The Korea Herald

Smartphone AIDS tests studied in Korea, S. Africa

PRETORIA (AFP) ― South African and South Korean researchers are working on making a smartphone capable of doing AIDS tests in rural parts of Africa that are the worst hit by the disease, a researcher said Friday.The team have developed a microscope and an application that can photograph and analyze blood samples in areas far from laboratories to diagnose HIV and even measure the health of immune systems.“Our idea was to obtain images and analyze images on this smartphone using applications,” sai

Sept. 2, 2012

NASA launches twin satellites

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) ― Twin U.S. satellites rocketed into orbit Thursday on a quest to explore Earth’s treacherous radiation belts and protect the planet from solar outbursts.It’s the first time two spacecraft are flying in tandem amid the punishing radiation belts, brimming with highly charged particles capable of wrecking satellites and endangering astronauts.“We’re going to a place that other missions try to avoid, and we need to live there for two years. That’s one of our biggest cha

Sept. 2, 2012

Korean team develops new way to create membranes

Scientists in Korea have developed a new way to produce nanosieves, thin layers with holes just millionths of a millimeter across, using an industrial process commonly used to make semiconductors.The discovery could be used to make selectively permeable membranes ― sieves that only allow specific types of particles to move across them. Synthetic membranes of this type have applications ranging from medical and environmental to energy.In a project supported by the Ministry of Education, Science a

Sept. 2, 2012

Korea’s science policies should reflect progress

Collaboration, exchange and stability key to effective policies on science and tech researchMore advanced Asian nations including Korea need to adopt new science and technology policies to achieve globally relevant innovations, says professor Stefan Kuhlmann of the Netherlands’ University of Twente.Kuhlmann, who has focused on innovation systems and policies for science and technology for the past 18 years, said that Korea and other developed Asian nations including Japan are now capable of comp

Sept. 2, 2012

Korea’s science policies should reflect progress

LG bets on ultra definition, OLED TVs to become global leader

BERLIN ― LG Electronics may be behind Samsung Electronics in the global television market at the moment.But this will all change over the next two to three years as LG bets that its premium 84-inch ultra-definition and 55-inch organic light-emitting diode TVs will be its new growth drivers and give the company a competitive edge over its rival.Kwon Hee-won, CEO of LG’s home entertainment business, said he is positive that the market is ready for big ultra-definition TVs, and that there will soon

Sept. 2, 2012

LG bets on ultra definition, OLED TVs to become global leader

'Super Wi-Fi' poised for growth in U.S., elsewhere

(MCT)Move over Wi-Fi, there's a new wireless technology coming.So-called "Super Wi-Fi," which offers a bigger range than existing hotspots, is being deployed in the United States and generating interest in a number of countries, including Britain and Brazil.Super Wi-Fi is not really Wi-Fi because it uses a different frequency and requires specially designed equipment, but it offers some of Wi-Fi's

Sept. 2, 2012

'Super Wi-Fi' poised for growth in U.S., elsewhere

Mosquito repellent may have killed sisters

BANGKOK (UPI) -- Two Canadian sisters who died in Thailand appear to have been poisoned by mosquito repellent mixed into a cocktail, autopsy results show.Audrey and Noemi Belanger, from Pohenegamook, Quebec, were found dead in June in their hotel room on Phi Phi Island. A report on the autopsy shown to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said the sisters had the mosquito repellent DEET in their systems.DEET is a neurotoxic but it is an ingredient in a euphoric cocktail popular with many young touris

Sept. 2, 2012

Samsung wins over Apple in Japan case

Tokyo court rules Samsung did not infringe on Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with serversA Tokyo court ruled on Friday in favor of Samsung Electronics, saying the Korean company did not infringe on an Apple patent related to transferring media content from computers to smartphones and tablets.The ruling is the latest in a global court battle between the two tech behemoths over patents used in mobile devices after the U.S. crucial ruling last week that dealt a blow to Sams

Aug. 31, 2012

Internet addiction may have genetic link

Internet addiction may have a molecular basis, German researchers say, linked to a genetic variation that also plays a major role in nicotine addiction.Researchers at the University of Bonn studying people and their Internet habits found a significant number who exhibit problematic behavior, where all their thoughts revolve around the Internet during the day and they feel their well-being is sever

Aug. 31, 2012

Baltic sea object is only a glacial deposit, experts say

A ‘mysterious’ object, which was found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea last year and aroused far-fetched speculation is just a glacial deposit from thousands of years ago, Swedish scientists said.Volker Brüchert, associate professor of geology at Stockholm University said in a interview with local media that there was nothing mysterious about the object that was discovered by the Ocean X team.“What has been generously ignored by the Ocean X team is that most of the samples they brought up from t

