Sci-Tech news

• Get ready for a SUPERWINTER (at least if you believe Old Farmer's Almanac): Publication predicts record setting cold spells

  18-08-2015 23:47 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts it will be super cold with a slew of snow for much of the country, even in places that don't usually see too much of it, like the Pacific Northwest.
  
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• Oldest modern hand found to be 1.85 million-years-old: Little finger suggests unknown 'giant' ancestors came down from the trees earlier than thought

  18-08-2015 23:45 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The discovery of the little finger bone in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania pushes back in time a key step in our evolution from tree-climbing foragers to tool-wielding hunters, scientists say.
  
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• Deep space canines! Pioneering mission that sent dogs into orbit to pave the way for manned flight to be marked by new Science Museum exhibition 

  18-08-2015 23:43 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  On August 19 1960, Belka and Strelka made history by circling the Earth 18 times on the Soviet Korable-Sputnik 2 spacecraft - paving the way for cosmonaut Yuri Gararin.
  
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• MIT reveals ARC reactor it claims could create fusion power

  18-08-2015 22:45 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Named ARC, the planned reactor will be a tokamak - or donut-shaped – system and would generate the same amount of energy as much larger designs with the help of advanced magnets.
  
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• The United States of EMOJI: Map reveals Vermont is the poop capital of America, California loves taxis and Washington loves wine

  18-08-2015 22:44 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Smart keyboard firm SwiftKey analysed a billion emoji from its users, and worked out which are the most popular in each state.
  
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• Turn your commute into a roller disco: $90 Walk Wings gadget converts any shoes into skates using retractable rubber wheels

  18-08-2015 22:43 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Each Walk Wing attaches to the user’s existing footwear using a heel strap, toe cover, and a ratcheting ankle strap. The four rubber wheels fall into place by sliding a lever at the back of each bracket.
  
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• Google's OnHub wifi router claims to boost perfomance for $199

  18-08-2015 22:33 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Google saysits wireless router will be sleeker, more reliable, more secure and easier to use than other long-established alternatives made by the Arris Group, Netgear, Apple and others.
  
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• The almost fully formed brain grown in a LAB: Researchers say breakthrough could help test new drugs and shed new light on Alzheimer's

  18-08-2015 22:06 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The brain 'organoid' was created from reprogrammed skin cells and is about the size of a pencil eraser. It is comparable with that of a five-week-old foetus.
  
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• Fusion power could be here in less than a decade: MIT reveals small reactor it claims could create limitless amounts of energy

  18-08-2015 22:02 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Named ARC, the planned reactor will be a tokamak - or donut-shaped – system and would generate the same amount of energy as much larger designs with the help of advanced magnets.
  
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• Can Google make your wifi work? Firm launches $199 router it claims can boost performance and is easy enough for anyone to use

  18-08-2015 21:22 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Google saysits wireless router will be sleeker, more reliable, more secure and easier to use than other long-established alternatives made by the Arris Group, Netgear, Apple and others.
  
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• 60 Minutes shows how hackers can access EVERY call and message you send

  18-08-2015 21:22 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The flaw demonstrated live by Australian TV show Channel Nine's 60 Minutes is in a global telecom network called Signal System 7 that helps phone carriers across the world use.
  
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• Apple TV set to get apps and a smart remote: New gadget to be unveiled alongside iPhone 6s in September

  18-08-2015 20:47 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The much anticipated new version of its $69 TV box is expected to be unveiled in September alongside new iPhones, and will run a version of Apple's iOS, 9to5Mac has claimed.
  
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• Are right wing voters happier? More Republicans tend to be married and have better relationships than those on the left

  18-08-2015 20:33 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Researchers at the University of Virginia examined surveys of 236,000 voters and found 67 per cent of those on the right were 'very happy' in their marriages compared to 60 per cent on the left.
  
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• Göran Strand spots arc of gas from the sun that looks like the Eiffel Tower

  18-08-2015 20:22 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Photographer Göran Strand spotted a huge outburst of gas, known as a solar prominence, on the surface of the sun while taking pictures from his back garden in Sweden.
  
