The Perseid meteor shower is something that astronomers are looking forward to seeing this August. Stargazers will be astonished by over 200 shooting stars an hour that will surely light up the night skies over Essex.

It is one of the most active cosmic events with two times more chances of shooting stars entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The meteor shower takes place every year between mid-July and late-August. There will be one disadvantage this year because the moon will grow from quarter to full during the peak of the meteor shower. This can only mean that with this growing moonlight, the smaller meteors won’t be observable.

NASA recommends going outside on the morning of the 12th of August, allowing our eyes several minutes to adjust to the light and then just enjoy the show. You can watch the meteor shower with the naked eye from everywhere, but it is desirable to avoid the city lights; the farther you are from the urban area, the more likely you are to see a greater show.

A Perseid is one of the most colorful and speedy meteors, so, when observing the night sky, you should be very careful not to miss the painted explosion.

A Perseid meteor shower is caused when the Earth is passing through the remains of the Swift-Tuttle Comet. We effectively go through a dust cloud from this comet. Swift-Tuttle left a gas and dust path on its orbit that the Earth’s orbit intercepts. The Earth quickly goes through it, and so, these particles built up in the atmosphere seem to be coming from Perseus’s direction.

NASA representatives said that this year the meteor shower would surpass the recent ones because of Jupiter’s gravity that will attract the particles closer. This way, Earth will go through the middle of the comet’s dust trail instead of just passing close to it.

Specialists assure us that the comet represents no threat to humanity. Because it is in its own orbit, a crossing with the Earth is less likely to occur for the next thousands of years.

The Swift-Tuttle comet was last seen close to Earth in 1992.

Image source:Wikipedia

Recent studies revealed that acupuncture might be the solution when dealing with memory loss or pre-dementia.

Acupuncture is an ancient treatment that involves inserting thin needles in distinct parts of the body.

Nothing yet had been demonstrated to slow down the progression of dementia in those who are predestinated to develop it. However, researchers proved that acupuncture used with other treatment such as medication might help maintain some memory functions.

The studies from 2012 and 2013 were conducted on around 600 people that suffered mild cognitive impairment considered pre-dementia. Five to ten percent of the people that have this cognitive impairment are known to develop dementia each year.

The study analyzed in its first stage the benefit of acupuncture alone against nimodipine (a calcium blocker that deals with the gene mutation associated with dementia), the medication usually utilized for this disease. In its second stage, the two types of solutions were combined to see their result.

Patients who participated in the study received the treatment in four trials, three to five times a week for around eight weeks. The fifth trial lasted for more than three months.

After receiving the acupuncture treatment, patients did better both in the mini-mental state exam which is a questionnaire to see the mental impairment and in the picture recognition test.
Moreover, researchers found that the combined treatment with acupuncture and nimodipine compared to nimodipine alone, improved scores on the mini-mental state exam.

The data showed that the patient treated with acupuncture alone did better that those who received medication. According to the report, the side effects of acupuncture include slow bleeding at the needle’s site and fainting during treatment. For the treatment with nimodipine, side effects include headaches, constipation, and nausea.

Because the studies were made on less than 600 people, neurologists called for future studies on larger population and also the type of acupuncture used in order to better understand the connections between the therapy and the memory loss.

Other neurologists noted that acupuncture could increase attention and alertness, thereby, the cognitive process, but more studies for a large, better-designed trial are needed before assuring patients that acupuncture is an effective treatment for dementia.

Image source:Flickr

The latest climate reports revealed that 2015 is one of the most important years when it comes to global temperatures. Researchers are worried that the climate changes are no longer subtle, with temperatures both in the oceans and on air reaching new limits and sea levels arriving at new historic heights.

The annual surface temperatures overcome the ones confirmed last year. 90 percent of the CO2 inserted in the atmosphere is assimilated by the oceans that also reached record breaking temperatures. The expansion of the oceans is, at the same time, due to melting glaciers. The fastest increase in water level is encountered in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans, with an average of 3.3 mm a year. As they warm, oceans tend to expand, causing the sea level to rise.

Climate reports show that the sea levels in 1993 were about 2.27 inches lower that in 2015. In 2015, the global average temperatures exceeded records set by the ones last year by more than 0.1 degree Celsius.

The heatwave experienced in recent months has heavy consequences claiming thousands of lives. Also, due to the lack of rainfall, several forest fires have devastated entire regions. These are all several effects of global warming that are severely affecting us and have long-lasting impacts if not permanent.