Aug. 31, 2012

Baltic sea object is only a glacial deposit, experts say

Samsung wins over Apple in Japan patent ruling

A Japanese court on Friday found Apple Inc.‘s patent infringement claim on Samsung Electronics Co. invalid, giving an upper hand to the South Korean company that suffered a crushing defeat in a U.S. jury verdict delivered last week.In a preliminary session, the Tokyo District Court ruled Samsung didn’t infringe on Apple‘s technology on transferring media contents from computers to smartphones and tablets.The patent is one of the two intellectual properties the iPhone maker addressed in its Augus

Aug. 31, 2012

Samsung wins over Apple in Japan patent ruling

Surgery for fighting obesity

For severely obese people, gastric bypass surgery can be the surest, and the most cost-effective, way to weight loss, a new study found. Surgeries are expensive, but their long-term economic benefits, in terms of improvements in health and life quality, are greater than traditional weight-loss options such as diet, exercise and medication, the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency said in its recently released research. “They are costly, but far more effective in treating obesi

Aug. 30, 2012

New diet craze: No food restrictions, so eat everything you want...every other day

“Alternate-day dieting” is when you gorge yourself with whatever you want to eat one day and eat only 500 calories the next day, according to news sources. This diet came into popularity the airing of a BBC documentary with health journalist Dr. Michael Mosley. In the feature, Mosley ate normally five days a week and only ate 600 calories the other two days. After a month, he lost 14 pounds and reduced his body fat by about 25 percent. The diet is now known as the 5/2 diet. Additionally, scienti

Aug. 30, 2012

'Talking' brain found better at math

Mathematical calculation requires the two sides of the brain to "talk" to each other, U.S. scientists say, and the stronger the talk, the better the outcome.The research sheds light on the neural basis of human math abilities and suggests possible help for those who suffer from dyscalculia -- an inability to understand and manipulate numbers, the University of Texas at Dallas reported Wednesday.Pr

Aug. 30, 2012

Math says Earth safe from asteroid

Russian scientists say recalculation of the path of a large asteroid named Apophis indicates a significantly low likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth.Researchers at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences have re-run the numbers on the asteroid, thought to be the size of two football fields, institute research fellow Viktor Shor said Wednesday.The orbit of Apophis, discovered in 2004, is slightly offset to that of Earth‘s, and astronomers have determined the aster

Aug. 30, 2012

Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 2

Samsung Electronics Co., the world‘s top smartphone maker, on Thursday unveiled its latest Android platform-based Galaxy Note 2 at an European trade fair, grabbing the spotlight ahead of rival Apple Inc.’s new iPhone release.Samsung debuted the Galaxy Note 2 at the IFA trade show inBerlin on Wednesday (local time), with plans to release its latest “phablet” model in October. The phablet, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet computer, features larger displays than smartphones but are more po

Aug. 30, 2012

Planet search moves to Antarctica

Chinese astronomers say they are using survey instruments in Antarctica to search actively for Earth-like planets that may sustain life.They installed the first of three Antarctic Survey Telescopes at Dome Argus, located at the highest elevation on the Antarctic continent, at the beginning of the year, China‘s official Xinhua news agency reported.They use satellite phones to give orders to and receive data from their unmanned survey instruments in the harsh environment but can only receive limit

Aug. 30, 2012

Twin stars found with multiple planets

This scene from movie "Star Wars" shows a fictional planet Tatooine, which orbits two stars.U.S. astronomers say the Kepler planet-hunting mission found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star, bringing images of "Star Wars" to mind."It's Tatooine, right?" University of Texas at Austin astronomer Michael Endl said, referring to the fictional planet with twin suns in the popular

Aug. 30, 2012

Vieworks further pushes for global leadership

Global No. 1 industrial camera maker eyes growth in OLED, X-ray markets Liquid crystal display manufacturing involves sophisticated technology.It also involves high-end inspection equipment and systems to make sure manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics can produce the world’s top quality LCDs.High-performance industrial cameras such as those made by Vieworks are crucial parts of such equipment that can detect even the tiniest flaws, unnoticeable to the human eye, before products are shipped

Aug. 29, 2012

Vieworks further pushes for global leadership

LG to release Optimus L9 globally

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it plans to release the Optimus L9model globally starting next month in countries across Asia, Europe and North America.The Optimus L9, which is the fourth model in the Optimus-L lineup, supports smarter user experience features such as the “Q Translator,” which translates texts into 64 languages, according to LG.To use the feature, users can scan texts with the embedded camera, which will then be translated through dictionaries and online translation engines.T

Aug. 29, 2012