Life

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 […]

Miss India knocks out competition to be crowned Miss World 2017

SANYA, China (Reuters) —  India’s Manushi Chhillar was crowned Miss World on Saturday (November 18) as the beauty queen beat out the competition to take first prize at the coveted pageant. 20-year-old Chhillar was clearly surprised with by her win, as television coverage of the event showed. The first runner up of the pageant, which was held at Sanya, China, was Andrea Meza, of Mexico. In third place was Stephanie Hill from England. Contestants from […]

Filipino artists compete in 20-minute live painting contest

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) — Filipino artists faced off in an on-the-spot timed painting competition in Manila on Saturday (November 18) as part of an international contest called “Art Battle.” A dozen illustrators and artists painted on white canvasses using acrylic paint for 20 minutes while spectators circled around them to observe and, later on, vote on the best work. The contest challenges artists to think creatively under time pressure and helps them practise various art […]

Medical watch uses AI to monitor health

BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) — A new smartwatch health monitor uses artificial intelligence (AI) to constantly analyze the health of its wearer and promises an early warning system for medical emergencies. Called the MAP Health Watch, the device has five sensors continually measuring six vital parameters: ECG, pulse, skin temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen level. “There are clinical grade, highly accurate sensors involved in this watch, five of them determining vital signals and calculating other […]

Egyptian graduates develop new underwater robot

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) — A group of engineering graduates in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria hope to reach new depths with their remote-controlled underwater vehicle. The device is capable of retrieving objects from underwater, which the team hopes will make it suitable for fixing damaged oil pipes and fiber optic cables. It is fitted with a camera, so it could also be used for underwater diagnostics. The eight engineering graduates involved in the project began […]

NASA launches next-generation weather satellite

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Santa Barbara County, California (AFP) — NASA on Saturday launched a next-generation satellite into space designed to monitor weather around the world and help improve forecasts. The satellite, called the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), is a joint venture between the US space agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which provides weather reports and forecasts. The satellite was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket as scheduled at 1:47 […]

UN climate envoys agree on way forward, despite Trump

by Mariette le Roux and Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse BONN, Germany (AFP) — Negotiations to bolster the climate-saving Paris Agreement, crafted over two decades, closed in Bonn Saturday, deflated but not derailed by Donald Trump’s rejection of the treaty and defense of fossil fuels. The US President’s decision to yank the United States from the hard-fought global pact cast a long shadow over the talks, which ran deep into overtime. Negotiations were marked by […]

Volkswagen heats up electric cars race with $40 billion spend

(Reuters) — 40-billion-dollars is roughly the size of Jordan’s GDP. And that’s also the amount of cash Volkswagen is going to splash in the next 5 years to gain ground in the electric and driverless car race. “We are seeing the first successes of this strategy. Volkswagen is in robust health. This is, above all, the result of great teamwork.” Volkswagen Chairman, Hans Dieter Poetsch, said. Competition in the sector is strong and VW has […]

Tesla unveils electric big-rig truck

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — Tesla Inc on Thursday (November 16) unveiled a prototype electric big-rig truck, throwing itself into a new market even as it struggles to roll out an affordable sedan on which the company’s future depends. Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled the big rig, dubbed the Tesla Semi, by riding the truck into an airport hangar near Los Angeles in front of an invited crowd of what Tesla said were potential truck […]