Sci-Tech news

• Self-Driving Cars Will Create Organ Shortage — Can Science Meet Demand?

  10-02-2017 21:18 via nbcnews.com
  
  With help from 3D printing and other bioengineering technologies, we may soon be able to grow our own organs and stop relying on donors.
  
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• Facebook's Oculus Virtual Reality Is Having a Tough Year Already

  10-02-2017 20:55 via nbcnews.com
  
  Facebook's virtual reality company, Oculus, isn't having the best start to 2017.
  
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• Ford invests $1B in robotics startup in driverless car quest

  10-02-2017 20:41
  
  Ford Motor will spend $1 billion to take over a robotics startup to acquire more of the expertise needed to reach its ambitious goal of having a fully driverless vehicle on the road by 2021.
  
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• Ford bets $1B on startup founded by Waymo, Uber vets (Update)

  10-02-2017 20:41
  
  Ford Motor is spending $1 billion to take over a budding robotics startup to acquire more expertise needed to reach its ambitious goal of having a fully driverless vehicle on the road by 2021.
  
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• Discovering what shapes language diversity

  10-02-2017 20:40
  
  A team of international researchers, led by Colorado State University's Michael Gavin, have taken a first step in answering fundamental questions about human diversity.
  
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• Researchers develop genetic tool to improve arsenic studies

  10-02-2017 20:39
  
  Environmental engineers are making it easier to identify the bacterial species responsible for releasing a form of arsenic that contaminates the water supplies of millions of people worldwide.
  
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• Surrounding real estate shows increase in value if near transit station

  10-02-2017 20:37
  
  A national meta-analysis led by a UTA researcher shows that single-family property increases only about 2.3 percent when located next to a transit station.
  
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• Review: The affordable speaker that keeps party going strong, lets you sing along

  10-02-2017 20:20
  
  My wife's family is from southern Louisiana, and every summer we head down there for a family reunion.
  
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• Using science to see which countries are following through on climate change goals

  10-02-2017 20:00
  
  If the United States and its fellow Paris Agreement signatories are to meet global climate targets, they're going to have to make serious commitments that attack the problem on multiple fronts, including reducing coal use, raising renewable energy, accelerating carbon-capture technologies and electrifying more of our automotive fleet, a new analysis shows.
  
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• Hubble sees spiral in Andromeda

  10-02-2017 19:56
  
  The Andromeda constellation is one of the 88 modern constellations and should not be confused with our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda constellation is home to the pictured galaxy known as NGC 7640.
  
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• Facebook to have outside audit of ad data

  10-02-2017 19:55
  
  Facebook on Friday promised an outside audit of data it provides advertisers in a move apparently aimed at quelling concerns about accuracy.
  
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• Astronomers Estimate That The Solar Nebula Lasted 3 To 4 Million Years

  10-02-2017 19:53 via scitechdaily.com
  
  By studying the remanent magnetizations in ancient meteorites, astronomers have determined that the solar nebula — the vast of disc of gas and dust that...
  The post Astronomers Estimate That The Solar Nebula Lasted 3 To 4 Million Years appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Dinosaur surprise: Scientists find collagen inside a 195-million-year-old bone

  10-02-2017 19:44
  
  Dinosaur paleontology has long been the domain of bones and teeth - but now soft tissues could be changing the game. Scientists say they have discovered collagen preserved in a 195-million-year-old rib from a long-necked Lufengosaurus.
  
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• Lecithin enhances antimicrobial properties of the essential oil, eugenol

  10-02-2017 19:40
  
  Lecithin, a natural emulsifier commonly used in processed foods, synergistically enhances the antimicrobial properties of the natural essential oil, eugenol, but only when applied in very small quantities. The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
  
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• Scientists solve fish evolution mystery

  10-02-2017 19:08
  
  A University of Wyoming researcher is part of an international team that has discovered how more than 700 species of fish have evolved in East Africa's Lake Victoria region over the past 150,000 years.
  
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• New Impact Craters Help Unlock Clues About Mars

  10-02-2017 19:04 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Astronomers use new craters on Mars to see beneath the dust blanket and determine the underlying rock compositions and textures. Mars is a dynamic planet....
  The post New Impact Craters Help Unlock Clues About Mars appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• These 'Smart Glasses' Might Soon Replace Your Bifocals

  10-02-2017 18:59 via nbcnews.com
  
  A team at the University of Utah has developed a "liquid" lens system that might replace traditional multi-focal lenses in the near future.
  
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• Sacrificing California spillway may avoid emergency releases

  10-02-2017 18:58
  
  California may avoid emergency releases from a rain-choked reservoir by further sacrificing a rapidly deteriorating concrete spillway while still protecting Oroville Dam, state officials said Friday.
  
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• Emergency spillway use likely at Oroville Dam in California

  10-02-2017 18:58
  
  Water could pour over an emergency spillway at Lake Oroville for the first time ever, a last-ditch alternative that California officials said they had been hoping to avoid.
  
