TECHNO LA LA

As euphoria over the Paris climate deal erupted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the world leaders in congratulating French President Francois Hollande for the successful Paris summit that went past midnight to conclude in a 14-day high drama in Le Bourget, a Paris suburb. Sources said the PM called Hollande just before the Paris agreement was to be presented in the conference of parties for adoption and expressed India’s support for the universal and binding agreement achieved a month after the terror attacks hit Paris.

Samsung has been patenting some interesting technology – from foldable phones to a modular camera for phones. The patents also detail a phone with a dual-xenon flash (!). The modular design shows several options – a regular looking camera, one with a camera bump that looks like it houses optical zoom and one with an exchangeable lens. The host phone is drawn in a couple of different shapes, suggesting the idea is to have a line of such devices that can pick and choose their camera.Then there's this thing... it's thin like a phone, but has a big camera module and a thicker, a camera-like grip on one end, plus a hardware shutter key and a dial with another button.Now, patents are no guarantee that such a device will ever see the light of day, but they do give an insight into what Samsung's R&D department is working on.

Five years after an engine misfire, the Akatsuki spacecraft (illustrated) just got a second chance at orbiting the planet Venus.After missing a turn off the interplanetary expressway, a spacecraft has now finished taking the scenic route to Venus. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency Akatsuki probe successfully went into orbit around Earth’s sister planet at 8:51 a.m. December 7 Japan Standard Time — only five years after its first attempt. Akatsuki has been looping around the sun since 2010, after an engine misfire prevented the spacecraft from slowing down enough to be captured by Venus’ gravity. The probe’s new

A single introduction of the Ebola virus led to most cases of the deadly disease in Liberia, a new genetic study suggests. Researchers examined 165 Ebola genomes, most collected during the second wave of infection that started in late May 2014 in the West African country. The analysis, reported online December 9 in Cell Host & Microbe, adds missing information about how the virus spread  in Liberia. Previously, researchers had genetically tracked Ebola in Sierra Leone ( SN: 3/7/15, p. 12 ; SN: 9/20/14, p. 7 ) and Guinea.

The Facebook CEO shared a short post on Facebook Wednesday, saying he would fight to protect the rights of Muslim users on the site and create a safe environment for them."As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities. Even if an attack isn't against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone," said Zuckerberg in a post that went up Wednesday afternoon. He did not mention Donald Trump by name, but was likely inspired by the presidential candidate's recent declaration that he would ban Muslims from coming to the United States.

The Donald met Uncle Sam, the meaningfully named 27-year-old bird, during a photo shoot for Time magazine's upcoming "Person of the Year" issue. Trump made the shortlist for the magazine's distinction, with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel taking the top honor and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick as runner up. The bird   appeared to take an instant dislike   to the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

As bizarre as it might sound, recreating blood vessels is nothing new. The real challenge has been using 3D printers to build ones that actually work. No really - it's been something of a mental block for scientists for a while, but a new technique that fuses traditional printing methods with a substance called 'bio ink' has enabled a new team to create vessels that act just like the real thing. The human cardiovascular system is hardly the easiest part of human biology to replicate - a system comprising of tens of thousands of miles of capillaries, arteries and veins that reach across the whole of the body. So in order to mimic the natural distribution of blood

The new gray box from one of the world's best-known printer companies doesn't look very exciting. But it might fundamentally change how your office operates. Epson last week  announced  the PaperLab, a prototype device which could bring little recycling factories to businesses around the world. This machine can supposedly produce 14 sheets of paper per minute from old material. Epson even claims the PaperLab doesn't need water to produce each clean page, which would be a huge departure from the way paper is currently made. "Ordinarily it takes about a cup of water to make a single A4 sheet of paper. Given that water is a precious global resource, Epson felt a dry process was needed," a press release said.