The extreme warmth was also influenced by the El Niño Event in which abnormal high-temperature Pacific Ocean waters were impregnated in the atmosphere together with the heat-trapping gasses radiated from the cities. The El Niño Event also amplified the Pacific tropical cyclone activity which contributed to drought and increasing wildfire in some parts of the world as well as a strong release of carbon dioxide. Drought area was the most extreme since the 1980s.

According to climate reports, last year was a record setting one, thereby, every continent experienced record-breaking temperatures and South America, and Africa suffered from extreme drought conditions. Also, 2015 was the 36th consecutive year of alpine glacial melt, more than half of Greenland’s surface was in a melting state. In areas such as North Alaska, temperatures have increased by 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit every ten years since 2000.

Also, 2015 was the 36th consecutive year of alpine glacial melt, more than half of Greenland’s surface was in a melting state. In areas such as North Alaska, temperatures have increased by 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit every ten years since 2000.

Image source: Pixabay

Around this time last year, a marvelous invention was proposed as a potential panacea for all our climate troubles: A solar-powered solution that involves using the ambient carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to create materials for batteries and planes.

Now, almost a year later, another innovation comes out of Chicago to suggest a similar reaction: A solar cell that sucks the CO2 out of the atmosphere while also generating hydrocarbon fuel.

The researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago who made the breakthrough explained that the product is more like an artificial leaf which mimics the process of photosynthesis – turning sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel.

“The new solar cell is not photovoltaic — it’s photosynthetic,” said the senior author of the study Amin Salehi-Khojin, an assistant professor at UIC. The paper on the new technology has been published in the journal Science.

The process of producing energy from fossil fuels to greenhouse gas can now be reversed in a more sustainable way and help recycle atmospheric carbon into fuel with the help of sunlight.

Instead of acting like a real plant and producing sugar, the solar cell artificial leaf produces synthesis gas – also known as syngas – which burns on its own or turns into diesel and other materials.

There is one obstacle, however, to actually developing technology like this one or the solar-CO2-lithium innovation.

Producing composites and other fuels from greenhouse gasses costs a lot of money; the revolution in how we produce sustainable energy and fuels can only happen if CO2-derived syngas becomes as cheap as a gallon of gasoline.

Meanwhile, the Chicago researchers’ system uses a different catalyst to convert CO2 to burnable carbon. Nanoflake tungsten diselenide, as it’s called, is some 20 times cheaper than precious metals that have been used in the past.

Addressing climate change seems to be increasingly driven by new innovations, similar to the ones that contributed to the problem for decades. We have examples of such inventions, but it’s going to take a significant leap to take them out of the research lab and into the market.

Salehi-Khojin believes the system they created can be adapted to be used in solar farms, as well as on a smaller scale. Some more years of research could perhaps even make it usable on Mars.

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Hey, SwiftKey, are you okay?

According to some users, the latest update of the app backfired a week later when the new emoji-predicting keyboard started making some strange suggestions.

It appears as if the app mixed some jars and started using user data as suggestions sent to complete strangers. The suggestions were pertaining to names, email accounts, and phone numbers – all of which is very sensitive information.

Acquired by Microsoft for $250 million earlier in 2016, SwiftKey is an app which uses artificial intelligence to make useful suggestions based on the user’s typing habits.

Machine learning is involved in performing this task so SwiftKey can understand the patterns of communication between users; the unique words or phrases are then stored in a database. The app, which is available on both Android and iOS, is considered one of the best apps that wield both machine learning and AI.

In order to amplify its database and make sure it makes accurate suggestions, SwiftKey needs to process quite a lot of personal information, including previous texts, emails, and recurring phrases and names.

What is more, the app has been equipped with a sync tool that allows users to access their predictive data across various devices that use the same account. However, a glitch in this synchronization feature has allowed a few users to inadvertently gain access to information belonging to others.

Thankfully, the strangers quickly let each other know of the error, which helped Microsoft to catch wind of the problem. One SwiftKey user received an email from a stranger who warned them their details were compromised.

Both his private and work email addresses had been predicted as suggestions on a brand new phone; the anonymous source said he found a large number of contacts in his SwiftKey alphabet that he reported to their owners.

According to SwiftKey, the problem was generated by a bug in the sync feature, so the company swiftly switched it off the glitch is fixed. Other than that, SwiftKey guarantees the app is secure, given that the number of those affected by the bug was insignificant.

“We take users’ privacy and security very seriously,” SwiftKey wrote in a recent blog post.

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A recent study has reported that the prevalence of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft did not affect the number of deaths related to drunken driving.

Oxford University and the University of Southern California researchers analyzed the data from the 100 most crowded urban areas, both from before and after Uber and its competitors started their businesses.

