Sci-Tech news

• Software fix didn't work on some Fiat Chrysler gearshifts

  16-11-2016 23:53
  
  Software designed to fix confusing gear shifters on 1.1 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles didn't work on 29,000 of them. Now the owners are being asked to take the vehicles back to dealers for another try.
  
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• Pressures rise on Canada to ban asbestos

  16-11-2016 23:51
  
  Canada's largest union and the third party in the Commons ramped up pressure Wednesday on the government to make good on a promise to ban asbestos.
  
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• Gift Guide: Choosing a streaming device without overpaying

  16-11-2016 23:40
  
  Your streaming TV options have gotten better and cheaper.
  
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• Acoustic buoy now detecting rare, endangered whales in New York Bight

  16-11-2016 23:29
  
  An acoustic buoy recently deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and WCS's (Wildlife Conservation Society) New York Aquarium is making its first near real-time detections of two rare great whale species in the New York Bight, including the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.
  
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• Study reveals impacts of climate warming and declining sea ice on Arctic whale migration

  16-11-2016 23:26
  
  Declines in the Arctic sea ice are arguably the most dramatic evidence of the effects of current climate warming on ocean systems. Native peoples of the far north have long appreciated and relied upon the migrations of animals with the changing seasons, including some of the largest and least studied, the Arctic whales. While sea ice is perhaps the most defining feature of their habitat, the relationship between Arctic whales and sea ice is still largely a mystery, and there is increasing concer
  
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• Matchmaking for coffee? Intercropping coffee plants, macadamia trees

  16-11-2016 23:25
  
  Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee a day. Where does all of that coffee come from? Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee. But environmental changes could harm Brazil's coffee plants.
  
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• Study of college-age white men reveals cultural awareness deficit

  16-11-2016 23:21
  
  White identity had virtually no meaning for a group of white males in a new study by a University of Arizona researcher, and such individuals largely ignored or downplayed issues of race and instances of reported racism.
  
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• Tibet's exiled Muslims show intricacies of culture, identity for refugees

  16-11-2016 23:18
  
  Like the colorful, intricately drawn Tibetan sand mandala, Tibet is a rich cultural and religious tapestry that includes both Buddhist and Muslim communities. The country is not a monolithic Buddhist society as it is often portrayed.
  
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• Charter schools enroll more girls, with boys more likely to leave

  16-11-2016 23:18
  
  Charter schools - particularly middle and high schools - enroll a larger share of girls than do traditional public schools, in part because boys are more likely to exit charter schools, finds a new study by New York University researchers.
  
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• Astronomers unveil 'heart' of Eta Carinae

  16-11-2016 23:15
  
  An international team of astronomers has imaged the Eta Carinae star system in the greatest detail ever. Eta Carinae is a colossal binary system that consists of two massive stars orbiting each other. It is found almost 8,000 light years from Earth within the Carina Nebula, a giant star-forming region in the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
  
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• RIT researchers fix Landsat 8 imagery, measurements with 'innovative' algorithm

  16-11-2016 23:12
  Rochester Institute of Technology researchers have solved a problem nagging NASA's Landsat 8 Earth-sensing satellite.
  
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• WATCH: Entertainment Options Expand in the Next Generation of Luxury Cars

  16-11-2016 20:31 via abcnews.go.com
  
  ABC News' Alex Stone looks at the latest in luxury automobile entertainment options with Cadillac at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
  
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• Tooth wear patterns suggest Paranthropus early hominins had softer diets than expected

  16-11-2016 20:00
  
  Analysis of wear patterns on fossil teeth from East African hominins suggests the diets of Paranthropus aethiopicus and Paranthropus boisei were softer than had been thought, according to a study published November 16, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Laura Monica Martinez from Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues.
  
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• Large forest die-offs can have effects that ricochet to distant ecosystems

  16-11-2016 20:00
  
  Major forest die-offs due to drought, heat and beetle infestations or deforestation could have consequences far beyond the local landscape.
  
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• eDNA in seawater samples could reveal status of deepwater fish populations

  16-11-2016 20:00
  
  Environmental DNA in seawater samples may provide accurate information about deepwater fish populations, according to a study published November 16, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Philip Francis Thomsen from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the Danish Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues.
  
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• Distant star is roundest object ever observed in nature

  16-11-2016 20:00
  
  Stars are not perfect spheres. While they rotate, they become flat due to the centrifugal force. A team of researchers around Laurent Gizon from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the University of Göttingen has now succeeded in measuring the oblateness of a slowly rotating star with unprecedented precision. The researchers have determined stellar oblateness using asteroseismology - the study of the oscillations of stars. The technique is applied to a star 5000 light yea
  
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• Twitter suspends several alt-right accounts (Update)

  16-11-2016 19:20
  
  Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent members of the so-called "alt-right" in an apparent crack down on accounts tied to hate speech or threats of violence.
  
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• Twitter suspends several alt-right accounts

  16-11-2016 19:20
  
  Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent members of the so-called "alt-right" in an apparent purge.
  
