Covering World

International Space Station gets urgent repairs

<br />

<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei903dsTYz3H8LswRPi43uywLqthJxTL0DgIZ9so0jYCtad2CXkHPBGVDk1vjv9qmqvwbmXPYsXfKw3FNxz6kvVG2IEkAvFJQe9jVDW4fH-HAuXWkPM1bkpILKba1TCkPYnIm8I-VE-k/s1600/iss_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei903dsTYz3H8LswRPi43uywLqthJxTL0DgIZ9so0jYCtad2CXkHPBGVDk1vjv9qmqvwbmXPYsXfKw3FNxz6kvVG2IEkAvFJQe9jVDW4fH-HAuXWkPM1bkpILKba1TCkPYnIm8I-VE-k/s640/iss_5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Astronauts on the ISS have <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25477541">finished</a> the
first of potentially three spacewalks necessary to replace a pump containing a
faulty valve.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Half of the station's cooling system has been
shut down for a week after detecting abnormal temperatures. All non-essential
equipment has been turned off until the problem can be repaired.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
The six-hour long spacewalk was conducted by US
astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, who removed a fridge-sized
ammonia pump that was faulty. At one point, a connector began to float away
from the station, but Mastracchio was able to recover it.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
A new pump will be installed on 24 December,
however if the problem remains then a third spacewalk may be necessary.</div>
The repairs have been prioritised over the launch of a supply ship to bring
new equipment to the station and carry away its trash. That will now happen in
January.<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
However, Nasa also played down the urgency of the
mission, saying the situation was potentially serious but not life-threatening.</div>

International Space Station gets urgent repairs

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

24Dec2013

How to learn a new skill in 20 hours

<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
In his latest book, <em>The First 20 Hours: How
to Learn Anything</em>… Fast, American author Josh Kaufman explains how
you can pick up a new skill much faster than you think. He breaks
down his method into five steps to get you started on your next learning
curve, be it playing the ukulele, picking up programming or trying out
windsurfing -- all in 20 hours.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHGUfsifOc6JTdeBxM3ErfFUFf-OripCTJmHs0RRnVsy3UC2gH_8F3mu2_loVcYuBFel781JCQjkaGY0cu345sgObLarlujJyoOFxancOwZome6W2NXwcuji_xutn79biCeAk02NvHl0/s1600/How+to+learn+a+new+skill+in+20+hours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHGUfsifOc6JTdeBxM3ErfFUFf-OripCTJmHs0RRnVsy3UC2gH_8F3mu2_loVcYuBFel781JCQjkaGY0cu345sgObLarlujJyoOFxancOwZome6W2NXwcuji_xutn79biCeAk02NvHl0/s640/How+to+learn+a+new+skill+in+20+hours.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
<strong>Set your target</strong><br />
Kaufman suggests focusing on one skill at a time, narrowing it down to a
specific discipline, then setting realistic goals. "If you're learning
golf, being on the PGA tour after 20 hours' practice is not going to
happen," he says. "But learning how to tee off in a reasonably
straight line, fairly consistently -- you could totally do that within 20
hours."</div>
<strong>Break it down</strong><br />
"Most of the things we think of as skills, such as learning a new
language, aren't one skill -- they're a bundle of smaller ones," Kaufman
explains. Deconstruct your chosen activity into two or three sub-skills.
Setting out to achieve these smaller goals in isolation will be more manageable
than trying to learn everything at once.<br />
<strong>Hit the books</strong><br />
"Research enough to start practising, but not so much that it is
procrastination," says Kaufman. Spend one or two hours reading up on your
skill before you give it a go -- and skim through five books rather than
examining one in depth: the techniques that keep reappearing are the ones to
focus on. And talk to a practitioner of your skill to get an idea of aims and
goals.<br />
<strong>Just do it</strong><br />
Actually focusing on the task is often the hardest step, so Kaufman suggests
you turn off your TV and phone, and block the internet. Then, reduce
"friction" -- any unnecessary energy it takes to get started:
"If the guitar is in its case, you're not going to practise as much as if
you took it out of the case and put it on a stand right where you sit all the
time."<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
<strong>Make a commitment</strong><br />
Pre-commit to at least 20 hours of practice. Little and often is best; you'll
reach 20 hours by doing 45 minutes daily for around a month. "I find hours
one to four are terrible," says Kaufman. "Around hour three or four
you start to get the hang of it and see some results." Once you've
completed 20 hours, decide if you want to continue, or try a new activity.</div>

