Tuesday 25 June 2019

Hubble finds tiny 'electric soccer balls' in space, helps solve interstellar mystery

Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - the gas and dust that fills interstellar space.

* This article was originally published here

It's easier to trust automated vehicles when we know what they plan to do ahead of time

When it comes to automated vehicles, humans continue to have difficulty trusting that the cars will make the right driving decisions to get them where they want to go and do it safely.

* This article was originally published here

Scientists on Madeira see new 'plasticrust' sea pollution

Researchers say they may have identified a new kind of plastic pollution in the sea and they're calling it "plasticrust."

* This article was originally published here

Islands in the sun: Heatwave gives cities that sinking feeling

Boffins call it a heat sink—a passive exchanger designed to dissipate heat—but when the sink is an actual city, its concrete and asphalt sweltering in the heat, it feels more like an oven to those who live and work there.

* This article was originally published here

Money worries around food may spur migraines

(HealthDay)— It's a link that few might consider, but new research suggests young adults who worry about affording groceries may be more likely to suffer migraines.

* This article was originally published here

Which climates are best for passive cooling technologies?

A group of University of California, San Diego researchers set out to gain a better understanding of the thermal balance of power plants and surfaces, like heliostat mirrors or solar panels, when exposed to both solar (shortwave) and atmospheric (longwave) radiation. They quickly realized that they would first need to determine what roles cloud cover and relative humidity play in the transparency of the atmosphere to radiation at temperatures common on Earth.

* This article was originally published here

Trulifi leveraging light waves for send-receive of office data

Some companies need your time when they explain properly what their technology is all about and in turn brochures, white papers and video talks are in order. Signify is lucky. Two words wrap it up for them. Light connects.

* This article was originally published here

Phones and wearables combine to assess worker performance

Using smartphones, fitness bracelets and a custom app, researchers have created a mobile-sensing system that judges employee performance.

* This article was originally published here

Report: Hackers using telecoms like 'global spy system'

An ambitious group of suspected state-backed hackers has been burrowing into telecommunications companies in order to spy on high-profile targets across the world, a U.S. cybersecurity firm said in a report published Tuesday .

* This article was originally published here

Increased walking activity associated with long-term health benefits

Short term pedometer-based walking interventions can have long-term health benefits for adults and older adults, according to new research published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine on 25 June. Tess Harris and colleagues from St George's University of London, UK and other institutions, conducted two trials of walking interventions which aimed to increase step count and physical activity. Not only did the investigators see sustained increases in physical activity at 3-4 years in the intervention group participants, they also noted fewer cardiovascular events and fractures.

* This article was originally published here

New research shows how melting ice is affecting supplies of nutrients to the sea

The findings of a research expedition to coastal Greenland which examined, for the first time, how melting ice is affecting supplies of nutrients to the oceans has been published in the journal Progress in Oceanography.

* This article was originally published here

A miniature robot that could check colons for early signs of disease

Engineers have shown it is technically possible to guide a tiny robotic capsule inside the colon to take micro-ultrasound images.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers study healthy ALS neurons as way to understand resistance to the disease

Although largely paralyzed, ALS patients can communicate through eye-tracking devices because they retain eye movement until the disease's late stages. Yet, how some motor neurons resist ALS to allow for this movement has been a mystery.

* This article was originally published here

Fake news 'vaccine' works: 'Pre-bunking' game reduces susceptibility to disinformation

An online game in which people play the role of propaganda producers to help them identify real world disinformation has been shown to increase "psychological resistance" to fake news, according to a study of 15,000 participants.

* This article was originally published here

Google rolled out fix for Nest cam look-through

Finders, weepers. That seemed to be a suitable tweak to the old saying, when the news hit that a former owner of a used Nest Indoor Cam could access the new owner's video feed.

* This article was originally published here

Evaluating the effect of spin in health care news

Health care news stories represent an important source of information for patients. However, some evidence suggests that many news stories do not adequately explain research results and could mislead readers with spin, defined as "the presentation of information in a particular way, a slant, especially a favorable one." The danger of spin is that it can, for example, convince patients that treatments are more promising than they actually are or minimize their risks.

* This article was originally published here

Better care needed for people displaying first symptoms of bipolar disorder

Better care and more research into treatments for people experiencing a first manic episode are urgently needed, according to researchers at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.

* This article was originally published here

Microsoft missed mobile dominance by 'tiny' margin: Gates

Microsoft missed its chance to be the dominant firm in mobile technology because it was "distracted" during a lengthy antitrust battle with US authorities, company co-founder Bill Gates said Monday.

* This article was originally published here

Pathogen engineered to self-destruct underlies cancer vaccine platform

A team of investigators has developed a cancer vaccine technology using live, attenuated pathogens as vectors. A feature of the vaccine causes these bacteria to self-destruct once they've done their job, making it safe for use in humans. The research is published in Infection and Immunity, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

* This article was originally published here

Study finds link between hypertension and air pollution

A new study soon to appear in the Journal of Public Health suggests that air pollution and living in apartment buildings may be associated with an increased risk for dangerous conditions like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

* This article was originally published here

Trump 5G push could hamper forecasting of deadly storms

As atmospheric rivers dumped record volumes of rain on California this spring, emergency responders used the federal government's satellites to warn people about where the storms were likely to hit hardest.

* This article was originally published here