Sci-Tech news

• Samsung One-Ups iPad Pro With 18-Inch Galaxy View Tablet

  28-10-2015 23:48 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Think the iPad Pro is big? Wait till you get a load of this thing. Samsung unexpectedly took the wraps off the monster Galaxy View tablet Wednesday.
  
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• Rosetta Probe Discovers Oxygen on Comet

  28-10-2015 23:27
  
  The European Space Agency???s Rosetta probe has detected oxygen on Comet 67P, raising new questions about the formation of the solar system.
  
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• Swifts' migratory behavior may have conservation implications

  28-10-2015 23:23
  
  Resembling swallows but more closely related to hummingbirds, swifts have unique migratory behavior, roosting for days at a time in chimneys or hollow trees along their migratory route in groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals. Little is known about whether groups that travel and roost together during migration are all from the same wintering site or are made up of individuals from across their winter range. A 2012 mortality event in British Columbia that killed more than 1,300 migrating
  
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• In a first, US university to send students to Cuban hospitals

  28-10-2015 23:23
  
  With long strained US-Cuban relations on the mend, Michigan State University has become the first US school offering medical students routine learning time in Cuban hospitals, MSU announced Wednesday.
  
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• Google may bring ultra-fast Internet to Oklahoma, Florida

  28-10-2015 22:40
  
  Google is adding Oklahoma City and two cites in Florida to the list of communities in line for its ultra-fast Internet service.
  
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• Huge fire in Brazil's jungle threatens tribes: Greenpeace

  28-10-2015 22:37
  
  A huge fire engulfing a swath of Brazilian jungle threatens the existence of remote indigenous tribes and may have been started by illegal loggers invading the territory, Greenpeace said Wednesday.
  
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• EU lawmakers seek funding ban for fighting bulls

  28-10-2015 22:36
  
  EU lawmakers demanded Wednesday that farmers who raise bulls for fighting, as in Spain or southern France, should not get European funding for a blood sport critics say is cruel and archaic.
  
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• Land-facing, southwest Greenland Ice Sheet movement decreasing

  28-10-2015 22:28
  
  In the face of decades of increasing temperatures and surface melting, the movement of the southwest portion of the Greenland Ice Sheet that terminates on land has been slowing down, according to a new study being published by the journal Nature on Oct. 29.
  
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• A study of weaning age in fossil elephants gives hints about the cause of their extinction

  28-10-2015 22:28
  
  At the 2015 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings, researcher Michael Cherney of the University of Michigan, presented findings about weaning age (i.e. when a calf stops nursing) in fossil mammoths. By studying modern African elephants at the Toledo Zoo, Cherney was able to characterize the isotopic effects of weaning in a close relative of mammoths. Decreased nursing causes predictable changes in the isotopic composition of elephant tail hairs sampled over time.
  
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• GRACE satellites evaluate drought in southeast Brazil

  28-10-2015 22:17
  
  Empty water reservoirs, severe water rationing, and electrical blackouts are the new status quo in major cities across southeastern Brazil where the worst drought in 35 years has desiccated the region. A new NASA study estimates that the region has lost an average 15 trillion gallons of water per year from 2012 to 2015.
  
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• Study solves mysteries of Voyager 1's journey into interstellar space

  28-10-2015 22:16
  
  In a study published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists from the University of New Hampshire and colleagues answer the question of why NASA's Voyager 1, when it became the first probe to enter interstellar space in mid-2012, observed a magnetic field that was inconsistent with that derived from other spacecraft observations.
  
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• James Webb Telescope science instruments begin final super cold test

  28-10-2015 22:16
  
  An engineering team lifted and lowered the heart of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope into the giant thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This move marks the start of the third and final cryogenic test at Goddard to prepare the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), or the "heart" of the telescope, for space.
  
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• Physicists mimic quantum entanglement with laser pointer to double data speeds

  28-10-2015 22:14
  
  In a classic eureka moment, a team of physicists led by The City College of New York and including Herriot-Watt University and Corning Incorporated is showing how beams from ordinary laser pointers mimic quantum entanglement with the potential of doubling the data speed of laser communication.
  
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• New NASA study reveals origin of organic matter in Apollo lunar samples

  28-10-2015 22:14
  
  A team of NASA-funded scientists has solved an enduring mystery from the Apollo missions to the moon - the origin of organic matter found in lunar samples returned to Earth. Samples of the lunar soil brought back by the Apollo astronauts contain low levels of organic matter in the form of amino acids. Certain amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, essential molecules used by life to build structures like hair and skin and to regulate chemical reactions.
  
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• Bacterial hole puncher could be new broad-spectrum antibiotic

  28-10-2015 22:11
  
  Bacteria have many methods of adapting to resist antibiotics, but a new class of spiral polypeptides developed at the University of Illinois targets one thing no bacterium can live without: an outer membrane.
  
