Sci-Tech news

• US brands movie studio hack a national security breach

  18-12-2014 23:40
  
  The cyber attack that forced Sony Pictures to scrap a comedy about North Korea is a "serious national security matter," the White House warned Thursday, threatening an "appropriate response."
  
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• Ear-check via phone can ease path to diagnosis

  18-12-2014 22:30
  
  Ear infections are common in babies and young children. That it is a frequent reason for young children's visit to doctors comes as no consolation for the parents of babies tugging at their ears and crying as the parents try to get speedy appointments and travel to consultations. A system for easing the path to a doctor's diagnosis and treatment is being offered in the form of Oto HOME, a smartphone-enabled ear-checker tool, which families can use at home.
  
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• European comet lander may wake up from space slumber

  18-12-2014 21:58
  
  Europe's Philae comet lander may be about to wake up from its lengthy, unplanned slumber.
  
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• Watch: Shepard Fairey Told Us to 'Obey' and to 'Hope'

  18-12-2014 21:53
  
  As an artist who has regularly explored and tested freedom of speech and freedom of the press in his work, Fairey is particularly excited about the new outlets of the internet and mobile era.
  
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• Timeline of the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack

  18-12-2014 21:50
  
  It's been four weeks since hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace began their cyberterrorism campaign against Sony Pictures Entertainment. In that time thousands of executive emails and other documents have been posted online, employees and their families were threatened, and unreleased films were stolen and made available for illegal download. The hackers then escalated this week to threatening 9/11-like attacks against movie theaters scheduled to show the Sony film "The Interview." That
  
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• Two more former Sony workers sue over data breach

  18-12-2014 21:50
  
  Two more former employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment are suing the company over the massive data breach in which their personal and financial information was stolen and posted online.
  
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• Research aims to improve rechargeable batteries by focusing on graphene oxide paper

  18-12-2014 21:49
  
  A Kansas State University engineering team has discovered some of graphene oxide's important properties that can improve sodium- and lithium-ion flexible batteries.
  
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• Study on world's biggest animal finds more than one population in the southeastern Pacific

  18-12-2014 21:47
  
  Scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), the Universidad Austral de Chile, the Blue Whale Center, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), NOAA, and other organizations are examining molecular clues to answer a big question: how many types of blue whales exist in the waters of the southeastern Pacific?
  
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• Rosetta comet-landing is Science's 2014 breakthrough

  18-12-2014 21:40
  
  The top scientific breakthrough of 2014 was the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft's rendez-vous with a comet, the US journal Science said Thursday.
  
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• NOAA establishes 'tipping points' for sea level rise related flooding

  18-12-2014 21:35
  
  By 2050, a majority of U.S. coastal areas are likely to be threatened by 30 or more days of flooding each year due to dramatically accelerating impacts from sea level rise, according to a new NOAA study, published today in the American Geophysical Union's online peer-reviewed journal Earth's Future.
  
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• Study: Large carnivores gaining ground in Europe

  18-12-2014 21:33
  
  Brown bears, grey wolves and other large carnivores are making a comeback in Europe.
  
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• Cadillac Banishes Blind Spots With High Tech

  18-12-2014 21:33 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The engineers at Cadillac say they've found the key to further eliminating a driver's blind spot.
  
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• 'Utter Devastation': Who's Next in Line After the Sony Hack?

  18-12-2014 21:24 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  News of cyberattacks now dominate the headlines often, but experts say the Sony hack was designed to cause "utter devastation" unlike they've ever seen.
  
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• Second security clearance investigation contractor hacked

  18-12-2014 21:20
  
  Federal officials say the private files of 48,439 workers may have been compromised by a computer breach at government contractor KeyPoint Government Solutions Inc. The hacking incident is the second this year at a major firm handling national security background investigations of federal workers for the government.
  
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• Files of more than 40,000 federal workers breached (Update)

  18-12-2014 21:20
  
  The computer files of more than 40,000 federal workers may have been compromised by a cyberattack at federal contractor KeyPoint Government Solutions, the second breach this year at a major firm handling national security background investigations of workers at federal agencies, the government confirmed Thursday.
  
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• Q&A: Drones Might Help Explain How Tornadoes Form

  18-12-2014 21:18
  Q&A: Drones can peer inside big Midwest storms, might help explain how tornadoes form
  
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• NASA's Orion spacecraft back in Florida after test flight

  18-12-2014 21:08
  
  NASA's experimental Orion spacecraft left Florida by rocket and returned by truck.
  
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• Digital dilemma: How will US respond to Sony hack?

  18-12-2014 21:08
  
  The detective work blaming North Korea for the Sony hacker break-in appears so far to be largely circumstantial, The Associated Press has learned. The dramatic conclusion of a Korean role is based on subtle clues in the hacking tools left behind and the involvement of at least one computer in Bolivia previously traced to other attacks blamed on the North Koreans.
  
