Get cirrus in the fight against climate change

FEATHERY cirrus clouds are beautiful, but when it comes to climate change, they are the enemy. Found at high-altitude and made of small ice crystals, they trap heat - so more cirrus means a warmer world. Now it seems that, by destroying cirrus, we could reverse all the warming Earth has experienced so far. ...

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Sailing: Olympic sailing champion visits Singapore

SINGAPORE: Xu Lijia, the 25 year old who became the first Chinese to win a gold medal in the dinghy class after finishing first in the laser radial class at the 2012 London Olympics, is in town.The Chinese athlete shared her experiences with local sailors at a talk, which attracted 500 participants. The talk also saw the launch of the Character Development Through Sailing programme.The...

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In Swartz protest, Anon hacks U.S. site, threatens leaks

In response to the death of tech activist Aaron Swartz, hacktivist collective Anonymous hacked a U.S. government Web site related to the justice system and posted a screed saying it would begin leaking a cache of government documents if the justice system is not reformed.The group hacked the Web site for the United States Sentencing Commission late Friday, posting a message about what it's calling...

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty ImagesIf you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders. Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns...

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Newtown Families March for Gun Control in DC

Jan 26, 2013 4:59pm (YURI GRIPAS/AFP/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, D.C. — Near-freezing temperatures didn’t stop several thousand gun-control activists from bearing their pickets today, carrying signs emblazoned with “Ban Assault Weapons Now” and the names of gun violence victims in a demonstration organized as a response to the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. last month.Walking...

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Today on New Scientist: 25 January 2013

Hagfish gulped up in first video of deep-sea seal hunt Watch the first sighting of a seal's underwater eating habits spotted by a teenager watching a live video feedWorld's oldest portrait reveals the ice-age mind A 26,000-year-old carved ivory head of a woman is not just an archaeological find - a new exhibition in London wants us to see works like this as artDung beetles navigate using the...

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Apple loses world's most valuable company crown

NEW YORK: Apple shares extended their losses Friday, ending a miserable week for the California tech giant as it surrendered its position as the world's biggest company based on market value.Apple ended down 2.36 per cent at US$439.88, giving it a market capitalisation of $413 billion -- while oil giant ExxonMobil rose 0.36 per cent to US$91.68 with a market cap of US$418 billion, to edge...

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How to use the Font panel in OS X

Many programs, such as Microsoft Office, support their own interfaces for various fonts you may have installed on your Mac; however, many other programs like TextEdit and Apple's Pages use Apple's central Font panel to provide font management. This panel can usually be invoked by pressing Command-T in programs that support it, where you will be presented with a column-oriented view of font collections...

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Pictures: Inside the Lives of Albinos in Tanzania

Photograph by Jacquelyn Martin, APBeing an albino can be a death sentence in Tanzania. Since 2006, 71 people with no pigment in their skin, hair, or eyes have been killed there. Another 29 have been attacked.The genetic condition is believed to have been born in this East African nation. Today, 1 in every 1,400 Tanzanians has it (the world average is 1 in 20,000). Nevertheless, misinformation...

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Apple Drops Manufacturer Using Underage Workers

Apple has stopped doing business with a Chinese manufacturer after a report said it had employed 74 underage workers. According to Apple's Supplier Responsibility Report, which was released by the company Thursday, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics was employing workers under the age of 16."Our auditors were dismayed to discover 74 cases of workers under age 16 — a core...

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Shrinking proton puzzle persists in new measurement

A puzzle at the heart of the atom refuses to go away. The most precise measurement yet of the proton's radius confirms that it sometimes seems smaller than the laws of physics demand – an issue that has been hotly debated for two years. The latest finding...

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Cooling-off Day for Punggol East by-election

SINGPORE: Friday is Cooling-off Day for the Punggol East by-election, which has seen nine days of vigorous campaigning by the four candidates contending in the polls.The Elections Department has reminded political parties and candidates that Friday has been set aside for voters to reflect rationally on various issues raised during the campaigning before they go to the polls on Saturday.The...

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View some early Vine blockbusters: 6 seconds of pleasure

CNET test cat Dashiell poses for a Vine video.(Credit:Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET)Six seconds isn't a lot of time to work with. That's the length of video Twitter's new Vine service dishes out. The looping videos can be embedded in tweets and have already been described as "Instagram for video." It's out as of today as an app for iOS, with other platforms in the works.The short time limit isn't...

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Feinstein Proposes Assault Weapons Ban

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP PhotoWith an AR-15 and nine other guns on her left, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill today that would ban assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips.The bill comes nearly 20 years after the first assault weapons ban was signed into law.“I remain horrified by the massacre committed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and I’m also...

