Sci-Tech news

• Twitter co-founder: 'I don't give a shit' if Instagram has more users - Fortune

  11-12-2014 23:02 via fortune.com
  
  Fortune
  Twitter co-founder: 'I don't give a shit' if Instagram has more users
  Fortune
  Yesterday, Instagram announced it has 300 million monthly active users. The news drew immediate comparisons between the photo-sharing app, which sold to Facebook FB for $1 billion in 2012, and Twitter TWTR , a $24 billion publicly traded company ...
  Is Twitter starting to lose its glitter?ZDNet
  Twitter Co-Founder on Instagram Milestone: Who Cares?PC Magazine
  Instagram Is Getting So Good at New
  
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• Nanoshaping method points to future manufacturing technology

  11-12-2014 22:57
  
  A new method that creates large-area patterns of three-dimensional nanoshapes from metal sheets represents a potential manufacturing system to inexpensively mass produce innovations such as "plasmonic metamaterials" for advanced technologies.
  
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• Early Apple-1 Computer Sells for $365k at Auction

  11-12-2014 22:44 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  A fully operational Apple computer that company co-founder Steve Jobs sold out of his parents' garage in 1976 has fetched $365,000 at Christie's.
  
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• Labor board OKs personal use of company e-mail (Update)

  11-12-2014 22:29
  
  In a victory for unions, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that employees can use their company email accounts for union organizing and other workplace-related purposes, if they do it on their own time.
  
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• Labor board OKs personal use of company e-mail

  11-12-2014 22:29
  
  In a victory for unions, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that employees can use their company email accounts for union organizing and other workplace-related purposes, if they do it on their own time.
  
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• High-tech CU-Boulder hardware to support experiments launching to space station

  11-12-2014 22:27
  
  The University of Colorado Boulder will fly state-of-the-art hardware on the commercial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launching to the International Space Station (ISS) Dec. 19 to support experiments designed to better understand why the virulence of some pathogens increases in the low gravity of space.
  
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• New studies power legacy of UW-Madison research, 60 years later

  11-12-2014 22:24
  
  Frederick Crane was a researcher under David E. Green in the mid-1950s, during the early days of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Enzyme Institute, when he made his defining discovery.
  
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• Swarms of Pluto-size objects kick-up dust around adolescent Sun-like star

  11-12-2014 22:22
  
  Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may have detected the dusty hallmarks of an entire family of Pluto-size objects swarming around an adolescent version of our own Sun.
  
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• Anthropologist studies the culture of cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon

  11-12-2014 22:22
  
  With more and more rainforest giving way to pasture and grazing land every year, the practice of cattle ranching in the Amazon has serious implications on a global scale. At the same time, however, it provides a degree of socioeconomic flexibility for Amazonian smallholders who simply can't survive on what the forest or agriculture provide.
  
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• Sony Hack: Exec Joked About Obama and Race in Email

  11-12-2014 21:59 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The remarks about the president were in emails that were stolen by hackers who recently attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer network.
  
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• Sony Executive Joked About Obama and Race in Email

  11-12-2014 21:59 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The remarks about the president were in emails that were stolen by hackers who recently attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer network.
  
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• These Two Start-Ups Want to Take On Cancer: Re/Code

  11-12-2014 21:43 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The life sciences sector of Greater Boston has become a hotspot for cancer work among pharmaceutical giants, academic labs, and research institutions.
  
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• Most of the World Doesn't Protect Women From Online Attacks

  11-12-2014 21:40 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Police, courts and online service providers don't have appropriate training or legal guidance to deal with harassment situations, the report said.
  
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• New insights into the origins of agriculture could help shape the future of food

  11-12-2014 21:38
  
  Agricultural decisions made by our ancestors more than 10,000 years ago could hold the key to food security in the future, according to new research by the University of Sheffield.
  
