May 19, 2013

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msnbc.com: Technology & Science News

  • Why sign up for a one-way Mars trip? Three applicants explain the appeal
    A one-way trip to Mars sounds like something you'd wish on your worst enemy — so why would more than 78,000 people from around the world pay up to $75 for a chance to die on another planet?"I can say I have an ulterior motive," said David Brin, who has written more than a dozen science-fiction novels — including "The Postman," which was turned into a Kevin Costner movie in 1997. "I'd get a lot of ...
        


  • Nasty, home-wrecking 'crazy' ants even drive out fire ants in Southeast
    Invasive fire ants have been a thorn in the sides of Southerners for years. But another invasive species, the so-called "crazy" ant — which many describe as being worse — has arrived and is displacing fire ants in several places."When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back," said Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin...
        


  • Puzzling! Swine flu virus detected in elephant seals off West Coast
    The H1N1 virus strain that caused a 2009 swine flu outbreak in humans was detected in northern elephant seals off the coast of central California.Scientists say this is the first time marine mammals have been found to carry the H1N1 flu strain, which originated in pigs. The seals seem to have picked up the virus while at sea, but it's unclear how this happened."We thought we might find influenza v...
        


  • Scientists create world's tiniest drops of liquid in biggest atom smasher
    Scientists think they've created the smallest drops of liquid ever — the size of only three to five protons.The droplets were made inside the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, where particles are sped up to near light speed and then smashed together. When researchers collided protons with lead nuclei, they were surprised to find that the result was tee...
        


  • Fed's chairman tells graduates that the best tech is yet to come
    WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says pessimists forecasting that the economy will not reap sizable benefits from the computer revolution are likely to be proven wrong.Bernanke told a college graduating class Saturday that the long-range practical consequences of innovations such as faster computers and the Internet are hard to predict. But he said inventors have only scratc...
        


  • Teen's invention could charge your phone in 20 seconds
    Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student's invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.The fast-charging device is a so-called supercapacitor, a gizmo that can pack a lot of energy into a tiny space, charges qu...
        


  • 'Wild, Wild Web,' Part 1: Online romance gets reality check
        


  • Students can't resist distraction for two minutes ... and neither can you
    Are gadgets making us dumber? Two new studies suggest they might be. One found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test. A second demonstrated that some students, even when on their best behavior, can't concentrate on homework for more than two minutes without distracting themselves by using social media or writing an email.Interruptions are...
        


  • Scientists respond to planet hunter's plight with pointers – and poetry
    NASA is getting plenty of advice — and sympathy — as it assesses whether its Kepler planet-hunting telescope can be revived after the failure of its reaction-control system. The reactions from scientists and engineers range from repair tips to an Audenesque elegy. Here's a sampling:How to fix KeplerThe reason why the $600 million Kepler spacecraft can no longer search for planetary transits is tha...
        


  • Buggy hordes of cicadas sighted in Virginia ... but New York? Not yet
    There's been a groundswell of 17-year cicadas in Virginia and other southern states, as revealed by a fresh wave of photos and eyewitness reports. In some areas, the outbreak has been accompanied by the insects' loud chorus call. And that's music to the ears of University of Connecticut entomologist John Cooley."That's where I'm heading," Cooley told NBC News. The weather is still too cool in New ...
        


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