The Korea Herald

Children’s health in changing seasons

In the fall, the increased wind and changes in temperature lead to an unstable circadian rhythm and reduce the body’s immunity. In addition, children go back to child care and school, which leads to increased exposure to respiratory infections due to increased contact with others. Allergies and rhinitis are also common during this season. Children have a weaker ability to control their homeostasis, so they find it more difficult to adjust to rapid changes in the weather. Therefore, it is importa

Sept. 5, 2013

More than 7,780 Koreans living with HIV

More than 7,780 South Koreans have been infected with HIV, health authorities said Wednesday.The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 9,410 South Korean were diagnosed with HIV between 1985 and 2012. Among them, 1,622 people died.Last year, 808 South Korean men and 60 South Korean women were newly infected with HIV. The KCDC said 541 out of 868 HIV carriers became infected through sexual contact.The virus, which is also spread through transfusion of contaminated blood, infects ce

Sept. 5, 2013

Traditional medicine fair to heal minds, bodies of urbanites

CHANGWON, South Gyeongsang Province (Yonhap News) ― The chairman of the executive committee of a traditional medicine fair opening this week said Thursday that the event will strive to cure the minds and bodies of urbanites who require rest from the high-stress modern society.The World Traditional Medicine Fair & Festival will be held in Sancheong County in South Gyeongsang Province, from Friday to Oct. 20, according to the organizers.Choi Gu-sik said he had a special nickname for the event, giv

Sept. 5, 2013

Traditional medicine fair to heal minds, bodies of urbanites

SK Hynix monitoring fire damage in China

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory-chipmaker, on Thursday said it expects little to no disruption to its chip supply after a fire that occurred in its Wuxi plant in China, as the equipment was not damaged. “There is no material damage to the (semiconductor) fabrication equipment in the clean room, which is why we expect to resume operations in the near future so that production and supply volume will not be affected,” SK Hynix said in a statement. The company was still investigating the

Sept. 5, 2013

SK Telecom to provide LTE service with wider bandwidth

Mobile carrier SK Telecom announced Thursday its plan to provide faster LTE services with wider bandwidth and LTE-Advanced services with increased coverage.“We are now able to provide LTE services with wider bandwidth after securing a 35 MHz bandwidth in the 1.8 GHz band in the state-led frequency auction. LTE subscribers will be able to transfer data with speeds of up to 150 Mbps without having to pay any extra fees,” said Park In-sik, SK Telecom’s president of network business operations, duri

Sept. 5, 2013

SK Telecom to provide LTE service with wider bandwidth

Hackers find weaknesses in car computer systems

DETROIT (AP) ― As cars become more like PCs on wheels, what’s to stop a hacker from taking over yours?In recent demonstrations, hackers have shown they can slam a car’s brakes at freeway speeds, jerk the steering wheel and even shut down the engine ― all from their laptop computers.The hackers are publicizing their work to reveal vulnerabilities present in a growing number of car computers. All cars and trucks contain anywhere from 20 to 70 computers. They control everything from the brakes to a

Sept. 5, 2013

Hundreds of thousands of fish killed by China pollution

BEIJING (AFP) ― Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were left floating in a Chinese river after a chemical discharge, officials said, the latest industrial accident to pollute the country’s battered environment.About 100,000 kilograms of fish were cleared from 40 kilometers of the Fu River in Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, the official Xinhua news agency said. Xinhua said the probe found ammonia levels “far in excess of the national standard” at a drain outlet from Hubei Shu

Sept. 5, 2013

Tsunami could hit California economy

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― If a monster earthquake struck off Alaska’s coast, tsunami waves would rush toward California, crippling the nation’s busiest port complex and flooding coastal communities, a report released Wednesday suggests.The potential impacts, based on a hypothetical magnitude-9.1 jolt off the Alaskan peninsula, were detailed by a team led by the U.S. Geological Survey to help emergency responders prepare.Tsunamis are a rare but real threat in California. After the 2011 Japan disaster, t

Sept. 5, 2013

Samsung’s ‘smart watch’ gets mixed response

After months of anticipation, snowballing speculation and countless leaked photos online, Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday introduced the Galaxy Gear, a wrist-worn device that allows users to check messages and make phone calls without whipping out their smartphones.The new “smart watch,” in spite its futuristic appeal, brought mixed responses, with many not wholeheartedly impressed with the latest device from the South Korean tech giant.Among the biggest issue was that it had no phone funct

Sept. 5, 2013

Samsung Electronics unpacks smart watch, new Galaxy Note

BERLIN ― Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest Galaxy lineup at the “Samsung Unpacked 2013 Episode 2” event two days before the official start of 2013 IFA Berlin. Introducing the Galaxy Note 3, smart watch Galaxy Gear, and new Galaxy Note 10.1, Shin Jong-kyun, president of the IT and mobile division at the Seoul-based electronics firm, said, “Samsung will keep trying to achieve innovation and provide new values for consumers with smart devices that make their lives easier and more enjoyable.”

