Sci-Tech

Cells’ garbage disposal may hold key to healthier life

PARIS, France (AFP) – by Mariëtte Le Roux Autophagy, the little-understood method by which human cells dispose of harmful waste and unwelcome intruders, may one day be central to therapies for longer, healthier living, experts said. Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the 2016 Nobel Medicine Prize Monday for discovering genes involved in autophagy, a non-stop housecleaning process that keeps cells healthy, and is thought to spur ageing and disease when disrupted. Scientists are […]

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Toyota unveils mini robot to interact with Japan’s lonely

  (Reuters) — Toyota Motors will begin selling the KIROBO mini robot in Japan next year, potentially appealing to an ageing, shrinking population where human interactions for some have decreased. Although project manager and engineer Fuminori Kataoka says KIROBO mini isn’t targeting a specific demographic, its sale comes at a time when official data showed that Japan has 34.6 million people aged 65 and older, or 27.3 percent of the population – the highest proportion […]

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Should we activate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant?

QUEZON City, Philippines (September 27) – The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is an atomic power plant, finished yet never energized. It is located on the Bataan Peninsula, 100 kilometers west of Manila. It is situated on a 3.57 square kilometer government reservation at Napot Point in Morong, Bataan. It was the Philippines’ lone endeavor at building an atomic power plant.   The Philippine Atomic Project began in 1958 with the founding of the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission or PAEC […]

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World’s largest radio telescope starts operating in China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The world’s largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China Sunday, a project Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life. The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working around noon, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Built at a cost of 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million), the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as the world’s largest […]

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UPS launches U.S. drone test flights for urgent medical deliveries

By Nick Carey BEVERLY, Mass. (Reuters) – United Parcel Service Inc said it began testing the use of drones for emergency deliveries of medical supplies this week with a flight in rural Massachusetts, which the company hopes will eventually lead to federal approval of drones as a regular delivery option. The test flight on Thursday was handled by CyPhy, a Danvers, Massachusetts-based drone maker in which UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, owns a […]

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Cybercrime (videographic)

(AFP) Yahoo said Thursday a massive attack on its network in 2014 allowed hackers to steal data from half a billion users and may have been “state sponsored.” https://youtu.be/wh-Lz7nXhQE Marian Henbest Sabrina Blanchard / AFP Videographics / AFP

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NASA to reveal ‘surprising’ activity on Jupiter’s moon

Miami, United States (AFP) by Kerry SHERIDAN There’s something going on beneath the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. But what? NASA teased a “surprising” announcement for Monday, based on Hubble Space Telescope images of the celestial body, which many experts believe could contain a subsurface ocean, even possibly some form of life. The US space agency has already proclaimed that Europa has “strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its crust and […]

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Firefighting: Samsung recall threatens reputation, bottom line

Seoul, South Korea (AFP) by Jung Ha-Won Exploding batteries and an embarrassing recall of a flagship gadget during a controversial, closely-watched leadership transition — it’s been a bad year for Samsung, and analysts warn the trouble isn’t over yet. With ever-fiercer competition in the saturated smartphone market, South Korea’s biggest firm is desperate to avoid a full-blown disaster that could cost billions, hammer its reputation and taint its new leadership. Just weeks after the early […]

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Russia? China? Who hacked Yahoo, and why?

PARIS, France (AFP) – by Guy JACKSON Laurence BENHAMOU Yahoo’s claim that it is the victim of a gigantic state-sponsored hack raises the question of whether it is the latest target for hackers with the backing of Russia, China or even North Korea, experts say. The US internet giant was under pressure Friday to explain how it sustained such a massive breach in 2014, which possibly affected 500 million accounts. Yahoo said the stolen information […]

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pledges $3 billion to fight disease

By Deborah M. Todd SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan on Wednesday pledged more than $3 billion toward a plan to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime.” Speaking through tears at a San Francisco event to announce the initiative, Chan said she hoped to spare parents the pain she had seen while delivering difficult news as a pediatrician. “In those moments and in […]

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‘Water bear’ protein shields human DNA from X-rays

PARIS, France (AFP) – by Marlowe HOOD A protein unique to a miniscule creature called a water bear, reputedly the most indestructible animal on Earth, protects human DNA from X-ray damage, stunned researchers reported Monday. Human cells cultivated with the newly-discovered protein, dubbed “Dsup” for “damage suppressor”, experienced half as much decay as normal cells when blasted with radiation. “We were really surprised,” said lead author Takuma Hashimoto, a biologist at the University of Tokyo […]

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