Get cirrus in the fight against climate change

FEATHERY cirrus clouds are beautiful, but when it comes to climate change, they are the enemy. Found at high-altitude and made of small ice crystals, they trap heat - so more cirrus means a warmer world. Now it seems that, by destroying cirrus, we could reverse all the warming Earth has experienced so far. ...

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Voters decided WP is better party to serve them: Ng Eng Hen

SINGAPORE: Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said voters of Punggol East have decided that the Workers' Party (WP) is the better party to serve them.Dr Ng, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, described this as democracy.He pointed out that voters in his GRC decided in previous elections that the People's Action Party (PAP) is the better party to serve them. Dr...

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The ultimate gall of a heartless iPhone thief

An object of desire?(Credit:CNET)One should never expect justice in life.The best one can hope for is poetry. And yet, just once or twice, both manage to collide with a deliciousness that moves the soul.Here is the tale of a teenage girl who had her iPhone stolen.As The New York Times composes it, the girl had her iPhone 4S ripped from her by a teenage boy in Brooklyn's notoriously difficult Prospect...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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Squatter, Bank of America Battle for $2.5M Mansion

Bank of America is taking a Florida man to court after he attempted to use an antiquated state law to legally take possession of a $2.5 million mansion that is currently owned by the bank.Andre "Loki" Barbosa has lived in a five-bedroom Boca Raton, Fla., waterside property since July, and police have reportedly been unable to remove him.The Brazilian national, 23, who reportedly...

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Today on New Scientist: 25 January 2013

Hagfish gulped up in first video of deep-sea seal hunt Watch the first sighting of a seal's underwater eating habits spotted by a teenager watching a live video feedWorld's oldest portrait reveals the ice-age mind A 26,000-year-old carved ivory head of a woman is not just an archaeological find - a new exhibition in London wants us to see works like this as artDung beetles navigate using the...

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ANA to cancel more Dreamliner flights

TOKYO: Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to cancel at least 379 flights in February due to the worldwide grounding of Boeing's Dreamliner, local media reported on Saturday.The cancellations, which include 245 flights on domestic routes over 12 days from February 1 and 134 on international routes over 18 days, are expected to affect some 24,300 passengers, Jiji Press and Kyodo News...

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CEA backs Dish in Hopper copyright lawsuit

Dish's AutoHop enable screen.(Credit:Dish)The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade organization that represents 2,000 technology companies, voiced its support today for Dish Network's ad-skipping technology -- the focus of a heated multifront battle between the satellite TV provider and major broadcast television networks, including CBS, the parent company of CNET.At issue is the legality of...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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WH, Senators to Begin Push on Immigration Reform

The White House and a bipartisan group of senators next week plan to begin their efforts to push for comprehensive immigration reform.President Barack Obama will make an announcement on immigration during a Tuesday trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, the White House said on Friday. The Senate group is expected make their plans public around the same time, the Associated Press reported.See...

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Shrinking proton puzzle persists in new measurement

A puzzle at the heart of the atom refuses to go away. The most precise measurement yet of the proton's radius confirms that it sometimes seems smaller than the laws of physics demand – an issue that has been hotly debated for two years. The latest finding...

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Kia Motors posts 6.7% fall in Q4 net profit

SEOUL: South Korea's Kia Motors on Friday reported a 6.7 percent fall in its fourth-quarter net profit, blaming a stronger won and compensation payouts to US customers for inflated gas-mileage claims.Consolidated net profit for the three months ended December 31 fell to 737.5 billion won ($689 million) from 790.4 billion won a year earlier, the country's second largest automaker said in...

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Samsung, Apple dominate as 700M smartphones ship in 2012

A record 700 million smartphones shipped last year, with Samsung and Apple accounting for half the market, according to new research released today.While global smartphone shipments increased 490.5 million units over 2011, the 43 percent growth rate slowed in comparison to 2011's growth rate of 64 percent over 2010, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The research blamed saturation...

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Deformed Dolphin Accepted Into New Family

In 2011, behavioral ecologists Alexander Wilson and Jens Krause of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany were surprised to discover that a group of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)—animals not usually known for forging bonds with other species—had taken in an adult bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The researchers observed the group in...

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It's Official: Women Will Serve in Combat

Women will soon be able to serve in combat, as things officially changed with the stroke of a pen today at the Pentagon.At a joint news conference, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Charman Gen. Martin Dempsey signed a memorandum rolling back a 1994 directive prohibiting women from doing so."They serve, they're wounded, and they die right next to each...