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• Researchers glimpse pathway of sunlight to electricity

  18-12-2014 21:06
  
  Four pulses of laser light on nanoparticle photocells in a University of Oregon spectroscopy experiment has opened a window on how captured sunlight can be converted into electricity.
  
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• New, tighter timeline confirms ancient volcanism aligned with dinosaurs' extinction

  18-12-2014 20:55
  
  A definitive geological timeline shows that a series of massive volcanic explosions 66 million years ago spewed enormous amounts of climate-altering gases into the atmosphere immediately before and during the extinction event that claimed Earth's non-avian dinosaurs, according to new research from Princeton University.
  
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• Computational clues into the structure of a promising energy conversion catalyst

  18-12-2014 20:54
  
  Hydrogen fuel is a promising source of clean energy that can be produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The reaction is difficult but achievable with the help of a catalyst, a material that can speed up the process. However, current catalysts lack the efficiency required for water splitting to be commercially competitive. Recently scientists have identified one such catalyst, iron-doped nickel oxide, as a highly active compound that can speed up this reaction, but the origin of
  
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• Satellite sees green-up along Colorado River's Delta after experimental flow

  18-12-2014 20:53
  
  A pulse of water released down the lower reaches of the Colorado River last spring resulted in more than a 40 percent increase in green vegetation where the water flowed, as seen by the Landsat 8 satellite. The March 2014 release of water - an experimental flow implemented under a U.S.-Mexico agreement called "Minute 319" - reversed a 13-year decline in the greenness along the delta.
  
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• Conservation and immunology of wild seabirds: Vaccinating two birds with one shot

  18-12-2014 20:48
  
  A group of researchers from the University of Barcelona (Spain), the CNRS in Montpellier (France) and Princeton University (USA) report in The American Naturalist that the vaccination of females of a long-lived seabird species, the Cory's shearwater, results in levels of antibodies that allow their transmission to their offspring for several years and could provide several weeks of protection after hatching to these offspring.
  
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• 2 More Former Sony Workers Sue Over Data Breach

  18-12-2014 20:31
  Sony faces third lawsuit from ex-employees over breach that released personal, medical info
  
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• Constantly changing online prices stump shoppers

  18-12-2014 20:30
  
  Online shopping has become as volatile as stock market trading. Wild, minute-by-minute price swings on everything from clothes to TVs have made it difficult for holiday shoppers to "buy low."
  
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• Telltale Games, Mojang Team Up for 'Minecraft: Story Mode' - PC Magazine

  18-12-2014 20:21 via pcmag.com
  
  Financial Post
  Telltale Games, Mojang Team Up for 'Minecraft: Story Mode'
  PC Magazine
  How is this one going to work? Minecraft developer Mojang has announced that the popular game will be getting its own adventure story treatment. And everyone's favorite developer of adventure story games, Telltale Games, will be taking on the task. We're ...
  Minecraft maker Mojang plans spin-off gameBBC News
  'Minecraft: Story Mode' is Telltale Games next projectExaminer.com
  Mojang
  
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• 'Hairclip' protein mechanism explained

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  Research led by the Teichmann group on the Wellcome Genome Campus has identified a fundamental mechanism for controlling protein function. Published in the journal Science, the discovery has wide-ranging implications for biotechnology and medicine. The shape of a protein determines its function, for example whether it is able to interact with another protein or with a drug. But a protein's shape is not constant - it may change in response to different conditions, or simply as a matter of course.
  
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• RNA measurements may yield less insight about gene expression than assumed

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  The majority of RNA expression differences between individuals have no connection to the abundance of a corresponding protein, report scientists from the University of Chicago and Stanford University in Science on Dec. 18. The findings point to a yet-unidentified cellular mechanism that regulates gene expression and suggest studies that rely only on RNA measurements to characterize gene function require further analysis.
  
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• Creation of 'Rocker' protein opens way for new smart molecules in medicine, other fields

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  Human cells are protected by a largely impenetrable molecular membrane, but researchers have built the first artificial transporter protein that carries individual atoms across membranes, opening the possibility of engineering a new class of smart molecules with applications in fields as wide ranging as nanotechnology and medicine.
  
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• Newest computer neural networks can identify visual objects as well as the primate brain

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  For decades, neuroscientists have been trying to design computer networks that can mimic visual skills such as recognizing objects, which the human brain does very accurately and quickly.
  
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• Origin of 'theta aurora'—long-standing space mystery—revealed

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  A University of Southampton researcher has helped solve a long standing space mystery - the origin of the 'theta aurora'.
  