For a team of researchers based at the Eind hoven University of Technology, those battery-related worries are a thing of the past thanks to a miniature sensor that runs off the power of its own radio waves. And since it doesn't need a traditional power source component, it doesn't need wiring either so said sensor can be absolutely tiny (2 square millimetres to be precise). The sensor uses the wireless signal bounced back by a nearby wireless router to power itself up, but there is a snag - since it relies on radio waves the sensor must be 2.5 metres away. While this will make its commercial use a little less practical, the researchers behind the

There’s only so much brainpower to go around, and when the eyes hog it all, the ears suffer. When challenged with a tough visual task, people are less likely to perceive a tone , scientists report in the Dec. 9 Journal of Neuroscience . The results help explain what parents of screen-obsessed teenagers already know. For the study, people heard a tone while searching for a letter on a computer screen. When the letter was easy to find, participants were pretty good at identifying a tone. But when the search got harder, people were less likely to report hearing the sound, a phenomenon called inattentional deafness.

Thanks to a new camera that can see around corners. The device, reported December 7 in Nature Photonics, tracks obscured objects in real time by detecting light echoes, similar to the way bats use sound to find prey. Daniele Faccio, a physicist at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and colleagues evaluated their camera’s ability to spot Terry, a 30-centimeter-tall foam figurine hidden from view by a wall. The researchers fired a small laser at the floor just beyond the edge of the wall and pointed the camera at a neighboring spot. Laser light bounced off the floor and scattered in all directions. The camera spotted light rebounding off the foam person. While the images didn’t have enough resolution to make out the object’s shape, the researchers could precisely determine its changing position as it moved along a track. For now, the camera can detect only small objects located about a meter away. But Faccio’s team is working to track human-sized figures hiding meters from the c

An image of a portrait underneath the Mona Lisa has been found beneath the existing painting using reflective light technology, according to a French scientist. he claims the earlier portrait lies hidden underneath the surface of Leonardo's most celebrated artwork.  A reconstruction shows another image of a sitter looking off to the side. The Louvre Museum has declined to comment on his claims because it "was not part of the scientific team". Instead of the famous, direct gaze of the painting which hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the image of the sitter also shows no trace of her enigmatic smile, which has intrigued art lovers for more than 500 years.

A team at China's Nankai University have developed a prototype of a car controlled by a driver's brain signals. The team is working on technology that uses brain signals to command a car to stop, move forward, backwards, lock and unlock, according to the publication.  Zhang Zhao, one of the project's researchers, explained that headgear comprised of 16 electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors, which detect brain activity, is worn by the driver. A computer is then able to analyse and decipher brain signals and translate

Former Olympian Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail days after South Africa's supreme court  convicted him of murdering his girlfriend, Pistorius, who was at the hearing Tuesday, was granted conditional bail until he has to return to court in the New Year. He will remain in his uncle's home in Pretoria where he has been under house arrest and will only be able to leave between 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. and travel within a radius of 20 kilometers. The athlete, who has served one year of his original five-year sentence for culpable

Just hours after proposing a total  ban on Muslims  entering the U.S. on Monday, Donald Trump shared some ideas on how to solve the problem of the Islamic State (ISIS) recruiting young Americans online, and it involves — partially, at least — "closing up" that Internet thing. Worry not, however: While Trump has an idea on how to solve the Internet problem, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has an idea on how to solve the Trump problem. Bezos, who was publicly attacked by Donald Trump yesterday, claiming on Twitter that Bezos keeps the   Washington Post   for purposes of keeping his Amazon taxes down, has answered by offering Trump a trip into space.

A team of researchers used an imaging system known as a Cymascope the system, developed by John Stuart Reid (who also assisted with the project), made it possible to record and isolate dolphin echolocation sounds directed onto specific objects, and then create 2D images from those sounds. A computer then converted those images into 3D, which allowed the researchers to 3D-print robust, real-world models.   “We’ve been working on dolphin communication for more than a decade.When we discovered that dolphins not exposed to the echolocation experiment could identify objects from recorded dolphin sounds with 92% accuracy, we began to look for a way for to see what was in those sounds.”

