Sci-Tech news

• Nano-scale Canadian flag sets world record in lead-up to nation's 150th birthday

  19-09-2016 22:54
  
  The Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo set a world record for creating a Canadian flag measuring about one one-hundredth the width of a human hair.
  
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• Seeing silicon crystal transform to amorphous

  19-09-2016 22:51
  
  A team of researchers led by the University of Pittsburgh's Scott X. Mao has observed at atomic scale a previously unknown mechanism of shear-driven crystal to amorphously transform in silicon. The paper "In situ observation of shear-driven amorphization in silicon crystals," published in Nature Nanotechnology, represents a milestone in the in situ study of amorphization of silicon.
  
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• Heatwaves in the ocean—a risk to ecosystems?

  19-09-2016 22:44
  
  Marine ecosystems are responsible for about half of global annual primary production and more than one billion people rely on fish as their primary protein source. Latest studies show that enormous warm water bubbles in the ocean are having a noticeable impact on ecosystems. How should we interpret these changes?
  
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• France hopeful climate accord takes effect in November

  19-09-2016 22:44
  
  France's environment minister on Monday voiced optimism that the Paris global accord on fighting climate change will come into force by November.
  
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• Digital photography: The future of small-scale manufacturing?

  19-09-2016 22:38
  
  What if it were possible to quickly and inexpensively manufacture a part simply by using a series of close-range digital images taken of the object?
  
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• A litmus test of fairness

  19-09-2016 22:36
  
  For example, lay people think that the sickest patients and those on waiting lists should be treated first, while ethicists – and to some degree medical professionals – tend to have a different set of priorities. This is the conclusion of a study by ETH researchers investigating the principles that apply to the fair allocation of scarce medical resources.
  
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• Researchers discover more efficient way to split water, produce hydrogen

  19-09-2016 22:30
  
  Hydrogen is often considered a fuel for the future, in the form of fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines. But finding a practical, inexpensive and nontoxic way to produce large amounts of hydrogen gas – especially by splitting water into its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen – has been a challenge.
  
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• Scientists reach back through centuries of cultivation to track how corn adapted to different elevations, environments

  19-09-2016 22:18
  
  An Iowa State University scientist is attempting to peal back centuries of adaptations in corn to gain a better understanding of how the plant adjusted to the diverse environments and elevations of the Americas.
  
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• Microbes help plants survive in severe drought

  19-09-2016 21:51
  
  With California in its fifth year of severe drought and many western states experiencing another year of unusually dry conditions, plants are stressed.
  
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• Shedding light on Pluto's glaciers

  19-09-2016 21:45
  
  What is the origin of the large heart-shaped nitrogen glacier revealed in 2015 on Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft? Two researchers from the Laboratoire de météorologie dynamique (CNRS/École polytechnique/UPMC/ENS Paris) show that Pluto's peculiar insolation and atmosphere favor nitrogen condensation near the equator, in the lower altitude regions, leading to an accumulation of ice at the bottom of Sputnik Planum, a vast topographic basin. Through their simulations, they
  
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• Schilling agrees to settlement in failed video game venture

  19-09-2016 21:39
  
  Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and others agreed to a $2.5 million settlement to end their part of a lawsuit brought over Rhode Island's disastrous $75 million deal with 38 Studios, his failed video game company.
  
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• Developers face challenges capturing wave energy

  19-09-2016 21:39
  
  Although wave-generated power could meet a quarter of America's energy needs, the technology lags other renewables such as wind and solar. But the U.S. Navy has established a test site in Hawaii, where power from floating devices travels a mile through undersea cables to Oahu's power grid—the first wave-induced electricity online in the U.S.
  
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• Andrea Wulf's Humboldt biography wins Science Book Prize

  19-09-2016 21:38
  
  A biography of German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt has been named science book of the year.
  
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• 2,000-year-old skeleton found at Mediterranean shipwreck

  19-09-2016 21:37
  
  Archeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old human skeleton at the same Mediterranean shipwreck that yielded the most sophisticated piece of technology, a clockwork, to survive Antiquity, Nature reported Monday.
  
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• US predicts climate law within decade

  19-09-2016 21:34
  
  US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Monday predicted that the world's largest economy would have legislation by the end of the decade to combat climate change.
  
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• Uber plans to open office in Detroit

  19-09-2016 21:34
  
  Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. will soon open an office in Detroit.
  
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• Twitter enables longer tweets as part of growth push

  19-09-2016 21:33
  
  Twitter announced Monday it was easing its 140-character limit on tweets, in the latest effort to broaden the appeal and boost the user base of the social network.
  
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• America's First Wave-Produced Power Goes Online in Hawaii

  19-09-2016 21:33
  
  The first wave-produced electricity in the United States is online in Hawaii
  
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• Twitter Users Can Now Do More With 140 Characters

  19-09-2016 20:56
  
  Uploaded media no longer counts toward the character cap.
  
