Sci-Tech news

• Paris domain names sell like hot croissants

  02-12-2014 23:57
  
  Companies and lovers of the City of Lights snapped up 6,600 ".paris" Internet domain names in a mere two hours on Tuesday, far exceeding expectations.
  
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• Twitter Tries to Make It Easier to Report Abuse - ABC News

  02-12-2014 23:53 via abcnews.go.com
  TechCrunch
  Twitter Tries to Make It Easier to Report Abuse
  ABC News
  Twitter is trying to make it easier for victims and witnesses of online harassment to report it. The short messaging service said Tuesday that the new tools will roll out to users over the coming weeks. It's available now for a small group of Twitter's 284 million ...
  Twitter Improves Abuse Reporting And BlockingForbes
  Twitter improves harassment reporting and blocking to boost safetyBetaNews
  Twitter
  
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• Science projects will never be the same: Microsoft cuts clip art

  02-12-2014 23:22 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The golden age of clip art has come to an end: Microsoft announced that it is replacing the function with a custom Bing image search.
  
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• 'Mirage Earth' exoplanets may have burned away chances for life

  02-12-2014 23:15
  
  (Phys.org) —Planets orbiting close to low-mass stars—easily the most common stars in the universe—are prime targets in the search for extraterrestrial life.
  
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• Scientists accurately quantify dust around planets in search for life

  02-12-2014 23:14
  
  (Phys.org)—A new study from the Keck Interferometer, a former NASA project that combined the power of the twin W. M. Keck Observatory telescopes atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has brought exciting news to planet hunters. After surveying nearly 50 stars from 2008 to 2011, scientists have been able to determine with remarkable precision how much dust is around distant stars – a big step closer into finding planets than might harbor life. The discovery is being published in the Astrophysical Journal o
  
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• Open-Source Beer: Why One Brewery is Sharing Recipes

  02-12-2014 23:00 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The Tin Whiskers brewery only started hand-bottling its beers a couple of weeks ago, but it has already shared the recipes online.
  
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• Stephen Hawking: Artificial Intelligence Could Be the End of Mankind - NBCNews.com

  02-12-2014 22:59 via nbcnews.com
  
  The Guardian
  Stephen Hawking: Artificial Intelligence Could Be the End of Mankind
  NBCNews.com
  Cosmologist Stephen Hawking warned that independent artificial intelligence could doom mankind. "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," Hawking told the BBC. While Hawking admits there are many benefits to ...
  Stephen Hawking just got an artificial intelligence upgrade, but still thinks AI ...Washington Post
  Stephen Hawking Say
  
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• Stephen Hawking: AI Could Be the End of Mankind

  02-12-2014 22:58 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Cosmologist Stephen Hawking warned that independent artificial intelligence could doom mankind.
  
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• Powerful new technique simultaneously determines nanomaterials' chemical makeup, topography

  02-12-2014 22:55
  
  (Phys.org)—A team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Ohio University have devised a powerful technique that simultaneously resolves the chemical characterization and topography of nanoscale materials down to the height of a single atom.
  
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• Why We Haven't Seen Rosetta's Comet in Color Until Now - The Atlantic

  02-12-2014 22:50 via theatlantic.com
  
  The Atlantic
  Why We Haven't Seen Rosetta's Comet in Color Until Now
  The Atlantic
  Back to The Wire What is The Wire? The Wire features the latest news coverage from The Atlantic. Why Haven't We Seen Rosetta's Comet in Color Until Now? Using its high-powered camera OSIRIS, the European spacecraft has released the first tinted ...
  Philae May Have Scraped Crater Rim After Bounce Landing on CometTech Times
  Why Haven't We Seen Rosetta's Comet in Color Until No
  
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• Some can jump research paper paywall thanks to Nature group

  02-12-2014 22:50
  
  Great things happen when scientists share, collaborate, build on one another's work. Big frustrations occur when walls prevent that from happening easily. Another generalization is in order: Where there's will there's way.
  
