Sci-Tech news

• 'We Blew It': AT&T CEO Sorry for Response to Customer

  15-10-2015 23:39 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  AT&T's top executive admits the company made a major faux pas when it responded with cold legalese to a customer's service suggestions.
  
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• Dolphins, sea lions found dead on Mexico island

  15-10-2015 23:36
  
  Four sea lions, 11 sea turtles and 21 dolphins have mysteriously turned up dead on an island in northwestern Mexico, sparking an investigation, authorities said Thursday.
  
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• Catalyst combining reactivity and selectivity could speed drug development

  15-10-2015 23:35
  
  Chemists have long believed that inserting nitrogen—a beneficial ingredient for making many pharmaceuticals and other biologically active molecules—into a carbon-hydrogen bond requires a trade-off between catalyst reactivity and selectivity. But a new manganese-based catalyst developed by University of Illinois chemists has given researchers both in one efficient, lower-cost package.
  
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• Pluto's 'Heart' is Filled With Poison, Fly-By Shows

  15-10-2015 23:12 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Astronomers are detailing what they've seen on Pluto, and it's a fantastic landscape carved with deep trenches and sparkling mountains of ice.
  
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• Artificial Skin Could Help Amputees Feel What They Touch

  15-10-2015 23:12 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Researchers have developed a thin artificial skin that they hope could be used to help amputees feel what they're touching.
  
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• YouTube Gaming adds mobile play streaming

  15-10-2015 22:54
  
  YouTube Gaming on Thursday ramped up its challenge to Amazon-owned Twitch by adding streamed play of mobile games and a new subscription option.
  
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• Analysis shows greenhouse gas emissions similar for shale, crude oil

  15-10-2015 22:54
  
  The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory this week released a pair of studies on the efficiency of shale oil production excavation. The reports show that shale oil production generates greenhouse gas emissions at levels similar to traditional crude oil production.
  
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• 2015 Antarctic maximum sea ice extent breaks streak of record highs

  15-10-2015 22:52
  
  The sea ice cover of the Southern Ocean reached its yearly maximum extent on Oct. 6. At 7.27 million square miles (18.83 million square kilometers), the new maximum extent falls roughly in the middle of the record of Antarctic maximum extents compiled during the 37 years of satellite measurements - this year's maximum extent is both the 22nd lowest and the 16th highest. More remarkably, this year's maximum is quite a bit smaller than the previous three years, which correspond to the three highes
  
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• COMPASS method points researchers to protein structures

  15-10-2015 22:48
  
  Searching for the precise, complexly folded three-dimensional structure of a protein can be like hacking through a jungle without a map: a long, intensive process with uncertain direction. University of Illinois researchers developed a new approach, dubbed COMPASS, that points directly to a protein's likely structure using a combination of advanced molecular spectroscopy techniques, predictive protein-folding algorithms and image recognition software.
  
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• Natural antioxidants show promise for use in preservation of meat and meat products

  15-10-2015 22:47
  
  Antioxidants are often added to fresh and processed meat and meat products to prevent lipid oxidation (decomposition), stop the development of off-flavors, and improve color stability.
  
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• Webb 'Pathfinder Telescope' successfully completes first super-cold optical test

  15-10-2015 22:07
  
  Testing is crucial part of NASA's success on Earth and in space. So, as the actual flight components of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope come together, engineers are testing the non-flight equipment to ensure that tests on the real Webb telescope later goes safely and according to plan. Recently, the "pathfinder telescope," or just "Pathfinder," completed its first super-cold optical test that resulted in many first-of-a-kind demonstrations.
  
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• Rise and fall of agrarian states influenced by climate volatility

  15-10-2015 22:07
  
  Climate variability is one of the major forces in the rise and fall of agrarian states in Mexico and Peru, according to a team of researchers looking at both climate and archaeological records.
  
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• Affordable camera reveals hidden details invisible to the naked eye

  15-10-2015 21:28
  
  Peering into a grocery store bin, it's hard to tell if a peach or tomato or avocado is starting to go bad underneath its skin.
  
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• Scientists produce clearest-ever images of enzyme that plays key roles in aging, cancer

  15-10-2015 21:27
  
  An enzyme called telomerase plays a significant role in aging and most cancers, but until recently many aspects of the enzyme's structure could not be clearly seen.
  
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• Exotic berry skin and pulp found to have high antioxidants levels

  15-10-2015 21:25
  
  The exotic Ceylon gooseberry fruit is an attractive purple berry that is produced in the southwest tropics of Brazil and is often used in jams and drinks and also sold as a fresh fruit. The authors of a recent study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), discovered that gooseberry skin and pulp contained higher antioxidant activity than other berries such as blueberries and cranberries.
  
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• Back off, tablets: PC companies plan a $70M ad campaign

  15-10-2015 21:20
  
  So many people have gone so long without buying a new personal computer that the industry's biggest players are trying something different: a quirky advertising campaign. The $70 million marketing push aims to highlight how much better PCs have gotten since smartphones and tablets came along.
  
