Sci-Tech news

• New research maps in unique detail the devastation of the Black Death on medieval England

  23-05-2016 22:25
  
  An innovative new archaeological study has revealed in detail for the first time how individual towns, villages and hamlets across swathes of medieval England were decimated by the Black Death.
  
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• E3 video game trade event adds sideshow for players

  23-05-2016 22:13
  
  Organizers of trade-only Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game extravaganza on Monday announced the addition of a side event open to players.
  
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• These Viral Chewbacca Masks Are Selling for $500 on eBay

  23-05-2016 22:10 via nbcnews.com
  
  If you want to be a 'happy Chewbacca,' it's going to cost you.
  
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• Ancient Chinese pottery reveals 5,000-yr-old beer brew (Update)

  23-05-2016 22:02
  
  Residue on pottery from an archeological site has revealed the earliest evidence of beer brewing in China left from a 5,000-year-old recipe, researchers said Monday.
  
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• Ancient Chinese pottery reveals 5,000-yr-old beer brew

  23-05-2016 22:02
  
  Residue on pottery unearthed at an archeological site in northern China has revealed traces of a 5,000-year-old beer recipe that contained elements of East and West, researchers said Monday.
  
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• A rallying call for microbiome science national data management

  23-05-2016 21:57
  
  Massive amounts of data require infrastructure to manage and store the information in a manner than can be easily accessed for use. While technologies have scaled to allow researchers to sequence and annotate communities of microorganisms within an environment,(its "microbiome"), on an ever-increasing scale, the data management aspect has not been developed in parallel.
  
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• W. Kamau Bell: True stories of life off the grid

  23-05-2016 21:56 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Well, it's that time again. Every four years, like clockwork, the big talk pronouncements begin: the promises soon to be left unfulfilled, the bellicose hype that months from now will be long gone and gladly forgotten. All the chest-thumping and jingoism that we are seeing right now will just melt away and we will go back to business as usual.
  
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• Scientists find sustainable solutions for oysters in the future by looking into the past

  23-05-2016 21:55
  
  Oysters are keystone organisms in estuaries around the world, influencing water quality, constructing habitat and providing food for humans and wildlife. Yet their populations in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere have dramatically declined after more than a century of overfishing, pollution, disease and habitat degradation. Smithsonian scientists and colleagues, however, have conducted the first bay-wide, millennial-scale study of oyster harvesting in the Chesapeake, revealing a sustainable model
  
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• India's first homegrown 'space shuttle' test successful

  23-05-2016 21:53 via rss.cnn.com
  
  It's one small step for India, but a potentially giant leap for cheaper space travel.
  
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• Study decodes genetic circuitry for bacterial spore formation

  23-05-2016 21:27
  
  A team led by Rice University bioengineering researchers has decoded the mechanism that some bacteria use to make life-or-death decisions during extremely tough times.
  
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• Ivy's powerful grasp could lead to better medical adhesives, stronger battle armor

  23-05-2016 21:26
  
  English ivy's natural glue might hold the key to new approaches to wound healing, stronger armor for the military and maybe even cosmetics with better staying power.
  
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• Ride-hailing service Lyft testing reservation feature

  23-05-2016 21:22
  
  Ride-hailing service Lyft says it's testing a feature that would let users schedule a trip up to 24 hours in advance.
  
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• Lyft plans to test a feature allowing users to schedule rides a day in advance (Update)

  23-05-2016 21:22
  
  Lyft is rolling out a new feature that's common among taxi and car services yet rare among app-based ride companies.
  
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• Spotify losses deepen despite rapid expansion

  23-05-2016 21:17
  
  Streaming leader Spotify said Monday that its losses deepened last year even as the company topped $2 billion in revenue amid the global boom in online music.
  
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• New Mexico is first to sue EPA, mine owners over toxic spill

  23-05-2016 21:16
  
  New Mexico on Monday became the first state to sue the federal government and the owners of two mines over the release of 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater from a closed Colorado gold mine, seeking tens of millions of dollars for environmental and economic damage caused by the spill.
  
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• New Mexico is first to sue EPA, mine owners over 2015 spill

  23-05-2016 21:16
  
  New Mexico became the first state to sue the federal government and the owners of two mines over the release of 3 million gallons of wastewater from a southern Colorado mine, seeking tens of millions of dollars Monday for environmental and economic damage caused by the spill.
  
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• Chloride 'switch' turns on membrane formation

  23-05-2016 21:15
  
  Chloride plays a key role in the formation of the basement membrane, a suprastructure on the outside of cells that undergirds and guides the function of most of the tissues of the body.
  
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• S.African appeal court backs domestic rhino horn trade

  23-05-2016 21:10
  
  South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed a government bid to retain a ban on domestic trade in rhino horns, breeders and officials said Monday, in a dispute over how to end poaching.
  
