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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Top-secret space plane lands on California coast
Post Date: 2014-10-18 22:28:24 by BTP Holdings
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Top-secret space plane lands on California coast Associated Press October 17, 2014 2:17 PM This June 16, 2012 file image from video made available by the Vandenberg Air Force Base shows an infrared view of the X-37B unmanned spacecraft landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The purpose of the U.S. military's space plane is classified, only fueling speculation about why it has been orbiting Earth for nearly two years on this, its third mission. The plane is expected to land this week at a Southern California Air Force base.(AP Photo/Vandenberg Air Force Base, File) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A top-secret space plane landed Friday at an Air Force base on the ...
Revealed: how Whisper app tracks ‘anonymous’ users
Post Date: 2014-10-18 02:18:58 by Tatarewicz
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Some Whisper users monitored even after opting out of geolocation services Company shares some information with US Department of Defense User data collated and indefinitely stored in searchable database Whisper app tracks ‘secret’ users Whisper app rewrites terms of service and privacy policy How the ‘safest place on the internet’ tracks its users Whisper: the facts WhiteHouse A Whisper user posted this message from the vicinity of the White House. The red icons signify someone who has posted a Whisper. Potentially identifying information has been redacted by the Guardian. Photograph: Guardian The company behind Whisper, the social media app that promises users ...
Pentagon Says Global Warming Presents Immediate Security Threat
Post Date: 2014-10-15 08:27:13 by Ada
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The_Pentagon_January_2008With dollar signs in their eyes, Pentagon officials have jumped on the global warming bandwagon and ”released a report Monday asserting decisively that climate change poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages.” What’s the answer to these many woes? Why, to give the military-industrial complex lots and lots and lots of money. Why is ISIS gaining ground? Because global warming. The climate experts at the DOD say so. Not that the Defense Department was ever at risk of seeing any real cuts. What backers of the Pentagon call “draconian cuts” are ...
Russia develops hybrid fusion-fission reactor, invites China participation
Post Date: 2014-10-15 06:01:45 by Tatarewicz
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RT... Russia is developing a hybrid nuclear reactor that uses both nuclear fusion and fission, said head of leading nuclear research facility. The project is open for international collaboration, particularly from Chinese scientists. A hybrid nuclear reactor is a sort of stepping stone to building a true nuclear fusion reactor. It uses a fusion reaction as a source of neutrons to initiate a fission reaction in a ‘blanket’ of traditional nuclear fuel. The approach has a number of potential benefits in terms of safety, non-proliferation and cost of generated energy, and Russia is developing such a hybrid reactor, according to Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the Kurchatov Research ...
Earth's magnetic field could flip within a human lifetime
Post Date: 2014-10-15 05:46:45 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily... The 'north pole' -- that is, the direction of magnetic north -- was reversed a million years ago. This map shows how, starting about 789,000 years ago, the north pole wandered around Antarctica for several thousand years before flipping 786,000 years ago to the orientation we know today, with the pole somewhere in the Arctic. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Berkeley [Click to enlarge image] Imagine the world waking up one morning to discover that all compasses pointed south instead of north. It's not as bizarre as it sounds. Earth's magnetic field has flipped -- though not overnight -- many times throughout the planet's history. ...
67 Years Ago Today: Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier. (October 14, 1947)
Post Date: 2014-10-14 21:13:36 by X-15
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When a manned aircraft approaches the speed of the sound it is thought to reach an invisible barrier. A barrier defined by physics. An impenetrable “sound barrier”. No one knows what will really happen. That is the problem. Scientists disagree; pilots think they know. Engineers have their theories. The theory is an aircraft can accelerate through this invisible barrier and fly faster than the sound it is creating. It will become silent, literally flying ahead of its own sound. There is also hard evidence that a manned aircraft cannot break the sound barrier. On 27 September 1946 test pilot Geoffrey DeHavilland Jr. is killed when his experimental DH-108 aircraft ...
