Sci-Tech news

• Weed 101: Colorado Agriculture Agency Shares Pot Know-How

  03-02-2017 23:48
  
  Colorado is giving other states a peek into the inner workings of marijuana regulation after years of ignoring a drug still outlawed by the U.S.
  
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• FCC Drops Investigation of Sponsored Data Plans in First Blow to Net Neutrality - SFGate

  03-02-2017 23:35 via sfgate.com
  
  SFGate
  FCC Drops Investigation of Sponsored Data Plans in First Blow to Net Neutrality
  SFGate
  The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that it has dropped its investigation into “zero rating” data plans offered by wireless providers, in which customers using certain services, such as carrier-owned mobile video apps, do not have ...
  FCC Decision To Reduce Internet Subsidy For Low-Income Americans Comes Straight From Fox NewsMedia Matters for America (blog)all 75 news ar
  
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• FCC Led by Trump Pick Starts to Reverse Obama Policies

  03-02-2017 23:22
  The Federal Communications Commission, which often took stances that angered the phone and cable industries under President Barack Obama's administration, is already starting to lean the other way
  
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• Cliffs collapse at Hawaii volcano, stopping 'firehose' flow

  03-02-2017 23:20
  
  A section of sea cliff above a massive "firehose" lava flow on Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano has collapsed and splashed into the ocean as tourists and geologists watched.
  
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• Cliff gives way at 'firehose' lava flow as tourists watch

  03-02-2017 23:20
  
  A section of sea cliff above a massive "firehose" lava flow on Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano has collapsed and splashed into the ocean as tourists and geologists watched on.
  
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• British officials arrest two in hacking of DC camera system

  03-02-2017 23:17
  
  Two people have been arrested in London in the hacking of storage devices that record data from police surveillance cameras in Washington, D.C.
  
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• USDA removes animal welfare reports from its website

  03-02-2017 23:16
  
  The Agriculture Department has removed animal welfare inspection reports, enforcement records and other information about the treatment of animals from its website, citing privacy and other laws.
  
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• Super Bowl online: See the game, learn some new taunts

  03-02-2017 23:15
  
  You can watch the Super Bowl online for free, but there are a few catches. For starters, you're out of luck on phones unless you're a Verizon customer. And if you're interested in the ads, you may have a surprise in store.
  
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• Up to 1.87M Michigan workers' info may have been compromised

  03-02-2017 23:14
  
  Social Security numbers and other personal information of up to 1.87 million Michigan workers may have been compromised, the state said Friday.
  
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• Spain's Balearic Islands hit by deadly olive tree bacteria

  03-02-2017 23:11
  
  A deadly bacteria that infected thousands of olive trees in Italy has been detected in Spain's Balearic Islands where authorities are racing to contain it, a regional government official said Friday.
  
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• Vegetation resilient to salvage logging after severe wildfire

  03-02-2017 23:10
  
  Nearly a decade after being logged, vegetation in forested areas severely burned by California's Cone Fire in 2002 was relatively similar to areas untouched by logging equipment. The findings of a U.S. Forest Service study shed light on how vegetation responds to severe wildfire and whether further disturbances from logging affect regrowth.
  
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• Protecting quantum computing networks against hacking threats

  03-02-2017 23:09
  
  As we saw during the 2016 US election, protecting traditional computer systems, which use zeros and ones, from hackers is not a perfect science. Now consider the complex world of quantum computing, where bits of information can simultaneously hold multiple states beyond zero and one, and the potential threats become even trickier to tackle. Even so, researchers at the University of Ottawa have uncovered clues that could help administrators protect quantum computing networks from external attacks
  
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• Study finds mutual reinforcement of phenotypic diversity and cooperation

  03-02-2017 23:06
  
  A new model exploring how evolutionary dynamics work in natural selection has found that phenotypic diversity, or an organism's observable traits, co-evolves with contingent cooperation when organisms with like traits work together to protect themselves from outsiders, according to a Dartmouth-led study published in PLOS Computational Biology. The study also finds that diversity helps prevent the collapse of cooperation.
  