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• Agency proposes critical habitat for ringed seals

  02-12-2014 22:44
  
  A federal agency has proposed about 350,000 square miles of ocean off Alaska's north and west coasts as critical habitat for the seal that's the main prey of polar bears.
  
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• How NASA's landmark Orion spacecraft test flight will work - Fox News

  02-12-2014 22:42 via foxnews.com
  
  Fox News
  How NASA's landmark Orion spacecraft test flight will work
  Fox News
  NASA's Exploration Flight Test 1 in December 2014 will mark the first-ever flight of the Orion spacecraft, the U.S. space agency's first manned space capsule in more than 40 years. (NASA). orion-spacecraft-eft1-delta4-launch. NASA's first Orion spacecraft and ...
  Orion space test flight a giant step toward humans on MarsCNET
  NASA Gets New Countdown Clock Just In TimeCBS Local
  NASA Is
  
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• On environment, Republicans closer to Independents than Tea Party, study says

  02-12-2014 22:38
  
  Environmentalists dispirited by the Republicans' dominance of the recent midterm elections can take heart: non-Tea Party Republicans' views on science and environmental issues are closer to those of Independents than to Tea Party supporters. That's the primary finding of new research by University of New Hampshire sociologists, published this week in the journal Environmental Politics.
  
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• Twitter Expands Its Anti-Troll Tools

  02-12-2014 22:35
  
  It's now easier than ever to banish Twitter trolls.
  
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• How NASA's landmark Orion spacecraft test flight will work

  02-12-2014 22:34
  
  NASA is planning to launch a test mission for its newest space capsule designed to eventually bring humans deeper into space than ever before.
  
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• Preference for gravid females makes rare iguana consumption unsustainable

  02-12-2014 22:29
  
  The Valle de Aguán spiny-tailed iguana is a critically endangered species found in Honduras. A recent survey of people living in the region shows that, although residents are aware of the endangered status of the species, the iguana continues to be hunted for food. Of particular concern is the preference for the consumption of female iguanas that are gravid (carrying eggs in their body).
  
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• West Antarctic melt rate has tripled

  02-12-2014 22:29
  
  A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade.
  
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• What Apple's iPod Lawsuit Is All About

  02-12-2014 22:11
  
  Apple is prepared to defend itself today in a decade old lawsuit where one of the star witnesses is expected to be the technology giant's deceased co-founder, Steve Jobs.
  
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• Federal lab to examine birds believed poisoned

  02-12-2014 22:10
  
  A federal forensics laboratory will examine the carcasses of birds believed to have been poisoned last week in Portland, Oregon, parks.
  
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• FBI probing Sony hack, as data leaks emerge

  02-12-2014 22:00
  
  The FBI said Tuesday it was investigating a cyberattack on Sony Pictures, amid reports that employee information as well as new films were being leaked online.
  
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• Unlike humans, monkeys aren't fooled by expensive brands

  02-12-2014 22:00
  
  In at least one respect, Capuchin monkeys are smarter than humans—they don't assume a higher price tag means better quality, according to a new Yale study appearing in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.
  
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• Amazon's Bezos to be 'bold' despite failures

  02-12-2014 21:50
  
  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos acknowledged Tuesday missteps which have cost the tech giant billions, but said that is the price for taking "bold bets."
  
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• Hawking's speech software goes open source for disabled

  02-12-2014 21:37
  
  The system that helps Stephen Hawking communicate with the outside world will be made available online from January in a move that could help millions of motor neurone disease sufferers, scientists said Tuesday.
  
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• NASA gets new countdown clock just in time

  02-12-2014 21:36
  
  NASA has a new state-of-the-art space capsule on the launch pad and a new high-tech countdown clock to go with it.
  
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• NASA sees Tropical Storm Hagupit as Micronesia posts warnings

  02-12-2014 21:33
  
  NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible picture of Tropical Storm Hagupit in the western North Pacific Ocean on December 2, when several warnings were in effect for islands in Micronesia.
  
