PakMonitor - News Around The Globe : Sci-Tech

Now, used cigarette butts can charge your “Mobile”

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<strong>SOUTH KOREA: Scientist claim that they can convert cigarette 
filters into a material that could be used by computers, electrical 
vehicles and wind turbines to store energy.</strong><br />

Sources claim that the discarded cigarette butts are a blight on city
 streets, but now one group of scientists has come up with a way to 
reuse them to save the environment. Worldwide, around 5.6 trillion 
used-cigarettes, or 766,571 tonnes, of used cigarettes are flicked onto 
pavements each year. That’s equivalent to the weight of 380 London Eyes.<br />

Co-author of the study Professor Jongheop Yi, from Seoul National University, said in a statement that:<br />

“Our study has shown that used-cigarette filters can be transformed 
into a high-performing carbon-based material using a simple one step 
process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the 
energy demands of society.”<br />

First GM plants to produce omega-3 oil almost ready for harvest: 
Trial could lead to alternative source of fish oil in the future. Could 
the moon fuel Earth for 10,000 years? China says mining helium from our 
satellite may help solve the world’s energy crisis.<br />

The researchers claim the material’s performance is even better that 
the commercially available carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes 
currently used to do the same job.

Now, used cigarette butts can charge your “Mobile”

SOUTH KOREA: Scientist claim that they can convert cigarette filters into a material that could be used by computers, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy. Sources claim that the d…

14 Aug 2014

'BOYFRIEND TRACKER' APP DOWNLOAD COUNTER RISES IN BRAZIL

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Brazilians were outraged when they learned their country was a top target of the U.S. National Security Agency's overseas spying operation, with data from billions of calls and emails swept up in Washington's top secret surveillance program.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Yet when it comes to the cloak and dagger effort of catching philandering lovers, all high-tech weapons appear to be fair game - at least to the tens of thousands of Brazilians who downloaded "Boyfriend Tracker" to their smartphones before the stealthy software was removed from the Google Play app store last week, apparently in response to complaints about privacy abuses and its potential to be used for extortion or even stalking.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"Brazilians are a jealous people, what can I say? Of course it's going to be popular," said Marcia Almeida, a 47-year-old woman in Rio whose marriage ended seven years ago in large part because of what she said was her husband's infidelity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"It's a different type of spying," she said of comparisons to the NSA surveillance program. "You're checking up on somebody you know intimately, not some stranger."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The app, called "Rastreador de Namorados" (Portuguese for Boyfriend Tracker), promises to act like a "private detective in your partner's pocket."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Functions include sending the person doing the tracking updates on their partner's location and forwarding duplicates of text message traffic from the targeted phone. There is even a command that allows a user to force the target phone to silently call their own, like a pocket dial, so they can listen in on what the person is saying.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Similar apps are marketed for smartphone users in other countries, including Europe and the U.S., but Boyfriend Tracker is the first that has made any impact in Brazil, a country still irate as it learns more about Washington's snooping. Brazil has sent a government delegation to meet with U.S. leaders about the spy program that was revealed by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who has been on the run since May and was recently granted asylum in Russia.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Google spokeswoman Gina Johnson said by email that as a policy the company doesn't comment on why apps are removed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Critics say even as advertised, apps like Boyfriend Tracker can violate privacy rights, and they warn that in the wrong hands they could be used for more sinister purposes, like stalking. Some in Brazil argue it breaks an anti-online harassment and hacking law in place since April. The law is named after Brazilian actress Carolina Dieckmann, who had nude photos of herself leaked by hackers in 2012 after she refused to pay about $5,000.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">However, similar apps popular on Google Play market themselves to parents as a means of monitoring how teenage children use the phone and where they are at any given moment.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Matheus Grijo, a 24-year-old Sao Paulo-based developer behind Boyfriend Tracker, says it has attracted around 50,000 users since its launch about two months ago, most since the site began attracting media attention two weeks ago.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Grijo insists his lawyer vetted the app and determined it does not violate any Brazilian laws. Despite being removed by Google, it is still available via direct download from his company's website.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">A disclaimer on that website stipulates the app is for "social and recreational use" and absolves the developer of responsibility for any misuse. The first line of the download instructions says a woman installing the tracker on her boyfriend's phone should do so "with his consent."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"We are waiting for Google's position on the removal of `Boyfriend Tracker' from Google Play, which we consider an error," read a posting on a Facebook page Grijo set up for the app.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">To install Boyfriend Tracker, suspicious partners have to get their hands on their loved one's smartphones and upload the app. A free version leaves the app's icon visible on the target's phone, while a version that costs $2 a month masks the icon.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Grijo said the app began as a joke between him and his girlfriend but the idea quickly caught on among their friends.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"In Brazil, we have this culture of switching partners really quickly, so this is a way of dealing with that," said Grijo. "People really appreciate having a tool to help them find out whether they're being cheated on."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">He acknowledged that "of course some people are against it, but on balance the response from users has been positive." He said he's received messages of gratitude from around 50 people who used the app to ferret out their partners' infidelity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">While cheating in Brazil cuts both ways, the app is clearly marketed to women suspicious of their male partners, right down to the name. Postings on the app's Facebook page exhort: "Girls, share this."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Still, Grijo insisted he personally has never given his girlfriends any reason to worry.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"I've had three steady girlfriends until now but I've never had these kinds of issues," he said.</span>