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• Ecologists enlist beavers, walmart in wetlands conservation effort

  15-10-2015 21:07
  
  As they pull into the parking lot, shoppers preoccupied with the day's errands barely notice the small creek surrounding Logan, Utah's Walmart Supercenter. Yet the waters, shrouded by willows and cattails, teem with beavers, long-time inhabitants partially responsible for the area's name: Cache Valley. In earlier centuries, trappers cached pelts and supplies in the area.
  
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• Forbes lists video gamer 'PewDiePie' as top YouTube earner

  15-10-2015 21:04
  
  YouTube's top-earning celebrity is a 25-year-old video-game-playing jokester who took in $12 million over the past year.
  
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• Artificial whisker reveals source of harbor seal's uncanny prey-sensing ability

  15-10-2015 21:02
  
  Harbor seals have an amazingly fine-tuned sense for detecting prey, as marine biologists have noted for years. Even when blindfolded, trained seals are able to chase the precise path of an object that swam by 30 seconds earlier. Scientists have suspected that the seal's laser-like tracking ability is due in part to its antennae-like whiskers.
  
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• Scholars challenge colleges to reform STEM learning

  15-10-2015 21:00
  
  America's colleges and universities need to transform not only how but what they teach in introductory science courses, a group of scholars from Michigan State University argues in Science magazine.
  
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• International experiment tracks underwater avalanches in Monterey Canyon

  15-10-2015 20:50
  
  Underwater avalanches and turbidity currents carry huge amounts of sediment, organic material, and pollutants down submarine canyons and into the deep sea. Yet geologists know very little about how sediment moves during these events. This month, in what may be the most ambitious submarine-canyon study ever attempted, marine geologists from several countries are placing dozens of sophisticated instruments in Monterey Canyon. This international effort, the Coordinated Canyon Experiment (CCE), prom
  
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• Panoramix: Protein named for comic book hero guides gene-silencing machinery to sites of havoc-causing transposons

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  Organisms from bacteria to humans must defend themselves against parasitic genetic elements called transposons, and the stakes are high. These pieces of DNA, which disrupt genes by jumping around in the genome, can cause so much destruction that cells have dedicated surveillance mechanisms to keep them in check.
  
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• Ocean protection gaining momentum, but still lags progress made on land

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  Extraordinary progress in the past decade has brought 1.6 percent of the world's ocean to a category of "strongly protected," researchers say in a new analysis, but the accomplishments are still far behind those that have been achieved on land, and those that are urgently needed.
  
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• New synthetic offers a better glimpse into diabetes and the aging process

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  A synthetic process developed at Yale University will allow researchers to study a key molecule involved in diabetes, inflammation, and human aging.
  
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• New study questions long-held theories of climate variability in the North Atlantic

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  A University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric-led study challenges the prevailing wisdom by identifying the atmosphere as the driver of a decades-long climate variation known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO). The findings offer new insight on the causes and predictability of natural climate variations, which are known to cause wide-ranging global weather impacts, including increased rainfall, drought, and greater hurricane frequency in many parts of the At
  
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• New Horizons reveals Pluto's striking surface variations and unique moon rotations

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  University of Maryland astronomers Silvia Protopapa and Douglas Hamilton are among the authors of the first published paper from the New Horizons flyby, which appears in the Oct. 16, 2015 issue of the journal Science. Protopapa helped map the composition of Pluto's surface and locate ices on it. Hamilton helped confirm the shapes, sizes and unique rotations of two of Pluto's moons and the finding that no other moons appear to orbit Pluto. The findings will help scientists understand the origins
  
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• New crystal material captures carbon from humid gas

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  A new material with micropores might be a way to fight climate change. Scientists have created crystals that capture carbon dioxide much more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of water. The research was recently published in a report in the scientific journal Science.
  
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• Engineers create artificial skin that can send pressure sensation to brain cell

  15-10-2015 20:00
  
  Stanford engineers have created a plastic "skin" that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.
  
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• Suomi NPP sees Koppu nearing the Philippines

  15-10-2015 19:43
  
  A large band of thunderstorms extending from the southwestern quadrant of Tropical Storm Koppu was brushing the northeastern Philippines in imagery from NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite on October 15.
  
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• Suomi NPP satellite sees Tropical Storm Champi near northern Marianas Islands

  15-10-2015 19:41
  
  NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite spotted Tropical Storm Champi dealing with wind shear in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. A Tropical Storm Warning is currently in effect for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
  
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• Satellite sees wind shear battering Tropical Depression Nora

  15-10-2015 19:41
  
  An infrared satellite image of Tropical Depression Nora taken early on October 15 showed the storm was still holding together south of Hawaii, despite strong wind shear.
  
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• New technology in credit cards leads to headaches for some

  15-10-2015 19:40
  
  Millions of Americans are getting new credit and debit cards with more secure chip technology, and that's already leading to headaches for companies that rely on working cards to charge their customers every month.
  
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• New study highlights environmental, economic shortcomings of federal biofuel laws

  15-10-2015 19:40
  
  The federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and its overreliance on corn ethanol has created additional environmental problems in its 10-year history, resulting in unmet targets for cutting air pollution, water contamination and soil erosion, concludes a new study released by University of Tennessee researchers.
  
