Sci-Tech news

• Older adults have 'toxic combination' of lower financial literacy, higher self-confidence

  09-05-2016 22:58
  
  Previous studies have shown that as humans age, cognitive declines are inevitable. Now, a recent study by researchers at the University of Missouri and Texas Tech University has confirmed that this cognitive decline extends into financial literacy. The researchers also found that older individuals retain a strong sense of self-confidence, which could add to the problem, leading to significant mistakes when making financial decisions.
  
  Read more

• Congregations striving for racial and ethnic diversity may shrink, study finds

  09-05-2016 22:18
  
  Congregations attempting to boost their racial and ethnic diversity may end up with fewer people in the seats, according to a Baylor University study.
  
  Read more

• Origin of dromedary domestication discovered

  09-05-2016 22:17
  
  Dromedaries have been used for transportation for over 3,000 years. But it was not known where they were first domesticated or which genetic structure was selected in the process. A team of researchers including Pamela Burger of Vetmeduni Vienna now identified the origin of the domesticated dromedary and showed that the dromedaries, unlike other domesticated animals, have maintained extensive gene flow in the modern population. The study is published in the journal PNAS.
  
  Read more

• Tiger moths use signals to warn bats: Toxic not tasty

  09-05-2016 22:16
  
  Acoustic warning signals emitted by tiger moths to deter bats - a behavior previously proven only in the laboratory - actually occur in nature and are used as a defense mechanism, according to new research from Wake Forest University.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Mercury in fish affected by both prey type and quality, study finds

  09-05-2016 22:15
  
  Whether fish hunt nearshore or in the open water and what prey they eat affect the amount of mercury that accumulates in them, a Dartmouth College study shows.
  
  Read more

• Study: First Amendment offers scant protection for professors

  09-05-2016 21:51
  
  A new study by a University of Illinois employment law expert determined that the First Amendment often fails to protect the most controversial ideas expressed by faculty in higher education.
  
  Read more

• UN warns of 'bleak' outlook for drought-hit Zimbabwe

  09-05-2016 21:50
  
  Zimbabwe faces a growing food supply crisis, with a $290 million shortfall in funding desperately required to feed up to 4.5 million people in need by next year, the United Nations warned Monday.
  
  Read more

• Researchers discover potential new paths for plant-based bioproducts

  09-05-2016 21:47
  
  Plant science researchers at the University of North Texas have found potential new pathways for the creation of plant-based bioproducts. The research is outlined in a new article in the journal Nature Plants.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New study supports natural causes, not alien activity, explain mystery star's behavior

  09-05-2016 21:46
  
  Sorry, E.T. lovers, but the results of a new study make it far less likely that KIC 8462852, popularly known as Tabby's star, is the home of industrious aliens who are gradually enclosing it in a vast shell called a Dyson sphere.
  
  Read more

• Should Colleges Report Government Data Requests?

  09-05-2016 21:29 via nbcnews.com
  
  Colleges can track the websites students visit, the meals they eat, and even their physical location.
  
  Read more

• UCI sleuths search the seas for soot

  09-05-2016 21:16
  
  Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine have taken water samples from the north Pacific, north and south Atlantic, and Arctic oceans in search of repositories of black carbon, soot from burning biomass and diesel engines, among other sources. They've found considerably less of the material than expected, and they've discovered that it exists in at least two varieties, a younger pool closer to the ocean's surface that is absorbed into the environment in a roughly 100-yea
  
  Read more

• Study yields insight into the mystery of smell

  09-05-2016 21:00
  
  Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have uncovered the mechanism underlying a phenomenon in how we smell that has puzzled researchers for decades. In an article appearing online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reports that, surprisingly, the mechanism follows a simple physics principle called cooperativity.
  
  Read more

• Saharan dust affects marine bacteria, potential pathogen Vibrio

  09-05-2016 21:00
  
  Iron, a critical element for living organisms, can be hard to hard to come by in open marine waters—except each summer, when atmospherically transported dust from north Africa's Sahara Desert provides pulses of biologically important nutrients, including iron, to the tropical marine waters of the Caribbean and southeastern U.S.
  
  Read more

• Agricultural ammonia emissions disrupt Earth's delicate nitrogen balance

  09-05-2016 21:00
  
  When considering human impacts on earth systems, disturbance to the carbon cycle grabs the headlines. But another critically important earth process, the nitrogen cycle, has also seen major disruption from human activity.
  
