Sci-Tech news

• US Treasury ramps up war on tax-evading mergers

  19-11-2015 23:42
  
  The US Treasury announced new measures Thursday to block "inversion" mergers designed to let companies avoid US taxes, placing a possible obstacle to Pfizer's potential $150 billion mega takeover of Ireland-based Allergan.
  
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• US Treasury raises new barriers to tax-evading mergers

  19-11-2015 23:42
  
  The US Treasury announced new measures Thursday to block "inversion" mergers designed to let companies avoid US taxes, placing a possible obstacle to Pfizer's potential $150 billion takeover of Ireland's Allergan.
  
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• Adele to shun streaming for launch of giant album "25"

  19-11-2015 23:42
  
  Adele will shun streaming as she launches her long-awaited album "25," which is predicted to be the biggest release in years.
  
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• Research team finds way to produce large-area graphene 100 times cheaper

  19-11-2015 23:30
  
  Graphene has been hailed as a wonder material since it was first isolated from graphite in 2004. Graphene is just a single atom thick but it is flexible, stronger than steel, and capable of efficiently conducting heat and electricity.
  
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• Yahoo gets subpoena in fantasy sports probe: sources

  19-11-2015 23:22
  
  Yahoo has been issued a subpoena in a New York state investigation into daily fantasy sports games, sources close to the case said Thursday.
  
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• Giant pandas to remain in Washington to 2020

  19-11-2015 22:40
  
  Just three months after the National Zoo in Washington announced the birth of a giant panda, it had more good news Thursday: pandas are there to stay until December 2020.
  
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• Early galaxies more efficient at making stars, Hubble survey reveals

  19-11-2015 22:36
  
  A study published in today's Astrophysical Journal by University of Texas at Austin assistant professor Steven Finkelstein and colleagues reveals that galaxies were more efficient at making stars when the universe was younger. The announcement explains the team's discovery, announced in the journal's September 1 issue, that there are a lot more bright, highly star-forming galaxies in the early universe than scientists previously thought.
  
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• Ecuador: Volcanic ash falls on dozens of towns

  19-11-2015 22:28
  
  Volcano monitors say about a dozen farming villages have been dusted with ash due to bursts from Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano.
  
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• To feed or not to feed: Researchers engage citizen scientists in reducing bird-window collisions

  19-11-2015 22:27
  
  Getting in touch with nature in an urbanized world can be as simple as putting a bird feeder in your backyard. However, what are the potential consequences of this act? Bird-window collisions are one of the largest threats facing urban bird populations in Canada. A new study out of the University of Alberta engages citizen scientists to determine the effects of feeders on bird-window collisions.
  
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• VW has only a few costly options to fix polluting diesels

  19-11-2015 22:10
  
  When Volkswagen submits a plan to fix emissions-cheating diesel engines on Friday, it will have only two options for most of the cars.
  
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• NGO says Brazil cut CO2 emissions, cites slowing deforestation

  19-11-2015 21:53
  
  Brazil cut carbon emissions slightly last year, thanks mainly to a drop in deforestation which offset rises from the farming, energy and industrial sectors, said a report released Thursday.
  
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• Nanocarriers may carry new hope for brain cancer therapy

  19-11-2015 21:52
  
  Glioblastoma multiforme, a cancer of the brain also known as "octopus tumors" because of the manner in which the cancer cells extend their tendrils into surrounding tissue, is virtually inoperable, resistant to therapies, and always fatal, usually within 15 months of onset. Each year, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) kills approximately 15,000 people in the United States. One of the major obstacles to treatment is the blood brain barrier, the network of blood vessels that allows essential nutrients
  
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• Wives worry, husbands get frustrated when problems arise

  19-11-2015 21:40
  
  Problems in long-term marriages trigger much different responses in wives and husbands, a new study finds.
  
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• Square's stock soars 45 percent in first day of trading (Update)

  19-11-2015 21:36
  
  Square bounced back in its stock market debut Thursday after the once-hot mobile payments service slashed the price of its initial public offering to get the deal done.
  
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• Square's stock bounces back in market debut after IPO flop

  19-11-2015 21:36
  
  Square bounced back in its stock market debut Thursday after the once-hot mobile payments service slashed the price of its initial public offering to get the deal done.
  
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• ORNL microscopy captures real-time view of evolving fuel cell catalysts

  19-11-2015 21:35
  
  Atomic-level imaging of catalysts by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help manufacturers lower the cost and improve the performance of emission-free fuel cell technologies.
  
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• Number of high-skilled Mexican entrepreneurs migrating to US has increased

  19-11-2015 21:34
  
  The number of high-skilled Mexican entrepreneurs migrating to the United States has increased in recent years, but the trend is not solely in response to organized crime activity in Mexico, according to a new research paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
  
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• More of a good thing is not always better—and certainly not if you are a stem cell

  19-11-2015 21:31
  
  Stem cell research led by the Babraham Institute has uncovered key new knowledge about how placental stem cells switch between maintaining a stem cell identity to setting off down the route to becoming specialised cell types.
  
