LONDON: Too drunk to drive? Your watch can tell.
Engineers have developed a new watch, with a built-in breathalyser, that warns you when you're too drunk to drive.
The Kisai Intoxicated's sensor reads the alcohol level in your breath and judges if you're too tipsy to climb behind the wheel. Users have to simply blow into the side of the watch after boozing and the screen turns red if they're over the limit.
LONDON: Mars had an oxygenrich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago a new Oxford study has found. Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago â€" well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2,500 million years ago.
Scientists investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's "Spirit" rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than meteorites was puzzling. "What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen rich environment," said Prof Bernard Wood of department of earth sciences.
However, analysts said the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) would likely keep a tight grip on credit owing to worries over too much bad debt.
The seven-day repurchase rate -- a benchmark for interbank borrowing costs -- fell to 8.33 percent from Thursday's close of 11.62 percent, amid rumours the PBoC had pressured lenders to release funds.
The rate has spiked at record highs in the past two weeks as the central bank refrained from injecting more liquidity despite a slowdown in the economy.
The soaring cost of borrowing has led to a credit crunch, which has sending stocks tumbling and means banks are unable to lend.
However, Chinese media reports said Friday that the central bank had injected 40 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) into several banks to relieve the cash crisis.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, said China's monetary policy stance had not changed despite talk of the liquidity injection.
"Recent action by the PBoC reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," he said. "The monetary policy stance will remain tight."
The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, denied a media report it was unable to complete transactions due to a fund shortage, the official Xinhua news agency said late Thursday.
Recent weakness reflected in economic statistics had prompted some analysts to suggest the PBoC would ease monetary policy by lowering the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve but officials have so far not moved.
"The (PBoC) is worried by the unsustainable growth rate of credit and is sending a message that market participants should not take for granted that they will always have access to cheap interbank loans," Capital Economics said in a research report this week.
Chinese banks had already scaled back lending in May from April, official figures showed, prompting analysts to warn of threats to economic growth.
The economy, the world's second largest and a crucial driver of global growth, expanded 7.8 percent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years.
LONDON: Too drunk to drive? Your watch can tell.
Engineers have developed a new watch, with a built-in breathalyser, that warns you when you're too drunk to drive.
The Kisai Intoxicated's sensor reads the alcohol level in your breath and judges if you're too tipsy to climb behind the wheel. Users have to simply blow into the side of the watch after boozing and the screen turns red if they're over the limit.
LONDON: Mars had an oxygenrich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago a new Oxford study has found. Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago â€" well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2,500 million years ago.
Scientists investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's "Spirit" rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than meteorites was puzzling. "What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen rich environment," said Prof Bernard Wood of department of earth sciences.
However, analysts said the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) would likely keep a tight grip on credit owing to worries over too much bad debt.
The seven-day repurchase rate -- a benchmark for interbank borrowing costs -- fell to 8.33 percent from Thursday's close of 11.62 percent, amid rumours the PBoC had pressured lenders to release funds.
The rate has spiked at record highs in the past two weeks as the central bank refrained from injecting more liquidity despite a slowdown in the economy.
The soaring cost of borrowing has led to a credit crunch, which has sending stocks tumbling and means banks are unable to lend.
However, Chinese media reports said Friday that the central bank had injected 40 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) into several banks to relieve the cash crisis.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, said China's monetary policy stance had not changed despite talk of the liquidity injection.
"Recent action by the PBoC reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," he said. "The monetary policy stance will remain tight."
The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, denied a media report it was unable to complete transactions due to a fund shortage, the official Xinhua news agency said late Thursday.
Recent weakness reflected in economic statistics had prompted some analysts to suggest the PBoC would ease monetary policy by lowering the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve but officials have so far not moved.
"The (PBoC) is worried by the unsustainable growth rate of credit and is sending a message that market participants should not take for granted that they will always have access to cheap interbank loans," Capital Economics said in a research report this week.
Chinese banks had already scaled back lending in May from April, official figures showed, prompting analysts to warn of threats to economic growth.
The economy, the world's second largest and a crucial driver of global growth, expanded 7.8 percent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years.
LONDON: Too drunk to drive? Your watch can tell.
Engineers have developed a new watch, with a built-in breathalyser, that warns you when you're too drunk to drive.
The Kisai Intoxicated's sensor reads the alcohol level in your breath and judges if you're too tipsy to climb behind the wheel. Users have to simply blow into the side of the watch after boozing and the screen turns red if they're over the limit.
LONDON: Mars had an oxygenrich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago a new Oxford study has found. Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago â€" well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2,500 million years ago.
