Friday 31 May 2019

U.S. Postal Service mail, packages are headed to Dallas by self-driving truck

Before letters end up in your mailbox and packages land on your doorstep, many travel hundreds or thousands of miles in the back of a truck. Now, the United States Postal Service is testing what it would take to shuttle that cargo without a driver in the front seat.

* This article was originally published here

US holds CBD hearing as fans, sellers await legal clarity

CBD products have surged in popularity despite confusion around their legal status . Now U.S. regulators are exploring ways to officially allow the hemp ingredient in food, drinks and dietary supplements.

* This article was originally published here

Hydrogen-power electric flying vehicle: Long road to liftoff

A transportation company is betting its sleek new hydrogen-powered electric flying vehicles will someday serve as taxis, cargo carriers and ambulances of the sky, but experts say they will have to clear a number of regulatory hurdles before being approved for takeoff years in the future.

* This article was originally published here

Amazon digital assistant Alexa gets new skill: amnesia

Amazon on Wednesday added the ability to tell its Alexa digital assistant to forget what it has heard in a move that could assuage concerns about Echo devices remembering conversations.

* This article was originally published here

K-Athena: a performance portable magnetohydrodynamics code

Running large-scale simulations is a crucial aspect of modern scientific research, yet it often requires a vast amount of computational resources. As we approach the era of exascale computing, which will be marked by the introduction of highly performing supercomputers, researchers have been trying to develop new architectures and codes to meet the huge computational requirements of our times. An important property to consider when developing codes for the exascale computing era is performance portability, which prevents the repeated, non-trivial refactoring of a code for different architectures.

* This article was originally published here

Societal values and perceptions shape energy production and use as much as new technology

Societal values and perceptions have shaped the energy landscape as much as the technologies that drive its production and consumption, a new paper from an Oregon State University researcher suggests.

* This article was originally published here

Defense against wireless attacks using a deep neural network and game theory

A growing number of devices are now connected to the internet and are capable of collecting, sending and receiving data. This interconnection between devices, referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), poses serious security threats, as cyberattackers can now target computers and smartphones, but also a vast array of other devices, such as tablets, smart watches, smart home systems, transportation systems and so on.

* This article was originally published here

Sprint launches mobile 5G network in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Kansas City

Sprint is still sweating out regulatory approval for its would-be merger with T-Mobile.

* This article was originally published here

Winter could pose solar farm 'ramping' snag for power grid

By adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York state, summer electricity demand from conventional sources could be reduced by up to 9.6% in some places.

* This article was originally published here

Sensor-packed glove learns signatures of the human grasp

Wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a variety of objects, MIT researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. The information could be leveraged to help robots identify and manipulate objects, and may aid in prosthetics design.

* This article was originally published here

The magic behind the medals

When the Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen hung up her skis for the last time in April 2018, she was the winningest winter Olympian ever, with 8 Olympic gold medals, 18 world championship titles and 114 World Cup victories.

* This article was originally published here

Violent video games, unlocked guns a dangerous combo for kids

(HealthDay)—Shoot 'em up video games might be making your children far too comfortable with how they approach and handle real-life firearms, a new study argues.

* This article was originally published here

Bipedal robot Digit seen as final step in autonomous delivery system

Self-driving cars for delivering packages is already familiar enough as a "vision." As Ford continues sketching out the self-driving car as part of the transportation future, the delivery system that needs to fulfill the customer's one-click shopping wish adds to its interest.

* This article was originally published here

Community impacts from extreme weather shape climate beliefs

Recent studies have suggested that people who experience the impacts of hurricanes, catastrophic flooding or other severe weather events are more likely to believe in, and be concerned about, climate change in the wake of the disaster.

* This article was originally published here

Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity

To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated an experimental technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline, from acquisition to delivery, using artificial intelligence (AI).

* This article was originally published here

From viruses to social bots, researchers unearth the structure of attacked networks

The human body's mechanisms are marvelous, yet they haven't given up all their secrets. In order to truly conquer human disease, it is crucial to understand what happens at the most elementary level.

* This article was originally published here

New algorithm may help people store more pictures, share videos faster

The world produces about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Storing and transferring all of this enormous—and constantly growing—number of images, videos, Tweets, and other forms of data is becoming a significant challenge, one that threatens to undermine the growth of the internet and thwart the introduction of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things.

* This article was originally published here

An AI taught itself to play a video game and now it's beating humans

Since the earliest days of virtual chess and solitaire, video games have been a playing field for developing artificial intelligence (AI). Each victory of machine against human has helped make algorithms smarter and more efficient. But in order to tackle real world problems—such as automating complex tasks including driving and negotiation—these algorithms must navigate more complex environments than board games, and learn teamwork. Teaching AI how to work and interact with other players to succeed had been an insurmountable task—until now.

* This article was originally published here

A 'Noah's Ark' project for corals: Scientists race to save Florida Reef from killer disease

On a sunny afternoon in Dania Beach, a dozen scientists unloaded crates full of corals from a dive boat and onto a pickup truck. They gently removed each piece from large tanks on the deck and placed them inside smaller containers, which were slowly taken onshore.

* This article was originally published here

A deep neural network that can maximize or minimize coloring to blend into or stand out against a background

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol has developed a deep learning neural network that can identify the best way to minimize or maximize coloring to allow for blending into a background or standing out. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team describes their network and possible uses for it.

* This article was originally published here

Body parts respond to day and night independently from brain, studies show

Can your liver sense when you're staring at a television screen or cellphone late at night? Apparently so, and when such activity is detected, the organ can throw your circadian rhythms out of whack, leaving you more susceptible to health problems.

* This article was originally published here

Sharks popping up all around Florida for summer beach season

There are sharks off Florida's coast. That's not news, but with Memorial Day weekend's traditional summer season kickoff, there are now thousands more people venturing to Florida's beaches, so that means more shark sightings.

* This article was originally published here

Thursday 30 May 2019

New framework helps gauge impact of mosquito control programs

Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space scales.

* This article was originally published here

Stanford Doggo: a highly agile quadruped robot

Researchers at Stanford University have recently created an open-source quadruped robot called Stanford Doggo. Their robot, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv and set to be published by IEEE Explore, exceeds the performance of many state-of-the-art legged robots in vertical jumping agility.

* This article was originally published here

Nailing digital fakes with AI-learned artifacts

We see the imaginative feats of photo fakery; now we have to figure out what to do about them. Being able to tell fake from real is the goal, but how to get there? Forensics is the key tool to hunt down fake photos and it does not appear to be an easy task in getting that tool to perform well.

* This article was originally published here

Research proves Midwestern fish species lives beyond 100 years

Research recently completed at North Dakota State University has proven that the Bigmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus), a fish native to North America, lives more than eight decades longer than previously thought. The study published in Communications Biology documents several individuals more than 100 years of age, with one at 112 years, which more than quadruples all previous age estimates for this species. In addition, many populations were documented to be 85-90% comprised of individuals more than 80 years old, suggesting unsuccessful reproduction since the 1930s. The Bigmouth Buffalo is now known as the longest-lived freshwater teleost (a group of approximately 12,000 species) and the oldest age-validated freshwater fish (a group of about 14,000 species).

* This article was originally published here

Swapping water for CO2 could make fracking greener and more effective

Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China University of Petroleum (Beijing) have demonstrated that CO2 may make a better hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid than water. Their research, published May 30 in the journal Joule, could help pave the way for a more eco-friendly form of fracking that would double as a mechanism for storing captured atmospheric CO2.