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• Fear and caring are what's at the core of divisive wolf debate

  02-12-2014 21:28
  
  To hunt or not hunt wolves can't be quantified as simply as men vs. women, hunters vs. anti-hunters, Democrats vs. Republicans or city vs. rural.
  
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• Logging destabilizes forest soil carbon over time, study finds

  02-12-2014 21:28
  
  Logging doesn't immediately jettison carbon stored in a forest's mineral soils into the atmosphere but triggers a gradual release that may contribute to climate change over decades, a Dartmouth College study finds.
  
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• Re-focusing investors' attention away from losses can reduce negative emotional response

  02-12-2014 21:27
  
  According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Board, 31 percent of Americans surveyed said they had no retirement savings, and almost half were not actively thinking about planning for retirement. Studies show that many Americans do not invest because they distrust the market and fear financial losses. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found a way for financial planners to help decrease their clients' worries, which stem from the fear of losing money.
  
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• Lengthening the life of high capacity silicon electrodes in rechargeable lithium batteries

  02-12-2014 21:25
  
  A new study will help researchers create longer-lasting, higher-capacity lithium rechargeable batteries, which are commonly used in consumer electronics. In a study published in the journal ACS Nano, researchers showed how a coating that makes high capacity silicon electrodes more durable could lead to a replacement for lower-capacity graphite electrodes.
  
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• Fiery risk? Air shipments of batteries questioned

  02-12-2014 21:24
  
  Dramatic U.S. government test results raise new concern that bulk shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries carried as cargo on passenger planes are susceptible to fires or explosions that could destroy the airliners.
  
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• Cutting F-35 manufacturing costs, time earns ONR top award

  02-12-2014 21:22
  
  The Office of Naval Research (ONR) today received one of the nation's top manufacturing awards for an innovative, cost-saving method for making advanced cockpit enclosures, or canopies, for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program.
  
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• Missing ingredient in energy-efficient buildings: People

  02-12-2014 21:22
  
  More than one-third of new commercial building space includes energy-saving features, but without training or an operator's manual many occupants are in the dark about how to use them.
  
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• Atmospheric carbon dioxide used for energy storage products

  02-12-2014 21:20
  
  Chemists and engineers at Oregon State University have discovered a fascinating new way to take some of the atmospheric carbon dioxide that's causing the greenhouse effect and use it to make an advanced, high-value material for use in energy storage products.
  
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• India joins the Thirty Meter Telescope Project as a full member

  02-12-2014 21:20
  
  Today in New Delhi, officials of the government of India signed documents establishing the country as a full partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. An international collaboration of institutions in the USA, Canada, Japan, India and China, the TMT project is working towards building a powerful, next-generation astronomical observatory at Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
  
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• Chemists identify role of soil in pollution control

  02-12-2014 21:19
  
  Scientists have long known that air pollution caused by cars and trucks, solvent use and even plants, is reduced when broken down by naturally occurring compounds that act like detergents of the atmosphere. What has not been well understood until now are the relative contributions of all the processes producing such compounds.
  
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• New X-ray spectroscopy gives better look at the chemistry of interfaces

  02-12-2014 21:17
  
  Researchers working at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have combined key features of two highly acclaimed X-ray spectroscopy techniques into a new technique that offers sub-nanometer resolution of every chemical element to be found at heterogeneous interfaces, such as those in batteries and fuel cells. This new technique is called SWAPPS for Standing Wave Ambient Pressure Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and
  
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• Pandora for iOS gets a new look in beta, American Express app adds Touch ID ... - Apple Insider

  02-12-2014 20:47 via appleinsider.com
  
  Apple Insider
  Pandora for iOS gets a new look in beta, American Express app adds Touch ID ...
  Apple Insider
  Starting Tuesday, some users of popular streaming radio app Pandora began seeing a beta preview of a new user interface on their iPhone. Plus, American Express cardholders can now view their account information using Touch ID.
  Pandora Spruces Up Mobile Apps, Gets a Bit More PersonalTech Times
  Pandora Beta Testing New Mobile Interface With Added Personalized ExperienceAndroid H
  
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• Fin24.com | Govt clamping down on cyber crime - expert

  02-12-2014 20:15
  
  There are a number of indications that government is clamping down on cyber criminals, according to an expert.
  