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• Rhino horn trafficking up 30-fold: wildlife group

  11-12-2014 21:10
  
  The trafficking of African rhinoceros horn on the black market has surged 30-fold in the past 13 years and is now running "out of control," animal protection advocates said Thursday.
  
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• Apple sold by Jobs fetches $365,000 at auction

  11-12-2014 21:00
  
  A 1976 Apple computer sold by Steve Jobs from his parents' garage fetched $365,000 at auction in New York on Thursday, falling short of its pre-sale estimate in a competitive computer relic market.
  
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• Microsoft lets US shoppers pay with Bitcoin

  11-12-2014 20:59
  
  Microsoft began Thursday letting US shoppers at its online Windows Store pay with digital currency Bitcoin.
  
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• Sony says sorry to Obama, amid leaked emails storm

  11-12-2014 20:50
  
  Beleaguered studio Sony Pictures apologized Thursday for racially insensitive remarks about President Barack Obama in company emails, the latest in a series of leaks that have left Hollywood reeling.
  
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• Two 'pseudoscorpions' discovered in Grand Canyon cave

  11-12-2014 20:49
  
  Two new species of so-called pseudoscorpions have been discovered in a cave on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.
  
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• Happy-go-lucky CEOs score better returns

  11-12-2014 20:32
  
  A CEO's natural sunny disposition can have an impact on the way the market reacts to announcements of company earnings, according to research from the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.
  
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• Mapping crocodilian genomes

  11-12-2014 20:28
  
  A Texas Tech University biologist led a team of more than 50 scientists who mapped the genomes of three crocodilians.
  
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• Study outlines basic rules for construction with a type of origami

  11-12-2014 20:26
  
  Origami is capable of turning a simple sheet of paper into a pretty paper crane, but the principles behind the paper-folding art can also be applied to making a microfluidic device for a blood test, or for storing a satellite's solar panel in a rocket's cargo bay.
  
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• Understanding how emotions ripple after terrorist acts

  11-12-2014 20:25
  
  The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing motivated mass expressions of fear, solidarity, and sympathy toward Bostonians on social media networks around the world. In a recently released study, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University analyzed emotional reactions on Twitter in the hours and weeks following the attack.
  
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• Ex-NSA Agents' Start-Up Locks in $8m in Funding

  11-12-2014 20:21 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The start-up Area 1 Security, which was founded by three ex-NSA employees, received an $8 million round of funding on Wednesday.
  
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• LSU researchers apply modern genomic analysis to historic bird collection

  11-12-2014 20:13
  
  An international team of scientists has completed the largest whole genome study of a single class of animals to date. To map the tree of life for birds, the team sequenced, assembled and compared full genomes of 48 bird species representing all major branches of modern birds including ostrich, hummingbird, crow, duck, falcon, parrot, crane, ibis, woodpecker and eagle species. The researchers have been working on this ambitious genetic tree of life, or phylogeny, project for four years.
  
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• New method helps map species' genetic heritage

  11-12-2014 20:03
  
  Where did the songbird get its song? What branch of the bird family tree is closer to the flamingo - the heron or the sparrow?
  
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• Cells can use dynamic patterns to pluck signals from noise

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  Scientists have discovered a general principle for how cells could accurately transmit chemical signals despite high levels of noise in the system, they report in Science this week.
  
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• Attosecond laser provides first 'movie' of fast electrons jumping band-gap of semiconductor

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  The entire semiconductor industry, not to mention Silicon Valley, is built on the propensity of electrons in silicon to get kicked out of their atomic shells and become free. These mobile electrons are routed and switched though transistors, carrying the digital information that characterizes our age.
  
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• Human DNA shows traces of 40 million-year battle for survival between primate and pathogen

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  Examination of DNA from 21 primate species - from squirrel monkeys to humans - exposes an evolutionary war against infectious bacteria over iron that circulates in the host's bloodstream. Supported by experimental evidence, these findings, published in Science on Dec. 12, demonstrate the vital importance of an increasingly appreciated defensive strategy called nutritional immunity.
  