Scientists investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's "Spirit" rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than meteorites was puzzling. "What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen rich environment," said Prof Bernard Wood of department of earth sciences.
However, analysts said the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) would likely keep a tight grip on credit owing to worries over too much bad debt.
The seven-day repurchase rate -- a benchmark for interbank borrowing costs -- fell to 8.33 percent from Thursday's close of 11.62 percent, amid rumours the PBoC had pressured lenders to release funds.
The rate has spiked at record highs in the past two weeks as the central bank refrained from injecting more liquidity despite a slowdown in the economy.
The soaring cost of borrowing has led to a credit crunch, which has sending stocks tumbling and means banks are unable to lend.
However, Chinese media reports said Friday that the central bank had injected 40 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) into several banks to relieve the cash crisis.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, said China's monetary policy stance had not changed despite talk of the liquidity injection.
"Recent action by the PBoC reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," he said. "The monetary policy stance will remain tight."
The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, denied a media report it was unable to complete transactions due to a fund shortage, the official Xinhua news agency said late Thursday.
Recent weakness reflected in economic statistics had prompted some analysts to suggest the PBoC would ease monetary policy by lowering the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve but officials have so far not moved.
"The (PBoC) is worried by the unsustainable growth rate of credit and is sending a message that market participants should not take for granted that they will always have access to cheap interbank loans," Capital Economics said in a research report this week.
Chinese banks had already scaled back lending in May from April, official figures showed, prompting analysts to warn of threats to economic growth.
The economy, the world's second largest and a crucial driver of global growth, expanded 7.8 percent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years.
LONDON: Too drunk to drive? Your watch can tell.
Engineers have developed a new watch, with a built-in breathalyser, that warns you when you're too drunk to drive.
The Kisai Intoxicated's sensor reads the alcohol level in your breath and judges if you're too tipsy to climb behind the wheel. Users have to simply blow into the side of the watch after boozing and the screen turns red if they're over the limit.
LONDON: Mars had an oxygenrich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago a new Oxford study has found. Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago â€" well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2,500 million years ago.
Scientists investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's "Spirit" rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than meteorites was puzzling. "What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen rich environment," said Prof Bernard Wood of department of earth sciences.
However, analysts said the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) would likely keep a tight grip on credit owing to worries over too much bad debt.
The seven-day repurchase rate -- a benchmark for interbank borrowing costs -- fell to 8.33 percent from Thursday's close of 11.62 percent, amid rumours the PBoC had pressured lenders to release funds.
The rate has spiked at record highs in the past two weeks as the central bank refrained from injecting more liquidity despite a slowdown in the economy.
The soaring cost of borrowing has led to a credit crunch, which has sending stocks tumbling and means banks are unable to lend.
However, Chinese media reports said Friday that the central bank had injected 40 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) into several banks to relieve the cash crisis.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, said China's monetary policy stance had not changed despite talk of the liquidity injection.
"Recent action by the PBoC reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," he said. "The monetary policy stance will remain tight."
The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, denied a media report it was unable to complete transactions due to a fund shortage, the official Xinhua news agency said late Thursday.
Recent weakness reflected in economic statistics had prompted some analysts to suggest the PBoC would ease monetary policy by lowering the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve but officials have so far not moved.
"The (PBoC) is worried by the unsustainable growth rate of credit and is sending a message that market participants should not take for granted that they will always have access to cheap interbank loans," Capital Economics said in a research report this week.
Chinese banks had already scaled back lending in May from April, official figures showed, prompting analysts to warn of threats to economic growth.
The economy, the world's second largest and a crucial driver of global growth, expanded 7.8 percent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years.
Engineers have developed a new watch, with a built-in breathalyser, that warns you when you're too drunk to drive.
The Kisai Intoxicated's sensor reads the alcohol level in your breath and judges if you're too tipsy to climb behind the wheel. Users have to simply blow into the side of the watch after boozing and the screen turns red if they're over the limit.
"The display on the right of the screen shows 10 different levels of blood alcohol content. A green display showing 0.00% means you're sober. A yellow display showing between 0.41% and 0.60% means you're buzzing. A red display showing 0.61% or above means you're drunk," according to TokyoFlash, the Japanese makers of the watch. The gadget will cost £65.
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However, analysts said the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) would likely keep a tight grip on credit owing to worries over too much bad debt.
The seven-day repurchase rate -- a benchmark for interbank borrowing costs -- fell to 8.33 percent from Thursday's close of 11.62 percent, amid rumours the PBoC had pressured lenders to release funds.
The rate has spiked at record highs in the past two weeks as the central bank refrained from injecting more liquidity despite a slowdown in the economy.