Results showed that having access to ride-sharing services did not have an impact on traffic fatalities that involved DUIs. These discoveries matter especially because Uber has repeatedly counted a reduction in drunken-driving as a benefit of its service.

According to “Making Our Roads Safer For Everyone,” a blog post posted on Uber’s website, the company had conducted a survey with the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving back in 2015. The results suggested people believe their friends are less likely to drive drunk since Uber has become available.

The death toll has been reduced but due to efforts related to teen drinking and driving, as well as thanks to broader alcohol control initiatives. Researchers at Providence College and Stonehill College found in June of this year that fatal vehicle crashes occur less with ride-sharing app availability.

Another 2015 study that Uber has pointed out was conducted by data scientists at Temple University. It showed that alcohol-related driving fatalities had decreased after the introduction of Uber services in California.

However, Brad Greenwood and Sunil Wattal, the authors of that study, noted that their data focused strictly on California and did not account for other factors that could have had an impact on drunken driving, like changes in legislation.

Drunk people don’t want to pay for an Uber ride

Therefore, when the latest study, featured in the American Journal of Epidemiology, reanalyzed the situation, the results were wildly different.

Researchers looked at county-level data from 100 urban zones in dozens of states and also controlled for the fact that state laws can also affect drunk driving fatalities. Among the laws were marijuana-related legislation, bans on texting while driving, and higher taxes on alcohol.

The results showed Uber had no impact on deaths related to drinking and driving. Some of the reasons may be that an inebriated individual is not rational enough to considerate a safer Uber ride. Also, many drunk drivers may not want to pay for a costly Uber ride.

Either way, “The takeaway for me is that there’s still tons of room for improvement when it comes to reducing drunk driving fatalities,” like David Kirk, one of the study’s authors, said.

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Recently, a security researcher Twitted the weak spots of the on-line password manager, making it an easy target for hackers. In the meantime, the mediated LastPass security flaws have been fixed, the passwords that the manager stores being safe, yet again.

According to LastPass, the problems that Ormany tweeted about on Tuesday were identified and resolved. The online password manager reassured its users that their information is safe and will not fall prey to hackers.

Tavis Ormandy, information security engineer at Google Project Zero, decided to take a quick look at LastPass and the way in which the program handles. After uncovering some flaws, Ormandy took to Twitter in an attempt to make sense of the number of people who use the password manager.

“Are people really using this LastPass thing? I took a quick look and can see a bunch of obvious critical problems. I’ll send a report asap,” he tweeted.

Users were not happy with Ormandy’s decision, prompting him into tweeting a second message at only 10 minutes after the original one. The second read:

“OK OK, I get it, lots of people use LastPass. If you work there, please contact me ASAP and let’s get this fixed.”

Other security experts that were questioned about the morality and legality of Ormandy’s gestures have confronting opinions. While the act itself was not appropriate, the interviewed experts have different opinions on how Ormandy should have dealt with the situation.

For example, according to SearchSecurity, representatives from Vectra Networks and Tripwire Vulnerability and Exposure Research Team believe that the issue should not have been posted on Twitter.

On the other hand, Oliver Tavakoli, CTO at Vectra Networks believes that the way in which Ormandy acted was in accordance with the universally-known responsible disclosure procedures. Tavakoli believes that as long as the man only pointed out that there are a couple of issues with the password manager and didn’t name them, LastPass has no reason to complain.

Gunter Ollmann, CSO at Vectra Networks disagrees with his colleague. According to him, when somebody with Ormandy’s reputation signals out problems with a security manager, that person commits a tortious act.

He added that only by indicating that there are certain flaws in the system, hackers start to get interested in the product, searching for the same flaws.

Fortunately, the LastPass security flaws that Ormandy tweeted about were resolved, and users have no reason to fear.

What is your opinion on the LastPass security flaws? Did Ormandy do the right thing by talking about them on Twitter?

Photo courtesy of: LastPass 

Have you ever found yourself stalking a celebrity on Twitter in the wee hours of the morning, when the smartphone’s light is too bright and your eyes too tired?

The recently announced Night Mode is here to help, replacing the white background with dark blue. The black text also turns to white, designed to make it easy on the eyes to surf Twitter at night.

Over the past few months, the microblogging platform has been relentlessly testing the feature and receiving feedback from a small number of alpha testers. The social network has yet to reveal if it has plans of bringing the feature to iOS.

According to Twitter support, this is how you can enable it. First, make sure you have the latest version of the app, then tap on the navigation menu icon (or the profile icon) you see in the top menu.

