SCIENCE BOND

A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said.  The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website.  Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...

On Thursday reports surfaced that a Russian hacker called Tessa88 was asking for 10 bitcoins (£4,000) for access to a list of 32 million names.  In a blogpost, Twitter said it was confident that the data had not come from a hack attack on its servers.  But after scrutinising the list, it had locked some accounts and users would need to reset their passwords. "The purported Twitter @names and passwords may have been amassed from combining information from other recent breaches, malware on victim machines that are stealing passwords for all sites, or a combination of both," wrote Michael Coates, chief security officer at Twitter, in the blogpost .  Security firm Leaked Source, which first shared information about the list, said its analysis suggested the information came from PCs infected with data-stealing malware.Twitter's cross-checking of the list showed that some of the log-in data being offered was real, said Mr Coates, and led to the micro-blogging servi...

The researchers report an experiment in Iceland where they have pumped CO2 and water underground into volcanic rock.  Reactions with the minerals in the deep basalts convert the carbon dioxide to a stable, immobile chalky solid.  Even more encouraging, the team writes in Science magazine, is the speed at which this process occurs: on the order of months.  Of our 220 tonnes of injected CO2, 95% was converted to limestone in less than two years, said lead author Juerg Matter from Southampton University, UK.  It was a huge surprise to all the scientists involved in the project, and we thought, 'Wow! This is really fast'," he recalled With carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere marching ever upwards and warming the planet, researchers are keen to investigate so called "carbon capture and storage" (CCS) solutions. Previous experiments have seen pure CO2 injected into sandstone, or deep, salty aquifers. Chosen sites - which have included disused oil...

The autonomous drone - dubbed 184 - can carry one passenger and was developed by Chinese company EHang.  A prototype was shown off at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, with the company hoping to sell the drones later this year.  Experts were divided over whether such a system would have mass appeal. Officials from the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems granted permission for the drone to be tested and offered to help EHang submit the results to the Federal Aviation Administration in a bid to win further approval.  It is not clear whether the drone will carry a passenger during tests.  "I personally look forward to the day when drone taxis are part of Nevada's transportation system," the institute's business development director, Mark Barker,told local the Las Vegas Review Journal. The prototype drone is over 4ft (1.2m) tall, weighs 440lb (200kg) and has eight propellers.  It can carry a single passenger for 23 minutes at 60mph...

The function for members to read messages by accessing the social network on a mobile phone web browser is being disabled.  A message  currently appears informing users of the coming change. On some handsets the Play Store then launches.  Facebook said the move is an extension of its 2014 Messenger policy.  Using the Messenger app is faster and enables richer interactions. We're continuing to bring the best experiences we can to the 900 million people on Messenger," it said in a statement. Messages are already inaccessible via the official Facebook app.  However, Devin Coldewey at technology news website Tech Crunch described it as "a hostile move".  Surely the mobile site is much used by people who have good reason not to download the app," he wrote. Some users have complained that they do not wish to use the app, citing battery life and privacy concerns."This move underlines what an important platform messaging is becoming for Facebook,"...

The Pink Light campaign was tested by 500 pregnant women in the city of Busan over a five-day period.  The women carried sensors that activated pink lights by priority seats on the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail service.  However some might be embarrassed by the extra attention, said podcaster and tech journalist Ellie Gibson.  The sensors have six months of battery life and must be carried outside a bag for maximum signal strength, although they are not waterproof, the Pink Light website (in Korean) says. The project was a collaboration between the city council and local businesses.Consideration for pregnant women should prevail and they should be able to use public transportation more easily and conveniently with this policy," said Suh Byung-soo, Busan's mayor. "Women should be able to use city facilities easily even when they are expecting."  Many pregnant women report difficulties getting seats on public transport, while passengers say they can't always...

The gang allegedly seeded websites with malware that gave them access to victims' PCs and, from there, their bank accounts.  Technical tricks used by the hackers made it hard for security software to spot the malicious code once it had compromised a machine.  It is believed to be the largest ever arrest of hackers in Russia.  The Russian authorities carried out raids in 15 regions across the country to round up the gang, the FSB internal security service said.  "As a result of house searches a large quantity of computer equipment was confiscated along with communications gear, bank cards in false names, and also financial documents and significant amounts of cash confirming the illegal nature of their activity," the FSB said. The gang is believed to have stolen cash using a malicious trojan called Lurk that it hid on some of Russia's most popular websites.Anyone visiting a website booby-trapped with Lurk would be infected with the malware. Once on a victim...

