Sci-Tech news

• Antarctic melt to 'double sea-level rise'

  30-03-2016 23:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sea levels could rise by more than double the current estimate over the next 100 years, according to a new analysis of climate change in Antarctica.
  
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• New optical system could take much sharper images of exoplanets

  30-03-2016 23:19 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Russian scientists say they have a technique for creating a telescope that can see these planets directly – and they say it may even help us find Earth's twin.
  
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• Nasa teams up with Microsoft to create 'mixed reality' Hololens exhibition of Mars

  30-03-2016 23:01 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The exhibition, dubbed 'Destination: Mars', will offer a tour of an area of Mars with astronaut Buzz Aldrin. It will open at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida this summer.
  
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• Microsoft bets big on 'inclusive and respectful' chatbots

  30-03-2016 23:01 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  CEO Satya Nadella used the firm's Build conference in San Francisco to call for users 'to have more intelligent conversations with their computers.'
  
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• Dino Sphere reveals bizarre $59 ball that glows using bioluminescence

  30-03-2016 22:50 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  California based firm, BioPop, has designed a clear sphere that houses thousand of tiny plankton. Just combine the live dinoflagellates with water in the sphere and watch the orb glow a bright blue.
  
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• Age of 'Hobbit' species revised

  30-03-2016 22:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The diminutive human species nicknamed "the Hobbit" probably went extinct at least 50,000 years ago - not the 12,000 years ago initially thought to be the case.
  
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• AUDIO: 'Hobbit' species older than thought

  30-03-2016 22:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The diminutive human species nicknamed "the Hobbit" probably went extinct at least 50,000 years ago - not the 12,000 years ago initially thought to be the case.
  
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• 'Dancing' tadpoles discovered in India

  30-03-2016 21:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new tadpole that burrows through sand is discovered in the Western Ghats of India, scientists report.
  
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• Cloud seeding UAV tested over California is hoped to increase rainfall by 15%

  30-03-2016 21:25 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A team of Nevada scientists used a DAx8 eight-rotor drone to spracy fine particles of silver iodide into a cloud system in an effort to boost the amount of rain that falls.
  
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• Tiny gravity gadget to peer underground

  30-03-2016 21:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK researchers build a device the size of a postage stamp that measures tiny fluctuations in gravity and could help monitor volcanoes or search for oil.
  
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• Hope for Hitomi after tumbling space 'scope phones home

  30-03-2016 21:22 via go.theregister.com
  
  Communicates less than a kid in college The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has received two brief transmission bursts from its tumbling space telescope Hitomi that show the telescope isn't a total write-off.…
  
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• 'The bots are coming' - Microsoft

  30-03-2016 20:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Microsoft unveils a new system of bots which can represent businesses and interact with users via apps such as Skype.
  
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• VIDEO: Dog 'sniffs out' diabetes danger

  30-03-2016 20:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 13-year-old girl from Lancashire with diabetes says she has taught her dog, Pip, to sniff out changes in her blood sugar levels.
  
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• Alzheimer's treatment stops toxic plaques from forming

  30-03-2016 20:20 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Inhibiting certain chemicals stopped proteins from forming into toxic clumps - known as plaques - which cause memory loss, in the brain, a study by the Mayo Clinic, Florida, found.
  
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• Species of human vanished from Indonesia 38,000 years earlier than first thought

  30-03-2016 20:11 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Fresh excavations at the Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores have shown the diminutive human species died out 50,000 years ago rather than 12,000 years ago as previously thought.
  
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• Expert warns we risk losing our navigation skills if we keep relying on sat navs

  30-03-2016 20:11 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Our increasing reliance on satellite navigation is coming at a cost and is harming our own ability to navigate, said satellite navigation consultant Roger McKinlay based in Leatherhead, UK.
  
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• Antarctic ice sheet could release 50ft of water by 2500

  30-03-2016 20:11 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The warning comes from US climate scientists who say that previous estimates could drastically underestimate the problem because they fail to incorporate the full effects of break-up of ice sheets.
  