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• Tropical Depression 19E slowly organizing in Eastern Pacific

  15-10-2015 19:37
  
  Tropical Depression 19E appeared just a little more organized on infrared satellite imagery on October 15 as it continued moving through the Eastern Pacific Ocean. NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Depression 19E at 1800 UTC (10 a.m. EDT) that showed a large area of convection (clouds and thunderstorms) near the center of circulation. The GOES image, created by the NASA-NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, also showed som
  
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• 26 more elephants poisoned in Zimbabwe: official

  15-10-2015 19:21
  
  A total of 26 more elephants have been found dead from cyanide poisoning in Zimbabwe, taking the toll to 40 in two months, parks officials said Thursday.
  
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• University of Cambridge: Android comfort zones are few

  15-10-2015 19:10
  
  By now everyone gets it. Android as a mobile operating system has been a malice magnet, and the scenario by now is familiar: Android teams rush out their patches to manufacturers but a lot of white noise from some of the manufacturers deters neat endings.
  
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• Engineered Viruses Provide Quantum-Based Enhancement of Energy Transport

  15-10-2015 19:05 via scitechdaily.com
  
  In a newly published study, a team of scientists detail how they used genetically engineered viruses to enhance energy transport in genetically engineered excitonic networks. Nature has had billions of years to perfect photosynthesis, which directly or indirectly supports virtually all life on Earth. In that time, the process has achieved almost 100 percent efficiency […]
  The post Engineered Viruses Provide Quantum-Based Enhancement of Energy Transport appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Brazil police force bans smartphones, social media on job

  15-10-2015 18:50
  
  Rio de Janeiro's state police force is banning officers' use of smartphones on the job, saying use of instant messaging services and social media compromise security.
  
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• Mound near lunar south pole formed by unique volcanic process

  15-10-2015 18:43
  
  A giant mound near the Moon's south pole appears to be a volcanic structure unlike any other found on the lunar surface, according to new research by Brown University geologists.
  
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• US: Alaska wildlife recovered since 1989 Exxon disaster

  15-10-2015 18:38
  
  Key wildlife populations like otters that were devastated in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska have fully recovered, the US Justice Department said Thursday.
  
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• NOAA: Thanks to El Nino, the US looks pretty wet this winter

  15-10-2015 18:38
  
  Forecasters say this winter El Nino will leave a big wet but not necessarily snowy footprint on much of the United States, including parched California.
  
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• NBCUniversal launching online comedy service for $4 a month

  15-10-2015 18:38
  
  NBCUniversal's latest effort to target millennials is coming: An online video service focused on comedy that costs $4 a month.
  
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• Clearing the space fog

  15-10-2015 18:37
  
  The term "space fog" refers not to water droplets blocking the view in space - there's no water out there - but rather a phenomenon affecting the mental abilities of astronauts. Those who have spent time aboard the International Space Station coined the term to describe the difficulty concentrating and mental fatigue they sometimes experience.
  
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• The environment of the Cantabrian Region in the course of 35,000 years is reconstructed

  15-10-2015 18:35
  
  By combining three important palaeoclimatic records (small vertebrates, marine microfauna and stable isotopes of herbivores), a multidisciplinary team of the UPV/EHU has reconstructed past environments with the best resolution ever achieved. The study, led by Juan Rofes, currently a researcher at the Musèum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, has been published in the prestigious British Scientific Reports, which is one of the Nature group journals.
  
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• Students receiving state merit-based scholarships less likely to earn STEM degrees

  15-10-2015 18:32
  
  State merit-based scholarships reduce the likelihood a student will earn a degree in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Oklahoma State University.
  
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• Shining light on orphan receptors

  15-10-2015 18:31
  
  Light has been used for the first time to activate a receptor for which the compound binding and controlling it naturally is unknown, as reported in Nature Chemical Biology today. A team of scientists including Harald Janovjak, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), Álvaro Inglés-Prieto, first author and postdoc in the Janovjak group, and Eva Reichhart, PhD student in the Janovjak group, using libraries and cells from the Medical Unive
  
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• Tiny plant shows us how living things cope with big changes

  15-10-2015 18:30
  
  A small freshwater plant that has evolved to live in harsh seawater is giving scientists insight into how living things adapt to changes in their environment.
  
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• How we interact with our mobile devices and each other

  15-10-2015 18:28 via rss.cnn.com
  
  "Removed" captures what we look like when we're in public yet absorbed in our mobile devices. The only thing missing from the pictures? The devices themselves.
  
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• Rare ALK Genetic Mutation Extends Cancer Survival

  15-10-2015 18:27 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new study from Yale University reveals that patients with the rare ALK mutation are living an average of four years, compared to typical patients that die of NSCLC within seven months. Most patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has metastasized to the brain have a dire prognosis. But Yale researchers have identified […]
  The post Rare ALK Genetic Mutation Extends Cancer Survival appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Is nuclear fusion about to change our world?

  15-10-2015 18:26 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Hey 21st century, where's that nuclear fusion power reactor you promised?
  
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