Taiwan's Asus has unveiled what it says is the first "affordable" household robot.  Voice-activated Zenbo will cost $599 (£409) and Asus says it will be able to control smart home devices. The firm said it would be less expensive than competing household robots because it did not have humanoid features such as arms.  But Taipei correspondent Cindy Sui said Zenbo could only perform a limited selection of tasks when she was given a demonstration.

The plane began the stage on Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, travelling 1,044km to reach the East Coast waypoint.  The journey is the 13th leg in a quest that started in Abu Dhabi last year to circumnavigate the globe on zero fuel.  Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard was in the pilot's seat of the 72m-wingspan, electric plane.  The aircraft took off from Dayton International Airport at 04:02 local time (08:02 GMT). It landed in Lehigh Valley at 20:49 local time (00:49 GMT, Thursday).  The achievement positions the project to make its entry into New York in the coming days. The "Big Apple" is set to be the base for Solar Impulse as it waits for a weather window to fly the Atlantic.  Deciding when to cross the ocean will be a tricky decision. The slow-moving, ultra-light plane needs benign winds, and the team concedes that the right conditions may not present themselves for several weeks.Wednesday's flight to Lehigh Valley was postponed for 24 hours for check...

Twitter Iraqi National Congress  same on Tues that user names and media attachments like photos and videos can not count toward the length of a tweet however the 140-character limit can stay.  Twitter same the modification, a part of its efforts to modify its micro-blogging service, can happen within the next few months.  "A few easy changes to create conversations on Twitter easier! And no a lot of removing characters for pictures or videos!" Chief government Jack Dorsey same during a 115-character tweet.  Twitter's stock touched a record low at $13.72 on Tues, whereas capitalist sentiment around Twitter stock plunged on social media, in step with Reuters knowledge.  The length of tweets was originally designed to incorporate a user's name and still match inside the 160-character SMS electronic communication format used for mobile phones.  Additional changes embody the flexibility to retweet and quote-tweet an individual's own posts.  Dorse...

The Chinese firm aforementioned it had been following its South Korean rival in 2 courts - one in Golden State, the opposite in Shenzhen.  According to Huawei, many of its cellular communications and code inventions had been utilized in Samsung's phones while not its permission.  Samsung told it might defend its business interests.  The specific patents concerned haven't been disclosed.  However, Huawei has aforementioned a minimum of a number of them area unit classed as Frand - Associate in Nursing signifier concerning "fair, affordable and non-discriminatory". This means the Chinese company has committed itself to providing anyone a licence see you later as they comply with a non-excessive compensation.  This kind of agreement is common within the school sector because it makes it potential for various companies' merchandise to speak and share information formats with one another.  Huawei's property chief indicated it had been seeking permissi...

Apple opposition, that has resisted pressure from U.S. enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a high knowledgeable in sensible cryptography to bring a lot of powerful safety features to a large vary of shopper merchandise. Jon Callas, WHO co-founded many well-respected secure communications firms as well as PGP corporation, Silent Circle and Black phone, rejoined Apple in could, Associate in Nursing Apple representative same. Callas had worked at Apple within the Nineteen Nineties and once more between 2009 and 2011, once he designed Associate in Nursing cryptography system to shield information keep on a Macintosh laptop. Apple declined to detail his new role, and Callas declined to comment. The Cupertino, California-based company has clashed with the U.S. government over whether or not Apple ought to facilitate enforcement access encrypted client info keep on its devices. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice asked federal judges in Californi...

By driving a sped-up version of natural process within the research lab, the tactic has created new enzymes for industrial catalysts, family detergents, and even to form explosive charge from sugar.  The €1m (£0.8m) prize is awarded biyearly and academician Arnold is that the 1st feminine winner in its 12-year history.  It recognises developments that "change people's lives for the better".  The Technology Academy Republic of Finland, that presents the prize, aforementioned the deliberations began in Nov 2015 however that "there was only 1 outstanding candidate". Prof Arnold, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), spoke to before travel to capital of Finland for Tuesday's ceremony.  She aforementioned the "basic concept" of mistreatment evolution to make higher enzymes emerged from her laboratory quite twenty years agone.  "Evolution, to me, is that the best designer of all time. and that i found out that this could ...

The social network told it had made a mistake and has currently approved the image.  Australian feminist group Cherchez La Femme had expressed fury once Facebook rejected their advert for associate event designed to market body positivism. Originally the social network told them the advert "depicts a body... in an undesirable manner".  While the event page was not taken down, the advert to promote it absolutely was not approved.  "Ads like these are not allowed since they create viewers feel dangerous regarding themselves," read the original response from Facebook's Ads Team, which the organisers shared as screenshots on their page.  It also recommended that associate various image of somebody "running or riding a bike" would be a lot of acceptable. "Our team processes millions of advertising images weekly, so we have a tendency to often create mistakes," said a interpreter.  "To be clear, the image complies with our adver...

