Sci-Tech news

• Robots, high-tech tools join battle against invasive species

  28-04-2017 23:32
  
  New, creative but more high-tech methods may finally be turning the tide in the fight against invasive species
  
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• Long-term fate of tropical forests may not be as dire as believed, study says

  28-04-2017 20:53
  
  Tropical rainforests are often described as the "lungs of the earth," able to inhale carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and exhale oxygen in return. The faster they grow, the more they mitigate climate change by absorbing CO2.
  
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• With unique data, researchers track the effect of Brazil's 'Soy Moratorium' on an advancing agricultural frontier

  28-04-2017 20:47
  
  The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso produces enough soybeans to be the equivalent of Iowa and Illinois put together. But it also plays home to lush Amazon rain forest, one of the richest, and most vulnerable, ecological treasures on our planet.
  
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• Hybrid circuits can increase computational power of chaos-based systems

  28-04-2017 20:45
  
  New research from North Carolina State University has found that combining digital and analog components in nonlinear, chaos-based integrated circuits can improve their computational power by enabling processing of a larger number of inputs. This "best of both worlds" approach could lead to circuits that can perform more computations without increasing their physical size.
  
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• PowerPoint and LED projector enable new technique for self-folding origami

  28-04-2017 20:44
  
  Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Peking University have found a new use for the ubiquitous PowerPoint slide: Producing self-folding three-dimensional origami structures from photocurable liquid polymers.
  
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• New organic lasers one step closer to reality

  28-04-2017 20:40
  
  New research could make lasers emitting a wide range of colors more accessible and open new applications from communications and sensing to displays.
  
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• Discovery of a facile process for H2 production using ammonia as a carrier

  28-04-2017 20:16
  
  Hydrogen (H2) has attracted considerable attention as a clean energy source because the only by-product of its reaction with oxygen is water, and high efficiency for energy conversion is achieved when it is combined with fuel cell technologies.
  
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• Trump moves to lift bans on Arctic drilling

  28-04-2017 20:07
  
  US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at lifting bans on drilling for oil and gas in offshore Arctic and Atlantic areas, saying it would pull in "billions of dollars" for America and create jobs.
  
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• Plague bacteria take refuge in amoebae

  28-04-2017 20:05
  
  Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, can survive within the ubiquitous soil protozoan, the amoeba, by producing proteins that protect against the latter microbe's digestion. The research is published April 28th in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
  
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• Modern metabolic science yields better way to calculate indoor CO2

  28-04-2017 20:05
  
  The air we breathe out can help us improve the quality of the air we breathe in.
  
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• UCLA Engineers Develop a New Technique to Control Laser Polarization

  28-04-2017 19:44 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Engineers at UCLA have developed a new technique to control the polarization state of a laser that could lead to a new class of powerful,...
  The post UCLA Engineers Develop a New Technique to Control Laser Polarization appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• NASA Putting Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope on Pause, Need to Review Project

  28-04-2017 18:51 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Over the next several months, NASA will review the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) project to help ensure it would provide compelling scientific capability...
  The post NASA Putting Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope on Pause, Need to Review Project appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• 6 Bots That Deliver Science and Serendipity on Twitter

  28-04-2017 18:45 via nytimes.com
  Not all bots on Twitter are out to spam, hack or misinform you. These science-themed bots dole out humor, factual information and galactic perspective.
  
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• Harvard Astronomers Find Evidence of Shocked Gas in Galaxy Collisions

  28-04-2017 18:18 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Using the ALMA submillimeter array, a team of astronomers form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have found evidence for shocked gas near the nucleus of...
  The post Harvard Astronomers Find Evidence of Shocked Gas in Galaxy Collisions appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Is dark matter 'fuzzy'?

  28-04-2017 18:15
  
  Astronomers have used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the properties of dark matter, the mysterious, invisible substance that makes up a majority of matter in the universe. The study, which involves 13 galaxy clusters, explores the possibility that dark matter may be more "fuzzy" than "cold," perhaps even adding to the complexity surrounding this cosmic conundrum.
  
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• Tiny joints for reconfigurable microstructures

  28-04-2017 17:57
  
  Leiden physicists exploit self-assembly of small particles to someday create functional structures such as micro-robots from the bottom up. Now they took an important step forward by experimentally realizing joints on the micrometer scale. The study is published in Nanoscale journal.
  
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• German airlines to scrap 'two-person' cockpit rule

  28-04-2017 17:42
  
  German airlines will no longer require two people to be in the cockpit at all times, an industry group said Friday, abandoning a rule introduced after a deadly crash in 2015.
  
