Science News

Science | Mail Online

1. Even cavemen used social networks! Bronze age tribes used granite rocks as prehistoric version of Facebook
   Archaeologists believe art scrawled on stones in sites in Sweden and Russia indicates that prehistoric man communicated with one another in a fashion similar to a modern day social networking site
2. Analyst slaps 'SELL' rating on Facebook shares after proclaiming them 'implausibly priced' at trading debut
   Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group in New York, warned his clients against buying Facebook shares, which he claims were implausibly priced.
3. Henry V's Welsh birthplace becomes world's first Wikipedia town... But will it be accurate?
   Visitors to Monmouth will from Saturday be able to use smartphones to scan barcodes at points of interest, instantly bringing up a Wikipedia page about the landmark on their phones.
4. Facebook IPO: Mark Zuckerberg becomes $19billion wealthier as 100m shares sold in FIVE minutes
   Keeping the champagne on ice ahead of the firm's blockbuster initial public offering, Facebook employees participated in an all-night brainstorming session for ideas to improve the website.
5. It's coming! Apple registers iPhone5.com as sources reveal next phone will be the last model designed by Steve Jobs
   The tech giant filed a case with the World Intellectual Property Organisation to wrest control of the internet address, which had been used by a Apple fan forum site.
6. Google Maps project shows you how far the bus can take you in 30 minutes in major cities across the world
   A one-man project, Mapnificent sucks in data from the transport services of more than 70 cities across the world, and then uses Google Maps to show how far you can travel.
7. Could fungi break down plastic and stop a very modern scourge?
   A group of students from Yale University, Connecticut, have found a fungus in the Amazon rainforest that can break down the common plastic polyurethane.
8. New iPhone app uses wireless sensor that lets your plants tell you if they are thirsty or too hot
   It is a perennial problem - most of us have accidentally neglected or killed plants in our time. But, as ever, there's an app for that - with iPhone users able to buy monitor their flowers from afar.
9. Pre-orders for Samsung Galaxy S3 phone shoot up to nine million - meaning phone will sell as many on first day as predecessor sold in six months
   The amount is extraordinary, considering the S2 - which battled with the iPhone to be the world's biggest-selling phone last year - took about six months to sell 10million phones.
10. China's first stealth jet goes from strength to strength as U.S. air technology falters (but is it just another Chinese rip-off?)
    The debut flight of the J-20 may serve as a warning to the U.S. air force, which has been plagued by a list of problems in their jets - including faulty oxygen systems poisoning pilots.
11. Human-dolphin communication is one step closer: New marine speaker can recreate the animals' clicks and whistles
    The new gadget will allow marine scientists to reproduce the full range of dolphin sounds, including clicks, whistles and burst pulses well outside of the range of human hearing.
12. World's first vegetarian shark shuns meat - so bemused Sea Life staff have to hide fish inside cucumbers to give her protein
    Florence, a six-foot nurse shark, started life as a meat-eater, but following an operation in 2009 to remove a rusty hook from her jaw, she has completely stopped eating her normal prey.
13. The GPS 'smart shoe' that can track Alzheimer's sufferers on Google Maps if they go missing
    The GPS Smart Shoe embeds a GPS receiver and SIM card to send the shoe's position to a private tracking website - helping to find people if they wander off.
14. Beware of iCloud! Snooping software lets police read everything on your iPhone in real-time without you ever knowing
    The software, called Phone Password Breaker, can download all of your iPhone's pictures, text messages, emails, calendar appointments, call logs, website you have visited, and contacts.
15. Can Google help beat cancer? Search engine's secret formulas being used to spot 'biomarkers' in the body and decide on treatment
    Researchers from Dresden University of Technology, Germany, are using Google's formulas to scan the 'web' of the human body and track down biomarkers which can reveal key insights into the spread of cancers.
16. Britain must build spaceport to avoid being 'left behind' in the tourism space race, business leaders claim
    A spaceport would help the British space industry 'really lift off' and bring in millions to the economy, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD).
17. Bad language in books such as Harry Potter and Twilight 'encourage' teens to swear
    Professor Sarah Coyne, of Brigham Young University in America, studied 40 books on the adolescent bestseller list and found, on average, there was 38 swear words per novel.
18. Should doctors use Sudoku instead of morphine? Mental distraction can PHYSICALLY reduce pain
    University of Hamburg scientists carried out scanning studies which showed how a distracting memory test blocked incoming pain signals.
19. The light show: Photographer spends his nights capturing the wonders of the Aurora Borealis
    Photographer Tommy Eliassen spends his nights chasing auroras around his home town of Mo i Rana in Norway to capture them in all their glory on camera and on video.
20. Ring of fire: Hundreds of millions to witness 'annular' solar eclipse this Sunday
    Shadows on the ground will also turn into crescents and 'rings' of light as moon covers as much as 94% of the sun this Sunday in parts of the U.S. and Asia.
21. Google 'Knowledge Graph' turns entire internet into one big Wikipedia
    Google says this is a 'critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.'
22. R U sure? People are more likely to tell the truth when asked questions via text message
    A University of Michigan study found that people tell the truth more when interviewed via text - even on subjects such as how much they drank, and how much they exercised.
23. Is this Nasa's most daring mission yet? Astronauts to land on asteroid three million miles from Earth - and stay for a MONTH
    The space agency Nasa is training a team of astronauts to land on asteroids after a three million mile journey - dwarfing the mere 239,000 miles travelled to the moon.
24. Solar satellites offer hope of green energy that might actually WORK
    Researchers at Stratchclyde University have already tested equipment in space for solar panels to collect the energy and allow it to be transferred back to earth through microwaves or lasers.
25. The tropics are moving northwards thanks to ozone - but the bad news for Britain is it means MORE rain for us
    Black carbon and tropospheric ozone are pushing the boundaries of the northern tropics further towards the pole - widening the regions by 0.7 degrees of latitude per decade.
26. Furby - the Christmas craze of 1998 - returns in a bid to be 2012's must-have present
    Makers Tiger Electronics aren't giving anything away, just this image of the next generation friend called Taboo - although can they keep the spoilers away in the Age of the Internet?
27. Born to win! The drive to success is in our genes, say scientists - and DNA dictates if we triumph or fail
    Research shows that much of our predisposition towards determination, sociability and self-control and sense of purpose is in our genes, say Edinburgh researchers.
28. The dinosaurs suffered from arthritis 150 million years ago - scientists find
    Bristol researchers found signs of a degenerative condition similar to human arthritis in the jaw of a pliosaur - an ancient sea reptile that lived 150 million years ago.