What Causes The Social Order In Bee Colonies To Collapse

A hive of Apis dorsata (giant honey bees) I photographed whilst in Mt Abu, India. Wikipedia

AFP: Sexual rebellion and murder among the bees

Scientists revealed Wednesday the trigger that can plunge a colony of obedient and sterile worker bees dutifully serving their queen into a chaotic swarm of sexual rebellion and regicide.

It's in the beeswax, according to a study published in the British journal Royal Society Open Science.

Biologists have long puzzled at what, exactly, tips the ordered world of many social insects -- rigidly divided by caste, function and hierarchy -- into murderous mayhem of sometimes Shakespearean dimensions.

In this case, the actor subject to observation and experimentation was Bombus terrestris, more commonly known as the bumblebee.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: I have been fascinated with bees since I was a kid. But this AFP report is an excellent post that summarizes how a bee colony functions.

The Work To Reclaim Looted Antiquities From Iraq Is Starting

Neanderthal remains were found, along with a plinth of sediment, in Shanidar Cave in Iraq. GRAEME BARKER

Discovery: ISIS Gone, Archaeologists Return to Key Iraq Sites

As the terrorist group ISIS is pushed out of northern Iraq, archaeologists are resuming work in the region, making new discoveries and figuring out how to conserve archaeological sites and reclaim looted antiquities.

Several discoveries, including new Neanderthal skeletal remains, have been made at Shanidar Cave, a site in Iraqi Kurdistan that was inhabited by Neanderthals more than 40,000 years ago.

Additionally, though ISIS did destroy and loot a great number of sites, there are several ways for archaeologists, scientific institutions, governments and law enforcement agencies in North America and Europe to help save the region's heritage, said Dlshad Marf Zamua, a Kurdish archaeologist and doctoral student at Leiden University in the Netherlands. [Photos: Restoring Life to Iraq's Ruined Artifacts]

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Unfortunately .... a lot of history has already been destroyed.

A Super-Fast 50mph Drone For The General Consumer

A series of sensors help keep the Parrot stable while in flight. On the bottom of the drone, a camera and ultrasound help maintain its balance. Pictured is exhibitor Fabien Laxague

Daily Mail: The superfast 50mph flying wing 'stealth drone' you can launch by THROWING it into the air

* Parrot Disco can fly for 45 minutes on a single charge
* Can reach speeds of 50mph and fly automatically
* Pilots can take control from their phone, or even via a VR headset

Parrot has unveiled what could be the fastest drone on the market for home users - capable of reaching 50mph.

Called the Disco, a prototype was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, and it expected to go on sale before the end of the year - although no price was announced.

It will fly for 45 minutes on a single charge, and can fly itself via an app, with smart software allowing pilots to take control from their phone, or even via a VR headset.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: When I read stories like this one .... I shudder on what terrorists can do with this type of tech in their hands.

NASA's Kepler Telescope Has Found 100 New Exoplanets

The artist's illustration shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in its second-chance K2 mission. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle

Space.com: NASA's Kepler Comes Roaring Back with 100 New Exoplanet Finds

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — NASA's Kepler spacecraft has bounced back nicely from the malfunction that ended its original exoplanet hunt more than two years ago.

Kepler has now discovered more than 100 confirmed alien planets during its second-chance K2 mission, researchers announced today (Jan. 5) here at the 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

The $600 million Kepler mission launched in March 2009, tasked with determining how commonly Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Kepler has been incredibly successful, finding more than 1,000 alien worlds to date, more than half of all exoplanets ever discovered.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Kudos to this team. The Kepler project is not done yet.

The Story Of Math Genius Ramanujan

Photo: Srinivasa Ramanujan. Wikiedia

Cosmos: Ramanujan – a humble maths genius

Ramanujan’s extraordinary mathematical ability has become the stuff of legend. Paul Davies tells his story.

The number 1,729 is not one to make the average person’s pulse race, but it is the subject of one of the most remarkable stories in the history of mathematics.