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• Scientists set record resolution for drawing at the one-nanometer length scale

  28-04-2017 17:27
  
  The ability to pattern materials at ever-smaller sizes—using electron-beam lithography (EBL), in which an electron-sensitive material is exposed to a focused beam of electrons, as a primary method—is driving advances in nanotechnology. When the feature size of materials is reduced from the macroscale to the nanoscale, individual atoms and molecules can be manipulated to dramatically alter material properties, such as color, chemical reactivity, electrical conductivity, and light inte
  
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• Hubble's bright shining lizard star

  28-04-2017 17:26
  
  In space, being outshone is an occupational hazard. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a galaxy named NGC 7250. Despite being remarkable in its own right—it has bright bursts of star formation and recorded supernova explosions—it blends into the background somewhat thanks to the gloriously bright star hogging the limelight next to it.
  
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• AI-based smartphone application can predict user's health risks

  28-04-2017 17:15
  
  VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed artificial intelligence (AI)-based data analysis methods used in a smartphone application of Odum Ltd. The application can estimate its users' health risks and, if necessary, guide them towards a healthier lifestyle.
  
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• Video: Why chemists marched for science

  28-04-2017 16:31
  
  Tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C., and many more at hundreds of satellite marches around the world on Saturday to join the first March for Science.
  
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• Fin24.com | Online videos of killings pose tricky problem for Facebook

  28-04-2017 16:31
  
  Posting a smartphone video online has never been so easy - even if the video shows a murder.
  
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• New study revises the development and evolutionary origin of the vertebrate brain

  28-04-2017 16:09
  
  A study recently published in PLOS Biology provides information that substantially changes the prevailing idea about the brain formation process in vertebrates and sheds some light on how it might have evolved.
  
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• Further knowledge required about the differences between milk proteins

  28-04-2017 16:08
  
  New knowledge on milk composition and quality is of essential importance to consumers as well as the industry. There are therefore considerable research efforts in milk worldwide. One of the major topics concerns milk's content of different proteins and their importance to human health. Basically, milk consists of two protein types - whey and casein. Casein can be further divided into four categories. One of these, beta casein, attracts particular attention. Several beta casein types exist and A
  
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• WATCH: Amazon's Alexa gets makeover as virtual fashion assistant

  28-04-2017 16:06
  
  The "GMA" team of insiders analyzes some of the biggest stories trending this morning.
  
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• Unlikely pair of plants named after stars of movie 'Twins'

  28-04-2017 15:59
  
  Biologists from The Australian National University (ANU) have named an unlikely pair of plants after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, the stars of the 1988 movie Twins.
  
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• Uber demotes exec at center of self-driving tech lawsuit

  28-04-2017 15:43
  
  Uber has demoted an executive heading its self-driving car operations who has been at the center of a lawsuit filed by Alphabet's Waymo accusing the ride-sharing giant of theft.
  
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• Thin layers of water hold promise for the energy storage of the future

  28-04-2017 15:42
  
  Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a material which incorporates atomically thin layers of water is able to store and deliver energy much more quickly than the same material that doesn't include the water layers. The finding raises some interesting questions about the behavior of liquids when confined at this scale and holds promise for shaping future energy-storage technologies.
  
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• Astronomers find black hole in Sagittarius constellation

  28-04-2017 15:40
  
  An international team of astronomers led The University of Manchester have found evidence of a new 'missing-link' black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, hidden in the Sagittarius constellation.
  
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• Medical guidelines for astronauts to be launched in the US

  28-04-2017 15:31
  
  With Cassini making final preparations to penetrate Saturn's rings, and renewed interest in colonising the Moon and sending people to Mars, space flight and exploration are experiencing a level of interest not seen since the Apollo missions to the Moon in the late 60's and 70's, and the space shuttle programme of the 80's.
  
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• Dawn of organic single crystal electronics

  28-04-2017 15:31
  
  Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences (Japan) have developed a method for high performance doping of organic single crystal. Furthermore, they succeeded in the Hall effect measurement of the crystal—the world's first case. The research has been published in the Advanced Materials.
  
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• Apple cuts off payments, Qualcomm slashes expectations

  28-04-2017 15:30
  
  Qualcomm slashed its profit expectations Friday by as much as a third after saying that Apple is refusing to pay royalties on technology used in the iPhone.
  
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• Fast, low energy, and continuous biofuel extraction from microalgae

  28-04-2017 15:18
  
  As an alternative to liquid fossil fuels, biodiesel extracted from microalgae is an increasingly important part of the bioenergy field. While it releases a similar amount of CO2 as petroleum when burned, the CO2 released from biodiesel is that which has recently been removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis meaning that it does not contribute to an increase of the greenhouse gas. Furthermore, research has shown that microalgae produces a much higher percentage of their biomass to usable oi
  
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• Mapping the edge of reality

  28-04-2017 15:17
  
  Australian and German researchers have collaborated to develop a genetic algorithm to confirm the rejection of classical notions of causality.
  