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• Using cellphone data to study the spread of cholera

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  While cholera has hardly changed over the past centuries, the tools used to study it have not ceased to evolve. Using mobile phone records of 150,000 users, an EPFL-led study has shown to what extent human mobility patterns contributed to the spread of a cholera epidemic in Senegal in 2005. The researchers' findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlight the critical role a mass gathering of millions of pilgrims played in spreading of the disease, and how me
  
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• Researchers untangle disease-related protein misfolding

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  Though research on protein folding has progressed over the past few decades toward better understanding of human metabolism and the diseases associated with misfolding, important discoveries are still being made by teams who can bring special techniques and tools to bear on these complex cellular processes.
  
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• Rare evolutionary event detected in the lab

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  It took nearly a half trillion tries before researchers at The University of Texas at Austin witnessed a rare event and perhaps solved an evolutionary puzzle about how introns, non-coding sequences of DNA located within genes, multiply in a genome. The results, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, address fundamental questions about the evolution of new species and could expand our understanding of gene expression and the causes of diseases such as cancer.
  
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• Programmable materials find strength in molecular repetition

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  Synthetic proteins based on those found in a variety of squid species' ring teeth may lead the way to self-healing polymers carefully constructed for specific toughness and stretchability that might have applications in textiles, cosmetics and medicine, according to Penn State researchers.
  
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• Networking lets sharks off the hook

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  Tuna fishers who network with their competition may be able to stop thousands of sharks a year from being accidentally captured and killed in the Pacific Ocean.
  
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• Making virus sensors cheap and simple: New method detects single viruses in urine

  23-05-2016 21:00
  
  Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new method to rapidly detect a single virus in urine, as reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
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• 'Uncharted 4' video game for PS4 snapped up worldwide

  23-05-2016 20:58
  
  Sony announced Monday that sales of a much-awaited final installment to the hit video game series "Uncharted" topped 2.7 million copies worldwide in its opening week.
  
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• Peru declares mercury poison emergency due to gold mining

  23-05-2016 20:58
  
  Peru declared an environmental emergency on Monday in 11 Amazon jungle districts where mercury pollution blamed on unregulated gold mining is poisoning people and fish.
  
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• Violent young Sun may have seeded life on Earth: study

  23-05-2016 20:41
  
  Life on Earth may have sprung from bombardment by a youthful Sun lashing out with flares as potent as a thousand trillion exploding atomic bombs, a study suggested on Monday.
  
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• Acoustic engineering transcribes crackling knee sounds into moving graph

  23-05-2016 20:39
  
  You've injured your knee. A doctor straps a listening device to it, and the noises you hear coming out of it are cringe-worthy. "Crackle! Krglkrglkrgl! Snap!"
  
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• Trial and error in viral evolution: The difference between fading out, pandemic

  23-05-2016 20:14
  
  Viruses evolve quickly. A small tweak to the genetic makeup of a mostly mild strain of influenza can give rise to the next pandemic. An equally small change to the same strain in a different setting can fade it into obscurity. The right trait at the right time is everything.
  
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• Antihypertensive effect of fermented milk products under the microscope

  23-05-2016 20:13
  
  Over the past decade, interest has been rising in fermented dairy foods that promote health and could potentially prevent diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure). Functional dairy products that lower blood pressure and heart rate may offer consumers an effective alternative to antihypertensive drugs if their effectiveness can be demonstrated. Investigators reporting in the Journal of Dairy Science review the scientific basis of reported claims and identify opportunities for developin
  
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• Can legumes solve environmental issues?

  23-05-2016 20:12
  
  It's a win-win situation for the environment and the economy when it comes to introducing legumes into agricultural systems, says new research published in Frontiers in Plant Science, carried out by an international team of scientists as part of the European Union project, Legume Futures.
  
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• New technique controls autonomous vehicles on a dirt track

  23-05-2016 19:36
  
  A Georgia Institute of Technology research team has devised a novel way to help keep a driverless vehicle under control as it maneuvers at the edge of its handling limits. The approach could help make self-driving cars of the future safer under hazardous road conditions.
  
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• Scientists discover fresh lunar craters

  23-05-2016 19:35
  
  A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists discovered two geologically young craters—one 16 million, the other between 75 and 420 million, years old—in the Moon's darkest regions.
  
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• Why fruit cracking differs among sweet cherry varieties

  23-05-2016 19:34
  
  Sweet cherries are susceptible to a condition called "cracking", in which the skin of the fruit is strained, causing fractures or "cracks". The condition, which limits marketability of the fruit, may be a result of factors such as excessive water uptake or weak fruit skins. In a new study published in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science (March 2016) researchers examined the mechanical properties of different cherry cultivars to determine how these properties impact skin
  
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• Team creates new method to control quantum systems

  23-05-2016 19:34
  
  Dartmouth College researchers have discovered a method to design faster pulses, offering a new way to accurately control quantum systems.
  