The update lets games verify that they were legitimately purchased Associate in Nursingd square measure running on an approved receptor device. It also breaks Associate in Nursing unofficial patch known as Revive that lets Oculus-only games run on rival devices. But Revive's creator found he might disable digital rights management (DRM) in receptor titles utterly to keep the patch operating. That also stops code from corroboratory it has been de jure purchased, paving the way for pirates to copy receptor games."DRM as a means to forestall piracy is quite futile," said Ernesto Van der Sar, founder of news website TorrentFreak. "If there's a demand to use a product or access a service, people can typically realize a means around DRM and alternative technological blockades. "History has shown many examples of however it largely inconveniences legitimate customers." Facebook-owned Oculus has invested with in exclusive code titles to encourage fol...

From building the biggest experiments the world has ever seen to rolling out the latest medical advances on a massive scale and pushing the boundaries of exploration from the deepest ocean to outer space - China’s scientific ambitions are immense.  Just a few decades ago the nation barely featured in the world science rankings. Now, in terms of research spending and the number of scientific papers published, it stands only behind the US. But despite this rapid progress, China faces a number of challenges.  Here are five key science projects that illustrate its enormous strengths, as well as some of its weaknesses, and may help answer the question whether China can become a global leader in research.Nestling in a vast natural crater, China’s giant is about to come alive. A colossal, steeply curved dish glints in the sunlight, surrounded by jagged mountains that cut into the sky. Construction workers, busy putting the finishing touches to this structure, look tiny...

Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Monday it would more than halve its capital base - a move that comes in the wake of a $1.3 billion accounting scandal last year.  It will cut its capital to 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion)from 439.9 billion yen to plug a deficit in its earnings reserves on its balance sheet after posting huge losses, it said. The capital reduction will be subject to shareholders' approval and would be effective July 31, the embattled industrial conglomerate said in a statement.  The company also said that it was correcting its earnings results for the year that ended in March. Its operating loss came to 708.7 billion yen, compared with the 719.1 billion yen loss announced earlier this month. It will hold a briefing from 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) to explain the corrections.

An experimental airplane powered solely by energy from the sun landed in Ohio on Saturday night on the latest leg of its historic bid by pilots and developers to fly around the globe without a drop of fuel.  The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 aircraft arrived in Dayton shortly before 10 p.m. local time, some 17 hours after leaving Phoenix Goodyear Airport, the project team said on its official Twitter page.  "People told the Wright Brothers & us what we wanted to achieve was impossible," said Bertrand Piccard after landing. "They were wrong!"  The locale was of special significance to the pilots, as the home base to aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright.  Amanda Wright Lane, a descendant of the brothers, neither of whom ever married, was on hand to welcome the flight. With a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 but an ultra-light carbon-fiber skin and overall weight of a car, the Solar Impulse cruises at speeds ranging from only 34 to 62 miles p...

An experimental airplane powered solely by energy from the sun landed in Ohio on Saturday night on the latest leg of its historic bid by pilots and developers to fly around the globe without a drop of fuel.  The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 aircraft arrived in Dayton shortly before 10 p.m. local time, some 17 hours after leaving Phoenix Goodyear Airport, the project team said on its official Twitter page.  "People told the Wright Brothers & us what we wanted to achieve was impossible," said Bertrand Piccard after landing. "They were wrong!" The locale was of special significance to the pilots, as the home base to aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright.  Amanda Wright Lane, a descendant of the brothers, neither of whom ever married, was on hand to welcome the flight.  With a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 but an ultra-light carbon-fiber skin and overall weight of a car, the Solar Impulse cruises at speeds ranging from only 34 to 62 miles...

Nokia is cutting 1,032 jobs in Finland as part of a cost-cutting program following its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, the telecom network equipment maker said in a statement on Friday. Finland's biggest company has cut thousands of jobs in its home country over the past decade as its once-dominant phone business was eclipsed by the rise of smartphone rivals. Nokia started the latest cost cutting program in April and is targeting 900 million euros ($1 billion) of operating cost synergies from the Alcatel deal by 2018.  The company has declined to give an overall figure for global job cuts, but has said it in talks with employee representatives in about 30 countries. Nokia employs about 104,000 people worldwide, with about 6,850 in Finland, 4,800 in Germany and 4,200 in France.