Jan 21
Tags: Borneo, extinct species, gray monkey, grizzly langurs
Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have “rediscovered” a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.
They were all the more baffled to find the Miller’s Grizzled Langur — its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar — in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.
The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo island in June, hoping to captures images of clouded leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to congregate at several mineral salt licks.
The pictures that came back caught them all by surprise: groups of monkeys none had ever seen.
With virtually no photographs of the grizzled langurs in existence, it at first was a challenge to confirm their suspicions, said Brent Loken, a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and one of the lead researchers.
The only images out there were museum sketches.
More here
Dec 30
Tags: android, comscore, ios, samsung, US mobile market
The latest comScore report shows that Android is still dominating U.S. mobile subscriber market share ahead of Apple’s iOS.
The report, which measures mobile market share for the U.S. during a three month period ending November 2011, provides an average among over 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers.
According to comScore, 234 million Americans age 13 and over used mobile devices in the three month period, and 91.4 million of them are smartphone owners. Android-based devices took the lead position with 46.9 percent share in the smartphone market. Apple took second place with 28.7 percent, followed by RIM (16.6 percent), Microsoft (5.2 percent) and Symbian (1.5 percent).
Daily Tech
Nov 24
Tags: 42000 years, fish hook, mariners, open ocean, pleistocene
The world’s earliest known fish hooks reveal that humans fished the open sea for much longer than previously thought.
Past studies have revealed that early humans were capable of crossing the open ocean as far back as 50,000 years ago, such as they did to colonize Australia. Until now, however, evidence that such mariners could fish while in the open sea dated back only to 12,000 years ago.
“In most areas of the world, evidence for our early ancestors’ coastal exploitation is now submerged — it was drowned by rising sea levels,” researcher Sue O’Connor, an archaeologist at Australian National University in Canberra, told LiveScience.
More here
Nov 23
Tags: contact lenses, inorganic materials, terminator vision, washington university
A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists.
The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle. Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible. But there are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source. Currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery.
More on BBC
Nov 03
Tags: climate change, glacial periods, ice age, mammoths
Climate change and human activity caused the extinction of some Ice-Age animals, such as the woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, and wild horses, and the near extinction of others including reindeer, bison, and musk ox, says an international study.
The scientists say their study, published in the journal Nature, is the first to combine genetic, archeological, and climatic data to track the population history of six large Ice-Age mammals and can shed light on the possible fates of today’s animals as the Earth continues its current warming cycle.
More here
Nov 02
Tags: 2005 YU55, asteroid, C class asteroids
The asteroid, dubbed 2005 YU55, will come within 202,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon, before zipping farther into space. Carbon-colored and dark, the asteroid measures some 1,300 feet wide. It will be the closest visit by a space rock this size in more than three decades.
“This is not a potentially hazardous asteroid, just a good opportunity to study one,” National Science Foundation astronomer Thomas Statler says. NASA and the NSF plan a series of radar telescope and other observations starting Friday, aimed at mapping the asteroid’s surface and chemistry.
Read here
Oct 28
Tags: facebook, fb friend power, fb new feature, social sites, super friends
Facebook is getting complicated. The social network just introduced the category of “trusted friend,” not to be confused with the prior categories of “close friends,” “acquaintances,” “restricted” buddies, and authorized stalkers. Trusted friends are like super-friends.
They have special powers!
If you get locked out of your Facebook account, three to five “Trusted Friends” can send you access codes.
More on Gawker.com
Sep 23
Tags: cern, light travel, neutrino, neutron beam, speed of light
There is a lot of talk over what it will mean if Cern’s latest scientific headline-maker turns out to be real. Researchers on the Opera experiment (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) seem to have managed to send a beam of particles four hundred miles at (very slightly) faster than the speed of light. If true, it messes with our ideas of time and causality – lightspeed is the absolute speed limit of the universe. It is, according to everything we know, literally and entirely impossible for events at point A to affect events at point B unless there has been time for light to pass between the two.
Subir Sarkar, head of particle theory at Oxford University, probably ran away with the “best quote” award when he told The Guardian: “Cause cannot come after effect and that is absolutely fundamental to our construction of the physical universe. If we do not have causality, we are buggered.”
More Here
Sep 08
Tags: Mission to Planet Earth, satellite, space junk, STS-48 crew, UARS
NASA’s first major satellite as part of its “Mission to Planet Earth” program is now, ironically, on a much more literal mission back to the planet.
The 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will return to Earth in the next several weeks, according to NASA. At least some pieces of the spacecraft, which is 35 feet long and 15 feet wide, are expected to survive the fiery plunge into the atmosphere and reach the ground.
“It is too early to say exactly when UARS will re-enter and what geographic area may be affected,” NASA said in a statement posted on Wednesday (Sept. 7) to its website.
More here
Aug 11
Tags: ancient mamals, marine reptile, plesiosaur, pregnant dino, sea monster
A giant marine reptile was likely ready for her baby shower about 78 million years ago when she died. The fossilized pregnant plesiosaur was carrying a large fetus when she was unearthed in Kentucky, the first expectant plesiosaur mom to be found since the species was discovered almost 200 years ago.
“This is the first known pregnant plesiosaur. It demonstrates that the plesiosaur gives live birth and did not crawl out on land (to lay eggs). It puts this 200-year mystery to rest,” said study researcher Frank O’Keefe, of Marshall University in West Virginia. “The really interesting thing is how big this bouncing baby is. It’s really large by reptilian standards, by human standards, by any standards you use.”
More
Facebook is getting complicated. The social network just introduced the category of “trusted friend,” not to be confused with the prior categories of “close friends,” “acquaintances,” “restricted” buddies, and authorized stalkers. Trusted friends are like super-friends.
