In a new study published in the journal EBioMedicine, researchers with Belgium’s University of Leuvan report the discovery of a new strain of HIV which may prove to be far more lethal to patients in the West. Originally found in patients in Cuba, the new strain poses particular threats to those infected with HIV as it can develop into AIDS within three years of infection. Though efforts have significantly lowered the infection rates of HIV, as well as prolonged lives with the help of antiretroviral drugs, researchers fear that the fast-moving virus may advance too quickly to treat.
In light of news that healthcare workers with the Red Cross planned to disinfect a local school infected with Ebola, crowds of central Guinean residents attacked an Ebola facility and healthcare workers, government officials reported Saturday, Feb. 14. Though the healthcare workers continue to try to fight and contain the disease, local uprisings have interfered greatly with their work in the field. And government officials are saying that the counterproductive actions of locals are forcefully giving the Ebola virus the upper hand.
When better than Valentine’s Day to discuss matters of the heart? As February happens to be American Heart Month, dedicated to heart health and the physical fitness of everyone around the world, it seems that NASA and astronauts aboard the International Space Station are taking the promise of heart health to new heights. A new year, a new crew, and a new attitude has come aboard the International Space Station, and this time they’re vowing to keep their hearts just as healthy as their minds and our thirst for knowledge in space exploration.
Thanks to some clever innovation, and one determined Italian astronaut currently stationed aboard the International Space Station, espresso and aroma of dark-roasted coffee beans has finally reached outer space. But what about the far off planet of Mars? Though the planet may be desolate, and according to current reports, completely absent of life, a new image released by the European Space Agency (ESA) looks like the red planet may have a place for caffè.
If you were to guess the amount of tonnage of trash in the sea, we bet that you’d be off by a couple of millions. That’s right, millions with an “M”. You may think that you can estimate the trash based on what you see at the beach, but researchers say that the calculation is a bit more complex than what the average guesser might think.
In a race against the clock, volunteers in New Zealand’s famous Golden Bay are attempting to save the near 200 pilot whales that beached themselves early Friday morning, Feb. 13. In what researchers say is the largest beaching event in over a decade, the pod of pilot whales became trapped on a sandbar known as the “Farewell Spit”, which is a common trap for migrating whales.
Unfortunately, when it comes to vision, humans aren’t the most adapted to see the world as it really is. Only capable of seeing a relatively small portion of the electromagnetic waves possible in the spectrum, our view is narrowed to that within the visible spectrum. But thanks to our mental aptitudes, researchers are able to solve this problem by developing imaging techniques that view our world, and the universe, in a different way.
Ever wonder, like so many other children, exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Well, while many others couldn’t resist the temptation of biting their way to center of the sugary treat, researchers at New York University have officially calculated exactly how much work is needed to get to the center of the beloved lollipop. And it turns out that it is hundreds more than the talking owl once told us.
Doomed for an end 700 million years in the making, a pair of white dwarf stars will inevitably merge and meet their doom and researchers are saying that the violent fate is unlike any that they’ve seen before.
As NASA researchers from the Goddard Space Flight Center revealed this week what lies on the dark side of the moon, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC reveals that space artifacts from that region of the moon may have been hiding here on Earth since the return of Apollo 11. In what appears to be yet another giant leap in the Apollo 11 mission, it turns out that the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, also brought home with him a bag full of keepsakes from his adventure. And they were hidden in his cupboard for more than 40 years.
The recent full moon isn’t the only lunar news to come out of the woodworks this week. It appears that its hidden face is also making headlines here on Earth too. Though historically shrouded in mystery, even with NASA astronauts and other space agencies touching down on the surface of the moon, it appears that researchers are now able to reveal what lies on the “dark side” of the moon thanks to five years of mapping data collected courtesy of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Ever wonder what lies on the dark side of the moon? It’s a perspective unlike any that humans have ever seen, and it has been a question that researchers and civilizations have asked for thousands of years. But now, thanks to data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA is showing us exactly what lies on the dark side of the moon, and the view of our solar system whirling around it.
As temperatures on the west coast of the United States start to inch closer to that of summer weather, the east coast continues to face winter storms for the record books. In a new image published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-East satellite just this morning, NOAA and NASA researchers who collaborate on the project reveal another large snowstorm, bringing several feet of snow to the New England territory.
After 17 years of waiting for his late night dream to come to fruition, former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is going to have to wait a little longer to see his satellite launched into space. A US Air Force ground radar malfunction delayed SpaceX’s launch of the 1,250-pound satellite nicknamed “GoreSat” this weekend, however, in spite of planning a relaunch this morning, the rocket company decided to delay another 24 hours due to weather concerns at its Florida launch site.
