Sci-Tech news

• 7 things happening in health and science today that aren’t the eclipse

  21-08-2017 22:31
  
  ScienceBecause life will go on tomorrow, and you should be informed.
  Solving peanut allergies, dubious cancer links, and more that's happening while everyone else in America is focused on the eclipse.
  
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• New climate change report likely to be ignored to death

  21-08-2017 22:10
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially confirmed last week that 2016 was the Earth's hottest year on record, surpassing 2015, which surpassed 2014. The NOAA had reported this unofficially back in January. What made last week's announcement noteworthy is that the NOAA is now part of the administration of President Donald Trump, who has famously called global warming a "hoax."
  
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• GE's Immelt among finalists in Uber CEO search

  21-08-2017 21:52
  Two people briefed on Uber's search for a new CEO say former General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt is among the finalists under consideration. But they say there's no clear consensus on Uber's board about a front-runner.
  
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• Researchers find an alternative mode of bacterial quorum sensing

  21-08-2017 21:51
  Whether growing in a puddle of dirty water or inside the human body, large groups of bacteria must coordinate their behavior to perform essential tasks that they would not be able to carry out individually. Bacteria achieve this coordination through a process called quorum sensing in which the microorganisms produce and secrete small molecules called autoinducers that can be detected by neighboring bacterial cells. Only when a large number of bacteria are present can the levels of secreted autoi
  
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• Clean energy scores a small victory

  21-08-2017 21:40
  Government scientists worried that their long-in-the-works assessment of climate change would be suppressed. The concern hardly rates as overwrought. Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. President Donald Trump has called the concept a hoax pushed by the Chinese. (Or maybe he was joking?)
  
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• Hackers hit Malaysian sites over Indonesia flag gaffe

  21-08-2017 21:20
  Indonesian hackers on Monday claimed responsibility for attacking more than 30 Malaysian websites following a gaffe that saw Indonesia's flag printed upside-down in a Southeast Asian Games commemorative magazine.
  
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• Google to serve next version of Android as 'Oreo"

  21-08-2017 21:15
  An upcoming update to Google's Android software finally has a delectable name. The next version will be known as Oreo, extending Google's tradition of naming each version after a sweet treat.
  
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• Get Started: FBI warns of spreading W-2 email theft scheme

  21-08-2017 21:10
  The IRS is warning businesses about a sharp increase in email phishing scams involving employees' W-2 forms—scams that can put staffers' Social Security numbers and other critical information in the hands of thieves.
  
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• Virus reprograms ocean plankton

  21-08-2017 21:00
  A virus which infects ocean plankton can reprogramme cells and change the way they absorb nutrients - potentially changing how carbon is stored in the ocean, new research shows.
  
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• Targeted forest regeneration: A blueprint for conserving tropical biological diversity?

  21-08-2017 21:00
  Tropical forests contain more than one-half of all plant and animal species on Earth. Unfortunately, they are disappearing at the highest rate of any forests worldwide. Furthermore, many of the most threatened tropical species are restricted to 20 or so biodiversity hotspots, which are sites that have lost more than 70 percent of their original habitat.
  
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• Polarization for controversial scientific issues increases with more education

  21-08-2017 21:00
  A commonly proposed solution to help diffuse the political and religious polarization surrounding controversial scientific issues like evolution or climate change is education.
  
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• Evolutionary arms 'chase'

  21-08-2017 21:00
  In nature, plants engage in a never-ending battle to avoid being eaten. Unable to run away, plant species have evolved defenses to deter herbivores; they have spines, produce nasty chemicals, or grow tough leaves that are difficult to chew. For years, scientists have assumed that herbivores and plants are locked into evolutionary competition in which a plant evolves a defense, the herbivore evolves a workaround, and so on.
  
