Sci-Tech news

• Former Facebook Live manager bets on more private video sharing with Alively

  01-11-2016 22:50
  
  Vadim Lavrusik tried to send a video of his son celebrating his first birthday to family in Minnesota, but the process didn't exactly go smoothly.
  
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• Trump Is Master of His Domains, Even Ones That Bash Him

  01-11-2016 22:45
  Donald Trump has been buying up web addresses that mock or insult him, with the goal of making sure they don't fall into the hands of his enemies
  
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• Blind as bats: Echolocation study reveals key evolutionary trade-offs with other senses

  01-11-2016 22:37
  
  Among the most fascinating evolutionary adaptations has been the development of echolocation in bats. But to develop their unique sonar system for exploring caves in the dark, what evolutionary tradeoffs occurred between their other senses like smell, vision and hearing, i.e. to be blind as a bat?
  
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• Judge to Rule by Week's End on Ballot Selfies in New York

  01-11-2016 22:14
  A New York federal judge says he'll rule by the end of the week on a challenge to a state law banning people from showing their marked election ballot to others
  
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• Who's Driving app aims to help parents in need of a carpool

  01-11-2016 22:11
  
  Busy parents who know the difficulties of arranging carpools for their kids now have a new application, Who's Driving, to help.
  
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• Two antibiotics fight bacteria differently than thought

  01-11-2016 22:08
  
  Two widely prescribed antibiotics—chloramphenicol and linezolid—may fight bacteria in a different way from what scientists and doctors thought for years, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found. Instead of indiscriminately stopping protein synthesis, the drugs put the brakes on the protein synthesis machinery only at specific locations in the gene.
  
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• Explaining new jolts rattling earthquake-ravaged Italy

  01-11-2016 21:37
  
  A wave of earthquakes has rocked central Italy in recent months, shattering medieval towns and destroying ancient homes, churches and landmarks. The latest—a magnitude 6.6—over the weekend struck a cluster of historic mountain towns, the most powerful temblor to hit Italy in more than three decades. The new shaking comes as the region reeled from a deadly magnitude 6.2 quake in August that killed 300 people and a pair of strong quakes last week.
  
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• Database captures most extensive urban tree sizes, growth rates across United States

  01-11-2016 21:25
  
  Sometimes in the cramped environs of U.S. cities every inch counts, especially if attempting to make space for nature. City planners and urban foresters now have a resource to more precisely select tree species whose growth will be a landscaping dream instead of a maintenance nightmare.
  
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• Physicist honored for finding new symmetry in space and time

  01-11-2016 21:23
  
  The American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics this month awarded the 2017 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics to Carl M. Bender of Washington University in St. Louis .
  
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• Why Online Shopping Will Break a Record This Year

  01-11-2016 21:21 via nbcnews.com
  
  Shoppers plan to spend an average of 47 percent of their budget online, exactly equal with the percentage they plan to spend in physical stores.
  
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• Apple's New MacBook Is Getting a Thumbs Down

  01-11-2016 21:06 via nbcnews.com
  
  Many hardcore Mac users are already feeling alienated by the design of Apple's new MacBook.
  
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• Facebook-owned Instagram getting into shopping

  01-11-2016 20:01
  
  Instagram on Tuesday said it will start testing features that let smartphone or tablet users easily buy items they find on the popular photo and video sharing service.
  
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• Tiny graphene radios may lead to Internet of Nano-Things

  01-11-2016 20:00
  
  For wireless communication, we're all stuck on the same traffic-clogged highway—it's a section of the electromagnetic spectrum known as radio waves.
  
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• Scientists develop new toolkit for exploring protein biology

  01-11-2016 19:59
  
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broadly useful method to unmask new functional features of human proteins.
  
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• Rare New Mexico meadow jumping mouse populations discovered

  01-11-2016 19:52
  
  Biologists who spent weeks in three New Mexico national forests searching for signs of an elusive, endangered mouse that looks somewhat like a tiny kangaroo have found what they call irrefutable evidence that it still lives in the state for which it is named.
  
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• 3-D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions, conserve rare materials

  01-11-2016 19:42
  
  Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials.
  
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• Competence matters more than gender for women running for office

  01-11-2016 19:37
  
  The nomination of the first woman presidential candidate by a major party has shattered some gender barriers, while at the same time reinforced certain stereotypes and double standards that still exist for women.
  
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• Study highlights diversity of arthropods found in US homes—from swabs of dust

  01-11-2016 19:36
  
  Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado Boulder used DNA testing and citizen science to create an "atlas" that shows the range and diversity of arthropods found in homes across the continental United States.
  