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• Change the shape, change the sound: Researchers develop algorithm to 3-D print vibrational sounds

  28-10-2015 22:09
  
  In creating what looks to be a simple children's musical instrument—a xylophone with keys in the shape of zoo animals—computer scientists at Columbia Engineering, Harvard, and MIT have demonstrated that sound can be controlled by 3D-printing shapes. They designed an optimization algorithm and used computational methods and digital fabrication to control acoustic properties—both sound and vibration—by altering the shape of 2D and 3D objects. Their work—"Computational
  
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• Scientists Urge National Initiative on Microbiomes

  28-10-2015 21:27 via nytimes.com
  Leading scientists called for a major project, similar to the Brain Initiative, to better understand the microbial communities that are essential to humans.
  
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• Facebook Vows to End Those Annoying 'Candy Crush' Invites

  28-10-2015 20:54 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Mark Zuckerberg has made it his mission to end the frequent and annoying invitations to play the immensely popular "Candy Crush Saga."
  
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• Scott Kelly Completes His First Space Walk

  28-10-2015 20:53
  
  Commander Scott Kelly and his American co-worker Kjell Lindgren spent seven hours and 16 minutes on a space walk.
  
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• Why We Shouldn't Always Trust DNA Evidence

  28-10-2015 20:45 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  A 2013 murder case shows just how dangerous it can be to rely on DNA evidence, an expert said Wednesday.
  
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• Astronaut Completes Spacewalk Right Before Setting US Record

  28-10-2015 20:44
  Astronaut completes 1st spacewalk right before setting US record for longest single mission
  
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• Robot Learns to Walk, Run and Climb Like a Dog

  28-10-2015 20:17 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Swiss researchers have built a four-legged, electrically actuated robot that can traverse difficult terrain.
  
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• Photos: The Coolest, Most Tech Savy Cars from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

  28-10-2015 20:05
  
  The coolest, most tech savy cars from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show
  
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• Study finds new way of computing with interaction-dependent state change of nanomagnets

  28-10-2015 19:42
  
  Researchers from the University of South Florida College of Engineering have proposed a new form of computing that uses circular nanomagnets to solve quadratic optimization problems orders of magnitude faster than that of a conventional computer.
  
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• Alaskan trout choose early retirement over risky ocean-going career

  28-10-2015 19:37
  
  Even fish look forward to retirement.
  
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• Researchers compare 'natural' mosquito repellents to DEET

  28-10-2015 19:36
  
  Every summer while preparing for long weekends at our family cabin in the north woods of Minnesota, we'd face the same dilemmas. What food should we bring? Is SPF 50 sunscreen enough protection? And, most importantly, which mosquito repellent should we buy? If we picked the wrong kind, we'd be opening ourselves up to evenings of constant swatting by the campfire and nights of uncontrollable itching. Protection from the unofficial state bird, the mosquito, was not something to take lightly.
  
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• Oxygen Found in Comet Challenges Solar-System Theories

  28-10-2015 19:27
  Scientists find oxygen in comet, say that challenges theories of how solar system formed
  
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• Rosetta finds molecular oxygen on comet 67P (Update)

  28-10-2015 19:22
  
  Stunned scientists announced Wednesday the unexpected discovery of large quantities of oxygen on a comet which streaked past the Sun in August with a European spacecraft in tow.
  
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• Rosetta finds molecular oxygen on comet 67P

  28-10-2015 19:22
  
  Stunned scientists announced Wednesday the unexpected discovery of large quantities of oxygen on a comet which streaked past the Sun in August with a European spacecraft in tow.
  
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• Hungry Baby Otter Found on California Beach Is Recovering

  28-10-2015 19:19
  Malnourished baby otter found by kayakers in California is recovering at Monterey Bay Aquarium
  
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• Halloween asteroid gives us a miss, confirms ESA

  28-10-2015 19:02
  
  An asteroid four times the size of a football pitch will miss Earth on All Hallows' Eve. The flyby highlights the need to watch for space rocks.
  
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• Scientists call for ambitious program to unlock the power of Earth's microbial communities

  28-10-2015 19:00
  
  A consortium of 48 scientists from 50 institutions in the United States has called for an ambitious research effort to understand and harness microbiomes - the communities of microorganisms that inhabit ecosystems as varied as the human gut and the ocean, to improve human health, agriculture, bioenergy, and the environment.
  
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• Hawaii's rarest birds may lose range to rising air temperatures, disease

  28-10-2015 19:00
  
  Rare birds living in Hawaii's higher elevation forests may lose more than 50% of their habitat under climate shifts projected by the end of the century, according to a study published October 28, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lucas Fortini from the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues.
  
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• EU lawmakers throw out GMO compromise law (Update)

  28-10-2015 18:49
  
  EU lawmakers on Wednesday rejected by a huge majority a hard-won compromise which would have allowed EU member states to decide for themselves whether or not to import Genetically Modified Organisms for use in food and animal feed.
  
