of Sciences. Specialists at the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute will now test a sample of water that has been sucked from the lake, and frozen. Last year, the expedition stopped 10 to 50 metres short of the lake after the weather closed in and the scientists were forced to abandon the expedition. Academics say they have found “the only giant super-clean water system on the planet”…
…e also created to help the computer learn the appearance of objects and the context they were likely to be used in by analyzing the data gathered. To prove the system worked the two scientists labeled 48 objects – including knives, forks, keys and a Rubik’s cube – and identified 80 possible locations around a house. They then asked volunteers to move the items around according to…
Dark Energy Camera, the highest-resolution camera ever built, has begun its quest to pin down the mysterious stuff that makes up nearly three-quarters of our Universe. The Dark Energy Survey’s 570-million-pixel camera will scan some 300 million galaxies in the coming five years. The goal is to discover the nature of dark energy, which is theorized to be responsible for the ever-faster expan…
strangest thing I have ever experienced as a professional diver.” The soot also proved cause for concern for Peter Lindberg’s colleague on the Ocean X explorer team, Stefan Hogeborn. “During my 20-year diving career, including 6,000 dives, I have never seen anything like this. Normally stones don’t burn,” Stefan Hogeborn said in the release. “I can’t explain what we saw, and I went down the…
…The study also updates a distance estimate for a seventh galaxy, placing it further back in time than any object previously identified. Called UDFj-39546284, this is seen when the cosmos was less than 3% of its current age. The new Hubble telescope investigation was led by Richard Ellis from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and colleagues at Edinburgh University, Jim Dunlop and Ros…
Scientists have built and tested a form of invisibility cloak that can hide objects from heat. Similar cloaking efforts are underway to make objects invisible to light and even sound waves, but this is the first device to work with heat. The prototype, to be outlined in Physical Review Letters, contained a 5 cm-wide flat region impervious to heat flowing around it. The technology could be put to…
were not childish pranks – Louis is 15-years-old.” Louis is the son of Nicolas Sarkozy’s second wife, Cecilia Attias, whom he famously divorced within a few months of becoming president in 2007. Cecilia Attias now lives full time in New York, having remarried, but Louis Sarkozy frequently travels to Paris to see his father. Nicolas Sarkozy has two older sons, Pierre and Jean, who are f…
ouston’s former partner Ray J. Brandy could be seen mouthing the words “never ever” while Bobbi Kristina spoke about her mother’s uniqueness. There were also tributes to Whitney Houston, who died aged 48 on February 11, in the form of performances. After an introduction by Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend sang Greatest Love of All while Jordin Sparks delivered an emotional rendition of I Will Always L…
…rt reaffirms our steadfast commitment to defending those rights for our users.” The case centres around Malcolm Harris, managing editor of the New Inquiry website. Malcolm Harris was arrested on 1 October along with hundreds of other campaigners during a march across Brooklyn Bridge. Malcolm Harris was arrested on 1 October along with hundreds of other campaigners during a march across Broo…
…confirmation,” she said. • James Webb’s main mirror has around seven times more collecting area than Hubble’s 2.4m primary mirror • The sunshield is about 22m by 12m. There will be a 300-degree difference in temperature between the two sides • James Webb’s instruments must be very cold to ensure their own infrared glow does not swamp the observations • The mission will laun…
…r T. Russell said the rounded asteroid showed evidence of geological processes that characterize rocky worlds like Earth and the Moon. Vesta is the second most massive of the asteroids, measuring some 530 km (330 miles) in diameter. It is dominated by a huge crater called Rheasilvia and bears many other scars left by the hammering it has received at the hands of other asteroid belt denizens. One i…
…a different reason – a service module failed to separate from Gagarin’s capsule before he returned to earth, leading it to spin wildly and the temperature within to rise dangerously high. 5. Dan Martin When intensive care consultant Dan Martin climbed Everest, he reported the lowest level of oxygen in the human body ever recorded – his own. While not a daredevil as such, he is p…
Disney is exploring the use of 3D printers to build new kinds of light features into objects. The firm’s researchers are working on a range of techniques including “light pipes” and tubes of enclosed air that can be made to glow in controlled ways. They say that 3D printers can create objects with “micron accuracy” that would otherwise be more complicated and costly…
n and the Hungarian Horntail dragon – on a staggered basis after two riders were thought to have been injured by loose objects. That change has now become permanent. On July 31, Carlos Montalvo, 52, from Puerto Rico, suffered a lacerated right eye while riding Dragon Challenge. The man’s lawyer says he had his eyeball removed. Universal Orlando has refused to discuss what exactly happe…
…rder a dog or chimp standing with its back to the objects, to fetch the correct one. If it did as asked, it was given some food as a reward. Babies are capable of following such orders from the age of 14 months, suggesting the task is relatively simple, at least for the human brain. In the study, the dogs did better than the chimps, despite the chimpanzee’s brain being the more similar to the hum…
rater, it must have been travelling relatively quickly. The team found that a long-period comet fitted the bill much better than other possible candidates. “You’d need an asteroid of about 5 km diameter to contribute that much iridium and osmium. But an asteroid that size would not make a 200 km-diameter crater,” said Dr. Jason Moore. “So we said: how do we get something th…
President Hugo Chavez has ordered an urgent investigation to find the cause of a huge explosion at Venezuela’s biggest oil refinery. The death toll after the blast at the Amuay plant in Falcon state, in the north-west of the country, has now risen to 39, with more than 80 others injured. Hugo Chavez declared three days of national mourning. Earlier, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said a gas…
