Science

In this Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an aerial view shows the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in the remote Pingtang county in southwest China's Guizhou province. China has begun operating the world's largest radio telescope to help search for extraterrestrial life. (Liu Xu/Xinhua via AP)

China begins operating world’s largest radio telescope

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope began searching for signals from stars and galaxies and, perhaps, extraterrestrial life.

1 day ago

A corpse flower is shown blooming at Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory in Oakland.

Hold your nose: Stinky corpse flower opens

Named Morphy, the corpse flower began opening Friday afternoon at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H..

4 days ago

This undated photo released by the Israel Antiquities Authority shows an ancient charred scroll destroyed in a fire centuries ago.

Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll

The passages offer the first physical evidence that the version of the Hebrew Bible used today goes back 2,000 years.

6 days ago

Eske Willerslev, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, is seen in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 2.

A single migration from Africa populated rest of the world, studies find

Three separate research teams conclude that all non-Africans today trace their ancestry to a single population that left the continent.

6 days ago

Traffic makes its way along Allegheny River Boulevard through high water at Washington Boulevard.

Finding an environmental solution for the flooding on Washington Boulevard

Daylighting Negley Run and raising Washington Boulevard could solve chronic flooding along Washington Boulevard.

1 week ago

Ezra Coles, a mechanical engineer for Westinghouse and a 1997 graduate of Westinghouse High School, speaks to students Friday at Westinghouse Academy 6-12 as he and other engineers visited the school.

Westinghouse engineers visit Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12

Employees from Westinghouse Electric visit the namesake high school to encourage students to pursue science and math careers.

1 week ago

Barmak Heshmat poses with his prototype scanning device in a lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Researchers at MIT have come up with a technology that can read the pages of a book without opening the cover, a development that could help museums better analyze antique books and ancient texts.

This device can read the pages of a book without opening it

Researches say the device could someday be used by museums to scan the contents of old books too fragile to handle.

2 weeks ago

NASA studying twins to find out long-term health effects of living in space

The experiment studies Scott Kelly, who circled the globe about 16 times a day in the space station, and is his identical twin, Mark Kelly.

2 weeks ago

This artist's rendering made available by NASA on Tuesday shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism.

NASA to land probe on asteroid after Earth nearly avoids one

The near-miss came just days before NASA plans to launch an $800 million probe that will land on a much larger asteroid.

3 weeks ago

The photo released by European Space Agency ESA on Monday shows a photo of the comet lander Philae in a crack on the right side of a photo taken by Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera Friday from a distance of 2.7 km of the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Spacecraft that landed on comet is found soon before mission’s end

Researchers said knowing the precise location of Philae is not just good for comet science, it’s also an emotional relief.

3 weeks ago

This image provided by NASA, shows an inactive volcano on the surface of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists said the volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres is about half as tall as Mount Everest. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA via AP)

Dwarf planet Ceres may hold a towering ice volcano

The data suggest that this kind of geologic activity might be more common in the solar system than previously assumed.

3 weeks ago

In this 2008 photo, a baby gorilla is held by an adult in the Virunga National Park, near the Uganda border in eastern Congo. The eastern gorilla has been listed as critically endangered, making four of the six great ape species only one step away from extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Endangered Species.

World’s largest gorilla moved to ‘critically endangered’ status

Just 3,800 Grauer’s gorilla remain, a sharp decline in numbers for the world’s largest gorilla.

3 weeks ago

Multiple explosions continued for several minutes at the launchpad of the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket in Cape Canaveral this morning.

Explosion rocks at SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral

There were no injuries, but the rocket and the satellite onboard were destroyed, SpaceX said in a statement.

3 weeks ago

In an undated handout photo, Allen Nutman and Vickie Bennet of the University of Wollongong in Australia are seen with a specimen thought to be layers of sediment packed together by microbial communities.

3.7-billion-year-old fossils may be the oldest signs of life on Earth

If confirmed, this would push the established fossil record more than 200 million years deeper into the Earth’s early history.

3 weeks ago

FedEx has pledged $5 million to go toward the Carnegie Science Center's Spark campaign, the center announced on Wednesday.

FedEx makes $5M pledge to Carnegie Science Center

The gift, which would go toward the North Shore facility’s expansion and education campaign, represents its largest corporate donation.