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• California Governor Backs Rules on Cow, Landfill Emissions

  19-09-2016 20:49
  Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation that regulates emissions from dairy cows and landfills for the first time as California broadens its efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based greenhouse gases
  
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• EU tax move on Apple not anti-US bias: Vestager

  19-09-2016 19:00
  
  Europe's powerful Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday that the EU order for Apple to pay $15 billion in taxes did not represent any bias against US companies.
  
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• Scientists uncover insights into the formation of Earth's oldest continental crust

  19-09-2016 18:57
  
  Addressing fundamental unknowns about the earliest history of Earth's crust, scientists have precisely dated the world's oldest rock unit at 4.02 billion years old. Driven by the University of Alberta, the findings suggest that early Earth was largely covered with an oceanic crust-like surface.
  
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• AP Explains: Wireless Cellphone Alerts on Bombing Suspect

  19-09-2016 18:53
  Many people in the New York City area were alerted this morning to a screeching, buzzing message about a man wanted in connection with explosions in the area
  
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• Explainer: Wireless cellphone alerts on bombing suspect

  19-09-2016 18:05
  
  Many people in the New York City area were alerted Monday morning to a screeching, buzzing message about a man wanted in connection with explosions in the area over the weekend.
  
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• ‘Marsquakes’ Provide a Potential Microbial Energy Source on Mars

  19-09-2016 18:01 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New research from Yale University shows that rocks formed by the grinding together of other rocks during earthquakes are rich in trapped hydrogen — a finding that suggests similar seismic activity on Mars may produce enough hydrogen to support life. Researchers from Yale, the University of Aberdeen, and Brock University studied rock formations around active […]
  The post ‘Marsquakes’ Provide a Potential Microbial Energy Source on Mars appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Astronomers Study Stellar Evolution in Real Time

  19-09-2016 17:53 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years dramatic increases in the temperature of the star SAO 244567 have been observed. Now the star is cooling again, having been reborn into an earlier phase of stellar evolution. […]
  The post Astronomers Study Stellar Evolution in Real Time appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Accident

  19-09-2016 17:50
  
  A new article provides an overview of the impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station accident in Japan in 2011 and subsequent remediation measures, comparing similarities and differences with the lessons learned from the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in Ukraine.
  
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• Experience with vehicles does not help birds avoid collisions

  19-09-2016 17:47
  
  Researchers suspected that experience with passing vehicles may cause birds to adjust their avoidance responses-specifically, to increase their flight initiation distances-to keep from being hit. Instead, though, they recently found that inexperienced birds have longer flight initiation distances in response to oncoming vehicles than birds that have repeatedly observed passing, fast-moving vehicles.
  
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• Are statistics behind Pokémon Go's success?

  19-09-2016 17:45
  
  A new article highlights how statistics are deeply involved within the algorithms that made Pokémon Go the hit it has become.
  
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• Samsung says it has found no battery problem in China (Update)

  19-09-2016 17:43
  
  Samsung Electronics said Monday that its investigation into the first report of a Galaxy Note 7 fire in China found no battery problem, reducing concerns that its smartphone crisis had expanded to the world's largest mobile phone market.
  
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• Hubble Views Cosmic Fragments of Comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami

  19-09-2016 17:41 via scitechdaily.com
  
  This newly released Hubble image shows comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami. This intriguing new image captured with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a dust-bathed cluster of fragments from a disintegrated comet. The comet in question, named 332P/Ikeya-Murakami, split into this shower of fragments in the closing months of 2015. Fragmenting comets such as 332P/Ikeya-Murakami have long been […]
  The post Hubble Views Cosmic Fragments of Comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami appeared first on SciTech Daily
  
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• Spain: Search resumes for poet Lorca's burial place

  19-09-2016 17:02
  
  Archaeologists are back searching for an unmarked grave in southern Spain where the acclaimed poet Federico Garcia Lorca is believed to have been buried following his execution at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
  
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• Holographic imaging and deep learning diagnose malaria

  19-09-2016 16:34
  
  Duke researchers have devised a computerized method to autonomously and quickly diagnose malaria with clinically relevant accuracy—a crucial step to successfully treating the disease and halting its spread.
  
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• Self-driving cars coming sooner than you think: Lyft

  19-09-2016 16:24
  
  The move to self-driving cars is coming faster than most people think, says the head of ridesharing giant Lyft.
  
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• Solar radiation variability over Italy in the last 55 years reconstructed for the first time

  19-09-2016 16:23
  
  Surface solar radiation variability over Italy from the end of the 1950s has been reconstructed in the framework of a cooperation between Milan University, ETH (Zurich), ISAC‐CNR, Italian Air Force and IPE‐CSIC (Zaragoza). The first author of the research - published on Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics – is a researcher of the PhD course in Environmental Sciences of Milan University.
  
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• Fin24.com | Internet censorship bill unconstitutional - DA

  19-09-2016 16:06
  
  The Film and Publications Board Amendment Bill currently before Parliament gives wide-sweeping powers to government to censor content on the internet, the DA has said.
  
