Sci-Tech news

• How farmers use 'digital agriculture' to grow more

  03-08-2016 23:45 via rss.cnn.com
  
  The world's population is growing at a shocking rate, with an expected 1.2 billion more mouths to feed by 2030, according to the United Nations.
  
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• R.I.P., Kim Kardashian's Blackberry Bold

  03-08-2016 23:25 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Kim Kardashian has a taste for vintage BlackBerry Bold phones, circa 2011.
  
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• China's 'elevated bus' that glides over traffic is tested

  03-08-2016 22:59 via rss.cnn.com
  
  What's one way to get a commuter bus through gridlocked traffic? Build one that can glide over cars, of course.
  
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• Olympic video and VR: Guide to watching without a TV

  03-08-2016 22:30
  
  No TV? No problem! NBC is making 4,500 hours of Olympics coverage available at NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, starting with preliminary soccer events on Wednesday, two days before Friday's formal start of the Olympics. The online coverage includes every single event live, as NBC continues a practice begun with the London Olympics in 2012 under new owner Comcast Corp.
  
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• Paintings and photos of tragic Scott pole mission reunited

  03-08-2016 22:25
  
  Paintings and photographs capturing legendary British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott's tragic race to the South Pole have been reunited for the first time in more than a century at a London gallery.
  
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• Desert elephants pass on knowledge—not mutations—to survive

  03-08-2016 22:20
  
  Despite reported differences in appearance and behavior, DNA evidence finds that Namibian desert elephants share the same DNA as African savanna elephants. However, Namibian desert-dwelling elephants should be protected so they can continue to pass on their unique knowledge and survival skills to future generations.
  
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• NASA sees tropical storm Howard weakening

  03-08-2016 22:19
  
  Infrared data from NASA's Terra satellite has revealed that Tropical Storm Howard is weakening quickly as it continues to move over cooler waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
  
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• Trading farmland for nitrogen protection

  03-08-2016 22:18
  
  Excess nitrogen from agricultural runoff can enter surface waters with devastating effects. Algal blooms and fish kills are a just a couple of possible consequences. But riparian buffer zones - areas of grasses, perennials, or trees - between farmlands and streams or rivers can help.
  
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• Consumption of natural estrogens in cow's milk does not affect blood levels or reproductive health

  03-08-2016 22:17
  
  Estrogen occurs naturally in cow's milk. Recently, there has been concern that consuming milk containing elevated amounts of estrogen could affect blood levels of the hormone in humans, leading to an increased risk of some cancers. A new study published in the Journal of Dairy Science investigated cow milk's effects on blood hormone levels in adult mice and found that naturally occurring levels, and even levels as high as 100 times the average, had no effect on the mice. The study further determ
  
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• Deadly bat fungus in Washington state likely originated in Eastern US

  03-08-2016 22:13
  
  The bat-killing fungus recently detected for the first time in western North America is genetically similar to strains found in the eastern United States and did not likely originate in Eurasia, according to a study published today in the journal mSphere.
  
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• New text-mining tool lets researchers visualize gene, protein, drug and disease connections

  03-08-2016 22:05
  
  Every day, more than 3,000 new abstracts are uploaded to PubMed, the main biomedical literature reference database. Even in a researcher's narrowly-defined field, it is impossible to stay on top of the ever-evolving webs of interconnections between these papers. For example, a new gene is described - might it be relevant to a researcher's specialty? It could take many painstaking hours of searching to discover the answer. Now a new tool developed in the A.C. Tan lab at the University of Colorado
  
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• 200 Million Yahoo Accounts Potentially Breached

  03-08-2016 21:40 via nbcnews.com
  
  As many as 200 million supposed account credentials are being offered for sale. Is it time to change your password?
  
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• Astronomers make first accurate measurement of oxygen in distant galaxy

  03-08-2016 21:29
  
  UCLA astronomers have made the first accurate measurement of the abundance of oxygen in a distant galaxy. Oxygen, the third-most abundant chemical element in the universe, is created inside stars and released into interstellar gas when stars die. Quantifying the amount of oxygen is key to understanding how matter cycles in and out of galaxies.
  
