It’s amusing that yoghurt, which originated as a way to make milk last longer before the days of refrigeration, now makes grocery shopping last longer as we try to make sense of the dizzying selection in the refrigerator case. I regularly get questions from people confused about which yoghurt to buy. Here are a few of the most commonly asked with answers to help you choose more […]
Online abuse, harassment and trolling have proven to be stubborn problems for many social networking sites, but Periscope believes users might find help through a jury of their peers. The Twitter-owned video-streaming app announced yesterday that it was introducing a new and “community-led” tool to let users report comments they find spammy or abusive. Following such reports, a random group of viewers will be asked to vote […]
Minivans have gotten a bad rap for a long time, but if you haven’t looked at one recently you are in for a surprise. Toyota builds the Sienna minivan which is attractive on the outside and roomy on the inside. Did we really say attractive? The new Sienna isn’t your typical box on wheels that distinguished the model for so long. It has sleek styling that sets […]
In a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined the care that obese older adults receive when they are admitted to nursing homes. This study was designed to find out whether obese older adults were as likely as non-obese elders to be admitted to nursing homes that provided an appropriate level of care. Those who are obese (people who have a body […]
When was the last time you travelled through time? This evening, an archaeologist and a geologist will take to the stage at Manarat Al Saadiyat and invite their audience to do just that. They will take the audience on a journey from the UAE’s very distant past to a moment in its near future, taking in the broad sweep of Abu Dhabi’s geological history and the possible […]
A lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in California has alleged that Apple, Broadcom and Avago Technologies, a Broadcom subsidiary, have infringed on several Wi-Fi-related patents held by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Filed Thursday in the Central District of California, the complaint claimed that the companies are wrongfully using intellectual property protected by four U.S. patents awarded to Caltech between 2006 and 2012. […]
A tiny marine crustacean with a great big claw has shown that not only does size matter, but left or right-handedness (or in this case, left or right-clawedness) is important too. The 5-6mm marine amphipod Dulichiella appendiculata, related to the land-based beach-hopper or sand flea we see hopping around on beaches, has one large claw on one side (either right or left), and a small claw on […]
Through a computer-simulated study, astronomers at Lund University in Sweden show that it is highly likely that the so-called Planet 9 is an exoplanet. This would make it the first exoplanet to be discovered inside our own solar system. The theory is that our sun, in its youth some 4.5 billion years ago, stole Planet 9 from its original star. An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is by […]
Simply telling people that their opinions are based on morality will make them stronger and more resistant to counterarguments, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people were more likely to act on an opinion — what psychologists call an attitude — if it was labeled as moral and were more resistant to attempts to change their mind on that subject. The results show why appeals to […]
JERUSALEM — In a politically fractious country troubled by monumental security challenges, Israel’s military has long served as an equalizer and unifier, a “people’s army” that, at least in the eyes of the Jewish majority, reflected the general interest. But the Israeli people, and with them the government, have shifted to the right amid an upsurge of Palestinian stabbings and other attacks. Now the military finds itself […]
|Arabian Post Staff| Banks in Saudi Arabia are coming under fresh pressure over products that allow speculators to bet against the kingdom’s currency peg, Bloomberg reports quoting people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg said the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency has asked lenders to explain why they are offering dollar-riyal forward structured products to customers less than four months after the regulator banned options contracts that let […]
Flowers without scent produce fewer seeds, although they are visited as often by pollinators as are flowers that do emit a scent. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, made this surprising observation, when they studied tobacco plants that have been silenced in their ability to produce floral volatiles. The researchers showed that floral scent is crucial for successful pollination: Manduca sexta […]
Our excitement with and rapid uptake of technology — and the growing opportunities for artificial brain enhancement — are putting humans more firmly on the path to becoming cyborgs, according to evolution experts from the University of Adelaide. In their new book The Dynamic Human, authors Professor Maciej Henneberg and Dr Aurthur Saniotis chart the full scope of human evolution, with a look at the past, present […]
In the world of Harry Potter the young wizard undergoes two magical biological transformations: eating Gillyweed to grow gills in order to breathe underwater and drinking Skele-Gro to repair broken bones. Natural Sciences students from the University of Leicester have put these arcane medical practices to the test — and have concluded that a little magic might indeed be required in both situations to make them scientifically […]
Prescribing certain medications on the basis of a patient’s race has long come under fire from those uneasy with using race as a surrogate for biology when treating disease. But there are multiple challenges to overcome before we can move beyond race-based treatment decisions, writes Duke University geneticist and bioethicist Charmaine Royal in a perspective piece published May 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine. In […]
Yale physicists have given Schrödinger’s famous cat a second box to play in, and the result may help further the quest for reliable quantum computing. Schrödinger’s cat is a well-known paradox that applies the concept of superposition in quantum physics to objects encountered in everyday life. The idea is that a cat is placed in a sealed box with a radioactive source and a poison that will […]
An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson/Files SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc is investigating how to charge electric cars, talking to charging station companies and hiring engineers with expertise in the area, according to people familiar with the matter and a review of LinkedIn profiles. For more than a year, Silicon Valley has been buzzing about Apple’s plan to […]
Seismologists have created a new algorithm that could one day help give coastal cities early warning of incoming tsunamis. Right now, tsunami warning systems rely on region-specific scenarios based on previous patterns in that area. That’s because scientists use sensors in the ocean, which can detect abnormal movements but can’t make accurate projections of how much water will hit a coast and how hard. But “most likely” […]
Dark matter is a mysterious substance composing most of the material universe, now widely thought to be some form of massive exotic particle. An intriguing alternative view is that dark matter is made of black holes formed during the first second of our universe’s existence, known as primordial black holes. Now a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, suggests that this interpretation aligns […]
The interior of the office of ride-hailing service Uber is seen in this picture in Gurugram, previously known as Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, April 19, 2016. Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee SAN FRANCISCO Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Tuesday it would invest in on-demand ride-hailing company Uber, the latest in a wave of high-profile moves by automakers to embrace their potential upstart rivals as partners, […]
In 2007, a new type of golf club hit the market. The distribution of mass in the club head made it less likely to twist, making an off-center hit less likely to send the ball veering off course. It did have one drawback: a loud noise when it struck the ball, piercing through the tranquility of a golf course. The club never grew popular among players, with […]
Deep in vents on the ocean floor, methane-producing microbes feed off chemical reactions between water and rock. Now evidence of this process has been found on land in a freshwater spring in California. A team of scientists report in a new study that they have found evidence of hardy, methane-producing microbes in water that surfaces from deep underground at The Cedars, a set of freshwater springs in […]
Researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio are studying the lowest vocal register used by chorus singers to better understand the emotional properties of music. The lowest register used by chorus singers is called vocal fry, and it sounds a little bit like a growl or a croak. The technique has become popular in today’s pop and country music. When female singers use this lowest […]
Tech giant Microsoft said today that it has awarded grants to entrepreneurs who want to expand Internet access across the world, especially in less prosperous areas that lack affordable access. The company’s Affordable Access Initiative awards grants to startup companies that are developing new technologies to improve Internet access to communities. The goal of the initiative is to “democratize access to the Internet through grants, commercial partnerships, […]
