In this Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, file photo, 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees appear on display at a Fiat Chrysler dealership in Doral, Fla. On Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, the U.S. government alleged that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles failed to disclose that software in some of its pickups and SUVs with diesel engines allows them to emit more pollution than allowed under the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Several months of wet weather have dramatically eased California’s years-long drought, replenishing reservoirs and parched aquifers and forcing state water officials to switch – at least temporarily – from managing shortages to avoiding floods. With rain continuing to fall following a deluge that brought 20 inches (50 cm) of precipitation to some areas this week, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains – crucial for […]
Donald Trump’s upcoming presidency has led many investors to size up oil, coal and gold trades that could benefit from the sweeping changes he has promised. But a growing band of specialist commodity traders think investors may be overlooking the one raw material in line for bigger price gains than others when the US president-elect takes office: uranium. While interest in the key fuel for nuclear power […]
Josh Benson and Tom McGeveran, who founded the politics, culture and media site Capital New York in 2010 before selling it to Politico in 2013, are leaving the company. The departures were announced in a memo to staff from Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris, who also said Politico’s statewide operations would be consolidated in Rosslyn. Launched in 2015, Politico States has established a presence in states across America, […]
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Wearable sensors that monitor heart rate, activity, skin temperature and other variables can reveal a lot about what is going on inside a person, including the onset of infection, inflammation and even insulin resistance, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. An important component of the ongoing study is to establish a range of normal, or baseline, […]
By David Shepardson and Bernie Woodall | NEW YORK/DETROIT NEW YORK/DETROIT The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of illegally using hidden software that allowed significant excess diesel emissions, the result of a probe that stemmed from regulators’ investigation of rival Volkswagen AG. The EPA action affects 104,000 U.S. trucks and SUVs sold since 2014, about one-sixth the number of vehicles than […]
While most major car makers are rushing headlong into the driverless cars era, one Japanese motor manufacturer is eschewing that bandwagon to concentrate on automated help rather than outright replcement. Inifiniti, the luxury arm of Nissan, has previewed ProPilot, an evolving suite of autonomous drive support technologies, at the 2017 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Central to the strategy for the development of all […]
Just days after Fiat-Chrysler’s (FCA) commitment to Trump, the Obama administration’s EPA has, as we previously noted, accused the carmaker of cheating on di4esel emissions tests (a la Volkswagen). FCA just responded, denying the charges. Fiat Chrsyler press release: FCA US is disappointed that the EPA has chosen to issue a notice of violation with respect to the emissions control technology employed in the company’s 2014-16 model […]
Engineers have developed a new method for duplicating DNA that makes devices small enough to hold in your hand that are capable of identifying infectious agents before symptoms appear. (via WSJ)
Car sales in China are forecast to slow sharply this year as stimulus measures designed to boost demand are set to end. Sales are expected to increase 5 per cent in 2017, a significant drop from growth of 13.7 per cent last year, which was the fastest rate since 2013 despite a broader economic slowdown. Growth in 2016 exceeded expectations due to tax incentives on smaller vehicles, […]
GENEVA Foreign ministers of Britain, Greece and Turkey were to meet in Geneva on Thursday in an attempt to thrash out a security deal for a post-settlement reunited Cyprus. For the first time in decades, the three countries were to address a 1960 treaty which allows intervention in Cyprus, a pretext used by at least one of them to intervene in the island in the past. Cyprus […]
Having publicly trashed the US economy’s performance during the presidential campaign, Donald Trump has become its most prominent cheerleader. The president-elect has in recent weeks claimed credit for surging consumer confidence, stellar equity prices and stronger end-of-year household spending, arguing there was “no hope” before he arrived on the scene. To Barack Obama’s supporters, claims from Mr Trump that the US was cloaked in economic gloom before […]
Engineers have employed a creative way to identify the geometry and material properties of the fibers that comprise a beetle’s exoskeleton. This work could ultimately uncover information that could guide the design and manufacturing of new and improved artificial materials through bio-mimicry. (via WSJ)
Periosteum is a tissue fabric layer on the outside of bone, as seen in the upper diagonal segment of the tissue image volume. The natural weave of elastin (green) and collagen (yellow) are evident when viewed under the microscope. Elastin gives periosteum its stretchy properties and collagen imparts toughness. Muscle is organized into fiber bundles, observed as round structures in the lower diagonal segment of the tissue […]
Volkswagen will plead guilty to three felonies and pay $4.3bn in penalties to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into the diesel emissions scandal that has engulfed the German carmaker for the past 15 months. Six VW executives based in Germany have also been indicted in connection with the case, including Oliver Schmidt who was arrested in the US on Monday, said Loretta Lynch, US attorney-general. “For years, […]
This computer image provided by Energy Observer, shows the Energy Observer boat, which is powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen. The first self-sufficient boat only powered by emission-free energy will start a six-year trip around the world next spring. (Energy Observer via AP) The first self-sufficient boat powered only by emission-free energy will start a six-year trip around the world in the spring. Energy Observer, a […]
Facebook on Wednesday announced a new program of training, products and tools aimed at further solidifying the social network’s relationship with publishers, which view the Silicon Valley giant as both a firehose of referral traffic and an at-times fearsome adversary. The program’s debut comes days after Facebook hired former TV journalist Campbell Brown to be its head of news partnerships. The initiative (which includes a partnership with […]
E. coli cells have now been engineered into producing large quantities of serine, which is used in detergents, tube feeding formula, and as building blocks for many important chemicals. Using the evolutionary technique ALE, scientists managed to develop this robust and commercially interesting cell line. (via WSJ)
Airbus posted an eight percent rise in deliveries last year, beating its own forecasts by a comfortable margin to set a company record, and pulled off a last-minute surge in orders to beat arch-rival Boeing in the race for new orders. Confirming an estimate published by Reuters, the European planemaker said on Wednesday it delivered 688 aircraft in 2016, compared with an official company forecast of more […]
By Andreas Cremer | BERLIN BERLIN Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) supervisory board is meeting on Wednesday to approve a draft $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, marking a milestone in its attempts to recover from its emissions test cheating scandal. Shares in Europe’s biggest carmaker rose as much as 4 percent as investors welcomed the latest move to draw a line under the biggest business scandal in […]
A project of Bristol University is making news with a team of its Artificial Intelligence researchers sourcing colossal information from more than 100 British regional newspapers spanning 150 years in defining and pinpointing important turning points in the country’s history and culture. The results are amazing with many interesting revelations. What makes the project remarkable is the methodology. Already, it is known to all that history is well-etched […]
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, a technophile and former Harvard professor, created the Strategic Capabilities Office when he was deputy defense secretary in 2012 The Pentagon may soon be unleashing a 21st-century version of locusts on its adversaries after officials on Monday said it had successfully tested a swarm of 103 micro-drones. The important step in the development of new autonomous weapon systems was made possible by improvements in […]
SEATTLE Boeing Co (BA.N) warned on Tuesday that it will conduct involuntary layoffs of engineers, part of a cost-cutting drive as the aerospace and defense company responds to increasing competition amid slowing aircraft sales. The reductions, disclosed in an internal memo seen by Reuters, also include dozens of job categories eligible for voluntary layoffs in Washington state, southern California and South Carolina. Boeing did not indicate the […]
(Image: Tesla) The mystery over where programming language aficionado Chris Lattner would be heading after his stint at Apple lasted mere hours, with Tesla announcing his recruitment. Lattner will serve as Tesla’s vice president of Autopilot Software, taking the reins from Jinnah Hosein, who had been serving as software vice president for SpaceX as well as looking after Autopilot on an interim basis. “Chris’ reputation for engineering […]