Most of us learnt basic arithmetic at school, and we all remember that some students were better at it than others – the bright girl who could do sums twice as fast as the rest of us, or the boy who could prove theorems in a trice. Of course all subjects attract a range of skills, but almost unique to mathematics are a handful of extreme outliers who are so good it seems they are deploying some form of magic. The best-known genius of this type was Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Born in 1887, Ramanujan was an eccentric young Indian student who lived in obscurity in the town of Kumbakonam in the state of Tamil Nadu. Bestowed with remarkable analytical skills, by the age of 13 he had devised his own scheme for computing the digits of pi that is still in use today. He spent much of his spare time scribbling formulae in notebooks or on a small blackboard.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Wikipedia has an excellent list of links on the work that this mathematical genius did. The Wikipedia entry is here.

Facebook's Oculus Rift Due To Be Launched Later This Year

The first commercial headset of Facebook's Oculus Rift is due to go on sale within weeks and will cost more than £300. An earlier iteration given to developers is pictured above

Daily Mail: Virtual reality is the future of TV: Facebook's Oculus Rift headset could give sport fans 360-degree views of games

* Oculus Rift is due to be launched later this year and will cost around £300
* The first content is likely to be for the computer games industry
* But virtual reality could find major new markets in television and sport

Imagine sitting in the cockpit of a star ship in the midst of an intergalactic dogfight or sharing the fun in the stands of the World Cup final.

Virtual reality headsets that put the wearer in the middle of the action - with a 360-degree view - are set to be the breakthrough gadgets of 2016.

At the heart of this revolution is a battle between the world's biggest and richest tech giants, notably Facebook, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung and HTC.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: When virtual reality reaches its "hoped-for" potential .... this will be the hottest item that every consumer will need to have. Unfortunately .... we are still far away from that.

Trained Dogs Can Help In Treating Veterans With PTSD

NPR: Veterans Say Trained Dogs Help With PTSD, But The VA Won't Pay

At a warehouse near Dallas, a black Lab named Papi tugs on a rope to open a fridge and passes his trainer a plastic water bottle with his mouth.

Service dogs are often trained to help veterans with physical disabilities. Now, a growing number are being trained to meet the demand from vets with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Those dogs learn extra tricks — how to sweep a house for intruders, for example, so a veteran feels safe.

"We teach them something called perimeter, where they go into the house and they check, they just touch all the doors and all the windows," says Cheryl Woolnough, training director at Patriot PAWS, a nonprofit in Rockwall, Texas, that provides service dogs.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Everyone who has had a dog in his or her life knows how much of a support they can be during difficult times. But for veterans who are suffering PTSD .... their needs are different, and this is where a trained dog can provide a valuable service. Unfortunately .... dollars and cents are the priority here, and not taking of care of the patient.

Twitter Considering To Increase Character Limit To As High As 10,000

Forbes: Report: Twitter Explores 10,000 Character Limit For Tweets

Twitter’s investors have long clamored for bold changes that would reenergize the company, attract new users and lift the stock out of its doldrums. Three months into his tenure as permanent CEO, Jack Dorsey appears to be listening to their pleas.

Twitter is said to be working on a feature that would allow users to create tweets with as many as 10,000 characters, obliterating the 140-character limit that’s been synonymous with the microblogging service since its inception, according to a report in the tech blog Re/code.

Read more ....

More News On Reports That Twitter Is Considering Increasing Its Character Limit To As High As 10,000

Twitter considering 10,000-character limit for tweets - report -- Reuters
Twitter to Expand Tweet’s 140-Character Limit to 10,000 -- WSJ
Twitter’s rumored new character limit would allow 2.5-page, single-spaced essays -- Washington Post
Twitter May Increase Tweets To 10,000 Characters, But Hide All Past 140 -- Tech Crunch
Twitter may soon let you write 2,000-word tweets -- CNet
So long, 140! Twitter may soon let you share 10,000 characters per post -- Mashable
Here’s What 10,000 Characters Looks Like -- Tech Crunch

What Happens When You Suddenly Stop Drinking For One Month?