'BOYFRIEND TRACKER' APP DOWNLOAD COUNTER RISES IN BRAZIL

Brazilians were outraged when they learned their country was a top target of the U.S. National Security Agency's overseas spying operation, with data from billions of calls and emails swept up in Was…

03 Aug 2014

FACEBOOK'S NEW ALGORITHM WILL SURFACE QUALITY CONTENT

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<img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPgiXvveqCsYAsEw75_sWCSUjdmZjf7SjEqwpw8GzucRO4DTQfVMcE_euO7V4ZvpGLMD8a91SOIZyUTY__S-u79D4ZpiQZwk6u6JjS8lak4UWtioBHhSuuEoHcae5rDqdA80BKCbKvHY/s1600/facebook-beta-update.jpg" width="640" /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Earlier last week reports had emerged that Facebook replaced its famous EdgeRank system with a better algorithm to surface the most important news on your News Feed. The social networking giant has now confirmed that it has indeed updated its News Feed algorithm to showcase “high quality” content from pages that you’ve liked.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Facebook has updated its algorithm to be able to bring the right kind of content at the right time to News Feeds of users who will appreciate it. Facebook had been facing some flak for being unable to surface content from pages that were liked by users for a while now. This tweak in its algorithm should solve this issue.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">In a blog post announcing the new algorithm, Facebook's Varun Kacholia wrote, “Our goal is to show the right content to the right people at the right time so they don’t miss the stories that are important to them. As part of that we want to make sure that the best quality content is being produced, surfaced and shared. Our latest update to the News Feed ranking algorithm helps ensure that the organic content people see from Pages they are connected to is the most interesting to them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Kacholia writes that in order to figure out what high quality content meant, Facebook surveyed thousands of users to understand what they wanted to see. Questions asked to users includes “Is this timely and relevant content”, “Is this content from a source you would trust,” “Would you share it with friends and recommend it to others.” “Is the content genuinely interesting to you or is it trying to game News Feed distribution? (e.g., asking for people to like the content)”.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Most interestingly, Facebook bunched memes with low quality posts while asking users about high quality posts. The social networking website will be punishing posts by pages that are actually memes since it considers them to be low quality. Facebook will be taking into consideration issues like whether users have hidden posts from the page recently or frequently. This will qualify those posts as low quality ones. Important factors also include how complete the Facebook profile of the page is and whether or not the fan base for a particular page overlaps with other known high quality pages.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The algorithm is supposed to be quite intuitive and will keep learning to classify high quality posts and pages as and when users keep interacting with them and sending in more feedback. Kacholia writes that this new algorithm had been tested with a small group of audiences first and it worked well as it not only drove up the interaction on these pages but also saw users hiding lesser stories throughout.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">For pages that are seeing good engagement already, this new algorithm will assure that your content is seen by people who matter and more fans of your pages as the quality of your posts improve. Thanks to better insights rolled out by Facebook recently. Page admins should be able to figure out the kind of posts that drive up engagement as well as targeting and timing. Looks like Facebook has finally got its act together as far as content is concerned</span>

FACEBOOK'S NEW ALGORITHM WILL SURFACE QUALITY CONTENT

Earlier last week reports had emerged that Facebook replaced its famous EdgeRank system with a better algorithm to surface the most important news on your News Feed. The social networking giant has n…