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• Team optimizes formula for cadmium-tellurium solar cells

  03-08-2016 21:28
  
  Solar cells based on cadmium and tellurium could move closer to theoretical levels of efficiency because of some sleuthing by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
  
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• Live-streaming crime—how will Facebook Live and Periscope challenge US privacy law?

  03-08-2016 21:28
  
  In July, the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling—a black man in Louisiana—and Philando Castile—a black man in Minnesota—went viral on social media. The aftermath of the Castile shooting was first shared via Facebook Live, which is a type of mobile streaming video technology (MSVT) that allows users to stream live video to followers, similar to Periscope and Meerkat.
  
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• Waste not: Edible wax coating slicks liquids with ease

  03-08-2016 21:27
  
  When we reach the end of a ketchup bottle, there's always a little left, stuck to the sides. A Colorado State University lab offers a fix: a nontoxic, nonstick coating that lets loose every last drop.
  
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• Researchers show how human movement through popular places shapes outbreaks

  03-08-2016 21:25
  
  The alert is out and South Floridians are taking heed. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing a warning for visitors and locals to avoid a neighborhood in Miami after more than a dozen individuals contracted Zika, a team of University of Miami researchers have presented a new study that shows how the flow of visitors through a popular place, such as the affected Wynwood area of Miami, determines the eventual severity and duration of such an outbreak.
  
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• 'Second skin' protects soldiers from biological and chemical agents

  03-08-2016 21:24
  
  In work that aims to protect soldiers from biological and chemical threats, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has created a material that is highly breathable yet protective from biological agents.
  
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• Satellite spots new Tropical Storm Ivette far from Baja California

  03-08-2016 21:23
  
  Tropical Depression 10E formed on Aug. 2 around 5 p.m. EDT and strengthened into Tropical Storm Ivette 12 hours later at 5 a.m. EDT on Aug. 3. NOAA's GOES-West satellite spotted Ivette almost 900 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico on Aug. 3.
  
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• Using Google to recruit future Olympians

  03-08-2016 21:22 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Michael Johnson knows how it feels to count down the days to the start of the Olympics.
  
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• US company gets historic nod to send lander to moon

  03-08-2016 21:18
  
  US startup company Moon Express said Wednesday it had received approval from the government to send an unmanned lander to the moon next year, in a first for private industry.
  
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• Fly Me to the Moon: Feds OK Private Firm's Lunar Flight Plan

  03-08-2016 21:13
  The federal government for the first time has given permission to a private Florida company to fly a spaceship beyond Earth's orbit and land on the moon
  
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• Three new species identified amongst the Tegu lizard family

  03-08-2016 20:00
  
  The golden tegu lizard, previously thought to be a single species, may actually comprise four distinct clades, including three new cryptic species, according to a study published August 3, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by John Murphy from the Field Museum of Natural History, USA and colleagues.
  
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• Lasers melt rocks to reveal development of super-Earths and how giant impacts make magma

  03-08-2016 20:00
  
  New experiments provide insight into how Earth-type planets form when giant asteroids or planetesimals collide and how the interiors of such planets develop. Researchers at Hiroshima University, Osaka University, Ehime University, University of Tokyo, and the Chiba Institute of Technology collaborated to publish their research in the August 3, 2016 issue of Science Advances.
  
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• Insect tibias are best suited for jumping and other emergency behaviors

  03-08-2016 20:00
  
  Insect tibias are best suited to withstand the high stress of emergency behaviors rather than the fatigue stress of normal behaviors, according a study published August 3, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eoin Parle from Trinity College, Ireland, and colleagues.
  
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• Asian giant honeybees may move in synchrony to ventilate nests

  03-08-2016 20:00
  
  Asian giant honeybees may use synchronized movements to ventilate and cool their nests, according to a study published August 3, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gerald Kastberger from the University of Graz, Austria, and colleagues.
  
