Sci-Tech news

• Africa needs energy for growth, leaders say ahead of climate talks

  10-11-2015 23:20
  
  Africa is looking to key climate talks for solutions to electrify the continent, grow its economies and keep its youth from fleeing abroad, African leaders said in Paris Tuesday.
  
  Read more

• NASA's beach ball coronagraph

  10-11-2015 22:59
  
  What's better at blocking sunlight: a traditional flat occulter disk or a beach ball?
  
  Read more

• Pinpointing poverty with cellphone data

  10-11-2015 22:58
  
  Mobile phone calls are analyzed to thwart crime and track diseases. Now, University at Buffalo researchers are studying if such data can help combat extreme poverty.
  
  Read more

• NASA heads to Pacific Northwest for field campaign to measure rain and snowfall

  10-11-2015 22:57
  
  From Nov. 10 through Dec. 21, NASA and university scientists are taking to the field to study wet winter weather near Seattle, Washington. With weather radars, weather balloons, specialized ground instruments, and NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory, the science team will be verifying rain and snowfall observations made by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Feds: Lake Erie algae bloom in 2015 was largest on record

  10-11-2015 22:16
  
  The algae bloom that spread across Lake Erie this summer was the largest on record and left behind a thick, paint-like scum that covered an area roughly the size of New York City, government scientists said Tuesday.
  
  Read more

• Physicists uncover mechanism that stabilizes plasma within tokamaks

  10-11-2015 22:13
  
  A team of physicists led by Stephen Jardin of the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has discovered a mechanism that prevents the electrical current flowing through fusion plasma from repeatedly peaking and crashing. This behavior is known as a "sawtooth cycle" and can cause instabilities within the plasma's core. The results have been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. The research was supported by the DOE Office of Science (Office of Fusion
  
  Read more

• Researchers learn to fine tune tokamak magnetic fields to mitigate damaging energy bursts

  10-11-2015 22:12
  
  The swirling plasma in donut-shaped fusion facilities called tokamaks are subject to intense heat bursts that can damage the vessel's walls. Halting or mitigating these bursts, called Edge Localized Modes (ELMs), is a key goal of fusion research.
  
  Read more

• Research links tundra fires, thawing permafrost

  10-11-2015 22:11
  
  Wildfires on Arctic tundra can contribute to widespread permafrost thaw much like blazes in forested areas, according to a study published in the most recent issue of the online journal Scientific Reports.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Polling station environments matter: Physical layout can impact the voting experience

  10-11-2015 22:08
  
  A presentation by human factors/ergonomics researchers at the HFES 2015 International Annual Meeting in Los Angeles in October explained how a voter's positive or negative experience with a particular voting system is influenced not only by perceptions of trust and aesthetics but also by the polling environment itself.
  
  Read more

• Breakthrough in superconducting materials opens new path to fusion

  10-11-2015 22:06
  
  In fusion reactor designs, superconductors (which suffer no resistive power loss) are used to generate the magnetic fields that confine the 100 million degree C plasma. While increasing magnetic field strength offers potential ways to improve reactor performance, conventional low-temperature superconductors suffer dramatic drops in current carrying ability at high magnetic fields. Now, the emergence of high-temperature superconductors that can also operate at high magnetic fields opens a new, lo
  
  Read more

• Scientists date the origin of the cacao tree to 10 million years ago

  10-11-2015 22:00
  
  Chocolate, produced from seeds of the cacao tree Theobroma cacao, is one of the most popular flavors in the world, with sales around 100$ billion dollars per year. Yet, as worldwide demand increases, there are fears the industry will fail to cope with growing public hunger for the product. The main problem, common to many crops, is the lack of genetic variation in cultivated cacao, which makes it vulnerable to pests and blights. Lack of genetic variation also puts cacao trees at risk from climat
  
  Read more

• JP Morgan Chase breach was among the biggest in recent years

  10-11-2015 21:42
  
  Last year's data breach at JPMorgan Chase affected more than 76 million households and seven million small businesses. The bank said hackers may have stolen names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, although no account numbers or passwords were believed to have been exposed.
  
  Read more

• Video: Could humans survive decades in a fallout shelter?

  10-11-2015 21:41
  
  It's a big week for gamers now that the long-anticipated Fallout 4 video game is being released. The series takes place in a world decades after nuclear war has destroyed most of civilization. Only those who hid in fallout shelters survived.
  
