Sci-Tech news

• The latest on gadgets: This year's CES smaller—yet bigger (Update)

  04-01-2016 23:41
  
  The latest developments surrounding the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES (all times local):
  
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• Why the real King Kong became extinct

  04-01-2016 23:30
  
  The largest ape to roam Earth died out 100,000 years ago because it failed to tuck into savannah grass after climate change hit its preferred diet of forest fruit, scientists suggest.
  
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• Key ride-hailing companies who are changing the industry

  04-01-2016 23:30
  
  Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. said Monday it's partnering with General Motors Co. on various projects, from hubs where Lyft drivers can rent GM vehicles to an on-demand, autonomous ride service. Even with the investment, Lyft is much smaller than Uber, the giant of the ride-hailing space.
  
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• Guatemala warily monitors erupting volcano

  04-01-2016 23:30
  
  Guatemalan authorities Monday warily monitored the eruption of a volcano near its capital that spewed columns of ash up to seven kilometers (four miles) high.
  
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• US sues VW over emissions-cheating software in diesel cars

  04-01-2016 23:20
  
  The Justice Department sued Volkswagen on Monday over emissions-cheating software found in nearly 600,000 vehicles sold in the United States, potentially exposing the company to billions of dollars in penalties for clean air violations.
  
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• Africanews channel launches with continent-focused coverage

  04-01-2016 23:16
  
  The Africanews channel launched Monday with coverage of the continent in English and French that is only available online for now, but which its backers hope to expand to TV broadcasts soon.
  
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• California braces for series of El Nino storms

  04-01-2016 23:13
  
  After all the talk, El Niño storms have finally lined up over the Pacific and started soaking drought-parched California with rain expected to last for most of the next two weeks, forecasters said Monday.
  
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• Oculus to start taking virtual reality headset orders

  04-01-2016 23:12
  
  Facebook-owned Oculus VR will begin taking orders for its Rift virtual reality headsets on Wednesday, as the doors of Consumer Electronics Show gadget extravaganza officially open in Las Vegas.
  
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• Belgian nuclear reactor restarts after shutdown

  04-01-2016 23:12
  
  Belgium on Monday restarted a reactor that was shut down at the weekend just three days after returning to service amid concern in neighbouring countries over its nuclear safety.
  
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• States divvy up Yellowstone-area grizzly hunt

  04-01-2016 23:04
  
  Wildlife officials have divvied up how many grizzly bears can be killed by hunters in the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as the states seek control of a species shielded from hunting for the past 40 years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
  
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• Beam-beam compensation scheme doubles proton-proton collision rates at RHIC

  04-01-2016 23:00
  
  Accelerator physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have successfully implemented an innovative scheme for increasing proton collision rates at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). More proton collisions at this DOE Office of Science User Facility produce more data for scientists to sift through to answer important nuclear physics questions, including the search for the source of proton spin.
  
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• Checklist completed for cultivars of Salix L. (willow)

  04-01-2016 22:41
  
  Grown around the world, willows are cultivated for their exceptional technical and ornamental characteristics. Willows are commonly used as stock for basket and cricket bat manufacturing, as sources of chemical compounds (such as tannin and salicin), as forage for livestock, as ornamentals, and as amenity plantings. Recently, willow being recognized as an important source for bioenergy production and for various ecosystem services. Willows are members of the genus Salix L. (Salicaceae Mirb., wil
  
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• Virgin births may be common among snakes

  04-01-2016 22:13
  
  A new review provides intriguing insights on parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, in snakes.
  
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• Manure applications elevate nitrogen accumulation and loss

  04-01-2016 22:07
  
  Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for plant growth, and nitrogen fertilization - including the application of manures - is a major management strategy in agriculture across the globe. However, the overuse and misuse of manures has resulted in the accumulation of surplus N in soil and its eventual migration to soil layers and groundwater. The authors of a new study found that the environmental risks of manure applications in high-input greenhouse environments may outweigh the benefits, and re
  
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• Challenges to conserving freshwater mussels in Europe

  04-01-2016 22:03
  
  New research looks at the status of the 16 currently recognized freshwater mussel species in Europe, finding that information is unevenly distributed with considerable differences in data quality and quantity among countries and species.
  
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• Students with influence over peers reduce school bullying by 30 percent

  04-01-2016 21:00
  
  Curbing school bullying has been a focal point for educators, administrators, policymakers and parents, but the answer may not lie within rules set by adults, according to new research led by Princeton University. Instead, the solution might actually be to have the students themselves, particularly those most connected to their peers, promote conflict resolution in school.
  
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• Melting of massive ice 'lid' resulted in huge release of CO2 at the end of the ice age

  04-01-2016 21:00
  
  A new study reconstructing conditions at the end of the last ice age suggests that as the Antarctic sea ice melted, massive amounts of carbon dioxide that had been trapped in the ocean were released into the atmosphere.
  
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• Enough oxygen long before animals rose

  04-01-2016 21:00
  
  Oxygen is crucial for the existence of animals on Earth. But, an increase in oxygen did not apparently lead to the rise of the first animals. New research shows that 1.4 billion years ago there was enough oxygen for animals - and yet over 800 million years went by before the first animals appeared on Earth.
  