Night Mode should be among the first settings featured in the drop-down list; just drag the toggle to turn it on or off, depending on the time of day or how tired you feel.

Twitter is not the first one to introduce this feature meant to improve the night experience of its users. It’s a known fact that the blue light emitted by smartphones and devices, in general, can act as a disruptive factor for a good night sleep. The Night Mode should alleviate some of that strain on the eyes.

Meanwhile, Twitter has also announced that general users and organizations are finally allowed to get their accounts verified and get that highly-coveted blue tick. Previously, the verified accounts were limited mostly to celebrities and public figures.

If you’re interested, visit the company’s dedicated support page and fill the form to apply for verification of your account. In the one-page form, users are asked to confirm the name of the account they want to verify and the reason why it should be verified.

Filling the form requires some criteria, such as a verified mobile number, confirmed email address, a profile photo, a bio, a birthday date, a link to a website other than twitter, and tweets that are set as ‘Public.’

Image Source: Tech Malak

Even though Tesla shows great promise in revolutionizing the electric car industry, Audi is not to be overlooked. The German automobile company has been quietly working on its own electronic vehicles (EVs) for a while now.

High-quality EVs produced by Audi are expected to come on the market in the coming years. According to a recent announcement made by Rupert Stadler, CEO of Audi, the carmaker’s goal is to release three electric car models by the end of the decade.

The fact that Audi is seriously pushing the industry of EV is the answer drivers needed after the recent emission scandal involving the parent company Volkswagen. Consequently, Audi plans to have a better reputation in the market and a better financial standing by creating a production of EVs in the long run.

Additionally, the new plan will include digital services, a seamless incorporation of the technology of EVs, and autonomous driving. Stadler said that his company will start offering EVs in the first segment of the new initiative.

Further details about what the future plans include will be revealed gradually, he added. Reuters reported that Audi is also seeking to start a subsidiary company called SDS. This company will be responsible for providing Autonomous cars for Audi.

For the more futuristic and ambitious plans, the German carmaker is looking to develop a robot car that might not even have pedals or a steering wheel. It’s supposed to be used in urban areas and make the autonomous driving more enticing for drivers.

Similarly, the company wants to build a car which takes human-like cues so that human input is reduced to a minimum for the driving.

A lot of companies are hiring and offering jobs to technology and car manufacturing experts in order to advance the technology of their EV and self-driving cars.

Apple, for example, has yet to announce officially that it’s working on developing an electric car, but Project Titan stands for proof that the tech firm has big plans.

Audi is also going in that direction to get the finest results. Partnering with an experienced company and making use of their researchers would surely benefit Audi to update its self-driving technology.

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Starting July 21, NASA astronauts have begun training in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

While it may sound strange to have space men training underwater, NASA’s 16-day mission is supposed to mimic conditions similar to those on planet Mars.

Six astronauts have dived into Aquarius Reef Base, which is located 19 meters below sea level. The mission – dubbed as NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) – is designed to help astronauts and the additional mission teams to check their skill and equipment for potential Mars missions.

According to the space agency, the conditions at Aquarius Reef Base are, in fact, quite similar to the conditions astronauts deal with when they work in microgravity environments.

NASA revealed that the NEEMO aquanauts learn to deal with the changes that come with living and working on a distant asteroid, planet or moon.

During the 16-day training, NASA astronauts had one special experiment that required using DNA sequencer. Reid Wiseman, one of the astronauts in the mission, shared a picture of the tool in action.

The DNA Sequencer, named Minion, helps crew members perform the necessary DNA analyses, test microbes, and monitor their own health.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins said the DNA sequencer is a useful tool at the International Space Station (ISS).

“NEEMO 21 astronauts and crew will pioneer complex tasks on the seafloor utilising the most advanced underwater navigation and science tools which are methodically choreographed to mimic a Mars exploration traverse,” said Bill Todd, leader of the NEEMO Project.

The NEEMO team chosen for this particular mission is made up of Marc O Griofa (Teloregen/VEGA/AirDocs), NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Noel Du Toit (Naval Postgraduate School), Matthias Maurer from European Space Agency, Dawn Kernagis (Institute for Human & Machine Cognition), and NASA astronaut Megan McArthur.

The mission involves simulated spacewalks and lessons of piloting underwater vehicles. One of the first challenges for the team was building a coral nursery, which allowed the crew members to practice their construction skills in low-gravity.

The NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) teams involved in the NEEMO 21 Project are confident this kind of missions could offer astronauts some much-needed practice before engaging in extraterrestrial trips.

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3