Science X Newsletter Thursday, Aug 28
Dear buntheun keun,
Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for August 28, 2014:
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Spotlight Stories Headlines
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PHYSICISTS PROPOSE SUPERABSORPTION OF LIGHT BEYOND THE LIMITS OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-physicists-superabsorption-limits-classical-physics.html#nwlt
INTEGRAL GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATORY DEMONSTRATES WHITE DWARFS CAN REIGNITE AND EXPLODE AS SUPERNOVAE
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-gamma-ray-observatory-white-dwarfs-reignite.html#nwlt
MYSTERY SOLVED: 'SAILING STONES' OF DEATH VALLEY SEEN IN ACTION FOR THE FIRST TIME
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-mystery-stones-death-valley-action.html#nwlt
PICTURING SCHRODINGER'S CAT: QUANTUM PHYSICS ENABLES REVOLUTIONARY IMAGING METHOD
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-picturing-schrodinger-cat-quantum-physics.html#nwlt
TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION OF BRAIN BOOSTS MEMORY
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-08-transcranial-magnetic-brain-boosts-memory.html#nwlt
SPITZER TELESCOPE WITNESSES ASTEROID SMASHUP
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-spitzer-telescope-witnesses-asteroid-smashup.html#nwlt
RADIO TELESCOPES SETTLE CONTROVERSY OVER DISTANCE TO PLEIADES
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-radio-telescopes-controversy-distance-pleiades.html#nwlt
WATCHING THE STRUCTURE OF GLASS UNDER PRESSURE
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-glass-pressure.html#nwlt
LESS THAN $200 MILLION WOULD CONSERVE ATLANTIC FOREST IN BRAZIL, RESEARCHERS FIND
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-million-atlantic-forest-brazil.html#nwlt
HOME MICROBIOME PROJECT ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF STUDY ON HOUSEHOLD MICROBES
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-home-microbiome-results-household-microbes.html#nwlt
FLAPPING BABY BIRDS GIVE CLUES TO ORIGIN OF FLIGHT
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-baby-birds-clues-flight.html#nwlt
GENOMIC SEQUENCING REVEALS MUTATIONS, INSIGHTS INTO 2014 EBOLA OUTBREAK
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-08-genomic-sequencing-reveals-mutations-insights.html#nwlt
SMALL MOLECULE ACTS AS ON-OFF SWITCH FOR NATURE'S ANTIBIOTIC FACTORY
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-small-molecule-on-off-nature-antibiotic.html#nwlt
NEW SAMSUNG SMARTWATCH WON'T NEED COMPANION PHONE
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-samsung-smartwatch-wont-companion.html#nwlt
WHY YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TAKES YOU DOWN MEMORY LANE
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-08-favourite-song-memory-lane.html#nwlt
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Latest News On TECHNOLOGY:
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APPLE TO UNVEIL 'IWATCH' ON SEPTEMBER 9
Apple will unveil an "iWatch" in September with the maker of the iPhone finally embarking on its much-rumored foray into wearable computing, technology news website Re/code said Wednesday.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-apple-unveil-iwatch-september.html#nwlt
LONDON TRANSPORT BODY TO TEST BATTERY-CHARGING AT BUS STANDS
Transport for London (TfL) on Wednesday announced a trial to enable specially designed buses to wirelessly charge their batteries while they wait at bus stands. The trial will involve the use of extended-range diesel electric hybrid double deck buses. TfL is the local government organization responsible for most aspects of the city's transport system. The goal is a system where the buses can keep running as efficiently as possible. Inductive charging will be put to use in four such electric hybrid buses in east London from 2015. The trial centers around inductive charging technology which allows the buses to top up their batteries without the need to be physically plugged in.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-london-body-battery-charging-bus.html#nwlt
COOL ROOFS IN CHINA CAN SAVE ENERGY AND REDUCE EMISSIONS
(Phys.org) —Working with Chinese researchers, the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has conducted the first comprehensive study of cool roofs in China and concluded that they would be effective in substantially reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in climate zones with hot summers.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-cool-roofs-china-energy-emissions.html#nwlt
RESEARCHERS CREATE GLOBAL ROAD MAPS SHOWING POTENTIAL ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF NEW ROADS
