London — A proposed British law that gives police and spies unprecedented powers to look at the Internet browsing records of everyone in the country passed its first major vote in Parliament on Tuesday.
Tag: Science
Indonesia witnesses totality as Sun is blocked by the Moon
Millions of people across Indonesia and the Pacific have experienced a total solar eclipse, with parts of the region falling into complete darkness.The eclipse began at 06:19 local time (23:19 GMT Tuesday) as the Moon started to pass directly in…
Australia’s ‘ugly’ animals attract less study
Koalas and kangaroos are subject to more scientific study than Australia’s twitching rodents and bats, according to new research which finds ‘ugly’ animals attract less funding and investigation.The bias towards more attractive creatures means that while ‘ugly’ animals make up…
Ghost like octopus discovered in Hawaii
Scientists have discovered a “ghostlike” octopus in deep water off Hawaii that appears to belong to a previously unknown species, researchers said.A submersible research craft spotted the small, translucent octopus by chance around 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) underwater off Necker…
In Apple vs FBI case, compromise appears elusive
As Apple’s legal battle with the FBI over encryption heads toward a showdown, there appears little hope for a compromise that would placate both sides and avert a divisive court decision.
Parrots are just as smart as apes
Despite having much smaller brains than mammals, some birds like parrots and crows have mental skills that match with those of our ape cousins, new research has found.Among other things, they are capable of thinking logically, of recognising themselves in…
Ageing begins even before you are born
The process of ageing begins even before we are born, says a new study, which used rats to model pregnancy and foetal development.The study showed that providing mothers with a diet loaded with antioxidants during pregnancy meant that their offspring…
Astronaut heads home after nearly a year in space
US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth Wednesday after spending almost a year in space in a ground-breaking experiment foreshadowing a potential manned mission to Mars.“We have landing,” Russian Mission Control confirmed after the trio…
Drones Keep Nearly Hitting Aircraft and We Have No Idea What Would Happen if One Did
British pilots are calling for urgent research into what would happen if a drone hit an aircraft, following 23 near misses in just six months.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is back on Earth after a year
Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov landed late Monday night in the Kazakhstan desert, NASA and Russian mission control said. Kelly could be seen pumping his fist and giving a thumbs up after being hoisted from the…
NASA to test potato plants in Peru for Mars
Do Peru’s potatoes have the right stuff?That’s the question scientists will be asking in Lima next month, when a selection of tubers will begin undergoing tests to determine whether they’re fit to grow on Mars.NASA, the US space agency, is…
Solar Impulse makes first maintenance flight
The sun-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 has made a successful test flight in Hawaii, where it has been grounded for repairs on its round-the-world trek, the Swiss-based project said Saturday.“The first Solar Impulse 2 maintenance flight took place on Friday…
Dinosaur fossil discovered in Japan
A new dinosaur fossil has been found in Japan’s Fukui prefecture, bringing the number of species discovered in the country to seven, the media reported on Saturday.According to fossil analysis, the new creature was a small theropod that had both…
NASA releases ‘moon music’
NASA has made public a recording of strange “music” that astronauts reported hearing in 1969 while on the far side of the Moon, out of radio contact with the Earth.The story behind these unusual whistling noises was showcased Sunday night…
Longest-lasting solar eclipse discovered
Imagine living in a world where, every 69 years, the sun disappears in a near total eclipse that lasts for three and a half years. That is just what happens in an unnamed binary star system nearly 10,000 light years…
NASA found fracture in Pluto’s moon
Images from the New Horizon space probe suggest that Pluto’s moon Charon once had a sub-surface ocean that has since frozen and expanded, causing the surface to stretch and fracture, NASA said Friday.Charon’s surface was photographed by the New Horizons’s…
NASA to simulate growing potatoes on Mars in Peru
Lima – Do Peru’s potatoes have the right stuff? That’s the question scientists will be asking in Lima next month, when a selection of tubers will begin undergoing tests to determine whether they’re fit to grow on Mars. NASA, the…
Astronomers record rotation of cloudy ‘super-Jupiter’
In a maiden attempt to decode the rotation of a massive exoplanet, astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope have measured the rotation rate of a cloudy “super-Jupiter” by observing the varied brightness in its atmosphere.The planet called 2M1207b is about four…
Hobbits were not humans
Diminutive humans that died out on an Indonesian island some 15,000 years ago were not Homo sapiens but a different species, according to a study published Monday that dives into a fierce anthropological debate.Fossils of Homo floresiensis — dubbed “the…
Detective scientists discover ancient clues in mummy portraits
A Northwestern University research team has taken CSI to a whole new level: employing sophisticated scientific tools to investigate details of the materials and methods used by Roman-Egyptian artists to paint lifelike mummy portraits more than 2,000 years ago. These…
ERC announces 302 top researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the 302 winners of its 2015 Consolidator Grant competition, European Commission said on Friday.These excellent mid-career scientists are awarded a total of 585 million euros ($660 million) as part of the European Union…
Einstein was right 100 years ago
The researchers said they detected gravitational waves coming from two black holes – extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein – that orbited one another, spiralled inward and smashed together. They said the waves were the product…
Astronaut Mitchell dies at 85
US astronaut Edgar Mitchell, one of just 12 people to have walked on the Moon, has died aged 85, his family and NASA said Friday, calling him a “pioneer.”NASA paid glowing tribute to Mitchell, who died in Florida after a…
Julian Assange Slams UK Response to UN Ruling
Julian Assange has insisted the UK and Sweden must respect the United Nations ruling that he has been unlawfully detained, formally announced on Friday.”We have now a victory, and decided law on this case,” he said via video link at…
Tiny Luxembourg looks to make a big splash in Asteroid mining
Luxembourg, the teeny little European nation, intends to become a hub for a new budding industry: asteroid mining.”Our aim is to open access to a wealth of previously unexplored mineral resources on lifeless rocks hurling through space, without damaging natural…
Trained eagles will hunt drones
As authorities scramble for effective and advanced ways to counter the increasing number of rogue drones buzzing around our skies, Dutch National Police have come up with something a little more unusual: the mighty eagle.In what Dutch company “Guard from…
Yahoo to announce job cuts
Embattled Internet pioneer Yahoo will announce job cuts when it releases its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer will lay out a cost-cutting plan that includes chopping 15…
Scientists given permission on embryo ‘Gene Editing’
UK scientists have been given the go-ahead by the fertility regulator to genetically modify human embryos.It is the first time a country has considered the DNA-altering technique in embryos and approved it.The research will take place at the Francis Crick…
CCTV surveillance system installed at DU
The Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance system has been installed at the Arts Building and Lecture Theater Building of Dhaka University (DU).DU Pro-Vice Chancellor (administration) Professor Shahid Akhtar Hossain inaugurated the CCTV as chief guest at a function today at Arts…
New clues about formation of the moon
It’s the only world besides Earth that man has set foot on. But we still don’t know exactly how it got there.Now, rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts in the late ’60s and early ’70s are providing new clues…