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• Genes tell story of birdsong and human speech

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  His office is filled with all sorts of bird books, but Duke neuroscientist Erich Jarvis didn't become an expert on the avian family tree because of any particular interest in our feathered friends. Rather, it was his fascination with how the human brain understands and reproduces speech that brought him to the birds.
  
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• Tooth loss in birds occurred about 116 million years ago

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  The absence of teeth or "edentulism" has evolved on multiple occasions within vertebrates including birds, turtles, and a few groups of mammals such as anteaters, baleen whales and pangolins. Where early birds are concerned, the fossil record is fragmentary. A question that has intrigued biologists is: Based on this fossil record, were teeth lost in the common ancestor of all living birds or convergently in two or more independent lineages of birds?
  
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• March of the penguin genomes

  11-12-2014 20:00
  Two penguin genomes have been sequenced and analyzed for the first time in the open access, open data journal GigaScience. Timely for the holiday season, the study reveals insights into how these birds have been able to adapt to the cold and hostile Antarctic environment.
  
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• As gay marriage gains voter acceptance, study illuminates a possible reason

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  Conventional wisdom holds that changing the views of voters on divisive issues is difficult if not impossible—and that when change does occur, it is almost always temporary.
  
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• International team maps 'big bang' of bird evolution

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  The genomes of modern birds tell a story of how they emerged and evolved after the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and almost everything else 66 million years ago. That story is now coming to light, thanks to an ambitious international collaboration that has been underway for four years.
  
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• Ebola virus may replicate in an exotic way: Study indicates target for future drugs for measles, Ebola, RSV

  11-12-2014 20:00
  
  University of Utah researchers ran biochemical analysis and computer simulations of a livestock virus to discover a likely and exotic mechanism to explain the replication of related viruses such as Ebola, measles and rabies. The mechanism may be a possible target for new treatments within a decade.
  
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• Chickens and turkeys 'closer to dinosaur ancestors' than other birds

  11-12-2014 19:59
  
  New research from the University of Kent suggests that chickens and turkeys have experienced fewer gross genomic changes than other birds as they evolved from their dinosaur ancestor.
  
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• High-speed Internet on its way to more schools

  11-12-2014 19:20
  
  The Federal Communications Commission agreed Thursday to dramatically boost spending to bring high-speed Internet access to schools and libraries in poor or rural areas, a move that would likely increase Americans' phone bills by about $2 a year.
  
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• Wi-Fi Pioneer Predicts the Future of Wireless

  11-12-2014 19:17 via abcnews.go.com
  
  What Greg Raleigh believes will be the future of connectivity.
  
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• You can now pay for that Microsoft Xbox in bitcoins - Mashable

  11-12-2014 19:17 via mashable.com
  
  Mashable
  You can now pay for that Microsoft Xbox in bitcoins
  Mashable
  It's now possible to pay for Microsoft products with Bitcoin — just in time for the holidays. Microsoft customers in the United States can use the digital currency to add money to their online accounts and purchase software, apps and games, including those for ...
  Microsoft Accepting Bitcoin in Windows, Xbox StoresPC Magazine
  Bitcoin gets a 'Microsoft bump'USA TODAY
  Microsoft joins list of companies accepti
  
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• What's New Now: Google News Shuts Down in Spain - PC Magazine

  11-12-2014 19:12 via pcmag.com
  
  Christian Science Monitor
  What's New Now: Google News Shuts Down in Spain
  PC Magazine
  Google News is shutting its doors in Spain to avoid a new set of fees being imposed in the country. Starting in January, new legislation will require every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even a snippet of their articles.
  Google News shutdown in Spain: Does anyone win?Christian Science Monitor
  REPEAT-UPDATE 2-Google to shut down news site in Spain over copyright feesReut
  