* This article was originally published here

Human contact plays big role in spread of some hospital infections, but not others

An observational study conducted in a French hospital showed that human contact was responsible for 90 percent of the spread of one species of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to new patients, but less than 60 percent of the spread of a different species. Audrey Duval of the Versailles Saint Quentin University and Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, and colleagues present these findings in PLOS Computational Biology.

* This article was originally published here

Wednesday 29 May 2019

CycleMatch: a new approach for matching images and text

Researchers at Leiden University and the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), in China, have recently developed a new approach for image-text matching, called CycleMatch. Their approach, presented in a paper published in Elsevier's Pattern Recognition journal, is based on cycle-consistent learning, a technique that is sometimes used to train artificial neural networks on image-to-image translation tasks. The general idea behind cycle-consistency is that when transforming source data into target data and then vice versa, one should finally obtain the original source samples.

* This article was originally published here

Research reveals the link between primate knuckles and hand use

Research carried out by the University of Kent has found differences between the knuckle joints of primates that will enable a better understanding of ancient human hand use.

* This article was originally published here

Tuesday 28 May 2019

Opioid prescriptions to teens, young adults still common

(HealthDay)—Even amid an epidemic of abuse, opioid painkillers are still commonly prescribed to teenagers and young adults for conditions like tooth and back pain, a new study finds.

* This article was originally published here

Evidence of new magnetic transitions in late-type dwarfs from Gaia DR2

Since the second Gaia data release on the 25th April 2018, astrophysicists have had at their disposal an unprecedented wealth of information not only on distances and motions of stars in the galaxy, but also on many other stellar parameters that came along by exploiting the instrumentation aboard the satellite and the unique characteristics of the mission. Multiple observations of the same star, required to derive its distance and motion, also produced parameters related to stellar variability. Data for stars with spots on the surface similar to those on our Sun, in particular, provide information on their rotation period and on their surface magnetic fields. Stellar spots generated by magnetic fields at the surface modulate the stellar brightness as it rotates, making it possible to derive the star's rotation period and to provide an indication of its magnetic activity. The large number of stars observed made it possible to produce, with just the first 22 months of Gaia observations, the largest dataset on rotation to date, with rotation period and modulation amplitude of some 150,000 solar-like stars.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers demonstrate constraints on symmetries from holography

A pair of researchers, one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and another at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Tokyo, have recently investigated a set of old conjectures about symmetries in quantum gravity. The specific conjectures of focus: (1) Quantum gravity does not allow for global symmetries; (2) For gauge symmetry, all possible charges must be realized; (3) Internal gauge groups must be compact. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, shows that these old assumptions hold within the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS-CFT) correspondence.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers find more evidence of 14th-century tsunami that wiped out Sumatran villages

A team of researchers with members from Singapore, Indonesia, Ireland and the U.K. has found more evidence of a tsunami approximately 600 years ago that destroyed communities in the same part of Sumatra as the 2004 tsunami. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of gravestones and pottery in the area and what they found.

* This article was originally published here

Sydney imposes first water restrictions in decade

Sydney on Tuesday announced its first major water restrictions in a decade, putting limits on homes and businesses amid a record-breaking drought.

* This article was originally published here

Monday 27 May 2019

With a hop, a skip and a jump, high-flying robot leaps over obstacles with ease

Topping out at less than a foot, Salto the robot looks like a Star Wars imperial walker in miniature. But don't be fooled by its size—this little robot has a mighty spring in its step. Salto can vault over three times its height in a single bound.

* This article was originally published here

Would overturning abortion rights turn back clock to 1973?

A wave of state abortion bans has set off speculation: What would happen if Roe v. Wade, the ruling establishing abortion rights nationwide, were overturned?

* This article was originally published here

'Neural Lander' uses AI to land drones smoothly

Landing multi-rotor drones smoothly is difficult. Complex turbulence is created by the airflow from each rotor bouncing off the ground as the ground grows ever closer during a descent. This turbulence is not well understood nor is it easy to compensate for, particularly for autonomous drones. That is why takeoff and landing are often the two trickiest parts of a drone flight. Drones typically wobble and inch slowly toward a landing until power is finally cut, and they drop the remaining distance to the ground.

* This article was originally published here

Diuretic withdrawal is safe for stable heart failure patients

Drug therapy for patients with stable heart failure can be simplified by stopping diuretics, according to late breaking results from the ReBIC-1 trial presented today at Heart Failure 2019, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

* This article was originally published here

Sunday 26 May 2019

Don't overdo omega-6 fat consumption during pregnancy

In Western societies, we are eating more omega 6 fats, particularly linoleic acid, which are present in foods such as potato chips and vegetable oil. Other research has shown that linoleic acid can promote inflammation and may be associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

* This article was originally published here

Close encounters? SpaceX satellites spark Dutch UFO frenzy

A Dutch website set up to record UFO sightings was flooded early Saturday with reports after a "train of stars" was spotted crossing the Netherlands' skies, sparking fears of an alien invasion.

* This article was originally published here

Vision loss may up cognitive decline-related functional limitations

(HealthDay)—Vision impairment is associated with increased subjective cognitive decline (SCD)-related functional limitations for adults aged 45 years and older, according to research published in the May 24 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

* This article was originally published here

Volcano on Bali erupts, briefly disrupting flights (Update)

Bali's airport has returned to normal operations after some flights were canceled on Friday night following an eruption of the Mount Agung volcano that spread ash over the south of the Indonesian island.

* This article was originally published here

New neurons form in the brain into the tenth decade of life, even in people with Alzheimer's

In a new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago, researchers examining post-mortem brain tissue from people ages 79 to 99 found that new neurons continue to form well into old age. The study provides evidence that this occurs even in people with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, although neurogenesis is significantly reduced in these people compared to older adults with normal cognitive functioning.

* This article was originally published here

Army Corps approves $778M plan to block Asian carp advance

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers has sent Congress a $778 million plan to fortify an Illinois waterway with noisemakers, electric cables and other devices in the hope that they will prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes, where the aggressive invaders could leave other fish with too little to eat.

* This article was originally published here

Three convolutional neural network models for facial expression recognition in the wild

Two researchers at Shanghai University of Electric Power have recently developed and evaluated new neural network models for facial expression recognition (FER) in the wild. Their study, published in Elsevier's Neurocomputing journal, presents three models of convolutional neural networks (CNNs): a Light-CNN, a dual-branch CNN and a pre-trained CNN.

* This article was originally published here

Renault in team-up talks with Fiat Chrysler: reports

French carmaker Renault is in talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with the long-term prize a world-leading alliance including Japan's Nissan and Mitsubishi, reports say.

* This article was originally published here

Bringing human-like reasoning to driverless car navigation

With aims of bringing more human-like reasoning to autonomous vehicles, MIT researchers have created a system that uses only simple maps and visual data to enable driverless cars to navigate routes in new, complex environments.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers propose new federal rule of evidence for more accurate verdicts in court

While many juries use commonsense when determining an innocent or guilty verdict, research has shown that commonsense can be misleading and inaccurate. In a new study, researchers propose a new federal rule of evidence that ensures a jury is educated on theories of false memory in order to produce more just verdicts—a rule that would especially be of aid in testimonies from children.