03 Aug 2014

Robot furniture that builds itself

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiU433n4Hd8tMalBHUtUo3HyFbN79gCOOW2xZk5UCNTxRBotMGTbsrTxTtHp-CYUf2aSV-BiUE_sm4-8nOe5Uke_78A8nyH89gMXd18pgyIhTK-wIlbkm_CA1LOB9KP9pS7TNtUV3fYg/s1600/140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3bIfFeFeaUreUroCRNKyzp0OMg7OTUuP4s2hO6NI_eK1DDAMfIyDWNXjHz46PqAX28RsRhMLxGH5Kp5UR7U7_hSgGvNVWfDbA9ZQJJicJA0DO2JM0O1m0DrBwUz_abSboX7d8zL-e7oA/s1600/140722140043-roombot-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3bIfFeFeaUreUroCRNKyzp0OMg7OTUuP4s2hO6NI_eK1DDAMfIyDWNXjHz46PqAX28RsRhMLxGH5Kp5UR7U7_hSgGvNVWfDbA9ZQJJicJA0DO2JM0O1m0DrBwUz_abSboX7d8zL-e7oA/s1600/140722140043-roombot-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="cnnEditorialNote">
<em>Edge of Discovery highlights awe-inspiring innovations and ideas.</em></div>
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<strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Imagine that the chair you're sitting on 
became a sofa on demand as the day moved from light to dark. Or if all 
your furnishings could move out of your way as you walk through a room. 
These thoughts could one day become reality through research being 
conducted at the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">Swiss Federal Institute of Technolog</a>y (EPFL).<br />

<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlCwsohC4MNucbnS4JmkD1IKHkOclYtNgHHmdshLCn64O0cZTbt754bRJAWfveB-jYFacEzMO3IF2LlFwb__a2-SCJIaChSzP0g7x0abEs7QsJVzAEaQYedd6M337Qkav3kPpujqtw70/s1600/140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlCwsohC4MNucbnS4JmkD1IKHkOclYtNgHHmdshLCn64O0cZTbt754bRJAWfveB-jYFacEzMO3IF2LlFwb__a2-SCJIaChSzP0g7x0abEs7QsJVzAEaQYedd6M337Qkav3kPpujqtw70/s1600/140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a>The EPFL biorobotics lab 
is developing self-configurable robotics known as "Roombots," which can 
merge with materials and furnishings to create adaptable furniture for 
the home and office.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">
"It's a bit of a 
science-fiction project in my lab to create intelligent furniture which 
can change shape and functionality," explains lab director Auke 
Ijspeert. "We envisage the Roombots moving and combining to create a 
diversity of elements including tables and chairs." The goal is to 
create furniture that can be re-used in multiple ways.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">
Read this: Electronic noses sniff out cancer</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAYIBh4TjacEbgUdTMMpNmdbl0mqiJNLp7PIn_zv-FFFsUQ0FlSvp1pcwKpxvwXWonX9A4oLWwqW7Jc_R1Xqg9lATX9UWjW79Muy1anU1HqiDlP66zbGKn-1XsF4EHKGg5DWxuXJHF8k/s1600/140722152108-roombot-rendering-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAYIBh4TjacEbgUdTMMpNmdbl0mqiJNLp7PIn_zv-FFFsUQ0FlSvp1pcwKpxvwXWonX9A4oLWwqW7Jc_R1Xqg9lATX9UWjW79Muy1anU1HqiDlP66zbGKn-1XsF4EHKGg5DWxuXJHF8k/s1600/140722152108-roombot-rendering-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">
Designs would consist of 
Roombot modules -- which resemble two dice stuck together, and contain a
 battery, three motors for movements and pivoting, and a wireless 
connection. Each module is just 22cm long and the team imagine just 10 
of them could combine to build a broad range of furniture. "The Roombots
 would be coupled with more passive materials such as a table top or 
cushion to create the end results," says Ijspeert.</div>
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It's a bit of a science-fiction project in my lab to create intelligent furniture which can change shape and functionality<br /><span>Auke Ijspeert, EPFL</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumvqfqJKAjw_WsAffp2XeayMad-AJgLnaPaaRZKoq6clLP8YHUnQ3blGBtNY5N0hIadRxr7btouZt_uKtCO2H0WiyhLofp_2_hczn9I2p888pmlLfyLZwy0O2tKlkvedQCI2fSmk0lZY/s1600/140722151147-roombot-coming-out-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumvqfqJKAjw_WsAffp2XeayMad-AJgLnaPaaRZKoq6clLP8YHUnQ3blGBtNY5N0hIadRxr7btouZt_uKtCO2H0WiyhLofp_2_hczn9I2p888pmlLfyLZwy0O2tKlkvedQCI2fSmk0lZY/s1600/140722151147-roombot-coming-out-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="400" /></a>However, the team's 
immediate goals are to create mobile furniture to assist the elderly and
 those with reduced mobility. "Let's say an elderly person is using a 
walker, the furniture could have modules attached for it to move out of 
the way in a cluttered apartment or have a stool follow the person and 
remain close by," describes Ijspeert.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">
For now, the team have 
managed to enable a few modules to interact, coordinated by algorithms 
on a PC, but they plan to improve human-robot interactions by either 
embedding cameras to track where users are or using voice recognition 
for people to instruct their furniture.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">
Further hopes lie in 
using tablets to display a room virtually, with people using augmented 
reality to then move and place furnishings as they desire. "Eventually 
we want less and less human interaction to have a more fluid transition 
of furniture," says Ijspeert.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">
Designs aren't limited to
 the home and could be applied to the workplace to create high-end 
conference rooms that reconfigure according to functionality, and 
eventually anywhere, with people creating their own uses for the 
building blocks.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">
"What I really hope is to provide Lego blocks for people to find their own use such as artists or designers," says Ijspeert.</div>

