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Reuters — NASA gave a sneak peek on Tuesday (November 28) of the rover being designed for their 2020 mission to Mars. Relying on many of the systems created for the 2012 Curiosity rover, the new rover looks similar, but will have seven new instruments, redesigned wheels, and more autonomy, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The 2020 mission plans to study areas of the planet considered to have once been habitable, searching for […]
LIBERIA, Costa Rica (Reuters) — Costa Rica is test-driving its first hydrogen fuel cell electric buses as the Central American nation looks to move towards 100 percent renewable energy. According to reports, solar panels and a wind turbine will be turned into hydrogen gas to then power the bus. The vehicle has a capacity for 40 passengers and can reach an approximate range of 338 kilometers (210 miles) on 38 kilograms (83 lbs) of compressed […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Tumblr founder and chief David Karp on Monday announced he is leaving the nearly 11-year-old blogging platform — with his departure coming in the wake of Verizon buying parent-company Yahoo. Karp said that he will leave by the end of this year and chief operating officer Jeff D’Onofrio will take his place at the helm of Tumblr. “I beg you to understand that my decision comes after months of […]
Reuters — US researchers have developed strong origami-inspired artificial muscles that can allow soft robots to lift objects 1,000 times their own weight using only air or water pressure. The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) and Harvard’s Wyss Institute published their findings on Monday (November 27) in scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). According to a joint press release, “each artificial muscle […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia, where more than 40,000 people have been evacuated over fears of an imminent volcanic eruption at Mount Agung on Bali, is the world’s most volcanic area. The Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets — and nearly 130 active volcanoes — is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a vast zone of geological instability where the collision of tectonic plates causes frequent quakes and major volcanic […]
CHANGSHU, China (Reuters) — The 2017 China Intelligent Vehicle Future Challenge opened Saturday in Changshu City of east China’s Jiangsu Province, attracting 25 teams from famous universities, scientific research institutions and companies nationwide. After various competitions in nine consecutive years, the annual event has become the highest-level competition for driverless intelligent vehicles with the largest number of competing teams in China. The competitors this year are required to finish a road test and an off-line […]
by Brigitte Castelnau Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A man doomed to die after suffering burns across 95 percent of his body was saved by skin transplants from his identical twin in a world-first operation, French doctors said Thursday. Consumed by flames while handling chemicals on the job, 33-year-old Franck Dufourmantelle received life-saving grafts from his brother Eric’s skull, back and thighs. “I had a fresco-like tattoo on my arm,” he recalled in a […]
CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — When you next hear the high pitched whine of a mosquito, researchers from Stanford University in California, are hoping you’ll reach for your smartphone, not the repellent. The idea is to put mosquitoes under a world-wide surveillance operation using the recording device in nearly everyone’s pocket. Mosquitoes can be differentiated by the frequency of their wingbeats, which is what produces their characteristic whine. The team are calling for citizen scientists […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Skype has apparently joined the lengthening list of internet communication tools on China’s blacklist, with Apple saying Wednesday it was ordered to clear its download store of apps that violate national laws. Skype is no longer available for download on the China Apple Store or Android sites, with Chinese web-users saying it had been gone for weeks. “We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of […]
BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) — Scientists in Hungary say they have measured brain activity in dogs which shows they learn during their sleep. The Senior Family Dog Research team at the Ethology Department of Budapest’s ELTE university conducted electroencephalograms (EEGs) on sleeping dogs, using electrodes placed on the head to record electrical activity in the brain. Fifteen family dogs were taught commands in English instead of Hungarian, before being left to sleep in a darkened room […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Vienna’s Albertina art gallery unveiled on Tuesday a new mobile phone application that “brings to life” works by the likes of Monet and Picasso. The “augmented reality” app, which is free to download, allows phones to be held up to 13 paintings in the Albertina’s collection and move elements of them around. Degas’ “Two Dancers” is created before your eyes, a Picasso boat sets sail and a photo of Monet’s garden […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A rocky cigar-shaped object detected in space last month came from another solar system, astronomers said Monday as they confirmed an unprecedented observation. The discovery may provide clues as to how other solar systems formed, said the researchers, who published their study in the British journal Nature. The asteroid, named Oumuamua by its discoverers, is one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly elongated –perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That […]