(Phys.org) —A multinational team of researchers has published a paper in the journal Nature, offering a way towards better global planning for road construction. They highlight the benefits of road building along with detriments and include maps of the world they've constructed that indicate where road building would be economically beneficial, where it would be ecologically harmful and where it would be both. Stephen Perz of the University of Florida offers a News & Vies piece on the roadmap idea proposed by the team in the same journal issue.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-global-road-potential-economic-ecological.html#nwlt
INEDA DEVELOPING LOW POWER COMPANION PROCESSORS TO INCREASE BATTERY LIFE FOR WEARABLES
Recent startup Ineda Systems is reportedly developing two new kinds of processing chips for wearable devices, both designed to extend battery life. The new chips are being designed to work as companion chips for the main processor, handling simple tasks and using very little power while doing so, thus allowing for reduced overall power consumption and longer battery life.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-ineda-power-companion-processors-battery.html#nwlt
NEW SAMSUNG SMARTWATCH WON'T NEED COMPANION PHONE
With the holiday shopping season coming, Samsung and LG unveiled small improvements to their computerized wristwatches to try to sway shoppers.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-samsung-smartwatch-wont-companion.html#nwlt
SHORE FACIAL ANALYSIS SPOTS EMOTIONS ON GOOGLE GLASS
One of the key concerns about facial recognition software has been over privacy. The very idea of having tracking mechanisms as part of an Internet-connected wearable would be likely to upset many privacy advocates. German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS have worked on their facial recognition technology for Google Glass with a welcomed twist. Their result is that emotions, gender, and age can be recognized but—stop gagging—-not identity. "None of the images leaves the device," said the team behind the software. Sophisticated High-speed Object Recognition Engine (SHORE) is the name of the group's software, which processes video on the Google Glass CPU. All calculations are performed in real-time by the CPU. By participating in the Google Glass "Explorer Program" Fraunhofer IIS was able to test the smart eyewear. The Google Glass app was made possible by adapting and implementing the Fraunhofer IIS SHORE software library as Glassware.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-shore-facial-analysis-emotions-google.html#nwlt
VISUAL SEARCH TO SHOP: GIMMICK OR GAME CHANGING?
Imagine using your phone to snap a photo of the cool pair of sunglasses your friend is wearing and instantly receiving a slew of information about the shades along with a link to order them.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-visual-gimmick-game.html#nwlt
SOCIALLY-ASSISTIVE ROBOTS HELP KIDS WITH AUTISM LEARN BY PROVIDING PERSONALIZED PROMPTS
This week, a team of researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will share results from a pilot study on the effects of using humanoid robots to help children with autism practice imitation behavior in order to encourage their autonomy. Findings from the study, entitled "Graded Cueing Feedback in Robot-Mediated Imitation Practice for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders," will be presented at the 23rd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Aug. 27.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-socially-assistive-robots-kids-autism-personalized.html#nwlt
FBI INVESTIGATING REPORTS OF ATTACKS ON US BANKS
The FBI said Wednesday it's working with the Secret Service to determine the scope of recently reported cyberattacks against several U.S. financial institutions.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-fbi-banks.html#nwlt
SOUTH KOREA'S SAMSUNG AND LG UNVEIL NEW SMARTWATCHES
South Korea's Samsung and LG unveiled new smartwatches Thursday with upgraded functions and design as they step up their drive to lead an increasingly competitive market for wearable devices.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-south-korea-samsung-lg-unveil.html#nwlt
SLAC IMPLEMENTS PULSED, STEP-DOWN POWER CONVERTER FOR ENERGY SAVINGS
Depressed collectors have been used for decades to improve the efficiency of vacuum-electronic based RF power sources by recovering energy from the spent electron beam of an RF source, such as a klystron or inductive output tube. The main thrust has been for applications with stringent energy-efficiency requirements, such as space-based communication. To date, there has not been wholesale utilisation of RF sources with depressed collectors for accelerator applications, the likely reasons being that the energy savings over RF sources with conventional, grounded collectors might not justify the additional investment, and that many accelerator-based applications have very short RF pulses with high peak power, making implementation of depressed collectors technically challenging.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-slac-pulsed-step-down-power-energy.html#nwlt
WHAT METADATA DOES THE GOVERNMENT WANT ABOUT YOU?
