We aren’t the world. The most talked-about brands of Mobile World Congress are almost entirely irrelevant to Americans. Some of that doesn’t matter, but the reasons for it are worth talking about. During the world’s biggest mobile conference, everybody was super excited about the Nokia 3310. I found the whole hullaballoo perplexing. But circa 2000, everybody in the UK owned this phone, and they have […]
Combining computational with experimental approaches, researchers identify 12 new materials with potential use in solar fuels generators. (via WSJ)
BEIRUT Six years of violence and bloodshed have spawned a mental health crisis among Syria’s children whose impact will be felt for decades, international charity Save the Children said on Tuesday. In a report it called the largest mental health survey inside Syria during the war, the group found children increasingly crippled by fear or anger. Most of the children – two-thirds of whom had lost a […]
I recently attended the DNS Privacy Workshop colocated with this year’s NDSS 2017 in San Diego, California. DNS privacy has received considerable attention from researchers and engineers since the Snowden revelations of state-backed pervasive surveillance in 2013 and the workshop covered a lot of ground. For some Internet users, anonymity is critically important and a service like ToR exists to obfuscate the location and browsing habits of […]
By Ernest Scheyder | HOUSTON HOUSTON Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, said on Monday it would invest $20 billion through 2022 to expand its chemical and oil refining plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The investments at 11 sites should create 35,000 temporary construction jobs and 12,000 permanent jobs, Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a speech at CERAWeek, the world’s […]
Bingqing Wei and colleagues are working to build a better lithium-sulfur battery. Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson/University of Delaware Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the power behind most modern portable electronics, including cell phones, tablets, laptops, fitness trackers, and smart watches. However, their energy density—that is, the amount of energy stored within a given amount of physical space, or mass—will need to be improved for these batteries to see […]
Snap has fallen below Thursday’s opening price, losing 12 per cent on Monday as analysts issued ‘sell’ ratings on the owner of messaging app Snapchat. Shares in Snap, which went public three days ago, closed at $23.77, below its $24 opening price on the New York Stock Exchange. The broader market closed down 0.3 per cent. However, Snap is still 40 per cent above the $17 at […]
Monday 21:56 GMT Overview Global equities sold off on Monday, encouraging flows into sovereign debt, after Asian markets were rattled by North Korea firing missiles into the Sea of Japan and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting drew nearer. US President Donald Trump’s latest spat with the country’s security services may also be damping the mood somewhat as markets continue to price in a rate rise by […]
The CEO of Assurant appeared on Bloomberg TV to explain why demand for his services is likely to increase: the chief executive of the mobile phone insurer said he expects a surge in demand as carriers charge customers more to replace their devices. “If you think back five years ago, you as a consumer didn’t know how much that phone cost, you thought it was free or […]
A new computational method can improve the accuracy of gene expression analyses, which are increasingly used to diagnose and monitor cancers and are a major tool for basic biological research. Researchers report that their method is able to correct for the technical biases that are known to occur during RNA sequencing, the leading method for estimating gene expression. (via WSJ)
By Vicki Krueger • March 6, 2017 Investigative reporters turn routine observations, reports, tips and conversations into questions about the way the world works. Curiosity is your starting point for great stories. Here are some places to begin: Observation. Be curious about the people and places you see every day. Your questions may be the seed of an idea for an investigative story. Tips. Tips can come […]
A joint research team developed a mesh which can be wrapped around injured peripheral nerves to facilitate their regeneration and restore their functions. (via WSJ)
A little-understood biological property that appears to allow cell components to store energy on their outer edges is the possible key to developing a new class of materials and devices to collect, store and manage energy for a variety of applications, a team of researchers has proposed. Source
Soy food products are usually considered as a healthy intake. However, previous studies suggested that the intake of soy products enables the escalation of breast cancer in women. It occurs due to the availability of oestrogen-like properties in the soy products. Contrary to the earlier reports, a new study which was conducted reveals that a component of soy-based product known as isoflavones is capable of slowing the […]
Bloomberg is fighting to keep the bond house Pimco as a customer on its platform to buy and sell Treasuries, as the advance of automated trading reshapes the $14tn US government debt market. Pimco, one of the most influential debt investors with almost $1.5tn of assets under management, is working on a tie-up with rival trading venue Tradeweb, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, escalating […]
Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Although data scientists can gain great insights from large data sets—and can ultimately use these insights to tackle major challenges—accomplishing this is much easier said than done. Many such efforts are stymied from the outset, as privacy concerns make it difficult for scientists to access the data they would like to work with. In a paper presented at the IEEE International Conference […]
March 15 is not only the day when the FOMC is now widely expected to hike rates by another 25 bps, and when the US debt ceiling suspension expires, but just as importantly, is the date of the 2017 Dutch General Election. Here is a full preview of what to expect courtesy of RBC Capital Markets. By way of background, the Netherlands is the euro area’s 5th-largest […]
(Image: Apis Cors) San Francisco-based 3D printing startup Apis Cors envisions a future where houses can be printed in just 24 hours. As far-fetched as it may seem, the startup recently demonstrated that it’s possible — and costs significantly less than studio apartment in San Francisco. For a little over $10,000, Apis Cor in partnership with Russian developer PIK was able print out a 38sqm house at […]
Researchers, for the the first time, have 3D printed aerospace-grade carbon fiber composites, opening the door to greater control and optimization of the lightweight, yet stronger than steel material. (via WSJ)
BEIJING China’s defence budget will rise 7 percent in 2017, to 1.044 trillion yuan ($151.43 billion), state media said on Monday, after the omission of exact figures from an annual report sparked questions over transparency on military spending. The budget increase, a figure that is closely watched around the world for clues to China’s strategic intentions, is the smallest in more than a decade, as economic growth […]
Recruiters in the Bay Area and executives at rival companies say they have seen an uptick in job applications from Uber employees, as its workers lose faith in the company’s leadership and start to doubt the value of their stock options. Uber has gone from crisis to crisis over the past five weeks, prompting increasing numbers of employees to explore the idea of leaving a start-up that […]
The robots are coming. Automation, both in the form of mechanised robots (human or drone-shaped) as well as artificially intelligent software programs, are predicted to get rid of a huge number of jobs over the next five years. A report by Citibank in partnership with the University of Oxford predicted that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk of automation, 35 percent in the UK, and […]
March began with announcements from two social media giants, Facebook and Twitter, about bold and concrete moves that they are doing to make using their platforms safer and friendlier. The measures that Facebook and Twitter are now taking aim not just to make the social media experience more enjoyable but to also possibly save lives and protect their users’ well being. Facebook and Twitter’s Bold Moves Facebook‘s […]
A delegation from the Federal National Council has visited Emirati patients receiving treatment at London medical centres. Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Speaker of the FNC, led the delegation that visited the Great Ormond Street Hospital and London Clinic on Sunday, reported Wam, the state news agency. During the visit, she mentioned a donation from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation, to build a centre for […]