47 Years Ago Today: The Fastest Manned Aircraft Flight Ever (October 3, 1967)
Post Date: 2014-10-14 21:01:55 by X-15
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It flew at nearly Mach 7, seven times the speed of sound and twice the speed of a rifle bullet. The speed record it set 47 years ago today still stands today. It flew so high its pilots earned Air Force astronaut wings: 280,500 feet or 53.1 miles above the earth. It pioneered technologies that were used on the SR-71 Blackbird, the space shuttle and the reusable spacecraft in Richard Branson’s future Virgin Galactic passenger space program. And it killed test pilots in an era before redundant flight control systems and modern safety protocols for hypersonic flight. It was the North American X-15. Today is the 47th anniversary of its fastest ever manned, powered flight. The X-15 ...
NSA? Voiceprints being harvested by the millions
Post Date: 2014-10-14 11:42:30 by Itistoolate
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Voiceprints being harvested by the millions The Voice Harvesters: More than 65 million people's voiceprints being harvested In this photo taken Sept. 15, 2014, Benoit Fauve, a speech scientist with voice recognition technology company ValidSoft, works on a computer, near screens displaying the voice biometric features of a telephone call during a demonstration at the company’s office in central London. An Associated Press investigation has found that two of America's biggest retail banks, Chase and Wells Fargo, are quietly taking some callers' voiceprints to fight fraud. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Lefteris Pitarakis) By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press Posted on ...
Singaporean university develops ultra-fast batteries
Post Date: 2014-10-13 20:18:03 by Tatarewicz
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SINGAPORE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scientists at Singapore's Nanyang Technology University (NTU) said on Monday that they have developed ultra-fast charging batteries that can be recharged up to 70 percent in only two minutes. Furthermore, the new generation batteries also have a long lifespan of over 20 years, more than 10 times compared to existing lithium-ion batteries. "This breakthrough has a wide-ranging impact on all industries, especially for electric vehicles, where consumers are put off by the long recharge times and its limited battery life." NTU said in its media statement. Currently, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used in mobile phones, ...
Atomic map reveals clues to how cholesterol is made
Post Date: 2014-10-13 06:23:42 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily... An enzyme responsible for a crucial step in the production of cholesterol has ten segments that span the cell membrane in which it is embedded. These contain two pockets the enzyme uses to bring the reactants together. Credit: Laboratory of Cell Biology at The Rockefeller University/Nature [Click to enlarge image] In spite of its dangerous reputation, cholesterol is in fact an essential component of human cells. Manufactured by the cells themselves, it serves to stiffen the cell's membrane, helping to shape the cell and protect it. By mapping the structure of a key enzyme involved in cholesterol production, Rockefeller University researchers and a colleague in Italy ...
Zapping the Brain With Tiny Magnetic Pulses Improves Memory
Post Date: 2014-10-12 05:28:40 by Tatarewicz
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Epoch Times... The practice of physically stimulating the brain in order to alleviate symptoms of illness and injury has been around since the early 20th century. For example, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still used to alleviate symptoms of depression. However, perhaps in part due to negative connotations associated with ECT, in modern medicine treatment of psychological disorders have tended to use other forms of intervention. These now mostly involve drugs or therapy. However, a recent study, published in the journal Science, sees a return to this idea of stimulating brain regions to improve brain function. Researchers at Northwestern University have shown that targeted ...
Fusion reactor concept could be cheaper than coal
Post Date: 2014-10-11 21:51:47 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily... Fusion energy almost sounds too good to be true -- zero greenhouse gas emissions, no long-lived radioactive waste, a nearly unlimited fuel supply. Perhaps the biggest roadblock to adopting fusion energy is that the economics haven't penciled out. Fusion power designs aren't cheap enough to outperform systems that use fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. University of Washington engineers hope to change that. They have designed a concept for a fusion reactor that, when scaled up to the size of a large electrical power plant, would rival costs for a new coal-fired plant with similar electrical output. The team published its reactor design and cost-analysis ...