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• PS4 Update 4.50 Will Add External HDD Support, Custom Wallpapers, Boost Mode & More - PlayStation LifeStyle

  03-02-2017 22:39 via playstationlifestyle.net
  
  PlayStation LifeStyle
  PS4 Update 4.50 Will Add External HDD Support, Custom Wallpapers, Boost Mode & More
  PlayStation LifeStyle
  Update: Following multiple leaks from the beta, Sony has confirmed that PS4 Pro's Boost Mode is included inside PS4 update 4.50. “Boost Mode lets PS4 Pro run at a higher GPU and CPU clock speed for smoother gameplay on some PS4 games that were ...
  PS4 Pro 'Boost Mode' improves performance on games without Pro patches (update)Polygon
  PS4's New Update Adds
  
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• Colorado's Pot Lessons: Prepare for No Help, a Lot of Smell

  03-02-2017 22:15
  Colorado is warning other states of pitfalls and lessons about marijuana markets, including getting used to the stink
  
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• Windows 10 Cloud looks just like Windows 10 in leaked screenshots - The Verge

  03-02-2017 22:05 via theverge.com
  
  ZDNet
  Windows 10 Cloud looks just like Windows 10 in leaked screenshots
  The Verge
  Just a few days after news broke that Microsoft is planning a competitor to Chrome OS, the first screenshots of the operating system have leaked out. Windows 10 Cloud is reportedly a lightweight version of Microsoft's OS that will be able to run on low ...
  Microsoft is disabling older versions of Skype for Mac and Windows on March 1VentureBeat
  Microsoft's "Windows 10 Cloud" operating system leaksLiliputing
  The fir
  
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• Fallout Shelter is coming to Windows 10 as a 'Play Anywhere' game - PC Gamer

  03-02-2017 22:03 via pcgamer.com
  
  PC Gamer
  Fallout Shelter is coming to Windows 10 as a 'Play Anywhere' game
  PC Gamer
  The vault overseer sim Fallout Shelter was released for the PC last summer, following its original launch as a mobile game a year earlier. And now it's coming to us again, this time on the Windows 10 store as an Xbox Play Anywhere game. There's no ...
  Fallout Shelter makes its console debut next weekPolygon
  Fallout Shelter Hits Xbox One and Windows 10 PC Next WeekAttack of the Fanboy
  Fallout Shelter Launche
  
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• 4 things Google Home can do to beat Amazon Echo in 2017 - CNET

  03-02-2017 22:02 via cnet.com
  
  CNET
  4 things Google Home can do to beat Amazon Echo in 2017
  CNET
  Right now, the Amazon Echo has a stranglehold on the voice assistant market. Although Amazon won't release numbers on its sales, estimates indicate that Echo is quickly approaching 10 million units sold. For Google Home -- just released in November ...
  How to defend your home from internet hijackersThe Seattle Times
  Building Alexa Skills? Amazon Launches New Site To Help Voice-First DevelopersForbes
  Plex gets Alexa support f
  
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• Silicon Valley Has a Message for Companies That Align Themselves with Trump

  03-02-2017 21:15 via nbcnews.com
  
  CEOs who work with Trump are being sent a message by demonstrators: Back off or prepare to face the consequences.
  
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• Alphabet is selling its Terra Bella satellite imaging business - The Verge

  03-02-2017 21:12 via theverge.com
  
  VentureBeat
  Alphabet is selling its Terra Bella satellite imaging business
  The Verge
  A high-resolution satellite image of Istanbul captured on September 29, 2016 from one of Terra Bella's SkySat devices. Terra Bella. Google parent company Alphabet is backing away from another one of its peripheral and far-out missions, this time ...
  Google sells off Terra Bella satellite unit to Planet LabsAppleInsider (press release) (blog)
  Planet acquires Google's Terra Bella satellite imaging divisionEngadge
  
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• MIT Engineers Design Transparent, Gel-Based Robots

  03-02-2017 20:12 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A team of engineers from MIT has developed transparent, gel-based robots that may one day assist in surgical operations and evade underwater detection. Engineers at...
  The post MIT Engineers Design Transparent, Gel-Based Robots appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Hubble captures brilliant star death in 'rotten egg' nebula