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• Dino-killing asteroid could have thrust Earth into 2 years of darkness

  21-08-2017 21:00
  Tremendous amounts of soot, lofted into the air from global wildfires following a massive asteroid strike 66 million years ago, would have plunged Earth into darkness for nearly two years, new research finds. This would have shut down photosynthesis, drastically cooled the planet, and contributed to the mass extinction that marked the end of the age of dinosaurs.
  
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• Chile rejects iron mine to protect penguins

  21-08-2017 21:00
  Chile on Monday rejected plans for a $2.5 billion iron-mining project in order to protect thousands of endangered penguins.
  
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• Chemicals from gut bacteria maintain vitality in aging animals

  21-08-2017 21:00
  A class of chemicals made by intestinal bacteria, known as indoles, help worms, flies and mice maintain mobility and resilience for more of their lifespans, scientists have discovered.
  
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• Analysis of a 'rusty' lunar rock suggests the moon's interior is dry

  21-08-2017 21:00
  The moon is likely very dry in its interior according to a new study from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, published August 21, 2017 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
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• Walmart expands grocery service with Uber to 2 more markets

  21-08-2017 20:50
  Walmart is expanding its grocery delivery service with ride-hailing service Uber to two more markets—Dallas and Orlando, Florida.
  
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• Moon blots the sun out of the sky in historic US eclipse

  21-08-2017 20:39
  Millions of Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and disposable protective glasses Monday as the moon blotted out the sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in nearly a century.
  
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• Historic eclipse turns day into night across the US (Update)

  21-08-2017 20:39
  Millions of Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and disposable protective glasses Monday as the moon blotted out the sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in nearly a century.
  
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• 'A primal experience': Americans dazzled by solar eclipse (Update)

  21-08-2017 20:39
  The stars came out in the middle of the day, zoo animals ran in agitated circles, crickets chirped, birds fell silent and a chilly darkness settled upon the land Monday as the U.S. witnessed its first full-blown, coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I.
  
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• Mars weather: 'Cloudy, chance of nighttime snowstorm'

  21-08-2017 20:29
  Mars is buffeted by turbulent snowstorms that occur only at night, according to a study released Monday that revises our understanding of Red Planet weather.
  
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• People favor highly reviewed products, even when they shouldn't

  21-08-2017 20:18
  When we're trying to decide which cell phone case to buy or which hotel room to book, we often rely on the ratings and reviews of others to help us choose. But new research suggests that we tend to use this information in ways that can actually work to our disadvantage.
  
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• Biofuels from bacteria

  21-08-2017 20:10
  You might not cook with this sugar, but from a biofuels standpoint, it's pretty sweet. A Bay Area company has patented a group of three single-celled, algae-like organisms that, when grown together, can produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels. Sandia National Laboratories is helping HelioBioSys Inc. learn whether farming them on a large scale would be successful.
  
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• A good read: AI evaluates quality of short stories

  21-08-2017 20:07
  The idea that artificial intelligence will someday be able to understand and even generate narratives has inspired and motivated researchers for years. A question inextricably bound to both lines of research remains unresolved, however: Can AI recognize a good story if it sees one?
  
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• Silicon Valley Faces Its Alt-Right Demons

  21-08-2017 19:49 via nbcnews.com
  Online alt-right activity has thrust Silicon Valley into the center of a debate on race and hate speech.
  
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• Why AI visionary Andrew Ng teaches humans to teach computers

  21-08-2017 19:44
  AI visionary Andrew Ng doesn't just build computers that learn, he teaches the people to teach them
  
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• Plants under heat stress must act surprisingly quickly to survive

  21-08-2017 19:40
  In new results reported in The Plant Cell, molecular biologist Elizabeth Vierling at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues in India and China report finding a crucial mechanism that plants need to recover from heat stress.
  