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• Elon Musk’s affordable Tesla Model 3 specifications leaked online

  30-03-2016 20:10 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A source speaking to motoring site Electrek has provided what it claims to be new details on the much-anticipated car, which will be unveiled tomorrow at 11.30pm ET Hawthorne, California.
  
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• WhatsApp finally lets you format text with bold, italic and with words crossed out 

  30-03-2016 19:45 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  When sending messages, you can add certain characters before and after the words or sentences to make them go bold, italic orcrossed out, known as a strikethrough (examples shown).
  
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• Relying on phones to remember everyday items frees our brains to be more creative

  30-03-2016 19:35 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The study was conducted by research firm Opinion Matters for Kaspersky Lab. It surveyed 6,000 people aged between 16 and 55 across theUK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Benelux.
  
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• Sorry Tefal, the Romans used non-stick cookware 2,000 years ago

  30-03-2016 19:33 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The fragments of cookware (pictured), known as Cumanae testae or Cumanae patellae, meaning pans from the city of Cumae, were found 12 miles (19km) west of Naples in the ancient city.
  
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• IBM reveals ‘brain’ supercomputer: 'neurosynaptic' chip can replicate 16m neurons

  30-03-2016 19:23 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  TrueNorth can replicate the equivalent of 16 million neurons and 4 billion synapses - yet consumes just 2.5 watts, the energy equivalent of a hearing aid battery.
  
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• Microsoft ‘accidentally’ relaunches Tay and it starts boasting about drugs

  30-03-2016 19:15 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Microsoft's Tay was back online today, but just to send its followers the same tweet and talk about drugs. But the firm is unveiling new AIs that they say will assist humans manage tasks via chatting.
  
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• VIDEO: Race to save Japan's lost satellite

  30-03-2016 18:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists and engineers in Japan are scrambling to save a satellite and more than a quarter of a billion dollars of investment tumbling out of control in space.
  
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• Nurx app delivers contraception to your door in just 24 HOURS

  30-03-2016 18:56 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Nurx, available in New York and California, offers three-monthly supplies of pills as well as the patch, the ring, and emergency contraception brands Ella and Plan B - free with insurance or $15 without.
  
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• Mysterious Planet Nine is to blame for wiping out the dinosaurs

  30-03-2016 18:49 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  An astrophysicist from the University of Arkansas believes the mysterious planet, that researchers provided more evidence for yesterday, could have caused mass extinctions on Earth.
  
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• WIRED will now predict your political views (you naïve thing)

  30-03-2016 18:10
  
  Most people are convinced that they see the world the way it really is, but psychologists call this phenomenon 'naïve realism'By: Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross, Continue reading...
  
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• Sex worker spied by drone pleads guilty

  30-03-2016 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A woman in Oklahoma pleads guilty to a lewdness charge after being caught on camera by a local "drone vigilante".
  
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• Why illusions confuse us and how our brains have evolved to handle the tricks

  30-03-2016 18:05 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Gustav Kuhn, senior lecturer in psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London has explained the science of misdirection and how magic tricks can mess with our minds. Stock image.
  
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• This car is the future of autonomous racing

  30-03-2016 17:52
  
     This is what the world's first autonomous racing car will look like.By: Matt Burgess, Continue reading...
  
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• Supercomputer recreates birth of supermassive black hole

  30-03-2016 17:51
  
  A team of scientists from Osaka University and the University of Kentucky have simulated a group of supermassive black holes that formed 700 million years after the Big Bang. By: Emily Reynolds, Continue reading...
  
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• Cyborg beetles with radio transmitters could lead to new living surveillance drones

  30-03-2016 17:41 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Engineers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have controlled how giant flower beetles walk and fly by inserting electrodes into their muscles to stimulate their movement.
  
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• The JetJat Nano-C camera drone is fun, silly and useless

  30-03-2016 17:40
  
  Mota's tiny camera drone weighs just 17 and costs £35, but that's about as good as this drone gets By: Matthew Reynolds, Continue reading...
  
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• Scared of identity theft? Tell lies on Facebook

  30-03-2016 17:28
  
  People love to lie about themselves on social media anyway, but doing so might stop their identities being stolen online says security expert Adam LevinBy: Adam Levin, Continue reading...
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg calls for 'understanding, empathy and love' to defeat terrorism

  30-03-2016 17:25 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Facebook founder said his aim is to 'create a world where understanding and empathy can spread faster than hate' after attacks in Ankara, Brussels and Lahore this month.
  
