Category: Science

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The great white shark, one of the most fearsome predators in the world’s oceans in both fact and fiction, is a formidable creature — right down to its genes. Scientists on Monday said they have decoded the genome of Earth’s largest predatory fish, detecting numerous genetic traits that help explain its remarkable…

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese scientists will test the use of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to treat spinal cord injuries, a health ministry panel that approved the research project said on Monday. The research team from Tokyo’s Keio University planned to inject about two million iPS cells into the damaged areas of an individual patient…

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – NASA said on Friday it was weighing an option to buy two additional astronaut seats aboard a Russian rocket as a contingency plan against further delays in the launch systems being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing Co. A possible purchase “provides flexibility and back-up capability” as the companies build…

KING GEORGE ISLAND, Antarctica (Reuters) – In a remote island outpost on the edge of the Antarctic, hundreds of miles from the southern tip of Chile, scientists at a research base are scouring the ice for clues about everything from climate change to cures for cancer. Chile’s Escudero base on King George Island acts as…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Opportunity, a remarkably durable NASA rover designed to roll along the surface of Mars for three months, has stopped communicating with Earth after 15 years of service, officials said on Wednesday, ending a mission that astounded the U.S. space agency. Engineers lost contact with the solar-powered vehicle on June 10 during…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A relatively complete skeleton of a long-necked, long-tailed plant-eater excavated from a rocky cliff above a Tanzanian river is providing insight into the early evolution of a dinosaur group that later included Earth’s largest-ever land animals. Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of fossils of a dinosaur called Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia that measured…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have discovered in 2.1-billion-year-old black shale from a quarry in Gabon the earliest evidence of a revolutionary development in the history of life on Earth, the ability of organisms to move from one place to another on their own. The researchers on Monday described exquisitely preserved fossils of small tubular structures…

(Reuters) – The University of California will soon be granted a potentially valuable patent on the revolutionary gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, according to a document filed by the U.S. patent office on Friday. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to grant the patent could further fuel a long-running rivalry between the university and…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A small tropical reef fish was able to recognize itself in a mirror, scientists said on Thursday in a finding that raises provocative questions about assessing self-awareness and cognitive abilities in animals. The study involved experiments in which the fish species Labroides dimidiatus, called the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, was given a mirror…

SANT CUGAT, Spain (Reuters) – David Aguilar has built himself a robotic prosthetic arm using Lego pieces after being born without a right forearm due to a rare genetic condition. Aguilar, 19, who studies bioengineering at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Spain, is already using his fourth model of the colorful prosthetic and his…