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• NATO fights malware, bugged devices at Estonian cyber center

  19-11-2015 21:19
  
  NATO nations and allies are battling malware in tablets and infected devices this week in the alliance's largest cyber drill to date aimed at improving members' data privacy in crisis situations.
  
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• Intel rises following revenue forecast, dividend boost

  19-11-2015 21:19
  
  Intel stock climbed Thursday after the chipmaker said it expects its revenue to grow again next year and raised its quarterly dividend.
  
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• Facebook tries to ease heartache of breakups with new tool (Update)

  19-11-2015 21:16
  
  Facebook is trying to ease the heartache of breaking up.
  
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• Facebook tests tools for dealing with former loves

  19-11-2015 21:16
  
  The online social network devoted to making the world more connected on Thursday began helping couples break up.
  
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• NASA's STEREO-A resumes normal operations

  19-11-2015 21:15
  
  On Nov. 9, 2015, NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory Ahead, or STEREO-A, once again began transmitting data at its full rate. For the previous year, STEREO-A was transmitting only a weak signal—or occasionally none at all—due to its position almost directly behind the sun. Subsequently, as of Nov. 17, STEREO resumed its normal science operations, which includes transmission of lower-resolution real-time data—used by scientists to monitor solar events—as wel
  
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• Zuckerbergs give $20 mn to get US classrooms online

  19-11-2015 21:08
  
  Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said that he and his wife are donating $20 million to help get high-speed Internet service to US classrooms.
  
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• BioGPS: An online tool that allows users to building custom mashups of gene annotations and expression profiles

  19-11-2015 21:08
  
  A paper describing the usage and capabilities of BioGPS, was just published in the special issue of Nucleic Acids Research on databases.BioGPS is a gene annotation portal that enables users to create gene-centric reports using some of their favorite web resources.
  
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• 5 Apps to Make It a Great Turkey Day

  19-11-2015 20:44
  
  These apps cover everything from planning to entertainment on Thanksgiving.
  
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• Sensory illusion causes cells to self-destruct

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  Magic tricks work because they take advantage of the brain's sensory assumptions, tricking audiences into seeing phantoms or overlooking sleights of hand. Now a team of UC San Francisco researchers has discovered that even brainless single-celled yeast have sensory biases that can be hacked by a carefully engineered illusion, a finding that could be used to develop new approaches to fighting diseases such as cancer.
  
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• Scientists discover new camouflage mechanism fish use in open ocean

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  Scientists have solved a longstanding mystery about how some fish seem to disappear from predators in the open waters of the ocean, a discovery that could help materials scientists and military technologists create more effective methods of ocean camouflage.
  
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• Salty solution to better, safer batteries

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  A team of researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) have devised a groundbreaking "Water-in-Salt" aqueous Lithium ion battery technology that could provide power, efficiency and longevity comparable to today's Lithium-ion batteries, but without the fire risk, poisonous chemicals and environmental hazards of current Lithium batteries.
  
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• Protective shell of sea-dwelling chiton paves way towards new materials that combine different functions

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  Multifunctional materials with sensory capabilities like those of vision, touch or even smell could profoundly expand the possibilities of industrial design in many areas. Taking a cue from nature, a cross-institutional collaboration involving researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and MIT has deciphered how the biomineral making up the body armor of a chiton mollusk has evolved to create functional eyes embedded in the animal's protective
  
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• Greater potential for transport in climate mitigation

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  Some argue the transportation sector constitutes a major roadblock on the path to avoiding dangerous climate change. Yet, the sector has the capacity to nearly halve its CO2 emissions by 2050, and may therefore be easier to decarbonize than previously thought. Realizing such a major emissions cut would require further efficiency improvements in fuel consumption and, especially, the promotion of public transport in cities, alongside a large-scale shift to electric cars. These are key findings of
  
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• Avoiding collision leads to common routes

  19-11-2015 20:00
  
  Ants, when walking around in cluttered environments, are known to follow a limited number of common routes. Research published in PLOS Computational Biology and led by Olivier Bertrand (Bielefeld University, Germany) shows that similar routes emerge when an algorithm for collision avoidance, based on the apparent motion of obstacles, is combined with a target direction.
  
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• Gift Guide: Kiddie tech beyond video games, tablets

  19-11-2015 19:30
  
  What to get a tech-savvy kid who's tired of the same old tablets and video games? New toys this year range from easy-to-use sets for building circuits to a talking dinosaur powered by IBM's Watson artificial-intelligence system.
  