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• 'Homefront: The Revolution' makes dirty guerrilla warfare fun

  30-03-2016 17:00
  
      With an open world, under-powered heroes, and scrappy, inventive combat, Deep Silver's new Homefront realises the promise of the original game -- but it's the unflinching exploratuion of guerrilla combat that makes it stand out.By: Matt Kamen, Continue reading...
  
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• Artificial intelligence is nearly better at poker than you

  30-03-2016 16:59
  
  Poker playing artificial intelligence has already "approached the performance" of human experts and can use "state-of-the-art methods" in its gameplay.By: Matt Burgess, Continue reading...
  
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• Language pedants and 'grammar Nazi's' are more likely to be introverted

  30-03-2016 16:58 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Linguists at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have found a link between people who are riled by grammatical errors in written language and certain personality traits. Example shown.
  
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• Diet rich in rosemary linked to good health and long life in Italian village

  30-03-2016 16:58 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Experts from Rome and San Diego have been given permission to examine the residents of a coastal hamlet called Acciaroli, near Salerno, home to more than 300 people aged over 100.
  
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• Video shows two venomous male brown snakes tangled in a battle over a female mate

  30-03-2016 16:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Two male brown snakes were caught entangled with one another in an apparent fight for the love of a nearby female in a video captured by Tim Horton in South Australia on Wednesday.
  
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• Ancient arachnid had similar legs and jaw to spiders but couldn't spin a web

  30-03-2016 16:38 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A team of researchers led by the University of Manchester scanned a fossil originally discovered in France to reconstruct what Idmonarachne brasieri would have looked like (pictured).
  
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• China is no longer a nation of tech copycats

  30-03-2016 16:31
  
      China's tech entrepreneurs used to follow the lead of Apple and Facebook but now they're forging their own pathsBy: Clive Thompson, Continue reading...
  
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• Sick to death of mighty rocket launches? Avoid these dates

  30-03-2016 15:33 via go.theregister.com
  
  Five mundane missions in April alone It's a sad fact that mighty rocket launches have become so run-of-the-mill - the occasional entertaining fireworks display excepted - that the public hardly give them a second glance.…
  
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• Giant RATS are being used to sniff out tuberculosis

  30-03-2016 15:22 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  African Giant Pouched Rats (stock image) are known for their work sniffing out landmines, and are now developing a reputation in East Africa for their skill and speed at detecting tuberculosis too.
  
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• Cyclevision helmet's rear camera gives you 'eyes' in the back of your head

  30-03-2016 15:18 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  According to the Cairns-based firm behind the helmet, the CycleVision weighs just 280 grams, has two 1080p cameras capturing a 160-degree field of view each.
  
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• Complaints about Vodafone rocket in UK

  30-03-2016 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Vodafone blames an IT glitch for a jump in the number of mobile phone customer complaints in the UK.
  
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• How real physics impacted time-travel game Quantum Break

  30-03-2016 14:40
  
      On the surface, Quantum Break may seem like another action-heavy shooter, but it could prove to be one of the most ambitious games released this year. Developed by Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Alan Wake and Max Payne, it blurs the line between video games and television with a time-travel storyline where player choice impacts not only the direction of the game, but will impact how episodes of a built-in live action show play out.
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• Pele sues Samsung for $30m over image

  30-03-2016 14:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Brazilian football legend Pele is suing South Korean electronics giant Samsung, after claiming the firm improperly used a lookalike in an advertisement.
  
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• Smart key breathalyser makes drivers take a test before it lets them start the car

  30-03-2016 14:04 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Honda and Hitachi in Japan have developed the prototype device (pictured), capable of detecting saturated water vapour from human breath and measures alcohol levels within seconds.
  
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• The world's largest radio telescope is being built in China

  30-03-2016 13:49
  
  The telescope, made up of 4,500 triangular aluminium panels, should come online by the end of SeptemberBy: Adam Born, Continue reading...
  
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