Science & TechnologyS


Laptop

Report: World saw 'worst year ever' for data breaches & cyberattacks in 2017


RT
Sun, 03 Jun 2018 16:01 UTC
cyberhacking
© Oliver Berg / Global Look Press
Ransomware attacks and cyber business interruptions in 2017 were worse than ever, with claims for losses surpassing the previous four years combined, research by insurance group AIG has found.

According to its report, over a quarter of cyber claims (26 percent) received in 2017 had ransomware as the primary cause of loss - a significant leap from 16 percent of claims in the years 2013-2016.
Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

Scientists develop material that could regenerate dental enamel and bone


Phys Org
Sat, 02 Jun 2018 18:13 UTC
Close-up of the enamel-like material.
© Alvaro MataClose-up of the enamel-like material.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed a new way to grow mineralised materials which could regenerate hard tissues such as dental enamel and bone.

Enamel, located on the outer part of our teeth, is the hardest tissue in the body and enables our teeth to function for a large part of our lifetime despite biting forces, exposure to acidic foods and drinks and extreme temperatures. This remarkable performance results from its highly organised structure.

Comment:

Read More...
Black Cat 2

Rewilding fail: Rare Iberian lynx released in Portugal then spotted in Barcelona to be recaptured

Hannah Strange
Telegraph
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 21:58 UTC
Rare Iberian lynx
A rare Iberian lynx named Lithium has appeared in Barcelona after journeying more than 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) from southern Portugal, where it was released two years ago.

The young male lynx was last seen in the Guadiana Valley in the Algarve in 2016, just days after his release into the wild as part of a project to save the endangered species. The GPS signal from a device on his collar then disappeared, and for two years, his whereabouts were unknown.

He has now become the first Iberian lynx seen in Catalonia for more than a hundred years, after conservation officials tracked him down to a wooded area in Barcelona following reports of sightings.

Comment: What is it with scientists trying to play god? Granted humans have driven many species to extinction and the intent behind many conservation efforts are admirable, but judging by the repeated problems scientists are encountering, clearly they don't know what's best for these endangered species:

Read More...
Seismograph

Geologists discover London sitting on two serious fault lines, capital at risk of dangerous earthquake


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 22:00 UTC
London
While it's common for Britons to find fault with London, geologists at Imperial College have done one better and found faults underneath the great city. A pair of tectonic lines were recently discovered underneath the United Kingdom's largest metropolitan area.

The two faults are located underneath Central London and Canary Wharf and are moving at a rate of 1 to 2 mm per year, the Telegraph reported. They are capable of causing a magnitude 5 or 6 earthquake.

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake would feel like standing on a platform between two trains, the Mirror noted. That's enough to cause some annoyances and some broken wall-mounted objects, but not enough to bring down buildings - probably. But the slight chance of a magnitude 6.0 tremor could seriously damage structures.

Comment: One wonders, were those fault lines always there and moving at that rate, or has something changed?

Read More...
Microscope 2

What mysterious stratospheric biology tells us about the possibility of life on other worlds

Starre Vartan
Astrobio
Thu, 24 May 2018 09:44 UTC
Endeavour atmosphere
© represented by the whitish layer. Image credit: NASA.The space shuttle Endeavour hangs against Earth's atmosphere. The stratosphere is
The presence of microbial life in Earth's stratosphere is not only opening up a new arena in which to study extremophiles, but is increasing the range of possible environments in which we may find life on other planets. This is the conclusion of a new study that summarizes what we know about stratospheric life so far.

The stratosphere is the atmospheric zone that lies directly above the dynamic troposphere where we live, but it is mostly a mystery when it comes to the life that exists there.

You might not realize it when you're staring out a plane window (we fly through the lowest levels of the stratosphere when we're cruising over 35,000 feet), but there are all kinds of microorganisms out there, according to Professor Shiladitya DasSarma, who is a microbiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA , and a co-author on the new study, which is published in the journal Current Opinion in Microbiology.

Comment: We may have biology from space to thank for the beginnings of life itself:

Read More...
Eye 1

Scientists master first 3D-printed corneas


ScienceDaily
Tue, 29 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Docs with cornea
© Newcastle University, UKDr. Steve Swioklo and Professor Che Connon with a dyed cornea.
The first human corneas have been 3D printed by scientists at Newcastle University, UK. It means the technique could be used in the future to ensure an unlimited supply of corneas.

As the outermost layer of the human eye, the cornea has an important role in focusing vision.

