Life

Dazzling display of Northern Lights light up Alaska skies

ALASKA, United States (Reuters) — The skies over Anchorage, Alaska were lit up by the soft green glow of the Northern Lights early Tuesday morning (November 21). The time lapse was captured by a local weather camera, NBC reported. The striking aurora display was seen in various parts of the state, giving residents a spectacular light show in the early hours of the morning. The Northern Lights are a result of collisions between electrically charged […]

Brain activity shows dogs learn in their sleep, say Hungarian scientists

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 […]

Sierra Leone’s ‘Peace Diamond’ shown ahead of New York auction

NEW YORK CITY, New York (Reuters) — The 14th largest diamond in the world was displayed in New York on Tuesday (November 21) and will go up for auction in New York on December 4. The “Peace Diamond” was discovered in Sierra Leone and is 709 carats in its uncut form. “I think the idea that we trust the government of Sierra Leone today is a very important sea change in how the world is […]

In US, 4 in 10 cancers due to ‘modifiable risk’: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — About four in 10 cancers in the United States are due to lifestyle choices — such as smoking and eating poorly — and other risks that might be avoidable, researchers said Tuesday. The goal of the study was to calculate “the contribution of several modifiable risk factors to cancer occurrence,” said the report in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Factors that are known to raise the risk […]

‘Augmented reality’ brings art alive in Vienna

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 […]

Cigar-shaped asteroid came from another solar system: study

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 […]

Spain, Portugal struggle with extreme drought

by Adrien Vicente Agence France-Presse MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain and Portugal are grappling with a devastating drought which has left rivers nearly dry, sparked deadly wildfires and devastated crops — and experts warn that prolonged dry spells will become more frequent. Nearly all of Portugal has suffered extreme drought conditions during the last six months, which has not happened since 2005. A majority of Spain has also received considerably less rain than it normally would. “It’s […]

Coffee grounds to help power London’s buses

LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Waste coffee grounds will be used to help fuel some of London’s buses, Royal Dutch Shell and green energy company bio-bean said on Monday (November 20). A new biofuel, which contains part coffee oil, is being added to the London bus fuel supply chain where it can be used without the need for modification, according to bio-bean founder Arthur Kay. “Bio-bean has created a B20 fuel which is 20 percent […]

Engineers get the feeling for robotic fingers

LA JOLLA, California (Reuters) — All hands are on deck at this lab at the University of California San Diego, where researcher Michael Tolley’s team are working on a human-like robotic gripper. Its three fingers are made of three flexible pneumatic chambers that move when air pressure is applied, allowing each digit to manipulate the object it’s holding. “These fingers are unique in that they can bend in any direction so we have enough degrees […]

World’s largest whales are mostly ‘right-handed’: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Blue whales, the world’s largest animals, usually favor their right side when they lunge to catch food — a preference similar to right-handedness in people, researchers said Monday. But on certain occasions while moving upward in shallow water, these righties will almost always shift to their left to keep a good eye on their favored prey — tiny crustaceans known as krill. The reason for this situation-specific choice is likely […]

Holocaust survivor opens art museum in hometown Vilnius

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AFP) — Painter and Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak on Monday opened a museum of his allegorical work inspired by Jewish history in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, more than half a century after he held his first exhibition as a nine-year-old inside its wartime ghetto. As a boy he was sent to live in the ghetto after the German Nazis occupied the city in 1941 during World War II. He survived — unlike most of his […]

China makes progress in core, high-end electronic, basic software products

(Reuters) — China has achieved a series of breakthroughs in core electronic devices, high-end universal chips and basic software products in the past decade. China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, together with Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, held a press conference to release the achievements Monday in Beijing. In the past decade, the gap between home and abroad core electronic devices has shortened from over 15 years to five years. Independent support rate of […]