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• Tackling the 'credibility crisis' in science

  04-01-2016 20:00
  
  Widespread failure to reproduce research results has triggered a crisis of confidence in research findings, eroding public trust in scientific methodology. In response, PLOS Biology is launching on January 4th, 2016, a new Meta-Research Section devoted to research on research.
  
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• Poor transparency and reporting jeopardize the reproducibility of science

  04-01-2016 20:00
  
  Reported research across the biomedical sciences rarely provides full protocol, data, and necessary level of transparency to verify or replicate the study, according to two articles publishing in PLOS Biology as part of a new Meta-Research Section, on January 4th, 2016. The authors argue that the information publicly available on reported research is in dire need of improvement.
  
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• Photos: Baby Elephant Makes His New Year Debut

  04-01-2016 19:28
  
  Absolutely adorable baby animals!
  
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• Scientists create 'nano-reactor' for the production of hydrogen biofuel

  04-01-2016 18:47
  
  Scientists at Indiana University have created a highly efficient biomaterial that catalyzes the formation of hydrogen—one half of the "holy grail" of splitting H2O to make hydrogen and oxygen for fueling cheap and efficient cars that run on water.
  
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• Investigators probe Tesla car fire in Norway

  04-01-2016 18:28
  
  Norwegian authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that gutted an electric Tesla car at a charging station.
  
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• Texas blizzard kills 15,000 cows

  04-01-2016 18:14
  
  A freak blizzard killed at least 15,000 dairy cows in the US state of Texas and for almost two days kept farmers from milking some of those that survived, officials said Monday.
  
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• A botanical survey to help understand change in our wild flora

  04-01-2016 17:41
  
  Volunteers in the north-east of England have created a benchmark survey of common plants with which to identify change in the countryside, its result and causes. This survey will be used in future to monitor the effects of climate change on plants; assess the success of conservation measures and predict future change. Its findings are published in the open-access journal Biodiversity Data Journal, contributing an additional 35,000 observations to the 200,000 observations collected by local recor
  
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• Tesla shares dive as deliveries hit low end of forecast

  04-01-2016 17:37
  
  Tesla shares careened sharply lower Monday after the US luxury electric-car maker reported deliveries at the bottom end of its forecast for the 2015 fourth quarter.
  
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• NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite sees Ula moving away from Fiji

  04-01-2016 17:37
  
  Tropical Cyclone Ula affected the Fiji group of islands over the weekend of January 2 and 3. Early on January 4, NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite showed the storm moved south as all Fiji warnings were dropped.
  
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• The latest on gadgets: Windows 10 on more than 200M devices

  04-01-2016 17:36
  
  The latest developments surrounding the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES (all times local):
  
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• The latest from CES: Ford embraces Apple, Google car systems

  04-01-2016 17:36
  
  The latest developments from the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES (all times local):
  
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• Astronomers Use G1 and G2 to Probe the Accretion Flow Feeding Sgr A*

  04-01-2016 17:28 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research uses the G1 and G2 gas clouds to probe the accretion flow feeding Sgr A∗. The center of our Milky Way galaxy, about twenty-five thousand light years from Earth, is invisible to us in optical light because of the extensive amounts of absorbing, intervening dust. Radiation at many other wavelengths, however, including the […]
  The post Astronomers Use G1 and G2 to Probe the Accretion Flow Feeding Sgr A* appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• The smart-tech future beckons to us from the CES gadget show

  04-01-2016 17:20
  
  Look around. How many computing devices do you see? Your phone, probably; maybe a tablet or a laptop. Your car, the TV set, the microwave, bedside alarm clock, possibly the thermostat, and others you've never noticed.
  
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• NASA Looks Back at the ‘Year of Pluto’

  04-01-2016 17:11 via scitechdaily.com
  
  NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made history this year giving us a close-up view of Pluto for the first time. Now it will start the New Year some 125 million miles (200 million kilometers) beyond Pluto, far removed from the excitement and activity that accompanied its historic flight through the Pluto system just five months ago. […]
  The post NASA Looks Back at the ‘Year of Pluto’ appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Watch: LG Announces New TV

  04-01-2016 17:09
  
  The Korean electronics company has plans for 98-inch TV that has 4 times the resolution of 4K.
  
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• Ames Laboratory scientist's calculation featured on cover of PRL

  04-01-2016 17:09
  
  Research performed by U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory Associate Scientist Durga Paudyal was recently featured on the cover of the November 13, 2015, issue of Physical Review Letters.
  
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• The first European farmers are traced back to Anatolia

  04-01-2016 17:08
  
  Human material from the Anatolian site Kumtepe was used in the study. The material was heavily degraded, but yielded enough DNA for the doctorate student Ayca Omrak to address questions concerning the demography connected to the spread of farming. She conducted her work at the Archaeological Research Laboratory.
  