With the leaking of a discussion paper on telecommunications data retention, we are at last starting to get some clarity as to just what metadata the Abbott government is likely to ask telecommunications companies, internet servce providers (ISPs) and others involved in communications services to store.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-metadata.html#nwlt
NEXT-GENERATION NUCLEAR REACTORS THAT USE RADIOACTIVE WASTE MATERIALS AS FUEL
Hitachi announced today that they have begun joint research with three American universities aimed at using Transuranium Elements (TRUs) as fuel, and the development of Resource-renewable Boiling Water Reactors (RBWRs) that enable the effective use of uranium resources. Through this joint research, Hitachi plans to evaluate the performance and safety of RBWRs, which is being developed by Hitachi and Hitachi GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., and to study plans for testing with a view toward practical applications with each university.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-next-generation-nuclear-reactors-radioactive-materials.html#nwlt
USING MATERIALS OTHER THAN SILICON FOR NEXT GENERATION ELECTRONIC DEVICES
In the consumer electronics industry, the mantra for innovation is higher device performance/less power. Arun Thathachary, a Ph.D. student in Penn State's Electrical Engineering Department, spends his days and sometimes nights in the cleanroom of the Materials Research Institute's Nanofabrication Laboratory trying to make innovative transistor devices out of materials other than the standard semiconductor silicon that will allow higher performance using less power.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-materials-silicon-electronic-devices.html#nwlt
APPLE TO UNVEIL NEXT PRODUCTS AT SEPT. 9 EVENT (UPDATE)
Apple's latest product launch will be in a setting that holds a special place in its history, signaling how big this event is for the company.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-apple-sept-event.html#nwlt
WEF UNVEILS 'CROWDSOURCING' PUSH ON HOW TO RUN THE WEB
The World Economic Forum unveiled a project on Thursday aimed at connecting governments, businesses, academia, technicians and civil society worldwide to brainstorm the best ways to govern the Internet.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-wef-unveils-crowdsourcing-web.html#nwlt
EYES ON APPLE FOR 'NEXT BIG THING' ON SEPT. 9
Apple gadget lovers hungered for the "next big thing" on Thursday after the iconic company fired off invites to a mystery unveiling on Sept. 9.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-eyes-apple-big-sept.html#nwlt
SINGAPORE'S GIC BUYS INTO TAIWAN MUSIC STREAMING FIRM
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has invested $104 million in KKBOX, a popular Taiwan-based music streaming provider aiming to expand across Asia, the two sides said Thursday.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-singapore-gic-taiwan-music-streaming.html#nwlt
VIVENDI, TELEFONICA IN TALKS OVER BRAZIL BUSINESS (UPDATE)
French media conglomerate Vivendi said Thursday it would begin exclusive talks with Spanish telecoms company Telefonica for the sale of its Brazilian operator Global Village Telecom, or GVT, after the Spanish company raised its offer to 7.45 billion euros ($9.82 billion) from 6.7 billion euros.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-telefonica-ups-brazil.html#nwlt
AUGMENTED REALITY HELPS IN INDUSTRIAL TROUBLESHOOTING
At a "smart" factory, machines reveal a number of data about themselves. Sensors measuring temperature, rotating speed or vibrations provide valuable information on the state of a machine. On this basis, worn parts can be exchanged in due time. A software developed by the Institute of Telematics of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) helps the maintenance staff allocate the information transmitted by the sensor in a wireless manner to the point of measurement in the camera image. The sensor data are imported into the latest camera shot of the real machine.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-augmented-reality-industrial.html#nwlt
HOW WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY CAN DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE SHIP SAFETY
The sinking of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2012 – and the reported difficulties in evacuating over 4,000 people with the eventual loss of 32 lives –underlined the urgent need to accurately trace passengers during emergencies. Indeed, while most people on board were brought ashore during a six-hour evacuation, the search for missing passengers and crew continued for several months.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-wireless-technology-ship-safety.html#nwlt
NEW FILTER TECHNOLOGY USES INERT GAS TO BORE HOLES IN HIGH-QUALITY STEEL
Two early-stage venture capital investors are joining the i3 Membrane GmbH startup in August 2014. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) of Bonn and Innovationsstarter Fonds of Hamburg are investing in development and marketing of a novel filter technology. The new high-tech membrane is made of high-quality steel and is more stable and more flexible than conventional filters, also more environmentally-compatible because only inert gas and electrical power are needed for its manufacture. The process was developed jointly with the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and its development is being sponsored by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (Federal German Environment Foundation).
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-filter-technology-inert-gas-holes.html#nwlt
NIGERIA LAUNCHES NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD SCHEME
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday launched a national electronic identity card scheme, which backers said would boost access to financial and government services in Africa's most populous nation.
Full story at http://phys.org/news/2014-08-nigeria-national-identity-card-scheme.html#nwlt
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