Food chemists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have found that garlic aroma is evident in the breast milk of women who have consumed garlic. This is caused by allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) — a metabolite which is first formed in a strong concentration during breastfeeding. Whether the aroma has an impact on which food preferences children develop and whether they like garlic in later life needs to be […]
Scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have made an object disappear by using a composite material with nano-size particles that can enhance specific properties on the object’s surface. Researchers from QMUL’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, worked with UK industry to demonstrate for the first time a practical cloaking device that allows curved surfaces to appear flat to electromagnetic waves. While the research […]
During its Shape Tech Expo in San Francisco this weekend, AT&T plans to demonstrate how it is using drones to inspect its cell towers from the air. The company is also looking at other future applications that could include using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide improved LTE coverage during crowded events or disasters. AT&T has been testing various uses for drones over the past year, and […]
PARIS // The UAE embassy in Paris said on Friday that there were no Emiratis among the casualties in Thursday night’s lorry attack in Nice, according to the latest reports from French police. At least 84 people were killed when a large lorry ploughed through revellers gathered for the Bastille Day fireworks on the French Riviera. In a statement via Twitter, the embassy urged Emiratis to fully […]
The vast majority of cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are idiopathic — the cause is unknown. In a paper published this month in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues across the nation and world, have created a “mini-brain” model, derived from persons with a particular form of idiopathic ASD characterized by over-sized brains, revealing a […]
A researcher at Arizona State University has discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain. A controller wears a skull cap outfitted with 128 electrodes wired to a computer. The device records electrical brain activity. If the controller moves a hand or thinks of something, certain areas light up. “I can see that activity from outside,” said Panagiotis Artemiadis (pictured above), director of the […]
In a startling discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the immune system directly affects — and even controls — creatures’ social behavior, such as their desire to interact with others. So could immune system problems contribute to an inability to have normal social interactions? The answer appears to be yes, and that finding […]
ABU DHABI // Pet owners are being advised to keep an eye on their cats and to get them microchipped after claims that a number of animals have been mistaken for strays and rounded up by pest-control services. Warnings have been issued by animal welfare groups in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In the capital owners have desperately been calling around more than 70 pest controllers to try […]
Are there places where Pokémon should not be allowed to tread? The digital creatures, which appear overlaid on the real world as part of the hit smartphone game Pokémon Go, have been reported at the former concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and the National September 11 Memorial in New York, provoking frustrated responses from the representatives of some […]
Using folded DNA to precisely place glowing molecules within microscopic light resonators, researchers at Caltech have created one of the world’s smallest reproductions of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night. The reproduction and the technique used to create it are described in a paper published in the advance online edition of the journal Nature on July 11. The monochrome image — just the width of a dime […]
Imagine rolling your eyes to help you see more clearly. Although it wouldn’t work for humans, new research published today in Nature Communications has shown mantis shrimp use eye rotations to enhance their polarization vision. PhD student Ilse Daly, from the Ecology of Vision research group in the from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, found the eye-rolling behaviour of mantis shrimp helps them see […]
BAGHDAD — President Obama will deploy 560 more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul, the largest city controlled by the Islamic State, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced on Monday. It is the latest escalation of the United States’ role in the Iraq war by Mr. Obama, who ran for office on a pledge to end America’s involvement in the conflict. Many of the newly deployed […]
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — For most of his adult life, Ahmed Qassim al-Ghamdi worked among the bearded enforcers of Saudi Arabia. He was a dedicated employee of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice — known abroad as the religious police — serving with the front-line troops protecting the Islamic kingdom from Westernization, secularism and anything but the most conservative Islamic practices. […]
TEHRAN — Gunmen ambushed a car carrying a lawmaker and a local governor on Sunday in Iran’s restive Kurdish region, state news media reported. Both men were wounded, and the driver and a veterinarian traveling with them were killed. The lawmaker, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of a key foreign council in Iran’s Parliament, escaped with minor injuries, according to the Mizan news agency. Mr. Falahatpisheh and the […]
The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Files ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – From a smartphone app delivering market prices to Guatemalan farmers to online nutrition tips in rural Colombia, the push to end hunger has entered a new era with the U.N. food agency deploying […]
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk attends a forum on startups in Hong Kong, China January 26, 2016. Reuters/Bobby Yip/File Photo Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted his intention to soon publish part two of his “top secret Tesla masterplan” following an embattled several weeks for the Silicon Valley heavyweight. The tweet, which read “Working on Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2. Hoping to publish […]
Typing PIN numbers and passwords into a smartwatch or similar wearable can leave you vulnerable to hackers, according to researchers from Binghamton University and the Stevens Institute of Technology. The researchers found that it’s possible for attackers to figure out secret access codes by tracking and measuring “fine-grained” hand movements used when inputting security information into wearable devices. In 5,000 key-entry tests for three different security systems […]
We look forward to the weekends when we can showcase yet another book in this series. There is always something new to learn about cars. It never ceases to amaze me how much automotive history is actually out there. Porsche is one of the brands I am learning more about and Randy Leffingwell’s Porsche Turbo has proven insightful. High Performance History The book follows Porsche and their turbocharging prowess, with […]
It is said that good things come to those who wait. If so, then the European Union’s (EU) new Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy, more than a decade overdue, must be a very good thing. Actually, it is exactly what Europe needs. But the timing of its release — in the immediate aftermath of the United Kingdom’s (UK) vote to leave the EU — could […]
When Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, said he wanted the Lexus brand to be more sporty, this is what he had in mind. The Lexus GS models are rear-wheel-drive sports sedans. The entry GS 200t is a new model for 2016 that comes with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Our tester had the F Sport performance package that should ramp up the fun-to-drive meter even more. […]
KEFLAVIK, Iceland Marco Streng is a miner, though he does not carry a pick around his base in south-western Iceland. Instead, he keeps tens of thousands of computers running 24 hours a day in fierce competition with others across the globe to earn bitcoins. In the world of the web-based digital currency, it is not central banks that add new money to the system, but rather computers […]
A 3D-printed logo for Twitter is seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Twitter Inc is in talks with the NBA, Major League Soccer and Time Warner Inc’s cable network Turner Broadcasting to buy digital streaming rights for content related to major sports and events, Recode reported. This content could either be actual game footage or […]
The logo of Facebook is seen at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2016. Reuters/Eric Gaillard Facebook Inc on Friday said it began testing end-to-end encryption on its popular Messenger application to prevent snooping on digital conversations. The limited testing on Messenger, which has more than 900 million users, comes three months after Facebook rolled out end-to-end encryption to its more popular WhatsApp, a […]
Three months ago, after 10 months of negotiations, Canadian tech giant Mitel Networks Corp. announced that it would buy video conferencing solutions provider Polycom Inc. for close to $1.9 billion. Now, it appears that Polycom has had a huge change of heart. Today, private equity firm Siris Capital Group LLC said it has agreed to acquire Polycom for $2 billion in cash and take the company private. […]