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• SwRI flips switch on LAMP in lunar orbit

  01-11-2016 19:33
  
  A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) team successfully opened a "failsafe" door on the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument in lunar orbit, improving the quality of ultraviolet (UV) data it collects. The door, one of LAMP's few moving parts, operated flawlessly, even after orbiting the moon for seven years onboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), providing LAMP more UV exposure for LRO's extended mission.
  
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• HybPiper: A bioinformatic pipeline for processing target-enrichment data

  01-11-2016 19:32
  
  With the rapid rise of next-generation sequencing technologies, disparate fields from cancer research to evolutionary biology have seen a drastic shift in the way DNA sequence data is obtained. It is now possible to sequence many genes across large numbers of species in an incredibly short period of time. And the price tag keeps getting smaller and smaller. However, the deluge of sequence data obtained using these high-throughput sequencing techniques requires a substantial amount of computation
  
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• New discovery could help oral medicines work better

  01-11-2016 19:25
  
  A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota and The Dow Chemical Company have discovered a new method for customizing ingredients that help oral medications dissolve in the body and be absorbed into the bloodstream. The materials discovered in this study could allow life-saving drugs to work faster and more efficiently.
  
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• Scientists confirm a structural similarity found in both human cells and neutron stars

  01-11-2016 19:24
  
  We humans may be more aligned with the universe than we realize. According to research published in the journal Physical Review C, neutron stars and cell cytoplasm have something in common: structures that resemble multistory parking garages.
  
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• Yale Engineers Advance Quantum Technology With Photon Control

  01-11-2016 18:56 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Engineers from Yale University have developed a new technique to control the frequency of single photons. The ability to control the frequency of single photons is crucial to realize the potential of quantum communications and quantum computing. The current methods for changing photon frequency, however, bring with them significant drawbacks. Researchers in the lab of […]
  The post Yale Engineers Advance Quantum Technology With Photon Control appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures a Partial Solar Eclipse

  01-11-2016 18:07 via scitechdaily.com
  
  NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory experienced a partial solar eclipse in space when it caught the moon passing in front of the sun. The moon’s shadow obstructs SDO’s otherwise constant view of the sun, and the shadow’s edge is sharp and distinct, since the moon has no atmosphere which would distort sunlight. From SDO’s point of […]
  The post NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures a Partial Solar Eclipse appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Slow-Blue Nuclear Hypervariables in PanSTARRS-1

  01-11-2016 18:00 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Astronomers have used a sky survey to identify a class of blue, hypervariable galaxies; the origin of the variability is uncertain but might in some cases be due to microlensing. Extreme variability in the intensity of the optical light of galaxies, by factors of two or more, is of great interest to astronomers. It can […]
  The post Slow-Blue Nuclear Hypervariables in PanSTARRS-1 appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Elephant poaching costs African economies $25 million per year in lost tourism revenue

  01-11-2016 17:00
  
  The current elephant poaching crisis costs African countries around USD $25 million annually in lost tourism revenue, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.
  
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• Spreading the word on earthquake risks

  01-11-2016 16:30
  
  It's one of those coping skills that come with living in earthquake country: Putting the risk out of your mind until that moment you feel the shaking.
  
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• Newspaper deal falls apart as Gannett gives up on Tronc

  01-11-2016 16:18
  
  USA Today publisher Gannett walked away Tuesday from its attempted takeover of Tronc, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other major dailies.
  
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• UK in $2.3 bn plan to 'strike back' at hackers

  01-11-2016 16:14
  
  Finance minister Philip Hammond on Tuesday warned Britain will "strike back" against states hacking into strategic networks in order to avoid a military showdown, as part of a new cyber-defence plan.
  
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• NIST unveils forensic technique to measure mechanical properties of evidence

  01-11-2016 16:13
  
  You may have seen it on CSI: The star examines hair from a crime scene and concludes its color or texture looks like the defendant's hair, or maybe his dog's. Case closed.
  
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• Team develops versatile field phenotyping to benefit farmers

  01-11-2016 16:11
  
  Researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science, are leveraging expertise in crop phenotyping with the development of the PheNode, a 'smart', farm-ready, solar-powered environmental sensor and phenotyping station for crops.
  
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• New instrument could search for signatures of life on Mars

  01-11-2016 15:54
  
  A sensing technique that the U.S. military currently uses to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new instrument that could "sniff" for life on Mars and other targets in the solar system—the Bio-Indicator Lidar Instrument, or BILI.
  
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• Losing its cool: Will ice melt heat up naval operations in Arctic Ocean?

  01-11-2016 15:54
  
  As diminishing sea ice in the Arctic Ocean expands navigable waters, scientists sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have traveled to the region to study the changing environment—and provide new tools to help the U.S. Navy operate in a once-inaccessible area.
  