* This article was originally published here

Electrified methane reformer produces far less carbon dioxide

A team of researchers from several institutions in Denmark, along with colleagues from Sintex and Haldor Topsoe, has developed an electrified methane reformer that produces far less CO2 than conventional steam-methane reformers. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their new technology and how well it works. Kevin Van Geem, Vladimir Galvita and Guy Marin with the Laboratory for Chemical Technology and Center for Sustainable Chemistry in Ghent have published a Perspective piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue.

* This article was originally published here

Overwatch League commissioner leaving to work on Fortnite

Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer is leaving the competitive video game circuit to oversee esports competition for Fortnite publisher Epic Games.

* This article was originally published here

AlterEgo opens silent spring of computer connections via wearable

OK, we get it. Artificial intelligence experts are on a fast clip from year to year, month to month, showing off what their research can promise. But could it be that we have reached that stage in human-computer interaction, where you can think of a question —— without saying a word— and the machine will respond with the answer?

* This article was originally published here

Google Glass struck out for masses but enterprise class has takers

My, have we grown. All eyes are on the Glass Enterprise Edition 2. with its hardware update and new frames. Google Glass has come a long way since its debut in 2013. As Scott Stein in CNET quipped, "You might remember Glass as a strange 2013 footnote."

* This article was originally published here

Friday 24 May 2019

Dead roots, not just waves, account for marsh losses in gulf

A new Duke University-led study finds that the death of marsh plants due to disturbances like the heavy oiling from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill can double the rate of shoreline erosion in hard-hit marshes.

* This article was originally published here

Threat or promise? E-auto boom could cost industry jobs

Over 115 years the auto industry in the east German town of Zwickau has lived through wrenching upheavals including World War II and the collapse of communism. Now the city's 90,000 people are plunging headlong into another era of change: top employer Volkswagen's total shift into electric cars at the local plant.

* This article was originally published here

Thursday 23 May 2019

Try this whole-grain lemony quick bread

(HealthDay)—If you love quick breads but crave a healthier treat, this lighter take on Grandma's traditional recipe serves up a lemony lift. And because it calls for whole grains, dried fruit and nuts, it's packed with goodness.

* This article was originally published here

Study reveals the evolution and diversity of Leptospira bacteria

Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonotic disease that affects more than one million people around the world each year. Researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have now sequenced the genomes of Leptospira collected from environments around the globe and revealed 30 new species and new patterns of species diversity.

* This article was originally published here

Many 'dehumanize' people with obesity

(HealthDay)—Many people—including those who are overweight themselves—view people with obesity as less human or less evolved, new research reveals.

* This article was originally published here

US forecasters: Expect near normal Atlantic hurricane season

The Atlantic hurricane season is off to yet another early start, but U.S. weather officials say it should be a near normal year.

* This article was originally published here

Illegal killings, political opposition hobble wolf recovery

Illegal killings and longstanding political resistance have undercut the return of two species of endangered wolves to the wild, frustrating government efforts that already cost more than $80 million but have failed to meet recovery targets.

* This article was originally published here

Severe maternal complication risk four times higher with twins

(HealthDay)—Women with twin pregnancies have a four-fold increased risk for severe maternal complications both before and after delivery, compared to women with singleton pregnancies, according to a study published online May 9 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

* This article was originally published here

Driverless cars working together can speed up traffic by 35%

A fleet of driverless cars working together to keep traffic moving smoothly can improve overall traffic flow by at least 35 percent, researchers have shown.

* This article was originally published here

Research reveals how personality affects susceptibility to persuasion

Researchers at Edge Hill University in England have helped identify personality traits which make people more (or less) susceptible to persuasion than others.

* This article was originally published here

Mitral regurgitation: more precise classification of severity now possible

For years, cardiology experts have been arguing about how to determine the degree of severity in patients with functional mitral regurgitation and, hence, to assess when it is necessary to operate on the valve. It is all about how much blood "should be allowed" to flow back through the leaky valve: Currently, surgery is only performed in the U.S. at 60 ml but at 30 ml in Europe, according to Philipp Bartko and Georg Goliasch (Department of Medicine II). In a study performed by cardiologists at MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital, they have now shown the exact relationship between the amount of refluxing blood and patient survival, thereby establishing a new limit for optimal classification with a view to valve surgery.

* This article was originally published here

Melting small glaciers could add 10 inches to sea levels

A new review of glacier research data paints a picture of a future planet with a lot less ice and a lot more water. Glaciers worldwide are projected to lose anywhere from 18% to 36% of their mass by 2100, resulting in almost 10 inches of sea level rise.

* This article was originally published here

LG will smarten home appliances with eyes and ears

LG has made news headlines recently because now it has its own artificial intelligence chip. LG is out to impress with its own chip for smart home products—to make them even smarter.

* This article was originally published here

Need a break? A vacation really can be good for you—if it's done right

Need another reason to take that vacation? It's probably good for your heart and mind.

* This article was originally published here

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Dog-like robot jumps, flips and trots

Putting their own twist on robots that amble through complicated landscapes, the Stanford Student Robotics club's Extreme Mobility team has developed a four-legged robot that is not only capable of performing acrobatic tricks and traversing challenging terrain but is also designed with reproducibility in mind. Anyone who wants their own version of the robot, dubbed Stanford Doggo, can consult comprehensive plans, code and a supply list that the students have made freely available online.

* This article was originally published here

Daimler offers wheel to new CEO amid tricky gear change

Flamboyant Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche was set bow out after 13 years on Wednesday, leaving successor Ola Kallenius to tackle problems brewing under the bonnet of the Mercedes-Benz maker.

* This article was originally published here

Sea dragon exhibit dazzles visitors at California aquarium

At first glance, it looks like a branch of kelp, but then an eye moves among its leafy appendages, and ridges of tiny, translucent fins start to flutter, sending the creature gliding through the water like something from a fairy tale.

* This article was originally published here

Testifying while black: A linguistic analysis of disparities in court transcription

A new study has found that court reporters transcribe speakers of African American English significantly below their required level of accuracy. The study "Testifying while black: An experimental study of court reporter accuracy in transcription of African American English," by Taylor Jones (University of Pennsylvania), Jessica Kalbfeld (New York University), Ryan Hancock (Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity), and Ryan Clark (University of Pennsylvania) will be published in the forthcoming June 2019 issue of the scholarly journal Language.

* This article was originally published here

Monday 20 May 2019

The top 5 veggies to add to your diet

(HealthDay)—The guidelines to eat more vegetables are clear, and eating a rainbow of colors gets you the widest variety of nutrients and phyto-nutrients, those hard-to-duplicate compounds that go beyond vitamins and minerals.

* This article was originally published here

Pyrrolizidine alkaloid levels in dried and deep-frozen spices and herbs too high

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) deals regularly with the contamination of food with 1,2-unsaturated PA. It has already published opinions on the occurrence of 1,2-unsaturated PA in herbal teas, tea and honey, as well as a salad mixture contaminated with ragwort and food supplements (FS). The BfR has now made a health assessment of levels of 1,2-unsaturated PA determined by the monitoring authorities of the federal states in samples of various dried and deep-frozen herbs and spices.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers develop new flying / driving robot

The first experimental robot drone that flies like a typical quadcopter, drives on tough terrain and squeezes into tight spaces using the same motors, has been developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

* This article was originally published here

Noninvasive biomarker for Parkinson's disease possibly found in EEG data

Specific angles and sharpness of brain waves seen in unfiltered raw data from scalp electroencephalograms have been tied to Parkinson's disease.