The soaring cost of borrowing has led to a credit crunch, which has sending stocks tumbling and means banks are unable to lend.
However, Chinese media reports said Friday that the central bank had injected 40 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) into several banks to relieve the cash crisis.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, said China's monetary policy stance had not changed despite talk of the liquidity injection.
"Recent action by the PBoC reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," he said. "The monetary policy stance will remain tight."
The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, denied a media report it was unable to complete transactions due to a fund shortage, the official Xinhua news agency said late Thursday.
Recent weakness reflected in economic statistics had prompted some analysts to suggest the PBoC would ease monetary policy by lowering the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve but officials have so far not moved.
"The (PBoC) is worried by the unsustainable growth rate of credit and is sending a message that market participants should not take for granted that they will always have access to cheap interbank loans," Capital Economics said in a research report this week.
Chinese banks had already scaled back lending in May from April, official figures showed, prompting analysts to warn of threats to economic growth.
The economy, the world's second largest and a crucial driver of global growth, expanded 7.8 percent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years.
The car which cruises at a 177 kph has foldable wings to keep it a street-worthy size is now on sale for $38,340.
The 21-feet Aerocar is a two-place aircraft with side-by-side seating, four wheels, 30-feet wingspan and a single Lycoming 0-320 engine mounted over the rear wheels. The Aerocar was set to take the world by storm but after almost 25 years of campaigning Taylor still could not strike a deal — he even lost a deal with auto giants Ford, the New York Daily News quoted Caters News agency as reporting.
Along with the original prototype, only four others were ever built and now collectors are battling to own the startling piece of engineering history.
"This was the peak of 20th century design at the time and was close to taking the world's imagination by storm," Greg Herrick, of aviation enthusiast Historic Sales, said. "There really was nothing like it around at the time and the design attracted so much attention. It was on the front of newspapers, magazines, books and on TV shows across the globe — it's popularity was unprecedented. But the oil crash in the 1970s and a lack of businesses willing to invest eventually led to all interest fizzling away — to this day there is still nothing like it," he said.
They used state-of-the art technology to create super-sized bugs. The project, led by CSIRO researchers, is to enable scientists to handle and examine bugs, especially those which can barely be seen with the naked eye, in large-scale detail for the very first time. "Scientists believe this technology will soon enable them to determine characteristics, such as gender, and examine surface characteristics which are otherwise difficult due to the minute size," the CSIRO was quoted by the Australian Associated Press as saying.
What CSIRO has done is take bugs from Canberra's Australian National Insect Collection — an Aladdin's cave of creepy crawlies — and used 3D technology to create a computer-aided design file of their exact dimensions, the report said adding 'The bugs are then re-created in replica form, up to 50 times their original size in titanium, using a 3D printer.
At the moment, the bugs are being 3D printed in basic detail. The report further said that in future CSIRO was hoping to replicate the creatures' anatomy down to the most minute feature.
The benefits are obvious for scientists. "A doctor once said that having 3D images on a computer to plan a surgery is great, but to print the parts, to handle and examine them in clear detail is invaluable," CSIRO additive manufacturing operations manager Chad Henry was quoted as saying.
Three dimensional printing is not new. But the products the technique can make is rapidly evolving and last month NSW Police warned about a potentially lethal 3D gun invented in America.
Australian scientists are also researching ways to make replacement body parts, for transplants, from 3D prints.
Henry said he believes it's only a matter of time before 3D printing is able to make living tissue. CSIRO's Melbourne-based 3D printing facility, Lab 22, is also developing a range of prototype products including biomedical implants, automotive, aerospace and defence parts for Australian industry.
Scientists at the University of Maryland in US tested the components in the battery, which were a thousand times thinner than a piece of paper.
Using sodium instead of lithium, as many rechargeable batteries do, makes the battery environmentally benign.
Sodium doesn't store energy as efficiently as lithium, so you won't see this battery in your cellphone — instead, its low cost and common materials would make it ideal to store huge amounts of energy at once, such as solar energy at a power plant, researchers said.
Existing batteries are often created on stiff bases, which are too brittle to withstand the swelling and shrinking that happens as electrons are stored in and used up from the battery.
Liangbing Hu, Teng Li and their team found that wood fibres are supple enough to let their sodium-ion battery last more than 400 charging cycles, which puts it among the longest lasting nanobatteries.
"The inspiration behind the idea comes from the trees. Wood fibres that make up a tree once held mineral-rich water, and so are ideal for storing liquid electrolytes, making them not only the base but an active part of the battery," said Hu, an assistant professor of materials science.
Lead author Hongli Zhu and other team members noticed that after charging and discharging the battery hundreds of times, the wood ended up wrinkled but intact.
