36968323
submission
eldavojohn writes:
Seven billion light years away seven billion years ago, a gamma-ray burst occurred. The observation of four Fermi-detected gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has led physicists to speculate that space-time is indeed smooth (a prepublication PDF can be found here). Three such photons were observed to arrive very close together and the observers believe that these are from the same burst which means that there was nothing diffracting their paths from the gamma-ray burst to Earth. This observation doesn't prove that space-time is infinitesimally smooth like Einstein predicted but does give a nod that it is for a range of parameters. Before we can totally discount the theory that space-time is comprised of Planck-scale pixels, we must now establish that the proposed pixels don't disrupt the photons in ways independent of their wavelengths. For example, this observation did not disprove the possibility that the pixels exert a subtler "quadratic" influence over the photons nor could it determine the presence of birefringence — an effect that depends on the polarization of the light particles.
36964699
submission
Full_Privacy writes:
"A 'right to be forgotten' will help people better manage data-protection risks online. When they no longer want their data to be processed and there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it, the data will be deleted." Anyone in the EU will be able to ask any service provider or company for complete details of the data they hold about them, and request the complete erasure of the information, except the one that companies need to keep required by law.
Facebook has already received hundreds of requests from users that want to erase all data in the service
36963627
submission
ananyo writes:
Tens of thousands of years ago modern humans crossed paths with the group of hominins known as the Neandertals. Researchers now think they also met another, less-known group called the Denisovans. The only trace that we have found, however, is a single finger bone and two teeth, but those fragments have been enough to cradle wisps of Denisovan DNA across thousands of years inside a Siberian cave. Now a team of scientists has been able to reconstruct their entire genome from these meager fragments. The analysis supports the idea that Neandertals and Denisovans were more closely related to one another than either was to modern humans and also suggests new ways that early humans may have spread across the globe.
36962807
submission
sciencehabit writes:
Before you down that pint, check the shape of your glass—you might be drinking more beer than you realize. According to a new study of British beer drinkers, an optical illusion caused by the shape of a curved glass can dramatically increase the speed at which we swill. The researchers recruited 160 Brits, and asked them to watch a nature documentary while they drank beer from straight or curved glasses. The group drinking a full glass of lager out of curved flute glasses drank significantly faster than the other group--possibly because the curved glasses impaired their ability to pace themselves while drinking.
36958353
submission
hypnosec writes:
A hacker, going by the name ‘0x00x00’, has posted credentials of what seems to be login credentials of police officers from two constabularies in the UK — Hertfordshire and Nottinghamshire. The hacker posted the information on Pastebin yesterday and the top of the post contains the banner 'OpFreeAssange'. The hacker however has stressed that he/she is not a member of the notorious hacktivist group Anonymous. There are a total of 5 posts that start with the name #OpFreeAssange.
36953555
submission
Diggester writes:
Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It's a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there's a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome: human testing.
36916549
submission
damitr writes:
Citing that some of the blogs spread hatred and violence, some of the ISPs in India on directions from the Government have made a blanket ban on all wordpress blogs.