Robot furniture that builds itself

Edge of Discovery highlights awe-inspiring innovations and ideas. (CNN) -- Imagine that the chair you're sitting on became a sofa on demand as the day moved from light to dark. Or if all your furni…

24 Jul 2014

The future of urban transit?

<div class="byline">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz96d_GCKOVMOfoRdTDsXk_UfYW8jwhH4GBdw_7uDm6tQgU91tJ3Rn6tZaFs2uhglS583f_GtTfM-Z9ZjJDiXfvuhSIQw4OGKCfT6e4IGGP0D0r8S_WSXcXB1ElGBYwvXGmz4LAj4zRzA/s1600/140722124452-cnn-10-design-transit-pods-story-top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz96d_GCKOVMOfoRdTDsXk_UfYW8jwhH4GBdw_7uDm6tQgU91tJ3Rn6tZaFs2uhglS583f_GtTfM-Z9ZjJDiXfvuhSIQw4OGKCfT6e4IGGP0D0r8S_WSXcXB1ElGBYwvXGmz4LAj4zRzA/s1600/140722124452-cnn-10-design-transit-pods-story-top.jpg" /></a>By <span>Brandon Griggs</span>, CNN</div>
Say you step off a train in a new city and need to 
get to your hotel, about a mile away. Most taxi drivers don’t want to 
take people such a short distance. But with your luggage, it’s too far 
to walk.<br />

Someday, there may be a third option: Urban transit systems built 
around small electric vehicles, or pods, that drive themselves. <br />

Supporters of these driverless pods say they take up less space than 
cars, cut down on urban noise and produce zero emissions. And they offer
 more flexibility: Instead of relying on a set schedule, riders can 
summon these pods for private, individual trips.<br />

Since 2011, a fleet of such pods has been transporting passengers 
between terminals at London’s Heathrow Airport, eliminating more than 
50,000 bus trips a year on crowded nearby roads. The Heathrow system 
runs mostly on elevated tracks.<br />

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjwT__jjtbzmEpsD375Gpv97u3Uh4zluNgvcd7ouNXku230xAb_8DoP5oiEoZw8LwcR5i6ViiXZRN2sLUghU-n4IUvNueMnm3Nf0QPHTMRrMCRxIkDGqmQNLBYdPwe11YUolSEuDnLQ0/s1600/140721181918-10-cnn10-design-transportation-story-top.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjwT__jjtbzmEpsD375Gpv97u3Uh4zluNgvcd7ouNXku230xAb_8DoP5oiEoZw8LwcR5i6ViiXZRN2sLUghU-n4IUvNueMnm3Nf0QPHTMRrMCRxIkDGqmQNLBYdPwe11YUolSEuDnLQ0/s1600/140721181918-10-cnn10-design-transportation-story-top.jpeg" /></a>Now, Milton Keynes, a small city 45 miles northwest of London, wants 
to be the first in the world to put a network of pods on pedestrian 
walkways. The vehicles would connect the city’s train station with its 
downtown shopping district a mile away. <br />

Riders can reserve pods using their smartphones. Or they will find a 
fleet of pods waiting for them outside the railway station or other 
popular spots, said Geoff Snelson, director of strategy for Milton 
Keynes Council. <br />

Early designs show a small, stubby vehicle with two seats and a 
large, plunging windshield. Anticipating unease with driverless 
vehicles, the project’s backers want the pods to look sleek, modern and 
unthreatening. <br />

