Tuesday Science News – Vaccines, Rising Land Masses, A Printed Plane, Neanderthals, Senses, and more!

The last few weeks compiling Tuesday Science News has taken me two to four hours. I know it’s shocking since it seems that there isn’t that much too it, but out of the thousand or so science articles I look at each week I flag a good 50 – 100 and then have to narrow them down again. It’s easy once I have them picked out. My goal is 30 minutes this time!

Picture of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica
As the ice caps melt Antarctica and Greenland are both rising! The most likely explanation is that as they become lighter the tectonic plate(s) are buoyed up by the magma below them. The Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica are rising by about 5 mm a year and Greenland is rising at a surprising 4 cm a year. (New Scientist)

The Varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccine has been available since 1995 and by 2007 it had cut mortality rates related to the disease by 88%! Just another great example of how vaccines save lives…if everybody who can get them does. (Pediatrics via  RD.net)

The Southampton University Laser Sintered AircraftA group of engineers at Southampton University in England have produced the world’s first printed aircraft. The small unmanned plane has a wingspan of around 2 meters and a top speed of 100 mph. This was completed using a nylon laser sintering machine. This 3D printing technology is getting really cool. (CNET News)

Image of a NeanderthalA review of several archaeological sites has shown that early Humans won out in the competition with Neanderthals due to numerical odds. It’s beginning to look like it was a margin of 10:1. Humans also lived in larger groups, used more advanced tools, and likely had better communication abilities. (Telegraph)

Picture of a dolphin with a contraption on it to simulate the elctric feild of a nearby fish.Guiana dolphins have been found to have an electric sense, or electroreception. This gives them the ability to detect prey at much smaller distances than echolocation. This is believed to be a relatively recent adaptation of the whiskers of ancestral species and may be found in more species of dolphins and whales. Electroreception has also been found in fish, some amphibians, and non-placental mammals like the duck-billed platypus. (New Scientist)

A new medication that is currently in clinical trials has been found to be able to stop or even reverse the progression of blindness for people with the mitochondrial disease Leber’s hereditary optic neurpathy which can cause blindness in men in their 20s. It didn’t cause a complete restoration of sight, but it did allow a few patients to be able to read a few more lines on the eye chart. It also wasn’t effective for every patient who received the drug. Even with the limitations, it shows a lot of promise. Besides, if it could save at least some of the vision of half of the people with this disease it would be worth it. (New Scientist)

Okay, it took about 45 minutes. That I can live with.