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• Worldwide electricity production vulnerable to climate and water resource change

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  Climate change impacts and associated changes in water resources could lead to reductions in electricity production capacity for more than 60% of the power plants worldwide from 2040-2069, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature Climate Change. Yet adaptation measures focused on making power plants more efficient and flexible could mitigate much of the decline.
  
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• The origins of abiotic species

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  How can life originate from a lifeless chemical soup? This question has puzzled scientists since Darwin's 'Origin of species'. University of Groningen chemistry professor Sijbren Otto studies 'chemical evolution' to see if self-organization and autocatalysis will provide the answer. His research group previously developed self-replicating molecules—molecules that can make copies of themselves—and have now observed diversification in replicator mutants. They found that if you start wi
  
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• Strong magnetic fields discovered in majority of stars

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  Strong magnetic fields discovered in majority of stars—Finding to impact understanding of stellar evolution
  
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• Rotational clock for stars needs recalibration

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  New work from a team of astronomers led by Carnegie's Jennifer van Saders indicates that one recently developed method for determining a star's age needs to be recalibrated for stars that are older than our Sun. This is due to new information about the way older stars spin, as spin rate is one of the few windows into stellar ages. Their findings, published in Nature, have implications for our own Solar System, as they indicate that our own Sun might be on the cusp of a transition in its magnetic
  
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• Meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet releasing faster

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  The firn layers of the Greenland ice sheet might store less meltwater than previously assumed. Researchers from the USA, Denmark and the University of Zurich fear that this could lead to increased release of the meltwater into the oceans.
  
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• Large and increasing methane emissions from northern lakes

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  Methane is increasing in the atmosphere, but many sources are poorly understood. Lakes at high northern latitudes are such a source. However, this may change with a new study published in Nature Geoscience. By compiling previously reported measurements made at a total of 733 northern water bodies - from small ponds formed by beavers to large lakes formed by permafrost thaw or ice-sheets - researchers are able to more accurately estimate emissions over large scales.
  
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• Boosting farm yields to restore habitats could create greenhouse gas 'sink'

  04-01-2016 17:00
  
  New research into the potential for sparing land from food production to balance greenhouse gas emissions has shown that emissions from the UK farming industry could be largely offset by 2050. This could be achieved if the UK increased agricultural yields and coupled this with expanding the areas of natural forests and wetlands to match its European neighbours.
  
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• Asian carp could cause some Lake Erie fish to decline, others to increase

  04-01-2016 16:59
  
  If they successfully invade Lake Erie, Asian carp could eventually account for about a third of the total weight of fish in the lake and could cause declines in most fish species—including prized sport and commercial fish such as walleye, according to a new computer modeling study.
  
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• Hubble Image of the Week – Spiral Galaxy NGC 4845

  04-01-2016 16:49 via scitechdaily.com
  
  This newly released Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4845, which is located over 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). The galaxy’s orientation clearly reveals the galaxy’s striking spiral structure: a flat and dust-mottled disc surrounding a bright galactic bulge. NGC 4845’s glowing center hosts a gigantic version of […]
  The post Hubble Image of the Week – Spiral Galaxy NGC 4845 appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• The Steve Jobs you never knew

  04-01-2016 16:43 via rss.cnn.com
  
  There's no one version of Steve Jobs.
  
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• How Betamax bit the dust – and other tales of forgotten tech

  04-01-2016 16:20
  
  Sony are to no longer make Betamax video cassette tapes – something that will come as a surprise to many people who thought that Betamax had long since bitten the dust. But 28 years after it lost the battle to the VHS (or Vertical Helical Scan) format produced by JVC, Sony – which stopped manufacturing Betamax recorders in 2002 – will cease production of the tapes, too.
  
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• In cyberspace, sharing doesn't always mean caring

  04-01-2016 16:10
  
  The "sharing economy" now enables to us to access all manner of things we might need through connecting with others online. In this season that might have included sourcing turkey from a local farm, a chauffeured car to collect the relatives, a week at a stranger's flat somewhere warm, a few hours with an industrial-strength food mixer and a range of other physical and intellectual goods.
  
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• Cosmic glasses for space exploration

  04-01-2016 16:00
  
  How are asteroids and planets formed from stony particles? This question is being explored in an experiment by scientists from the universities of Münster and Braunschweig. For the investigation, Fraunhofer researchers have developed beads made of a special type of glass. They form the composition of the rock particles as naturally as possible on a small scale.
  
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• New study models adhesion force as key to contact between two rough, yet elastic, surfaces

  04-01-2016 15:50
  
  Imagine a new type of tyres whose structure has been designed to have greater adhesion on the road. Quite a timely discussion during the long winter nights. French physicists have now developed a model to study the importance of adhesion in establishing contact between two patterned, yet elastic, surfaces. Nature is full of examples of amazing adjustable adhesion power, like the feet of geckos, covered in multiple hairs of decreasing  size. Until now, most experimental and theoretical studi
  
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• Will 2016 be the year Elon Musk reveals his Mars colonial transporter plans?

  04-01-2016 15:40
  
  There are several space stories we're anticipating for 2016 but one story might appear—to some—to belong in the realm of science fiction: sometime in the coming year Elon Musk will likely reveal his plans for colonizing Mars.
  
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