New, stronger cyberthreats seen for 2013

Georgia Tech researchers, in a cyberthreat forecast for 2013, warn new and increasingly sophisticated means to capture and exploit user data will be seen.The report was released at the annual Georgia Tech Institute of Technology Cyber Security Summit, a gathering of industry and academic leaders in the field of cybersecurity.Specific threats predicted for the coming year include cloud-based botnets of virtual attack systems, manipulation of search-engine algorithms and other automated mechanisms

Nov. 15, 2012

‘Homeless’ planet without a star found

MONTREAL (UPI) -- A “homeless” planet that is not orbiting a star and thus is free of any gravitation link has been discovered, Canadian and European astronomers are reporting.University of Montreal researchers and European colleagues said it is the first isolated planet of its kind ever to be observed.“Although theorists had established the existence of this type of very cold and young planet, one had never been observed until today,” astrophysicist Etienne Artigau said in a University of Montr

Nov. 15, 2012

‘Starcraft II’ expansion ‘Heart of the Swarm,’ to be released next year

“Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm,” the first expansion pack of “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty,” will be released in March next year, game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment said Tuesday. “Heart of the Swarm” features new units, including Terran Hellbats, Zerg Swarm Hosts and Protoss Tempests, along with new maps. The expansion set has about 20 campaign missions, and provides an enhanced battle net service, Blizzard said at a “Starcraft” community party held in Seoul.“With ‘Heart of

Nov. 14, 2012

New generation arrives for mobile messengers

The soaring popularity of mobile messengers is nothing new in Korea, but the competition is expected to get fiercer among the top industrial players like Kakao Talk and NHN’s Line. In total subscribers, NHN, operator of No. 1 online portal Naver, has secured about 74 million users as of Tuesday with its mobile messenger Line, closely followed by Kakao Talk which has a user base of 66 million as of early this month.Line, which opened service in June last year, is a mobile messenger that has gaine

Nov. 14, 2012

Men and women select different ideal heights

The first research on men and women’s different natural selection was done in Sweden. Short women and men of average height are more successful at reproduction, according to the study.Gert Stulp, with colleagues from Groningen, Amsterdam and Cambridge University, studied the number of children born to brothers and sisters in a large-scale American database containing data on thousands of residents of Wisconsin born in 1937 or 1938. “It turned out that by taking the height of just one person, we

Nov. 14, 2012

'Love hormone' keeps men in relationship away from other women: study

A new study suggests that men are prompted by a hormone which keeps them distant from other attractive women.Rene Hurlemann, a researcher at the University of Bonn in Germany, said in a statement that “oxytocin,” a hormone which is known to contribute to pair-bonding, encourages men to expand their personal emotional barrier when attractive women are around.Hurlemann added that the barrier is activated only when those men are in relationships. Single men do not show such response even when they

Nov. 14, 2012

Artificial lens mimics the human eye

U.S. researchers say they've created an artificial lens that could lead to implantable lenses to replace damaged or diseased human eye lenses.Nearly identical to the natural lens of the human eye, the technology behind the artificial lens is called "GRIN" or gradient refractive index optics.The lens is made up of thousands of nanoscale polymer layers that bend, or refract, light by varying degrees as it passes through it."The human eye is a GRIN lens," Michael Ponting, a polymer scientist at Cas

Nov. 14, 2012

Sky-gazers in awe of total eclipse

Sky-gazers in northern Australia donned protective glasses as the clouds parted Wednesday to allow them to witness one of nature‘s greatest phenomena -- a total eclipse of the sun.All eyes and cameras turned to the heavens over tropical north Queensland as the moon began moving between the Earth and the sun, like a small bite which gradually increases in size.Cloud cover threatened to spoil the party and huge cheers erupted when they parted to give tens of thousands of eclipse hunters a perfect

Nov. 14, 2012

U.S. scientist claims humans’ intelligence declining

Human intelligence has been on the downtrend for thousands of years because of an accumulated genetic mutation harmful to “intelligence” genes, a U.S. geneticist has claimed.According to a study by Professor Gerald Crabtree, head of a genetics laboratory at Stanford University, intellectual powers of humankind peaked in times of hunter-gatherers, and started deteriorating since the introduction of agriculture.Crabtree argues that since the pressure of survival has lessened, natural selection on

Nov. 14, 2012

Study: Drought pushed Mayan decline

Scientists say they‘ve seen clues to the reason for the rapid decline of the Maya civilization that once occupied much of modern-day Mexico and Central America.The Mayan civilization, known for its sophisticated calendar system and pyramid construction, sprang up in 300 A.D. but seemed to collapse between 800 and 1000 A.D.A study published in the Journal Science suggests the Maya civilization perished from the effects of extreme changes in climate.Unusual rainfall patterns doomed the Maya people

Nov. 13, 2012

‘Alien’ horned dinosaur found in Canada

Canadian researchers say they have identified fossils found more than 50 years ago as a new species of horned dinosaur that roamed Alberta 78 million years ago.Xenoceratops foremostensis, identified from fossils originally collected in 1958, was around 20 feet long and weighed more than 2 tons and represents the oldest known large-bodied horned dinosaur from Canada, paleontologists said.Writing in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, researchers said the new dinosaur was identified from skull

Nov. 13, 2012

Love makes brain ‘blind’

When a person looks at the person he or she adores, parts of the brain linked to judgment, fear or other negative emotions close down, according to a new study by British scientists.“When you look at someone you are passionate about, some areas of the brain become active … But a large part is deactivated, the part that plays a role in judgment,” said Semir Zeki, professor from Department of Cognitive Neurology, University College London. In the study “The neural basis of romantic love,” Zeki and

Nov. 12, 2012