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• What makes a video game great? There's now a scientific way to stop GUESSing

  19-09-2016 15:52
  
  Fortune magazine noted in February 2016 that sales of video games in 2015 in the United States reached $23.5 billion, "a 5% jump over 2014, according to the Entertainment Software Association." More than 1,000 new games are released each year. Although sales and user reviews might point to gamer satisfaction, consensus is lacking in what exactly constitutes a "good" game. Now there is a scientifically validated means of gauging satisfaction, the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale, or GUESS.
  
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• 'Well-preserved' rare mammoth skull unearthed in Channel Islands puzzles scientists

  19-09-2016 15:50
  
  The skull of a mammoth - possibly roaming the planet 13,000 years ago - was unearthed from an eroding stream in the Santa Rosa Island at Channel Islands National Park.
  
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• What to expect from GoPro's big drone unveiling

  19-09-2016 15:40
  
  Action camera-maker GoPro Inc. gets its big chance to rebound from a disastrous year when it unveils its first drone and other new products Monday.
  
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• Physicists retrieve 'lost' information from quantum measurements

  19-09-2016 15:40
  
  (Phys.org)—Typically when scientists make a measurement, they know exactly what kind of measurement they're making, and their purpose is to obtain a measurement outcome. But in an "unrecorded measurement," both the type of measurement and the measurement outcome are unknown.
  
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• How random is your randomness, and why does it matter?

  19-09-2016 15:30
  
  Randomness is powerful.Think about a presidential poll: A random sample of just 400 people in the United States can accurately estimate Clinton's and Trump's support to within 5 percent (with 95 percent certainty), despite the U.S. population exceeding 300 million. That's just one of many uses.
  
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• Unlocking potential of 3-D printed rocket parts with neutrons

  19-09-2016 15:27
  
  The process of 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, holds promise for advancements in almost every industry, including even rocket science. Engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, used neutrons recently to help understand the potential benefit of additive manufactured rocket engine components.
  
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• 'Gut feelings' help make more successful financial traders

  19-09-2016 15:26
  
  Financial traders are better at reading their 'gut feelings' than the general population – and the better they are at this ability, the more successful they are as traders, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge.
  
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• Better models to forecast effects of environmental change on food webs

  19-09-2016 15:24
  
  Extinctions, variations in population densities, and large algal blooms in waters are examples of expected effects of global warming and nutrient over-fertilization. Wojciech Uszko at Umeå University shows how simple mathematical models can help us understand mechanisms behind these phenomena and forecast consequences of environmental change.
  
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• Risk of another Chernobyl or Fukushima type accident plausible, experts say

  19-09-2016 15:23
  
  A team of risk experts who have carried out the biggest-ever analysis of nuclear accidents warn that the next disaster on the scale of Chernobyl or Fukushima may happen much sooner than the public realizes.
  
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• Towards stable propagation of light in nano-photonic fibers

  19-09-2016 15:21
  
  Devices based on light, rather than electrons, could revolutionize the speed and security of our future computers. However, one of the major challenges in today's physics is the design of photonic devices, able to transport and switch light through circuits in a stable way. Sergej Flach, Director of the Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and colleagues from the National Technical University of Athens and the University of Patras (Greec
  
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• The Dynamic Duo: RAVE complements Gaia

  19-09-2016 15:20
  
  The new data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) is the fifth spectroscopic release of a survey of stars in the southern celestial hemisphere. It contains radial velocities for 520 781 spectra of 457 588 unique stars that were observed over ten years. With these measurements RAVE complements the first data release of the Gaia survey published by the European Space Agency ESA last week by providing radial velocities and stellar parameters, like temperatures, gravities and metalliciti
  
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• What is the difference between active and dormant volcanoes?

  19-09-2016 15:10
  
  Volcanoes are an impressive force of nature. Physically, they dominate the landscape, and have an active role in shaping our planet's geography. When they are actively erupting, they are an extremely dangerous and destructive force. But when they are passive, the soil they enrich can become very fertile, leading to settlements and cities being built nearby.
  
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• Ancient fish hooks found on Okinawa suggest earlier maritime migration than thought

  19-09-2016 15:10
  
  (Phys.org)—A large team of Japanese researchers affiliated with multiple institutions working at a dig site on the south side of the island of Okinawa has found what are believed to be the oldest examples of fishing hooks ever unearthed. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes the fish hooks, other artifacts they found and why they believe their findings are challenging conventional views of maritime adaptations.
  
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• World's oldest fish hooks: What they tell us about Paleolithic Japan - Christian Science Monitor

  19-09-2016 15:03 via csmonitor.com
  
  Christian Science Monitor
  World's oldest fish hooks: What they tell us about Paleolithic Japan
  Christian Science Monitor
  The fish hooks were found in Sakitari Cave on Okinawa Island, dating back 23,000 years. The age indicates that maritime technology was more widespread than previously thought. By Weston Williams, Staff September 19, 2016. Save for later Saved. close.
  Ancient fish hooks found on Okinawa suggest earlier maritime migration than thoughtPhys.Org
  23000-year-old fish hooks found in
  
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