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• Attosecond physics: A switch for light-wave electronics

  23-05-2016 19:33
  
  Light waves could in principle be used to drive future transistors. Since the electromagnetic waves of light oscillate approximately one million times in a billionth of a second, i.e. at petahertz (PHz) frequencies, optoelectronic computers could attain switching rates 100,000 times higher than current digital electronic systems. However, to achieve this goal, we will need a better understanding of the sub-atomic electron motion induced by the ultrafast electric field of light. Now a team led by
  
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• A history of snowfall on Greenland, hidden in ancient leaf waxes

  23-05-2016 19:32
  
  The history of Greenland's snowfall is chronicled in an unlikely place: the remains of aquatic plants that died long ago, collecting at the bottom of lakes in horizontal layers that document the passing years.
  
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• Guccifer, accused of hacking Bush accounts, to plead guilty

  23-05-2016 18:26
  The Romanian hacker known as Guccifer, who is charged with breaking into computer accounts of the Bush family, Secretary of State Colin Powell and others, is scheduled to plead guilty to federal charges.
  
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• Europe grows Galileo sat-nav system

  23-05-2016 18:18
  
  Europe's Galileo sat-nav system, a rival to America's GPS, should move closer to operation with the launch Tuesday of a fresh pair of satellites to join a dozen already in space.
  
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• Burning all fossil fuels would scorch Earth: study

  23-05-2016 18:16
  
  Using up all known fossil fuel reserves would render Earth even more unliveable than scientists had previously projected, researchers said on Monday.
  
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• New Nanoparticle Catalysts Improve Reactivity with Much Less Platinum

  23-05-2016 18:08 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using an atomically-thin coating of noble metal over a tiny particle made of a much more abundant and inexpensive material, MIT engineers have developed new nanoparticle catalysts that could reduce need for precious metals. Materials that speed up a chemical reaction without getting consumed in the process, known as catalysts, lie at the heart of […]
  The post New Nanoparticle Catalysts Improve Reactivity with Much Less Platinum appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Watch: India Launches Reusable Space Shuttle Prototype

  23-05-2016 18:03
  
  India's quest to build a reusable space shuttle just cleared its first major hurdle with the successful launch today of a miniature prototype.
  
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• New research confirms continued, unabated and large-scale amphibian declines

  23-05-2016 18:03
  
  New U.S. Geological Survey-led research suggests that even though amphibians are severely declining worldwide, there is no smoking gun - and thus no simple solution - to halting or reversing these declines.
  
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• Rice de-icer gains anti-icing properties

  23-05-2016 18:00
  
  Rice University scientists have advanced their graphene-based de-icer to serve a dual purpose. The new material still melts ice from wings and wires when conditions get too cold. But if the air is above 7 degrees Fahrenheit, ice won't form at all.
  
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• In changing oceans, cephalopods are booming

  23-05-2016 18:00
  
  Humans have changed the world's oceans in ways that have been devastating to many marine species. But, according to new evidence, it appears that the change has so far been good for cephalopods, the group including octopuses, cuttlefish, and squid. The study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 23 shows that cephalopods' numbers have increased significantly over the last six decades.
  
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• Call to minimize drone impact on wildlife

  23-05-2016 18:00
  
  Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more popularly known as drones, are increasingly employed to monitor and protect wildlife. But researchers writing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 23 say that steps should be taken to ensure that UAV operations are not causing undue stress to animals.
  
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• Yale Researchers Reveal How Antibodies Access Neurons to Fight Infection

  23-05-2016 17:52 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research from Yale University reveals how antibodies enter the nervous system to control viral infections. The findings may have implications for the prevention and treatment of a range of conditions, including herpes and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has been linked to the Zika virus. Many viruses — such as West Nile, Zika, and the herpes […]
  The post Yale Researchers Reveal How Antibodies Access Neurons to Fight Infection appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Hubble Telescope Close-up of the Red Planet

  23-05-2016 17:32 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers captured this striking image of Mars, when the planet was 50 million miles from Earth. The photo reveals details as small as 20 miles to 30 miles across. On May 30th, Mars will be the closest it has been to Earth in 11 years, at a distance of 46.8 […]
  The post Hubble Telescope Close-up of the Red Planet appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Lab simplifies total synthesis of anti-cancer agent

  23-05-2016 17:30
  
  The lab of Rice University synthetic organic chemist K.C. Nicolaou has reported the streamlined total synthesis of delta12-prostaglandin J3, a molecule previously claimed to kill leukemic cancer cells.
  
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• Ambitious experiments cast light on far reaches of periodic table

  23-05-2016 17:29
  
  A study of newly made chemical compounds is giving scientists a fresh understanding of an elusive element.
  
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