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• Indian Mars probe beams back 3D canyon snaps

  18-08-2015 19:35 via go.theregister.com
  
  Profound imagery of Ophir Chasma India's Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft, aka Mangalyaan, has beamed back 3D images of the Ophir Chasma, which forms part of the Red Planet's massive Valles Marineris.…
  
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• Hackers can access EVERY call and message you send and even track your location: The moment computer expert shows just how easy eavesdropping is

  18-08-2015 19:31 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The flaw demonstrated live by Australian TV show Channel Nine's 60 Minutes is in a global telecom network called Signal System 7 that helps phone carriers across the world use.
  
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• Surf's ALWAYS up! Electric surfboard lets you glide across still water in near silence without the need for any waves

  18-08-2015 19:16 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The electric surfboard designed by a Spanish firm called Onean has a motor on board to allow surfers to glide over smooth water at sea, or on lakes and canals.
  
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• Fathom drone for divers unveiled

  18-08-2015 18:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A drone that can help divers and snorkelers explore or reveal the location of shoals of fish is being developed by a start-up in the US.
  
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• How climate change shaped DOGS: Man's best friend was more cat-like when North America was hotter and covered in forests

  18-08-2015 18:32 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Ancestors of dogs living in North America 40 million years ago resembled small mongooses and were ambush predators much like modern many cats.
  
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• Is that the Eiffel Tower sticking out of the SUN? Enormous arc of gas from solar surface resembles famous French landmark

  18-08-2015 18:10 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Photographer Göran Strand spotted a huge outburst of gas, known as a solar prominence, on the surface of the sun while taking pictures from his back garden in Sweden.
  
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• VIDEO: Google's robot takes a forest hike

  18-08-2015 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of Google's robotics divisions releases footage of a humanoid robot taking a stroll in a forest.
  
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• Are great white sharks developing a taste for OTTERS? Biologists baffled as predators switch from their usual seal prey

  18-08-2015 17:54 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  California's sea otters are endangered and the shark attacks are becoming a worrying trend as more than 50 per cent of dead otters washed up now show signs of great white shark bites.
  
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• Coal was used as fuel in China more than 3,500 years ago

  18-08-2015 17:37 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The team from the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology found traces of coal at the site in the Ili Valley, northwest China. The findings mean coal was used 500 years earlier than previously thought.
  
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• Salamander entombed in amber proves the amphibians lived in the Caribbean

  18-08-2015 17:30 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  This fossil salamander belonged to the family Plethodontidae, a widespread family that today is still very common in North America, particularly the Appalachian Mountains.
  
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• Fracking sites offered to firms

  18-08-2015 16:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Oil and Gas Authority has announced 27 more locations in England where licences to frack for shale oil and gas will be offered.
  
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• Why antibiotics are precious

  18-08-2015 16:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Antibiotics really are wonder drugs - but we misuse them at our peril
  
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• Islamic call to end fossil fuels

  18-08-2015 16:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Islamic environmental and religious leaders have called on rich and oil producing nations to rapidly embrace renewable energy.
  
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• GM crop ban 'threatens research'

  18-08-2015 15:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists, universities and farming leaders write to Scotland's rural affairs secretary raising concerns about a ban on growing GM crops.
  
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• Misfit tracker counts swimmers' laps

  18-08-2015 15:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Misfit teams up with sportswear firm Speedo to release a fitness tracker that can count the number of lengths a swimmer completes.
  
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• Early humans 'butchering meat' 3.4 million years ago with stone tools

  18-08-2015 15:23 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Marks found on two fossilised animal bones discovered at a 3.4 million year old site in Dikika, Ethiopia, show marks (pictured) that are characteristic of deliberate cuts with stone tools.
  
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• Royal Photographic Society's International Images for Science are stunning

  18-08-2015 14:54 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Royal Photographic Society has collected 100 new images taken by scientists and engineers that reveal the wonders of the world around us in astonishing detail.
  
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• Bitcoin could split, say developers

  18-08-2015 14:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A row over changing the software that produces bitcoins could split the virtual currency, core developers say.
  
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• Does Febreze really banish bad odours? Scientists reveal how molecules form a cage to trap smelly compounds, making them 'invisible' to your nose

  18-08-2015 14:18 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A video released by the American Chemical Society explains that odour neutralising sprays contain molecules called cyclodextrin that are shaped like a funnel and can trap odour molecules.
  
