Sci-Tech news

• Sun is five billion years younger than most in the Milky Way

  09-04-2015 23:50 via
  
  The Milky Way's star-birthing frenzy peaked 10 billion years ago, but our sun was late to this party, not forming until roughly five billion years ago, according to astronomers at Texas A&M University.
  
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• Genetic map of endangered mountain gorillas revealed

  09-04-2015 23:50 via
  
  British scientists have sequenced whole genomes from mountain gorillas for the first time in a huge boost to conservation efforts for the endangered primates.
  
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• Fighters use real weapons to test Unified Weapons Master smart suit that tracks blows

  09-04-2015 23:27 via
  
  The armour suit and helmet has sensors to track exactly how hard each blow is - yet protect the wearer, the Australian firm behind it says.
  
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• Almost complete fossil of flightless predator found in Argentina

  09-04-2015 23:27 via
  
  Palaeontologists discovered the new species - named Llallawavis scagliai - in a cliff on a beach near Mar del Plata city in Argentina and used 3D scanning to reconstruct its hearing.
  
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• Play Double Falsehood found 300 years ago was William Shakespeare

  09-04-2015 23:04 via
  
  Double Falsehood was presented by Lewis Theobald in the 18th century as an adaptation of a play by the Bard and new research has backed up this claim, which has long been doubted.
  
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• Did Fisher-Price fridge magnets give you synaesthesia?

  09-04-2015 22:42 via
  
  Scientists at Stanford University in California claim that at least six per cent of volunteers may have learnt to associate certain colours with letters because of the Fisher-Price magnet sets.
  
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• Acidic oceans helped fuel extinction

  09-04-2015 22:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Acidic oceans helped fuel the biggest mass extinction in the history of life on Earth, a study says.
  
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• The smart armour set to bring back gladiators fighting to the (virtual) death: Watch fighters use real weapons to test smart suit that tracks blows

  09-04-2015 22:16 via
  
  The armour suit and helmet has sensors to track exactly how hard each blow is - yet protect the wearer, the Australian firm behind it says.
  
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• Giant meat eating 'terror' bird had a deep voice: Almost complete fossil of flightless predator discovered in Argentina

  09-04-2015 22:16 via
  
  Palaeontologists discovered the new species - named Llallawavis scagliai - in a cliff on a beach near Mar del Plata city in Argentina and used 3D scanning to reconstruct its hearing.
  
  Read more

• Acidic oceans 'dealt the final blow' during the Great Dying

  09-04-2015 22:16 via
  
  The study from University of Edinburgh is the first to show highly acidic oceans played a role. Volcanic eruptions released carbon dioxide into the oceans and changed their compositions.
  
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• Did YOUR Fisher-Price fridge magnets give you synaesthesia? Retro toy causes people to mix up colours and letters, claims study

  09-04-2015 21:44 via
  
  Scientists at Stanford University in California claim that at least six per cent of volunteers may have learnt to associate certain colours with letters because of the Fisher-Price magnet sets.
  
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• Apple Watch only available to purchase online

  09-04-2015 21:17 via
  
  Apple will only accept online orders for its much anticipated watch which goes on sale on the 24th April. It will show off the watch to the public for the first time from tomorrow at its retail stores.
  
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• Want lasting happiness? Buy experiences NOT things

  09-04-2015 21:01 via
  
  A collection of studies by researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, found that brief holidays make people happier than possessions they use for a long time.
  
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• Attractive men make gamblers take bigger risks, study finds

  09-04-2015 21:01 via
  
  The University of Technology Sydney asked people to look at same-sex photos before gambling. Men who saw images of attractive males took more risks. Daniel Craig in Casino Royale is shown.
  
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• Killer seals spotted off British coast captured on video

  09-04-2015 20:36 via
  
  The footage (pictured) was shot by a wildlife cruise company, off the coast of Pembrokeshire. On four occasions, grey seals have been spied feasting on harbour porpoises.
  
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• Water, water, everywhere: Nine worlds in our solar system could have underground oceans - and maybe life too

  09-04-2015 18:45 via
  
  Nasa scientists in California say our solar system (illustrated) is full of water - and that means worlds could have life, too. Moons of Jupiter and Saturn are thought to have oceans underground.
  