* This article was originally published here

Progress in family planning in Africa accelerating

A new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that women in eight sub-Saharan African countries are gaining access to and using modern contraception at a faster rate than previously projected. This rate is well ahead of benchmark goals designed to give access to family planning services to an additional 120 million women in 69 of the world's poorest countries by 2020.

* This article was originally published here

PAL: A wearable system for context-aware health and cognition support

Researchers at MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable platform that provides real-time, personalized, and context-aware health and cognition support. Their system, called personalized active learner (PAL), was presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv.

* This article was originally published here

Sunday 19 May 2019

Sleep duration tied to adverse measures of glycemia

(HealthDay)—Self-reported short and long sleep are both associated with adverse measures of glycemia among adults with prediabetes, according to a study published online May 10 in Diabetes Care.

* This article was originally published here

Facebook breakup could boost China rivals: Sandberg

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Friday a breakup of big US technology would not address "underlying issues" facing the sector and suggested that such a move could help rivals in China.

* This article was originally published here

New laws of robotics needed to tackle AI: expert

Decades after Isaac Asimov first wrote his laws for robots, their ever-expanding role in our lives requires a radical new set of rules, legal and AI expert Frank Pasquale warned on Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

Samsung at foundry event talks about 3nm, MBCFET developments

"The nanometer process deals with the space between the transistors mounted on a substrate at a nanometer level," said Pulse.

* This article was originally published here

Here's why your internet may be delivered by a drone someday soon

As the pilotless flying wing came in for a landing, winds suddenly picked up. Facebook Inc.'s Aquila drone—powered by the sun and wider than a Boeing 737 jetliner—struggled to adjust. Just before landing, part of the right wing broke off.

* This article was originally published here

What's behind the belief in a soulmate?

The United States appears to be in a romantic slump. Marriage rates have plummeted over the last decade. And compared to previous generations, young single people today are perhaps spending more time on social media than actual dating. They are also having less sex.

* This article was originally published here

After the Moon, people on Mars by 2033... or 2060

On December 11, 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to prepare to return astronauts to the Moon "followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations."

* This article was originally published here

Ernst Haeckel: Pioneer of modern science

"By ecology, we understand the whole science of the organism's relationship with the surrounding outside world, which includes in a broader sense all 'existential conditions'. These are partly organic and partly inorganic in nature; both the former and the latter are, as we have previously shown, of utmost importance for the form of the organisms, because they force them to adapt to them."

* This article was originally published here

Saturday 18 May 2019

Researchers imagine a cheaper, fairer marketplace for digital goods

E-commerce is sizzling. Last year, consumers spent more than $517 billion online with US merchants, up 15 percent from the year before, according to Internet Retailer.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers develop novel framework for tracking developments in optical sensors

Plasmonics and photonics have been drawing attention in both academia and industry due to their use in an extensive range of applications, one of which includes optical sensing. The development of optical sensing technology not only contributes to the scientific research community as a versatile tool, but also offers substantial commercial value for smart city and Internet of Things (IOT) applications due to its energy efficiency, lightweight, small size and suitability for remote sensing. Reinforcing its significance, Scientific American identified plasmonic sensing as one of the top 10 emerging technologies of 2018.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers find way to build potassium-oxygen batteries that last longer

Researchers have built a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery, a step toward a potential solution for energy storage on the nation's power grid and longer-lasting batteries in cell phones and laptops.

* This article was originally published here

When an aircraft landing system is made to enter the spoofing zone

Just what the airplane passenger who is always skittish does not want to hear: Radio navigation on planes for landing purposes is not secure; signals can be hacked.

* This article was originally published here

Metals influence C-peptide hormone related to insulin

Metals such as zinc, copper and chromium bind to and influence a peptide involved in insulin production, according to new work from chemists at the University of California, Davis. The research is part of a new field of "metalloendocrinology" that takes a detailed look at the role of metals in biological processes in the body.

* This article was originally published here

Study aims to improve capturing wind power for energy production

Scientists have released the first of several reports outlining major results that could help wind industry officials manage wind power facilities more efficiently and increase renewable energy production.

* This article was originally published here

Guidelines updated for TB screening, treatment in health care workers

(HealthDay)—Guidelines have been updated for screening and treatment for tuberculosis (TB) infection among health care personnel, according to research published in the May 17 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

* This article was originally published here

Americans increasingly open about mental health

(HealthDay)—Americans are becoming more positive about mental health, although some stigma remains, according to the results of a new poll released by the American Psychological Association (APA).

* This article was originally published here

Essentials for growing tasty herbs on your windowsill

(HealthDay)—Whether you have a dedicated space in an outdoor garden or just a few buckets on a small patio, there's nothing quite like having your own herb garden for giving your cooking fresh flavor boosts.

* This article was originally published here

Early dengue virus infection could 'defuse' Zika virus

"We now know for sure that Zika virus infection during pregnancy can affect the unborn foetus in such a way that the child develops microcephaly and other severe symptoms," explains Prof Felix Drexler, a virologist at Charité who has been developing diagnostic tests for Zika and other viruses at the DZIF. Just a few years ago, pictures of affected newborns were cause for worldwide dismay and perplexity. "However, what we did not understand then was that high incidence of microcephaly seemed to occur particularly in northeastern Brazil," says Drexler. Why are expecting mothers in these regions at a higher risk of developing a severe Zika-associated disease than in other regions? The scientists consequently began to search for cofactors that have an influence on whether a Zika infection during pregnancy will develop fatal consequences or not.

* This article was originally published here

Tobacco and e-cigarette promotions spark teens' use of nicotine products, study finds

Owning items that promote e-cigarettes and other alternative tobacco products doubles the likelihood that a young person will try these products, a new study led by the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. The finding illustrates the influence of such marketing on teenagers.

* This article was originally published here

Earliest evidence of the cooking and eating of starch

New discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa's southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically modern humans were roasting and eating plant starches, such as those from tubers and rhizomes, as early as 120,000 years ago.

* This article was originally published here

Bullet train champion in Japan will debut in 2030, now being tested

Testing for a train capable of 249mph (400 kph) speeds is to happen about twice a week at night. Bloomberg said ALFA-X is the world's fastest bullet train— well, for now, it is holding that title. Japan has also been working on a maglev train.

* This article was originally published here

WhatsApp flaw let spies take control with calls alone (Update)

Spyware crafted by a sophisticated group of hackers-for-hire took advantage of a flaw in the popular WhatsApp communications program to remotely hijack dozens of targeted phones without any user interaction.

* This article was originally published here

EU adopts powers to respond to cyberattacks

The European Union on Friday adopted powers to punish those outside the bloc who launch cyberattacks that cripple hospitals and banks, sway elections and steal company secrets or funds.

* This article was originally published here

Wearable cooling and heating patch could serve as personal thermostat and save energy

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a wearable patch that could provide personalized cooling and heating at home, work, or on the go. The soft, stretchy patch cools or warms a user's skin to a comfortable temperature and keeps it there as the ambient temperature changes. It is powered by a flexible, stretchable battery pack and can be embedded in clothing. Researchers say wearing it could help save energy on air conditioning and heating.