Computer models showed that that the wrinkles effectively relax the stress in the battery during charging and recharging, so that the battery can survive many cycles.
"Pushing sodium ions through tin anodes often weaken the tin's connection to its base material," said Li, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.
"But the wood fibres are soft enough to serve as a mechanical buffer, and thus can accommodate tin's changes. This is the key to our long-lasting sodium-ion batteries," Li said.
Reuters Jun 8, 2013, 08.08PM IST
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA: An asteroid the size of a small truck zoomed past Earth four times closer than the moon on Saturday, the latest in a parade of visiting celestial objects that has raised awareness of potentially hazardous impacts on the planet.
NASA said Asteroid 2013 LR6 was discovered about a day before its closest approach to Earth, which occurred at 12:42 am EDT (0442 GMT on Saturday) about 65,000 miles (105,000 km) over the Southern Ocean, south of Tasmania, Australia.
The 30-foot-wide (10-metre-wide) asteroid posed no threat.
A week ago, the comparatively huge 1.7-mile-wide (2.7-km-wide) asteroid QE2, complete with its own moon in tow, passed 3.6 million miles (5.8 million km) from Earth.
While on February 15, a small asteroid exploded in the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, leaving more than 1,500 people injured by flying glass and debris. That same day, an unrelated asteroid passed just 17,200 miles (27,700 km) from Earth, closer than the networks of communication satellites that ring the planet.
"There is theoretically a collision possible between asteroids and planet Earth," astronomer Gianluca Masi, with the Virtual Telescope project, said during a Google+ webcast that showed live images of the approaching asteroid.
NASA says it has found about 95 percent of the large asteroids, those with diameters 0.65 miles (1 km) or larger, with orbits that take them relatively close to Earth.
An object of that size hit the planet about 65 million years ago in what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, triggering a global climate change that is believed to be responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs and many other forms of life on Earth.
The US space agency and other research organizations, as well as private companies, are working on tracking smaller objects that fly near Earth.
PTI Jun 10, 2013, 09.04AM IST
NEW DELHI: With futuristic warfare in mind, India is working to develop robotic soldiers as part of efforts to boost unmanned fighting capabilities, joining a select group of countries in this endeavour.
Under the project being undertaken by DRDO, robots would be developed with very high level of intelligence to enable them to differentiate between a threat and a friend.
These can then be deployed in difficult warfare zones, like the Line of Control (LoC), a step that would help avert the loss of human lives.
"We are going to work for robotic soldiers. We are going to look for very high level of intelligence in it than what we are talking today... It is a new programme and a number of labs are already working in a big way on robotics," DRDO chief Avinash Chander told PTI in an interview.
The newly-appointed DRDO chief listed the project for development of robotic soldiers as one of his "priority thrust areas" saying that "unmanned warfare in land and air is the future of warfare. Initially the robotic soldier may be assisting the man."
He said in the initial phase of the project, the robotic soldier would be required to be told by the human soldier to identify an enemy or a combatant but "slowly in due course of time, the robotic soldier would be at the front end and the human soldier would be assisting him."
Chander said the need for a robotic soldier is felt to save precious human lives and already robots are used in areas where humans do no want to venture such as defusing bombs or getting inside a high-radiation territory.
"Robotic soldier is one step further. It will have multiple technologies in terms of communication with team members, ability to recognise an enemy," Chander said.
"Today, you have neural networks, whenever the soldier tells him (robotic soldier) that this is a human solider, he will derive his own logic as to what is the difference between him and others (civilians). That learning process will keep building up," he said.
Asked if it would be capable of being deployed in areas such as the Line of Control, Chander said, "In due course of time but not before a decade in any way."
He said many new technologies have to be developed such as "miniature communication, materials, cognitive technologies, self-learning processes and interaction with human."
Chander said "already five to six countries are actively working. They have not yet developed it fully but they are in fairly advanced stages. This is one of my priority areas."
The four men and four women who were chosen from among more than 6,100 applicants "will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars", Nasa said in a statement.
The US astronaut training program was temporarily halted when the space shuttle era came to an end after three decades of carrying space explorers into orbit and bringing them back to Earth.
"These new space explorers asked to join Nasa because they know we're doing big, bold things here - developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," Nasa administrator Charles Bolden said.
"And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars," he said.
The new trainees are Josh A Cassada, 39; Victor J Glover, 37; Tyler N Hague, 37; Christina M Hammock, 34; Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35; Anne C McClain, 34; Jessica U Meir, 35; Andrew R Morgan, 37.
Five of the eight are active-duty military officers.
The new astronaut candidates will begin their training in August at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