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• Xspace Will Attempt to Land a Falcon 9 Rocket on a Floating Platform in the Ocean - The Utah People's Post

  11-12-2014 19:09 via utahpeoplespost.com
  
  The Utah People's Post
  Xspace Will Attempt to Land a Falcon 9 Rocket on a Floating Platform in the Ocean
  The Utah People's Post
  Officials from Xspace company announced that they will conduct simulation excercises to successfully land a Falcon 9 rocket on a floating platform in the ocean. SpaceX will make an attempt that was never tried before. They will try to land a Falcon 9 ...
  SpaceX to Land Falcon 9 on Floating Ocean PlatformChinatopix
  SpaceX to try to Land Rocket on a Floating Platfor
  
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• New Dark Matter Detector Will Be 100 Times More Sensitive to Dark Matter

  11-12-2014 19:07 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A team of scientists is building a supersized version of the dark matter detector Lux, called Lux-Zeplin, which will be roughly 100 times more sensitive to dark matter than its predecessor. “What really impressed me was the trip down,” said astrophysicist James Buckley, PhD, speaking of the vertical mile he traveled to get to the […]
  The post New Dark Matter Detector Will Be 100 Times More Sensitive to Dark Matter appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• American Museum of Natural History plans addition

  11-12-2014 19:02
  
  The American Museum of Natural History has announced plans to build an addition to house a new science and education center.
  
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• Food insecurity rising despite record cereal output

  11-12-2014 19:00
  
  World cereal output is expected to hit record highs this year but food insecurity is worsening across the globe thanks to Ebola and civil conflicts, the UN's food agency said Thursday.
  
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• NASA sees Hagupit weaken to a depression enroute to Vietnam

  11-12-2014 18:56
  
  The once mighty super typhoon has weakened to a depression in the South China Sea as it heads for a final landfall in southern Vietnam. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the storm that showed it was weakening.
  
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• How birds get by without external ears

  11-12-2014 18:50
  
  Unlike mammals, birds have no external ears. The outer ears of mammals play an important function in that they help the animal identify sounds coming from different elevations. But birds are also able to perceive whether the source of a sound is above them, below them, or at the same level. Now a research team from Technische Universität München (TUM) has discovered how birds are able to localize these sounds, namely by utilizing their entire head. Their findings were published recently in the
  
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• How fast you age depends on your parents

  11-12-2014 18:47
  
  In the hunt for better knowledge on the aging process, researchers from Lund University have now enlisted the help of small birds. A new study investigates various factors which affect whether chicks are born with long or short chromosome ends, called telomeres.
  
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• Startling Images of the Tons of Trash in the World's Oceans - ABC News

  11-12-2014 18:46 via abcnews.go.com
  ABC News
  Startling Images of the Tons of Trash in the World's Oceans
  ABC News
  Nearly 270,000 tons of plastic are floating in the world's oceans, according to a new study. That's divided into at least 5.25 trillion plastic pieces, researchers wrote. Or, enough to fill more than 38,500 garbage trucks, the Associated Press reported. This Is What ...
  Plastic waste in oceans estimated at over 250000 tonsModVive
  Study: 270000 Tons Of Plastic Floating In World's OceansCBS Local
  26
  
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• Team develops solar observatory for use on suborbital manned space missions

  11-12-2014 18:42
  
  Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is preparing to unveil a new, miniature portable solar observatory for use onboard a commercial, manned suborbital spacecraft. The SwRI Solar Instrument Pointing Platform (SSIPP) will be on exhibit at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Dec. 16-19, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.
  
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• Stacking two-dimensional materials may lower cost of semiconductor devices

  11-12-2014 18:41
  
  A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has found that stacking materials that are only one atom thick can create semiconductor junctions that transfer charge efficiently, regardless of whether the crystalline structure of the materials is mismatched - lowering the manufacturing cost for a wide variety of semiconductor devices such as solar cells, lasers and LEDs.
  
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