* This article was originally published here

Changes in subsistence hunting threaten local food security

Scientists with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and WCS Ecuador Program publishing in the journal BioTropica say that subsistence hunting in Neotropical rain forests—the mainstay of local people as a source of protein and a direct connection to these ecosystems—is in jeopardy from a variety of factors.

* This article was originally published here

Friday 17 May 2019

Cancer drug could be repurposed to provide treatment for brain aneurysms

An important class of drug used to treat cancer patients could be used to treat brain aneurysms, according to new research published this week.

* This article was originally published here

New machine learning algorithm can predict age and gender from just your Twitter profile

A new "demographic inference" tool developed by academics can make predictions based solely on the information in a person's social media profile (i.e. screen name, biography, profile photo, and name). The tool—which works in 32 languages—could pave the way for views expressed on social media to be factored in to popular survey methods.

* This article was originally published here

Microsoft alerts hospitals to fix potential security risk

Computer experts inside hospitals were working diligently on Wednesday to address a serious new security vulnerability in older versions of the Windows operating system, which is still used in many health care devices even though Microsoft hasn't actively supported the older software in years.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers develop electric field-based dressing to help heal wound infections

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have found a way to charge up the fight against bacterial infections using electricity.

* This article was originally published here

A new era in 3-D printing

In the mid-15th century, a new technology that would change the course of history was invented. Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, with its movable type, promoted the dissemination of information and ideas that is widely recognized as a major contributing factor for the Renaissance.

* This article was originally published here

New computer program can help crack precision medicine

Researchers from ANU have helped develop a new computer program to find out a person's genetic make-up, bringing us a step closer to an era of precision medicine.

* This article was originally published here

Lunar South Pole Atlas—a new online reference for mission planners

The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), managed by Universities Space Research Association (USRA), has compiled and made available an atlas of the Moon's south pole. Given NASA's recent direction to implement Space Policy Directive-1 landing astronauts at the south pole by 2024, the LPI has compiled a series of maps, images, and illustrations designed to provide context and reference for those interested in exploring this area.

* This article was originally published here

Healthcare, social media and a web of moral issues

"Ethics asks what we owe to one another and how we should treat one another. The internet has changed the landscape in which we, as humans, relate, and ethicists need to keep pace," explains Assistant Professor of Philosophy Moti Gorin.

* This article was originally published here

Black women more likely to die of breast cancer, especially in the South

When Felicia Mahone was 27, she felt her breast and found a mass. Breast cancer had killed nearly all the women in her family—her mother, two aunts and two cousins. Her doctor, though, downplayed the lump, assuring her everything would be all right.

* This article was originally published here

Machine learning reduces language barriers in global trade, research shows

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have exploded onto the scene in recent years, offering the hope of greater business efficiency. At the same time, researchers have found virtually no empirical evidence supporting the promised strides in labor productivity and economic activity.

* This article was originally published here

Climate a driver of language diversity

A region's climate has a greater impact than landscape on how many languages are spoken there, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) shows.

* This article was originally published here

Human capital benefits of military boost economy by billions

A recent study from North Carolina State University finds that U.S. government spending on military personnel has a positive impact on the nation's human capital—essentially improving the American workforce. Using a new computer model, the study estimates the economic impact of this human capital improvement to be $89.8 billion for 2019 alone.

* This article was originally published here

Cell polarity: An aurora over the pole

Even before the fertilised egg or zygote can start dividing into daughter cells that form the future tissues and organs during the development of a multicellular organism, the symmetrical zygote needs to become asymmetrical or polarised in shape and molecular organisation. The master switch that triggers the symmetry breaking process in the zygotes of the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), was identified in a recent study, led by Assistant Professor Fumio Motegi, Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). This work was published in Developmental Cell in March 2019.

* This article was originally published here

Study finds Adelaide's depression hot spots

Poorer, disconnected suburbs are more likely to have depression 'hot spots', according to a new study focused on Adelaide from The Australian National University (ANU).

* This article was originally published here

Same computer password for the last 10 years? You might need a vibrating cybernudge

Technology used in exercise and lifestyle apps may hold the key to answering that most difficult of challenges—getting people to change their passwords and better protect their online privacy and data.

* This article was originally published here

Neuroscientists identify a brain circuit that helps break complex decisions down into smaller pieces

When making a complex decision, we often break the problem down into a series of smaller decisions. For example, when deciding how to treat a patient, a doctor may go through a hierarchy of steps—choosing a diagnostic test, interpreting the results, and then prescribing a medication.

* This article was originally published here

To win online debates, social networks worth a thousand words

Want to win an argument online? Bolstering your social network may be more helpful than rehearsing your rhetorical flourishes.

* This article was originally published here

North Korea seeing worst drought in a century: state media

North Korea is experiencing its worst drought in over a century, official media reported Friday, days after the World Food Programme expressed "very serious concerns" about the situation in the country.

* This article was originally published here

Thursday 16 May 2019

Using information technology to promote health equity

An innovative health information technology (IT) program helps primary care providers to detect and manage depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in traumatized refugees, reports a study in a special June supplement to Medical Care.

* This article was originally published here

Just like toothpaste: Fluoride radically improves the stability of perovskite solar cells

Solar cells made of perovskite hold much promise for the future of solar energy. The material is cheap, easy to produce and almost as efficient as silicon, the material traditionally used in solar cells. However, perovskite degrades quickly, severely limiting its efficiency and stability over time. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, energy research institute DIFFER, Peking University and University of Twente have discovered that adding a small amount of fluoride to the perovskite leaves a protective layer, increasing stability of the materials and the solar cells significantly. The solar cells retain 90 percent of their efficiency after 1000 hours operation at various extreme testing conditions. The findings are published today in the leading scientific journal Nature Energy.

* This article was originally published here

Wikipedia 'doing very well financially': co-founder

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said Thursday that the free online encyclopedia is in good financial shape, although increasing mobile phone use may cut into future donations.

* This article was originally published here

Study finds higher risk of stroke-linked plaque in men, possible test for women

Men are more likely than women to develop unstable plaques in their neck arteries, a dangerous condition that can lead to strokes, according to new research that also identified a helpful warning sign for rupture-prone plaques in women.

* This article was originally published here

Improving health outcomes with a little help from our friends—and artificial intelligence

We fare better during health challenges when we have a little help from our friends, family and community. And perhaps an assist from artificial intelligence.

* This article was originally published here

German startup to offer electric air taxis 'by 2025'

German startup firm Lilium announced Thursday the maiden flight of its all-electric pilotless jet-powered 'air taxi' which it hopes to operate in various cities around the world 'by 2025'.

* This article was originally published here

Children describe technology that gives them a sense of ambiguity as 'creepy'

Many parents express concerns about privacy and online safety in technology designed for their children. But we know much less about what children themselves find concerning in emerging technologies.

* This article was originally published here

Here's how to prevent dementia, according to new world health guidelines

Eat well, exercise often and don't take some of those vitamins, the World Health Organization said in newly released guidelines on how to reduce risk of dementia.

* This article was originally published here

New AI sees like a human, filling in the blanks

Computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do—take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment, a skill necessary for the development of effective search-and-rescue robots that one day can improve the effectiveness of dangerous missions. The team, led by professor Kristen Grauman, Ph.D. candidate Santhosh Ramakrishnan and former Ph.D. candidate Dinesh Jayaraman (now at the University of California, Berkeley) published their results today in the journal Science Robotics.