“We want people to be curious about using them,” Snelson said.<br />
British engineering firm RDM Group is working on three prototype pods
 fitted with autonomous-driving systems from Oxford University’s Mobile 
Robotics Group. To start, they’ll have a steering wheel, an accelerator,
 a brake and a human driver, although future models are expected to be 
fully autonomous. <br />

Packed with cameras and sensors, the pods will know when to turn and 
brake to avoid collisions with pedestrians, cyclists or teens on 
skateboards.<br />

“The focus has to be on safety,” said Neil Fulton with Transport Systems Catapult, a British public transit advocacy group.<br />

The city plans to begin testing the two-seater pods in the spring, 
with the hope of gradually integrating larger models into its transit 
system by the end of 2015. Other municipalities worldwide are watching 
Milton Keynes’ plans with an eye on adopting similar systems. But first,
 laws must be drawn up to allow driverless cars on roads in the UK.<br />

“There’s huge interest in this,” said Fulton. “We’re trying a completely new mode of transport.”<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />

The future of urban transit?

By Brandon Griggs, CNN Say you step off a train in a new city and need to get to your hotel, about a mile away. Most taxi drivers don’t want to take people such a short distance. But with your lugg…

24 Jul 2014

Indian doctors remove 232 teeth from teen’s mouth

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 <strong> </strong><br />
<strong>INDIA: Doctors extracted 232 teeth from the mouth of 17-year-old boy.</strong><br />

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7cL1jFQHG8OXcxsdqk9pbSn-Ryuebz5-JpiItlipLl3GVNTV912lCyNpdNUel4g-BbBvLDMvdqVOSOFmzpg6tfE2hANWawP9ObCW8P4fNJsfMb8VyYSb9hTcnI_TkSTIofQwslF294/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7cL1jFQHG8OXcxsdqk9pbSn-Ryuebz5-JpiItlipLl3GVNTV912lCyNpdNUel4g-BbBvLDMvdqVOSOFmzpg6tfE2hANWawP9ObCW8P4fNJsfMb8VyYSb9hTcnI_TkSTIofQwslF294/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-011.jpg" width="320" /></a>According to the media reports, the operation continued for more than
 seven hours. It is reported that the teenager had been suffering for 18
 months and traveled to the city from his village after local doctors 
failed to identify the cause of the problem.<br />

Ashik Gavai was brought in with a swelling in his right jaw, Dr 
Sunanda Dhiware, head of Mumbai’s JJ Hospital’s dental department. 
Doctors have described his condition as “very rare” and “a world 
record”. Dr Dhiware said in a statement that:<br />

“Ashik’s malaise was diagnosed as a complex composite odontoma where a
 single gum forms lots of teeth. It’s a sort of benign tumour.”<br />

She further added that:<br />

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“At first, we couldn’t cut it out so we had to use the basic chisel 
and hammer to take it out. Once we opened it, little pearl-like teeth 
started coming out, one-by-one. Initially, we were collecting them, they
 were really like small white pearls. But then we started to get tired. 
We counted 232 teeth.”<br />

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The surgery involved two surgeons and two assistants. Ashik now has 28 teeth. Take a look at these pictures:

Indian doctors remove 232 teeth from teen’s mouth

INDIA: Doctors extracted 232 teeth from the mouth of 17-year-old boy. According to the media reports, the operation continued for more than seven hours. It is reported that the teenager had been …

24 Jul 2014

China launches campaign to clean up porn apps in mobiles

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China has launched a campaign to clamp down on pornography circulated on smart phone applications and will also set up a system to identify its creators.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 20px;">
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it will step up supervision over telecommunication service providers, application creators and online app stores.</div>
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It will also set up a system that can verify the identity of app creators as well as monitor and dispose of pornographic information, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.</div>
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The ministry will also encourage the reporting of porn-related applications, create a blacklist of such apps and ban them from accessing the Internet.</div>
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Smart phones have overtaken computers as the most popular way to access the Internet in China.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 20px;">
However, fast growing mobile Internet has become a new channel to circulate pornographic information.</div>

China launches campaign to clean up porn apps in mobiles

China has launched a campaign to clamp down on pornography circulated on smart phone applications and will also set up a system to identify its creators. The Ministry of Industry and Information Tech…

