by Sahana Ghosh on 1 August 2019 Dreaming of a perfect blue-sky and rain-free wedding day? A luxury travel company promises to do just that for a price with the help of cloud seeding, a commonly used technique in weather…
Category: Technology
Apple will face tariffs on components imported from China
President Donald Trump warned yesterday that he would snub Apple’s requests for tariff exemptions on device components imported from China, as he put pressure on the tech company to shift production to the United States. “Apple will not be given…
China makes first successful private orbital rocket launch
Beijing, July 25 (AP/UNB) — Chinese state media says a Beijing-based rocket developer has become the country’s first private company to successfully complete an orbital launch. The Xinhua state news agency reported that a carrier rocket sent two satellites into…
Is $5 billion fine least painful part of Facebook’s settlement?
US regulators are expected to unveil Wednesday a settlement with Facebook — a reported $5 billion fine that might be the least painful part of the agreement for the social network. The deal, which follows a lengthy investigation by the…
Olympic robots offer ‘virtual’ attendance, help out on field
Tokyo (AP/UNB) — A cart-like robot scuttles across the field to bring back javelins and discuses. A towering screen-on-wheels is designed for “virtual” attendance. The cute ones are, naturally, the likeness of the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Japanese automaker Toyota…
50 years ago, humanity’s first steps on another world
Americans were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing on Saturday, a generation-defining event watched by half a billion people globally, as the US seeks to pivot to a new era of crewed space exploration. At 4:18pm ET…
To return to Moon, astronauts need new spacesuits
Space engineer Pablo de Leon has designed two spacesuit prototypes for the Moon and for Mars, and knows how long development takes. If NASA wants to meet its own deadline of returning to the Moon by 2024, it needs to…
Can trillion-tonne snow cannons save us from sea-level rise?
Scientists seeking to avoid catastrophic sea-level rises from the melting West Antarctic ice sheet have come up with a “terrible” solution: use snow cannons to pump trillions of tonnes of ice back on top. The gargantuan ice sheet contains enough…
US marks Apollo mission 50 years
Fifty years after a mighty rocket set off from Florida carrying the first humans to the Moon, a veteran of the Apollo 11 crew returned to its fabled launch pad today to commemorate “one giant leap” that became a defining…
India aborts moon mission launch, citing technical glitch
India, July 15 (AP/UNB) — India aborted the launch on Monday of a spacecraft intended to land on the far side of the moon less than an hour before liftoff. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was called off when a “technical snag”…
India calls off Moon mission launch
India today dramatically scrapped the launch of a rocket that was aiming to land a probe on the Moon less than one hour before blast-off because of a “technical” problem. India wants the Chandrayaan-2 — or Moon Chariot 2 —…
Russia launches space telescope
Russia launched a space telescope from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in a joint mission on Sunday with Germany intended to map X-rays across the sky and replace a project lost in January. Video posted on the website of the…
Avoiding the mistakes of Asian green revolution in Africa
By Isaiah Esipisu Dodoma, Tanzania, Jul 11 2019 (IPS) – Research scientists are studying groundwater resources in three African countries in order to understand the renewability of the source and how people can use it sustainably towards a green revolution…
Lunar satellite captures stunning images of solar eclipse
Stunning pictures of a rare total eclipse that blocked out the sun above Chile and Argentina have been captured by a satellite orbiting the moon. Thousands of people – including tourists, locals and astronomers – gathered to see the solar…
Drone on Titan in 2034
Elizabeth Turtle was overjoyed when, on June 26, she received a call from NASA: her project to send a drone quadcopter to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was given the green light, which came with a budget of nearly a billion…
NASA tests launch-abort system for moon-mission
NASA carried out a successful test today of a launch abort system for a capsule designed to take US astronauts to the moon. The test was carried out at Cape Canaveral in Florida and carried live on NASA TV. The…
15 inspiring women leading in the AgTech Sector
From Danielle Nierenberg Women in the food system and technology sectors face a lot of obstacles. The agriculture sector is rapidly incorporating new technologies and innovations, but the sector often falls flat in incorporating women into AgTech. Women in the…
‘Deepfakes’ pose conundrum for Facebook
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday the leading social network is struggling to find ways to deal with “deepfake” videos which have the potential to deceive and manipulate users on a massive scale. Zuckerberg said Facebook is trying to…
Scientists discover vast freshwater reservoir beneath ocean
Dhaka, June 27 – Underneath the salty waters of the North Atlantic ocean, geologists have discovered a giant aquifer of freshwater, hidden from view just off the US coast, reports Science Alert. While the vast size of this massive cache…
Russian, North American astronauts to return to earth
The first crew to blast off to the International Space Station following a launch accident that deepened doubts over Russia’s space programme is set to return to earth Tuesday. NASA astronaut Anne McClain, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and…
When your AI assistant misbehaves: Mozilla Foundation
Whether it’s turning off the lights, looking up a fact online, or asking for directions, more and more of us are incorporating digital assistants into our lives. A recent Amazon Alexa commercial depicts a heartwarming story with a family’s interactions…
Virtual Facebook currency faces real-world resistance
If Facebook’s new cryptocurrency shouldresonate anywhere it should be India, where the social media giant has more than 300 million followers. Many Indians are shut out of banking and face punitive fees for simpletransactions, like transferring money to their loved…
EVMs to be used in all future BD elections: CEC
Bogura, June 19 (UNB) – Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Wednesday said that Electronic Voting Machines will be used in all future elections in Bangladesh. “A legal framework has been prepared in this regard,” he said at…
Youths to provide jobs instead of looking for employment: Palak
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak yesterday said youths of the country would be able to provide jobs to other people in the days to come as the government has undertaken various schemes so that…
Budget undermined role of telecom sector: operators
Dhaka, June 18 (UNB)- Stating that the newly placed National Budget for FY 2019-20 is going against the vision of digital Bangladesh, The Association of Mobile Telecommunication Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) urged the government reconsider it in the telecom sector.…
Bangladesh’s first iron ore mine discovered in Dinajpur
Dinajpur, June 18 (UNB) – For the first time in Bangladesh, a magnetite (iron ore) mine has been discovered at Isabpur village in Hakimpur upazila of the district, bringing new hopes for the country’s economy. The Geological Survey of Bangladesh…
Facebook to unveil new cryp to currency
Facebook is set Tuesday to unveil a bid to bring crypto currency payments into the mainstream, reportedly with the endorsement of governments and financial giants. The world’s biggest social network is expected to outline details of a virtual currency launching…
Don’t use EVM in Bogura-6 by-polls: BNP
Dhaka, Jun 17 (UNB) – BNP on Monday demanded the Election Commission withdraw its decision of using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the by-election to Bogura-6 parliamentary seat billed for June 24. “The Election Commission, which is subservient to the government,…
Target’s tech trouble clogs stores with long checkout lines
San Francisco, Jun 16 (AP/UNB) — A glitch stalled checkout lines at Target stores worldwide Saturday, exasperating shoppers and potentially eating into sales at a prime time for retailers, the day before Father’s Day. The roughly two-hour outage periodically prevented…
Apollo moon rocks help transform understanding of universe
Moon rocks look rather nondescript —they are often gray in color — but for NASA planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence, they are the “most precious materials on Earth.” What is certain is that the lunar samples first gathered by Apollo 11’sNeil…