SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to shake up satellite industry
Hawthorne, Calif. (UPI) Jan 13, 2015 -
Elon Musk wants to grow the presence of SpaceX in the satellite communications industry. Establishing a profitable satellite operation would bring in the kinds of stable revenue streams that Musk needs to pursue more adventurous missions - like a manned colony on Mars.
But Musk says a cozy relationship between the U.S. Air Force and other aerospace and defense industry contractors is p ...
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US sends five Guantanamo prisoners to Oman, Estonia
Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
The United States has transferred five men from its Guantanamo Bay prison, the Pentagon said Wednesday, in a renewed push by President Barack Obama toward closing the controversial jail.
Four of the inmates were sent to Oman, while one was sent to Estonia, according to Pentagon statements.
Officials said "a comprehensive review" of the cases was conducted by several US agencies before ...
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10 news organizations join drone-test program
Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Ten US media organizations including the New York Times and Washington Post announced a coalition Thursday to test drones for news gathering in collaboration with Virginia Tech University.
The initiative is "designed to conduct controlled safety testing of a series of real-life scenarios where the news media could use small UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) technology to gather the news," acco ...
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Vega ready to launch ESA spaceplane
Paris (ESA) Jan 15, 2015 -
On its first launch of the year, Europe's Vega rocket will loft ESA's unmanned spaceplane to test reentry technologies for future vehicles. The launch campaign has resumed, aiming for a liftoff on 11 February from Kourou, French Guiana to release ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV, into a suborbital trajectory.
This mission will provide vital flight data for Europe to forge ahead ...
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China media: Zhou, Bo formed 'clique' to challenge leaders
Beijing (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
The two biggest Chinese politicians to fall in recent years, ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang and former high-flyer Bo Xilai, formed a "clique" together, state media reported Thursday as President Xi Jinping pledges a crackdown on Communist Party factionalism.
The two men "celebrated their political rapport" and vowed to "play a big game", the China Daily said, citing a lengthy report in Hong ...
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Navy authorizes SM-6 missile for more ships
Tucson (UPI) Jan 15, 2015 -
The U.S. Navy has authorized the use of long-range multi-role SM-6 missiles by more ships in the fleet equipped with the Aegis Combat Weapons System.
Raytheon, the missile's manufacturer, said the authorization affects more than 35 ships with the Aegis baseline 5.3 and 3.A.0 system series.
"SM-6 is the longest range integrated air and missile defense interceptor deployed, and its ...
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60 Years Since Launch of Chinese Nuclear Weapons Program
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Jan 16, 2015 -
On January 15, 1955, the leaders of the People's Republic of China (PRC) decided to launch a national nuclear weapons program in response to US threats to conduct a nuclear strike against China.
Since the PRC was founded on October 1, 1949, the country's military and political leaders proceeded from the assumption that the country should possess armed forces equipped with modern weapons, i ...
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US Concerned About Russia's Emerging Strategic Military Capabilities
Washington DC (Sputnik) Jan 16, 2015 -
The United States is concerned about Russia's emerging strategic capabilities in nuclear, space, cyber security spheres, Commander of US Strategic Command Adm. Cecil Haney said on Thursday.
"Russia has had more than a decade of investments in modernization across their strategic nuclear forces. This is not about the continuation of the cold war ...>This is about emerging capability at a t ...
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Russia Will Test Launch Iskander-M Missiles During March Drills
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Jan 16, 2015 -
Two missile battalions of the Central Military District (CMD) will test launch a number of Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles during exercises in southern Russia in March, CMD spokesperson Col. Yaroslav Roshupkin said Thursday.
"In early March, after the completion of military training courses, the full-size unit will take part in combat launching exercises at the Kapustin Yar testing ...
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US Air Force moves to stem shortage of drone pilots
Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Facing a shortage of drone pilots, the US Air Force said Thursday it will increase pay for those who operate the robotic planes and draw on airmen from the reserves to fill the gap.
The growing demand for drones has stretched the American military's resources and placed a major strain on the aircraft's pilots, who work an average of about 14 hours a day, six days a week, Air Force Secretary ...
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Obama to answer queries on YouTube after annual speech
Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
President Barack Obama will answer questions from YouTube creators in a live interview two days after his State of the Union address, the Google-owned video service said Thursday.
"This year we're doing something we've never done before: bringing a handful of YouTube creators directly to the White House to talk with the president in person in a live broadcast on Thursday, January 22," Goog ...
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Stress and social media: it's complicated
Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Using digital technologies does not directly cause stress, but social media can increase awareness of problems facing friends and family, and this stress is "contagious," researchers said Thursday.
A report by the Pew Research Center and Rutgers University researchers concluded that the stress facing some users of social networks was related to "the cost of caring."
"There is no evidenc ...
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Swedish court gives green light to wolf hunters
Stockholm (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Swedish hunters were given the go-ahead Thursday to shoot 36 wolves this winter as animal activists suffer a setback on one of the country's most divisive environmental issues.
