Reuters: Science News

Another reason to cover your cough: pets at risk

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:56:30 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who think they may have H1N1 flu need to stay away from work, avoid sneezing on their spouses and children and now, they have someone else to worry about infecting too -- their pets.

WHO says pandemic flu on rise in China, Japan

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:07:10 GMT

GENEVA (Reuters) - H1N1 swine flu is on the rise in China and Japan after triggering an unusually early start to the winter influenza season in Europe, Central Asia and North America, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Hu says China seeks peaceful use of airspace

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:57:11 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports the peaceful exploration and use of space, President Hu Jintao said on Friday, days after its top air force officials sparked concerns with talk of a "Great Wall of steel in the blue sky."

Study suggests peat CO2 credits more valuable

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:39:22 GMT

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesia-based study is showing carbon-rich tropical peat lands trap more greenhouse gases than first thought, driving up their potential value on the carbon market and strengthening the case for their protection.

Canada to investigate disappearing Pacific salmon

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:23:17 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada will launch an investigation into why far fewer sockeye salmon than scientists had predicted returned to the Fraser River on the Pacific Coast this summer.

Company sequences whole human genome for $1,700

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:24:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Want to know your entire DNA sequence? A California company has done it for as little as $1,700.

Canada to investigate disappearing Pacific salmon

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:02:35 GMT

Scientists halt brain disease with new gene therapy

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:36:15 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have managed to halt a rare and fatal brain disease with an experimental gene therapy technique using a deactivated version of the AIDS virus, a study published on Thursday showed.

China says space plans peaceful

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:42:50 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry insisted on Thursday that the country's intentions in space were peaceful, after comments from top air force brass preparing to celebrate a 60th anniversary worried analysts in the United States.

Bypass surgery safer using heart-lung pump: study

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:36:17 GMT

BOSTON (Reuters) - Allowing the heart to keep beating during coronary bypass surgery is riskier than stopping the heart and using a heart-lung machine to keep the patient alive, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Bypass surgery safer using heart-lung pump: study

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:00:57 GMT

Space junk storm will up mission costs: experts

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:58:48 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - A growing storm of debris flying around in space is dramatically increasing the risk of orbital crashes, and steps to avoid them will add greatly to the costs of future space flight, British space experts say.

Pentagon eyes crash analysis on 1,300 satellites

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:11:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites on a daily basis for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end.

U.S. eyes "intent" of China's space programs

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:32:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military needs to deepen dialogue with China to better understand the intent of its space programs, a U.S. general said on Tuesday, after a Chinese commander announced plans to develop offensive military capabilities in space.

French anthropologist Levi-Strauss dies at 100

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:40:46 GMT

PARIS (Reuters) - French intellectual Claude Levi-Strauss, the founder of structural anthropology, has died at the age of 100, his publishing house Plon said on Tuesday.

Pig DNA mapped: may help with vaccines

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:39:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An international team of researchers said Monday it had mapped the DNA of a domestic pig, work they say could help lead to better breeding techniques as well as improve vaccines against diseases such as swine flu.

One of Tsavo's lions ate mostly human prey

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:39:08 GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two man-eating lions terrorized Kenya during the building of a railroad bridge over the Tsavo River in the late 19th century, but only one was making regular meals of human prey, researchers said on Monday.

Lawsuit against gene patents can proceed: judge

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:59:38 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit challenging patents on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer can move forward, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday.

Pig DNA mapped: may help with breeding, vaccines

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:31:31 GMT

Deforestation sped demise of Nasca in Peru: study

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:57:06 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - The mysterious people who etched the "Nasca Lines" across deserts in Peru hastened their own demise by clearing forests 1,500 years ago, according to a study on Monday.

Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:02:58 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Scuba divers are exploring the depths of a volcanic lake in Guatemala to find clues about an ancient sacred island where Mayan pilgrims flocked to worship before it was submerged by rising waters.

Ariane rocket launches two television satellites

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:28:30 GMT

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - An Ariane-5 rocket placed two television satellites in orbit after blasting off from French Guiana on Thursday, space officials said.

Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone: expert

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:01:51 GMT

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert said on Thursday.

Bad driver? Blame your genes

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:33:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No need to curse that bad driver weaving in and out of the lane in front of you -- he cannot help it, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

Scientists see blast from past -- 13 billion years ago

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:20:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have seen the furthest back in time ever, measuring light from a star that exploded 13 billion years ago, just after the dawn of the universe.