Science news

• North Korea may be readying long-range missile launch soon - Kyodo

  27-01-2016 23:43
  North Korea may be preparing to launch a long-range missile as soon as in a week, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported early on Thursday, citing an unnamed Japanese government official. The report comes amid discussions among U.N. Security Council members for fresh sanctions against the North after it conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. The North is already under sanctions for its nuclear and missile programmes.
  
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• Sudan opens border with South Sudan for first time since 2011 secession

  27-01-2016 23:42
  Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ordered the opening of his country's border with South Sudan for the first time since the south's secession in 2011, state news agency SUNA reported on Wednesday. "President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree today ordering the opening of borders with the state of South Sudan and ordered the relevant authorities to take all measures required to implement this decision on the ground," SUNA reported. Khartoum accuses Juba, the capital of South Sudan, of backing a
  
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• Facebook shares up 12% after doubling profit

  27-01-2016 23:30 via cbc.ca
  
  Facebook shares are up 12 per cent Thursday morning after the company doubled its quarterly profits and boosted revenue to more than $5 billion in the latest quarter.
  
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• At Saturn, Cassini Spacecraft Adjusts Orbit for Titan-ic 'Grand Finale'

  27-01-2016 23:09
  
  NASA's Cassini probe has begun reshaping its orbit around Saturn in preparation for the spacecraft's "grand finale" at the ringed planet next year. Cassini performed a 35-second engine burn on Saturday (Jan. 23) to set up an orbit-changing Feb. 1 flyby of Saturn's huge moon Titan. It was the second of five such burns Cassini will conduct, all of which will be followed by a close encounter with Titan.
  
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• Carnivorous dinosaurs evolved for speed, U of A researcher finds

  27-01-2016 23:04 via cbc.ca
  
  A new study published out of the University of Alberta has found that carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to become faster and faster over time — and the proof is in the leg length.
  
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• Gay couples feel pressure to marry and conform, UBC study finds

  27-01-2016 22:29 via cbc.ca
  
  Unmarried same-sex couples in Canada feel under pressure to tie the knot, according to a recent study by the University of British Columbia.
  
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• Artificial Intelligence Beats 'Most Complex Game Devised by Humans'

  27-01-2016 22:06
  An artificial intelligence system has defeated a professional Go player, cracking one of the longstanding grand challenges in the field. What's more, the new system, called AlphaGo, defeated the human player by learning the game from scratch using an approach known as "deep learning," the researchers involved say. Ever since IBM's Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov in their iconic chess match in 1997, AI researchers have been quietly crafting robots that can master more and more human pastimes.
  
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• See Jupiter Shine with the Moon Tonight

  27-01-2016 20:51
  
  Jupiter has been a "morning planet" for the last several months, but tonight marks its return to the evening sky. Over the next few weeks, Jupiter will rise a few minutes earlier each night, until it reaches opposition on March 8, meaning it will be directly opposite the sun in the sky, and visible the whole night. With the naked eye, Jupiter is just a point of light, but it shines as brightly as the headlight on a locomotive.
  
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• Google's AI beats human champion at Go

  27-01-2016 20:39 via cbc.ca
  
  In what they called a milestone achievement for artificial intelligence, scientists have created a computer program that beat a professional human player at the complex board game called Go, which originated in ancient China.
  
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• 2nd Generation of Stars Can Rise from Stellar Clusters

  27-01-2016 19:32
  
  "Star clusters are building blocks of galaxies — almost all stars formed in star clusters," said study lead author Chengyuan Li, an astronomer at Peking University in Beijing. Stars in globular clusters are thought to all form at the same time in a single burst from a common cloud of gas. "In a star cluster, the first stellar generation usually contains very massive stars, and those very massive stars will contribute very high-energy photons — that is, X-ray photons — into thei
  
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• Computer Beats Go Champion for the First Time

  27-01-2016 19:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Google's DeepMind program, which has mastered the 2,500-year-old board game, is a big achievement in artificial intelligence
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Why do phone finder apps keep sending strangers to this couple's home?

  27-01-2016 19:29 via cbc.ca
  
  Since Christina Lee and her partner moved into their home in Atlanta, Georgia last year, more than 25 people have shown up looking for their phones - including police officers searching for a missing child.
  
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• Google achieves AI 'breakthrough' at Go

  27-01-2016 19:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An artificial intelligence program developed by Google beats Europe's top player at the ancient Chinese game of Go, about a decade earlier than expected.
  
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• Tracking health is no sweat with new device

  27-01-2016 19:00
  
  New all-in-one electronic device can detect and analyze your temperature and four chemicals in your sweat.
  
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• Machine trumps man in strategy game Go

  27-01-2016 19:00
  
  For the first time, a computer has beat a professional human player in the strategy game Go.
  
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• Webcam search engine raises privacy concerns for connected devices

  27-01-2016 18:46 via cbc.ca
  
  Shodan, a search engine that indexes computers and devices rather than information, now allows users to pull screenshots from nanny cams, security cameras and other connected devices around the world that don't ask for a username or password.
  