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• Android 6.0 update called M, for marshmallow, to be released in Autumn

  18-08-2015 14:16 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Google made the announcement by unveiling a statue of a large Android mascot hugging a marshmallow outside its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
  
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• Why rating music videos might not work

  18-08-2015 14:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Why are people sceptical about movie-style ratings for music videos?
  
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• Science strikes a pose: Stunning images capture the beauty of soap bubbles, 'alien' sharks and sea cucumber skin

  18-08-2015 13:52 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Royal Photographic Society has collected 100 new images taken by scientists and engineers that reveal the wonders of the world around us in astonishing detail.
  
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• Boffins identify world's (possibly) first flowering plant

  18-08-2015 13:47 via go.theregister.com
  
  130-million-year-old fossils may be 'mythical' angiosperm US and European plant boffins have identified what may be the world's first flowering plant, an aquatic species which once grew abundantly in freshwater lakes in what is now Spain.…
  
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• Ladee spacecraft confirms presence of NEON gas on the moon for the first time

  18-08-2015 13:30 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The discovery was made by analysing data sent back from Nasa’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, known as Ladee, which launched in September 2013 from Virginia.
  
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• Breathing Beijing's air is the equivalent to smoking FORTY cigarettes a day

  18-08-2015 13:25 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Air pollution kills 4,000 people a day in China, representing 17 per cent of all deaths in the country, according to a new reportby scientists at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit based in the US.
  
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• US Facebook hacker pleads guilty

  18-08-2015 13:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A New Yorker using the alias Phastman hijacked the computers of more than 77,000 Facebook users and used them to send junk emails to their friends.
  
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• The moon has a NEON atmosphere: Ladee spacecraft confirms presence of the gas for the first time

  18-08-2015 13:09 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The discovery was made by analysing data sent back from Nasa’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, known as Ladee, which launched in September 2013 from Virginia.
  
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• Science strikes a pose: Stunning images capture the beauty of soap bubbles, 'alien' sharks and the strange skin of sea cucumbers

  18-08-2015 13:05 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Royal Photographic Society has collected 100 new images taken by scientists and engineers that reveal the wonders of the world around us in astonishing detail.
  
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• Breathing in Beijing's air is the equivalent to smoking FORTY cigarettes a day: Smog map of China reveals shocking extent of pollution

  18-08-2015 12:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Air pollution kills 4,000 people a day in China, representing 17 per cent of all deaths in the country, according to a new reportby scientists at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit based in the US.
  
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• Gulliver's Travels' 'nonsense' language by Jonathan Swift deciphered 'as Hebrew'

  18-08-2015 12:16 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A leading linguist at the University of Houston claims to have unravelled the mystery of the origins of the fictional lanugages used by Jonathan Swift in his famous novel - they are based on Hebrew.
  
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• Gulliver's Travels' 'nonsense' language deciphered: Expert claims to have cracked the code used by author Jonathan Swift - and he thinks it's Hebrew

  18-08-2015 11:56 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A leading linguist at the University of Houston claims to have unravelled the mystery of the origins of the fictional lanugages used by Jonathan Swift in his famous novel - they are based on Hebrew.
  
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• Pizzas get the cocktail makeover

  18-08-2015 11:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How data crunching can pep up your local restaurant
  
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• Male and female brains DO work differently and it could affect how we react to drugs

  18-08-2015 11:41 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois, have found a biological difference between males and females in the molecular regulation of synapses in the hippocampus.
  
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• Girlfriend's that are better-looking than you 'not as committed' as you think

  18-08-2015 11:39 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Researchers from Eastern Connecticut State University found women who believe they are better-looking than their partners are less likely to be committed to their relationship.
  
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• Scientists discover a new shape by trying to solve one of maths' most complex problems

  18-08-2015 09:21 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Three scientists at Washington University have made maths history by finding a new type of pentagon that can tile a floor without overlapping or leaving any gaps.
  
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• Online music videos getting age rating

  18-08-2015 08:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government confirms that age ratings of 12, 15 or 18 will be a permanent fixture on UK-produced online music videos.
  
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