Life

Huawei bets on AI phone in challenge to Apple, Samsung

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) — Chinese technology group Huawei unveiled its latest smartphone Monday, talking up the advanced artificial intelligence capabilities it hopes will cement its place among the world’s three biggest manufacturers. The Shenzhen-based group’s new Mate 10 phone appears just weeks after Apple unveiled its top-of-the-line iPhone X, a timing choice many industry observers have read as a direct challenge to the California tech titan. Huawei has become a fixture in listings of the […]

Continue Reading →

Neutron star smashup ‘transforms’ our understanding of Universe

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — For the first time, scientists have witnessed the cataclysmic crash of two ultra-dense neutron stars in a galaxy far away, and concluded that such impacts forged at least half the gold in the Universe. Shockwaves and light flashes from the collision travelled some 130 million light-years to be captured by Earthly detectors on August 17, excited teams revealed at press conferences held around the […]

Continue Reading →

More trees, better farming could slash carbon emissions: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Planting more trees, farming more sustainably and conserving wetlands could significantly slash the amount of carbon emissions that humanity spews into the atmosphere through fossil fuel use, researchers said Monday. Better land use could reduce carbon dioxide 37 percent, enough to hold global warming below two degrees Celsius by 2030, as called for by the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to a report in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy […]

Continue Reading →

In first, scientists detect gravitational waves and light from star collision

WASHINGTON, United States (Reuters) — Scientists in the United States and Europe have for the first time detected gravitational waves, the ripples in space and time predicted by Albert Einstein, at the same time as light from the same cosmic event, according to research published on Monday (October 16). “This is the first time the cosmos has provided for us what I would call a ‘talking move’. We’ve moved from the era of ‘silent movies’ […]

Continue Reading →

St. Helena’s isolation ends as air link opens

by Beatrice Debut Agence France-Presse JAMESTOWN, United Kingdom (AFP) — The first regular commercial flight landed at St. Helena Saturday, opening the small British island in the South Atlantic to the world after centuries of isolation. Around 100 islanders came out to the airport to watch the historic landing of the Embraer 190 jet which came from Johannesburg. On the tarmac, some 60 incoming passengers were welcomed by the island’s smiling governor, Lisa Phillips. “It […]

Continue Reading →

Motion picture Academy kicks out disgraced Harvey Weinstein

  by Frankie Taggart Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Harvey Weinstein on Saturday, vowing that the era of “shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior” in the movie industry was over. An emergency meeting of its 54-member board of governors, which includes stars such as Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Laura Dern, voted “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority,” it said […]

Continue Reading →

Da Vinci’s last work in private hands arrives in Asia for first time

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) — The last privately-owned painting, Salvator Mundi, by Leonardo da Vinci was unveiled in Hong Kong on Friday (October 13). The Leonardo Da Vinci work, one of fewer than 20 paintings accepted from the artist’s own hands, is expected to fetch $100 million when it hits the auction block at Christie’s in New York on November 15. Christie’s Head of Old Master Painting, Francois de Poortere, said the painting, sometimes called […]

Continue Reading →

Destroyed artifacts ‘cloned’ for Tokyo exhibition

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Ancient art and monuments could be given a new lease of life thanks to ‘cloning’ technology used by Japan’s Foundation for Cultural Heritage and Research. Cultural artefacts damaged or destroyed by war and natural disaster have been reproduced in minute detail and put on display at the Tokyo University of the Arts museum. The process goes beyond just reproduction. The team behind what they call the ‘cloned cultural properties’ use patented […]

Continue Reading →

Dubai Police demo ‘hoverbike’

DUBAI, United Ararb Emirates (Reuters) — A flying motorcycle that can soar above traffic and be used in rescue scenarios is set to join the Dubai police force within 2 years, according to Brigadier Khaled Al Razooqi, Director General of Smart Services at Dubai Police. At their GITEX (Gulf Information & Technology Exhibition) exhibition space, Dubai police displayed the “hoverbike” among several advanced technologies they are introducing to their force. The single-seater electrically-powered bike – […]

Continue Reading →

Emma the robot masseuse gets to work in Singapore

 SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — A robot masseuse named Emma is offering Singaporeans high-tech back rubs with a gigantic metal arm and warm silicone tips which its creators say perfectly mimic the human touch. The robot, the brainchild of local startup AiTreat, began work at a clinic in the city-state this week and performs “tui na,” a type of massage practised in traditional Chinese medicine. Emma, which stands for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, consists of a white metal arm […]

Continue Reading →

New York, London police investigating Weinstein amid fourth rape allegation

  by Thomas Urbain / Sébastien Blanc Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The case against disgraced Harvey Weinstein took on an international dimension Thursday, with police in New York and Britain launching investigations — while the movie mogul was accused of rape by a fourth person. An avalanche of claims of sexual harassment, assault and rape by the hugely influential Hollywood producer have surfaced since the publication last week of an […]

Continue Reading →

Thousands of penguin chicks starve in Antarctica

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Mass starvation has wiped out thousands of penguin chicks in Antarctica, with unusually thick sea ice forcing their parents to forage further for food in what conservationists Friday called a “catastrophic breeding failure”. French scientists, supported by WWF, have been studying a colony of 18,000 pairs of Adelie penguins in East Antarctica since 2010 and discovered only two chicks survived the most recent breeding season in early 2017. They attributed […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 465 466 467 468 469 … 729