The Guardian: Going booze-free? The effects of a month without alcohol

With the start of another new year, people are once again swearing off alcohol for at least a month, often for charity. What are the potential effects of suddenly cutting all alcohol from your system?

Alcohol. It’s a popular social lubricant, provides pleasure, and often tastes nice. It also has long term health consequences, and imposes a heavy burden on our society. Overall, it’s a mixed blessing.

At present it’s becoming ever-more fashionable, even charitable, to abstain from alcohol for the month of January. After the indulgence of the Christmas period, it’s hardly surprising people will want to do something healthy, and what could be healthier than giving up alcohol?

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Speaking personally .... being irritable will be the first reaction .... but after one month .... the cravings will be there but the impact of not drinking will not.

Will This Powerboat Break The World Record By Sailing From Cornwall To New York On A Single Tank Of Fuel?

A group of British engineers is building a boat capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean between Cornwall and New York in just 48 hours. The design (illustrated in a CGI image) will make the crossing with an average speed of (105km/h), beating the current two day, ten hour and 54-minute record for the crossing that has been held since 1992

Daily Mail: Crossing the Atlantic in just 48 HOURS: Wave-piercing powerboat will attempt to break the world record by sailing from Cornwall to New York on a single tank of fuel

* A group of engineers from Team Great Britain has designed a 112ft (34 metre) wave-piercing powerboat
* Led by Richard George, the team will travel from Cornwall in the UK to New York - a total of 3,100 miles (4,988km)
* The vessel will also attempt the journey on a single tank of fuel and it is hoped the boat will one day be capable of carrying passengers as a high-speed ferry
* The current record for the crossing is two days, ten hours and 54 minutes held by Aga Khan's powerboat Destriero

It is a journey that takes even the speediest cruise liners up to a week, but a group of British engineers is hoping to cross the Atlantic by boat in under two days - on a single tank of fuel.
Led by businessman Richard George, the team is building a boat capable of smashing the world record for the 3,100 mile trip (4,988km), yet said it will also be capable of carrying commercial passengers.
The wave-piercing 112ft (34 metre) powerboat, which will have a seven-man crew, will make the trip between Cornwall and New York at an average speed of 65mph (105km/h) in just 48 hours.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Before everyone gets excited, they will still have to build and test this powerboat.

Faraday Future Reveals Their Car

The automotive future, according to Faraday Future, looks a lot like a Corvette crossed with the Batmobile. The California-based company today unveiled its sleek electric concept during the annual CES show that focuses on consumer gadgets

Daily Mail: Faraday Future unveils the 'Tesla killer': Mysterious Chinese-backed firm reveals its bizarre 1,000-horsepower electric car

* Concept car has adjustable chassis that can house strings of batteries
* It was revealed at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today
* The company predicts they will start being produced within two years
* The firm is backed by 'China's Steve Jobs', multibillionaire Jia Yueting

The future of cars, according to Faraday Future, looks like a Corvette crossed with the Batmobile.

The California-based company today unveiled its sleek electric concept during the annual CES show that focuses on consumer gadgets.

The company is dubbing today's debut FFZero1, but others are nicknaming it the 'Tesla-killer'.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: On the surface it looks impressive. But what is under the hood is also important, and we will not kinow about that until they start producing these cars in two years.

Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Quotes

Tech Emergence: (All) Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Quotes – A Catalogue of His Statements

Over the last two years there has been a general “up-tick” in media attention around the risks of artificial general intelligence, and it seems safe to say that though Bill Gates, Stephan Hawking, and many others have publicly articulated their fears, no one has moved the media needle more than Elon Musk.

When I set out to gather perspectives from businesspersons on AI risk, I aimed to sift through the “whiz-bang” re-blogged articles about Musk’s statements and figure out what the man actually said about the matter… and as it turns out, that was rather difficult. Due to the possibly sensational and novel claims (combined with Musk’s growing celebrity attention), most of the articles about “what Musk said” are in fact not about “what Musk said,” but about what some reporter said about what a reporter said about what Musk said.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Yup .... all of his comments and concerns are here.

