Sci-Tech news

• We'll Need A Whole New Landing Approach to Put Humans On Mars

  12-02-2019 23:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  As humans get more ambitious with their plans for exploring Mars, we’re going to need to land bigger spacecraft on its surface. Up until now, NASA's robotic missions have used parachutes, inflatable bubbles, and sky cranes, as well as descent rockets. But to land the kind of heavy spaceships that can carry human astronauts to Mars, engineers will need new methods to touch down.At the moment, most spacecraft rely on parachutes to slow down from a whopping Mach 30 or so as they enter the M
  
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• These Are the 24 Sounds Humans Use to Communicate Without Words

  12-02-2019 22:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ever catch yourself letting out a frustrated sigh, a squeal of delight or maybe a gasp of terror? These off-the-cuff vocalizations are called vocal bursts. And in a new study, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have mapped out a record number of them.To start things off, the researchers asked 56 people, some professional actors and some not, to react to different emotional scenarios. From these reactions, the team recorded more than 2,000 vocal bursts. Next, they
  
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• World's oldest known wild bird hatches chick on Midway Atoll

  12-02-2019 22:50 via abcnews.go.com
  Federal wildlife officials say the world's oldest known wild bird has become a mother again at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
  
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• Bill, Melinda Gates unfazed by criticism of wealthy giving

  12-02-2019 22:40 via abcnews.go.com
  Bill and Melinda Gates are pushing back against a new wave of criticism about whether billionaire philanthropy is a force for good
  
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• A Hormone Produced When We Exercise Might Help Fight Alzheimer's

  12-02-2019 22:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  An exercise-induced hormone linked to a range of benefits might add another to its repertoire: protection against Alzheimer's disease.A new paper, published in Nature Medicine, explains that the hormone irisin, released by our bodies when we exert ourselves, seems to offer protection against the memory loss and brain damage associated with Alzheimer's. In those with the disease, however, irisin levels are depleted. Boosting irisin levels through exercise, then, might be a way to stave
  
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• China and India Are Literally Making Earth Greener

  12-02-2019 22:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Since at least the early '80s, the world has been getting greener. Satellite data show plants cover more and more land every year. That's happening even as deforestation increases in the tropics. Scientists have attributed some of the greening to climate change and an effect called CO2 fertilization, where rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fuel photosynthesis, the process plants use to make food, and in turn help plants grow.Now researchers have discovered that agriculture - expan
  
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• Scientists in Hungary protest govt takeover of research

  12-02-2019 21:51 via abcnews.go.com
  Scientists in Hungary are protesting government efforts to take control of their research funding, a move they say endangers academic freedom
  
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• CBS shareholder lawsuit accuses Leslie Moonves, others of suspect stock sales

  12-02-2019 21:30 via nbcnews.com
  The lawsuit claims executives knew a sexual misconduct scandal was about to break.
  
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• Amazon's bold move to control every device in your home

  12-02-2019 21:13 via nbcnews.com
  Eero, which provides enhanced Wi-Fi in homes, gives Amazon yet another way into consumers' homes and their connected devices.
  
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• What’s the Buzz? Mosquitoes Can Hear You From 30 Feet Away

  12-02-2019 19:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  If a tree drops in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Humans may never know, but mosquitoes might.Until now, it was thought that mosquitoes could only hear a few inches away, but new research shows that they can detect sound from up to 32 feet away. This surprising ability allows Aedes aegypti mosquitos to track down distant mates and even tune in to human speech. The study, published on February 7 in the journal Current Biology, also offers another surpr
  
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• Where Do New Languages Come From?

  12-02-2019 19:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the desert town of Lajamanu, Australia, at the bend of a narrow dirt road, Carmel O’Shannessy worked at a school as a teacher-linguist in the early 2000s. Lajamanu’s Indigenous Warlpiri people, who live in the country’s Northern Territory, were skilled at drawing sustenance from the landscape’s parched red soil, and O’Shannessy soon discovered hidden cultural riches the Warlpiri had stored up.As she got to know the children in the community, O’Shannessy not
  
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• NASA Once Made an Official Ruling on Women and Pantsuits

  12-02-2019 19:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  In 1970, NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Centre was forced to address a tricky new issue in the realm of women in space: the validity of pants in the workplace. Women and pants have a strange relationship throughout the 20th century, and further back, too, though for the moment we aren't going to get into Joan of Arc wearing men's armour. Pants — or trousers or slacks — began the last century as men's clothing, but it wasn't long before exceptions started to appear in the
  
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• Ancient Celts Decapitated Their Enemies and Saved Their Heads, Archaeologists Say

  12-02-2019 18:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  (Inside Science) -- In a finding that mirrors the fantasy of HBO's “Game of Thrones,” French researchers working at the site of a third-century B.C. settlement have discovered evidence that Celtic communities decapitated and preserved human heads.A team of archaeologists unearthed fragments of human skulls that they believe confirm a practice of deliberate decapitation. They concluded that the skulls were either war trophies or the result of a still little understood ritual practice.
  
