In his only interview following news that confirmed the existence of his Higgs boson, the British physicist recounts the long years of uncertainty, the tears at Wednesday’s announcement — as well as a certain bet that Stephen Hawking must now pa
Category: Future
REUTERS, NEW SCIENTIST, CERN (Switzerland) Worldcrunch GENEVA – Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva have announced that they have observed a new subatomic particle that may well be the crucial Higgs boson, a.k.a. the “God particle,” thus potentially putting an end to an almost 50-year-long game of hide-and-seek with the […]
Worldcrunch YAHOO! JAPAN Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ruled Japan for nearly 54 years until the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) rose to power. The LDP has long been the gray flipside to the neon instincts that fuel the Japanese popular culture that brings such gems as karaoke bars and anime alternative universes. But now […]
A favorite of both fitness nuts and party animals, Red Bull has some reported side-effects. Now people have started mixing energy drinks with alcohol, adding to the potential toxicity. France, one of the last countries to approve its sale, asks if its rea
Worldcrunch THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, CNET AUCKLAND – The New Zealand High Court ruled on Thursday that the January police raid of Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom’s mansion was illegal. Kim Dotcom, whose given name is Kim Schmitz, is a German national who founded the file-sharing site Megaupload.com. The website was shut down and Kim Dotcom’s […]
Worldcrunch THE VERGE (USA), GLOBAL SECURITY MAG (France), PC WELT, ZDNET (Germany) A new generation of bank heist has arrived — no balaclava or bags of banknotes necessary. Security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics have released a 20-page analysis on a global financial fraud ring entitled “Operation High Roller,” a series of highly-organised cyber bank […]
Worldcrunch LE MONDE (France), E-DIASPORA.FR PARIS – A group of researchers has created the first comprehensive world map of immigrant diasporas, Le Monde reports. Called the “e-Diaspora Atlas’ and published by the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris, the website classifies and analyzes the online presence of 28 diasporas: “A migrant site is a […]
Should researchers and scientists leave a country when there is a war? Quite the opposite, say the Swiss researchers at CSRS.
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Can Solar Panels Cause Plane Crashes?
TAGES ANZEIGER (Switzerland) ZURICH – Clear, sunny skies typically make for safe airplane travel. But according to the Swiss Tages Anzeiger newspaper, airport officials in Zurich are worried that the reflected sunlight from solar panels planned for a nearby church steeple could blind pilots while they are landing. This is not the first time this […]
A new Internet service allows dead people to communicate with their loved ones via social media. Is this crazy or just the thing to help us grieve in the 21st century?
Worldcrunch CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY (Taiwan) BEIJING – One can never guess these days what will come out of Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. After last weekend’s sucessful launch of the Shenzhou 9, the Chinese spacecraft carrying China’s first female astronaut, Sina Weibo initiated a campaign called “Write a letter to the Shenzhou 9 […]
In China, e-sellers harass consumers in some particularly disturbing ways if they’ve written negative reviews about their products.
Although 3.5 million tons of garbage are floating in the North Pacific, most of it is hard to track down. Could satellites help spot this elusive yet lethal garbage patch?
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are sorry to inform you that we cannot proceed to takeoff because we are still waiting to receive papers for the radioactive cargo on board – please excuse the delay….”
Call it the Internet’s ‘Neutral Territory’ – Switzerland is one of the few places in the world where Internet users can take whatever they want from the Web, regardless of the source. But creators of content are fighting back.
Worldcrunch THE AUSTRALIAN, AFP SYDNEY – Venus and the Sun have put on a show for skywatchers, in a rare astronomical event that will not be seen again for another 105 years. The nearly seven-hour transit of Venus moving across the face of the Sun was best seen from the far northwest of America, the […]
A recent study compared the sleeping patterns of people living in western and eastern Germany, who all share the same time zone. When it comes to zzzz’ing: longitude matters!
Scientists have been trying for centuries to understand why some people sleepwalk. Things like stress, alcohol and genetics seem to play a role. But what actually takes place in the body and brain of a sleepwalker remains an enigma.
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) BEIJING – Sina Weibo, one of China’s most popular microblogging websites, announced last week the launch of the Sina Microblogging Community Convention in order “to defend the order of microblogging.” That was the claim, at least, the reality is that it was just a ploy for giving the administrator the right to […]
CHALLENGES (France) PARIS – His name is André Santini. André, with an “é”, not Andre. A French member of parliament and mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, André Santini prides himself on being the first French politician whose website features an accented letter (www.andré-santini.fr), the French weekly financial magazine Challenges reports. Bonne […]
In their search for extra-terrestrial life, scientists are zeroing in on so-called exoplanets. To narrow the field down even more, they use powerful telescopes to draw conclusions about the chemical makeup of those planets’ atmospheres.