Seventeen years after the thought came to his mind, former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is finally getting his wish. This evening, Saturday Feb. 7 at 6:10pm, a 1,250-pound satellite nicknamed “GoreSat” is going off into space at last.
Releasing the sharpest set of images from within the asteroid belt to date, this week NASA researchers have filled the internet with their hopes for what may lie on the dwarf planet Ceres. Only a month before NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will enter orbit around the 590-mile-wide dwarf, found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the space agency is hopeful that their mission will reveal a lot more about the small planet and the secrets its surface may hold.
Only a month before starting its orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres in our solar system's main asteroid belt, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed the sharpest images of the mysterious dwarf planet to date.
Looking to gather a clearer view of the history of our Universe, researchers with the ESA’s Planck satellite constructed a new image of the entire sky, utilizing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fossil light originating only 380,000 years after the creation of the Universe. The new sky map uncovers the polarized light from the Universe’s early formation, and reveals that the first stars may have originated far later than researchers once thought.
After a head lice home remedy went awry last Saturday, Jan. 31, one Springfield, Mass. toddler died. While typical treatments include simple insecticide shampoos, the toddler’s parents decided to opt for an alternative treatment using household items, which resulted in the suffocation of the 18-month-old.
Though researchers have studied the four natural satellites orbiting around Jupiter, a new set of images courtesy of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a rare new view of three of the moons in action. In a rare, and short-lived event, three of the moons moved across the striped face of the gas giant, casting shadows on the planet below.
While gastronomists and foodies alike have searched for new methods of altering the chemical composition of foods, chemists at UC Irvine and the University of Western Australia have found a way to undo some of the changes. In fact, after being tasked with finding new methods for reducing the costs of pharmaceutical development, the researchers have found a way to deconstruct the problem and solved the puzzle of unboiling an egg.
As the month of love kicks off, with Valentine’s Day only a few days away, gentlemen out there are looking for the perfect gift. Money not being an object, diamond and floral sales skyrocket in February, but even in spite of the size of their trust funds, no man is able to buy a perfect night sky. Fortunately for them, however, February will be a skywatcher’s dream even without any meteor showers on the near horizon.
While articles this week have pointed to the potential implications of UC Irvine’s newest research, be it in the pharmaceutical or the food industry in spite of its current limitations, now lead author Gregory Weiss is stepping up and answering the question of: Why would we want to unboil an egg?
While NASA researchers are still waiting for the initial readings from their newest mission, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission which plans to give researchers and farmers vital information about the moisture of any given soil on the face of the Earth, another mission has its sights set on the seas this week. Releasing a new image courtesy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, researchers at the space agency reveal that while all may seem calm below, the clouds above the Bering Sea tell a tale much more interesting than the waters it hides.
While many may be familiar with Mars’ dusty red surface from the glow it gives, or even the dust-covered mountains traversed by Mars rovers in the past, a new study of a meteorite found in the Moroccan desert has researchers believing that a far different image of the planet lies just below the thin red dust.
While the presence of small pink roses may seem like an innocuous blossom, researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz are finding that as little creatures appear they signal warmer waters to come. No, these pink roses aren’t flora species, they’re hot pink sea slugs found traditionally in southern California tide pools. But as they’ve migrated north, researchers now believe that coastal water temperatures are on the rise, and this could have serious implications farther up on the food chain.
When it comes to cognition, there are few answers on the origins of many behaviors. Neurobiology and social anthropology help researchers understand the development of speech, the correlation of objects or words with physical entities, and even the emergence of faiths. However, when it comes to something as simple as a number line, which is virtually a universal means of discerning small numbers from larger numbers, researchers are stumped. And looking to nature for the answer, a new study published this week in the journal Science, discovered just how universal these number lines are.
While they be fun to look at, a new sight in northern California tide pools are causing quite a bit of concern as the shades of oceanic blue are filled with one-inch blotches of hot pink. The culprits, known as Hopkin’s Rose Nudibranch (Okenia rosacea), are sea slugs common to the warmer waters of southern California. But as water temperatures shift, researchers fear that their migration further up the coast may be a sign of what’s to come.
As climate change issues intensify, and many countries face continuing droughts, NASA’s newest mission plans to offer a bit of assistance in confronting a drying Earth. Sent into orbit just this morning, Saturday Jan. 31 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission plans to give researchers and farmers vital information about the moisture of any given soil on the face of the Earth.
While it may take children a couple of years to learn the true values of arithmetic, a new study conducted by ethologist Dr Rosa Rugani, from the University of Padova, reveals that newborn chicks can not only recognize number patterns but also place them in ascending order from left to right. In fact, while the cognitive ability to count may seem like an acquired trait taught to us in school, Rugani’s recent experiments prove that even those with bird brains can display a knack for “number mapping”.