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• Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann on creating the anti-social media platform

  12-02-2019 17:49 via rss.cnn.com
  Pinterest wants to be the anti-social media platform.
  
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• Dr. Tim Ball: Seven Ways To Spot Climate Change Propaganda

  12-02-2019 16:32 via technocracy.news
  Climate change propaganda is designed by the United Nations for one thing only: to stampede the world into Sustainable Development and its green agenda. It masquerades as benevolence saving the world, but is harmful to the world and anti-human. ⁃ TN EditorThis is an update of an earlier effort to counter the propaganda war that is going on to promote the falsehoods about the environment and climate. An update is required because skills improved with practice and as they lose the war desper
  
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• AI Algorithms Are Writing Stories, Replacing Reporters

  12-02-2019 15:51 via technocracy.news
  If words are a medium of creative human communication, how can an inhuman AI computer program add to knowledge? The answer is that it cannot, and in fact, it dumbs it down. Why should “artificial” replace the real thing? ⁃ TN EditorAs reporters and editors find themselves the victims of layoffs at digital publishers and traditional newspaper chains alike, journalism generated by machine is on the rise.
  Roughly a third of the content published by Bloomberg News uses some form o
  
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• Smart Light: Google And Amazon Know When You Go To Bed

  12-02-2019 15:39 via technocracy.news
  Without data, AI computer algorithms are as inert as solid granite. Thus, the harvesting of data – mountains of data – is necessary for s Technocrat to see his baby run and show off. Thus, your data becomes their right and privacy becomes meaningless. ⁃ TN EditorAs Amazon.com Inc. and Google work to place their smart speakers at the center of the internet-connected home, both technology giants are expanding the amount of data they gather about customers who use their voice
  
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• IBM's fast-talking AI machine just lost to a human champion in a live debate

  12-02-2019 14:59 via rss.cnn.com
  People are great at arguing. But a project from IBM shows that computers are getting quite good at it, too.
  
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• WATCH: Amazon acquires Eero, maker of home Wi-Fi systems

  12-02-2019 14:01 via abcnews.go.com
  Critics said the acquisition is an attempt to monitor users' browsing habits in order to target ads.
  
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• The US is stepping up pressure on Europe to ditch Huawei

  12-02-2019 08:51 via rss.cnn.com
  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned European countries on Monday that using technology from Huawei could hurt their relationship with the United States.
  
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• Trump's artificial intelligence order lacks funding but not a target — China

  12-02-2019 06:38 via nbcnews.com
  “It’s kind of a new arms race,” said Theresa Payton, U.S. chief information officer under President George W. Bush.
  
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• IBM's AI debate computer loses to human champion

  12-02-2019 04:28 via rss.cnn.com
  People are great at arguing. But a project from IBM shows that computers are getting quite good at it, too.
  
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• New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Mongolia, Gobiraptor Minutus

  12-02-2019 03:21 via scitechdaily.com
  A new oviraptorosaur species from the Late Cretaceous was discovered in Mongolia, according to a study published in February 6, 2019 in the open-access journal...
  The post New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Mongolia, Gobiraptor Minutus appeared first on SciTechDaily.
  
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• Dengue Immunity Provided Protection Against Zika Virus

  12-02-2019 03:06 via scitechdaily.com
  When the Zika virus arrived in the Americas in early 2015, it struck hard, infecting 73% of people in one Brazilian community at the epicenter...
  The post Dengue Immunity Provided Protection Against Zika Virus appeared first on SciTechDaily.
  
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• HiRISE Spots Sand Dunes Near Nili Patera on Mars

  12-02-2019 02:57 via scitechdaily.com
  In this image many sand dunes are visible. They have an elongated crescent form and are called “barchan dunes.” They are formed by the continuous...
  The post HiRISE Spots Sand Dunes Near Nili Patera on Mars appeared first on SciTechDaily.
  
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• New HiRISE Image Reveals The Red Planet’s Layered History

  12-02-2019 02:49 via scitechdaily.com
  The geologic history of a planet is written in its layers. Erosion of the surface reveals several shades of light toned layers, likely sedimentary deposits,...
  The post New HiRISE Image Reveals The Red Planet’s Layered History appeared first on SciTechDaily.
  
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• Hubble Image of the Week – Adding to Uranus’s Legacy

  12-02-2019 02:42 via scitechdaily.com
  One of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s many scientific objectives is to study the planets within the Solar System — and in past years, our...
  The post Hubble Image of the Week – Adding to Uranus’s Legacy appeared first on SciTechDaily.
  
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• Google Maps is using giant virtual arrows to stop people from getting lost

  12-02-2019 01:42 via rss.cnn.com
  Google Maps wants to make it easier for people find their way in busy urban spaces, and it thinks very large cartoon augmented-reality arrows can help.
  
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