23 Jul 2014

Microsoft announces the low-cost Nokia Lumia 530

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After it was first <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">tipped in early March</span></span> by Evleaks, Microsoft-owned Nokia announced the<span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lumia 530</span></span> on Wednesday. The budget-grade 3G smartphone is a follow-up to the Lumia 520 and <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">525</span></span> and the first Lumia launch since <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Microsoft finalized its Nokia acquisition</span></span> in late April. The Lumia 630 and <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">635</span></span> were announced just weeks before the deal officially closed during <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Build 2014</span></span>.</div>
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The 530 will start rolling out globally to select markets in August and will sell for less than €100 at its release (under $135). An official U.S. release date and pricing was not announced, but in June, <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Evleaks</span></span> said the 530 would hit T-Mobile mid-summer and come to Cricket in the fall.</div>
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The 530 features a 4-inch display with 854-by-480 resolution at 246 pixels per inch, a slight upgrade from the 800-by-480 display on the 520/525. Under the hood the 530 comes with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and 4GB onboard storage. That's not much in terms of memory, but the handset also has a microSD slot that can hold another 128GB, and you'll get an extra 15GB free OneDrive storage as well.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbZV0TInQh42GsDEns-fJWp_sS8GQM-TFnTcIEW_PCRHTIZmltNP0ZcGEGgeA3_kqM1YwZUd26Di7I8-hL1dRAFwNWs7TZ1nog2h4b9qCK94xZeDbBRKGtZmgoKq1IEzIC675AbdyA2Q/s1600/lumia630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbZV0TInQh42GsDEns-fJWp_sS8GQM-TFnTcIEW_PCRHTIZmltNP0ZcGEGgeA3_kqM1YwZUd26Di7I8-hL1dRAFwNWs7TZ1nog2h4b9qCK94xZeDbBRKGtZmgoKq1IEzIC675AbdyA2Q/s1600/lumia630.jpg" width="320" /></a>The biggest differentiator between the 520-era budget phones and the 530 is that the phone will come in single and dual SIM versions. Just like its predecessors, the 530 lacks a front-facing camera and has a 5 megapixel rear camera; however, the 530's camera has a longer minimum focus range of 60cm, compared to 10cm on the 520/525.</div>
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The rest of the 530's feature set is about what you'd expect: Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and <span style="color: #25a7d7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Windows Phone 8.1</span></span>. There's also a 1430 mAh battery with a claim of 8.5 hours of Wi-Fi network browsing time (max).</div>
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Along with the 530, Nokia also announced a new smartphone accessory called the Bang mini speaker. Designed by Coloud, the Bang mini speaker is battery-powered, rechargeable, and claims a maximum 8 hours of playing time. You can also daisy chain multiple speakers for more sound. The Bang mini speaker will debut in the coming weeks with an asking price of €19 (about $25).</div>
<br />

Microsoft announces the low-cost Nokia Lumia 530

After it was first tipped in early March by Evleaks, Microsoft-owned Nokia announced theLumia 530 on Wednesday. The budget-grade 3G smartphone is a follow-up to the Lumia 520 and 525 and the first Lu…

23 Jul 2014

Apple iPhone 6 models with bigger screens on the way, reports say

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Apple is expected to release the next generation of its smartphone, the iPhone 6, which is rumoured to have a larger screen size.</div>
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<span style="color: #115278;"><b>The Wall Street Journal</b></span> reported Tuesday that Apple has asked its suppliers to produce "between 70 million and 80 million units combined" of the devices, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, by Dec. 30. The paper cited "people familiar with the matter."</div>
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The report is consistent with images and videos of the "iPhone 6" leaked in recent months on technology websites that suggested Apple is making new models with bigger screens than the<span style="color: #115278;"><b> </b></span>4-inch iPhone 5, which was released in 2012. That model was replaced with the <span style="color: #115278;"><b>iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S</b></span> in 2013.</div>
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<li style="list-style: none outside none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: -1em; padding-left: 0.75em; position: relative;"><span style="color: #115278;"><b>Apple launches bigger, lighter iPhone 5</b></span></li>
<li style="list-style: none outside none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: -1em; padding-left: 0.75em; position: relative;"><span style="color: #115278;"><b>Apple unveils 2 new iPhones, including cheaper model</b></span></li>
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Sites such as <span style="color: #115278;"><b>MacRumours</b></span>, <span style="color: #115278;"><b>TechRadar</b></span> and <span style="color: #115278;"><b>AppleInsider</b></span> say they expect the new smartphones to be released in September, although there are some who suggest the larger, "phablet" model may be released later.</div>
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<li style="list-style: none outside none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: -1em; padding-left: 0.75em; position: relative;"><span style="color: #115278;"><b>Are phablets really here to stay?</b></span></li>
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Some of Apple's competitors already make larger screen models.</div>
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One of them, Samsung, released a new ad this week, poking fun at Apple's rumoured larger-screen iPhones.</div>
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<span style="color: #115278;"><b>The ad for the Galaxy S5</b></span>, which has a 5.1-inch screen, is titled "screen envy," and features a man with an iPhone asking a friend with a Galaxy S5 if he's heard a rumour that iPhone might be getting a bigger screen.</div>
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A voiceover goes on to suggest that iPhone users have been waiting "for like two years," and that, in fact, the Galaxy S5 is "everything you've been waiting for."</div>

