Huge DNA code of the Christmas tree being revealed

To millions of people, the Christmas tree is a cheerful sight. To scientists who decipher the DNA codes of plants and animals, it’s a monster.We’re talking about the conifer, the umbrella term for cone-bearing trees like the spruce, fir, pine, cypress and cedar. Apart from their Yuletide popularity, they play big roles in the lumber industry and in healthy forest ecosystems.Scientists would love to identify the billions of building blocks that make up the DNA of a conifer. That’s called sequenci

Dec. 16, 2012

Hormone finding could lead to diabetes cure

Korean scientists have discovered the role of a hormone that could help develop medicines to treat and cure diabetes and obesity-associated diseases.Dr. Lee Myung-sik of Samsung Medical Center, who is also a professor at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, led a study into “mitokine” signals, which are sent by cells having trouble with their metabolism. They identified that the signal involved a hormone, encoded as the fibroblast growth factor 21, or FGF21. The hormone is induced by mito

Dec. 16, 2012

Research: Tiny robots may think as a group

A U.S. researcher says a swarm of tiny robots could be a better solution to accomplishing tasks than one big one and has made "ping-pong" ball-sized examples.University of Colorado at Boulder computer scientist Nikolaus Correll and his research team have developed a basic robotic "building block" which they hope to reproduce in large quantities to develop increasingly complex systems, the university reported Friday.They've created a swarm of 20 robots, each the size of a Ping Pong ball, which th

Dec. 16, 2012

Distant ‘binge-eating’ black hole observed

The X-ray jet streaming from a binge-eating black hole in the nearby galaxy of Andromeda has been detected, U.S. and European astronomers say.Classified as an ultraluminous X-ray source or ULX, the object is only the second ever seen in Andromeda, also known as M31, and was the target of an intense observing campaign by orbiting X-ray telescopes and radio observatories on the ground, NASA reported Wednesday.Astronomers say they believe a ULX is a binary system containing a black hole that is rap

Dec. 14, 2012

Samsung said working on larger Galaxy Note

Just when it seemed smartphone displays couldn‘t get any bigger, tech watchers report South Korea’s Samsung is working on a Galaxy Note with a 6.3-inch screen.As the lines between a phone and tablet blur even further, the Korea Times has said Samsung is working on a Galaxy Note 3 with a screen almost an inch larger that the Note 2‘s 5.5-inch display.The first Galaxy Note, mocked by many as a “phablet” for its 5.3-inch screen, saw decent sales, and the incrementally larger Note 2 was an even bigg

Dec. 14, 2012

Risk of vitamin D deficiency grows in older people

Koreans are at a growing risk of vitamin D deficiency due to increased hours spent indoors, a report showed Thursday.According to a report by the state-run Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of patients suffering from diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency surged more than eightfold from 1,008 in 2007 to 10,006 in 2011. Medical costs to treat related diseases also jumped nearly 6.5 times. The report showed that the proportion of patients the aging population has surged i

Dec. 13, 2012

Healthy bathing in winter

With the start of the winter season, increasing numbers of people are complaining of itchy and dry skin. The itchiness and dryness of skin in winter is associated with the cold weather. In countries such as Korea, where there are continental climates and continued dry weather, such skin conditions are quite common. It is more common in those aged 40 years and over, with the symptoms most prominent in the outer surfaces of the arms and the legs. The dry and itchy symptoms can progress to dry ecze

Dec. 13, 2012

KT chairman Lee joins GSMA board

KT announced Thursday that its chairman Lee Suk-chae would join the 2013-2014 GSMA Board, an association of international mobile operator firms. Scheduled to serve on the 25-member board for two years, Lee plans to strengthen communications among the CEOs of global mobile telecommunications companies and play an active role in the board’s decision making, KT said. South Korean members of the current 2011-2012 GSMA Board include KT president Pyo Hyun-myung and SK Telecom president Ha Sung-min. Ha

Dec. 13, 2012

Female Atlantic mollies find flirty males more attractive: study

Flirting helps in the fish world, even if it is with another fish of the same sex, a new study by German scientists indicated.Researchers from the University of Frankfurt found some male Poecilia Mexicana -- a tropical fish otherwise known as Atlantic Molly -- are able to attract female partners by demonstrating homosexual tendencies.According to the findings they published in the journal Royal Society Biology Letters, the female tropical fishes evaluate a potential partner’s virility by his ten

Dec. 13, 2012

Russian mobile phone to offer two screens

A Russian company says it is launching a smartphone with two screens, an LCD color display and a monochrome e-ink display, both 4.3 inches in size.The company, Yota Devices, says the YotaPhone offers two screens that can be used for different functions and purposes, Slash Gear reported Wednesday.Phone users can use the LCS screen for normal phone functions and apps as well as watching videos or playing games, then flip the phone over to the e-ink screen to turn the phone into an e-reader for boo

Dec. 13, 2012

Koreans lead mobile TV trend: report

Before the advent of TV delivered by Internet broadband, old-fashioned, a-la-carte television was king. In those days, viewers could only choose from limited content, in a limited time and space, on a limited device. But beyond the TVs sitting in living rooms and bedrooms, people now have access to TV content through desktop computers and laptops and even smart devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.According to ConsumerLab’s annual research in 2012 on TV consumption that was compiled by Er

Dec. 12, 2012

Is Samsung’s heir-apparent close to succession?

Samsung heir-apparent Lee Jay-yong has been the man of the hour in the nation’s business circles since he was appointed vice chairman of Samsung Electronics last Wednesday.Although the Lee’s promotion was widely predicted as he is the only son of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, the timing took observers by surprise as the country is getting ready for the Dec. 19 presidential election.Korean businesses have tended to stay low key during the election period, especially since candidates f

Dec. 12, 2012

Asteroid came close to the Earth

An asteroid approached the Earth closely on Dec. 11. If it crashed into the Earth, it could have destroyed an area more than three times the size of Seoul, experts say.The 36-meter-wide asteroid named “2012 XE54” passed just 230,000 kilometers from Earth -- 156,000 kilometers closer than the moon. An asteroid of a similar size hit Siberia in 1908 and flattened 2,000 square kilometers.As the cycle of the asteroid “2012 XE54” is 2.72 years, scientists said it would be back, once more close to the

Dec. 12, 2012

S. Korean mobile carriers launch LTE data sharing service

South Korean mobile carriers KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. said Wednesday they plan to introduce a service that enables long-term evolution (LTE) data sharing among multiple mobile devices, as a growing number of people own more than one mobile gadget."The number of mobile gadgets owned by an individual is increasing as people are using them for different functions. The LTE data sharing plan will increase customer satisfaction since they can share LTE data among various devices," a KT official sai

Dec. 12, 2012