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• Fin24.com | Icasa: 'We don't know if SABC has complied with protest ruling'

  01-11-2016 15:48
  
  The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa says the SABC has not provided it with any proof that it has complied with its ruling to unban the airing of violent protests.
  
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• Thomson Reuters in new 'streamlining' as profits slip

  01-11-2016 15:41
  
  Financial information group Thomson Reuters announced Tuesday a new "streamlining" plan as it reported a drop in profits and flat revenues.
  
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• Thomson Reuters cuts jobs as profits slip

  01-11-2016 15:41
  
  Thomson Reuters announced a new "streamlining" plan on Tuesday to cut an estimated 2,000 jobs at the financial information group as it reported flat revenues and a drop in profits.
  
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• Research review confirms positive school climates can narrow achievement gaps

  01-11-2016 15:41
  
  Positive school climates contribute to academic achievement and can improve outcomes for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a new study published today in Review of Educational Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association.
  
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• Nuclear CSI: Noninvasive procedure could identify criminal nuclear activity

  01-11-2016 15:38
  
  Determining if an individual has handled nuclear materials, such as uranium or plutonium, is a challenge national defense agencies currently face. The standard protocol to detect uranium exposure is through a urine sample; however, urine is able to only identify those who have been exposed recently. Now, scientists at the University of Missouri have developed procedures that will better identify individuals exposed to uranium within one year. Scientists and homeland security experts believe this
  
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• Researchers discover how a bacterium, Clostridium thermocellum, utilizes both CO2 and cellulose

  01-11-2016 15:37
  
  Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made the surprise discovery that a metabolic pathway to take up CO2 exists and functions in a microorganism capable of breaking down and fermenting cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels including hydrogen and hydrocarbons.
  
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• Creating a slippery slope on the surface of medical implants

  01-11-2016 15:36
  
  Implanted medical devices such as left ventricular-assist devices for patients with heart failure or other support systems for patients with respiratory, liver or other end organ disease save lives every day. However, bacteria that form infectious biofilms on those devices, called device-associated infections, not only often sabotage their success but also contribute to the rampant increase in antibiotic resistance currently seen in hospitals.
  
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• Enhancement in rate of photocatalysis upon catalyst recycling

  01-11-2016 15:18
  
  In chemistry, in order to achieve efficiency of any chemical reaction, a catalyst is added that serves to ideally increase the rate of reaction without any deleterious effects.
  
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• Carbon levy could limit impact of climate change, study suggests

  01-11-2016 15:16
  
  A decades-old tax system may offer an economical solution to the problem of catastrophic climate change, according to a new study.
  
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• Factors promoting growth of cryoconite granule formation and glacial/ice sheet melting

  01-11-2016 15:14
  
  Cryoconite granules (see Figure 1) are dark, millimeter-sized aggregations of bacteria and algae, mineral particles and organic matter that form on the surface of glaciers. They are also known to be a significant factor responsible for the acceleration in glacial and ice sheet melting. Research on Greenland's glaciers has revealed that cryoconite granule formation increases in areas on the glacier surface containing higher amounts of fine (250 μm or smaller) mineral particle sediment. Researc
  
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• Fin24.com | How to hack your hotel's Wi-Fi to stream shows

  01-11-2016 15:10
  
  How do even five-star hotel rooms have such utterly inadequate cable TV setups?
  
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• Short RNA molecules mapped in single cell

  01-11-2016 15:04
  
  Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have measured the absolute numbers of short, non-coding, RNA sequences in individual embryonic stem cells. The new method could improve the understanding of how our genes are regulated and different cell types develop.
  
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• Closed captions, transcripts aid learning for almost all students

  01-11-2016 14:58
  
  Most college and university students who use closed captions and transcripts on video and multimedia find them helpful as a learning tool, despite them not regularly being made available, according to new research from Oregon State University.
  
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• Fin24.com | UPDATE: FNB back online after downtime

  01-11-2016 14:15
  
  First National Bank has suffered yet another service disruption, the latest in a series of incidents.
  
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• Germany: Clock ticking for Facebook to act over hate speech

  01-11-2016 14:09
  
  Germany's justice minister says Facebook and Twitter have months to improve their response to online hate speech or face legal measures.
  
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• Strange behavior in the crowded cellular environment

  01-11-2016 14:07
  
  A group of researchers from RIKEN and Michigan State University have used the powerful K computer to show how molecules move within the extremely crowded interior of a bacterial cell.
  
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• Italy quake made ground move 70cm: scientists

  01-11-2016 14:07
  
  Areas hit by Italy's 6.5-magnitude quake displaced the ground by up to 70 centimetres (27.5 inches), Italian scientists reported on Tuesday.
  
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