The seasonal wolf hunt had been stopped at the last minute by a lower court but will go ahead after a Gothenburg appeals court lifted the ban.
"It's a good thing that we will finally get going with managing the wo ...
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Malawi deploys military as floods leave 100,000 homeless
Blantyre, Malawi (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Malawi deployed military helicopters and boats Thursday in a bid to rescue desperate flood victims stranded on patches of high ground after raging waters killed at least 48 people and left 100,000 homeless.
Vice President Saulos Chilima said the rescue operation had been delayed because of poor weather over the two previous days and helicopters were struggling to land because of the high wat ...
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The chemicals that insects use to communicate and survive
Riverside CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Most insects are covered with a thin layer of hydrocarbon molecules as a waterproofing barrier. Embedded in this layer are compounds that the insects use as chemical signals for a wide variety of functions such as communicating species and sex. In insects such as ants that live in colonies, they also differentiate the different castes (e.g., workers, queens, and drones).
But isolating thes ...
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Surprise discovery off California exposes loggerhead 'lost years'
Seattle WA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
The discovery of numerous juvenile loggerhead turtles by a NOAA Fisheries research survey more than 200 miles off the Southern California Coast has revealed new details about a mysterious part of the endangered turtles' epic migration across the Pacific Ocean known as "the lost years."
"It's one of those great 'aha' moments in science," said Scott Benson, a marine ecologist with NOAA Fishe ...
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AI helps physicists predict dangerous solar flares
Stanford CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Though scientists do not completely understand what triggers solar flares, Stanford solar physicists Monica Bobra and Sebastien Couvidat have automated the analysis of those gigantic explosions. The method could someday provide advance warning to protect power grids and communication satellites.
Solar flares can release the energy equivalent of many atomic bombs, enough to cut out satellit ...
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First human conversations were probably about rocks
St. Andrews, Scotland (UPI) Jan 15, 2015 -
Sometime around two million years ago, a primitive proto-language was invented. And researchers say the first topic of conversation was almost certainly rock - not just any old boulder, but the rocks early man was turning into tools.
An international team of researchers - including experts in the fields of archaeology, evolutionary biology and psychology - compiled evidence suggestin ...
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Jaw mechanics of a shell-crushing Jurassic fish revealed
Bristol, UK (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
The feeding habits of an unusual 200-million-year-old fish have been uncovered by a University of Bristol undergraduate in a groundbreaking study which has been published in Palaeontology, a leading scientific journal, this week - a rare achievement for an undergraduate student.
The Jurassic fish, Dapedium, known from the Lower Lias rocks of the Dorset coast around Lyme Regis, was one of m ...
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Pollution soars in Chinese capital amid winter smog
Beijing (AFP) Jan 15, 2015 -
Pollution levels soared in Beijing on Thursday to readings more than 20 times WHO recommended limits, as an annual bout of intense smog returned to haunt the Chinese capital despite government vows to address the plague.
Levels of PM2.5 particulates - the smallest and most dangerous, with a diameter small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs - were recorded at 568 micrograms per cubic metr ...
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Crops can do their own weed control
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
In conventional farming, the most frequently used herbicides for weed control have a negative impact on the environment. On the other hand, organic farmers enlist machines to battle unwanted growth. These machines guzzle fuel and produce CO2, while their tyres compact soil and damage its structure.
New research results from the University of Copenhagen's Department of Plant and Environment ...
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Endangered Amazon monkeys more diverse than thought
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Research by UCLA life scientists and 50 colleagues sheds new light on the biological differences among more than 150 species of monkeys in South America, many of which are endangered. Their findings could be particularly important in shaping efforts to conserve the biodiversity of primates in South America.
The scientists have resolved a dispute over whether a small population of black-hea ...
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Correcting estimates of sea level rise
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
The acceleration in global sea level from the 20th century to the last two decades has been significantly larger than scientists previously thought, according to a new Harvard study.
The study, co-authored by Carling Hay, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS), and Eric Morrow, a recent PhD graduate of EPS, shows that previous estimates of global sea ...
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DNA 'glue' could someday be used to build tissues, organs
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
DNA molecules provide the "source code" for life in humans, plants, animals and some microbes. But now researchers report an initial study showing that the strands can also act as a glue to hold together 3-D-printed materials that could someday be used to grow tissues and organs in the lab.
This first-of-its-kind demonstration of the inexpensive process is described in the brand-new journa ...
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New Species Discovered Beneath Ocean Crust
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Two miles below the surface of the ocean, researchers have discovered new microbes that "breathe" sulfate. The microbes, which have yet to be classified and named, exist in massive undersea aquifers - networks of channels in porous rock beneath the ocean where water continually churns. About one-third of the Earth's biomass is thought to exist in this largely uncharted environment.
"It was ...
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