Sci-Tech news

• GoPro cutting about 100 jobs after weak 4Q sales (Update)

  13-01-2016 23:29
  
  Wearable camera maker GoPro says it will eliminate about 100 jobs after its fourth-quarter sales fell far short of its expectations.
  
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• GoPro cutting about 100 jobs after weak 4Q sales

  13-01-2016 23:29
  
  Wearable camera maker GoPro says it will eliminate about 100 jobs after its fourth-quarter sales fell far short of its expectations.
  
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• Fewer than one in 25 Seattleites can really eat locally

  13-01-2016 23:26
  
  How many of Seattle's residents could live off food grown in their city? If abundant P-Patches and backyard gardens teeming with kale come to mind, you're like many residents who assume urban agriculture in Seattle could support 50, 80 or even 100 percent of the people who live in the city.
  
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• YouTube Star PewDiePie Now Has Own Video Network

  13-01-2016 23:25 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  YouTube millionaire PewDiePie now has his own network.
  
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• Volkswagen chief meets US regulators

  13-01-2016 22:40
  
  Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller met with the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington on Wednesday as the company seeks to resolve its pollution cheating woes.
  
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• General Electric to move headquarters to Boston

  13-01-2016 22:30
  
  General Electric announced Wednesday it will move its headquarters to Boston, leaving the sprawling suburban Connecticut campus it has called home over the past four decades for a technology-rich city it says better fits its ambitions as an innovation leader.
  
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• Arizona to Shame 'Deadbeat Dads' on Facebook, Twitter

  13-01-2016 22:30 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Child-support evaders, beware. In Arizona, your name and photo could be plastered all over social media for the world to see.
  
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• Annihilating nanoscale defects

  13-01-2016 22:30
  
  Target dates are critical when the semiconductor industry adds small, enhanced features to our favorite devices by integrating advanced materials onto the surfaces of computer chips. Missing a target means postponing a device's release, which could cost a company millions of dollars or, worse, the loss of competitiveness and an entire industry. But meeting target dates can be challenging because the final integrated devices, which include billions of transistors, must be flawless - less than one
  
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• FDA gives OK for company's genetically engineered potato (Update)

  13-01-2016 22:14
  
  A potato genetically engineered to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine is as safe as any other potato on the market, the Food and Drug Administration says.
  
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• FDA gives OK for company's genetically engineered potato

  13-01-2016 22:14
  
  A potato genetically engineered to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine is as safe as any other potato on the market, the Food and Drug Administration says.
  
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• Tesla bulks up on IT talent for 'car of the future' fight

  13-01-2016 22:13
  
  Tesla's swift rise to both create and dominate the luxury all-electric car market has stunned Detroit.
  
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• SoundCloud signs with Universal ahead of subscription launch

  13-01-2016 22:13
  
  SoundCloud, a streaming music platform that has become home to garage bands and other artists who don't mind releasing tracks online for free, said Wednesday that it had reached a licensing deal with Universal Music Group.
  
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• Why a Muslim Gamer Was Banned From Playing Online

  13-01-2016 22:12 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Muhammad Zakir Khan, a professor at Florida's Broward College, couldn't create an online account to play the highly anticipated video game "Paragon."
  
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• Stone-age tools found, but who wielded them?

  13-01-2016 22:10
  
  Scientists have discovered stone-age tools at least 118,000-years-old on an Indonesian island but no trace of the early humans that made them, according to a study released Wednesday.
  
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• Unique breathing cycles may be an important defense for insects

  13-01-2016 22:07
  
  Insects exhibit breathing patterns called discontinuous gas-exchange cycles that include periods of little to no release of carbon dioxide to the environment. Researchers who studied the respiratory patterns of 15 species of ground beetles found that these cycles may minimize the risk of infestation of an insect's tracheal system by mites and other pathogens.
  
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• The importance of public service broadcasting in politics and society

  13-01-2016 22:07
  
  A new article finds that people living in countries with public service broadcasting are better informed about government and politics, are more trusting of other people, and have more positive civic attitudes. They also have greater confidence in democratic institutions and are more likely to engage in democratic politics.
  
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• New report provides conservation, management strategies for yellow-cedar in Alaska

  13-01-2016 22:07
  
  The U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station today released a new report that outlines a climate adaptation strategy for yellow-cedar in Alaska.
  
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• Taoyuan No. 3: New high-yield lettuce for subtropical regions

  13-01-2016 22:06
  
  Driven by consumer demand for local leafy green vegetables, growers in Taiwan are increasingly interested in producing organic and conventional lettuce in high tunnels. In subtropical regions, growing this cool-season leafy vegetable can be a challenge; higher temperatures common in the tunnels during warm seasons can increase the possibility of lettuce bolting (premature growth of a flower stalk).
  