How to learn a new skill in 20 hours

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

24Dec2013

Birdi smart smoke detector likely to ruffle feathers at Nest HQ

<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDlZXYaaRgXeuemXwEyYoA2kGniIfFeeg8nawhNY0g4ZYE5YGzy2p9JDj7WHRRXD8hwQ7wFTNMybqSzjn3Agar_LKWPfUrxmg3JDkxGux_AGbd9xGFgOxrG9cYgUJAEYbTu8_VOA84lE/s1600/Birdi+smart+smoke+detector+likely+to+ruffle+feathers+at+Nest+HQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDlZXYaaRgXeuemXwEyYoA2kGniIfFeeg8nawhNY0g4ZYE5YGzy2p9JDj7WHRRXD8hwQ7wFTNMybqSzjn3Agar_LKWPfUrxmg3JDkxGux_AGbd9xGFgOxrG9cYgUJAEYbTu8_VOA84lE/s640/Birdi+smart+smoke+detector+likely+to+ruffle+feathers+at+Nest+HQ.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>

<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
In case you're in need of a replacement smoke
detector and haven't settled upon the <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-10/08/nest-protect">Nest Protect</a>
already, a new smart safety device has just swooped in to knock the Protect off
its perch.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
With 33 days left of <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/birdi">its Indiegogo campaign</a>, the
Birdi smoke detector is almost halfway to reaching its $50,000
(£30,570) target. Like the Nest Protect, it is also a carbon monoxide
detector and automatically alerts you and/or the emergency services through a
smartphone app in case of an emergency.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Unlike the Protect, however, it also does a whole
bunch of other stuff that involves measuring various elements of the air to let
you monitor the quality of the gas you might be breathing in within your home.
One particularly nice touch is that when the battery for your Birdi is running
low, the company will send you spares automatically to your door.</div>
That said, it is arguably not as attractive or distinctive as the Nest
Protect, even though it comes in six colours. Tony Fadell and his team seem
really do have the magic touch when it comes to turning boring household mainstays
into objects of desire. Birdi doesn't offer the gentle pulsing light of the
Nest Protect as you switch off the lights at night or walk underneath it, and
neither does it link up in the app with a (growing) ecosystem of other smart
knobs and switches.<br />
In theory Birdi's many different functions seems like a great idea, but
perhaps it misses a simple point that Nest really gets -- that objects like
clever smoke detectors should be designed to be appreciated passively rather
than actively. The Nest Protect performs a job that almost all of us will never
need it for, and sits pretty in the meantime -- an aesthetically pleasing and
reassuring presence.<br />
Birdi, meanwhile seems geared towards encouraging you to constantly monitor
things like air quality, temperature, pollen count and humidity. It's even
integrated with social media, presumably allowing you to share facts about the
air quality in your home, which will be just as thrilling for your friends as
hearing that you've completed a 12-mile run using some app to keep a track of
your progress.<br />
No doubt there will be those who want to take advantage of all Birdi's
various monitoring functions, but then again, it might be the case that the
early bird catches the worm, and that bird in this case was Nest.<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
If you're interested in backing Birdi and getting
your hands on a unit, you can head over to Kickstarter where the current price
for i unit is $100 (£61.21). It's set to rise to $119 (£72.76) when it launches
properly, stillundercutting the Nest Protect by $10 in the US.</div>

Birdi smart smoke detector likely to ruffle feathers at Nest HQ

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

24Dec2013

Adorable astronaut pal Kirobo enjoys first face-to-face, in-space chat

<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbet8J0uLWe_NyyIFHR9L-DGNdnai2Or8NMXMC0766m4KAkXj2w8igPzSIAoFXd6H2NNtWrSe2RuWbE9W0ZB3LtjXVB6xtT3N2LHqV1AMW-wE5jruVTqiYTT5bk-N-K7-FgktNADOkuOs/s1600/kirobo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbet8J0uLWe_NyyIFHR9L-DGNdnai2Or8NMXMC0766m4KAkXj2w8igPzSIAoFXd6H2NNtWrSe2RuWbE9W0ZB3LtjXVB6xtT3N2LHqV1AMW-wE5jruVTqiYTT5bk-N-K7-FgktNADOkuOs/s640/kirobo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>