  Read more

• T-Mobile exempts streaming video from some data caps

  10-11-2015 21:28
  
  Streaming video from Netflix, HBO and other leading services will no longer count toward data limits under T-Mobile's higher data plans.
  
  Read more

• Quake protection looms large in LA stadium bid for Olympics

  10-11-2015 21:28
  
  The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has seen almost a century of American history, hosting the first Super Bowl, the 1960 Democratic convention where John F. Kennedy was nominated and two Olympic Games, as well as concerts by Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones.
  
  Read more

• Scientists use supercomputer to model plasma turbulence, and solve a 50-year-old mystery

  10-11-2015 21:21
  
  For more than 60 years, fusion scientists have tried to use "magnetic bottles" of various shapes and sizes to confine extremely hot plasmas, with the goal of producing practical fusion energy. But turbulence in the plasma has, so far, confounded researchers' ability to efficiently contain the intense heat within the core of the fusion device, reducing performance. Now, scientists have used one of the world's largest supercomputers to reveal the complex interplay between two types of turbulence k
  
  Read more

• Explaining a mysterious barrier to fusion known as the 'density limit'

  10-11-2015 21:16
  
  For more than 50 years physicists have puzzled over a daunting mystery: Why do tokamak plasmas spiral apart when reaching a certain maximum density and halt fusion reactions? This "density limit" serves as a barrier that prevents tokamaks from operating at peak efficiency, and understanding what sets this maximum density would speed the development of fusion as a safe, clean and abundant energy source.
  
  Read more

• A new explanation for the explosive nature of magnetic reconnection

  10-11-2015 21:15
  
  Magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic lines of force break apart and reconnect with a violent burst of energy, gives rise to many beautiful and powerful phenomena in the natural world. These include solar flares, the Northern Lights, and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell-phone service or knock out power grids. Scientists have long known that the Sweet-Parker model typically used to describe magnetic reconnection was unable to explain the speed at which it operates. Now, resear
  
  Read more

• Sunscreen ingredient may prevent medical implant infections

  10-11-2015 21:14
  
  A common ingredient in sunscreen could be an effective antibacterial coating for medical implants such as pacemakers and replacement joints.
  
  Read more

• Recreating a heavenly chorus of plasma waves on Earth

  10-11-2015 21:13
  
  Recent experiments at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at the University of California, Los Angeles, have successfully excited elusive plasma waves, known as whistler-mode chorus waves, which have hitherto only been observed in the Earth's near-space environment. These chorus waves were accidentally discovered as early as World War I by radio operators deploying long lines intended to intercept enemy communication, and were subsequently dubbed "dawn chorus" since the sound of the radio signal when
  
  Read more

• Google Maps guides travellers offline

  10-11-2015 20:15
  
  Google on Tuesday updated its free map service to guide users of Android-powered smartphones to destinations without relying on Internet connections.
  
  Read more

• New national park marks development of nuclear bomb

  10-11-2015 19:50
  
  More than 70 years ago scientists working in secret created the atomic bomb that ended World War II and ushered the world into the nuclear age.
  
  Read more

• The uBeam vision: Lift phone in the air to charge it

  10-11-2015 19:46
  
  Filed under Digital Disruptors by the BBC: Could we soon charge our phones through the air? Meredith Perry, CEO of uBeam, spoke about her vision: no more wires, no more international adapters every time you cross borders and no more electrical outlets—"you will not need electrical outlets."
  
  Read more

• Saudi Arabia presents climate pledge ahead of Paris summit

  10-11-2015 19:40
  
  Saudi Arabia, whose oil-fueled economy could suffer from global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on Tuesday submitted a climate action pledge to the United Nations.
  
  Read more

• Onion-like layers help this efficient new nanoparticle glow

  10-11-2015 19:33
  
  A new, onion-like nanoparticle could open new frontiers in biomaging, solar energy harvesting and light-based security techniques.
  
  Read more

• Four indicted in massive hack of JP Morgan Chase, others

  10-11-2015 19:20
  
  Four people were charged Tuesday in a massive hacking scheme that compromised personal data from tens of millions of customers of banking giant JPMorgan Chase and other companies.
  