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• The fine-tuning of human color perception

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  The evolution of trichromatic color vision in humans occurred by first switching from the ability to detect UV light to blue light (between 80-30 MYA) and then by adding green-sensitivity (between 45-30 MYA) to the preexisting red-sensitivity in the vertebrate ancestor. The detailed molecular and functional changes of the human color vision have been revealed by Shozo Yokoyama et al. Emory University and is published in the journal PLOS Genetics.
  
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• A clear, molecular view of how human color vision evolved

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  Many genetic mutations in visual pigments, spread over millions of years, were required for humans to evolve from a primitive mammal with a dim, shadowy view of the world into a greater ape able to see all the colors in a rainbow.
  
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• Time management skills keep animals primed for survival

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  Many animals may have a previously under-appreciated ability to make up for lost time with more effort, according to new research publishing this week in PLOS Computational Biology.
  
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• Will we give up privacy without a fight?

  18-12-2014 19:39 via rss.cnn.com
  
  What kind of privacy will you have 10 years from now?
  
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• Holiday lights you can see from space

  18-12-2014 19:36 via rss.cnn.com
  
  NASA says lights in suburban areas of the U.S. can be up to 50 percent brighter during the holidays.
  
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• 'Dark Web': Where Sales of Illegal Guns and Drugs Thrive

  18-12-2014 19:18 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The sites have names like Evolution, Agora and Nucleus, where criminals can buy and sell all manner of illegal goods and services.
  
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• UN sends team to clean up Bangladesh oil spill

  18-12-2014 19:10
  
  The United Nations said Thursday it has sent a team of international experts to Bangladesh to help clean up the world's largest mangrove forest, more than a week after it was hit by a huge oil spill.
  
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• Watch: Sprint Sued Over 'Cramming' Cell Phone Customers

  18-12-2014 19:08
  
  Consumer protection agency sues Sprint for alleged bogus third-party charges.
  
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• Politics no problem, say US and Russian spacefarers (Update)

  18-12-2014 19:00
  
  US-Russian ties may have returned to Cold War levels, but an astronaut and a cosmonaut gearing up for the longest flight on the International Space Station said Thursday politics would not disrupt their work of helping a future trip to Mars.
  
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• Politics no problem, say US and Russian spacefarers

  18-12-2014 19:00
  
  US-Russian ties may have returned to Cold War levels, but an astronaut and a cosmonaut gearing up for the longest flight on the International Space Station said Thursday politics would not disrupt their work of helping a future trip to Mars.
  
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• Politics no problem, say US and Russian space travellers

  18-12-2014 19:00
  
  A US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut gearing up for the longest-ever flight on the International Space Station (ISS) said Thursday they were unfazed by any turbulence in their countries' political ties.
  
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• Study finds Illinois is most critical hub in food distribution network

  18-12-2014 18:59
  
  Illinois is the most critical hub in the network of U.S. domestic food transfers, according to a new study by Megan Konar, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The study was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
  
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• Brain structures devoted to learning, memory highly conserved in animal kingdom, suggesting common evolutionary origin

  18-12-2014 18:58
  
  Whether you're cramming for an exam or just trying to remember where you put your car keys, learning and memory are critical functions that we constantly employ in daily life.
  
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• Team develops 'cool' new method for probing how molecules fold

  18-12-2014 18:54
  
  Collaborating scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the University of California (UC) San Diego have developed a powerful new system for studying how proteins and other biological molecules form and lose their natural folded structures.
  
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• How will climate change transform agriculture?

  18-12-2014 18:53
  
  Climate change impacts will require major but very uncertain transformations of global agriculture systems by mid-century, according to new research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
  
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• Study identifies metal organic framework candidates for methane storage, fuels hope for natural gas cars

  18-12-2014 18:52
  
  Cars that run on natural gas are touted as efficient and environmentally friendly, but getting enough gas onboard to make them practical is a hurdle. A new study led by researchers at Rice University promises to help.
  
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• Fifth SpaceX mission lets the CATS out on the International Space Station

  18-12-2014 18:51
  
  Not like cats that you might pet in your lap at night, International Space Station CATS study the atmosphere's plight. CATS and new research including flatworms, wearable technology, an external radiation monitor and tools to use the station as a microbial observatory will head to the orbiting outpost on the fifth SpaceX mission. Additionally, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will deliver equipment for human research, physical science and educational activities to the station.
  
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• SpaceX will attempt to land a rocket on a gigantic floating lander pad this Friday

  18-12-2014 18:48
  
  A few months back, Elon Musk announced SpaceX’s latest crazy plan: Instead of landing its Falcon 9 rockets on solid ground, the company wants to land them at sea, on top of a massive floating platform.
  
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• Report: Radiation leak at nuclear dump was small

  18-12-2014 18:48
  
  A final report by independent researchers shows the radiation leak from the federal government's underground nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico was small and localized.
  
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