Russian Arsenal Stored During The Time Of Ivan The Terrible Discovered Outside Of Moscow

A 16th century storehouse holding distinctive spiked helmets (pictured) and weapons intended for elite soldiers has been discovered near Zvenigorod, a town west of Moscow. The helmets were found stored in leather boxes along with sabres, belts and arrows, intended for use by a powerful group of Russian soldiers

Discovery: Ivan the Terrible Military Arsenal Found

The full arsenal of a military commander who served Ivan the Terrible has been uncovered in Russia, the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has announced.

Found during a survey for a highway expansion outside Zvenigorod, an ancient town 18 miles west of Moscow, the cache consists of helmets stored in leather boxes, sections of sabers, arrows and and a type of armor known as kolchugs.

The location of the finding was the 16th century village of Ignatievskoe, once the homeland of the Dobrynins, a family belonging to the Russian boyar nobility.

Read more ....

More News On The Discovery Of A Russian Arsenal During The Time Of Ivan The Terrible

Ivan the Terrible's military arsenal discovered: 16th century storehouse holds spiked helmets, sabres and arrows for soldiers of the notorious Tsar's army -- Daily Mail
Cache of military-grade weapons from the era of the Ivan the Terrible found near Moscow -- Ancient Origins
Ivan the Terrible's 'hand-picked thousand' arsenal discovered, with spiked helmets and military swords -- IBTimes
Private, 16th-Century Arsenal Unearthed in Russia -- Archaeology
Archaeologists uncover Ivan the Terrible’s weapon cache in Russia -- Red Orbit

Research: Blocking 200 Genes Boosts Lifespan By 60%

© Pichi Chuang / Reuters

RT: Key to longevity? Blocking over 200 genes boosts lifespan by 60%, study reveals

Once a bucket of genes linked to aging is removed, the lifespan of cells increases significantly, American scientists discovered during ten years of meticulous research, stressing that the results could be applied to humans.

An “exhaustive, ten-year effort” allowed scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the University of Washington to identify some 238 genes which could be targeted to improve human health and possibly extend life spans by 60 percent. The paper was published on Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: We are still far away from human trials, but this is a start.

Prediction: Robots Will Outnumber Humans By 2040

Photo: 20th Century Fox

Business Insider: A programmer turned sci-fi author has predicted that robots could outnumber humans as early as 2040

There will be as many robots as there are humans within the next 24 to 39 years, according to a blog post published yesterday by a writer who is penning a new science fiction novel.

Logan Streondj, a software programmer and author, wanted to figure out when the population of robots will reach that of humans for his book titled “A home for robots or-else artilect war.”

Streondj used a variety of sources to determine the date. First, he turned to statistics website World Counts, which states there are roughly 350 thousand humans born every day, the equivalent of 130 million a year. The growth rate is around 1%.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: There will be about 8 billion humans by 2040 .... I doubt that there will be 8 billion robots. But .... I have to admit that the math that was used in making this projection does make sense.

How To Make Sure There Are No Dead Wi-Fi Spots In Your House

Gizmodo: D-Link's Wireless Router Twins Ensure There Are No Dead Spots in Your House

Even with countless antennas pointing in all directions, most consumer-level routers can’t create a wifi network that covers every last corner of a large house. So instead of selling you a wireless extender once you realize that, D-Link now has a kit with twin routers that guarantees comprehensive wifi coverage from day one.

The Unified Home Wi-Fi Network Kit is D-Link finally admitting that today’s McMansions are too large for even an expensive home wifi router to provide complete coverage. So for $370, available sometime in the second quarter of 2016, the company has bundled its AC4300 Tri-Band MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router, and its AC1300 Gigabit Wi-Fi Extender, so that consumers can finally ensure that their wifi network, even in those distant back bedrooms, is rock solid from the moment it’s up and running.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: I definitely need this for my home.