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• Could this BE more exciting? Sarcasm centre of the brain pinpointed - and may explain why some people struggle with it

  09-04-2015 18:45 via
  
  Neuroscienitsts at the John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore found that the right sagittal stratum of the brain is key to recognising when someone is being sarcastic.
  
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• Why you should never play poker with a sexy man: Attractive men make gamblers take bigger risks, study finds

  09-04-2015 18:19 via
  
  The University of Technology Sydney asked people to look at same-sex photos before gambling. Men who saw images of attractive males took more risks. Daniel Craig in Casino Royale is shown.
  
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• Want lasting happiness? Buy experiences NOT things: Even bad holidays make us feel more fulfilled in the long run

  09-04-2015 18:19 via
  
  A collection of studies by researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, found that brief holidays make people happier than possessions they use for a long time.
  
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• 'Mystique-like' malware killed off

  09-04-2015 18:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Polymorphic malware that changes its identity up to 19 times a day to avoid detection while taking control of users' computers has been deactivated.
  
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• Killer seals have arrived in BRITAIN: World first footage reveals marine mammals feasting on porpoises off the coast of Wales

  09-04-2015 17:55 via
  
  The footage (pictured) was shot by a wildlife cruise company, off the coast of Pembrokeshire. On four occasions, grey seals have been spied feasting on harbour porpoises.
  
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• Austria court ponders Facebook case

  09-04-2015 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A court in Austria will decide in the coming weeks whether it has jurisdiction to hear a class action privacy lawsuit brought against Facebook.
  
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• Siberian island fort that has historians and even Vladimir Putin baffled

  09-04-2015 16:46 via
  
  At first glance the rectangular island of Por-Bajin looks like a fortress or a prison, with its regular structure and ruined sections but some said it iswas a summer palace or monastery.
  
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• Longer-term thinking 'needed' on air pollution

  09-04-2015 16:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  David Shukman looks at what could be done on air pollution beyond the annual warnings.
  
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• Tests confirm batteries DO bounce when they're low on charge

  09-04-2015 16:40 via
  
  Using a combination of X-rays and lab experiments, engineers from Princeton University confirmed batteries bounce as they lose charge due to zinc oxidisation and this creates 'spring bridges'.
  
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• Does your child hate school? Then it could be YOUR fault: Desire to learn is driven by our genes, study claims

  09-04-2015 16:40 via
  
  Our willingness to learn is significantly influence by our genes, according to a study by Goldsmiths University in London and Ohio State University (stock image shown).
  
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• Google patents system that warns you when plots of shows are posted on social media

  09-04-2015 16:15 via
  
  The Californian tech giant filed the patent in 2012 and it was published this week. The system would scan posts for spoilers (such as those in The Walking Dead pictured) and blur out the content automatically.
  
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• Particle accelerator could one day create manmade auroras in our atmosphere

  09-04-2015 15:22 via
  
  Scientists in California have described how to create artificial auroras on Earth. They said a particle accelerator could be sent 185 miles (300km) up into space (illustration of a satellite in orbit shown).
  
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• 9gag cat appears to be walking upstairs and downstairs at the same time

  09-04-2015 15:22 via
  
  This image of a cat on a flight of stairs has provoked a furious debate online between users who cannot agree whether the animal is climbing or descending the staircase.
  
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• T. rex cousin was 'violent cannibal'

  09-04-2015 15:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The skull of an adolescent tyrannosaur shows evidence of vicious combat as well as signs that the corpse was eaten by another dinosaur, possibly of the same species.
  
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• Has YOUR neighbourhood been buzzed by aliens? Interactive graphic shows the location of EVERY official UFO sighting around the world between 1933 and 2015

  09-04-2015 14:57 via
  
  A map has been created using a UFO sighting dataset from the National UFO Reporting Centre and open source software from CartoDB that shows UFO sightings over the United States.
  
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• Real money trade starts in Warcraft

  09-04-2015 14:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The introduction of a way to use real money to buy virtual cash for World of Warcraft has prompted big changes in the value of game gold.
  
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• The pylon reinvented: First new design in 90 years is smaller and will help transfer green energy

  09-04-2015 14:33 via
  
  National Grid has revealed the UK's first new pylon for nearly 90 years. Called the T-pylon (artist's illustration shown) it is a third shorter than the old lattice pylons.It is designed to be less obtrusive.
  