  Read more

• Leftover warm water in Pacific Ocean fueled massive El Nino

  09-05-2016 20:11
  
  A new study provides insight into how the current El Niño, one of the strongest on record, formed in the Pacific Ocean. The new research finds easterly winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean stalled a potential El Niño in 2014 and left a swath of warm water in the central Pacific. The presence of that warm water stacked the deck for a monster El Niño to occur in 2015, according to the study's authors.
  
  Read more

• This five-fingered robot hand learns to get a grip on its own

  09-05-2016 20:10
  
  Robots today can perform space missions, solve a Rubik's cube, sort hospital medication and even make pancakes. But most can't manage the simple act of grasping a pencil and spinning it around to get a solid grip.
  
  Read more

• Biofeedback system designed to control photosynthetic lighting

  09-05-2016 20:08
  
  Controlled environment agriculture is rapidly becoming an important part of the global food system. For example, there has been much interest in the potential of large-scale, indoor agricultural production - often referred to as vertical farming - as a means to produce high quantities of produce. These "plant factories" are expensive to operate, however, in part because of the large power requirements of electric lamps that provide the type and amount of light necessary for photosynthesis in pla
  
  Read more

• Carrot genome paints picture of domestication, could help improve crops

  09-05-2016 20:07
  
  Sometimes, the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, rocks and imprints must be swapped for DNA and genetic fingerprints.
  
  Read more

• Israelis in JPMorgan hack case to be extradited

  09-05-2016 20:04
  
  Israeli authorities have approved the extradition to the United States of two nationals indicted over a cyber attack against JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest computer frauds in history.
  
  Read more

• Berkeley Lab scientists part of new particle-hunting season at CERN's LHC

  09-05-2016 20:02
  
  The most powerful particle accelerator in the world, CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is getting up to speed again after its annual winter break. After a switch-on in March and a period of fine-tuning, operators are ramping-up the intensity of LHC's high-energy beams toward the peak that will generate up to 1 billion particle collisions per second and deliver up to about six times more data than in 2015.
  
  Read more

• Nine ornamental landscape plants tested for salt tolerance

  09-05-2016 20:01
  
  A new study of the salt tolerance of popular ornamental plants can be a valuable reference for gardeners and landscapers looking for plants that can thrive in locations where poor-quality irrigation water is typical. Shasha Wu, Youping Sun, and Genhua Niu from Texas A&M University revealed the best and worst choices among the nine ornamental varieties tested with high saline irrigation in an article published in the March 2016 issue of HortScience.
  
  Read more

• Suicide bomb detector moves forward with Sandia engineer's help

  09-05-2016 20:00
  
  On the chilling list of terrorist tactics, suicide bombing is at the top. Between 1981 and 2015, an estimated 5,000 such attacks occurred in more than 40 countries, killing about 50,000 people. The global rate grew from three a year in the 1980s to one a month in the 1990s to one a week from 2001 to 2003 to one a day from 2003 to 2015.
  
  Read more

• Schuuush! Is this the world's quietest Ferrari 308?

  09-05-2016 19:35 via rss.cnn.com
  
  The look is unmistakably Ferrari. The sound? That's another story.Recent podcasts: Bernie gets the Axe | Blindsided: How ISIS Shook The World | Graham Opposes GOP Leader
  
  Read more

• When beneficial bacteria knock but no one is home

  09-05-2016 18:46
  
  The community of beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines, known as the gut microbiome, are important for the development and function of the immune system. There has been growing evidence that certain probiotics—therapies that introduce beneficial bacteria into the gut—may help alleviate some of the symptoms of intestinal disorders such as Crohn's disease. By studying the interplay between genetic risk factors for Crohn's and the bacteria that populate the gut, researchers at
  
  Read more

• Tides in binary star systems: When neutron stars emit gravitational waves

  09-05-2016 18:36
  
  Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam develop an accurate model for the detection and interpretation of gravitational waves emitted by neutron stars in binary systems. This model contains, for the first time, a realistic description of how neutron stars are deformed just before they collide. As the deformation depends on the exotic physics in neutron star interiors and directly influences the gravitational waves more detailed information about the science co
  
  Read more

• Neutrons tap into magnetism in topological insulators at high temperatures

  09-05-2016 18:25
  
  A multi-institutional team of researchers has discovered novel magnetic behavior on the surface of a specialized material that holds promise for smaller, more efficient devices and other advanced technology.
  
