Life

China heavy-lift carrier rocket launch fails

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Sunday announced the launch of a powerful rocket designed to carry communication satellites into orbit had been “unsuccessful”, in a glitch for the country’s ambitious space programme. The Long March-5 Y2, Beijing’s second heavy-lift rocket, blasted off at 7:23 pm (1123 GMT) Sunday from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the tropical island province of Hainan “Abnormity was detected during the flight of the rocket,” the Xinhua news agency […]

Enjoy your favorite song in drink form

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Curious visitors to a Tokyo technology expo queued to experience a new product that lets music fans “taste” the tunes they’re listening to. Japanese firm Nomura’s open innovation lab NOMLAB displayed “Squeeze Music”, its jukebox-inspired juice maker that blends a glass of juice according to the mood of the tune it’s playing. Akinori Goto, one of the developers, said software inside the jukebox analyses a waveform of the selected tune into […]

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch aborted in final countdown

CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) – SpaceX called off a satellite launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida less than 10 seconds before liftoff Sunday (July 2) because of a technical issue with the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. Falcon 9 engineer John Insprucker said, “We’ll take a look at what the data is and then figure out what our next launch opportunity is going to be.”

Gecko-inspired robot could clean up space debris

Reuters — Researchers at Stanford University are taking on space debris with an adhesive that mimics the way gecko lizards cling to surfaces without falling. United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration estimates that more than half a million pieces of space junk – from defunct satellites to marble-sized fragments like lens covers and copper wire – are orbiting Earth. Millions more are too small to track. And because they’re hurtling around at […]

UNESCO to court controversy with World Heritage picks

by Joëlle Garrus Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The Old City of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and a rare collection of futuristic buildings in Eritrea are among sites hoping to gain protected status from UNESCO when it meets in Poland from Sunday. The meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations’ scientific and cultural body in Krakow will also examine concerns about high-rise buildings that threaten the historic center of […]

Signs of burnout and how to prevent it

Burnout Feeling physically and emotionally exhausted? Feel like work is invading all aspects of your life? Like a growing number of professionals, you could be in the brink of a burnout. (AFP videographics) https://youtu.be/VtBo0od5B4k

New study links common pesticide to bee deaths

by Jean-Louis Santini Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – Two of the most extensive field studies conducted to date in Europe and Canada have confirmed the hypothesis that neonicotinoid insecticides are harmful to bees and other pollinating species. The results, published Thursday in the United States journal Science, also reveal that local environments can mitigate the impact of the pesticide, which is widely used in farming despite being dubbed a “bee killer.” The chemical […]

Facebook says Internet drone lands successfully on second test

ARIZONA, United States (Reuters) – Facebook Inc. said on Thursday (June 29) it had completed a second test of an unmanned aircraft designed to some day beam internet access to remote parts of the planet, and unlike in the first test, the drone did not crash. Facebook plans to develop a fleet of drones powered by sunlight that will fly for months at a time, communicating with each other through lasers and extending Internet connectivity […]

4.5-billion-year-old meteorite found in back garden, a gem for researchers

LEIDEN, Netherlands (Reuters) — Researchers at the Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center announced on Monday (June 26) the discovery of a 500-gram-meteorite that could help shed light on the origin of our solar system. In a statement, the research center said several people in the Netherlands and Belgium witnessed on January 11 a fireball flying over the Dutch town of Broek in Waterland, making it the sixth meteorite to be found in the Netherlands in two […]

Robot sommelier and emotion analyzer among technology on show at first Tokyo AI Expo

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Artificial Intelligence Expo opened its doors in Tokyo on Wednesday (June 28) for the first time ever, showcasing a variety of next-generation technologies from a robotic sommelier to an emotion analyzer. Japanese logistics solution company VINX collaborated with AI developer Sensy to create the “robot sommelier” which can suggest the best bottle to satisfy a customer’s specific tastes by asking them to fill out a questionnaire following a short tasting […]

Rare Siamese crocodile eggs found in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Conservationists in Cambodia have found a nest with 19 eggs from one of the world’s most endangered crocodiles, boosting hopes for a rare species threatened by poachers and habitat loss. The clutch of fist-sized eggs was discovered this week by environmental officers and local villagers near a pond in southwestern Koh Kong province, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which assisted with the discovery. The group had been searching […]

Scent delivery could help drivers

ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Could scent-delivery systems improve your driving or help inform your route planning while behind the wheel? These are among the questions being asked by University of Sussex researchers testing four commercially available scent delivery systems rigged up to a car driving simulator. Postdoctoral researcher Emanuela Maggioni told Reuters that vision and sound have long been the dominant modalities for drivers, but that our sense of smell could have a future […]