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• Team unveils a mechanism that controls neuron production from stem cells

  13-01-2016 22:01
  
  A study conducted by a research team led by Michel Cayouette, Full IRCM Research Professor and Director of the Cellular Neurobiology research unit, in collaboration with a team led by Stéphane Angers, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, makes the cover of the latest edition of Developmental Cell following the discovery of a mechanism enabling the production of cellular diversity in the developing nervous system.
  
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• German App for Migrants Teaches Info, Language Skills

  13-01-2016 21:23 via feeds.nbcnews.com
  
  Germany has created a mobile app to provide basic info and German language and customs to the thousands of migrants and refugees streaming in.
  
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• De-mystifying the study of volatile organic plant compounds

  13-01-2016 20:46
  
  Similar to human pheromones, all plants emit signaling chemicals. The chemicals, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are ubiquitous. The smell of freshly cut grass is caused by a VOC. Ever wonder why Christmas trees easily catch fire? Conifer trees emit a flammable group of VOCs called terpenes.
  
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• New app 'hides' user location from third parties

  13-01-2016 20:44
  
  Researchers who developed an app that blocks third parties from identifying an individual's location based on what they search for online received a "best paper" award at a recent conference.
  
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• NASA analyzes winds and rainfall in unusual Atlantic system 90L

  13-01-2016 20:38
  
  NASA's RapidScat instrument and Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM core satellite analyzed the surface winds and rainfall rates occurring System 90L, an unusual storm in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which may become subtropical.
  
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• Kuwait passes law tightening online media controls

  13-01-2016 20:14
  
  Kuwait's parliament on Wednesday passed legislation to regulate all web-based "professional" media, a day after a controversial cybercrimes law came into effect.
  
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• Migrant values adapt over just one generation

  13-01-2016 20:00
  
  Migrants' thinking styles and social values rapidly shift over a single generation to become more similar to those of the wider society they have moved into, new research has indicated.
  
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• Climate change could cut First Nations fisheries' catch in half

  13-01-2016 20:00
  
  First Nations fisheries' catch could decline by nearly 50 per cent by 2050, according to a new study examining the threat of climate change to the food and economic security of indigenous communities along coastal British Columbia, Canada.
  
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• Brazilian torrent frogs communicate using sophisticated audio, visual signals

  13-01-2016 20:00
  
  Brazilian torrent frogs may use sophisticated audio and visual signals to communicate, including inflating vocal sacs, squealing, and arm waving, according to a study published January 13, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Fábio P. de Sá, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil, and colleagues.
  
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• Watch: Google Street Views Goes Miniature

  13-01-2016 19:45
  
  Tiny cameras captured a mini-Street View of "Miniatur Wunderland," the world's largest miniature model railway exhibition.
  
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• Watchdog: No bias in EPA's study on mining in Alaska fishery

  13-01-2016 19:40
  
  A watchdog has found no evidence of bias in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study on the potential effects of large-scale mining on a world-premier salmon fishery in Alaska's Bristol Bay region.
  
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• Israel honors Israeli, US scientists, Canadian architect

  13-01-2016 19:39
  
  Israel's Wolf Foundation has announced it will honor five American scientists, an Israeli scientist and a Canadian architect with this year's prestigious prize.
  
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• Automakers' green push lifts use of hemp, citrus peel

  13-01-2016 19:30
  
  Survey the latest at the Detroit Auto Show and you will find fibers from water bottles in car seats, hemp in the dashboards and citrus peel in the tires.
  
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• US issues rules to protect bat threatened by fungal disease

  13-01-2016 19:24
  
  Federal officials issued regulations Wednesday designed to protect the northern long-eared bat, one of several types of bat that have suffered steep population declines because of a rapidly spreading fungal disease.
  
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• Ancient going on nouveau: Old world grains make a comeback

  13-01-2016 19:24
  
  We've come a long way from the days of hunting and gathering. With advancements in science and technology, we're now a society that hunts for the best price and gathers coupons. Since less of our energy is going to finding and killing our next meal, we have time to be more discerning about the ingredients used in our food.
  
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• NASA analyzes Hurricane Pali's rainfall rates

  13-01-2016 19:09
  
  Tropical storm Pali intensified late on Jan. 11 to become the earliest hurricane ever recorded in the Central Pacific Ocean. Warm ocean waters from El Nino supplied the extra energy needed for Pali to develop and prosper so early in the year. NASA's GPM core observatory got an inside look at the record-breaking hurricane while the Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible-light look at the storm from above.
  
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• What do lasers and oranges have in common? A possible cure for citrus greening

  13-01-2016 19:08
  
  Florida's citrus industry has been struggling for nearly a decade with citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB), a disease caused by a bacterium that destroys fruit production and eventually kills the tree. An effective cure has eluded researchers so far, and crop production is declining steadily.
  
