Life

Swiss test wireless cameras to monitor newborns’ vital signs

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Swiss researchers said Monday they have developed a wireless camera system to monitor vital signs in premature babies, a move that could replace uncomfortable and highly inaccurate skin sensors. The skin sensors currently used to monitor vital signs in babies born prematurely generate false alarms in up to 90 percent of cases, mainly set off by the baby’s movement. “This is a source of discomfort for the babies, because we have […]

Hitachi reveals AI security software

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Japanese electronics giant Hitachi Ltd is developing software equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance security screenings at large-scale venues including shopping malls and sports stadiums. The software, displayed on three large television screens at a Hitachi research centre in Tokyo, uses artificial intelligence to identify at least 100 different characteristics of dozens of people walking in various places, including train stations and intersections. Each person is highlighted in a green […]

Permafrost more vulnerable than thought: scientists

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Frozen, sub-Arctic wastelands loaded with planet-heating greenhouse gases are more susceptible to global warming than previously understood, scientists warned on Monday. Even stabilising the world’s climate at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — the daunting goal laid down in the 196-nation Paris Agreement — would melt more than 40 percent of permafrost, or an area nearly twice the size of India, they reported in […]

WATCH: Giant panda cub’s naughty moments caught on camera

CHENGDU CITY, Sichuan Province, southwest China (CCTV) — It may be an easy life for panda cubs at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China’s Sichuan Province as they tease their handlers day in and day out. One such cub, named Qiyi, did exactly that in the latest video from the base. In the video recorded last Monday, Qiyi’s handler tried hard to persuade it to return to the room after […]

ISS astronauts prepare to return to Earth

TEXAS, United States (Reuters) — Outgoing International Space Station (ISS) commander Shane Kimbrough along with Russian crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko were scheduled to wrap up a 173-day mission on Monday (April 10), with a parachute landing in Kazakhstan at 7:21 a.m. EDT (1121 GMT). The astronauts exchanged hugs and took photographs before closing the hatch door on the ISS. Their replacements, NASA’s Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos, were due to arrive […]

Rare one-horned rhino killed by poachers in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Poachers have shot dead a one-horned rhinoceros at a national wildlife park in Nepal, officials said Sunday, spotlighting the threat faced by the rare animals. Officials on Saturday found the male rhino with its horn gouged out in Chitwan National Park, the country’s biggest rhino conservation area. “We performed a post-mortem and found that it had been hit by a bullet on its head,” the park’s spokesman Nurendra Aryal told AFP. Aryal said […]

‘Zero recovery’ for corals in back-to-back Australia bleaching

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Coral bleached for two consecutive years at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has “zero prospect” of recovery, scientists warned Monday, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures. Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long bio-diverse reef. Last year, the […]

Polluted London sets its sights on cars

by Ouerdya AIT ABDELMALEK Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Gone are the days of London’s “pea souper” smogs, but like many European cities, the British capital is once again being choked by pollution — and has road traffic firmly in its sights. In 1952, the Great Smog suffocated London for five days, bringing the city to a standstill as soot-filled clouds descended onto the streets and into people’s lungs, leaving more than […]

Hot air balloons ‘break cross-channel record’

ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — A fleet of colorful hot air balloons crossed English Channel on Friday (April 7), attempting to break the record for the largest group of hot air balloons to cross the English Channel. The total number of 85 balloons took part in the attempt, the BBC reported. Organizers said 82 balloons that took off from Dover in Kent on Friday morning made it to Calais in France in less than three […]

German scientists create world’s largest disclosed synthetic diamond

AUGSBURG, Germany (Reuters)   —  German scientists say they have created the world’s largest disclosed synthetic diamond. Researchers at Ausgburg University have developed a process for producing synthetic diamonds through chemical vapour deposition at around one tenth of atmospheric pressure. Hydrocarbon molecules are deposited on an iridium base and the diamond “wafer” grows layer by layer. Twenty six years after the research began in 1991, the scientists in Augsburg have created a single 155 carat […]

Student-designed rocket reaches record heights

Reuters — A rocket, designed and manufactured by students from the University of Southern California’s Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, reached an altitude of 144,000 feet (43,891 meters) – a height the group says is a record for a rocket wholly engineered and built by students. Launched on March 04 from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, the rocket, called Fathom II, took roughly three months to manufacture. Its launch marked a milestone in the unofficial ‘space race’ […]