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• Astronomers Detail the Nature of Solar Brightness Variations

  21-08-2017 19:21 via scitechdaily.com
  For the first time, researchers reconstruct and detail the two phenomena that are responsible for the fluctuation of brightness in our sun. The Sun shines...
  The post Astronomers Detail the Nature of Solar Brightness Variations appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• How to look at the eclipse without damaging your eyes

  21-08-2017 19:02
  
  HealthIt’s always a bad idea to look directly at the sun, and today is no exception.
  Looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse can cause damage to your eyes, known as solar retinopathy. Here's what it is and how to avoid it.
  
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• Neuroscientists Reveal the Brain Circuit Dedicated to Retrieving Memories

  21-08-2017 18:19 via scitechdaily.com
  Neuroscientists from MIT have shown, for the first time, that recalling a memory requires a “detour” circuit that branches off from the original memory circuit....
  The post Neuroscientists Reveal the Brain Circuit Dedicated to Retrieving Memories appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• Come watch a live stream of today's total solar eclipse

  21-08-2017 18:15
  SpaceExperience over two minutes of glorious darkness.
  Experience a total solar eclipse from Union, Missouri, courtesy of the University of Missouri St. Louis and East Central College, Union Missouri.
  
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• Hubble Space Telescope Views Dwarf Galaxy NGC 178

  21-08-2017 18:02 via scitechdaily.com
  This Hubble Space Telescope image of the week shows dwarf galaxy NGC 178, which is located roughly 65 million light-years away. NGC 178 may be...
  The post Hubble Space Telescope Views Dwarf Galaxy NGC 178 appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• WATCH: The coincidental geometry of a total solar eclipse

  21-08-2017 17:42
  
  SpaceIt's both chance and certainty. And there's something kind of beautiful about that.
  The beautiful chance and certainty of a total solar eclipse explained.
  
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• Fin24.com | PPF cheers Manyi's Gupta media purchase

  21-08-2017 17:41
  
  The Progressive Professionals Forum says the sale of Gupta-owned ANN7 and The New Age newspaper to its president will bring a patriotic and progressive voice to South Africa.
  
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• Warmer waters from climate change will leave fish shrinking, gasping for air

  21-08-2017 17:34
  Fish are expected to shrink in size by 20 to 30 per cent if ocean temperatures continue to climb due to climate change.
  
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• Understanding brittle crack behaviors to design stronger materials

  21-08-2017 17:29
  In a paper published in Nature Physics, Northeastern University Department of Physics Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Alain Karma, in collaboration with his postdoctoral research associate Chih-Hung Chen and Professor Eran Bouchbinder of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Chemical Physics Department, discovered the mechanism that causes cracks to behave strangely when they spread very rapidly in brittle materials. The results of this study will help researchers better understand how f
  
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• "R-Factor" Unlikely To Fix Science

  21-08-2017 17:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new tool called the R-factor could help ensure that science is reproducible and valid, according to a preprint posted on biorxiv: Science with no fiction. The authors, led by Peter Grabitz, are so confident in their idea that they've created a company called Verum Analytics to promote it. But how useful is this new metric going to be?Not very useful, in my view. The R-factor (which stands for "reproducibility, reputation, responsibility, and robustness") strikes me as a flawed idea.
  
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• Singapore Hosts Global Housing Forum To Promote New Urban Agenda

  21-08-2017 17:18 via technocracy.news
  Arguably the world’s most advanced Technocracy, Singapore will inoculate world policy makers with techniques of building ‘sustainable cities and homes’ in order to ‘improve the lives of our people.’ Asking the people what they think is not even considered. ⁃ TN EditorSingapore is set to host the International Housing Forum (IHF 2017), where about 400 professionals and policy makers from around the world will meet together to share ideas and good practices
  
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• aCar—the electric 'all-rounder'

  21-08-2017 17:10
  An electric car for Africa, custom-designed for the needs of the population there, that strengthens rural structures and helps drive the economy: Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and partners have been working intensively towards this goal for four years. They will present their new prototype to the public at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt from September 12 to 15, 2017. The aCar is designed for passenger and cargo transportation and is also interesting for
  
