Sci-Tech news

• Artificial Intelligence Is Far From Matching Humans, Panel Says

  25-05-2016 21:59 via nytimes.com
  At an event sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, experts explored questions about systems that would make decisions without human input.
  
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• On-demand business model goes global

  25-05-2016 21:50
  
  As U.S. startups compete to make everything from diapers to dog food available at the tap of a finger, a group of entrepreneurs from the developing world is using those on-demand business models to make life easier for consumers in their home countries.
  
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• Charismatic speaking strategies of presidential candidates

  25-05-2016 21:00
  
  Researchers at UCLA's Voice Center for Medicine and the Arts have recently examined the speech patterns of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina in a variety of settings to determine whether the presidential candidates followed the same voice modulation strategies. They researchers found that despite the politicians' varied messages, their vocal delivery remains the same.
  
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• Zuckerberg to Bulldoze $30M in Homes to Keep His Privacy

  25-05-2016 20:03 via nbcnews.com
  
  The Facebook founder and billionaire has bought up four neighboring homes, at the cost of $30 million, just so that he can demolish them.
  
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• Women in southern Germany Corded Ware culture may have been highly mobile

  25-05-2016 20:00
  
  Women in Corded Ware Culture may have been highly mobile and may have married outside their social group, according to a study published May 25, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Karl-Göran Sjögren from Göteborg University, Sweden, and colleagues.
  
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• Review: VR's father worries about the technology's future

  25-05-2016 20:00
  
  One might think that Jaron Lanier would be elated right now.
  
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• Ancient DNA study finds Phoenician from Carthage had European ancestry

  25-05-2016 20:00
  
  A research team co-led by a scientist at New Zealand's University of Otago has sequenced the first complete mitochondrial genome of a 2500-year-old Phoenician dubbed the "Young Man of Byrsa" or "Ariche".
  
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• Boeing shows off new 777X wing center

  25-05-2016 19:50
  
  Boeing has begun installing heavy equipment and robotic machines inside its gigantic new 777X composite wing center in this Seattle-area city, and the first engineers have moved into offices that overlook production.
  
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• New cloud formation discovery may lessen warming forecast

  25-05-2016 19:39
  
  A new discovery about how clouds form may scale back some of the more dire predictions about temperature increases caused by man-made global warming.
  
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• Scientists capture the elusive structure of essential digestive enzyme

  25-05-2016 19:37
  
  Using a powerful combination of techniques from biophysics to mathematics, researchers have revealed new insights into the mechanism of a liver enzyme that is critical for human health. The enzyme, phenylalanine hydroxylase, turns the essential amino acid phenylalanine - found in eggs, beef and many other foods and as an additive in diet soda —into tyrosine, a precursor for multiple important neurotransmitters.
  
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• 40-year math mystery and four generations of figuring: Proof of Kelmans-Seymour Conjecture in Graph Theory

  25-05-2016 19:35
  
  This may sound like a familiar kind of riddle: How many brilliant mathematicians does it take to come up with and prove the Kelmans-Seymour Conjecture?
  
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• Close encounters of a tidal kind could lead to cracks on icy moons

  25-05-2016 19:33
  
  A new model developed by University of Rochester researchers could offer a new explanation as to how cracks on icy moons, such as Pluto's Charon, formed.
  
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• Saving Nemo: Bleaching threatens clownfish

  25-05-2016 19:32
  
  Clownfish became a household name over a decade ago when Disney released the movie "Finding Nemo."
  
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• Microsoft denies forcing Windows 10 upgrade

  25-05-2016 19:30
  
  Microsoft says Windows users still can opt-out of upgrading to the latest version of the software despite claims the company has made it exceedingly difficult to do so.
  
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• Ancient Beer Recipe Uncovered in China, Archaeologists Say

  25-05-2016 19:26 via nbcnews.com
  
  A beer recipe roughly 5,000 years old has been uncovered in China.
  
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• Scientists: Underground stone rings made by Neanderthals

  25-05-2016 19:22
  
  Two mysterious stone rings found deep inside a French cave were probably built by Neanderthals about 176,500 years ago, proving that the ancient cousins of humans were capable of more complex behavior than previously thought, scientists say.
  
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• Europe's beaches getting cleaner: study

  25-05-2016 19:20
  
  Europe's beaches are getting cleaner and the vast majority of them last year met the EU's minimum requirements for water quality, according to a report released on Wednesday.
  
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• Carnegie Mellon engineers develop fall-prevention sensors

  25-05-2016 19:20
  
  Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering conducted a survey on falls among the elderly, and discovered that Americans are very worried about their elderly parent falling—and that this worry leads to action.
  
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• Early use of 'hurricane hunter' data improves hurricane intensity predictions

  25-05-2016 19:17
  
  Data collected via airplane when a hurricane is developing can improve hurricane intensity predictions by up to 15 percent, according to Penn State researchers who have been working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Hurricane Center to put the new technique into practice.
  