Sept. 5, 2013

Samsung Electronics unpacks smart watch, new Galaxy Note

Samsung unveils new smartwatch that makes calls

Nearly 70 years after Dick Tracy began wearing a two-way wrist radio in the funny pages, the technology that once seemed impossibly futuristic will be widely available by Christmas.Samsung on Wednesday introduced a digital watch for the holiday season that will let users check messages with a glance at their wrists and have conversations secret agent-style. So-called smartwatches have been around for several years. But so far, they have failed to attract much consumer interest. That may change w

Sept. 5, 2013

Samsung unveils new smartwatch that makes calls

Samsung seeks evolution with new Silicon Valley base

The grandiose plans for constructing Samsung’s new headquarters in Silicon Valley’s heart of San Jose are underway, and designer Jonathan Ward spoke to The Korea Herald about the $300 million project and his client, Samsung. “The CEO (Samsung’s Lee Jay-yong) and all of San Jose’s Samsung executives have been very excited and supportive and are looking forward to seeing how this new building can evolve and transform their culture in the hotbed of Silicon Valley,” said Ward, who is a partner at gl

Sept. 4, 2013

Samsung seeks evolution with new Silicon Valley base

Korean newspapers move to introduce paid digital subscription model

A change in distributing online news might be afoot in South Korea where most of the news is currently available free of charge through dominant portals. Major newspapers are moving to charge for their premium content in the face of an industry-wide decline in newsprint advertising. The Maeil Business Newspaper, the biggest business newspaper in the country, became the first major news outlet to launch a paid online news service on Tuesday. Other dailies are also set to introduce similar paid su

Sept. 4, 2013

Korean newspapers move to introduce paid digital subscription model

ICT firms to get government help

Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Mun-kee on Wednesday said the government would do its best to defend and bolster local information communications and technology firms in the competition against foreign rivals. He also hinted that the administration may act to counter the practice of other countries, namely the U.S., that offer subtle support to their ICT firms, such as Cisco Systems.“This is done by offering financial support, such as through international aid, to countries where

Sept. 4, 2013

Tiny rainforest frogs hear with their mouths

Some of the tiniest frogs on Earth have no middle ears or eardrums but can hear by using their mouths, scientists said.Gardiner’s frogs live in the rainforests of the Seychelles, a series of 115 small islands in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. Most frogs have eardrums on the outsides of their heads. The eardrums vibrate when incoming sound waves hit, sending the vibrations to the inner ear, then the brain.But not the wee Gardiner’s frogs, which measure about a centimeter long or the size

Sept. 4, 2013

Crop pests moving polewards through global warming

Crop-damaging insects, bacteria, fungus and viruses are moving poleward by nearly 3 kilometers each year, helped by global warming, a study said.A team at Britain’s University of Exeter trawled through two huge databases to chart the latitude and dates for the earliest record of 612 crop pests.Since 1960, these pests have been heading either northwards or southwards at a rate of around 2.7 kilometers yearly.They move into land that opens up for habitat because of higher temperature and its impac

Sept. 4, 2013

Hunchback King Richard III infected with worms

Researchers who dug up King Richard III's skeleton say they appear to have discovered another problem the hunchback monarch had during his brief and violent reign: parasitic worms in his guts that grew up to a foot long. In those remains, dug up last year beneath a parking lot in Leicester, the researchers say they discovered numerous roundworm eggs in the soil around his pelvis, where his intestines would have been. They compared that to soil samples taken close to Richard's skull and surroundi

Sept. 4, 2013

TB followed humans out of Africa

One of the largest genetic investigations into the microbe which causes TB shows the germ followed early humans out of Africa at least 70,000 years ago, scientists say.In a parallel probe, investigators also said they had identified 39 new genes that drive dangerous drug resistance in this germ, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.TB is one of the deadliest diseases in the medical lexicon.Untreated, it kills roughly half the people it infects.Even today, in the era of advanced antibiotics, it causes betw

Sept. 3, 2013

Sandy’s path may be less likely in future

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Man-made global warming may further lessen the likelihood of the freak atmospheric steering currents that last year shoved Superstorm Sandy due west into New Jersey, a new study says.But don’t celebrate a rare beneficial climate change prediction just yet. The study’s authors said the once-in-700-years path was only one factor in the massive $50 billion killer storm. They said other variables such as sea level rise and stronger storms will worsen with global warming and outweig

Sept. 3, 2013

Sandy’s path may be less likely in future

LG to roll out G2 smartphone in U.S., Germany

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to release its latest flagship smartphone, the LG G2, in the U.S. and Germany this month, in a bid to further shore up its presence in the global high-end smartphone market.The 5.2-inch smartphone by the world's third-largest smartphone maker debuted in South Korea last month to take on rivals Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. in the domestic market. The LG G2, the first device rolled out by LG Electronics after it dropp

Sept. 3, 2013