  Read more

• 'Goshen Gold', late-season apricot debuts

  09-05-2016 18:24
  
  A new variety of apricot shows good potential for use in both fresh and dried product markets. 'Goshen Gold' was introduced in the March 2016 issue of HortScience by Craig A. Ledbetter of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service. The promising late-season apricot is self-compatible, consistently producing fruit after self-pollination.
  
  Read more

• Machine learning accelerates the discovery of new materials

  09-05-2016 18:22
  
  Researchers recently demonstrated how an informatics-based adaptive design strategy, tightly coupled to experiments, can accelerate the discovery of new materials with targeted properties, according to a recent paper published in Nature Communications.
  
  Read more

• Effects of spectral quality, intensity of LEDs

  09-05-2016 18:22
  
  In horticultural operations, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps are becoming recognized as an important advance in artificial lighting. Among other benefits, LED lighting systems can offer durability, long operating lifetimes, and high energy efficiency. Researchers published a study in the March 2016 issue of HortScience that shows that continuous spectrum LEDs made specifically for horticultural can be superior to conventional white LEDs in terms of plant response and energy efficiency.
  
  Read more

• Archeologists Clash in Egypt Over King Tut Tomb Theory

  09-05-2016 18:22
  Archeologists have clashed at a conference in Egypt over a theory that secret chambers could be hidden behind the walls of King Tutankhamun's tomb
  
  Read more

• Rwandan Blood Deliveries Show Drones' Promise, Hurdles

  09-05-2016 18:03 via nbcnews.com
  
  International delivery company UPS is backing a start-up using drones in Rwanda to transport life-saving blood supplies and vaccines.
  
  Read more

• Watch: Sayonara Siri? New Voice Assistant Unveiled

  09-05-2016 17:53
  
  The creators of Apple's Siri will introduce their latest voice assistant system, Viv.
  
  Read more

• Fort McMurray wildfire continues to burn

  09-05-2016 17:50
  
  The wildfire continues to burn in the Fort McMurray area and NASA satellites continue to image the area. Fire conditions remain extreme in the province due to low humidity, high temperatures and wind according to the emergency updates being released by the Government of Alberta.
  
  Read more

• Little Mercury a black dot as it crosses vast face of sun

  09-05-2016 17:49
  
  For the first time in 10 years, Mercury passed directly between the Earth and sun on Monday, resembling a black dot against the vast, glowing face of our star.
  
  Read more

• Stochastic resonance, chaos transfer shown in an optomechanical microresonator

  09-05-2016 17:47
  
  Researchers in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a novel route to encode chaos on light in an optomechanical microresonator system.
  
  Read more

• Daily up and down of the plankton animals in the sea

  09-05-2016 17:45
  
  A unique series of measurements taken over several years in the Antarctic Ocean provide new findings about the daily vertical migration of zooplankton communities: scientists of the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries in Hamburg and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven observed changes during the year and between years. The Antarctic zooplankton is the main source of food for many fish and whale species, including the largest mammal in the world, the blue whale.
  
  Read more

• The cause of high Tc superconductivity at the interface between FeSe and SrTiO3

  09-05-2016 17:44
  
  The temperature above which a superconductor turns into a normal conductor is called the superconducting transition temperature. Raising it to a point enabling practical applications is a dream in modern science and technology. In 1987, a superconductor with atransition temperature above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen was discovered. Today, several families of closely related superconducting compounds (some with even higher transition temperatures) are known. They are called the "cuprates,
  
  Read more

• Now we know why carrots are orange

  09-05-2016 17:41
  
  Scientists unveiled Monday the gene in carrots that gives rise to carotenoids, a critical source of Vitamin A and the pigment that turns some fruits and vegetables bright orange or red.
  
  Read more

• UPS explores drone deliveries of life-saving medicines

  09-05-2016 17:39
  
  US package-delivery giant UPS said Monday it is teaming up with a drone company and Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, to explore using robot aircraft to deliver life-saving medicines.
  