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• Nuclear fusion gets boost from private-sector startups

  27-01-2016 18:30
  
  Private-sector firms are creating nuclear fusion machines that may beat governments to the punch.
  
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• 'Passionate debate' on protected areas

  27-01-2016 18:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The planned introduction of 30 Marine Protected Areas off Scotland has sparked a "passionate debate", says the environment secretary.
  
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• 1-in-a-Million Odds Link Global Warming and Record Heat

  27-01-2016 17:48
  For 2014 alone, there's a one-in-a-million chance that the monster heat record occurred only from natural climate variability. "The risk of heat extremes has been multiplied due to human greenhouse-gas emissions, as our data analysis shows," study co-author Stefan Rahmstorf said in a statement. "The anomalous warmth has led to unprecedented local heat waves across the world, sadly resulting in loss of life and aggravating droughts and wildfires," said Rahmstorf, a professor at the Potsdam Instit
  
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• New Foldable Battery Takes Cue from Chinese Calligraphy

  27-01-2016 17:45
  
  Scientists in China have developed a flexible, rollable, foldable battery inspired by traditional Chinese calligraphy involving ink on paper. Worldwide demand for flexible electronics is rapidly growing, because the technology could enable such things as video screens and solar panels to bend, roll and fold.
  
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• 'Fair' environmental assessment rules for pipeline projects coming today

  27-01-2016 17:34 via cbc.ca
  
  Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says he will announce later today a "fair" environmental assessment process that will restore the confidence of Canadians in pipelines and other energy projects. CBCNews.ca will carry the announcement live after 4:50 p.m. ET.
  
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• EU seeks powers over car regulation after VW scandal

  27-01-2016 16:56
  
  The EU on Wednesday pushed to take control of car regulation in Europe in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal, unveiling proposals that would grant Brussels new powers to impose huge fines and recall vehicles.
  
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• NASA Day of Remembrance: Lost Astronauts Honored Thursday

  27-01-2016 16:52
  
  NASA will honor the memories of its fallen astronauts during a series of special ceremonies Thursday (Jan. 28), the 30th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy.
  
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• U.N. urges more Darfur aid access as fighting displaces 34,000

  27-01-2016 16:47
  The United Nations urged Sudan on Wednesday to allow more aid into the western region of Darfur where fighting that broke out two weeks ago has displaced about 34,000 people. About 19,000 civilians have fled into North Darfur and up to 15,000 into Central Darfur, escaping fighting in the mountainous Jebel Marra region that straddles three of Darfur's five states, it said. "While it is encouraging that some humanitarian assistance is being provided, clearly much more is needed," Marta Ruedas, U.N
  
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• Death Valley fish a 'recent arrival'

  27-01-2016 16:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Devils Hole pupfish, one of the rarest species in world, may not have existed as a distinct population for as long as once thought.
  
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• 'Doomsday Clock' remains at 3 minutes to midnight amid 'serious danger'

  27-01-2016 16:23 via cbc.ca
  
  A 'Doomsday Clock' that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm remained at three minutes to midnight this year amid dangers like North Korea's recent nuclear test and a lack of aggressive steps to address climate change, say the scientists behind the clock.
  
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• Rogers CEO defends price hikes, noting wireless still costs less than a 'cup of coffee'

  27-01-2016 15:40 via cbc.ca
  
  Guy Laurence said the higher cost of network equipment after the Canadian dollar's recent drop was one of the increased expenses that made it necessary to raise prices, adding that the daily cost of a wireless plan is still less than a premium latte.
  
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• Multitasking by Brain Wave

  27-01-2016 15:30 via rss.sciam.com
  
  New findings in rats show how we can take in new information while tapping prior knowledge
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• Lift-off for Scottish space technology firm

  27-01-2016 15:13
  The company which designed and manufactured Scotland's first space satellite is to expand its operations to North America.
  
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• Apple's Safari browser crashing during searches

  27-01-2016 15:07 via cbc.ca
  
  Apple Inc's Safari web browser is crashing for some users when they run a search from the address bar in both iOS and OS X devices.
  
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• 931 motorists test positive for drug-driving during December

  27-01-2016 14:52
  Hundreds of people have been caught drug-driving in the space of a month.
  
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• Is 'ethical meat' helping pigs or salving consciences?

  27-01-2016 14:39 via cbc.ca
  
  Not long ago, the biggest moral dilemma would-be meat eaters faced, was whether or not to put meat on their forks. Today, with the proliferation of options like "humanely raised," "grass fed," "free range," and on and on, there's a lot more to chew on.
  
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• EU seeks new powers on cars after VW scandal

  27-01-2016 14:05
  
  The EU on Wednesday pushed to take control of car regulation in Europe in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal, unveiling proposals that would grant Brussels new powers to impose huge fines and recall vehicles.
  
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• The Right Stuff, Online: Space Agency Crowdsources Astronaut Test

  27-01-2016 13:49
  
  Want to help the European Space Agency (ESA) crowd-test its astronaut selection? A new website lets the public take part in an online astronaut-selection test, which the European Space Agency (ESA) will use to refine the way it chooses astronaut candidates. Trainers at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, have developed a test that runs users through increasingly complicated spatial awareness puzzles, measuring an important factor in a candidate's aptitude for space travel.
  