At least 19 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in an explosion at Amuay plant, Venezuela’s biggest oil refinery, local governor Stella Lugo says. Stella Lugo said there was no risk of further explosions at the Amuay plant in the north of the country. Officials earlier said a gas tank had blown up during the night, damaging the plant and nearby buildings. The Amuay refinery is…
…means of launching its own astronauts into space – rides must be bought for them on Russian Soyuz rockets at more than $60 million per seat. SpaceX says Dragon could be ready to carry people in 2015 at a seat price of $20 million. “In order for NASA to be able to afford any programme of exploration in the future given the fiscal realities of the government, it has to transition away f…
…d on video and seen for miles around, and left officials with little hope of finding survivors. It is believed that the pilot has been collecting his children, with three understood to be aged between 5 and 9, for the Thanksgiving holiday and was returning home when the tiny two-engine plane crashed in the ominously-named mountain range. There were three children and three adults on board, a spoke…
The first commercially contracted re-supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has begun. A Falcon rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifted clear of Cape Canaveral in Florida at 20:35 (00:35 GMT). The robotic Dragon ship will deliver 400 kg of food, clothing, experiments and spares to the orbiting platform’s six astronauts. It is the maiden flight in a sequence of 12 miss…
mers and engineers used an instrument called Pionier, which replaces a multitude of mirrors with a single optical microchip. Although the first attempt to combine the four telescopes happened in March 2011, it did not really work, said Jean-Philippe Berger, a French astronomer involved in the project. But this time, it was already pretty clear that all the instruments were working correctly, Jean-…
NASA has identified a 460 ft wide asteroid, 2011 AG5, soaring through space and calculated that it could potentially impact Earth on February 5th 2040. The 2011 AG5 has already attracted the concern of the UN Action Team on near-Earth objects, which has begun discussing ways to divert it. The UN Action Team has put the odds of it hitting us at one in 625, though that could change nearer the time….
Researchers from Austin, Texas, have “cloaked” a 3-D object, making it invisible from all angles, for the first time. However, the demonstration works only for waves in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The demonstration uses a shell of what are known as plasmonic materials; they present a “photo negative” of the object being cloaked, effectively cancel…
“a walking coffin”. Militant Muslim woman Hind Ahmas, 32 – dubbed France’s first “burka martyr” – is currently facing two years in prison for wearing the veil after refusing to pay a 50 Euros fine for the offence. She is appealing the fine on the grounds that the new law is unconstitutional and preparing to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Senior police chiefs…
Yahoo buys Tumblr for $1.1 billionYahoo's board has approved a deal to buy New York-based blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion, US media reports say. The acquisition is expected to be announced as early…
Google told to clean up auto-complete results in GermanyGoogle has been ordered by a German federal court to clean up the auto-complete results its search engine suggests. The court said Google must ensure terms generated by…
Google Glass: Ten features and ways to use itGoogle has revealed for the first time what view users will get through its “Project Glass” wearable computer. 1. Google Glass responds to voice commandsGoogle Glass…
Samsung announces 5G mobile network technology developmentSamsung announces it has developed technology that could sit "at the core of 5G" - the successor to the 4G mobile-communications standard. The Korean company says its…
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere pass symbolic mark of 400 ppmCarbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have broken through a symbolic mark reaching its highest throughout human history, recent figures from a US monitoring station…
Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn perform emergency spacewalk to fix ammonia leakUS astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are carrying out an emergency spacewalk to fix a leak of ammonia from the International Space Station's cooling system. Live…
Face Trainer: Training balaclava claims to tone up saggy faces
Macaulay Culkin at risk of lung cancer
Eurovision 2013: Azerbaijan inquiry into “nul points” for Russia
Oscar Pistorius will not compete in 2013
Kate Middleton has a Marilyn Monroe dress blow up moment at William van Cutsem wedding
Iraq: At least 54 people killed in series of car bomb attacks in Baghdad, Basra and Samarra
Richard DeCoatsworth: Philadelphia police recommended bringing charges of witness intimidation against former officer
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Jep and Jessica Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Jase and Missy Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Willie and Korie Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Si Robertson and Christine
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Phil Robertson and Miss Kay
2013 Billboard Music Awards: Taylor Swift picks up 8 statues including Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist
Selena Gomez gives Justin Bieber a tender kiss on cheek backstage at 2013 Billboard Music Awards
2013 Billboard Music Awards winners. Full list.
Alberto Fujimori: Peru jailed ex-president’s health worsening
China urges North Korea to release Yu Xuejun’s fishing boat captured for $100,000 ransom
Oklahoma tornado kills one person and injures dozens
Kim Kardashian cuts a striking figure in clingy long-sleeved black dress as she dines with Jonathan Cheban and her mother
Syrian troops seize strategic rebel stronghold in Qusair
Keanu Reeves weight gain: Actor almost unrecognizable while boating in Cannes
Angelina Jolie to play her mother Marcheline Bertrand in biopic
Anna Wintour bans Kris Jenner from Met Gala 2013
Yahoo buys Tumblr for $1.1 billion
John Lennon guitar sells for $408,000 at Julien’s Auctions
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: Nurses who looked after Boston bombing suspect could not stop themselves caring for him
Zahra Shahid Hussain funeral: Murdered PTI’s vice-president buried in Karachi
Madeleine McCann case: British cleaners and Portuguese manual workers among new suspects
Ariel Castro prison activity
Kim Kardashian finally puts her swollen feet in flats