List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

This is the moment India made its historic first landing on the moon's south pole, just days after Russia's attempt ended in a crash. India's attempt to land its Chandrayaan-2 mission near the south pole in 2019 was unsuccessful, but the Chandrayaan-3 mission went off without a hitch. The lander, known as Vikram, touched down at 13:34 BST. It's thought no attempts have been successful so far because of its rocky landscape, making it difficult to find somewhere to land safely. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Plants make sounds when they’re distressed and humans are only hearing them now for the first time, scientists have found. New research has discovered that sounds are used by plants to communicate with their ecosystems – and they could be studied and used to improve growing conditions for plants in the future. Itzhak Khait of Tel Aviv University led the research, which involved studying tobacco and tomato plants. As the findings showed, the plants made high-frequency noise which could be detected five metres away. The study was published in the journal Cell, and the results “can alter the way we think about the plant kingdom, which has been considered to be almost silent until now”. Not only that, but by studying the sounds emitted by the plants experts could tell whether they were in need of water or suffering from cuts. Lilach Hadany, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University, told Vice: “We started this project from the evolutionary question: why are plants mute? It appears that plants could have a lot to benefit from acoustic communication.” “We were particularly happy that the sounds turned out to be informative – containing information on the type of the plant and the type of the stress.” The findings could change the way plants are grown and communicate with their environments in future, given that we now know information can be conveyed via the sounds. Hadany went on to say: “What we do know is that there are sounds in the air, and they contain information. “Thus, natural selection may be acting on other organisms (animals and plants) to whom the sounds are relevant, to be able to hear the sounds and interpret them. That includes animals that can hear the sounds and can use the information to choose a food source or a laying site, or potentially plants that can prepare for the stress.” The team said in the study: “Plant sound emissions could offer a way for monitoring crops water and possibly disease states—questions of crucial importance in agriculture. “In times when more and more areas are exposed to drought due to climate change, efficient water use becomes even more critical, for both food security and ecology.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Big Tech’s earnings season is wrapping up with a bang: Nvidia Corp., at the center of the artificial

By Gwladys Fouche OSLO Meta Platforms is breaking European data privacy rules in Norway, the country's data regulator

Scientists have developed eye scans that use artificial intelligence to detect markers of Parkinson’s disease seven years before symptoms appear, making it the first time the condition can be detected several years before diagnosis. Parkinson disease’s is a deteriorating neurological condition characterised by a reduction of dopamine. The research, published on Tuesday in the journal Neurology, used two large sets of health data – the AlzEye dataset and the UK Biobank database – to identify these subtle markers, even though Parkinson’s disease has a relatively low prevalence among this population. The AlzEye dataset was formed from the world’s largest database of retinal images and associated clinical data. Post-mortem examination of Parkinson’s patients has found differences in the retina’s inner nuclear layer (INL). Previous studies have shown eye-scan data can reveal signs of other deterioration of neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. The studies are part of an emerging field of research called “oculomics”. Eye scan data has also been shown to reveal people’s propensity to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Doctors have historically conducted physical eye tests, believing the organ can act as a “window” to the rest of the body, and provide direct insight into many aspects of human health. With high-resolution images of the retina now a routine part of eye care, scientists said the data from these scans can be put to better analysis to gain better insights on patient health. In particular, a type of 3D scan known as optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in eye clinics and by high-street opticians. These scans can produce a cross-section of the retina – the screen of nerves at the back of the eye – in incredible detail down to a thousandth of a millimetre. Images of the retina can be extremely useful for monitoring eye health. But researchers said their value can become much more as a retinal scan is the only non-intrusive way to view layers of cells below the skin’s surface. They found in the new study that a reduced thickness of these cell layers was associated with an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have also started using powerful computers and AI technology to accurately analyse large numbers of OCTs and other eye images, in a fraction of the time it would take a human. “While we are not yet ready to predict whether an individual will develop Parkinson’s, we hope that this method could soon become a pre-screening tool for people at risk of disease,” study co-author Siegfried Wagner from the University College London said. “Finding signs of a number of diseases before symptoms emerge means that, in the future, people could have the time to make lifestyle changes to prevent some conditions arising, and clinicians could delay the onset and impact of life-changing neurodegenerative disorders,” Dr Wagner said. Researchers said the OCT method used in the study is also non-invasive of lower cost, more scalable and quicker than brain scans for this purpose. Read More Study could lead to injections that replicate brain benefits of exercise Dementia breakthrough as drug treatment comes one step closer Parkinson’s therapy could be used to tackle alcohol abuse Justin Trudeau slams Facebook for blocking news stories about wildfires Microsoft makes big changes to takeover of Activision Blizzard Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for

By Paul Sandle and Kate Holton LONDON The long-running battle between Microsoft and Britain over the Activision Blizzard

Snap Inc. is appointing a former Google executive to lead its India operations as it strives to become

Huawei Technologies Co is building a collection of secret semiconductor-fabrication facilities across China to let the company skirt

By Jody Godoy (Reuters) -A U.S. consumer finance regulator sued a subsidiary of fintech lender Curo Group Holdings Corp on

Peloton Interactive Inc. is looking to college campuses as a new source of growth, starting with the University

NEW YORK Cryptoassets, peddled as the future of finance, have not only failed to deliver on their promise

Beth Wilkinson had 10 days to save Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., the biggest