3 weeks ago

Six scientists celebrate as they exit from their Mars simulation habitat Sunday on the Big Island, Hawaii.

Scientists exit Hawaii dome after yearlong Mars simulation

For the past year, the group in the dome on a Mauna Loa mountain could go outside only while wearing spacesuits.

4 weeks ago

This undated photo made available by Eniko Kubinyi of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday shows trained dogs involved in a study to investigate how dogs process speech posing around a scanner.

Good boy! Dogs know what you’re saying, study suggests

Researchers found that dogs processed words with the left hemisphere and used the right hemisphere to process pitch — just like people.

4 weeks ago

President Barack Obama will host the Frontiers Conference in October.

Obama to visit city for innovation conference

Pitt and Carnegie Mellon are collaborating with the White House on an October “Frontiers Conference” exploring innovation.

4 weeks ago

Mark Perlin started work on TrueAllele 22 years ago, and the computer program has been revised 25 times since. A point of pride for him is that the fully automated process, he believes, takes human bias out of DNA mixture interpretation.

Legal question: How do you cross-examine a computer?

Defense attorneys, whose client faces a conviction, want to analyze how a program’s findings placed their client at the scene of a homicide.

1 month ago

Jupiter's north polar region is coming into view as NASA's Juno spacecraft approaches the giant planet.

NASA probe gets close-up look at Jupiter, sends back data and images

Juno made its closest approach over Jupiter at a distance of 2,600 miles above the plane’s swirling clouds, a NASA news release said.

1 month ago

Complex DNA is still a developing technology, experts say

While DNA analysis for an individual sample is considered to be the gold standard of forensic science, mixed samples are trickier.

1 month ago

A DNA analyst sets up a robot that handles and transfers samples in the forensic laboratory at the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

Allegheny County paying double for DNA analysis program

Nine years after the $206,000 grant-funded purchase, the program is still not in use by the county.

1 month ago

Archaeologist James Adovasio, formerly with the University of Pittsburgh and who did the famous Meadowcroft Rockshelter dig in the 1970s, pauses for a moment before giving a lecture Saturday at the Meadowcroft visitor's center in Avella, Washington County.

Surprise reunion catches famed Meadowcroft archeologist off guard

James Adovasio, who unearthed North America’s oldest human artifacts in the 1970s, reacted emotionally to a surprise reunion on Saturday.

1 month ago

Did physicists discover a previously unknown fifth force of nature?

A tiny, unseen force could potentially alter our basic understanding of the universe — if it really exists.

1 month ago

Analysis: Green Party’s Stein just went overboard on sea level rise

She tweeted last week: “12.3M Americans could lose their homes due to a sea level rise of 9ft by 2050.”

1 month ago

This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt.

Scientists design a drug that relieves pain like an opioid without some dangerous side effects

When tested in mice, PZM21 offered pain relief that’s “substantially longer” than morphine or other experimental drugs, they wrote.

1 month ago

In this June 19, 2014, file photo, bison graze near a stream in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming..

Did the earliest Americans pass through ice or cross over water? New study fuels debate

The findings offer an unprecedented profile of one possible migration route while deepening the mystery around how some made it south.

1 month ago

Andre Samuel talks about staining part of the stem of the sunflower plant for slides to be viewed under the microscope.

Citizen Science Lab sets off STEAM-abration

The free event for young people interested in the arts or sciences will be Aug. 20 at the Energy Innovation Center in the Hill District.

1 month ago

During a day of free admission to the Carnegie Science Center, Anthony Nechyba, 2, and his sister Ava, 4, from Squirrel Hill, watch the trains run around the track.

Carnegie Science Center a big draw on a humid August weekend

Free admission attracted nearly 4,000 people to the center -— double the typical attendance for a Sunday.

1 month ago

Upper St. Clair fourth-graders Bailey Wells and Katerina Spanos take part in the Cup Challenge as part of this summer's STEAM Investigates engineering camp.

S'mores in a solar-powered oven? You bet

Upper St. Clair STEAM camp has kids exploring science in fun ways.

1 month ago

Ancient animals’ hunger caused mass extinction

The scientists believe the fossils are convincing evidence this overlap resulted in one of the earliest mass extinctions.