  03-02-2017 20:09
  
  The Calabash Nebula, pictured here—which has the technical name OH 231.8+04.2—is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun. This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the star going through a rapid transformation from a red giant to a planetary nebula, during which it blows its outer layers of gas and dust out into the surrounding space. The recently ejected material is spat out in opposite directions with immense speed—the gas shown
  
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• Quantum RAM: Modelling the big questions with the very small

  03-02-2017 20:00
  
  When it comes to studying transportation systems, stock markets and the weather, quantum mechanics is probably the last thing to come to mind. However, scientists at Australia's Griffith University and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have just performed a 'proof of principle' experiment showing that when it comes to simulating such complex processes in the macroscopic world quantum mechanics can provide an unexpected advantage.
  
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• Scientists Reveal Blueprint for How to Construct a Large Scale Quantum Computer

  03-02-2017 19:11 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Scientists have unveiled the first ever practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer. This huge leap forward towards creating a universal quantum computer...
  The post Scientists Reveal Blueprint for How to Construct a Large Scale Quantum Computer appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Search smarter not harder: Physicists present optimal strategy for foragers

  03-02-2017 19:09
  
  An engineer constructing wells in oil fields and an animal foraging for scarce food in the desert often face a similar dilemma: How long should they look for more of their needed resource before they move on to look elsewhere? Modeling the best answer to that question is the subject of a new paper published this week in Physical Review E.
  
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• House IT Workers Targeted in Investigation for Alleged Theft

  03-02-2017 18:56
  Two members of Congress say U.S. Capitol Police are investigating House technology workers for alleged theft
  
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• New Mosaic Shows Off the Red Planet’s North Polar Ice Cap

  03-02-2017 18:55 via scitechdaily.com
  
  ESA’s Mars Express provides a new mosaic of Mars. A new mosaic from ESA’s Mars Express shows off the Red Planet’s north polar ice cap...
  The post New Mosaic Shows Off the Red Planet’s North Polar Ice Cap appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Astronomers Obtain Sensitive Measurements of a Massive and Luminous Elliptical Galaxy

  03-02-2017 18:55 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using the spectrometer on the Keck telescope, astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics obtained very sensitive magnesium measurements in one of the most massive...
  The post Astronomers Obtain Sensitive Measurements of a Massive and Luminous Elliptical Galaxy appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Texas Votes to Keep Science Lessons Challenging Evolution

  03-02-2017 18:45
  The Texas Board of Education has moved closer to tweaking _ but still preserving _ high school science curriculum requirements that academics say cast doubt on the theory of evolution
  
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• Norway: Russian Hackers Hit Our Spy Agency, Government

  03-02-2017 18:45
  Norway's security service says nine email accounts in the Scandinavian country have been targeted by hackers believed to be associated with Russian intelligence, but no classified information had been taken
  
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• Super Bowl advertisers tread carefully in divisive climate

  03-02-2017 18:35
  
  Super Bowl advertisers are treading carefully this year to avoid alienating customers as a divisive political climate takes some of the buzz away from what is usually the biggest spectacle on TV.
  
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• Denmark seeks harsher punishment for 'revenge porn'

  03-02-2017 18:35
  
  Denmark presented Friday a series of measures to curb "revenge porn", the sharing of nude pictures or videos of people online without their consent, including raising the penalty from six months to two years in prison.
  
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• Snow alert in Gulf desert UAE

  03-02-2017 18:34
  
  A snow alert has been issued in the United Arab Emirates where a rare storm and high winds Friday toppled one of thousands of cranes in the Gulf desert state.
  
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• Cancer experts urge greater focus on prevention

  03-02-2017 18:33
  
  Cancer is not an inescapable fate. But while prevention can save millions of lives much more cheaply than treatment, it remains an underfunded, much-neglected weapon in the anti-cancer arsenal, experts say.
  
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• Eclipse 2017: NASA supports a unique opportunity for science in the shadow

  03-02-2017 18:23
  
  The first total solar eclipse in the continental United States in nearly 40 years takes place on Aug. 21, 2017. Beyond providing a brilliant sight in the daytime sky, total solar eclipses provide a rare chance for scientists to collect data only available during eclipses. NASA is funding 11 scientific studies that will take advantage of this opportunity.
  