  Read more

• Stephen Hawking cancels public events due to ill health

  10-11-2015 19:12
  
  Cambridge University says celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking has been forced to cancel several public engagements because of ill health.
  
  Read more

• High-tech scans look to unravel mysteries of Egypt pyramids

  10-11-2015 19:07
  
  New findings at Egypt's Khufu pyramid are raising hopes of unravelling the mysteries of one of the ancient world's most iconic monuments, including whether it may contain secret chambers.
  
  Read more

• Mars' moon Phobos is slowly falling apart

  10-11-2015 18:53
  
  The long, shallow grooves lining the surface of Phobos are likely early signs of the structural failure that will ultimately destroy this moon of Mars.
  
  Read more

• Mercury gets a meteoroid shower from comet encke

  10-11-2015 18:52
  
  The planet Mercury is being pelted regularly by bits of dust from an ancient comet, a new study has concluded. This has a discernible effect in the planet's tenuous atmosphere and may lead to a new paradigm on how these airless bodies maintain their ethereal envelopes.
  
  Read more

• Invention of forge-proof ID to revolutionise security

  10-11-2015 18:35
  
  Scientists have discovered a way to authenticate or identify any object by generating an unbreakable ID based on atoms.
  
  Read more

• Simple Test Classifies 99 Percent of all Known Exoplanets

  10-11-2015 18:33 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new approach classifies 99 percent of all known exoplanets, requiring only estimates of the star’s mass and the planet’s mass and orbital period to classify them. Since the late 1980s, scientists have discovered nearly 5,000 planetary bodies orbiting stars other than the sun. But astronomers are still working on what exactly we should call […]
  The post Simple Test Classifies 99 Percent of all Known Exoplanets appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
  Read more

• Temperature record at famous Alpine peak

  10-11-2015 18:29
  
  The towering Jungfrau mountain in the Swiss Alps on Tuesday saw the mercury hit an all-time high for the month of November of 7.2 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit), meteorologists said.
  
  Read more

• Peruvian rainforest 22 times the size of Chicago named a national park

  10-11-2015 18:28
  
  The Peruvian government announced on Sunday the designation of 3.3 million acres of Amazonian rainforest as a national park in the Sierra del Divisor mountain range. Chicago's Field Museum played a key role in the international effort that led to the creation of this conservation area.
  
  Read more

• NASA's Terra satellite sees landfall for Tropical Cyclone Megh

  10-11-2015 18:28
  
  Tropical Cyclone Megh became the second tropical cyclone to make landfall in Yemen in one week. As Megh began land falling just north of Aden, Yemen, NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead and captured an image of the tropical storm over the southeastern coast.
  
  Read more

• NASA spots Kate speeding away from the Bahamas

  10-11-2015 18:26
  
  NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite and NOAA's GOES-East satellite both saw strong thunderstorms circling Tropical Storm Kate's center of circulation as the storm sped away from the Bahamas.
  
  Read more

• Study Shows Diabetes Drug Significantly Reduces Risk of Heart Failure

  10-11-2015 18:21 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new clinical trial has shown that a type 2 diabetes drug significantly reduces hospitalizations and death from heart failure. The findings, from a large clinical trial known as EMPA-REG OUTCOME, were presented by Yale professor of medicine and clinical chief of endocrinology, Dr. Silvio E. Inzucchi, at the 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific […]
  The post Study Shows Diabetes Drug Significantly Reduces Risk of Heart Failure appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
  Read more

• 'Sharing economy' firms urge safety net for workers

  10-11-2015 18:20
  
  A coalition of "sharing economy" startups joined labor activists and others Tuesday to endorse efforts for a "flexible safety net" for workers without traditional job protection.
  
  Read more

• Neurons Can Be Changed from One Type Into Another from Within the Brain

  10-11-2015 18:11 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A newly published study from Harvard biologists shows how neurons can be dramatically changed from one type into another from within the brain and how neighboring neurons recognize the reprogrammed cells as different and adapt by changing how they communicate with them. Building on earlier work in which they disproved neurobiology dogma by “reprogramming” neurons […]
  The post Neurons Can Be Changed from One Type Into Another from Within the Brain appeared first on SciTech Dail
  
  Read more

• Gift Guide: Gadgets that make your wrist smarter

  10-11-2015 18:10
  
  If you're looking for a device to track your fitness, alert you to incoming messages and occasionally let you buy stuff with a scan or a tap, there's no shortage of computerized wristwatches to choose from.
  