A video has circulating on social media showing a Cobra trying to protect itself from rain by taking shelter inside the wheel compartment of a parked aircraft. As Chennai City in  India  limps back to normalcy after hit by a flood, a video has emerged showing Cobra trying to protect itself from rain by taking shelter inside the wheel compartment of a parked aircraft at the city airport. Cobra takes refuge from rain in aircraft wheel at Chennai airport. Rescued & reportedly released safely. :) The video shows some airport officials rescuing the snake and releasing it to safety away from the aircraft parked at the Chennai airport. Operations at

Smartwatches already collect data about your heart rate, how much exercise you do and your stress levels, but in the future they could take this a considerable step further. Google has filed a patent for a 'needle-free blood draw' system that could be built into a wearable attached to someone's wrist, or a hand-held device. The filing describes a machine that sends a pulse of gas into a barrel containing a 'micro-particle' capable of puncturing the skin and drawing a small drop of blood.The new wearable from Google could help diabetics easily monitor their blood glucose levels and come with a range of other health-centric features. The Mountain View-based company has filed a patent for a wearable that allows it to take samples of your blood without the use of needles.

Welcome to The Destruction Company - where wealthy youngsters pay big bucks to use weapons and tools to destroy objects such as computers and pianos. The members-only club offers its rich clients the unique chance to smash anything they desire with any weapons they choose. Members can pick from a list of objects to smash - including furniture, televisions, guitars, fax machines, motorcycles, lap tops and pottery. Bad day at work? Why not go smash a giant vase in Hoboken? The Destruction Company allows clients to smash anything they want with any weapon they want - for a price But the credit-crunch defying members can also request a particular item they want to destroy - including cars and pianos - which they pay to have brought in.

National Institute of Bio medical Imaging and Bio engineering   researchers engineered fruit flies that carry light-sensitive proteins in their hearts. When hit by a blue laser, the proteins open channels that cause a flow of ions or charged particles that cause the heart to beat. In this case, researchers funded by the National Institute of Bio-medical Imaging and Bio Engineering created fruit flies that carry light-sensitive proteins in their hearts. When hit by a blue laser, the proteins open channels that cause a flow of ions or charged particles that cause the heart to beat.

According to the tech sources, Samsung Galaxy S7’s highlight, apart from its features, would also be its pricing. China-based analyst Pan Jiutang said that Samsung will also play with pricing for its Galaxy S7 flagship. It will be Expected to be announced in a few months, Samsung is expected to price its flagship smartphone for the coming year about 10 percent lower than the launch price of its predecessor the Galaxy S6.  According to a report from the  Times of India , China-based analyst Pan Jiutang states that Samsung will also play with pricing for its Galaxy S7 flagship. Expected to be announced in a few months, Samsung is expected to price its flagship smartphone for the coming year about 10 percent lower than the launch price of its predecessor the Galaxy S6.

Thin Ice weight-loss technology is integrated seamlessly into the clothing you where where helps produce weight-loss throughout the day. It does this by stimulating strategic parts of your body with cold temperatures. But don’t worry, this stimulation is so mild you won’t even notice after a few seconds of adapting. Think about a time when you’ve jumped into a pool and gotten a jolt of cold that almost instantly disappears. The same process is at play here. Your body detects these temperature changes with thermoreceptors which trick your body into thinking you’re are in a cold environment. Your body responds by creating heat in the core an sending warm blood around the body to cool down the chilled areas.

Streets of the Wynwood art district.Artist Eduardo Kobra, well known in the street art scene for his massive, colorful murals, turned Yoda from  Star Wars  into an activist for peace, holding a stop sign written with the movie's iconic font. "Stop Wars," the sign reads.Although Kobra's Instagram and Facebook post both attracted a fair amount of attention, the picture was also submitted to Reddit on Saturday morning, where it quickly hit the site's frontpage and brought in over 1 million views on Imgur in just 4 hours.The piece comes at a