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• Twitter beefs up anti-troll tools

  02-12-2014 20:12 via rss.cnn.com
  Twitter just made it a little bit harder to be a troll.
  
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• Snapchat now lets users submit their own location-based photo filters - Engadget

  02-12-2014 20:05 via engadget.com
  
  Latin Post
  Snapchat now lets users submit their own location-based photo filters
  Engadget
  Remember when Snapchat launched its peculiar geofilters earlier this year? Yeah, we scarcely do either - you could only add those location-sensitive photo effects in a smattering of special locales, so there's a decent shot you've never even had the chance ...
  Snapchat goes local with GeofiltersSlashGear
  Snapchat Geofilters Are Your Latest, Greatest Trick To Make Your Snaps Artwork
  
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• 55 percent of carbon in Amazonian indigenous territories and protected lands may be at risk

  02-12-2014 20:00
  
  A new peer-reviewed study, released today at the start of the UN climate conference in Peru, reveals the unprecedented amount of carbon stored within the nine-nation network of Amazonian indigenous territories and protected natural areas. Accepted for publication in Carbon Management, the paper entitled, "Forest Carbon in Amazonia: The Unrecognized Contributions of Indigenous Territories and Protected Natural Areas," suggests that protecting the vast amount of carbon stored above ground in the f
  
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• Steve Jobs to Take the Stand in Apple Antitrust Suit

  02-12-2014 19:52 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The decadelong class action, antitrust lawsuit will also bring to focus several of Jobs' emails about Apple's treatment of competitors.
  
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• SIMP v WIMP: Novel thermal relic mechanism for dark matter creation in the early universe

  02-12-2014 19:50
  
  (Phys.org)—Our current understanding of the universe is that the majority of its mass consists of dark matter (DM) – but there's a wrinkle: Despite having an idea about some of its properties – dark matter is cold, massive, has neither color nor electrical charge, and does not self-interact very strongly, so that it is detected through its gravitational interactions with ordinary matter and radiation – scientists don't know what dark matter actually is. That said, and as might well be ex
  
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• Watch: Go Inside NASA's Orion Capsule and See the Tech That Could Get Us to Mars

  02-12-2014 19:40
  
  Trajectory officer Kelly Smith describes the upcoming mission live from the Johnson Space Center.
  
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• Want to get male millennials on board with your cause? Focus on feelings

  02-12-2014 19:00
  
  "Selfish" may be the adjective most often attached to millennials. But new research from Concordia University shows that the young men and women who make up the millennial generation aren't so self-centred when it comes to supporting charities—as long as marketers use the right tactics for each gender.
  
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• Strange galaxy perplexes astronomers

  02-12-2014 18:59
  
  With the help of citizen scientists, a team of astronomers has found an important new example of a very rare type of galaxy that may yield valuable insight on how galaxies developed in the early Universe. The new discovery technique promises to give astronomers many more examples of this important and mysterious type of galaxy.
  
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• Why rubber blocks keep appearing on Europe's beaches

  02-12-2014 18:53
  
  From Britain to Spain to Denmark, rubbery blocks have recently washed up on beaches, all bearing the same word: Tjipetir.
  
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• Watch: This Is How Amazon Fulfills All Of Your Holiday Orders

  02-12-2014 18:51
  
  ABC News' Aditi Roy is inside an Amazon fulfillment center where new robots help reduce processing time.
  
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• Proper Copper Levels Essential to Spontaneous Neural Activity

  02-12-2014 18:47 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new study from the Berkeley Lab reveals that proper copper levels are essential to the health of a brain at rest and suggests that mismanagement of copper in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders can also contribute to misregulation of signaling in cell−to-cell communications. In recent years it has been established […]
  The post Proper Copper Levels Essential to Spontaneous Neural Activity appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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