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Snaps from space: Bleak landscapes become abstract art

18:27 23 January 2013Yesterday, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield dropped a puck from space for his favourite hockey team's opening game. In the meantime, he's been busy tweeting his latest photos of astounding landscapes from the International Space Station. Here are a few of our favourites. Sandrine Ceurstemont Image 1 of 6 The Australian outback looks like an abstract painting in this...

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Football: Giroud fires five-star Arsenal in Hammers rout

LONDON: Olivier Giroud helped Arsenal silence their critics as the France striker's double inspired a much-needed 5-1 victory over West Ham on Wednesday.Arsene Wenger's side had been subjected to scathing criticism from fans and pundits after successive defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea seriously damaged their bid to finish in the Premier League's top four.Wenger was reported...

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Apple: Some Maps fixes out already, more this year

Apple offered some minor details on improvements it has made, and still has in the pipeline for its mobile maps software."We've made a number of improvements to Maps," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Wall Street analysts during the company's first quarter earnings call this afternoon. Some of those include improved satellite and flyover imagery as well as local information for businesses, he said.Cook said...

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10 Ways Obama Could Fight Climate Change

One of the biggest surprises of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Monday was how much he focused on fighting climate change, spending more time on that issue than any other."We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," Obama said.The President pointed out that recent severe weather supplied...

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Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift a longstanding ban on women serving in combat, according to senior defense officials.The services have until this May to come up with a plan to implement the change, according to a Defense Department official.That means the changes could come into effect as early as May. The services will have until January 2016 to complete the implementation...

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MIT website hacked in tribute to Aaron Swartz

Hal Hodson, technology reporterA tribute to internet activist Aaron Swartz replaced the homepage for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today, in an apparent act of protest over the university's role in the legal case that led up to Swartz's suicide on 11 Jan.For a short time, visitors to the MIT.edu home page found a message that read: "R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. Hacked by grand wizard of Lulzsec,...

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Justin Bieber overtakes Lady Gaga in Twitter follower race

  By mid-day, the Biebs had 33,342,299 followers, against 33,333,682 for the Mother Monster, followed by Katy Perry, Rihanna and, a day after his public second-term inauguration, President Barack Obama with 26,183,711 followers.Last week Twitter Counter had forecasted that, according to its algorithms, Bieber would clinch first place last Sunday.Bieber and Lady Gaga -- who had led...

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Foil face-recognition cameras with Privacy Visor

Worried about all those security cameras tracking your every move? Try rocking one of these visors and enjoy anonymity once again. At least that's what Isao Echizen from Japan's National Institute of Informatics is trying to achieve with the Privacy Visor (PDF). Developed with Seiichi Gohshi of Kogakuin University, the visor has a near-infrared light source that messes up cameras but doesn't affect...

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Space Pictures This Week: Solar Tantrum, Petroglyphs at Night

Photograph by Tony Rowell, Your ShotThis image of Native American petroglyphs, or rock art, shot against the Milky Way, was taken in California's eastern Sierra Nevada on January 14.Petroglyphs—one of many forms of rock art—are created by scraping, rubbing, or chiseling designs into the patina coating desert rocks. Depending on the conditions surrounding a piece of rock art, these designs can endure...

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Left Turn? Obama Speech Invigorates Progressives

A presidential campaign that was largely about jobs and the economy gave way during Monday's inaugural ceremonies to a sweeping affirmation of progressivism and call for "collective action." Now, liberal allies of President Obama say they're closely watching to see whether the second-term president follows through on issues with which he has struggled before.Obama's groundbreaking...

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Football: Platini disagrees with Blatter over Boateng

PARIS: UEFA president Michel Platini differed with his FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter on Monday in applauding Kevin-Prince Boateng leading his AC Milan team-mates off the pitch after receiving a torrent of racial abuse in a friendly earlier this month.Blatter had said players should not take matters into their own hands although he has since said that clubs whose fans are guilty of racial...

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Sony paints super slim PS3 in red and blue

The blue super slim PlayStation 3 breaks away from the anemic world of black electronics.(Credit:Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)The world isn't black and white anymore for the super slim PS3.Sony's Japanese PlayStation division released information today about several new color options -- Azurite Blue and Garnet Red -- coming soon to the CECH-4000 series PlayStation 3. The reveal follows a German...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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Live Updates: Obamas Watch Inaugural Parade

Four years and one day after President Obama first took his first oath of office, America is once again celebrating his Inauguration. This time the schedule includes performances by Beyonce and Katy Perry, a parade with more than 2,000 members of the military and two Inaugural balls.Refresh here for updates throughout the day.Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page on Monday morning starting at...

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