* This article was originally published here

Study uncovers key step in cell protein production

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have discovered how genes create proteins in research which could aid the development of treatments for human diseases.

* This article was originally published here

New security flaw in Intel chips could affect millions

Intel has revealed another hardware security flaw that could affects millions of machines around the world.

* This article was originally published here

Eyes in the sky project will show power plant pollution marks

Air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths every year, worldwide. According to a State of Global Air report, air pollution is the fifth greatest global mortality risk.

* This article was originally published here

New study analyzes tweets to reveal how ISIS still inspires low-level attacks

By analyzing 26.2 million Twitter comments in the Arabic language, researchers found that despite losing territory, ISIS remains successful at inspiring low-level attacks because of its messaging for a "call for lone jihad." The study, "ISIS at its apogee: The Arabic discourse about support for ISIS on Twitter and what we can learn from that," was recently published in SAGE Open.

* This article was originally published here

Reprogrammable satellite takes shape

The payload and platform of the first European satellite that can be completely reprogrammed after launch have been successfully joined together.

* This article was originally published here

Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago

Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA-based estimates, according to new research by a UCL academic.

* This article was originally published here

Helping robots remember: Hyperdimensional computing theory could change the way AI works

The Houston Astros' José Altuve steps up to the plate on a 3-2 count, studies the pitcher and the situation, gets the go-ahead from third base, tracks the ball's release, swings ... and gets a single up the middle. Just another trip to the plate for the three-time American League batting champion.

* This article was originally published here

How climate change will affect the rural northeast: Expect three weeks of heat

While extreme cold and snow often make headlines in the Northeast, by 2060, there will be far more record heat. Imagine the most sweltering day of the year. By 2060, you will experience that type of hot day for approximately three weeks of the year, assuming we don't substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a Dartmouth study, of the rural Northeast counties represented, those in the bottom two lowest income quartiles will be hit hardest, as their communities will be disproportionately affected by increases in extremely hot days relative to wealthier counties. The findings are published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers.

* This article was originally published here

Wednesday 15 May 2019

'More than human': Wonders of AI on show in London

Managing the health of the planet, fighting discrimination or boosting innovation in the arts; the fields in which Artificial Intelligence can help humans are countless, and an ambitious London exhibition aims to prove it.

* This article was originally published here

How to tell whether machine-learning systems are robust enough for the real world

MIT researchers have devised a method for assessing how robust machine-learning models known as neural networks are for various tasks, by detecting when the models make mistakes they shouldn't.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers teach robots handwriting and drawing

An algorithm developed by Brown University computer scientists enables robots to put pen to paper, writing words using stroke patterns similar to human handwriting. It's a step, the researchers say, toward robots that are able to communicate more fluently with human co-workers and collaborators.

* This article was originally published here

'Foldable' PC? Lenovo ThinkPad laptop screen bends in half like a book

Samsung has gained a lot attention lately for its Galaxy Fold hybrid smartphone/tablet, though given the recent display snags that have prompted a delay in the product's release, not necessarily for all the right reasons.

* This article was originally published here

Once-per-month HIV drugs on the horizon

An HIV diagnosis was once a death sentence, but now people who receive treatment survive for decades with the disease. Keeping the virus at bay usually requires taking a pill every day, which aside from being inconvenient for some, is an unwelcome daily reminder of the disease. That's why drug companies are developing longer-acting, injectable HIV treatments, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

* This article was originally published here

Experimental brain-controlled hearing aid decodes, identifies who you want to hear

Our brains have a remarkable knack for picking out individual voices in a noisy environment, like a crowded coffee shop or a busy city street. This is something that even the most advanced hearing aids struggle to do. But now Columbia engineers are announcing an experimental technology that mimics the brain's natural aptitude for detecting and amplifying any one voice from many. Powered by artificial intelligence, this brain-controlled hearing aid acts as an automatic filter, monitoring wearers' brain waves and boosting the voice they want to focus on.

* This article was originally published here

Excitonic radiative decay faster than thermal dephasing in ZnO thin films

A team of researchers from Osaka University, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka City University, and The University of Shiga Prefecture have found excitonic radiative decay faster than thermal dephasing at room temperature in zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films. These results, published recently in Physical Review Letters, will greatly reduce the thermal energy loss in optical operations.

* This article was originally published here

Artificial intelligence shines light on the dark web

Beneath the surface web, the public form of the internet you use daily to check email or read news articles, exists a concealed "dark web." Host to anonymous, password-protected sites, the dark web is where criminal marketplaces thrive in the advertising and selling of weapons, drugs, and trafficked persons. Law enforcement agencies work continuously to stop these activities, but the challenges they face in investigating and prosecuting the real-world people behind the users who post on these sites are tremendous.

* This article was originally published here

Exploring people's perception of geometric features, personalities and emotions in videos with virtual humans

Researchers at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul have recently carried out a study aimed at evaluating people's perceptions of geometric features, personalities and emotions presented in video sequences with virtual humans. Their study, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, merges computer science tools with psychology research practices.

* This article was originally published here

Some LGBT employees feel less supported at federal agencies

Workplace inequality is visible when it involves gender and race, but less so with sexual identity and gender expression.

* This article was originally published here

Augmented reality affects people's behavior in the real world

As major technology firms race to roll out augmented reality products, Stanford researchers are learning how it affects people's behavior – in both the physical world and a digitally enhanced one.

* This article was originally published here

Imagine Apple's App Store with no walled garden

Gregg Spiridellis isn't shy when it comes to his feelings about the Apple iOS App Store.

* This article was originally published here

Women's wellness: Mammogram guidelines at Mayo Clinic

At Mayo Clinic, mammograms are offered to women beginning at 40 and continuing annually. When to begin mammogram screening and how often to repeat it is a personal decision based on your preferences.

* This article was originally published here

Stop gambling with black box and explainable models on high-stakes decisions

As the buzzwords "machine learning" continue to grow in popularity, more industries are turning to computer algorithms to answer important questions, including high-stakes fields such as healthcare, finance and criminal justice. While this trend can lead to major improvements in these realms, it can also lead to major problems when the machine learning algorithm is a so-called "black box."

* This article was originally published here

Tuesday 14 May 2019

NASA funds aviation research on a new fuel concept

Researchers at the University of Illinois are leading a newly funded project from NASA to develop a novel approach for all-electric aircraft.

* This article was originally published here

Tester eyes unhackable claim on USB flash drive

When the unhackable turns hackable you know there will be lots of noise. Case in point: The eyeDisk USB flash drive. Passwords exposed in clear text were discovered.

* This article was originally published here

Monday 13 May 2019

Secrets of fluorescent microalgae could lead to super-efficient solar cells

Tiny light-emitting microalgae, found in the ocean, could hold the secret to the next generation of organic solar cells, according to new research carried out at the Universities of Birmingham and Utrecht.

* This article was originally published here

Sunday 12 May 2019

Fake meat: don't go bacon my heart, say butchers

Slicing through juicy cuts of pork belly alongside rarer delicacies of ox brain and sheep intestine, young butchers at a Frankfurt trade hall cast a suspicious eye towards the so-called fake meat products on display.

* This article was originally published here

A friction reduction system for deformable robotic fingertips

Researchers at Kanazawa University have recently developed a friction reduction system based on a lubricating effect, which could have interesting soft robotics applications. Their system, presented in a paper published in Taylor & Francis' Advanced Robotics journal, could aid the development of robots that can efficiently manipulate objects under both dry and wet conditions.

