Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Imagine Apple's App Store with no walled garden

Gregg Spiridellis isn't shy when it comes to his feelings about the Apple iOS App Store.

* This article was originally published here

FAA chief defends handling of Boeing Max safety approval

The acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that Boeing should have done more to explain an automated flight-control system on its 737 Max aircraft before two deadly crashes, but he defended his agency's safety certification of the plane and its decision not to ground the jet until other regulators around the world had already done so.

* This article was originally published here

Ancient fish ponds in the Bolivian savanna supported human settlement

A network of fish ponds supported a permanent human settlement in the seasonal drylands of Bolivia more than one thousand years ago, according to a new study published May 15, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro of Federal University of Western Para, Brazil, and colleagues. The study is the first to document the full range of fish species likely kept in these constructed ponds, and provides new insights into how humans modified the savannah environment to cope with the months-long droughts that characterize this region of the Amazon Basin.

* This article was originally published here

Flying cars mooted for Paris' public transport network

European aerospace giant Airbus and Paris underground operator RATP will study the viability of adding flying vehicles to the city's urban transport network, the companies said Wednesday.

* This article was originally published here

Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago

Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA-based estimates, according to new research by a UCL academic.

* This article was originally published here

Review: Edifier headphones and earbuds give you great sound, no wires

There are times when we all would like to tune out the outside world and just relax in peace and quiet.

* This article was originally published here

New security flaw in Intel chips could affect millions

Intel has revealed another hardware security flaw that could affects millions of machines around the world.

* This article was originally published here

Iceland volcano eruption in 1783-84 did not spawn extreme heat wave

An enormous volcanic eruption on Iceland in 1783-84 did not cause an extreme summer heat wave in Europe. But, as Benjamin Franklin speculated, the eruption triggered an unusually cold winter, according to a Rutgers-led study.

* This article was originally published here

Single-chain insulin would change dosage, production

A researcher from the University of Houston has created a form of recombinant insulin that could potentially address some of the biggest concerns about the lifesaving drug, including its price.

* This article was originally published here

Tool predicts quality measures after ventral hernia repair

(HealthDay)—The Outcomes Reporting App for Clinical and Patient Engagement (ORACLE) tool can predict quality measures following ventral hernia repair (VHR) and facilitate preoperative surgeon-patient discussions, according to a study published online May 2 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

* This article was originally published here

Tester eyes unhackable claim on USB flash drive

When the unhackable turns hackable you know there will be lots of noise. Case in point: The eyeDisk USB flash drive. Passwords exposed in clear text were discovered.

* This article was originally published here

A substantial benefit from replacing steak with fish

The average Dane will gain a health benefit from substituting part of the red and processed meat in their diet with fish, according to calculations from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. Men over 50 and women of childbearing age in particular would benefit from such a change in diet.

* This article was originally published here

A nerve cell serves as a "single" for studies

Nerve cells derived from human stem cells often serve as the basis for research into brain diseases. However, these cells differ considerably in their quality and produce varying results. Scientists around the world are therefore looking for simple cell models that lead to consistent results when an experiment is repeated. Research teams from the University of Bonn, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen describe a model derived from stem cells that consists of only one human nerve cell. It was obtained from pluripotent stem cells through a fast forward programming method and provides highly standardized conditions for investigating nerve cell functions. The two studies have now been published in the international journal Cell Reports.

* This article was originally published here

Glucosamine supplements may be linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease

Regular use of glucosamine supplements may be related to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, suggests an analysis of data from the UK Biobank study, published in The BMJ today.

* This article was originally published here