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• Atomic-scale view of bacterial proteins offers path to new tuberculosis drugs

  03-02-2017 18:22
  
  With the first detailed analysis of a cellular component from a close relative of the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, Rockefeller scientists are suggesting strategies for new drugs to curb this growing health problem. Each year, nearly half a million people around the world are infected with mutant TB strains capable of evading existing antibiotics.
  
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• Efforts to restore imperiled Pando show promise

  03-02-2017 18:21
  
  If you're depending on a room filled with 90-year-olds to repopulate and save the human race, you may be setting your hopes a little too high.
  
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• Fin24.com | How to liberate Sassa from its hostage situation

  03-02-2017 18:07
  
  The Post Office has the power to stop this exploitation of the poor, writes social activist Bongi Poloma Makeba.
  
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• Busy Alaska Volcano: Seawater, Magma Figure in Eruptions

  03-02-2017 17:55
  An underwater volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands has erupted more than two dozen times since mid-December, and it could keep spewing ice crystals and rock fragments for months
  
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• Cyborg Insect Could Bring Big Advances In Medical Care

  03-02-2017 17:22 via nbcnews.com
  
  Researchers are also investigating how to use technology to interact with, and even guide, animals as they fly, enhancing the unique adaptations that allow them to take to the air.
  
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• ‘We Scientists Have an Obligation to Protest’

  03-02-2017 17:06 via nytimes.com
  Readers dismiss worries about politicizing science.
  
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• Flipping the switch on ammonia production: Process generates electricity instead of consuming energy

  03-02-2017 16:43
  
  Nearly a century ago, German chemist Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a process to generate ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen gases. The process, still in use today, ushered in a revolution in agriculture, but now consumes around one percent of the world's energy to achieve the high pressures and temperatures that drive the chemical reactions to produce ammonia.
  
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• Germanium outperforms silicon in energy efficient transistors with n- und p- conduction

  03-02-2017 15:57
  
  A team of scientists from the Nanoelectronic Materials Laboratory (NaMLab gGmbH) and the Cluster of Excellence Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) at the Dresden University of Technology have demonstrated the world-wide first transistor based on germanium that can be programmed between electron- (n) and hole- (p) conduction.
  
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• Court: Police with warrant can view private Twitter messages

  03-02-2017 15:57
  
  A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that law enforcement agencies can view private messages and tweets from private accounts on Twitter if they get a warrant.
  
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• Conflict and conformity, culture and technology ruled in rock's early days

  03-02-2017 15:39
  
  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame might look a lot different if rock music historians, rather than rock music critics, selected inductees to the hall, according to a Penn State cultural historian. There could even be a spot for Pat Boone's bust in that rock history hall of fame.
  
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• Norway: Russian hackers hit our spy agency, govt, military

  03-02-2017 15:33
  
  Norway's security service says nine email accounts in the Scandinavian country have been targeted by hackers believed to be associated with Russian intelligence but adds that no classified information has been taken.
  
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• Norway accuses Russia of cyberattack

  03-02-2017 15:33
  
  Norway's foreign ministry, army and other institutions were targeted in a recent cyberattack by a group suspected of ties to Russian authorities, Norwegian intelligence—which was among the targets—said Friday.
  
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• Emoticons help gauge school happiness level in young children

  03-02-2017 15:33
  
  A simple new questionnaire based on emoticon-style facial expressions could help teachers and others who work with children as young as four to engage them on their happiness and wellbeing levels in the classroom.
  
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• Empathetic people experience dogs' expressions more strongly

  03-02-2017 15:31
  
  Human empathy can even extend to dogs: empathetic people interpret dogs' facial expressions more intensely.
  
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• Men and women are not that different with respect to age preferences of sexual partners

  03-02-2017 15:29
  
  The difference between men and women with respect to their age preferences, when it comes to sexual partners, is smaller than earlier believed. A recent study shows that also men become interested in older and older women as they themselves age.
  
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