  Read more

• UCLA professor proposes simpler way to define what makes a planet

  10-11-2015 18:03
  
  Since the late 1980s, scientists have discovered nearly 5,000 planetary bodies orbiting stars other than the sun. But astronomers are still working on what exactly we should call them.
  
  Read more

• Analysts' stock recommendations are not only independent, they're useful

  10-11-2015 17:58
  
  Using intraday data that separated stock market reactions to company news releases issued between 2003 and 2010 from reactions to analysts' revisions to recommendations, the researchers found that analysts do not rehash the company line. Rather, they help investors with stock valuation by issuing confirming revisions and also reverse prevailing market beliefs by issuing contrary revisions. Only 28 percent of revisions actually dovetailed with the corporate news they followed, the study found. Th
  
  Read more

• Study unlocks faster way to assess ocean ecosystem health

  10-11-2015 17:52
  
  A new study published today identifies a set of features common to all ocean ecosystems that provide a visual diagnosis of the health of the underwater environment coastal communities rely on. Together, the features detail cumulative effects of threats—such as overfishing, pollution, and invasive species—so responders can act quickly to increase ocean resiliency and sustainability.
  
  Read more

• New Horizons Pluto Flyby Reveals More Than 50 Exciting Discoveries

  10-11-2015 17:45 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New information from NASA’s New Horizons Mission has revealed more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto. From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, scientists continue to discuss the findings at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. “The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew […]
  The post New Horizons Pluto Flyby Reveals More Than 50 Exciting Discoveries appeared first on SciT
  
  Read more

• Participatory breeding program assists organic tomato growers

  10-11-2015 17:27
  
  Organic tomato production is growing rapidly in Midwestern states in the US, as evidenced by a USDA study that found certified organic tomato production increased more than 277% in the region from 2007-2011. The authors of a report in the September 2015 issue of HortScience say that to keep up with high consumer demand, organic tomato growers need to identify cultivars that are well-adapted to local conditions, are viable under organic management practices, and have the quality characteristics t
  
  Read more

• Increase in acidity may not be harmful to coral reefs after all

  10-11-2015 17:20
  
  (Phys.org)—A combined team of researchers affiliated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences has found, via a five year study, that increased ocean acidification may not pose the threat to coral reefs that scientists have thought. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes their study and why they now believe that an increase in green house gas emissions many not have the devastating impac
  
  Read more

• Copenhagen company to re-invent fresh air for city dwellers

  10-11-2015 17:06
  
  Breathe in Beijing, and you might as well smoke 40 cigarettes a day. Live in London and a significant slice of your taxes go to paying fines for your cities illegal air quality. Be sporty in Santiago but refrain from running out of doors unless rain has recently cleared the air. Air pollution is making city living detrimental to health at an increasing clip. Now a new company with roots at the University of Copenhagen wants to develop clean air solutions for urbanites with greying lungs.
  
  Read more

• Early maternal loss has lifelong effects on chimpanzees

  10-11-2015 17:04
  
  Wild-caught chimpanzees, who were orphaned and imported from Africa in their early infancy, exhibit an impaired social behaviour also as adults. So far long-term effects of early traumatic experiences on social behaviour were known only for humans and socially isolated chimpanzees. An Austrian-Dutch research team led by Elfriede Kalcher-Sommersguter and Jorg Massen published these results in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.
  
  Read more

• California 6th grade science books: Climate change a matter of opinion not scientific fact

  10-11-2015 17:03
  
  If American teens are unsure about climate change or its cause, some school textbooks aren't helping, says teaching expert Diego Román, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, co-author of a new study on the subject.
  
  Read more

• Ultra-thin, tunable, broadband microwave absorber may advance radar cloaking

  10-11-2015 17:00
  
  Microwave absorbers are a kind of material that can effectively absorb incident microwave energy to make objects invisible to radar; therefore they are commonly used in aircraft cloaking and warship stealth. Recently, as radar detection devices have been improved to detect the near-meter microwave length regime, scientists are working on high-performance absorbers that can cloak objects in the equivalent ultra-high frequency regime (from 300 megahertz to two gigahertz). However, conventional abs
  
  Read more

Follow @NewslockSciTech on Twitter!