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• McDonald's in 'historic' agreement to contain Arctic cod fishing

  25-05-2016 19:13
  
  Food giants McDonald's and Tesco have signed a "historic" agreement to not expand cod fishing into untouched parts of the Arctic, where the ice melt has sparked fears of a rush on unexploited areas, Greenpeace said Wednesday.
  
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• Six road-trip apps to make the miles fly by

  25-05-2016 19:12
  
  Hitting the road this summer? Forget Yelp and those hotel booking apps—they're useful, but boring. Instead, pack along these apps to liven things up along the way. You might even learn something.
  
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• Renewable energy employed 8.1 million in 2015: IRENA

  25-05-2016 19:12
  
  The global renewable energy sector employed more than 8.1 million people last year, a 5 percent increase that bucked an overall downwards market trend, a green energy organisation said Wednesday.
  
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• Google self-driving car project opening Michigan tech center

  25-05-2016 19:11
  
  Google's self-driving car project is heading to the Motor City.
  
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• Why fruit fly sperm are giant

  25-05-2016 19:00
  In the animal kingdom, sperm usually are considerably smaller than eggs, which means that males can produce far more of them. Large numbers of tiny sperm can increase the probability of successful fertilization, especially when females mate with several males. This is because the competition among sperm from different males to fertilize the few eggs increases as sperm become more abundant. This sperm competition spurs sexual selection after mating, favoring the best sperm in the female reproduct
  
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• Scientists discover how supermassive black holes keep galaxies turned off

  25-05-2016 19:00
  
  An international team of scientists has identified a common phenomenon in galaxies that could explain why huge numbers of them turn into cosmic graveyards.
  
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• Female meerkats compete to outgrow their sisters

  25-05-2016 19:00
  
  Meerkats live in groups of up to 50 individuals, yet a single dominant pair will almost completely monopolise reproduction, while subordinates help to raise offspring through feeding and babysitting. Since only a small minority of individuals ever get to be dominants, competition for the breeding role is intense in both sexes and females are unusually aggressive to each other.
  
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• Humans less likely to return to an automated advisor once given bad advice

  25-05-2016 18:59
  The ubiquitous Chat Bot popping up on websites asking if you need help has become standard on many sites. We dismiss, we engage, but do we trust the algorithm that is aiding our experience? Giving us answers and advice? A recent study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that participants were less likely to return to an automated advisor if given bad advice over a human advisor under the same circumstances.
  
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• Brit accents vex US hearing-impaired elderly

  25-05-2016 18:58
  
  Older Americans with some hearing loss shouldn't feel alone if they have trouble understanding British TV sagas like "Downton Abbey." A small study from the University of Utah suggests hearing-impaired senior citizens have more trouble than young people comprehending British accents when there is background noise.
  
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• Following tricky triclosan: Antibacterial product flows through streams, crops

  25-05-2016 18:55
  
  Most U.S. homes are full of familiar household products with an ingredient that fights bacteria: triclosan. Triclosan seems to be everywhere. When we wash our hands, brush our teeth, or do our laundry, we are likely putting triclosan into our water sources.
  
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• Exploring gender perception via speech

  25-05-2016 18:52
  
  When listening to voices, we tend to perceive the speaker as masculine or feminine rather quickly. These snap judgments are based on acoustic information from the speaker's voice. But some vocal qualities deemed "feminine" can overlap with acoustic cues for "clear speech," which is a set of changes speakers make when they suspect their listener is having a difficult time hearing.
  
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• Is aging inevitable? Not necessarily for sea urchins

  25-05-2016 18:51
  Sea urchins are remarkable organisms. They can quickly regrow damaged spines and feet. Some species also live to extraordinary old ages and—even more remarkably—do so with no signs of poor health, such as a decline in regenerative capacity or an increase in age-related mortality. These ocean Methuselahs even reproduce as if they were still youngsters.
  
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• Mission to Mars in a 'three-dimensional time machine'

  25-05-2016 18:50
  
  Is virtual reality here to stay? Based on my own experiences with Mars 2030, an advanced version of VR that took me to the surface of the Red Planet, the answer is "Yes!"
  
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• A young mammoth cluster of galaxies sighted in the early universe

  25-05-2016 18:18
  
  Astronomers have uncovered evidence for a vast collection of young galaxies 12 billion light years away. The newly discovered "proto-cluster" of galaxies, observed when the universe was only 1.7 billion years old (12% of its present age), is one of the most massive structures known at that distance. The discovery, made using telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, has been reported in the Astrophysical Journal.
  
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• Unique CSI lab aims to solve crimes against wildlife

  25-05-2016 18:16
  The discovery in a single day of 13 dead bald eagles in Maryland this February caught the nation's attention. The unusual positions of their bodies suggested to investigators that they didn't die of natural causes. So what led to the eagles' deaths? An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, profiles the forensic science lab that could help solve the mystery.
  