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• Quantum experiments probe underlying physics of rogue ocean waves

  28-04-2017 15:16
  
  By precisely controlling the quantum behavior of an ultracold atomic gas, Rice University physicists have created a model system for studying the wave phenomenon that may bring about rogue waves in Earth's oceans.
  
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• Bacterial symbionts transition between plant pathogenicity and insect defensive mutualism

  28-04-2017 15:13
  
  An international team of researchers have discovered a remarkable microbe with a Jekyll and Hyde character. The bacterium Burkholderia gladioli lives in specific organs of a plant-feeding beetle and defends the insect's eggs from detrimental fungi by producing antibiotics. However, when transferred to a plant, the bacterium can spread throughout the tissues and negatively affect the plant.
  
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• The world's fastest film camera: when light practically stands still

  28-04-2017 15:03
  
  Forget high-speed cameras capturing 100 000 images per second. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has developed a camera that can film at a rate equivalent to five trillion images per second, or events as short as 0.2 trillionths of a second. This is faster than has previously been possible.
  
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• WATCH: College student credits his Apple Watch for saving his life

  28-04-2017 15:00
  
  Casey Bennett knew that by pressing down the side button of his Apple Watch it would dial 911 and text his emergency contact.
  
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• Looking to the moon to better measure climate change on Earth

  28-04-2017 15:00
  
  When American astronaut Alfred Worden, who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971, was asked what he was feeling at that time, he replied: "Now I know why I'm here. Not for a closer look at the moon, but to look back at our home, the Earth."
  
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• How many people actually believe in astrology?

  28-04-2017 14:55
  
  Astrology and horoscope columns are a familiar feature of tabloid newspapers, women's magazines and the web. They claim, controversially for some, that there is a meaningful relationship between celestial and terrestrial events, especially human affairs.
  
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• Image: Copernicus Sentinel-3A captures Bering Sea

  28-04-2017 14:54
  
  The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite brings us over the Bering Sea, north of the Alaska Peninsula, on 26 March.
  
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• How to fix India's burning issue—turn unwanted straw into bio-energy pellets

  28-04-2017 14:54
  
  Each year, fires rage across northern India, as farmers burn off their unwanted straw. The impact is enormous. From October into November, massive clouds of smoke streak across Punjab and neighbouring states, blown by the prevailing winds in the direction of Delhi.
  
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• Fin24.com | Refurbished Note 7 over R3 000 cheaper - only in South Korea

  28-04-2017 14:51
  
  The world's most controversial smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, will reportedly go on sale in June and in South Korea only.
  
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• Russian prosecutors seek 3½ years for 'Pokemon Go' blogger

  28-04-2017 14:33
  
  Russian prosecutors requested a 3½ year prison sentence Friday for a blogger charged with inciting religious hatred for playing "Pokemon Go" in a church
  
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• Brown bears found to leave scent signals by twisting feet into the ground

  28-04-2017 14:30
  
  (Phys.org)—A team of researchers from Poland, Spain and Austria has discovered that brown bears living in Poland have glands in their paws that produce chemicals that the bears use to communicate with other bears. In their paper published in Scientific Reports, the team describes their study of multiple bears in the wild and what they observed.
  
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• Did artists lead the way in mathematics?

  28-04-2017 14:20
  
  Mathematics and art are generally viewed as very different disciplines – one devoted to abstract thought, the other to feeling. But sometimes the parallels between the two are uncanny.
  
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• Study highlights potential impact of CCTV in police investigations

  28-04-2017 14:10
  
  CCTV cameras provide evidence 'useful' to the police in two-thirds of the investigations in which they are available new research suggests.
  
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• Fast electrons and the seeds of disruption

  28-04-2017 14:00
  
  Measuring small fast electron populations hidden in a sea of colder "thermal" electrons in tokamak plasmas is very challenging. Why? The challenge comes from the fast electron signal being overwhelmed by thermal electron signal in most diagnostics. Physicists at the University of California-San Diego, with physicists from Oak Ridge National Lab and from General Atomics, have succeeded in measuring fast electron populations. They achieved this first-of-its-kind result by seeing the effect of the
  
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• The science of laughter – and why it also has a dark side

  28-04-2017 13:50
  
  When you hear someone laugh behind you, you probably picture them on the phone or with a friend – smiling and experiencing a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Chances are just the sound of the laughter could make you smile or even laugh along. But imagine that the person laughing is just walking around alone in the street, or sitting behind you at a funeral. Suddenly, it doesn't seem so inviting.
  
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• Australian volcanic eruption may have lived on in Aboriginal stories

  28-04-2017 13:47
  
  New research shows that a volcano in northeastern Australia last erupted around 7000 years ago – and stories passed down by the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal people suggest they were there to see it happen.
  
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