Apple iPhone 6 models with bigger screens on the way, reports say

Apple is expected to release the next generation of its smartphone, the iPhone 6, which is rumoured to have a larger screen size. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Apple has asked its sup…

22 Jul 2014

Compressed diamond sheds light on mega-planets

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP293TaiiySPH93lhP7cX7i-qfQid_J2iEE-pVLzln4LUYORIMLGSNcmeuIVYrDyjocwkCSv2fSodJ9geRfFdRH3QBzGOCxy1e3zAJh5HZnlH2bvsj6_w6W-KhzB8eEWfInP4baQ_xRB8/s1600/Compresseddiamond-mega-planets_7-16-2014_154055_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP293TaiiySPH93lhP7cX7i-qfQid_J2iEE-pVLzln4LUYORIMLGSNcmeuIVYrDyjocwkCSv2fSodJ9geRfFdRH3QBzGOCxy1e3zAJh5HZnlH2bvsj6_w6W-KhzB8eEWfInP4baQ_xRB8/s1600/Compresseddiamond-mega-planets_7-16-2014_154055_l.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>PARIS: Physicists in the United States on Wednesday reported they had compressed diamond to a density greater than that of lead, a technical feat that yields insights into the secrets of giant planets.</b></div>
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Diamond is the hardest, strongest form of carbon on Earth and the least compressible material known.</div>
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A tiny synthetic sample of it was bombarded with 176 laser beams, creating pressure waves that progressively squeezed the sample to nearly four times its normal density, the scientists reported in the journal Nature.</div>
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In the 20-nanosecond operation, the diamond was exposed to pressure of five terapascals, equivalent to 50 million times the pressure of the atmosphere at Earth´s surface or 14 times the pressure at its core.</div>
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Scientists used the world´s largest laser, a two-megajoule device housed at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Designed to carry out experiments in nuclear fusion, the laser can focus on a millimetre- (0.04-inch-) sized target held at the centre of a 10-metre (32.5 feet) sphere.</div>
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The laser´s sci-fi setting was used by the makers of the movie "Star Trek Into Darkness" as the backdrop for the "warp core" of the starship Enterprise.</div>
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The exploit -- equivalent to simulating pressures at the core of Saturn -- should help astrophysicists finetune estimates of the process that make stars and giant planets, formed by strong gravitational pressures that crushed their atoms together.</div>
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More than a thousand planets have been discovered outside our Solar System, many of them far bigger than Jupiter, the biggest planet of our star system. (AFP)</div>

Compressed diamond sheds light on mega-planets

PARIS: Physicists in the United States on Wednesday reported they had compressed diamond to a density greater than that of lead, a technical feat that yields insights into the secrets of giant planet…