Russian Scientists Excluded From Presenting Important (Methane) Research
Post Date: 2014-10-11 18:10:52 by Horse
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Russian Scientists Excluded From Presenting Important Research As NASA Goddard Director Tries To Discredit Observational Scientific Research Following on from my recent post regarding the attempt by Dr Gavin Schmidt to rubbish the research of Russian scientists, led by Dr Natalia Shakhova and Dr Igor Semiletov, it now emerges that the latter were not even invited to the high profile meeting at the Royal Society. The event, held a fortnight ago, is still causing controversy beyond the negative tweeting by NASA Goddard Director, Dr Gavin Schmidt. Schmidt aimed his presentation at discrediting the Russian’s work, using theoretical models, without expertise in methane, or credible ...
The Swiss start-up tackling radiation threats
Post Date: 2014-10-11 07:24:40 by Tatarewicz
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SwissInfo... Entrepreneurs have helped develop a new system designed to detect radiological threats, which is being tested at ports across Europe. (SRF ECO, swissinfo.ch) Monitors hidden inside a van can single out freight containing substances such as uranium, plutonium, or radiological components for "dirty bombs”. These are weapons that combine radioactive material with conventional explosives. The information gathered allows operators to exclude the possibility of a detected plutonium source being a “ready-to-go” nuclear weapon. The system is the first of its type in the world to combine fast and thermal neutron detection. The technologies were tested at CERN, the ...
US Govt Holds Patent on Ebola, But Researcher Rejects Conspiracy Theories
Post Date: 2014-10-09 17:00:50 by BTP Holdings
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US Govt Holds Patent on Ebola, But Researcher Rejects Conspiracy Theories Thursday, 09 Oct 2014 11:24 AM By Charlotte Libov Word is spreading on Internet sites that the U.S. government will profit from the Ebola crisis because a patent it holds on the virus would allow it to make money on treatments. However, a top Ebola researcher tells Newsmax Health that these conspiracy theories are off base. It’s true that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does hold a patent on one strain of Ebola. However, it is not the type that is causing the current outbreak, said David Sanders, professor of biological sciences at Purdue University. What’s more, the government ...
Elon Musk: a Machine Tasked with Getting Rid of Spam Could End Humanity
Post Date: 2014-10-09 14:21:59 by Ada
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Tesla and SpaceX C.E.O. Elon Musk said he was worried that people didn’t understand how fast artificial intelligence was progressing, and expressed his concern that, in a worst-case scenario, a “super-intelligent” machine might decide to destroy human life. Musk was speaking to Walter Isaacson, the president and C.E.O. of the Aspen Institute, on stage at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. Musk, uncharacteristically wearing a suit, detailed his fears after teasing the announcement of Tesla’s secretive project called “the D.” “I don’t think anyone realizes how quickly artificial intelligence is advancing. Particularly if ...
Three scientists share 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Post Date: 2014-10-08 22:40:10 by Tatarewicz
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STOCKHOLM, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Americans Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner and German scientist Stefan W. Hell won this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday. The academy said the award was given to the three "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy." Nobel Laureate Hell said in an on-site telephone interview that the discovery is "important for understanding physiology and disease," and that he had been quite "confident" in his instinct and kept on the development. Hell currently works at the German Cancer Research Center. Americans Betzig and Moerner are from U.S. Howard ...
Broad consensus' that violent media increase child aggression
Post Date: 2014-10-08 05:41:52 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily... Majorities of media researchers, parents and pediatricians agree that exposure to violent media can increase aggression in children, according to a new national study. The study found that 66 percent of researchers, 67 percent of parents and 90 percent of pediatricians agree or strongly agree that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children. Majorities of these groups also believed that children's aggressive behavior can be fueled by viewing violent video games, movies, TV programs, and Internet sites. However, fewer than half agreed that violent comic books or literature would have such harmful effects on children. "Some people claim ...