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• Relentless smoke spreads fear at edge of southern wildfires (Update)

  16-11-2016 19:20
  
  Thick smoke has settled over a wide area of the southern Appalachians, where dozens of uncontrolled wildfires are burning through decades of leaf litter, and people breathe in tiny bits of the forest with every gulp of air.
  
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• Relentless smoke spreads fear at edge of southern wildfires

  16-11-2016 19:20
  
  Thick smoke has settled over a wide area of the southeastern U.S., where wildfires are burning through decades of leaf litter, and people are breathing in tiny bits of the southern Appalachian forests with every gulp of air.
  
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• Mutation that triggered multicellular life altered protein flexibility

  16-11-2016 19:20
  
  Just as a boat can be driven off course by a log in its path, a single, random mutation can send life in a new direction. That scenario, says University of Oregon biochemist Ken Prehoda, illustrates how a random mutation sparked a huge jump in the evolutionary course of a protein important for the evolution of animals.
  
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• African leaders in Morocco to unify stance on global warming

  16-11-2016 19:05
  
  African leaders met in Morocco Wednesday on the sidelines of UN climate talks to agree a joint stance to fight global warming on the continent.
  
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• Pluto's 'heart' may be cold as ice, but it's in the right place, according to research

  16-11-2016 19:00
  
  Sputnik Planitia, a 1,000-kilometer wide basin within the iconic heart-shaped region observed on Pluto's surface, could be in its present location because accumulation of ice made the dwarf planet roll over, creating cracks and tensions in the crust that point towards the presence of a subsurface ocean.
  
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• Looking for a city's DNA? Try its ATMs

  16-11-2016 19:00
  
  Automated teller machine keypads in New York City have plenty of microbes but they're mostly from normal human skin, household surfaces or traces of food, according to a study published this week in mSphere, an open access journal from the American Society for Microbiology.
  
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• Data from New Horizons mission suggest a water-ice ocean lies beneath Pluto's heart-shaped basin

  16-11-2016 19:00
  
  Beneath Pluto's "heart" lies a cold, slushy ocean of water ice, according to data from NASA's New Horizons mission. In a paper published today in the journal Nature, the New Horizons team, including researchers from MIT, reports that the dwarf planet's most prominent surface feature—a heart-shaped region named Tombaugh Regio—may harbor a bulging, viscous, liquid ocean just below its surface.
  
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• NASA’s SOFIA Set To Study New Frontiers in the Solar System and Beyond

  16-11-2016 18:55 via scitechdaily.com
  NASA’s SOFIA flying Observatory set to study planets, comets and asteroids orbiting other stars and supermassive black holes. NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, will soon be studying Neptune’s giant moon, Triton, and following-up on Hubble’s recent sighting of water plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa. According to recently completed plans for the 2017 observing […]
  The post NASA’s SOFIA Set To Study New Frontiers in the Solar S
  
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• ‘Great Valley’ Provides More Evidence That Mercury is Shrinking

  16-11-2016 18:42 via scitechdaily.com
  A newly discovered “great valley” in the southern hemisphere of Mercury provides more evidence that the small planet closest to the sun is shrinking. Scientists used stereo images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to create a high-resolution topo map that revealed the broad valley — more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long — extending into the […]
  The post ‘Great Valley’ Provides More Evidence That Mercury is Shrinking appeared first on SciTech
  
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• Do This Before You Start Your Holiday Shopping

  16-11-2016 18:18 via nbcnews.com
  
  Who comes out on top in the battle of the mobile wallets? And how do you use them anyway?
  
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• Security firm says Chinese company collected phone users' texts

  16-11-2016 18:06
  
  A US security company says a Chinese-made smartphone popular in the United States forwarded detailed user data and user texts back to a Chinese server without the phone owner's knowledge.
  
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• Facebook says it erred measuring audience reach (Update)

  16-11-2016 18:06
  
  Facebook on Wednesday said that it is working to fix flaws in its metrics calculations that led to the audience being overestimated at times.
  
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• Facebook apologizes for latest metrics errors

  16-11-2016 18:06
  
  Facebook says it will work with independent companies like Nielsen and comScore to review more of its metrics after it uncovered new problems with the data it provides to advertisers and publishers that use its network.
  
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• Ancient latrines, a lucky horse: New finds at Circus Maximus (Update)

  16-11-2016 18:06
  
  Six years of excavations have given Rome a new tourist attraction in Circus Maximus , the sprawling valley where chariot races once delighted the ancient city's denizens.
  
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• Ancient latrines, a lucky horse: New finds at Circus Maximus

  16-11-2016 18:06
  
  Six years of excavations have given Rome a new tourist attraction in Circus Maximus.
  
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• Moral values influence level of climate change action

  16-11-2016 18:05
  
  Two moral values highly rated by liberals—compassion and fairness—influence willingness to make personal choices to mitigate climate change's impact in the future, according to a new multidisciplinary study by Cornell University researchers.
  
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• Ant bridges connect shy tropical tree crowns

  16-11-2016 18:05
  
  Internet and phone connections are essential for effective communicators and for success in business. New results from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama show that connections between trees may be important for maintaining the rich diversity of tropical forests.
  