18 Jul 2014

NASA launches carbon-tracking satellite

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQ6nPmqp6dQH0B0gFHxAK-liuZSHYn3i3DbdTGmdqlnCxnRe9ZwK5EQAS2sXhp01ljzNc4sHrfHysVaVoAMj5gveGFJHUonTnDEewEYXA3xZWJ2QOQXCoX_T4OXDzKMZZ1JCHVRLkekk/s1600/Nasa-carbon-tracking-satellite_7-2-2014_152592_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQ6nPmqp6dQH0B0gFHxAK-liuZSHYn3i3DbdTGmdqlnCxnRe9ZwK5EQAS2sXhp01ljzNc4sHrfHysVaVoAMj5gveGFJHUonTnDEewEYXA3xZWJ2QOQXCoX_T4OXDzKMZZ1JCHVRLkekk/s1600/Nasa-carbon-tracking-satellite_7-2-2014_152592_l.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>WASHINGTON: NASA on Wednesday launched a satellite designed to track carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming.</b></div>
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The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 took off aboard a Delta 2 rocket at 2:56 am Pacific time (0956 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.</div>
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The successful takeoff was a boon to NASA, after two previous bids to send a carbon-tracking spacecraft into orbit failed due to rocket malfunctions in 2009 and 2011.</div>
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An attempt to launch the satellite Tuesday was also aborted at the last minute, after engineers discovered a problem with water flow to the launch pad.</div>
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The satellite is now on its way to join the A-Train, a constellation of five other international Earth-observing satellites.</div>
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"The OCO-2 mission will produce the most detailed picture to date of natural sources of carbon dioxide, as well as their ´sinks´ -- places on Earth´s surface where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere," NASA said.</div>
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"The observatory will study how these sources and sinks are distributed around the globe and how they change over time."</div>
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The OCO-2 will take 24 measurements of carbon in the atmosphere every second, about a million per day, but clouds are a major obstacle.</div>
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Its field of view is about one square mile (three square kilometers), so even wispy clouds can obscure its measurements.</div>
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NASA expects about 100,000 of the satellite´s data snapshots from around the world daily will be sufficiently cloud-free to be useful.</div>
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Kevin Gurney, an associate professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, said the satellite will contribute to a series of NASA-funded efforts to measure fossil fuel emissions.</div>
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"This research and OCO-2 together will act like partners in closing the carbon budget, with my data products estimating movements from the bottom up and OCO-2 estimating sources from the top down," Gurney said. (AFP)</div>

NASA launches carbon-tracking satellite

WASHINGTON: NASA on Wednesday launched a satellite designed to track carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 took off aboard…

15 Jul 2014

US fossil find shows biggest-known flying seabird

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiM_GLheT5OpMxAyK4ETs7xdv5FPhg7zvXXHIeB2b3J19S-RwsnXnJou9ivDMMkiO-Ol3ymUg2nrmA9WrJrFc1jwEq6crw3HXd4aV8tSRVOaUrRvCQWfbBcxViSY0amIK4u1NV9UfKfEc/s1600/science-US-fossil-flyingseabird_7-8-2014_153093_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiM_GLheT5OpMxAyK4ETs7xdv5FPhg7zvXXHIeB2b3J19S-RwsnXnJou9ivDMMkiO-Ol3ymUg2nrmA9WrJrFc1jwEq6crw3HXd4aV8tSRVOaUrRvCQWfbBcxViSY0amIK4u1NV9UfKfEc/s1600/science-US-fossil-flyingseabird_7-8-2014_153093_l.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>WASHINGTON: Fossilized bird bones uncovered in the US state of South Carolina represent the largest flying bird in history, with a wingspan of 6.4 meters (21 feet), according to a study out Monday.</b></div>
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The Pelagornis sandersi´s wings were twice as long as the biggest modern-day seabird, the royal albatross, said the research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</div>
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Coupled with its long beak and sharp bony teeth, the enormous wings likely helped the bird master long periods of gliding over water in search of seafood some 25 to 28 million years ago.</div>
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However, the bird might have needed some help getting airborne, given that its wings were simply too long to flap easily from the ground.</div>
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Scientists believe it may have made a running start downhill, or used air gusts -- much like a hang glider -- to make its way aloft.</div>
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Once in the air, study author Dan Ksepka of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, said the bird could probably soar for miles without ever flapping its wings.</div>
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"That´s important in the ocean, where food is patchy," Ksepka said. P. sandersi lived after the dinosaurs became extinct but before the first humans are known to have inhabited North America.</div>
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The bird´s wing and leg bones along with its complete skull were first discovered in 1983 near Charleston, South Carolina, during excavation work for a new international airport.</div>
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"The upper wing bone alone was longer than my arm," said Ksepka, recalling that a backhoe was called in to help unearth the bones.</div>
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The bone measurements suggest that the bird´s wingspan was between 6.06 and 7.38 meters (19.9 to 24.2 feet), according to the PNAS article.</div>
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The previous size record holder was an extinct, six-million-year-old bird found in Argentina, named Argentavis magnificens. Its wingspan was estimated at about 21 feet.</div>
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The fossils of the P. sandersi shed light on the flying ability of a remarkable bird, but also raise new questions about the group of bony toothed seabirds known as pelagornithids, which disappeared some 2.5 million years ago.</div>
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These ancient birds were "remarkably efficient fliers" that were found across all seven continents, making "the cause of their ultimate extinction all of the more mysterious," said the study. (AFP)</div>

US fossil find shows biggest-known flying seabird

WASHINGTON: Fossilized bird bones uncovered in the US state of South Carolina represent the largest flying bird in history, with a wingspan of 6.4 meters (21 feet), according to a study out Monday. T…

15 Jul 2014

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