistry in a fashion that increases the risk of aggressive behavior," said senior study author Emil Coccaro, MD, Ellen. C. Manning Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago.

"However, we do not know if this relationship is causal, and not everyone that tests positive for toxoplasmosis will have aggression issues," Coccaro said, adding that additional studies are needed.

Other people have studied the mind-altering effects of toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasma gondii Infection: Relationship With Aggression in Psychiatric Subjects (open, DOI: 10.4088/JCP.14m09621)

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An Anonymous Coward writes in with a Science blurb about honey bee communication:

[Y]ears ago, researchers discovered that foraging European honey bees, A. mellifera, make "stop signals" in the hive if they've encountered a spider, for example, on a flower. They head-butt individual bees and give a brief, vibrating pulse—an alarm that tells the others not to travel to the dangerous food source.

[...] [When Asian bees were attacked by hornets] they made stop signals that increased in pitch according to the size of the predator [...] And when facing wasps at the entrance to the hive, the guard bees and returning foragers made distinctive and lengthy stop signals that let others know danger lurked outside [...] In response, foragers ready to leave the hive froze in place, remaining in the safety of the nest, while nest defenders formed a ball around the wasp, and attempted to kill it with their combined body heat.

Honey Bee Inhibitory Signaling Is Tuned to Threat Severity and Can Act as a Colony Alarm Signal (open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002423)

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Phoenix666 writes:

New fossils from Kenya suggest that an early hominid species—Australopithecus afarensis—lived far eastward beyond the Great Rift Valley and much farther than previously thought. An international team of paleontologists led by Emma Mbua of Mount Kenya University and Masato Nakatsukasa of Kyoto University report findings of fossilized teeth and forearm bone from an adult male and two infant A. afarensis from an exposure eroded by the Kantis River in Ongata-Rongai, a settlement in the outskirts of Nairobi.

"So far, all other A. afarensis fossils had been identified from the center of the Rift Valley," explains Nakatsukasa. "A previous Australopithecus bahrelghazali discovery in Chad confirmed that our hominid ancestor's distribution covered central Africa, but this was the first time an Australopithecus fossil has been found east of the Rift Valley. This has important implications for what we understand about our ancestor's distribution range, namely that Australopithecus could have covered a much greater area by this age."

A. afarensis is believed to have lived 3,700,000-3,000,000 years ago, as characterized by fossils like "Lucy" from Ethiopia.

Stable isotope analysis revealed that the Kantis region was humid, but had a plain-like environment with fewer trees compared to other sites in the Great Rift Valley where A. afaransis fossils had previously appeared. "The hominid must have discovered suitable habitats in the Kenyan highlands. It seems that A. afaransis was good at adapting to varying environments," notes Nakatsukasa.

Kantis: A new Australopithecus site on the shoulders of the Rift Valley near Nairobi, Kenya (DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.01.006)

Original Submission