Yet there is a significant shortage of corneas available to transplant, with 10 million people worldwide requiring surgery to prevent corneal blindness as a result of diseases such as trachoma, an infectious eye disorder. In addition, almost 5 million people suffer total blindness due to corneal scarring caused by burns, lacerations, abrasion or disease.

The proof-of-concept research, published today in Experimental Eye Research, reports how stem cells (human corneal stromal cells) from a healthy donor cornea were mixed together with alginate and collagen to create a solution that could be printed, a 'bio-ink'.

Using a simple low-cost 3D bio-printer, the bio-ink was successfully extruded in concentric circles to form the shape of a human cornea. It took less than 10 minutes to print. The stem cells were then shown to culture -- or grow.
Read More...
Microscope 2

Mother of all lizards found in the Italian Alps


Phys.org
Thu, 31 May 2018 09:45 UTC
Megachirella wachtleri
© Davide BonadonnaA life scene in the Dolomites region, Northern Italy, about 240 million years ago, with Megachirella wachtleri walking through the vegetation.
Scientists said Wednesday they had tracked down the oldest known lizard, a tiny creature that lived about 240 million years ago when Earth had a single continent and dinosaurs were brand new.

Scans of the fossilised skeleton of Megachirella revealed the chameleon-sized reptile was an ancestor of today's lizards and snakes, which belong to a group called squamates, an international team wrote in the science journal Nature.

This finding dragged the group back in time by 75 million years, and means that "lizards inhabited the planet since at least 240 million years ago," study co-author Tiago Simoes of the University of Alberta in Canada told AFP.

Comment: Increasingly our understanding of evolution is being called in to question:

Read More...
Fish

Is a shark's electrical "sixth sense" tuned only for attack?


Phys.org
Thu, 31 May 2018 09:43 UTC
Shark
© CC0 Public Domain
Imagine having superhuman hearing. You're at a noisy, cocktail party and yet your ears can detect normally inaudible sounds made by your friends' muscles as they lean in to dish the latest gossip. But, unlike normal hearing, each of these sounds causes your ears to react in the same way. There is no difference between the quietest and loudest movements. To your superhuman ears, they all sound loud, like honking horns. According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, that may be how a shark's electrosensing organ reacts when it detects teensy, tiny electrical fields emanating from nearby prey.

"Sharks have this incredible ability to pick up nanoscopic currents while swimming through a blizzard of electric noise. Our results suggest that a shark's electrosensing organ is tuned to react to any of these changes in a sudden, all-or-none manner, as if to say, 'attack now,'" said David Julius, Ph.D., professor and chair of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco and senior author of the study published in Nature. His team studies the cells and molecules behind pain and other sensations. For instance, their results have helped scientists understand why chili peppers feel hot and menthol cool.

Comment: While this study could reveal some truths, obviously more research would be needed before any definitive conclusions can be reached. After all, sharks do mate and bear young, and they would need to be able to differentiate between those and food. But maybe, as the study implies, their main triggers are seeking out prey?

Read More...
Microscope 2

New experiment may show quantum physics to be even spookier than imagined

Philip Ball
Scientific American
Mon, 21 May 2018 00:01 UTC
mountain lake
© Tai GinDa Getty ImagesSuperposition—the notion that tiny objects can exist in multiple places or states simultaneously—is a cornerstone of quantum physics. A new experiment seeks to shed light on this mysterious phenomenon.
It is the central question in quantum mechanics, and no one knows the answer: What really happens in a superposition - the peculiar circumstance in which particles seem to be in two or more places or states at once? Now, in a forthcoming paper a team of researchers in Israel and Japan has proposed an experiment that could finally let us say something for sure about the nature of this puzzling phenomenon.

Their experiment, which the researchers say could be carried out within a few months, should enable scientists to sneak a glance at where an object - in this case a particle of light, called a photon - actually resides when it is placed in a superposition. And the researchers predict the answer will be even stranger and more shocking than "two places at once."

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Info

New research says our Milky Way galaxy is larger than original estimates

Chris Mahon
Outer Places
Wed, 30 May 2018 12:34 UTC
Galaxy
© YouTube
If NASA can spot a tiny exoplanet millions of miles away just by catching the momentary dip in brightness as it passes in front of a star, you'd think that astronomers would have a pretty good handle on how big our own Milky Way galaxy is.

It turns out that's not the case-originally, the Milky Way was estimated to be around 100,000 light years across, but a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced in 2015 that it was actually 50% larger than that.

Now, recent research from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics and the National Astronomical Observatories of Beijing has revised that number again- they say the Milky Way's diameter should technically be between 170,000 and 200,000 light-years in length, almost 100 percent larger than our original estimates.
Read More...