* This article was originally published here

Atlas is rockstar cross-stepper over tricky terrain

Robot enthusiasts were sending up cheers this month to the team advancing Atlas into an even more human-like walker through obstacles including a bunch of cinder blocks and a balance beam. They have turned Atlas into the very credible hulk, who wins the spotlight with its display of walking, which was recorded May 1.

* This article was originally published here

Lab builds autopilot software allowing UAVs to soar on thermals

A Navy scientist has re-engineered the software that allows long-endurance drones to powerlessly climb into the sky on bubbles of warm air.

* This article was originally published here

Saturday 11 May 2019

Just add water: Salt battery could help renewable energy use

Amid the hum and heat of Berlin's Reuter thermal power station stands a shining contraption that looks out of place in the decades-old machine hall.

* This article was originally published here

180 nations agree UN deal to regulate export of plastic waste

Around 180 governments on Friday agreed on a new UN accord to regulate the export of plastic waste, some eight million tonnes of which ends up in the oceans each year, organisers said.

* This article was originally published here

Pixel 3a vs. Pixel 3: Great camera for the price makes Google's $399 phone the better buy

Google's launch Tuesday of the $399 Pixel 3a and $479 Pixel 3a XL smartphones only seven months after the release of the pricier Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL handsets likely has you asking: "Why would I want to spend at least $400 more for Google's premium flagships, when these latest mid-priced devices offer so many overlapping features?"

* This article was originally published here

VisiBlends, a new approach to disrupt visual messaging

Visual blends, which join two objects in an unusual, eye-catching way, are an advanced graphic design technique used in advertising, marketing, and the media to draw attention to a specific message. These visual marriages are designed to precipitate an "aha!" moment in the viewer who grasps one idea from the union of two images. For instance, blending an image of an orange with an image of the sun could convey a beverage with Vitamin C.

* This article was originally published here

Hong Kong to cull 6,000 pigs as first swine fever case found

Hong Kong will cull 6,000 pigs after African swine fever was detected in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with China, the first case of the disease in the densely populated financial hub.

* This article was originally published here

Following DASH diet can reduce heart failure risk in people under 75

A diet proven to have beneficial effects on high blood pressure also may reduce the risk of heart failure in people under age 75, according to a study led by researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.

* This article was originally published here

Instagram to start blocking hashtags with vaccine misinformation

Instagram will start blocking any hashtags spreading misinformation about vaccines, becoming the latest internet platform to crack down on bad health information.

* This article was originally published here

37 spotted seal pups rescued from China traffickers released

Animal rights groups have cheered the release of 37 spotted seal pups rescued from traffickers into the wild in northern China.

* This article was originally published here

People more likely to trust machines than humans with their private information

Not everyone fears our machine overlords. In fact, according to Penn State researchers, when it comes to private information and access to financial data, people tend to trust machines more than people, which could lead to both positive and negative online behaviors.

* This article was originally published here

Uber shifts into reverse in disappointing Wall Street debut

Uber shares skidded Friday in a disappointing Wall Street debut following a massive public offering from the global ride-hailing giant.

* This article was originally published here

A multi-scale body-part mask guided attention network for person re-identification

Person re-identification entails the automated identification of the same person in multiple images from different cameras and with different backgrounds, angles or positions. Despite recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), person re-identification remains a highly challenging task, particularly due to the many variations in a person's pose, as well as other differences associated with lighting, occlusion, misalignment and background clutter.

* This article was originally published here

Review: Motorola Moto G7 is the inexpensive Android phone you've been waiting for

I'm a tech reviewer, so I think people expect me to carry the newest iPhone—at least that's what I tell my wife.

* This article was originally published here

Can medical marijuana help kids with autism?

(HealthDay)—Medical marijuana extracts appear to help children with autism, reducing their disruptive behavior while improving their social responsiveness, a new Israeli clinical trial reports.

* This article was originally published here

UK reaches jolly good milestone in days without coal

The UK has gone more than five days without burning coal, the longest streak without burning the fuel since the Industrial Revolution, said Bloomberg. It breaks the previous record from earlier this year, a total of 90 hours.

* This article was originally published here

HIV prevention drug can curb the epidemic for high-risk groups in India

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a combination drug used to prevent HIV infection, has already gained significant traction in the U.S. and Europe. The once-a-day pill, when taken consistently, can reduce the risk of HIV acquisition by over 85 percent. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases by an international research team suggests that making PrEP available to men who have sex with men (MSM) and people who inject drugs (PWID) in India may be a cost-effective way of curbing the epidemic there.

* This article was originally published here

Friday 10 May 2019

Scientists introduce novel perspective in robotic capability

University of Illinois researcher Amy LaViers has introduced a new point of view from which to observe robotic capabilities in her paper, "Counts of Mechanical, External Configurations Compared to Computational, Internal Configurations in Natural and Artificial Systems," published today in PLOS ONE, a leading interdisciplinary research journal.

* This article was originally published here

The poorest pupils spurn school meals, study finds

Pupils from the poorest backgrounds are the ones most likely to leave school at lunchtime to buy food, a University of Hertfordshire investigation revealed today—and the choice is often chips together with other items high in fat, sugar and salt.

* This article was originally published here

A face-following robot arm with emotion detection

Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have recently developed a face-following robotic arm with emotion detection inspired by Pixar Animation Studios' Luxo Jr. lamp. This robot was presented by Vernon Stanley Albayeros Duarte, a computer science graduate at UAB, in his final thesis.

* This article was originally published here

Supply-chain hack attacks are worrying investigators

What do you know about supply-chain attacks? In January, an article in CSO said it's when a weak link in your enterprise security might lie with partners and suppliers. It's when someone infiltrates your system through an outside partner or provider with access to your systems and data.

* This article was originally published here

Study sheds new light on urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women

A UT Southwestern study suggests why urinary tract infections (UTIs) have such a high recurrence rate in postmenopausal women—several species of bacteria can invade the bladder walls.

* This article was originally published here

New study highlights fundamental challenges of living with wildfire

Wildfires can have dramatic impacts on Western landscapes and communities, but human values determine whether the changes caused by fire are desired or dreaded. This is the simple—but often overlooked—message from a collaborative team of 23 researchers led by University of Montana faculty in a study published in the May issue of the journal BioScience.

* This article was originally published here

Can recreational sports really make you a better student?

A new Michigan State University study adds to growing evidence that participating in recreational sports not only can help improve grades while attending college, but it also can help students return for another year.

* This article was originally published here

Rideshare firms have snarled up San Francisco: study

The ride-hailing era ushered in by Uber and Lyft once promised to complement public transit, reduce car ownership and alleviate congestion.

* This article was originally published here

Microsoft to turn next chapter in raising talk to conversations

On Monday at Build 2019, Microsoft's annual conference for developers, the company showed off the technology for a conversational engine, to integrate with voice assistant Cortana.

* This article was originally published here

Effects of surgery on a warming planet: Can anesthesia go green?

It was early morning in an operating theater at Providence Hospital in Portland, Ore. A middle-aged woman lay on the operating table, wrapped in blankets. Surgeons were about to cut out a cancerous growth in her stomach.

* This article was originally published here

Elon Musk cracks a lewd joke at Jeff Bezos' new 'Blue Moon' lander

The moon lander introduced Thursday by Blue Origin, the aerospace company run by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has caught the attention of Elon Musk.

