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Submission + - China 'Flies First Stealth Drone', Japan Steps Up Defence (bbc.co.uk) 3

arisvega writes: The BBC reports that 'China successfully flew a stealth drone for the first time on Thursday, state media said, citing eyewitness reports. A drone, called "Sharp Sword" by the media, made a test flight for around 20 minutes in Chengdu, reports said. China has been developing stealth aircraft in recent years, including J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters. Following that incident, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace.'

'In September', the BBC continues, 'an unmanned drone flew close to a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, raising tensions with Japan. China's defence ministry said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute "an act of war".'

Point is, will UAV skirmishes eventually become an intermediate --and alternative-- level of conflict, perhaps a step above cold tensions and diplomatic sanctions (since UAVs can be very well armed indeed) but surely still below a full-blown war? And would The People's Republic of China actually go to war over a dead drone?

Submission + - First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: Cats have been part of human society for nearly 10,000 years, but they weren’t always string-chasers and lap-sitters. Ancient felines hunted crop-destroying rats and mice for early farmers, and in return we provided food and protection. At least that’s what scientists have long speculated. Now, they can back it up. Cat bones unearthed in a 5000-year-old Chinese farming village indicate that the animals consumed rodents and that some may have been cared for by humans. The findings provide the earliest hard evidence of this mutually beneficial relationship between man and cat.

Comment Re:Do they turn up in the downloads? (Score 3, Informative) 163

Facebook has an option to download all your data. Do these texts turn up in these downloads as well?

You know they don't. Who you search for, your browsing habits and clicks, none of that turns up either.

I do not know what purpose this 'download all your data' option serves, but it is certainly not there to give you the option to actually download all data facebook has on you: it is something ridiculous like your name, your birthday and a couple of other useless stuff. It does not even include the messages you have sent and received.

Comment Re:Upper limit on planets? Lower limit on stars (Score 1) 129

Wikipedia says that at 13 times the size of juptiter you get something that can ignite and you get a brown dwarf.. How that is calculated is beyond me..

From hydrostatics: the more mass you build up, the higher the pressure --and the temperature-- becomes in the core, and then you reach a point where the temperature is high enough to start fusing stuff up (as per definition of 'a star'). This, for hydrogen, happens at some mass limit or other which is at around a few Jupiter masses.

It is a back-of-the-envelope calculation really, though there are a few other, more sophisticated models, around.

Submission + - Row over US mobile phone 'cockroach backpack' app (bbc.co.uk)

arisvega writes: A US company that has developed an "electronic backpack" that fits onto a cockroach allowing its movements to be controlled by a mobile phone app has defended itself against cruelty claims.

For the "electronic backpack" to work the cockroaches have to be placed in icy water to subdue them before sandpaper is used to remove the waxy coating on the shell of the insect's head.

An electrode connector and electrodes are then glued on to the insect's body and a needle is used to poke a hole in their thorax in order to insert a wire. Their antennae are then cut and electrodes are inserted. A circuit is attached to their backs, and signals are received through a mobile phone app allowing users to control the cockroaches' movements to the left and to the right.

The Roboroach weighs 4.5g and is compatible with most mobile phones. It overrides the insect's antennae making it turn left and right at the flick of a switch.

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