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• Livestream: The Great American Eclipse

  21-08-2017 17:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Today, I walked into the Discover magazine offices and found myself in a ghost town—I may have even seen a tumbleweed or two drift by as I made my way down the hall to hunker down in front of my computer screen for the day. Indeed, most of mu colleagues (who put their vacation requests in early) are by now somewhere near the path of totality, savoring one of the most awe-inspiring cosmic events we Earthlings can ask for.Me, well, I'm back here keeping the lights on.If you happen to b
  
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• Satellite watches remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey near Honduras

  21-08-2017 17:02
  NOAA's GOES-East satellite has been watching the remnants for former Tropical Storm Harvey as it tracks west across the Caribbean Sea. Early on Aug. 21 the remnants were just off the coast of eastern Honduras.
  
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• NASA sees major Hurricane Kenneth in Eastern Pacific

  21-08-2017 17:01
  Former Tropical Depression 13E has strengthened into a Major Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. NASA's Terra satellite passed over Kenneth and captured an image that showed a well-developed storm with a visible eye.
  
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• Scientists create 'diamond rain' that forms in the interior of icy giant planets

  21-08-2017 17:00
  In an experiment designed to mimic the conditions deep inside the icy giant planets of our solar system, scientists were able to observe "diamond rain" for the first time as it formed in high-pressure conditions. Extremely high pressure squeezes hydrogen and carbon found in the interior of these planets to form solid diamonds that sink slowly down further into the interior.
  
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• First integrated atlas of microRNA expression in human primary cells

  21-08-2017 17:00
  The human body consists of hundreds of different cell types with very different functions and behaviors, despite the fact that the genome sequence of almost all cells of an individual person is identical. The variation in functional roles of cells is accomplished by an intricate regulatory network consisting of regulatory proteins as well as regulatory RNAs such as microRNAs. Dysregulation of such networks plays a major role in disease development, in particular in cancer.
  
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• Engineers predict how flowing fluid will bend tiny hairs that line blood vessels and intestines

  21-08-2017 17:00
  Our bodies are lined on the inside with soft, microscopic carpets of hair, from the grassy extensions on our tastebuds, to fuzzy beds of microvilli in our stomachs, to superfine protein strands throughout our blood vessels. These hairy projections, anchored to soft surfaces, bend and twist with the currents of the fluids they're immersed in.
  
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• Antarctic salt-loving microbes provide insights into evolution of viruses

  21-08-2017 17:00
  UNSW Sydney scientists studying microbes from some of the saltiest lakes in Antarctica have discovered a new way that the microbes can share DNA that could help them grow and survive.
  
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• A holodeck for flies, fish and mice

  21-08-2017 17:00
  How do people orient themselves when they are in a new area? How do we use street signs or houses, for instance, to estimate the distance we have traveled? Put simply: how do we update our mental map? Neuroscientists have been studying such questions in animals to learn about the basic principles of spatial cognition. "Until now, we have envied an invention from the world of science fiction: a holodeck like they have in Star Trek," says Prof. Dr. Andrew Straw. The holodeck is a space which can s
  
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• Before the flood: What drives preparedness?

  21-08-2017 16:50
  A new study across Austria, England, and Romania finds room for improvement in both public and private schemes that could help encourage risk reduction behaviors and reduce losses in future disasters.
  
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• UK promises to prosecute online hate crimes vigorously

  21-08-2017 16:41
  British authorities are promising to prosecute hate crimes committed online as vigorously as those that take place face-to-face, recognizing the growth of hate speech on social media and the potential for such crimes to affect large numbers of people.
  
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• Bill Nye's advice for enjoying the eclipse

  21-08-2017 16:41
  
  SpaceIt's an event that should bring us all together, so don't mess it up.
  Monday's total eclipse should be a beautiful moment of unity across the nation. So don't make this one mistake.
  
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