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• Alzheimer's may be linked to defective brain cells spreading disease

  10-02-2017 18:57
  
  Rutgers scientists say neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may be linked to defective brain cells disposing toxic proteins that make neighboring cells sick.
  
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• A new open source dataset links human motion and language

  10-02-2017 18:57
  
  Researchers have created a large, open source database to support the development of robot activities based on natural language input. The new KIT Motion-Language Dataset will help to unify and standardize research linking human motion and natural language, as presented in an article in Big Data.
  
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• New study of ferroelectrics offers roadmap to multivalued logic for neuromorphic computing

  10-02-2017 18:55
  
  Research published Wednesday, in Nature Scientific Reports lays out a theoretical map to use ferroelectric material to process information using multivalued logic - a leap beyond the simple ones and zeroes that make up our current computing systems that could let us process information much more efficiently.
  
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• Video: The search for human pheromones

  10-02-2017 18:54
  
  Molecules known as pheromones are a potent form of chemical communication in the animal kingdom, able to convey a creature's gender, fertility and more with scent alone. Scientists have sought to determine if humans' body odor also contains pheromones.
  
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• Amateurs Process Cassini Images to Create Their Own Spectacular Scenes

  10-02-2017 18:50 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using Cassini’s images, amateur astronomers create their own spectacular scenes. Although the motivation behind NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn was scientific, part of the planet’s...
  The post Amateurs Process Cassini Images to Create Their Own Spectacular Scenes appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Protecting bulk power systems from hackers

  10-02-2017 18:49
  
  Reliability measures of electrical grid has risen to a new norm as it involves physical security and cybersecurity. Threats to either can trigger instability, leading to blackouts and economic losses.
  
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• Study Sets Key Time Scale for Planet Formation and Migration in Our Solar System

  10-02-2017 18:10 via scitechdaily.com
  
  New measurements of the magnetic field strength in angrite samples find it to be very weak, implying that the field, and the solar nebula itself,...
  The post Study Sets Key Time Scale for Planet Formation and Migration in Our Solar System appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• How Google Chromebooks conquered schools

  10-02-2017 16:36
  
  The Google Chromebook, a type of stripped-down laptop, isn't a practical mobile device for many people—mostly because it basically turns into an expensive paperweight whenever it can't find a Wi-Fi connection.
  
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• Music professor receives patent to help fight bark beetles ravaging Western forests

  10-02-2017 16:35
  
  UC Santa Cruz music professor David Dunn has joined forces with two forest scientists from Northern Arizona University to combat an insect infestation that is killing millions of trees throughout the West.
  
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• NASA's spots Tropical Cyclone Carlos' night-time stretch

  10-02-2017 16:33
  
  NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a night-time image of Tropical Cyclone Carlos using infrared light that showed the storm was being stretched out. Carlos is being adversely affected by the Westerlies.
  
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• Ancient signals from the early universe

  10-02-2017 16:32
  
  For the first time, theoretical physicists from the University of Basel have calculated the signal of specific gravitational wave sources that emerged fractions of a second after the Big Bang. The source of the signal is a long-lost cosmological phenomenon called "oscillon". The journal Physical Review Letters has published the results.
  
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• Gaining an edge in head-to-head competition

  10-02-2017 16:31
  
  Pairs of dominant retailers in direct competition - Macy's and Gimbel's, Saks and Bloomingdale's, Dick's and Sports Authority - are always trying to find an edge over their rival. Money back guarantees, or MBGs, and personalized pricing strategy, or PPS, work well for monopoly retailers. But how do they affect duopolies?
  
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• Team publishes new data about the history of the Pacific Ring of Fire

  10-02-2017 16:29
  
  The movements of Earth's tectonic plates shape the face of our planet. The sinking of one plate beneath another causes volcanism and earthquakes. As part of the International Ocean Discovery Program, an international science team was able to drill and investigate the origin of a subduction zone for the first time in 2014. The team is now publishing its data in the international scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
  
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• Litter levels in the depths of the Arctic are on the rise

  10-02-2017 16:27
  
  The Arctic has a serious litter problem: in just ten years, the concentration of marine litter at a deep-sea station in the Arctic Ocean has risen 20-fold. This was recently reported in a study by researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
  
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• Bluebells may fail to flourish as warmer days speed start of spring

  10-02-2017 16:19
  
  Carpets of bluebells have long been a feature of spring woodlands - but the flowers may not be at their best in years to come as climates get warmer, research suggests.
  
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• Quest to settle riddle over Einstein's theory may soon be over

  10-02-2017 16:06
  
  Astronomy experiments could soon test an idea developed by Albert Einstein almost exactly a century ago, scientists say.
  
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• Scientist calls for industrial scale-up of greenhouse gas-eating microbe technology in UK

  10-02-2017 15:40
  
  A leading green energy scientist who uses bacteria to turn greenhouse gases into usable chemicals is calling for more investment from industry and government subsidies to scale up this newest of technologies.
  