* This article was originally published here

A dance of two: tailoring interactions between remote fluids of excitons

An international collaboration involving European, Israeli, and US scientists realize for the first time strong and directionally dependent interactions in quantum liquids of excitons, which contrasts with the spatial isotropy of the coupling between charged particles. This spatial anisotropy affects the way particles arrange themselves in space and opens routes to artificially created exotic states of matter. The results were published in Physical Review X.

* This article was originally published here

Children are our future, and the planet's. Here's how you can teach them to take care of it

As the global climate crisis accelerates, early childhood teachers and researchers are considering whether and how to approach the issue with children. Should we talk openly about the crisis and encourage children to change their daily practices? Or is there a risk that in doing so, we are inflicting anxiety on young minds, still in critical and early stages of development?

* This article was originally published here

Is the county you call home a potential measles hotspot?

Could a computer model pinpoint where measles outbreaks are likely to occur?

* This article was originally published here

Hummingbird robot uses AI to soon go where drones can't

What can fly like a bird and hover like an insect?

* This article was originally published here

Study explores the use of robots and artificial intelligence to understand the deep-sea

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help scientists shed new light on the variety of species living on the ocean floor, according to new research led by the University of Plymouth.

* This article was originally published here

Unpacking the links: Chronic stress, fertility and the 'hunger hormone'

Researchers have uncovered a new link between chronic stress and reproductive problems, in a pre-clinical study that shines the spotlight on a hunger-triggering hormone.

* This article was originally published here

Plants and the art of microbial maintenance

It's been known for centuries that plants produce a diverse array of medically-valuable chemicals in their roots.

* This article was originally published here

Thursday 9 May 2019

Clean fuel cells could be cheap enough to replace gas engines in vehicles

Advancements in zero-emission fuel cells could make the technology cheap enough to replace traditional gasoline engines in vehicles, according to researchers at the University of Waterloo.

* This article was originally published here

Apple's 'most ambitious' retail store set for US capital

Half store, half museum, Apple's new location in the US capital within a historic landmark is being described as the "most ambitious" project for its retail operations.

* This article was originally published here

AI can detect depression in a child's speech

A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children, potentially providing a fast and easy way of diagnosing conditions that are difficult to spot and often overlooked in young people, according to new research published in the Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics.

* This article was originally published here

Smart software tool could pave the way for changing how things get designed, made, and supplied

If you don't like wandering through big-box stores trying to find the furniture you need, and then struggle to assemble it, researchers have proposed a solution: Smart software that helps you design your own furniture, 3-D print the joints and assemble the whole structure at home.

* This article was originally published here

Egg yolk precursor protein regulates mosquitoes' attraction to humans

Feeding mosquitoes sugar makes them less attracted to humans, a response that is regulated by the protein vitellogenin, according to a study publishing May 9 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Jessica Dittmer, Paolo Gabrieli and colleagues at the Università degli Studi di Pavia in Italy.

* This article was originally published here

Coca-Cola spent 8 mn euros to influence research in France: report

US beverage giant Coca-Cola paid more than eight million euros in France to health professionals and researchers in a bid to influence research, according to an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde published on Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

CDC: Uninsurance levels did not change significantly in 2018

(HealthDay)—In 2018, the percentage of U.S. individuals who were uninsured was not significantly different from the numbers in 2017, although uninsurance increased among adults aged 45 to 64 years, according to a report published online May 9 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

* This article was originally published here

Colorful solution to a chemical industry bottleneck

The nanoscale water channels that nature has evolved to rapidly shuttle water molecules into and out of cells could inspire new materials to clean up chemical and pharmaceutical production. KAUST researchers have tailored the structure of graphene-oxide layers to mimic the hourglass shape of these biological channels, creating ultrathin membranes to rapidly separate chemical mixtures.

* This article was originally published here

Smarter training of neural networks

These days, nearly all the artificial intelligence-based products in our lives rely on "deep neural networks" that automatically learn to process labeled data.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers discover a new moth family

In a recently completed study, researchers of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus and their collaborators have described two moth species new to science. In addition, the Ustyurtia zygophyllivora and Ustyurtia charynica species belong to a newly-described Lepidoptera genus and family. Discovering a new family of moths is comparable to researchers specialised in mammals finding entirely new species not belonging to any known mammal family, such as cats (Felidae) or bears (Ursidae), but rather representing an unambiguously new and distinct family.

* This article was originally published here

Students are increasingly turning to religious leaders for mental health support

High rates of mental ill health among students, including some tragic cases of suicide, have highlighted the vulnerability of many young people facing the pressures of higher education while away from home for the first time.

* This article was originally published here

Road test proves adaptive cruise control can add to traffic jam problem

A new, open-road test of adaptive cruise control demonstrated that the feature, designed to make driving easier by continuously adjusting a vehicle's speed in response to the car ahead, doesn't yet solve the problem of phantom traffic jams.

* This article was originally published here

When the machines come for government jobs, will efficiency crush equity?

Automation feels inevitable.

* This article was originally published here

Can a drone reveal the murky secrets of San Francisco Bay?

Environmental scientists can tell a lot about the health of rivers, bays, wetlands and other waterways by studying the flow of sediments suspended in the water, and from the mud that forms when these sediments settle to the bottom.

* This article was originally published here

These robocalls don't want to talk to you, they just want you to call back, FCC says

That late-night telephone call you just got that amounted to one ring—don't call back.

* This article was originally published here

First randomized controlled trial of FMT for obesity shows potential progress

Using capsules filled with fecal matter from a lean donor, researchers successfully changed some of the composition of the gut microbiota of patients with obesity, a possible step toward a new treatment for weight loss. In the first randomized controlled trial of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in metabolically healthy people with obesity, researchers presenting at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2019 said they were encouraged they could induce changes among the trillions of microorganisms and their genetic material within the intestinal tract.

* This article was originally published here

Wireless movement-tracking system could collect health and behavioral data

We live in a world of wireless signals flowing around us and bouncing off our bodies. MIT researchers are now leveraging those signal reflections to provide scientists and caregivers with valuable insights into people's behavior and health.

* This article was originally published here

Disney profit up as Fox joins the fold

Disney on Wednesday reported that its profit soared in the recently-ended quarter as it merged with 21st Century Fox.

* This article was originally published here

Wednesday 8 May 2019

AMD's tech to power new supercomputer for Department of Energy

Advanced Micro Devices announced Tuesday that its technology will help power a new supercomputer at Tennessee-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2021.

* This article was originally published here

Study shows new drug effective in overcoming ibrutinib resistance in mantle cell lymphona

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated how a small molecule drug discovered at the institution may help overcome resistance to treatment with ibrutinib in patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

* This article was originally published here

HIV epidemic stubbornly persists despite proven tool to prevent spread

The nation's HIV epidemic remains stubbornly persistent, with almost 40,000 new infections annually in the United States. That's despite the fact that physicians have a proven tool to prevent the spread of the virus among high-risk individuals. The question is: Why isn't pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, more widely prescribed?

* This article was originally published here

UN shifts response as Ebola outbreak in DR Congo drags on

The United Nations is stepping up its response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, now in its 10th month, and needs additional resources, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday.

* This article was originally published here

ClimaCell's weather watch makes use of wireless signals

A Boston-based startup is setting out to show the use of phones for better weather forecasting.

* This article was originally published here