Science and Technology

Thursday, 21 November 2019 05:49

Energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough

A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you'd find on the surface of the sun. The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to…

Wednesday, 20 November 2019 06:07

How SMS works - and why you shouldn’t use it anymore

Did you know that, on average, 6 billion SMS messages are sent every day in the U.S. alone? That’s 180 billion each month and 2.27 trillion each year. Globally, 4.2 billion people are texting worldwide. No doubt you’re one of ‘em—which means you fire off approximately 67 texts a day. That’s a lot of “LOL”s. When you send all those texts, you probably assume that you and your recipients are the only ones privy to the information contained within. That’s where you’d be wrong. The truth is that text messages aren’t secure, and that insecurity opens you, your friends, family,…

Tuesday, 19 November 2019 05:14

Scientists create toilet that reduces amount of water for flushing by 90 percent

Researchers in the US say they have created an ultra-slippery toilet coating that could help save vast quantities of water around the world. Scientists at Penn State University say the coating cuts the amount of water required to flush excrement by 90%. They say it also prevents bacteria from building up in toilet bowls and reduces associated odours. The spray, which is more slippery than Teflon, would be affected by urine and need reapplying after about 50 flushes. Researchers hope that the discovery could help reduce water waste. Every day, more than 141 billion litres of water are used to…

Friday, 15 November 2019 05:02

The $9,500 dress that does not exist

Earlier this year Richard Ma, the chief executive of San Francisco-based security company Quantstamp, spent $9,500 (£7,500) on a dress for his wife. That is a lot of money for a dress, particularly when it does not exist, at least not in a physical form. Instead it was a digital dress, designed by fashion house The Fabricant, rendered on to an image of Richard's wife, Mary Ren, which can then be used on social media. "It's definitely very expensive, but it's also like an investment," Mr Ma says. He explains that he and his wife don't usually buy expensive clothing,…

Thursday, 14 November 2019 05:44

Breakthrough as scientists create a new cowpox-style virus that can kill every type of cancer

Scientists are hoping a new cowpox-style virus could kill every type of cancer Professor Yuman Fong, from the US, is engineering the treatment called CF33 The treatment is being developed by Australia biotech company Imugene Scientists have created a new cowpox-style virus in a bid to cure cancer. The treatment, called CF33, can kill every type of cancer in a petrie dish and has shrunk tumours in mice, The Daily Telegraph reported. US cancer expert Professor Yuman Fong is engineering the treatment, which is being developed by Australia biotech company Imugene. They are hoping the treatment will be tested on…

Monday, 11 November 2019 06:15

Scientists invent metal that refuses to sink

If you’re trying to build something that won’t sink, making it out of metal seems like a terrible idea. We make boats and ships out of metal because it’s sturdy and lasts a long time, but it weighs a lot and, if something goes wrong, there’s nothing stopping it from sinking to the bottom. Researchers from the University of Rochester have come up with a potential solution. It’s a metal that absolutely hates water, strongly repelling it and creating pockets of air that allow the metal to float under just about any circumstance. Its inventors believe it could revolutionize ship…

Saturday, 09 November 2019 05:21

Twitter’s CEO, Dorsey in Lagos, applauds Lagos IT Hub

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Mr Jack Dorsey visited popular Information Technology Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in Yaba, Lagos, yesterday morning, as part of his tour of four African countries- Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa. Dorsey, who arrived Nigeria on Thursday night, had announced via his twitter handle in October that he was “headed to Africa for all of November- Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa; going to spend a lot of time with entrepreneurs.” On arrival in Lagos, he twitted, “So grateful to finally be in Nigeria.” After meeting with tech-startups at Yaba CcHub, Dorsey shared pictures…

Friday, 08 November 2019 05:03

Children who use screens excessively have different brain structures, scientists say in 'provocative' study

Devices including TVs, smartphones and tablets could change the brain structures of young children, according to scientists—who fear such technology could affect the development of language and literacy skills. However, experts stressed the results are preliminary, and parents needn't worry unnecessarily that they have damaged their child's brain by letting them use such gadgets. For a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, researchers recruited a total of 47 healthy children aged between 3 and 5 years old, who underwent MRI scans to map their brains, and sat language and literacy tests. Of the total, 78 percent of the participants…

Thursday, 07 November 2019 05:37

China kick-starts development of 6G technology less than a week after rolling out 5G network

China has officially begun the research and development of 6G technology. The news came less than a week after the country rolled out its superfast 5G network. The country's Technology Bureau has formally set up a team of experts to work on the next-generation mobile internet connection, state media said today. A total of 37 telecommunication specialists drawn from universities, institutions and corporations are on the panel, which is tasked with laying out the development of 6G and proving the scientific feasibility of it. The news was announced during a 6G launch ceremony in Beijing on Sunday, according to a…

Thursday, 07 November 2019 05:36

Russian startup sells robot clones of real people

A Russian startup is selling autonomous robots, which buyers can choose to make look like any person on Earth. "Everyone will now be able to order a robot with any appearance — for professional or personal use. Thus, we open a huge market in service, education and entertainment. Imagine a replica of Michael Jordan selling basketball uniforms and William Shakespeare reading his own texts in a museum?" said Aleksei Iuzhakov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promobot, in a statement. The company's Robo-C has a neck and torso that each have three degrees of freedom of movement, but it…

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Tuesday, 05 November 2019 05:11

Facebook has a new all-caps logo

Facebook has changed its corporate logo to a minimalist rendering of the Facebook name, a move the company said is meant to separate the wider corporation -- and its subsidiaries like WhatsApp and Instagram -- from the Facebook social network, sometimes known internally as the “big blue app.” The move comes as Facebook faces criticism from lawmakers and advocates for its privacy practices, and concerns that the data collection that’s common on the Facebook platform may bleed over into its other businesses. The company is also facing antitrust scrutiny in part because of its future plans to knit together the…

Tuesday, 05 November 2019 05:09

The passwords you should never use

An annual report, now in its eight year, has analysed the worst passwords of 2018 giving us an insight of what people are using, but more to the point what you shouldn't be using. Account hacking is a real and genuine threat, so making sure you have a safe and secure password for all your accounts is an absolute must. We are constantly told to try and avoid using the same password for everything, but remembering so many different passwords can be a nightmare. Thankfully, there are software programmes and apps out there to handle that task for you and…

Wednesday, 30 October 2019 06:26

WhatsApp sues Israeli firm over phone hacking claims

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit against Israel's NSO Group, alleging the firm was behind cyber-attacks that infected devices with malicious software. WhatsApp accuses the company of sending malware to roughly 1,400 mobile phones for the purposes of surveillance. Users affected included journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, and diplomats. NSO Group, which makes software for surveillance, disputed the allegations. In a court filing, WhatsApp said NSO Group "developed their malware in order to access messages and other communications after they were decrypted on target devices". It said NSO Group created various WhatsApp accounts and caused the malicious code to…

Wednesday, 30 October 2019 06:25

Passwords have failed to keep out criminals from stealing your identity, money. This is what’ll replace them

"Sarah", an actor based in London, had her identity stolen in 2017. "I got home one day and found my post box had been broken into," she says. "I had two new credit cards approved which I hadn't applied for, and a letter from one bank, saying we've changed our mind about offering you a credit card." She spent £150 on credit checking services alone trying to track down cards issued in her name. "It's a huge amount of work and money," says Sarah, who asked the BBC not to use her real name. Identity theft is at an all-time…

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