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• Super-additive leading the way to more sustainable aquaculture feed

  10-02-2017 15:30
  
  Fish farmers are always looking for sustainable feed that can make fish strong and healthy. A new study led by the CSIC in Spain concludes that marine feed ingredients in aquaculture can potentially be replaced by plant ingredients without detrimental effects, when appropriate feed additives are added.
  
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• NASA approves first commercial airlock for space station science and SmallSat deployment

  10-02-2017 15:20
  
  In a significant move towards further expansion of the International Space Station's (ISS) burgeoning research and commercial space economy capabilities, NASA has approved the development of the first privately developed airlock and is targeting blastoff to the orbiting lab complex in two years.
  
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• Liposomes modified with temperature-responsive polymers are tuned for cellular uptake

  10-02-2017 15:20
  
  (Phys.org)—Drug delivery is tricky because the therapeutic compound needs to be non-toxic and deliver the correct dosage at the correct time. Some therapeutics are chemically unstable and others do not have the correct solubility profile for cellular uptake. One way that researchers have overcome some of these drawbacks is using stimuli-responsive polymers.
  
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• Attack on an airline or airport could cost the economy billions in losses

  10-02-2017 15:14
  
  The potential economic losses of the recent deadly attack in the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport could top billions of dollars over the next two years, according to USC terrorism experts.
  
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• Major breakthrough in search for environmentally friendly pesticide

  10-02-2017 15:10
  
  A 'new generation' of environmentally friendly pesticides is a step closer as researchers make an important breakthrough in pest control efficiency thanks to an insect-killing fungus.
  
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• What do gorilla suits and blowfish fallacies have to do with climate change?

  10-02-2017 15:00
  
  A famous psychology experiment instructed participants to watch a short video, counting the number of times players in white shirts passed the ball. If you haven't seen it before, I encourage you to give the following short video your full attention and follow the instructions:
  
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• Heavy, short-lived elementary particle could help refine understanding of the universe

  10-02-2017 14:54
  
  The top quark is a unique little thing.
  
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• Immigration suppresses crime, research shows

  10-02-2017 14:53
  
  Editor's note: In his first week in office, President Donald Trump showed he intends to follow through on his immigration promises. A major focus of his campaign was on removing immigrants who, he said, were increasing crime in American communities.
  
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• Spanish software optimizes design of new mobile device chargers

  10-02-2017 14:50
  
  An electronic power converter is a system that adapts electric energy from a source to a specific load need. "For example, it's the system that obtains energy from the electricity grid through a socket and adapts it to charge the battery of a mobile telephone or other devices," said Andrés Barrado, one of the UC3M professors who created this company.
  
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• Researchers use artificial neural network to simulate a quantum many-body system

  10-02-2017 14:50
  
  (Phys.org)—A pair of physicists with ETH Zurich has developed a way to use an artificial neural network to characterize the wave function of a quantum many-body system. In their paper published in the journal Science, Giuseppe Carleo and Matthias Troyer describe how they coaxed a neural network to simulate some aspects of a quantum many-body system. Michael Hush with the University of New South Wales offers a Perspectives piece on the work done by the pair in the same journal issue and als
  
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• Fish express a form of fever related to that of humans

  10-02-2017 14:45
  
  Fish express a form of fever in response to infection. This can save their live. A study, lead by Professor Alain Vanderplasschen of the Laboratory of Immunology-Vaccinology of the Univeristy of Liège (FARAH), reveals that it is induced by the same molecule that triggers fever in humans.
  
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• Unique properties of 2-D materials and metals grown on carbon-coated surfaces

  10-02-2017 14:44
  
  Two-dimensional materials are a bit of a mind-bending concept. Humans live in a three-dimensional world, after all, where everything observed in our natural world has height, width, and depth. And yet when graphene—a carbon material unique in its truly flat, one-atom-deep dimension—was first produced in 2004, the mind-bending concept became reality and an unexplored frontier in materials science.
  
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• Adaptor proteins control ion channel gating mechanism

  10-02-2017 14:43
  
  Ion channels are proteins that form pores in cellular membranes, which can be opened and shut like lock gates to allow the passage of electrically charged atoms (ions). Members of this class of proteins are crucial components involved in a wide range of processes that are essential for survival. In order to ensure that they correctly perform these functions, however, the opening and closing of these pores must be carefully regulated. LMU researchers led by Professor Dr. Michael Mederos y Schnitz
  
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• Long-term impacts of deep-sea mineral mining

  10-02-2017 14:40
  
  A new international study has demonstrated that deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life. This study, led by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), was the first to review all the available information on the impacts of small-scale sea-floor disturbances simulating mining activity. It found clear impacts on marine ecosystems from deep-sea nodule mining activities, which lasted at least for decades.
  
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