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Wallace: Wonders of nature have been solace of my life

Alfred Russel Wallace discovered natural selection independently of Charles Darwin. Through his letters, available online for the first time, he tells us of his research, expeditions and enduring fascination for nature's mysteries. You are famously joint author, with Darwin, of the first paper describing...

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Tennis: Li shocks Sharapova to reach Australian Open final

MELBOURNE: China's Li Na stormed into the final of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Maria Sharapova, leaving her one victory away from her second major title.Li, 30, defeated the world number two 6-2, 6-2 in 1hr 33min and will now meet the winner of Thursday's second semi-final between world number one Victoria Azarenka and American teenager Sloane Stephens."Every time...

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NYPD unveils radiation scanner to catch people with illegal guns

As the U.S. gun control debate continues in full force, several authorities are looking for ways to catch people illegally possessing firearms. The New York Police Department announced today that it will soon adopt portable scanning technology that lets police officers see from a distance whether someone is carrying a concealed weapon, according to the New York Daily News. The scanner is a device...

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Deformed Dolphin Accepted Into New Family

In 2011, behavioral ecologists Alexander Wilson and Jens Krause of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany were surprised to discover that a group of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)—animals not usually known for forging bonds with other species—had taken in an adult bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The researchers observed the group in...

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Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift a longstanding ban on women serving in combat, according to senior defense officials.The services have until this May to come up with a plan to implement the change, according to a Defense Department official.That means the changes could come into effect as early as May, though the services will have until January 2016 to complete the...

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MIT website hacked in tribute to Aaron Swartz

Hal Hodson, technology reporterA tribute to internet activist Aaron Swartz replaced the homepage for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today, in an apparent act of protest over the university's role in the legal case that led up to Swartz's suicide on 11 Jan.For a short time, visitors to the MIT.edu home page found a message that read: "R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. Hacked by grand wizard of Lulzsec,...

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South Korea welcomes new UN sanctions on North

SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday welcomed fresh UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea and warned Pyongyang against ignoring demands to scrap its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.The 15-nation council meeting in New York unanimously adopted Tuesday a resolution that "condemned" North Korea's rocket launch last month and threatened "significant action" if it stages...

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LTE users to hit 1 billion by 2016

The rise in worldwide subscribers on 4G LTE has far exceeded expectations. In just three years since its nascent beginnings, the mobile technology has skyrocketed -- going from 600,000 users in 2010 to nearly 100 million subscribers in 2012. Now, in a new report, market research firm IHS iSuppli is projecting that global users will double in 2013 and by 2016 LTE will claim more than 1 billion subscribers....

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The Promise and Perils of Mining Asteroids

Encouraged by new space technologies, a growing fleet of commercial rockets and the vast potential to generate riches, a group of entrepreneurs announced Tuesday that they planned to mine the thousands of near-Earth asteroids in the coming decades.The new company, Deep Space Industries (DSI), is not the first in the field, nor is it the most well-financed. But with their ambition to become...

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Al Qaeda Commander Killed for the 3rd Time

The second in command of al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate was reportedly killed in an airstrike in Yemen in December, according to a news report by Arabic television network Al Arabiya, the third time the former Guantanamo detainee has been reported dead since 2010.According to the report, Said al-Shihri died last month after sustaining severe injuries from a joint U.S.-Yemeni airstrike...

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Today at New Scientist: 21 January 2013

Twitter reveals how Higgs gossip reached fever pitch Anyone who fondly remembers the heady days of excitement preceding the Higgs boson announcement last year can now relive the experienceVibrating navigator shows cyclists the way A buzzing GPS-fuelled belt that tells cyclists when to turn might help them keep their eyes on the road and save livesCall off the pregnancy police - women want the...

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Bank of Japan boosts fiscal 2013 GDP growth forecast

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan on Tuesday lifted its growth forecast for the country's economy in the fiscal year starting in March, a glimmer of positive news as the country struggles to cement a recovery.The BoJ said it now expected Japan's gross domestic product to expand by 2.3 percent in the year ended March 2014, up from an earlier 1.6 percent forecast. !-- Zone Tag : Channel News Asia...

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3D printer to carve out world's first full-sized building

A rendering of the "Landscape House" by architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars.(Credit:Universe Architecture)Sure, we've heard of 3D-printed iPhone cases, dinosaur bones, and even a human fetus -- but something massive, like a building? This is exactly what architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars has been working on. The Dutch native is planning to build what he calls a "Landscape House." This structure is two-stories...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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