SCIENCE AND HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

March 10, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Solar-powered plane takes off for trip around world (Washington Post)
• Game of drones: As U.S. dithers, rivals get a head start (Reuters)
• Warp in spacetime lets astronomers watch the same star explode four times (CS Monitor)
• Diablo Canyon used bad data for safety equipment for 30 years
• Tension From Utility Companies Casts A Shadow On Rooftop Solar Industry

HEALTH

• UC San Diego Finds Possible Way To Test For Autism (KPBS)
• Anti-aging drugs discovered (U-T)
• Possible HIV cure OK'd for testing (U-T)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click "read more" and scroll down.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Solar-powered plane takes off for trip around world (Washington Post)

A Swiss solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi early Monday, marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.Solar Impulse founder André Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seater when it took off from the Al Bateen Executive Airport

Game of drones: As U.S. dithers, rivals get a head start (Reuters)

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are a hot ticket in Silicon Valley, but U.S. government dithering over regulations has given overseas companies a head-start in figuring out how best to exploit them.

Warp in spacetime lets astronomers watch the same star explode four times (CS Monitor)

Thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured four images of the same supernova explosion.

Diablo Canyon used bad data for safety equipment for 30 years

(CalCoast News) -- Correspondence from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission — released by Sen. Boxer in a recent hearing and reported Sunday on Page 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle (PDF) — shows that since Diablo Canyon’s first reactor came online in 1984, PG&E failed to use updated seismic and loss-of-coolant-accident data, known as LOCA loads, for replacement equipment. /  Failure of such equipment in an earthquake could lead to a catastrophic release of radiation.

Tension From Utility Companies Casts A Shadow On Rooftop Solar Industry

(NPR) -- There's growing tension between the rooftop solar panel industry and traditional utility companies as solar continues to grow in popularity. Melissa Block speaks with Joby Warrick of the Washington Post.

HEALTH

UC San Diego Finds Possible Way To Test For Autism (KPBS)

An international team of scientists led by UC San Diego has found what they believe is a way to accurately test for autism spectrum disorder in boys as young as 1-2 years old.

Anti-aging drugs discovered (U-T)

Heart function improved, frailty reduced in mice, says Scripps Research, Mayo Clinic team.

Possible HIV cure OK'd for testing (U-T)

California biotech Sangamo to re-engineer immune system of patients to resist disease.