  Read more

• The creators of Siri just showed off their next AI assistant, Viv, and it's incredible - The Verge

  09-05-2016 17:39 via theverge.com
  
  The Verge
  The creators of Siri just showed off their next AI assistant, Viv, and it's incredible
  The Verge
  Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer created the artificial intelligence behind Siri, Apple's iconic digital assistant, and one of the first modern apps to capably handle natural language queries on a smartphone. Today the pair showed off their newest creation ...
  Meet Viv, the new voice assistant from the creators of SiriMacworld
  Viv aims to out-Siri Siri in its first public demoCNET
  Siri's creat
  
  Read more

• Antarctic whales and the krill they eat

  09-05-2016 17:35
  
  The Western Antarctic sector of the Southern Ocean is the regular feeding ground of a large number of fin and humpback whales of the Southern Hemisphere. Around 5,000 fin whales likely migrate to its ice-free waters during summer, along with at least 3,000 humpback whales. These estimates follow a ship-based helicopter survey of whales in Antarctic waters. A net trawl survey for krill was also conducted to see if the distribution of these whales and specific krill species are connected. The stud
  
  Read more

• Fooling the test: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria that look susceptible

  09-05-2016 17:34
  
  A diagnostic test used by hospitals says a recently isolated strain of bacteria is susceptible to the last resort antibiotic colistin. But the strain actually ignores treatment with colistin, causing lethal infections in animals.
  
  Read more

• First single-enzyme method to produce quantum dots revealed

  09-05-2016 17:32
  
  Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconducting nanocrystals prized for their optical and electronic properties. The brilliant, pure colors produced by QDs when stimulated with ultraviolet light are ideal for use in flat screen displays, medical imaging devices, solar panels and LEDs. One obstacle to mass production and widespread use of these wonder particles is the difficulty and expense associated with current chemical manufacturing methods that often requiring heat, high pressure and toxic solvents.
  
  Read more

• Do genes express themselves through poetry?

  09-05-2016 17:31
  
  A new study from Michigan State University makes inroads in learning to "read" the genome, a key goal of modern biology.
  
  Read more

• Study finds declining sulfur levels

  09-05-2016 17:30
  
  Air pollution legislation to control fossil fuel emissions and the associated acid rain has worked - perhaps leading to the need for sulfur fertilizers for crop production. A University of Illinois study drawing from over 20 years of data shows that sulfur levels in Midwest watersheds and rivers have steadily declined, so much so that farmers may need to consider applying sulfur in the not too distant future.
  
  Read more

• New Study Details How Bacteria Become Individualists

  09-05-2016 17:28 via scitechdaily.com
  
  No two bacteria are identical – even when they are genetically the same. New research reveals the conditions under which bacteria become individualists and how they help their group grow when times get tough. Whether you are a human or a bacterium, your environment determines how you can develop. In particular, there are two fundamental […]
  The post New Study Details How Bacteria Become Individualists appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
  Read more

• Early Earth's air weighed less than half of today's atmosphere

  09-05-2016 17:28
  
  The idea that the young Earth had a thicker atmosphere turns out to be wrong. New research from the University of Washington uses bubbles trapped in 2.7 billion-year-old rocks to show that air at that time exerted at most half the pressure of today's atmosphere.
  
  Read more

• Ferromagnetism + semiconductor = spintronics: New opportunities for improving electronics

  09-05-2016 17:26
  
  More, faster, better, cheaper. These are the demands of our device-happy and data-centered world. Meeting these demands requires technologies for processing and storing information. Now, a significant obstacle to the development of next-generation device technologies appears to have been overcome, according to researchers from the University of Tokyo (Japan), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) and Ho Chi Minh University of Pedagogy (Vietnam).
  
  Read more

• Map of flow within the Earth's mantle finds the surface moving up and down 'like a yo-yo'

  09-05-2016 17:25
  
  Researchers have compiled the first global set of observations of the movement of the Earth's mantle, the 3000-kilometre-thick layer of hot silicate rocks between the crust and the core, and have found that it looks very different to predictions made by geologists over the past 30 years.
  
  Read more

• Invisible 'second skin' polymer material temporarily tightens skin

  09-05-2016 17:22
  
  Scientists at MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Living Proof, and Olivo Labs have developed a new material that can temporarily protect and tighten skin, and smooth wrinkles. With further development, it could also be used to deliver drugs to help treat skin conditions such as eczema and other types of dermatitis.
  
  Read more

Follow @NewslockSciTech on Twitter!