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• Tinder parent Match hits it off in Wall Street debut

  19-11-2015 19:20
  
  Match Group, the new firm which operates dating apps Tinder and OK Cupid, scored well in its first date on Wall Street as the market warmed to its stock offering.
  
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• Colorado unveils plan to manage water amid drought, demand

  19-11-2015 19:10
  
  The snow that falls on the Colorado mountains melts into trillions of gallons of water every year, and most of it flows downstream to Mexico, California and 17 other states. Colorado will release on Thursday its first-ever plan to cope with increasing competition for that water as the West grows drier.
  
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• Square flies high in Wall Street debut

  19-11-2015 19:00
  
  Mobile payments startup Square vaulted higher in its Wall Street debut Thursday a day after a hefty markdown of its public offering price amid concerns over tech valuations.
  
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• Encryption firm tightens access following Paris attacks

  19-11-2015 19:00
  
  The encrypted communications firm Silent Circle said Thursday it was tightening access to its mobile apps and secure smartphone to make them harder for terrorists and criminals to use.
  
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• Read while commuting? Self-driving cars have you covered

  19-11-2015 18:46
  
  Ever dreamt of kicking back, letting go of the wheel and reading the paper on the commute to work? In large cities, that could soon be a reality, say auto manufacturers.
  
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• Piping plovers losing breeding habitat to wetland drainage

  19-11-2015 18:46
  
  Piping plovers, a federally threatened species of shorebirds, are likely losing wetland breeding habitat in the Great Plains as a result of wetland drainage, climate change or both, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.
  
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• 'Huge' opportunity as five billion to go online by 2020: Google

  19-11-2015 18:44
  
  The world's online population will double to five billion by 2020 presenting "huge" business opportunities for tech start-ups on the cutting edge of the unprecedented expansion, the head of Google Europe said Thursday.
  
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• Tropical Storm Rick joins an elite late-season storm group

  19-11-2015 18:43
  
  The twenty-first tropical depression of the Eastern Pacific Ocean season strengthened into a tropical storm on Nov. 19 and was renamed Tropical Storm Rick bringing the storm into a small elite group of late-season storms. NOAA's GOES-West satellite provided an early daylight image of the storm that showed it had become more organized since it formed on Nov 18.
  
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• Study incorporates ecological processes into Earth system models

  19-11-2015 18:41
  
  A professor in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment is launching a new project to enable scientists to look many decades ahead and predict the effectiveness of land management practices in agriculture and forestry to mitigate climate change.
  
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• Loyola Stritch professors analyze ethical issues with social media and healthcare

  19-11-2015 18:41
  
  Social media has become engrained into almost every area of our life, but should you really be Facebook friends with your doctor?
  
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• Fossil fireworm species named after rock musician

  19-11-2015 18:39
  
  A muscly fossil fireworm, discovered by scientists from the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum, has been named Rollinschaeta myoplena in honour of punk musician and spoken word artist, Henry Rollins.
  
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• Sequencing algae's genome may aid biofuel production

  19-11-2015 18:30
  
  There's an ancient group of algae that evolved in the world's oceans before our backboned ancestors crawled onto land. They are so numerous that their gigantic blooms can affect the weather, and they account for 30 to 40 percent of all photosynthesis in the world's oceans.
  
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• Critical CO2 pretreatment of biomass increases glucose yield after enzymatic hydrolysis

  19-11-2015 18:30
  
  The sugar obtained after enzymatic hydrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFBs increased from 17% to 24% when supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) pretreatment of the EFBs was used, according to a new study. SC-CO2 pretreatment plus premixing of the EFBs with alkali further increased the glucose yield to almost 37%, as reported in the study published in Industrial Biotechnology.
  
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• Ten ways advanced computing catalyzes science

  19-11-2015 18:29
  
  When researchers need to compare complex new genomes, or map new regions of the Arctic in high-resolution detail, or detect signs of dark matter, or make sense of massive amounts of functional MRI data, they turn to the high-performance computing and data analysis systems supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
  
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• Illinois physics professor named national Professor of the Year

  19-11-2015 18:29
  
  Mats Selen, professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
  
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• Email security improving, but far from perfect

  19-11-2015 18:29
  
  Email security helps protect some of our most sensitive data: password recovery confirmations, financial data, confidential correspondences, and more. According to a new report, published by Michael Bailey, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Michigan and Google, email security is significantly better than it was two years ago, but still has widespread issues. The full report is publish
  
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• Study Shows Dark Matter Dominates Nearby Dwarf Galaxy Triangulum II

  19-11-2015 18:22 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A new study from the California Institute of Technology reveals that dwarf galaxy Triangulum II has the highest concentration of dark matter in any known galaxy. Dark matter is called “dark” for a good reason. Although they outweigh particles of regular matter by more than a factor of 5, particles of dark matter are elusive. […]
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