Life

Hong Kong harbour gets star attraction with sculpture park

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s harbourfront is known for glistening skyscrapers and the sight of containerships navigating busy shipping lanes — but a new art project has added a giant pumpkin, a map of the stars and a pair of disembodied legs to the famous skyline. The Harbour Arts Sculpture Park, which officially opened on Thursday, is a collection of works by 19 local and international artists including Britain’s Antony Gormley and Tracey […]

All the wild horses are extinct: study

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France-Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — All the world’s wild horses have gone extinct, according to a study Thursday that unexpectedly rewrites the horse family tree based on a new DNA analysis of their ancestry. What most people thought were the last remaining wild horses on Earth — known as Przewalski’s horses — were actually domesticated horses that escaped their owners, said the report in the journal Science. “This was a […]

Large vessels are fishing 55 percent of world’s oceans

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France-Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — More than half the world’s oceans are being fished by large commercial vessels, particularly from China, according to the first view from space of global fishing practices published Thursday. The report in the journal Science used satellite data to track industrial fishing and found that 55 percent of the world’s oceans — and possibly more — are being exploited by big fishing operations. Some parts […]

Space-X lobs Spanish military satellite into orbit

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk’s Space-X sent a Spanish military satellite into orbit Thursday in a hitch-less liftoff from California, extending the private space company’s record of successful launches. Space-X, which proved the utility of its massive Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this month, put up the Paz imaging satellite and two of the company’s own test internet communications satellites on a smaller Falcon 9 rocket. “Successful deployment of PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit […]

‘Girl with Pearl Earring’ to undergo public examination

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — One of the world’s most famous paintings “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is to undergo a two-week scientific examination in front of curious visitors to the Dutch museum where it lives. The luminescent tableau painted by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer around 1665 was last examined in 1994 during a conservation treatment at the Mauritshuis museum in the centre of The Hague. “Although further restoration is not yet required, major advances […]

Global cybercrime costs $600 bn annually: study

by Rob Lever Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The annual cost of cybercrime has hit $600 billion worldwide, fueled by growing sophistication of hackers and proliferation of criminal marketplaces and cryptocurrencies, researchers said Wednesday. A report by the security firm McAfee with the Center for Strategic and International Studies found theft of intellectual property represents about one-fourth of the cost of cybercrime in 2017, and that other attacks such as those involving […]

Twitter sets crackdown on automated ‘bot’ accounts

by Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCICSCO, United States (AFP) — Twitter announced Wednesday a crackdown on accounts powered by software “bots” which can artificially amplify a person or cause and which have been accused of manipulating the social network during the 2016 US election. The San Francisco messaging platform said the move was intended to rid the service of spam-spewing automated accounts, and not aimed at people using the service according to the rules. […]

Weekend stargazer wins supernova ‘cosmic lottery’

by Marlowe Hood Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — To say that Victor Buso was in the right place at the right time may be the biggest understatement in the history of stargazing. By pure luck, the amateur astronomer from Rosario, Argentina snapped the first before-and-after images ever captured of a star as it explodes in a brilliant flash of light and morphs into a supernova. Astronomers call this pivotal moment “shock breakout,” and have […]

Scientists set off to explore new Antarctic ecosystem

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A team of international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey set off on Wednesday to explore a mysterious marine ecosystem that has lain hidden under an ice shelf for up to 120,000 years. The BAS said that an iceberg known as A68 broke off from the Larsen Ice Shelf in July 2017, revealing a section of seabed measuring 5,818 square kilometers (2,245 square miles) — nearly four times the […]

Kin of ‘world’s ugliest animal’ among fish hauled off Australia abyss

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — More than 100 rarely seen fish species were hauled up from a deep and cold abyss off Australia during a scientific voyage, researchers said Wednesday, including a cousin of the “world’s ugliest animal” Mr Blobby. Scientists spent a month last year on a vessel off the country’s eastern seaboard surveying life lurking up to 4.8 kilometres (2.9 miles) below the surface, using nets, sonar and deep-sea cameras. Over 42,000 fish and […]

Top experts warn against ‘malicious use’ of AI

by Marlowe Hood Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Artificial intelligence could be deployed by dictators, criminals and terrorists to manipulate elections and use drones in terrorist attacks, more than two dozen experts said Wednesday as they sounded the alarm over misuse of the technology. In a 100-page analysis, they outlined a rapid growth in cybercrime and the use of “bots” to interfere with news gathering and penetrate social media among a host of plausible […]

Dementia clearly linked to chronic boozing: study

by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Chronic heavy drinking is a major risk factor for all types of dementia, especially early onset of the disease, according to a study published Wednesday in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers examining more than 57,000 cases of early-onset dementia in France found that well over half were either alcohol-related, or accompanied by an additional diagnosis of alcohol abuse. Overall, alcohol use disorders were associated with […]