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• How to stop human-made droughts and floods before they start

  16-11-2016 18:04
  
  Alberta's rivers are the main source of water for agriculture in Canada's Prairie provinces. But climate change and increased human interference mean that the flow of these headwaters is under threat. This could have major implications for Canadian gross domestic product, and even global food security.
  
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• Two new lizards with 'heroic past' discovered in the Chilean Andes

  16-11-2016 18:03
  
  Two new species of lizards have been discovered in the Andean highlands of Southern Chile. Collected from areas of heroic past, both small reptiles were named after courages tribal chiefs who have once fought against colonial Spaniards in the Arauco war. The study, conducted by a team of Chilean scientists, is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
  
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• Owl-inspired wing design reduces wind turbine noise by 10 decibels

  16-11-2016 18:01
  
  Many species of owl are able to hunt in effective silence by suppressing their noise at sound frequencies above 1.6 kilohertz (kHz) - over the range that can be heard by humans.
  
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• Open refereed paper reveals how to study unstable radioactive nuclei's dual traits

  16-11-2016 18:01
  
  Radioactive nuclides, found within an atom's core, all share a common feature: they have too many or too few neutrons to be stable. In a new review published in EPJ A, Maria Jose Borges and Karsten Riisager explain how overcoming technical difficulties in accelerating such radioactive nuclei beams can help push back the boundaries of nuclear physics research. This fascinating topic is the first EPJ A paper to be subjected to an open referee process, whereby the referee's comments are included.
  
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• Climate change may prevent volcanoes from cooling the planet

  16-11-2016 18:00
  
  New UBC research shows that climate change may impede the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions.
  
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• Great valley found on Mercury

  16-11-2016 17:58
  
  Scientists have discovered a new large valley on Mercury that may be the first evidence of buckling of the planet's outer silicate shell in response to global contraction. The researchers discovered the valley using a new high-resolution topographic map of part of Mercury's southern hemisphere created by stereo images from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft. The findings were reported in a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
  
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• Team discovers major supercluster of galaxies hidden by Milky Way

  16-11-2016 17:05
  
  An international team of astronomers has discovered a previously unknown major concentration of galaxies in the constellation Vela, which they have dubbed the Vela supercluster. The gravitational attraction from this large mass concentration in our cosmic neighbourhood may have an important effect on the motion of our Local Group of galaxies including the Milky Way. It may also help to explain the direction and amplitude of the Local Group's peculiar velocity with respect to the Cosmic Microwave
  
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• Sweden, Norway couple national emergency radio networks

  16-11-2016 16:53
  
  Norway and Sweden have joined their emergency radio networks so first responders can better coordinate their efforts during rescue operations, natural disasters and threats.
  
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• Improving cryopreservation for a longer-lasting blood supply

  16-11-2016 16:51
  
  Freezing and reanimating your body is still science fiction, but cryopreserving cells and certain tissues for future use is a reality. Still, the process could use some improvements to make it more useful in emergencies. In a recent study in the journal ACS Omega, scientists take a close look at a new class of small molecules with the potential to make the process more practical and give the cells and tissues a longer shelf life.
  
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• Fast-cooking dry beans provide more protein, iron than 'slower' varieties

  16-11-2016 16:50
  
  Beans are a versatile, inexpensive staple that can boost essential nutrients in a diet, especially for people in low-resource areas where food options are limited. To get the most out of these legumes, new research suggests choosing fast-cooking dry beans could be the way to go. A study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that fast-cooking beans retained more protein, iron and other minerals than "slower" dry beans.
  
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• Where cells go: Mechanical and chemical cues collaborate to guide them

  16-11-2016 16:47
  
  Living cells respond to biochemical signals by moving toward those at higher concentration, a process carefully mapped out by biologists over the past several decades. But cells also move in response to mechanical forces, such as bumping up against other objects—although the details of that action have been poorly understood. Now, results of a new study, published Nov. 7 in the journal PNAS, reveal that cells use the same network of molecules to react to both chemical and mechanical signal
  
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• Novel method to identify illegal drugs, faster and with greater accuracy

  16-11-2016 16:47
  
  For the identification of illicit drugs in forensic toxicological casework, analysis can be delayed and potentially compromised due to lengthy sample preparation. However a new technique has been developed that can provide high sensitivity and fast results.
  
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• Fin24.com | Cwele: Everyone should have access to internet

  16-11-2016 16:46
  
  Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele believes that the internet and technology is a vital resource that must be accessible to all South Africans regardless of their background.
  
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• Solar smart window could offer privacy and light control on demand

  16-11-2016 16:45
  
  Smart windows get darker to filter out the sun's rays on bright days, and turn clear on cloudy days to let more light in. This feature can help control indoor temperatures and offers some privacy without resorting to aids such as mini-blinds. Now scientists report a new development in this growing niche: solar smart windows that can turn opaque on demand and even power other devices. The study appears in ACS Photonics.
  
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• General Motors cutting about 160 jobs at plant in Indiana

  16-11-2016 16:31
  
  General Motors says about 160 jobs are being cut from a plant in Kokomo, Indiana, after the automaker announced it would stop producing semiconductors there by mid-2017.
  
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