Sci-Tech news

• Study: Football doesn't affect voting patterns after all

  26-10-2015 23:32
  
  As another election season heats up, researchers are engaged in a battle of their own over voter behavior: Can it really be swayed by whether the local college football team just won or lost?
  
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• Google scientist talks about RankBrain for search

  26-10-2015 23:25
  
  AI-using search technology RankBrain is becoming important to Google. and is helping to process Google search results.
  
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• NASA spacecraft to fly through icy spray of Saturn moon

  26-10-2015 23:24
  
  An unmanned NASA spacecraft is about to make its deepest dive ever into the icy spray emanating from the underwater ocean on Saturn's moon, Enceladus.
  
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• Apple Pay Is Getting a New Challenger: Chase Pay

  26-10-2015 23:16 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Your smartphone could one day be our preferred way to pay for everything from milk and eggs at the supermarket to a rental car at an airport.
  
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• US trial convicts trio of high-tech exports to Russia

  26-10-2015 23:10
  
  A US federal judge convicted two men and a woman in New York on Monday of illegally exporting high-tech electronics from Texas to Russian military and spy agencies.
  
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• Seven key facts about Cassini's Oct. 28 'plume dive'

  26-10-2015 22:53
  
  NASA's Cassini spacecraft will sample the ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wednesday, Oct. 28, when it flies through the moon's plume of icy spray.
  
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• France slams EU delay in tougher auto pollution tests

  26-10-2015 22:50
  
  France sharply criticised on Monday the years it has taken the EU to implement auto pollution tests that are to replace the easily riggable lab tests exposed by the Volkswagen diesel car scandal.
  
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• Scientists predict that rocky planets formed from 'pebbles'

  26-10-2015 22:44
  
  Using a new process in planetary formation modeling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called "pebbles," Southwest Research Institute scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process also explains the rapid formation of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, as reported earlier this year.
  
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• Ancient warrior's tomb and huge treasure hoard found in Greece

  26-10-2015 22:31
  
  US archaeologists in Greece have uncovered the skeleton of an ancient warrior that has lain undisturbed for more than 3,500 years along with a huge hoard of treasure, the Greek culture ministry announced Monday.
  
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• 15-year-old arrested over British cyber attack

  26-10-2015 22:30
  
  Police arrested a 15-year-old boy over a cyber attack on telephone and internet provider TalkTalk, feared to have breached the data of millions of Britons, Scotland Yard said on Monday.
  
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• Facebook expands smartphone alerts to news, weather

  26-10-2015 22:29
  
  Facebook, making a bigger push to deliver personalized information to its members, said Monday it was expanding its mobile alerts to include sports scores, weather updates and local news updates.
  
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• Chemists find better way to pack natural gas into fuel tanks

  26-10-2015 22:28
  
  A new and innovative way to store methane could speed the development of natural gas-powered cars that don't require the high pressures or cold temperatures of today's compressed or liquefied natural gas vehicles.
  
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• Assessing the role of negative citations in science

  26-10-2015 22:22
  
  The number of times academic articles are cited by subsequent publications is among the time-honored measures used to assess scholarly standing and evaluate academic productivity. But not all of these citations are positive ones, and a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that as many as one in 50 citations in a top immunology journal were critical in nature.
  
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• Ancient permafrost quickly transforms to carbon dioxide upon thaw

  26-10-2015 22:17
  
  Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and key academic partners including the University of Colorado Boulder have quantified how rapidly ancient permafrost decomposes upon thawing and how much carbon dioxide is produced in the process.
  
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• UC team discovers rare warrior tomb filled with Bronze Age wealth and weapons

  26-10-2015 22:15
  
  On the floor of the grave lay the skeleton of an adult male, stretched out on his back. Weapons lay to his left, and jewelry to his right.
  
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• Scientists devise new method to solve significant variables conundrum

  26-10-2015 22:05
  
  Scientists at Columbia University, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Harvard University have presented an alternative method to address the challenge of using significant variables to make useful predictions in areas such as complex disease.
  
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• Controlling genes using CRISPR shows high degree of specificity

  26-10-2015 22:02
  
  Researchers have demonstrated the exceptional specificity of a new way to switch sequences of the human genome on or off without editing the underlying genetic code.
  
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• Wal-Mart Seeks to Test Drones for Home Delivery, Pickup

  26-10-2015 21:53 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc applied Monday to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and warehouse use.
  
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• Researchers create technology to produce lighter, long-lasting batteries from silicon

  26-10-2015 21:52
  
  Substantially smaller and longer-lasting batteries for everything from portable electronic devices to electric cars could be come a reality thanks to an innovative technology developed by University of Waterloo researchers.
  