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• In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

  03-08-2016 19:33
  Facebook is opening a new hardware lab as part of its broader ambitions to connect people through smart gadgets, virtual-reality headsets and high-flying drones that deliver internet signals
  
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• Toronto Officials Want Pokemon Go Sites Moved

  03-08-2016 19:13
  Toronto city officials are asking the developers of the popular mobile game Pokemon Go to remove locations from the city's downtown ferry terminal that's been overwhelmed by thousands of players
  
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• Strength of contraction determines whether cells become embryo or placenta

  03-08-2016 19:00
  
  For a cell in an embryo, the secret to becoming part of the baby's body instead of the placenta is to contract more and carry on dancing, scientists at EMBL have found. The study, published today in Nature, could one day have implications for assisted reproduction.
  
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• Recycling carbon dioxide: Researchers reduce climate-warming CO2 to building blocks for fuels

  03-08-2016 19:00
  
  Turning carbon dioxide into stored energy sounds like science fiction: researchers have long tried to find simple ways to convert this greenhouse gas into fuels and other useful chemicals. Now, a group of researchers led by Professor Ted Sargent of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have found a more efficient way, through the wonders of nanoengineering.
  
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• Programmable ions set the stage for general-purpose quantum computers

  03-08-2016 19:00
  
  Quantum computers promise speedy solutions to some difficult problems, but building large-scale, general-purpose quantum devices is a problem fraught with technical challenges.
  
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• Global warming, a dead zone and surprising bacteria

  03-08-2016 19:00
  
  In ocean expanses where oxygen has vanished, newly discovered bacteria are diminishing additional life molecules. They help make virtual dead zones even deader.
  
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• Inside Facebook's crazy new hardware lab

  03-08-2016 18:36 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Tucked away on the first floor of Facebook's sprawling Menlo Park campus is a highly secure, pristine room filled with expensive and potentially dangerous equipment.
  
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• China's Futuristic 'Straddle Bus' Goes For a Test Drive

  03-08-2016 17:32 via nbcnews.com
  
  China's "straddle bus," which went for its first test drive this week, has the potential to revolutionize transportation.
  
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• Facebook opens hardware lab, in a sign of broader ambitions

  03-08-2016 17:20
  
  Facebook built its fortune on the internet, that non-physical space where people share updates and digital videos with friends. But deep inside its Silicon Valley headquarters, Facebook engineers have stocked a new lab with computerized lathes, industrial mills and tools for making physical goods.
  
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• Strategic trade-offs in automobile design affect market-share value

  03-08-2016 17:16
  
  A new study of the interplay between function, form and ergonomics reveals an important strategic design trade-off for automotive manufacturers: Investments in both function and ergonomics result in higher market share, whereas investments in both function and form impose a share penalty.
  
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• Researchers work to understand causes of search and rescue in the Arctic

  03-08-2016 17:15
  
  Search and rescue operations in Nunavut have more than doubled over the past decade. In the communities of the vast northern Canadian territory, it's commonly felt that climate change is one factor making hunting riskier in the spring and fall.
  
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• Birds engage in all types of sleep in flight, but in remarkably small amounts

  03-08-2016 17:14
  
  For the first time, researchers have discovered that birds can sleep in flight. Together with an international team of colleagues, Niels Rattenborg from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen measured the brain activity of frigatebirds and found that they sleep in flight with either one cerebral hemisphere at a time or both hemispheres simultaneously. Despite being able to engage in all types of sleep in flight, the birds slept less than an hour a day, a mere fraction of the time
  
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• Foraging strategies of smallest seals revealed in first ever satellite tracking study

  03-08-2016 17:13
  
  The first ever satellite tracking study of one the world's endangered seal species has revealed new information about their migration habits and hunting patterns.
  
