In one of the most harrowing spacewalks in decades, an astronaut had to rush back into the International Space Station on Tuesday after a mysterious water leak inside his helmet robbed him of the ability to speak or hear and could have caused him to choke or even drown.Italian Luca Parmitano was reported to be fine after the dangerous episode, which might have been caused by an unprecedented leak in the cooling system of his suit. His spacewalking partner, American Christopher Cassidy, had to he

July 17, 2013

Samsung Electronics’ newly upgraded application processor chips for the upcoming iPhone 7 are expected to boost the phone’s efficiency by at least 30 percent, sources said Monday.“The iPhone 7 will become much, much faster, by up to 30 percent,” said one source, declining to be identified.The new chips, to be supplied starting 2015, are equipped with 14-nanometer process technology, which in theory has double the efficiency of the current 28nm chips that Samsung supplies to Apple.In December las

July 15, 2013

As the competition in the global smartphone market continues to heat up, LG Electronics expects that it will continue the momentum shown earlier this year with the release of its latest model G2. This year, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker sold more than 10 million smartphones worldwide for the second consecutive quarter for the first time. And the G2 is expected to give the company an extra sales boost for the second half of the year, according to company officials on Friday.“We’ve re

July 12, 2013

South Korea is set to launch its first radar-equipped Earth observation satellite as planned on Aug. 22, the government announced on Thursday.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said that the satellite KOMPSAT-5 was moved Thursday to the Yasny launch base in Russia.The KOMPSAT-5 is the country’s first SAR, or synthetic aperture radar, satellite that is capable of providing images in all weather conditions.The ministry said the SAR satellite would eliminate the limitations of traditi

July 11, 2013

PARIS (AFP) ― Researchers delving into the enigmatic disorder called autism said Tuesday they had found a group of maternal antibodies that target proteins in the foetus’ developing brain.A study that compared 246 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder(ASD) to 149 women with healthy children found that nearly a quarter in the first group had different combinations of these antibodies.Antibodies are the foot soldiers of the immune system, latching onto viral or microbial intruders and

July 11, 2013

Korea’s leading IT solution provider LG N-Sys and world’s top computer chipmaker Intel have come together to create Korea’s largest supercomputer infrastructure for developing computer graphic visual content, especially for motion pictures.Dexter Digital ― Korea’s leading visual effects film producer ― together with LG N-Sys and Intel Korea on Thursday held a media event to showcase the technology behind its latest production “Mr. Go,” which had been made possible by the new technology. Making t

July 11, 2013

Ball State University in Indiana is facing scrutiny for hiring a science professor who wrote a book on intelligent design, a move that comes after another professor at the state college was accused of teaching creationism.Ball State defended the hiring of Guillermo Gonzalez and said it does not support the teaching intelligent design in science classes. Proponents of intelligent design contend life is too complex to have evolved through evolution alone.“This is a disturbing pattern and it could

July 11, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― The historic Enterprise space shuttle returned to view Wednesday on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Manhattan’s far west side, protected by a structure designed to hold up in conditions worse than the storm last fall that damaged it.The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the end of eight months of repair work for the shuttle, which was damaged during Superstorm Sandy last October when the structure around it deflated.The pioneering shuttle had surface abras

July 11, 2013

The financial regulator said Thursday it will require banks to build a two-pronged network system in a bid to avert cyber attacks after a series of online hackings into some of their websites. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country's top financial watchdog, said it plans to have large banks separate their network systems into two partitions -- one for internal use and the other for online use -- by next year. Under the measures, banks must split their main operating system first in

July 11, 2013

LG Electronics Co., a South Korean home appliance maker, said Wednesday that it has completed the construction of a research and development center to focus on the development of automotive parts.The R&D center will house 800 engineers to develop vehicle parts such as motors, inverters and converters for electric vehicles, it said.Last month, LG Electronics, also the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said it will establish a new business division called the Vehicle Components Business Divi

July 10, 2013

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s exports of information-technology products surged to a record high in the six months that ended on June 30 on growing shipments of mobile communication devices and semiconductors, the government said Tuesday.In the January-June period, the country’s IT exports reached $81.24 billion, up 10.9 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The country’s trade surplus in the IT sector also surged to a record high of

July 10, 2013

A new study links heavy air pollution from coal burning to shorter lives in northern China. Researchers estimate that the half-billion people alive there in the 1990s will live an average of 5{ years less than their southern counterparts because they breathed dirtier air.China itself made the comparison possible: for decades, a now-discontinued government policy provided free coal for heating, but only in the colder north. Researchers found significant differences in both particle pollution of t

July 9, 2013