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• EU lawmakers block opt-out from GMO rules

  28-10-2015 18:49
  
  European Union lawmakers have rejected a draft law that would have allowed countries to ban certain genetically modified food and animal feed even if the produce was authorized by EU authorities.
  
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• Smartphone the center of US tech universe: survey

  28-10-2015 18:48
  
  The smartphone is the tech story for Americans these days: most adults have one, and growth has overshadowed that of all other electronic gadgets.
  
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• IBM leverages cloud power in deal for Weather Company

  28-10-2015 18:47
  
  IBM is bringing its "cloud" computing power to a deal with The Weather Company.
  
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• Global smartphone sales pick up on fierce competition

  28-10-2015 18:34
  
  Global smartphone sales gained in the third quarter as major vendors ramped up special deals and financing to attract buyers, a survey showed Wednesday.
  
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• The sun is brightening—but not in China

  28-10-2015 18:31
  
  Haze due to weak winds and air pollution is reducing surface solar radiation in China, which has major consequences for the climate, the environment and the economy. These are the findings of a research report now being published in Scientific Reports. An international team of researchers including those from the University of Gothenburg is behind the study.
  
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• NASA sees post-Patricia moisture, winds stalking the Mid-Atlantic

  28-10-2015 18:31
  
  The remnant moisture from what was once Hurricane Patricia and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico were being transported north by a trough of low pressure over Wisconsin. The clouds and moisture were streaming into the Eastern third of the U.S. on October 28, 2015. The hybrid system was generating windy conditions which were seen from NASA's RapidScat instrument, while NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured an image of the impressive and sizeable cloud cover.
  
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• Entrepreneurial spirit can help communities better withstand trade shock

  28-10-2015 18:30
  
  Communities with more self-employed workers can better withstand economic shifts caused by imports than communities that have fewer self-employed people, according to Penn State economists.
  
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• Increasing cigarette taxes shifts consumers to more dangerous products

  28-10-2015 18:28
  
  Increasing cigarette exercise taxes may have the unintended consequence of encouraging consumers to seek higher nicotine content and more dangerous cigarette products, according to a study published in Marketing Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
  
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• New technology can mine data from Instagram to monitor teenage drinking patterns

  28-10-2015 18:25
  
  Instagram could offer a novel way of monitoring the drinking habits of teenagers.
  
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• Homeowners like money-saving benefits of smart irrigation controllers

  28-10-2015 18:22
  
  Smart irrigation controllers, technologies used to decrease landscape water applications, are catching on in Florida. Incentivized by governmental agencies and water utilities in an effort to reduce public-supply water demand and conserve water resources, the controllers are becoming more popular with homeowners in this high water-use state. A new study evaluated homeowners' satisfaction with evapotranspiration (ET)-based and soil moisture sensor (SMS)-based smart technologies, and recommends st
  
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• New Research Identifies Possible Sites of Frozen, Watery Deposits on Europa

  28-10-2015 18:17 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new study suggests that compounds that might be indicative of life may be located within the scarred, jumbled areas that make up Europa’s so-called “chaos terrain.” Jupiter’s moon Europa is believed to possess a large salty ocean beneath its icy exterior, and that ocean, scientists say, has the potential to harbor life. Indeed, a […]
  The post New Research Identifies Possible Sites of Frozen, Watery Deposits on Europa appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• How common is sexting among married couples?

  28-10-2015 18:15
  
  Married couples do report sexting, but it is much less common than in young adult relationships and consists more of intimate talk with their partners than sending nude or nearly nude photos via mobile phones, according to a new study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
  
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• Seaweed extract benefits petunia, tomato transplants

  28-10-2015 18:13
  
  Seaweed extracts are used widely in agriculture and horticulture production systems. Benefits of the extracts can include early seed germination and establishment, improved crop performance and yield, increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, and enhanced postharvest shelf life. A study in the August 2015 issue of HortTechnology determined the effects of rockweed extract, applied as a drench or foliar spray, on plant growth and drought tolerance of tomato and petunia transplants.
  
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• SXSW Faces Backlash After Pulling Two Panels on Gaming Culture

  28-10-2015 18:03
  
  The organizers of South by Southwest, the annual festival where technology and entertainment converge, are responding to backlash after cancelling two panels on gaming.
  
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• Facebook Gives Employees a Taste of Slow Internet

  28-10-2015 18:02
  
  Facebook is giving its employees the chance to purposefully slow down their Internet connection to better understand the experience of users in emerging markets.
  
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• GDF10 Promotes Brain Cells’ Ability to Form New Connections

  28-10-2015 18:01 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Scientists from UCLA have identified a molecule (GDF10) that signals brain tissue to form new connections after a stroke. The finding could eventually lead to a new treatment to promote brain repair and functional recovery in people who have suffered a stroke, which is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in adults. The five-year […]
  The post GDF10 Promotes Brain Cells’ Ability to Form New Connections appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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