Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S3 defeated Apple’s iPhone 5 in “torture tests” that were posted by U.S. tech media site CNET on the video-sharing portal YouTube. CNET has performed various extraordinary experiments on the latest smartphones and tablet PCs to publicize the results online. Both the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 passed three experiments ― being put in a fridge for two hours, plunged into a fish tank and wrapped and roasted in an oven for an hour, according to the report. Although a temperatu

Oct. 29, 2012

Japanese scientists claimed that they have found a way to decipher dreams, according to a report in science journal Nature.By analyzing activity in certain brain regions of a person who is dreaming, it is possible to predict the contents of the dream, according to Yukiyasu Kamitani of ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan.“We built a model to predict whether each category of content was present in the dreams,” said Kamitami. His study was presented earlier this month, at th

Oct. 29, 2012

Two-thirds of Australia‘s adult population are overweight or obese, a key study found Monday, with rates continuing to climb despite a drop in smoking and drinking.The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said people were continuing to pile on the kilos despite other findings indicating a switch to healthier habits.The study found 63.4 percent of the population are now classified as overweight or obese -- an increase of more than two percent from four years ago.Australia is ranked fifth among a

Oct. 29, 2012

Smoking costs women at least 10 years of life on average, but quitting at about age 30 may gain back those years, researchers in Britain said.“Both in Britain in the United States, women born around 1940 were the first generation in which many smoked substantial numbers of cigarettes throughout adult life,” Richard Peto of the University of Oxford said in a statement. “Hence, only in the 21st century could we observe directly the full effects of prolonged smoking, and of prolonged cessation, on

Oct. 29, 2012

Osteoporosis is a “silent” bone disease because most people -- the disease affects 10 million U.S. adults -- are unaware of it until a fracture, an expert said.Dr. Khashayar Sakhaee, chief of the mineral metabolism division at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said most often osteoporosis affects postmenopausal women who undergo a dramatic drop in estrogen -- a hormone that assists in the absorption of calcium and prevents calcium loss from the bone. However, the dis

Oct. 29, 2012

The unmanned SpaceX capsule made a safe splashdown in the Pacific Sunday after successfully delivering its first commercial payload to the International Space Station.The capsule parachuted into the water at 1922 GMT after an 18-day mission to resupply the station and was now being recovered by a team of divers, US-based SpaceX said in a brief statement on its website. The mission -- the first of 12 planned trips in SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with US space agency NASA -- is a milestone for A

Oct. 29, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Scientists in the U.S. have created embryos with genes from one man and two women, using a provocative technique that someday could be used to prevent babies from inheriting certain rare incurable diseases.The researchers at Oregon Health & Sciences University said they are not using the embryos to produce children, and it is not clear when or even if the technique will be put to use. But it has already stirred a debate over its risks and ethics in Britain, where scientists did s

Oct. 28, 2012

Staying fit through exercising and dieting helps maintain health and prevent age-related diseases.However, many find it difficult to run a mile or two every day, or even regularly, as muscles and cells degenerate as they age.Scientists at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have discovered a compound that could boost people’s metabolism and possibly prevent diseases associated with aging such Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.A team led by professor Kim Dae-soo of KAIST’s department of

Oct. 28, 2012

LG Electronics has unveiled the world’s largest ultra-high-definition television in the U.S., aiming to penetrate the global HD television market. The Korean electronics giant held a launching ceremony for the 84-inch ultra HD television at electronics retailer Video & Audio Center in Los Angeles on Friday. “We took into account that California is the hub of entertainment and innovation,” the company said.  LG’s new ultra HD product is equipped with a jumbo screen measuring 3.84 by 2.16 meters.

Oct. 28, 2012

 Moderate to binge drinking -- drinking less during the week and more on weekends -- reduces the structural integrity of the adult brain, U.S. researchers say.Lead author Megan Anderson, a graduate student working with Tracey J. Shors, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, and postdoctoral fellow Miriam Nokia of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, said a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent -- the U.S. legal driving limit -- aff

Oct. 28, 2012

South Korea is likely to make its third attempt to launch its first-ever space rocket in mid-November at the earliest after being forced to postpone it hours before liftoff due to a technical glitch, officials said Saturday.On Friday, South Korea postponed its latest attempt to launch the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), also known as Naro-1, after a potential fuel leak was detected during the final inspection.Officials at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Aer

Oct. 28, 2012

Korea canceled the launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, or the Naro rocket, on Friday after detecting a gas leak in the helium injection system.Officials of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Korea Aerospace Research Institute said that it would have to postpone the launch by at least three days until engineers and researchers fixed the problem.Korea has until the end of this month to launch the Naro rocket.Otherwise, the country will need another clearance from global

Oct. 26, 2012

Apple Inc. on Friday posted a notice on its U.K. website admitting that Samsung’s tablets do not infringe on its iPad design, but tucked it away in a hard-to-find place.To uphold a U.K. court’s ruling to post the notice, Apple inserted a line saying “Samsung/Apple UK judgment” at the very bottom of the website, next to “Terms of Use” and “Private Policy.” When users click onto it, it opens a page outlining the ruling that sided with Samsung. “On 9th July 2012, the High Court of Justice of Englan

Oct. 26, 2012

Japan intends to be launching astronauts into space aboard a manned capsule by 2017, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency say.The proposed capsule or mini-shuttle would carry a crew of three and deliver up to 880 pounds of cargo into orbit to destinations such as the International Space Station.The capsule, which would be similar in capacity to the U.S. SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, is being proposed in two versions: a 15,400-pound design that would use parachutes for return to Eart

Oct. 26, 2012