Apple's new iPhones may cause serious health damage due to high radiation
Post Date: 2014-10-08 01:47:53 by Tatarewicz
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Pravda.Ru Apple, a digital giant from Cupertino, has recently released quite a dangerous new gadget. A study showed that Apple's new devices, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, produce the radiation, the level of which are close to permissible standard of electromagnetic radiation. Senior analyst at Mobile Research Group, Eldar Murtazin, wrote that SAR for iPhone 6/6 + was on the verge of permitted radiation in the world and the USA. The phone produces three times more radiation that analogues and even more than Chinese fakes. SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) is the rate for specific absorption of electromagnetic energy. The indicator measures electromagnetic field energy produced in the ...
Three scientists share 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics
Post Date: 2014-10-08 00:32:08 by Tatarewicz
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STOCKHOLM, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Three scientists won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention of blue light-emitting diodes (LED), a new energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly light source, the award-giving body announced Tuesday. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 to Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano from Japan and Japan-born U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura. "With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources," the jury said in a statement. The LED lamp holds great promise for increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around ...
Experts: Thinning Forests Could Help Increase Ground Water Supply
Post Date: 2014-10-07 21:23:27 by X-15
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TUOLUMNE COUNTY (CBS13) – Officials with the U.S. Forest Service say there are too many trees in the Sierra, creating a major fire hazard and sucking up much-needed water. Some researchers say cutting down more trees could help ease California’s water problems. In a rural piece of forest in Tuoloumne County, an important experiment is underway that could influence California’s future of fire and water. UC Merced graduate student Michael Pickard and hydrology professor Roger Bales monitor a group of 15 “nodes” that record snowpack, snow melt and soil moisture. “Think of the precipitation coming in leaves either going back to the atmosphere or down as ...
NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea
Post Date: 2014-10-07 17:57:53 by BTP Holdings
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NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea Image: NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea (iStock) Monday, 06 Oct 2014 12:36 PM The deep ocean may not be hiding heat after all, raising new questions about why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years, said the US space agency Monday. Scientists have noticed that while greenhouse gases have continued to mount in the first part of the 21st century, global average surface air temperatures have stopped rising along with them, said NASA. Some studies have suggested that heat is being absorbed temporarily by the deep seas, and that this so-called global warming hiatus is a temporary trend. But ...
Three scientists share 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Post Date: 2014-10-06 22:43:30 by Tatarewicz
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STOCKHOLM, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Three scientists shared the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, the committee announced Monday. The Nobel assembly at the Karolinska Institute has decided to award one half of the physiology or medicine prize to John O'Keefe and the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for their discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. According to a statement of the committee, this year's laureates have discovered an "inner GPS" in the brain that "makes it possible to orient ourselves in space, demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function." John O'Keefe discovered in ...
Finnish researchers find way of creating propane through biosynthesis
Post Date: 2014-10-06 22:33:45 by Tatarewicz
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HELSINKI, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Scientists in Finland have been able to create propane gas through biosynthesis, the University of Turku said on Monday. The researchers at the Molecular Plant Biology laboratories at the University of Turku have genetically engineered microbes to produce renewable propane for the first time. They will now continue the project with a view to produce propane fuel for automobiles. The system is based on using coliform bacteria. The leader of the Finnish project, Professor Pauli Kallio from Turku University, told media that the team hopes to be able to develop the newly found process so that it is economical in large scale production. The researchers ...
Previous sexual partners can influence another mate's offspring
Post Date: 2014-10-05 05:13:59 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceAlert For the first time, Australian scientists have shown that in flies, a female’s previous sexual partner can affect how her offspring from another male turns out. The idea of previous sexual partners influencing how another man’s offspring will turn out was discredited in humans when we started to understand genetics in the early 20th century. But life on Earth is so incredibly diverse, and just because humans aren't affected by this phenomenon doesn't mean other species aren't. To investigate this, a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) worked with different sized male neriid flies to see if previous mates would influence ...
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