1 month ago

1.7 million-year-old cancer found, the oldest yet

The discoveries are leading some scientists to reevaluate the role of tumors in the history of early human ancestors.

1 month ago

CDC adjusts Zika testing guidance for pregnant women

Pennsylvania health officials expect no increases in overall Zika testing volumes or in confirmed cases as a result of the change.

2 months ago

Laith Dougherty, 7, talks about video games Monday while at home.

Pittsburgh school board member becomes kidney donor for boy, 7

Board member Moira Kaleida and 7-year-old Laith Dougherty of Squirrel Hill are doing well following last month’s transplant surgery.

2 months ago

NASA scientists say 2016 is shaping up to be the hottest year in recorded history, likely besting 2015.

Global temps on course for another record this year

Calculations indicate that there is a 99 percent probability that 2016 will be hotter than 2015, the current record holder.

2 months ago

Theresa May is welcomed by staff as she walks into 10 Downing Street after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister.

New prime minister of U.K. faces challenge of diabetes

Diabetes’ complex biology leads to confusion about what type Prime Minister Theresa May has, but it shouldn’t block her success.

2 months ago

Penn State announces Facebook Live discussion on climate change

Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist at Penn State University, will lead the online conversation this afternoon.

2 months ago

NASA’s New Horizons probe to visit mysterious object in outer solar system

The spacecraft had already served its original purpose beautifully during last year’s historic flyby of the Pluto system.

2 months ago

The second and final qualification motor test for the Space Launch System's booster is seen Tuesday at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah.

NASA tests massive rocket booster it says will go to Mars

In the rocket’s first mission, planned for 2018, it will launch the unmanned Orion spacecraft on a three-week journey.

3 months ago

An undated image provided by NASA of Jupiter, the yellow planet on the right, and several of its moons captured by the Juno spacecraft on June 21.

NASA probe on brink of unearthing Jupiter’s cosmic secrets

Its trip involved a push through the inner solar system, a slingshot around the sun, a flyby of Earth and a capture by Jupiter’s gravity.

3 months ago

Scientists find a way to turn carbon dioxide into stone

The findings demonstrate a powerful method of carbon storage that could reduce some of the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

3 months ago

Scientists spot the oldest oxygen ever found in the universe

Only the lightest elements — helium, lithium and hydrogen — are believed to have existed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.

3 months ago

Scientists just got the best measure yet of one of the fundamentals of physics

It’s known as “le Grand K,” and it’s afforded the security and scrutiny befitting such a fancy title.

3 months ago

Scientists solve the mystery of where feathers, fur and scales come from

The current diversity of feathers, fur and scales is part of what made their origins so mystifying to scientists.

3 months ago

Pitt launches new electric grid research institute

The Energy Grid Research and Infrastructure Development Institute will promote off-campus efforts to modernize the power grid.

3 months ago

Newly discovered ‘baby’ planets could unlock mysteries of planetary evolution

The findings may offer some insight into the development of gas giants such as “hot Jupiters” and the evolution of their planetary systems.

3 months ago

In this Feb. 11, 2016, file photo, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen in a mosquito cage at a laboratory in Cucuta, Colombia.

Scientists announce Zika milestone: First vaccine ready for human trials

Philadelphia-area vaccine maker Inovio and South Korea’s GeneOne Life Sciences on Monday said they received approval from U.S. regulators.

3 months ago

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry looks out during a tour to the Jakobshavn Glacier and the Ilulissat Icefjord, located 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle, on Friday in Ilulissat, Greenland.

Scientists say Greenland’s vast melt hasn’t slowed down the Atlantic ocean’s circulation — yet

Their new paper suggests that Greenland has already contributed enough water to the ocean to begin to freshen seas.

3 months ago

Meet Earth’s ‘quasi-satellite’ — a tiny asteroid that's followed us for a century

Because of the way the space rock wobbles in orbit, 2016 HO3 actually circles the Earth in addition to circling the sun.

3 months ago

Alivia Clark, 63, of Homewood, makes her way around the Highland Park Reservoir as part of her three-mile workout. Alivia is a participant in an Pitt research study called MOVE UP.

Older adults addressing obesity in Pitt research study

The MOVE UP program uses a combination of calorie counts and physical activity to help overweight seniors reach weight reduction goals.

3 months ago

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