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• The Mail's review of the Apple Watch

  09-04-2015 14:33 via
  
  While it's not the first smartwatch on the market, the $349 (£299) Apple Watch is the first you'll actually want to use - and will change the way you communicate.
  
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• No more spoiler alerts! Google patents system that warns you when plots of your favourite shows are posted on social media

  09-04-2015 14:33 via
  
  The Californian tech giant filed the patent in 2012 and it was published this week. The system would scan posts for spoilers (such as those in The Walking Dead pictured) and blur out the content automatically.
  
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• Missing emojis we'd like to see

  09-04-2015 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  What's still absent from the expanded list of computer characters?
  
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• The truth is out there? Animated map reveals 70 years of UFO sightings over the United States - and there's more than ever

  09-04-2015 14:11 via
  
  A map has been created using a UFO sighting dataset from the National UFO Reporting Centre and open source software from CartoDB that shows UFO sightings over the United States.
  
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• Forget the Northern Lights, we could create aurora ANYWHERE: Particle accelerator could one day create manmade shows in our atmosphere

  09-04-2015 14:11 via
  
  Scientists in California have described how to create artificial auroras on Earth. They said a particle accelerator could be sent 185 miles (300km) up into space (illustration of a satellite in orbit shown).
  
  Read more

• Tyrannosaurs' skull shows scars of combat and bite marks from feeding

  09-04-2015 13:48 via
  
  Palaeontologists at Queen Mary University of London found bite marks from Tyrannosaur teeth all over the fossilised skull of a Daspletosaurus, a close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.
  
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• The fighter jet that's so precise it is affected by the MOON

  09-04-2015 13:23 via
  
  The Typhoon (pictured), built by Lancashire-based BAE Systems, is 49ft (15 metres) long from tip to tip and the material is 'no more than the thickness of a match stick.'
  
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• Neolithic Northern Europeans were reluctant farmers

  09-04-2015 13:23 via
  
  Experts from Centre for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CIRHUS) in New York City studied neolithic ornaments (pictured) to understand how farming spread.
  
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• Facebook launches Messenger site that lets you chat to friends on any desktop browser

  09-04-2015 13:23 via
  
  The Californian firm's Messenger.com (shown) lets people chat to their Facebook contacts, start group conversations and send photos on a browser in the same way they can on the Messenger app.
  
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• Facebook bets on Messenger app, opens it to developers

  09-04-2015 12:36 via
  
  The Californian firm's Messenger.com (shown) lets people chat to their Facebook contacts, start group conversations and send photos on a browser in the same way they can on the Messenger app.
  
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• Watch the sun in action: Dazzling footage taken over five years reveals plasma rain, energy bursts and a comet hurtling past

  09-04-2015 12:14 via
  
  Filmmaker Michael König from Cologne, Germany has created an amazing video showing solar activity (still shown). It was made by stitching together footage from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
  
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• The fighter jet that's so precise it is affected by the MOON and has to be built using lasers on 'floating' concrete rafts

  09-04-2015 12:14 via
  
  The Typhoon (pictured), built by Lancashire-based BAE Systems, is 49ft (15 metres) long from tip to tip and the material is 'no more than the thickness of a match stick.'
  
  Read more

• Neolithic Northern Europeans were reluctant farmers: Agriculture spread in south while colder climes clung to hunter-gatherer lifestyles

  09-04-2015 12:14 via
  
  Experts from Centre for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CIRHUS) in New York City studied neolithic ornaments (pictured) to understand how farming spread.
  
  Read more

• AT&T fined record $25m over breach

  09-04-2015 11:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  AT&T has been fined $25m (£17m) over breaches of customer data at call centres in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines.
  
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• Drawing the short straw: Taller people are at lower risk of heart disease, study finds

  09-04-2015 11:05 via
  
  Leicester researchers say every 2.5 inches change in your height affected your risk of coronary heart disease by 13.5%.
  
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• VIDEO: Keeping tabs on basking sharks

  09-04-2015 10:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists are hoping to find out more about elusive basking sharks by tagging them in waters off Cornwall.
  
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• Facebook Messenger app for browsers

  09-04-2015 10:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The browser app for Facebook Messenger is separate from the rest of the service to stop users getting distracted.
  
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