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• Rogue Planet Finds Home in Biggest Solar System Ever Seen

  27-01-2016 13:49
  
  Astronomers have found the parent star for a gas-giant exoplanet named 2MASS J2126, which was previously thought to be a "rogue" world flying freely through space. The planet and its star are separated by about 7,000 astronomical units (AU), meaning the alien world completes one orbit every 900,000 years or so, researchers said. For comparison, Neptune lies about 30 AU from the sun, Pluto averages about 40 AU from Earth's star and scientists think the newly hypothesized "Planet Nine" never gets
  
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• Astronaut Plays Zero-G Ping-Pong With a Ball of Water (Video)

  27-01-2016 13:49
  
  Liquid is a challenging thing to manage in space, as space station astronauts experienced during a spacewalk earlier this month. A small amount of water leaking into in NASA astronaut Tim Kopra's suit forced the crew to cut the spacewalk short as a precaution, although Kopra was never in any immediate danger, NASA officials said. The cause of that leak is being investigated.
  
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• U.S., allies conduct 14 strikes against Islamic State - U.S. military

  27-01-2016 13:42
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria staged 14 strikes on Tuesday against the Islamic State militant group, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said. In a statement released early Wednesday, the group said four strikes near three cities in Syria hit tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions and six workover rigs. In Iraq, five strikes near four cities hit several tactical units and destroyed weapons caches and fighting positions, among othe
  
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• Largest solar system discovered

  27-01-2016 13:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers discover the largest known solar system, consisting of a large planet that takes a million years to orbit its star.
  
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• Entanglement is spooky, but not action at a distance

  27-01-2016 13:05
  
  Recent experiments on quantum entanglement confirm that it’s spooky, but it was not, as Einstein implied, action at a distance.
  
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• Quantum spookiness survives its toughest tests

  27-01-2016 13:00
  Recent experiments on quantum entanglement confirm that it’s spooky, but it was not, as Einstein implied, action at a distance.
  
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• Tim Peake: British astronaut shows how to have a shower in space

  27-01-2016 12:59
  British astronaut Tim Peake has revealed how to have a shower aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In the video, published by the European Space Agency (ESA), the 43-year-old former army major reveals how hygeine is maintained for those travelling in space. There are no actual showers, so Peake instead makes a towel damp by connecting it to a bag of water.
  
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• African leaders trying to push Burundi to take peacekeepers - officials

  27-01-2016 12:34
  By Aaron Maasho and Edmund Blair ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African states are trying to push President Pierre Nkurunziza to accept peacekeeping troops at a summit this week to prevent Burundi sliding back into ethnic conflict but there is little hope that he will agree, officials said. The African Union (AU) announced a plan in December to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi, where more than 400 people have been killed in worst violence since an ethnically charged civil war ended in 2005. Burundi s
  
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• Used smartphones: How to buy one that's worth your money

  27-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Brand new smartphones can be very pricey. Used ones are more affordable, but buying used can be a risky process. Here's how to minimize the risk.
  
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• How to buy a used smartphone that's worth your money

  27-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Brand new smartphones can be very pricey. But used ones don't always work as advertised, especially if they were stolen. Here's what you need to check before buying a used phone.
  
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• Halifax flower shop has thorny experience with Google AdWords

  27-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  A Halifax flower store’s experience with online customer orders is highlighting a situation many people may be unaware of, and one that could cost customers as well as the flower store.
  
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• 5 tips for buying a used smartphone that's worth your money

  27-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Brand new smartphones can be very pricey. Used ones are more affordable, but buying used can be a risky process. Here's how to minimize the risk.
  
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• Zero fighter flies over Japan for 1st time since WWII

  27-01-2016 10:12
  
  KANOYA, Japan (AP) — One of Mitsubishi's legendary Zero fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday for the first time since World War II.
  
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• U.S. slams Taiwan president's planned visit to contested South China Sea

  27-01-2016 09:06
  Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's planned trip to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea is "extremely unhelpful" and won't do anything to resolve disputes over the waterway, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Ma's office earlier announced that the president, who steps down in May, would fly to Itu Aba on Thursday to offer Chinese New Year wishes to residents on the island, mainly Taiwanese coastguard personnel and environmental scholars.
  
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• Can Your BMI Predict How Long You'll Live?

  27-01-2016 08:50
  Body mass index (BMI) is a common measure of body fat, but new research shows that having a BMI in the "normal weight" range is not always the healthiest for every person. In fact, for many people, having a BMI in the overweight range may be linked with the lowest risk of dying over a 13-year period, the research suggests. Usually, a BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, from 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal weight, from 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and 30 and over is considered obe
  
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• All US Adults Should Be Screened for Depression, Panel Recommends

  27-01-2016 08:50
  All adults in the U.S., including pregnant and postpartum women, should be screened for depression when they visit the doctor, according to new recommendations released by a government-appointed panel. This recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is largely consistent with the group's previous recommendation, which was issued in 2009, said Karina Davidson, a member of the task force and a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. The USPSTF makes recommendatio
  
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