World's Oldest Wooden Statue Older Than The Pyramids

(Photo: Shigir Idol, Tolmachev V.Y, Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)

USA Today: World's oldest wooden statue twice as old as pyramids

(NEWSER) – When scientists first tried in 1997 to date the famous Shigir Idol wooden sculpture —originally found in a Siberian peat bog in 1890—radiocarbon dating suggested the art was so old the findings were widely disputed. Now, armed with better tech, scientists turned to one of the world's most advanced accelerated mass spectrometry labs in Germany to put the issue to rest, and are announcing that Shigir Idol is indeed ancient—in fact, at 11,000 years of age it's actually 1,500 years older than first thought, reports the Siberian Times. Not only is it the oldest known wooden sculpture, but it's more than twice as old as the Great Pyramid of Giza, three times as old as the ancient city of Babylon, and five times as old as the ruins of Al Khazneh in the ancient city of Petra, reports the Huffington Post.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: Wow .... this wooden carving is old.

The First International Beauty Contest That Will Be Judged By Robots

Miss Universe

Tech Crunch: The First International Beauty Contest Judged By Robots

Robots are starting to appear everywhere: driving cars, cooking dinners and even as robotic pets.

But people don’t usually give machine intelligence much credence when it comes to judging beauty. That may change with the launch of the world’s first international beauty contest judged exclusively by a robot jury.

The contest, which requires participants to take selfies via a special app and submit them to the contest website, is touting new sophisticated facial recognition algorithms that allow machines to judge beauty in new and improved ways.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: It is just not the same.

A New Error Code Tells Users When A Website Is Being Censored

A mockup of the new error, using dummy text originally proposed by author Tim Bray, indicates that a particular website is being censored. Jeff Ward-Bailey

CSM: Error 451: How to tell when websites have been censored

A new online error code tells users when a site is unavailable for legal, rather than technical, reasons. Error 451, a nod to Ray Bradbury's novel 'Fahrenheit 451,' indicates that a site has been censored by a government.

If you’ve ever tried to visit a webpage that’s no longer available, you’ve seen the “404 Not Found” error alerting you that the sever can’t find that page. The “404” part of that message is an HTTP status code, one of a collection of standard codes that provide information about data transfers to your web browser.

As of last week, there’s a new status code indicating that a site can’t be accessed – not because of a broken link, but because the content is being blocked by a government.

The code, Error 451, is a nod to Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” about book burning and the suppression of ideas. It tells the user that the site he or she is trying to access is working and reachable, but that they’re being prevented from accessing it for legal reasons.

Read more ....

CSN Editor: It is better than receiving this message.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Build An Artificially Intelligent Butler

The Independent: Mark Zuckerberg to build robot butler to look after his child as part of 2016 New Year's resolution

The system will be able to control his lights and music as well as helping him run his company

Mark Zuckerberg intends to build a robot to look after his house and keep tabs on his newborn daughter.

The Facebook founder and CEO’s resolution for 2016 is to build an artificially intelligent system that will be able to control his house, watch over his child and help him to run Facebook.

Mr Zuckerberg has in the past taken on “personal challenges” that have included reading two books per month, learning Mandarin and meeting a new person each day. But now he has undertaken perhaps his most ambitious plan — an artificially intelligent robot that seems to be able to run his whole house.

Read more ....

More News On Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Build An Artificially Intelligent Butler

Mark Zuckerberg unveils 2016 plans for artificially intelligent butler -- Reuters
Mark Zuckerberg plans to make his own AI butler - like Jarvis in Iron Man -- The Guardian
Mark Zuckerberg’s 2016 Challenge: Code an Artificial Intelligence Assistant -- WSJ
Facebook founder Zuckerberg wants to build artificially intelligent butler -- FOX News/SKY News
Mark Zuckerberg's 2016 goal: Code his own personal assistant -- CNN
Mark Zuckerberg wants to develop his own A.I. butler -- CBS
Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make an A.I. Butler Like the One in Iron Man -- Slate
Why Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year’s challenge to himself just might work -- Jena McGregor, Washington Post