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• NASA sees Ula go extra-tropical

  13-01-2016 19:07
  
  NOAA's GOES-West satellite and NASA's RapidScat instrument provided a look at Tropical Cyclone Ula after it became extra-tropical north of New Zealand.
  
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• Human-made climate change suppresses the next ice age

  13-01-2016 19:06
  
  Humanity has become a geological force that is able to suppress the beginning of the next ice age, a study now published in the renowned scientific journal Nature shows. Cracking the code of glacial inception, scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found the relation of insolation and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere to be the key criterion to explain the last eight glacial cycles in Earth history. At the same time their results illustrate that even moderate human int
  
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• 'Radiolabeling' lets scientists track the breakdown of drugs

  13-01-2016 19:05
  
  A new method for labeling molecules with radioactive elements could let chemists more easily track how drugs under development are metabolized in the body.
  
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• 3-D images of megaenzymes may lead to improved antibiotics

  13-01-2016 19:04
  
  Taking clear pictures of megaenzymes isn't easy. But it's definitely worth it. These proteins play an active role in creating many common antibiotics. They are in constant motion, with sections that flip around acrobatically to carry out necessary tasks. Now, for the first time, McGill researchers have been able to take a series of 3D images of a large section from one of these medicine-synthesizing enzymes in action. The researchers believe that the images they have generated will not only brin
  
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• The post Big Bang revealed: A first step towards understanding the early Universe

  13-01-2016 19:00
  
  After the Big Bang, the Universe expanded and, by cooling down, the matter progressively took shape. The first stars and galaxies form several hundred thousand years later. One billion year later the Universe is observed to be reheated, and hydrogen, the most abundant element, is again ionized, as it was shortly after the Big Bang. How has this important transformation, named cosmic reionization, been possible? Astronomers have long thought that galaxies were responsible for this phenomenon. Tod
  
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• Workplace flexibility benefits employees, study says

  13-01-2016 18:36
  
  New research released today shows that workers at a Fortune 500 company who participated in a pilot work flexibility program voiced higher levels of job satisfaction and reduced levels of burnout and psychological stress than employees within the same company who did not participate.
  
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• Model that predicts time from gate departure to takeoff could cut airport congestion, fuel waste

  13-01-2016 18:29
  
  Most frequent fliers are familiar with long lines at airports: at the check-in counter, the departure gate, and in boarding a booked flight.
  
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• Toxins related to 'red tides' found in home aquarium

  13-01-2016 18:26
  
  Many shore residents and beach-goers are already familiar with the health risks of "red tide," algal blooms along coastlines that can trigger respiratory illness and other effects in people who inhale the toxins the algae release. Now in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists report new evidence that similar effects can occur on a much smaller scale among home aquaria owners.
  
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• Shiny fish skin inspires nanoscale light reflectors

  13-01-2016 18:24
  
  A nature-inspired method to model the reflection of light from the skin of silvery fish and other organisms may be possible, according to Penn State researchers.
  
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• Protecting workers with stiffer safety penalties

  13-01-2016 18:23
  
  The new year could be a safer one for workers. A law passed by Congress last October will increase civil fines for violators of workplace safety standards. And to boost accountability further, the Departments of Justice and Labor are teaming up to couple worker safety with harsher criminal penalties, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.
  
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• Nano-hybrid materials create magnetic effect

  13-01-2016 18:22
  
  Developing novel materials from the atoms up goes faster when some of the trial and error is eliminated. A new Rice University and Montreal Polytechnic study aims to do that for graphene and boron nitride hybrids.
  
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• Plague-riddled prairie dogs a model for infectious disease spread

  13-01-2016 18:00
  
  Every now and then, colonies of prairie dogs are wiped out by plague, an infectious disease most often associated with the Black Death of the 14th century.
  
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• Mammals shape their microbiome to prevent disease

  13-01-2016 18:00
  
  Gut microbes are well known to contribute to health and disease, but what has been less clear is how the host controls gut microbes. A study published January 13 in Cell Host & Microbe now reveals that mice and humans produce small molecules (microRNAs) from their GI tract, which are shed in feces, to regulate the composition of gut microbes and thereby protect against intestinal diseases such as colitis.
  
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• 'Fear-free' veterinarians aim to reduce stress for pets

  13-01-2016 17:50
  
  Trips to the veterinarian leave Joy so scared, she gets sick.
  
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• Rooting out doping in racehorses

  13-01-2016 17:38
  
  Doping in the horseracing industry has spurred regulations banning performance-enhancing drugs, as well as calls for an anti-doping agency in the U.S. But as in human sports, testing for certain kinds of prohibited substances has been a challenge. Now scientists report in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry a new detection method that could help anti-doping enforcers determine whether a horse has received certain substances.
  
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