CORRIERE DELLA SERA, IL SOLE 24/7 (Italy) An earthquake killed at least 15 people in the northern Italian region of Emilia, just 10 days after another deadly temblor in the same region. Tuesday’s 5.8 magnitude quake struck at 9 a.m., with an epicenter between the cities of Carpi, Medolla and Mirandola. At least five aftershocks […]
Scientists in Germany are using DNA to test the real origins of lumber from around the globe.
From Tokyo, Japan to Esslingen, Germany, researchers are coming up with ways to make robots more intelligent, autonomous and even sensitive. One test bot knows how to make popcorn – without burning the kernels. Another is being designed to keep senior cit
JAPAN TIMES (Japan) TOKYO – While some might have been worrying about earthquakes, the world’s largest tower has opened safely in the Japanese capital. Still, the first day was not all stable at the structure, dubbed Tokyo Skytree, as high winds forced two elevators to shut down around 6 p.m., stranding visitors in the No. […]
LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) ROME – Doctors of the Bambino Gesù Hospital announced that they have successfully transplanted what is believed to be the lightest-ever artificial heart, La Repubblica reports. The titanium heart, weighing 11 grams (0.39 ounces), was transplanted in a 16-month baby last month. The average adult heart weighs 300 grams.H The baby is […]
Researchers in the northern state of Pará want to use the Internet to track the thousands of plant and animal species in the Brazilian rain forest. It’s part of an even more ambitious global project.
Private company Space X successfully launched its unmanned Falcon 9 rocket into space early Tuesday morning from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, U.S.A. Though not quite Apollo 11, it is space flight history. Here’s what you should know. 1. SpaceX is the first private company to successfully launch a vessel to the […]
“Straighten up…!” Philips has developed a computer that advises its users on how they are sitting in front of the screen. It will also tell you when it’s time to take a break.
LE JOURNAL DU GEEK (France) TOKYO– Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have broken the record for the world’s fastest Wi-Fi. Using a 542GHz wireless connection in the 300GHz-3THz spectrum, they achieved speeds of 3Gpbs, reports Le Journal du Geek. If that’s a little too technical for you, what you need to know is […]
BEIJING DAILY, cyYES.com (China) SHANGHAI – The Americans are stirring trouble again. This time it’s the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai. Following the American Embassy in Beijing, the Shanghai consulate announced two days ago that it’s going to publish the air quality index every hour using the PM 2.5 measurement that tallies micro-particles. For the first […]
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How The Facebook IPO Looks In France
Stakes are huge as the US-based social network goes public. But the effects of the estimated $100 billion Facebook IPO will ripple beyond Palo Alto and Wall Street, as tech “ecosystems” across the world bank on the network’s reach. Here’s how FB
SORTABLE.COM (Canada) Who hasn’t forwarded an e-petition, retweeted something about a cause, or posted a Kony video on their Facebook page? You might not know it, but if you did any of this kind of civic stuff without getting out of your chair, you were being a Slacktivist. The term, first coined in 1995, means […]
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Frog-Killing Fungus Sweeps The Globe
A skin fungus known as “Bd” is killing off amphibians the world over. Hikers may be inadvertently helping spread the microorganism, which scientists believe may be a hybrid of two less dangerous fungi. In Europe, Bd already affects 20 different amphibian
Scientists have begun to develop high-tech “guardian angels” to constantly keep tabs on your health – in your clothes and jewelry. But privacy – and health – questions loom.
Italy loves its indigenous red squirrels – so much so that it is waging a full on war, at a cost of millions of euros, to get rid of the American grey squirrels, which have invaded the northeastern region of Liguria.
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Text Messaging Turns 20
EL CRONISTA (Argentina) BUENOS AIRES – This week marks the 20th anniversary of a technology that has changed the way the world communicates: text messaging. Also known as Short Message Service (SMS), texting is “simple, every day and cheap, and is now used by more than 4 billion people the world over,” El Cronista reports. […]
KYODO (Japan) SENDAI – Kenichi Yamamoto, 63, was driving through Tagajo prefecture, in northeastern Japan, when the March 11, 2011 tsunami struck. The former Toyota employee, a science and engineering professor at Ishinomaki University, narrowly escaped death. “His car immediately started filling with water, tipping it 45 degrees. He barely managed to escape by breaking […]
LA REPUBLICA (Peru) LIMA – A government geological institute in Lima has confirmed what many Peruvians are already keenly aware of: there’s a whole lot of shaking going on. Already in 2012, Peru has registered 66 quakes, according to the Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP). On average, the coastal country – which is part of […]
Both economic and ecologic constraints weigh on the expansion of efforts to access endless sources of drinking supply by treating water from the seas and oceans. But progress is being made, and many still dream of solving a global water shortage with a fl