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Pakistan TV preacher defends Ramadan baby give-away

"A charismatic Muslim preacher criticised for giving out babies to childless couples live on prime-time Pakistani television denies he is crudely seeking top ratings. Aamir Liaqat Hussain spoke to AFP as a charity involved in the process said a third baby is due to be given away in the coming days. Hussain broadcasts a marathon 12-hour show each day during the holy month of Ramadan, watched by millions of viewers across the country. He mesmerises his audience with celebrity interviews, game shows, by providing in-studio meals to the needy — and, on two consecutive weeks, handing out baby girls to childless couples." Continue reading →

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Should insider trading be legal? Insiders say yes

"Perhaps the folks at hedge fund SAP Capital Advisors, who have recently pleaded guilty to insider-trading charges, should have run for Congress. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission served the firm with a criminal indictment and continues pressing civil charges against its founder Steven Cohen. The agency hasn’t done much about accounting fraud, or other shenanigans that lead to the 2008 financial crisis, but insider trading remains a priority. Over the past three years, the SEC boasts of filing 168 insider trading cases, more than any three-year period in the agency’s history." Continue reading →

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Exposing high-security flaws with 3D Printing

"MIT students David Lawrence and Eric Van Albert showed how 3D printing could allow anyone to replicate a Schlage key for their high-security Primus locks used in Government offices, medical and detention centres. The Primus lock and key system are tightly controlled by Schlage and bear the words 'Do not duplicate' across the top. They are considered to be one of the hardest locks to pick in the world. With the use of a normal 2D scanner, their code – the software deciphers the code on each key - and the use of a 3D printing service like Shapeways the pair have managed to duplicate working Primus lock keys." Continue reading →

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Motorola’s Moto X: First Impressions

"Ordering a phone to your own specs takes four days in most cases, but that time frame can shift by a day or two if, say, everyone wants an olive-green phone with orange accents. Making this type of customization a reality is a smartphone assembly plant in Fort Worth, the only one of its kind in the U.S. Motorola purchased the facility (it had once been a Nokia (NOK) plant) and employs around 2,000 people there to put together phones based on specs coming out of Motomaker, as well as standard-issue devices in black or white. Motorola says it doesn’t know how much of the production will be taken up by custom orders." Continue reading →

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Guitarist completes first-ever paddleboard journey from Cuba to U.S.

"A Tennessee musician on Friday became the first paddleboarder to cross the Florida Straits between Cuba and the United States, making the 110 mile journey in 28 hours as his father watched from a support boat. Ben Friberg, 35, arrived in Key West dehydrated and exhausted but otherwise in good shape. Before leaving Cuba on Thursday, Friberg said he was 'doing this to promote peace and understanding between Cuba and the United States and to promote a healthy lifestyle.'" Continue reading →

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The 1 Up Fever

"In the Berlin city everyone is going crazy for a viral new app. Anyone with a smartphone can play a sort of Super Mario Bros arcade game in Augmented Reality. In the game a coin corresponds to 0.01 Bitcoins. Citizens' habits are tainted by the game. Coins are hidden all over the city, you can spot them just scanning around with your device, not always they are easy to grab. People started to leave their jobs in order to collect Coins in the streets. All over the city people are jumping and running around with their smartphones, trying to grab as many virtual coins as they can..." Continue reading →

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MIT researches find gold can control blood clotting

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists, funded by the US National Science Foundation, have come up with a new technique to control blood clotting by using gold. The method involves small particles of gold and the use of infrared laser light. According to the researchers, who published their findings in the PLoS One journal, one of the main advantages of this method is that coagulation can be turned on or off as needed. Wound healing, surgery and other conditions require handling this process, mainly through the use of anticoagulants such as heparin or warfarin. However, reversing the effects of these drugs is difficult." Continue reading →

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Google’s Sergey Brin bankrolled world’s first synthetic beef hamburger ‘for animal welfare reasons’

"The man who has bankrolled the production of the world’s first lab-grown hamburger has been revealed as Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The internet entrepreneur has backed the project to the tune of €250,000 (£215,000), allowing scientists to grow enough meat in the lab to create a burger – as a proof of concept – that will be cooked and eaten in London on Monday. Brin, a computer scientist who set up Google with university colleague Larry Page, is one of the wealthiest men in the world and has a history of backing projects that sound as though they belong in science fiction movies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle’s Sergey Brin bankrolled world’s first synthetic beef hamburger ‘for animal welfare reasons’

Woolly mammoth DNA may lead to a resurrection of the ancient beast

"The pioneering scientist who created Dolly the sheep has outlined how cells plucked from frozen woolly mammoth carcasses might one day help resurrect the ancient beasts. The notional procedure – bringing with it echoes of the Jurassic Park films – was spelled out by Sir Ian Wilmut, the Edinburgh-based stem-cell scientist, whose team unveiled Dolly as the world's first cloned mammal in 1996. Though it is unlikely that a mammoth could be cloned in the same way as Dolly, more modern techniques that convert tissue cells into stem cells could potentially achieve the feat, Wilmut says in an article today for the academic journalism website, The Conversation." Continue reading →

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