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• How an enzyme in fireflies, click beetles and glow worms yields different colors

  03-08-2016 17:12
  
  The glow of fireflies at dusk is a welcome sign of summer. The same enzyme that helps give these familiar bugs their characteristic flash of yellow, yields red light in acidic conditions. Similar enzymes are responsible for red and green lights in other beetles. Despite years of study, however, scientists still don't know the molecular details of how the enzyme works. Now, in the ACS journal Biochemistry, one team reports new insights into this mystery.
  
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• Astronomers Reveal Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io

  03-08-2016 17:12 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A newly published study from NASA reveals that Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io has a thin atmosphere that collapses in the shadow of Jupiter, condensing as ice. The study shows the freezing effects of Jupiter’s shadow during daily eclipses on the moon’s volcanic gases. “This research is the first time scientists have observed this remarkable phenomenon […]
  The post Astronomers Reveal Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io appeared first on SciTech Da
  
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• Mantis shrimp use UV color spots, chemical cues to size up opponents

  03-08-2016 17:10
  
  Mantis shrimp, often brightly colored and fiercely aggressive sea creatures with outsized strength, use the ultraviolet reflectance of their color spots as well as chemical signals to assess the likelihood of victory in combat, according to research led by a Tufts University doctoral candidate. The findings, published today in Royal Society Open Science, mark the first time that researchers have demonstrated that mantis shrimp (Neogonodactylus oerstedii) use both color and chemical cues when fig
  
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• Watching the Olympics at Work? How to Do it Safely

  03-08-2016 16:56 via nbcnews.com
  
  Millions of Americans will watch the Summer Olympics at work — and that will create a major opportunity for cyber criminals to attack corporate comput
  
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• Is Life on Earth Premature from a Cosmic Perspective?

  03-08-2016 16:56 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics examines the possibility that present-day life is actually premature from a cosmic perspective. The universe is 13.8 billion years old, while our planet formed just 4.5 billion years ago. Some scientists think this time gap means that life on other planets could be billions of years older […]
  The post Is Life on Earth Premature from a Cosmic Perspective? appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Better contrast agents based on nanoparticles

  03-08-2016 16:33
  
  Scientists at the University of Basel have developed nanoparticles which can serve as efficient contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. This new type of nanoparticles produce around ten times more contrast than the actual contrast agents and are responsive to specific environments. The journal Chemical Communications has published these results.
  
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• Challenging the 'rigidity' for smart soft electronics

  03-08-2016 16:32
  
  Soft electronic devices, such as a smartphone on your wrist and a folding screen in your pocket, are looking to much improve your lifestyle in the not-too-distant future. That is, if we could find ways to make electronic devices out of soft organic materials instead of the existing rigid inorganic materials.
  
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• Physicists enable one-dimensional atom chains to grow

  03-08-2016 15:52
  
  Physicists at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Vienna University of Technology have successfully created one-dimensional magnetic atom chains for the first time. Their break-through provides a model system for basic research in areas such as magnetic data storage, as well as in chemistry. Their results were recently published in the renowned journal Physical Review Letters.
  
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• Gentle cancer treatment using nanoparticles works

  03-08-2016 15:51
  
  Cancer treatments based on laser irridation of tiny nanoparticles that are injected directly into the cancer tumor are working and can destroy the cancer from within. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have developed a method that kills cancer cells using nanoparticles and lasers. The treatment has been tested on mice and it has been demonstrated that the cancer tumors are considerably damaged. The results are published in
  
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• From happiness on Twitter to DNA organization

  03-08-2016 15:49
  
  Twitter users who are happy tend to be more connected with other happy users. This is the confirmation of a property of social networks known as assortativity: a measure of to what extent people who tend to connect with each other share certain characteristics. A study conceived by Vera Pancaldi and Daniel Rico from the Structural Biology and Biocomputing Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by Alfonso Valencia, has redefined this measure in order to better unders
  
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• First private company gets OK for moon shot

  03-08-2016 15:43 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Moon Express is the first private outfit to get the OK from the U.S. government to go where few have gone before: the moon.
  
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