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• Nanoquakes probe new 2-D material

  26-10-2015 21:51
  
  In a step towards a post-graphene era of new materials for electronic applications, an international team of researchers, including scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found a new and exciting way to elucidate the properties of novel two-dimensional semiconductors. These materials have unique properties that promise better integration of optical communication with traditional silicon-based devices.
  
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• Researchers develop natural protein cage for improved cancer drug delivery

  26-10-2015 21:50
  
  Washington State University researchers have developed a unique, tiny protein cage to deliver nasty chemotherapy chemicals directly to cancer cells. Direct delivery could improve treatment and lessen what can be horrendous side effects from toxic drugs.
  
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• Apple Earnings: All Eyes on iPhone 6S, Watch Sales

  26-10-2015 21:33 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The latest iPhone iteration is not expected to deliver the mega sales enjoyed by the iPhone 6 line around its launch.
  
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• 15-Year-Old Arrested in Northern Ireland Over British Hack

  26-10-2015 21:22 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Police arrested a 15-year-old boy over a hack on a broadband provider that may have led to the theft of data from its more than 4 million customers.
  
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• No Card Required: Citigroup Testing Eye-Scanning ATM

  26-10-2015 20:29 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  The ATM of the future could mean no card reader, no PIN pad and no touch-screen display.
  
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• Ethiopia starts looking at the stars - from a nearly perfect location

  26-10-2015 20:01 via rss.cnn.com
  
  For young people there is no limit, and in Addis Ababa dreams fly about classrooms with as much abandon as anywhere else in the world.
  
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• Study shows declines in whales, fish, seabirds and large animals damages Earth's nutrient cycle

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  Giants once roamed the earth. Oceans teemed with ninety-foot-long whales. Huge land animals—like truck-sized sloths and ten-ton mammoths—ate vast quantities of food, and, yes, deposited vast quantities of poop.
  
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• Research backs human role in extinction of mammoths, other mammals

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  Radiocarbon analysis of the decline and extinction of large mammals in the Americas lends support to the idea that hunting by humans led to the animals' demise—and backs the generally accepted understanding of when humans arrived in, and how they colonized, the Western Hemisphere.
  
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• Persistence toxin promotes antibiotic resistance: Structure reveals how HigB bacterial protein recognizes mRNA

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  Scientists call them toxins. But these bacterial proteins don't poison us, at least not directly.
  
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• Loss of large land mammals could change landscapes forever

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  Large land animals such as elephants, wildebeest and other big plant-eaters are worth preserving in part because their disappearance could have permanent effects on the plants and animals they coexist with, according to an analysis of past large-mammal extinctions in North and South America.
  
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• 'Hypercarnivores' kept massive ancient herbivores in check

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  When the largest modern-day plant-eaters—elephants—are confined to too small an area, they devastate the vegetation. So 15,000 years ago, when the herbivores like the Columbian mammoth, mastodons and giant ground sloths were even larger, more numerous and more widely distributed, how did the landscape survive?
  
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• Elephants boost tree losses in South Africa's largest savanna reserve

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  Protected areas, such as nature reserves and national parks, play a crucial role in sheltering wildlife, such as African elephants, from hunting and habitat destruction. But it's important that conservation managers understand how the vegetation in these natural protected zones is affected by the population growth that is spurred by this animal safeguarding. To this end, new work from a team led by Carnegie's Greg Asner examined the effect elephants have on the woody plant life in Kruger Nationa
  
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• Ancient babies boost Bering land bridge layover: DNA links many Native Americans to infants in Alaskan grave

  26-10-2015 20:00
  
  University of Utah scientists deciphered maternal genetic material from two babies buried together at an Alaskan campsite 11,500 years ago. They found the infants had different mothers and were the northernmost known kin to two lineages of Native Americans found farther south throughout North and South America.
  
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• This "origami-inspired" car is made out of cardboard

  26-10-2015 19:54 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Japanese carmaker Lexus has created a life-sized replica of its IS sedan from 1,700 laser-cut cardboard sheets.
  
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• Can Yelp help track food poisoning outbreaks?

  26-10-2015 19:52 via rss.cnn.com
  
  When a Shigella outbreak at a seafood restaurant sickened dozens of people, Yelp reviewers were on the case -- right alongside public health officials.
  
