Today's Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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No big Fukushima health impact seen: U.N. body chairman
Tue,31 Jan 2012 11:14 AM PST
Reuters -  VIENNA (Reuters) - The health impact of last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan appears relatively small thanks partly to prompt evacuations, the chairman of a U.N. scientific body investigating the effects of radiation said on Tuesday. The fact that some radioactive releases spread over the ocean instead of populated areas also contributed to limiting the consequences, said Wolfgang Weiss of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). "As far as the doses we have seen from the screening of the population ... they are very low," Weiss told Reuters. ...
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Russia blames Mars probe failure on space radiation
Tue,31 Jan 2012 11:09 AM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia blamed radiation on Tuesday for a computer glitch that doomed its Mars moon mission, but space industry experts cast doubt on the findings of an investigation into the crash of what was to be Moscow's first deep space mission in two decades. The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was stranded in Earth orbit after launch in November and crashed into the Pacific Ocean this month, one of five recent botched Russian launches. Space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin also said Moscow would postpone the next U.S. ...
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Snowy owls soar south from Arctic in rare mass migration
Sat,28 Jan 2012 09:53 AM PST
Reuters -  SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called "unbelievable." Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on rooftops in Montana, gliding over golf courses in Missouri and soaring over shorelines in Massachusetts. ...
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Arctic ice melt lifts hopes for Russian maritime trade
Fri,27 Jan 2012 09:07 AM PST
Reuters -  SEVERODVINSK, Russia (Reuters) - When severe snowstorms prevented life-sustaining fuel supplies from reaching the frozen Alaskan town of Nome, U.S. officials turned to a Russian company for help. The relief mission through perilous, ice-choked seas was the first mid-winter fuel delivery to western Alaska, capping a year of pioneering shipping as oil and gas development and climate change increase traffic along northern trade routes sought by centuries of Arctic explorers. ...
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Russia to delay space mission due to technical problems
Fri,27 Jan 2012 08:38 AM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to delay the next mission carrying U.S. and Russian astronauts to the International Space Station by several weeks due to problems with the spaceship's descent vehicle, Interfax news agency quoted an industry source as saying Friday. The expected delay follows a series of technical mishaps that marred Russia's celebration of 50 years last year since Yuri Gagarin's pioneering first human space flight. The space industry source told Interfax that the launch, originally set for March 30, would be delayed by several weeks, possibly until May. ... Full Story | Top |
Illumina sets response timeline to Roche offer
Fri,27 Jan 2012 08:11 AM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. gene sequencing company Illumina Inc said on Friday it will tell shareholders within 10 business days of its position on a $5.7 billion takeover bid from Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG. In the meantime, Illumina advised shareholders not to act on Roche's tender offer to acquire Illumina at $44.50 per share. Roche unveiled its bid earlier this week. Illumina also postponed its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, previously scheduled for Tuesday, until the board completes its review of the Roche offer. ... Full Story | Top |
Rivals see no need to match Roche's big gene bet
Fri,27 Jan 2012 07:38 AM PST
Reuters -  DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG's rivals Sanofi SA and Novartis AG see no need to match the Swiss drug maker in buying a gene-decoding business like Illumina Inc and reckon they can do partnerships instead. The relaxed attitude in the face of Roche's $5.7 billion hostile bid for Illumina suggests the chance of a counterbid from big drug makers is slim, although diagnostics and IT companies may yet show interest. ...
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Kepler telescope team finds 11 new solar systems
Thu,26 Jan 2012 02:44 PM PST
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday. The discoveries boost the list of confirmed extra-solar planets to 729, including 60 credited to the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. ...
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Gingrich calls for moon base, space contests
Wed,25 Jan 2012 06:25 PM PST
Reuters -  COCOA, Florida (Reuters) - Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich called on Wednesday for a base on the moon and an expanded federal purse for prize money to stimulate private-sector space projects. "We want Americans to think boldly about the future," Gingrich said during a campaign rally in Florida, where he outlined a space policy initiative that would cut NASA's bureaucracy and expand on private-sector space programs championed by President Barack Obama. "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," Gingrich said. ...
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U.S. experts urge more study of nanotechnology threat
Wed,25 Jan 2012 12:28 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Studying the potential health hazards of nanotechnology will require an additional $24 million a year to close the knowledge gap about the tiny particles used in a fast-growing array of consumer products, the National Research Council said on Wednesday. A new federal oversight agency is also required to integrate research by private business, universities and international groups, the non-profit research council said in a study sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ... Full Story | Top |
Psychedelic mushroom trips point to new depression drugs
Wed,25 Jan 2012 09:08 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and British scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression. Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments. ...
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Delta diverts polar flights due to solar storm
Tue,24 Jan 2012 12:56 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines was diverting some flights on polar routes between Detroit and Asia to avoid disruptions to aircraft communications by a strong solar radiation storm, the airline said on Tuesday. The storm, considered the strongest since 2005, has caused minor disruptions for U.S. airlines, and Delta said it altered routes for "a handful" of flights, and that the changes were adding about 15 minutes to travel times. "We are undergoing a series of solar bursts in the sky that are impacting the northern side of the world," Delta spokesman Anthony Black said. ...
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First patients shown to improve with embryonic stem cells
Mon,23 Jan 2012 10:53 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Before treatment, the 51-year-old graphic artist was legally blind, unable to read a single letter on a standard eye chart. She has suffered from Stargardt's disease, the most common form of macular degeneration in young patients, since she was a teenager, and it was getting progressively worse. A second patient, aged 78, suffered from dry macular degeneration -- the leading cause of blindness in the elderly -- and could not even see well enough to go shopping. ...
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Sumatran elephants driven closer to extinction: WWF
Mon,23 Jan 2012 07:39 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - The Sumatran elephant could be extinct in the wild in under 30 years unless immediate steps are taken to protect its rapidly diminishing habitat, environmental group WWF said on Tuesday. IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, raised its listing of the Sumatran elephant subspecies from "endangered" to "critically endangered" after nearly 70 percent of its habitat and halve its population has been lost in one generation. ... Full Story | Top |
Weaker sun will not delay global warming: study
Mon,23 Jan 2012 01:41 PM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gases, a report said Monday. The study, by Britain's Meteorological Office and the university of Reading, found that the Sun's output would decrease up until 2100 but this would only lead to a fall in global temperatures of 0.08 degrees Celsius. Scientists have warned that more extreme weather is likely across the globe this century as the Earth's climate warms. ...
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