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• Spring comes sooner to urban heat islands, with potential consequences for wildlife

  25-05-2016 18:15
  
  With spring now fully sprung, a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers shows that buds burst earlier in dense urban areas than in their suburban and rural surroundings. This may be music to urban gardeners' ears, but that tune could be alarming to some native and migratory birds and bugs.
  
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• New Research Shows Neanderthals Were Born with Wide Bodies and Robust Bones

  25-05-2016 17:58 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Scientists investigated whether the differences in physique between Neanderthals and modern humans are genetic or caused by differences in lifestyle, finding that Neanderthals’ wide bodies and robust bones were formed by birth. If a Neanderthal were to sit down next to us on the underground, we would probably first notice his receding forehead, prominent brow […]
  The post New Research Shows Neanderthals Were Born with Wide Bodies and Robust Bones appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Astronomers Discover Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly

  25-05-2016 17:45 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using the combined data from Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer, atronomers have found evidence that some early supermassive black holes formed directly from the collapse of a gas cloud. Astronomers have found the best evidence yet for cosmic seeds in the early universe that should grow into supermassive black holes. Researchers combined data from NASA’s Chandra […]
  The post Astronomers Discover Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Could optical clocks redefine the length of a second?

  25-05-2016 16:00
  
  GPS-based navigation, communication systems, electrical power grids and financial networks all rely on the precise time kept by a network of around 500 atomic clocks located around the world.
  
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• Shoe Giant Shifts Production — But Robots Get the Jobs

  25-05-2016 15:50 via nbcnews.com
  
  Adidas is relocating some shoe production from Asia to the company's homeland — but Germans shouldn't expect a jobs boom.
  
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• New veterinary research helps distinguish accidents from abuse

  25-05-2016 15:45
  
  A veterinarian sees a canine patient with severe rib and head injuries whose cause of injury is unknown. Without having witnessed the incident, how can the veterinary professional distinguish an accident from abuse?
  
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• New water-quality data on impact of corn, soybeans on nitrate in Iowa streams

  25-05-2016 15:40
  
  As Iowa farmers have planted more acres of corn to meet the demand driven by the corn-based ethanol industry, many models predicted that nitrate concentrations in Iowa streams would increase accordingly. However, recent IIHR research based on water monitoring and published in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation casts doubt on these predictions.
  
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• US agency probes Alibaba on accounting

  25-05-2016 15:38
  
  The US stock market regulator has opened an investigation into the accounting practices of Chinese online giant Alibaba, a company document showed.
  
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• Fed's Tech Money Spent on Floppy Disks and COBOL: Report

  25-05-2016 15:26 via nbcnews.com
  
  The government is spending about three-fourths of its technology budget maintaining aging computer systems.
  
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• Evacuation in the Arctic put to the test

  25-05-2016 15:10
  
  How long could you survive if you became shipwrecked during a cruise in the Arctic ice? In order to find some of the answers to this the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Svalbard served as the home and workplace to a week long research mission, headed by the University of Stavanger, to the remote archipelago of Spitsbergen - or Svalbard - which is its Norwegian name.
  
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• Deciphering the mysterious decline of honey bees

  25-05-2016 15:10
  
  Honey bees are arguably our most important commercially available pollinator. They are responsible for pollinating numerous food plants that make our diets more exciting and nutritious, including many fruits, vegetables and nuts.
  
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• Here's who buys the most weapons from the U.S.

  25-05-2016 15:02 via rss.cnn.com
  
  With the end of the U.S. arms embargo, Vietnam will join a long list of international recipients of American armaments.
  
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• Doctor uses iPad to conduct remote surgery

  25-05-2016 15:02 via rss.cnn.com
  
  In countries ravaged by conflict, providing international medical expertise on the ground can be almost impossible.
  
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• The next generation of carbon monoxide nanosensors

  25-05-2016 15:00
  
  The detection of carbon monoxide (CO) in the air is a vital issue, as CO is a poisonous gas and an environmental pollutant. CO typically derives from the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels, such as cooking gas and gasoline; it has no odour, taste, or colour and hence it is difficult to detect. Scientists have been investigating sensors that can determine CO concentration, and a team from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), in tandem with the Unive
  
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• Google Tilt Brush: Impossible now a reality?

  25-05-2016 15:00 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Artists, put down your brushes. It's time to step into the world of virtual reality.
  
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• Astronomers discover an unusual, slowly evolving superluminous supernova

  25-05-2016 15:00
  
  (Phys.org)—A team of astronomers has found a hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova with exceptional properties. According to a research paper published online on May 17, on the arXiv pre-print server, the cosmic explosion, designated PS1-14bj, shows an exceptionally slow rise to maximum light and a very leisurely fade-out. It the longest rise time measured in a superluminous supernova to date.
  
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