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• China travel firms in share-swap deal: Bloomberg

  26-10-2015 19:40
  
  Two of China's largest online travel firms have agreed to a share swap and partnership deal to create the country's biggest Internet travel service, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
  
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• Nearly 300 bears killed in controversial Florida hunt

  26-10-2015 19:30
  
  Hunters in Florida over the weekend killed some 300 black bears as part of a controversial program allowing sportsmen to track and kill the animals, wildlife officials said Monday.
  
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• Zimbabwe: 22 more elephants killed in Hwange Park by cyanide

  26-10-2015 19:20
  
  Cyanide poisoning has killed 22 elephants in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said on Monday. This brings to 62 the number of elephants poisoned by poachers in this southern Africa country in October.
  
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• New Horizons continues toward potential Kuiper Belt target

  26-10-2015 19:11
  
  NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has carried out the second in a series of four maneuvers propelling it toward an encounter with the ancient Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, a billion miles farther from the sun than Pluto.
  
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• Scientists predict space debris to enter earth's atmosphere around the Indian Ocean

  26-10-2015 19:08
  
  Millions of bits of space junk—leftover fragments from spacecraft and related debris—orbit Earth, and the majority of these will eventually fall into Earth's atmosphere and incinerate. Astronomers believe they have recently observed one of these pieces and, for the first time, can predict when and where it will enter the atmosphere. Such forecasts could allow scientists the opportunity to observe these events to better understand what happens when space debris—manmade or natura
  
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• NASA tracks Hurricane Patricia's remnants through Gulf states

  26-10-2015 19:04
  
  As the remnants of Hurricane Patricia continue to generate flooding rainfall as it moved through the Gulf Coast states on October 26, NASA and NOAA satellites provided data on the storm.
  
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• Physicists uncover novel phase of matter

  26-10-2015 19:00
  
  A team of physicists led by Caltech's David Hsieh has discovered an unusual form of matter—not a conventional metal, insulator, or magnet, for example, but something entirely different. This phase, characterized by an unusual ordering of electrons, offers possibilities for new electronic device functionalities and could hold the solution to a long-standing mystery in condensed matter physics having to do with high-temperature superconductivity—the ability for some materials to conduc
  
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• Climate change threatens survival of common lizards

  26-10-2015 19:00
  
  While there is no doubt that climate change is affecting many organisms, some species might be more sensitive than others. Reptiles, whose body temperature depends directly on environmental temperature, may be particularly vulnerable. Scientists have now shown experimentally that lizards cope very poorly with the climate predicted for the year 2100.
  
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• NASA sees Tropical Storm Olaf moving back to 'birthplace'

  26-10-2015 18:59
  
  Tropical Storm Olaf is leaving the Central Pacific Ocean and is headed "home" - that is, back to the Eastern Pacific Ocean where it developed 12 days ago. NASA's RapidScat satellite observed the winds in Olaf as it was headed toward the 140 degree latitude line that separates the two ocean basins.
  
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• Microsoft Takes on Apple With New Store and Laptop

  26-10-2015 18:30 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Microsoft is starting to look a little more like Apple. On Monday, the company opened a shiny flagship store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.
  
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• NY top prosecutor to Internet providers: Prove speed claims

  26-10-2015 17:40
  
  New York's attorney general has asked three major Internet providers to validate claims that customers are getting the access speed promised, especially for premium services.
  
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• Bending to wearables, two battery kings step up game

  26-10-2015 17:40
  
  South Korea is making battery manufacturing news. Its two big tech companies, SamsungSDI and LG Chem, have been demonstrating an aggressive focus on new battery solutions for the crop of mobile gadgets under the umbrella term "wearables."
  
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• An intolerable unimaginable heat forecast for Persian Gulf

  26-10-2015 17:33
  
  If carbon dioxide emissions continue at their current pace, by the end of century parts of the Persian Gulf will sometimes be just too hot for the human body to tolerate, a new study says.
  
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• New report offers NASA framework for establishing priorities among Earth observations

  26-10-2015 17:31
  
  A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offers NASA a framework for prioritizing satellite observations and measurements of Earth based on their scientific value.
  
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• NFL: Free NFL game draws global audience in millions

  26-10-2015 17:30
  
  The first free global live stream of an NFL game drew a worldwide audience of 15.2 million across 185 countries, the NFL and partner Yahoo said Monday.
  
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• Ants: Both solid-like and liquid-like

  26-10-2015 17:25
  
  Collections of ants have a remarkable ability to change shapes and tasks based on the demands of their environment. When floodwaters hit, they self-assemble and form rafts to stay alive. They can also use their bodies to build bridges and span gaps. What are the properties of these ant aggregations that allow for this wide range of abilities? New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology says it's because the insects are actually liquid-like and solid-like simultaneously. The study is cu
  
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