<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Adorable, <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/06/kirobo-space-robot">robotic
astronaut pal Kirobo</a> has enjoyed his first face-to-face, in-space
conversation with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is testing out the
little bot's autonomous conversation skills.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Kirobo is the first humanoid robot to go into
space and instead of giving pre-programmed responses to questions he processes
them and constructs the answers from a pool of vocabulary.</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
In a video showing the interaction between the
two, Wakata can be seen saying: "I've been looking forward to meeting you,
Kirobo, for such a long time."</div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
"Me too, I've always wanted to meet
you," replies Kirobo, who set off for the International Space Station in
August, where he waited for Wakata, who then arrived in November.</div>
Conversation was a little stilted, with pauses in between questions and
answers, but the robot's conversation improves and gets smoother all the time.<br />
"We've had some trouble before having the robot carry on the
conversation smoothly," <a href="https://news.google.com/news?ncl=ddCD869pKk4zBjM7j7qA20hbEEF3M&q=kirobo&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Rm60Upz9LIWshQfr0IHACQ&ved=0CDkQqgIwAA"><em><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">AFP </span></em> reports</a> Kirobo's developer
Tomotaka Takahashi as saying.<br />
"When people develop a relationship, it is an accumulation of small
bits of communication. Small things make it work or not work," he said.
"We've learnt important tips to develop a robot that can communicate with
people more."<br />
Kirobo also told Wakata that he's enjoying zero gravity and that he's going
to ask Santa for a rocket for Christmas, presumably so he can go explore
further afield.<br />
"What kind of training have you done?" Wakata asks Kirobo.<br />
"I was trained to talk to people," answers the robot.<br />
Kirobo might know what he's doing, but it's doubtful that he knows why he's
doing it. He has no idea that the experiment is being conducted in the hope of
facilitating the coexistence of humans and robots in the future, and maybe
even deploying communication robots in outer space.<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
He was designed though as a companion for
isolated people, and is the product of a collaborative project between
advertising firm Dentsu, the University of Tokyo, robot developer Robo Garage
and Toyota. Kirobo is scheduled to return to Earth in December 2014, so let's
hope he and Wakata continue to be chums.</div>

Adorable astronaut pal Kirobo enjoys first face-to-face, in-space chat

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

24Dec2013

Absolutely shocking: electrocuting brain can wipe unpleasant memories

<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Ever done something so embarassing, ridiculous or
depressing that you wish you could forget the whole horrible mess forever? If
so, you're in luck -- a recent report in <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/zapping-the-brain-can-help-to-spot-clean-nasty-memories-1.14431"><i>Nature
Neuroscience</i></a> claims that with a few electroshock therapy (ECT) induced
seizures, your brain can be wiped of the offending memory. <a href="http://www.ru.nl/people/donders/kroes-m/">Marijn Kroes</a> and his team
of neuroscientists at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands,
discovered that strategically timed electric shocks to the brain can
effectively destroy thoughts of unpleasant moments in your past.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaLvIVjYMklQHYBTTxEAE6Djhfk5VeWQ6bgDU2NByldJwlr5OcPf6027dJQq4h9mSgbAocR1zoRhnJdCZZFe6PM51jdXNhQLyGFTqFyoMPvbrt7Bo3Zj8_ySsdQNwpfz-jwcVFFGRYbM/s1600/Absolutely+shocking+electrocuting+brain+can+wipe+unpleasant+memories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaLvIVjYMklQHYBTTxEAE6Djhfk5VeWQ6bgDU2NByldJwlr5OcPf6027dJQq4h9mSgbAocR1zoRhnJdCZZFe6PM51jdXNhQLyGFTqFyoMPvbrt7Bo3Zj8_ySsdQNwpfz-jwcVFFGRYbM/s640/Absolutely+shocking+electrocuting+brain+can+wipe+unpleasant+memories.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Kroes' discovery relies on the theory of memory
consolidation, which suggests that memories are plucked from a mental warehouse
whenever they are accessed and re-written over time back onto the brain's
circuits. It is thought, after studying results from tests made on animals and
humans, that whilst the brain is in the process of reconsolidating, memories
can become vulnerable to destruction.</div>
42 patients suffering from severe depression and already undergoing ECT were
Kores' test subjects. He showed them two slides, one depicting a car accident
and another depicting an assault. Later, the team requested the patients recall
one of the slides, which began the "re-writing" process, it is at
this moment that their brains were electrocuted. A day later, patients were
unable to answer questions relating to the slide they had thought of during the
ECT process but were able to recall with clarity the slide they did not think
of.<br />
<a href="http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/schiller/">Daniela Schiller</a>, a neuroscientist
at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York said: "this provides very strong and
compelling evidence that memories in the human brain undergo reconsolidation,
and that a window of opportunity exists to treat bad memories." However,
she feels more work is needed to establish how long the effects last and
whether this method will work on older, more ingrained memories.<br />
<div class="adavoidedbutflowable">
Kores acknowledges that ECT may not be suitable
for most patients, but hopes that results from these tests will aid the
discovery of new and less invasive methods of altering memory reconsolidation.
He hopes that the process can eventually help those suffering from depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder or addiction.</div>