Japanese artist Nobumichi Asai projects visual effects onto human faces

Video

Artist bends the mind by changing people's faces with three-dimensional visual projection system

CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2014 7:00 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 8:10 PM ET

Imagine the marvels of movie make-up transforming a face in real-time.

That's what Japanese artist Nobumichi Asai has accomplished with Omote, a work that uses a 3D visual projection system to project anything from glamour make-up to alien masks onto a living human face.

In the video above, a female model wearing no makeup sits in a chair while a light scans the motion-tracking dots on her face. Instantly, makeup appears on her face.

But wait, there's more.

The video takes viewers through several mesmerizing transformations, including one in which the model becomes a Terminator-esque cyborg. The model makes deliberate movements of her head throughout the demonstration and the effects projected on her face follows her seamlessly.

Watch the video above to see for yourself.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Sailing rocks' mystery of Death Valley solved

A team of scientists say they believe they have solved the mystery of how hundreds of rocks slide mysteriously across a dry lake bed in Death Valley, Calif.

The "sailing rocks" at the Racetrack Playa, a dry lake bed, have been under investigation by researchers since the 1940s. The rocks, some weighing as much as 320 kilograms, move across the lake bed over a period of years, leaving tracks.

A team lead by paleobiologist Richard Norris from University of California, San Diego, decided to monitor a set of test rocks that were deliberately placed on the lake bed in the winter of 2011. The rocks were watched remotely using a high-resolution weather station. 

Because the stones can sit for more than a decade without moving, researchers didn't think they would have results for some time. But around the end of 2013, the rocks began moving.

"Science sometimes has an element of luck," Norris said in a release. "We expected to wait five or 10 years without anything moving, but only two years into the project, we just happened to be there at the right time to see it happen in person."

In December 2013, researchers discovered that the playa was covered with a pond of water about seven centimetres deep. Rock movement occurred shortly after.

Richard Norris and his team say movement is made possible when ice sheets that form after rare overnight rains melt in the rising sun, making the hard ground muddy and slick. (National Park Service/Associated Press)

The team was able to chronicle a set of events that set the rocks in motion.

First the playa fills with water that must be deep enough to form floating ice but shallow enough to expose the rocks. When nighttime temperatures dip, the pond forms thin sheets of ice which can move freely but are thick enough to maintain strength.  

Then, when the sun comes out, the ice melts and breaks up into large floating panels, and light winds drive these ice panels across the lake bed, pushing the rocks in front of them and leaving trails in the soft mud.

"On Dec. 21, 2013, ice breakup happened just around noon, with popping and cracking sounds coming from all over the frozen pond surface," said Norris in the study published on Aug. 27 in the journal PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science).

Rocks moved under light winds at about three to five metres per minute by ice that was only three to five millimetres thick. The rocks remained in motion for a few seconds to 16 minutes.

Previous theories have postulated dust devils or hurricane-force winds as the trigger for the sailing stones.

Researchers say they observed some rocks travelling more than 60 metres in one motion. Because they only used small test rocks, the scientists say they can't be 100 per cent sure about their theory since they haven't observed how the bigger, heavier rocks moved.

The team also concluded that climate change is having an effect on the sailing rocks.

"The last suspected movement was in 2006, and so rocks may move only about one millionth of the time," said study co-author Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University.

"There is also evidence that the frequency of rock movement, which seems to require cold nights to form ice, may have declined since the 1970s due to climate change."

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Smog rules should be up to 20% stronger says U.S environment agency

The Environmental Protection Agency's staff has concluded that the government needs to tighten smog rules by somewhere between 7 and 20 per cent.

In its final recommendation in a 597-page report, the agency staff agrees with EPA's outside scientific advisers that the 6-year-old standard for how much smog is allowed needs to be stricter, saying it will save a significant number of lives and cut hospital visits. An earlier version of the report came to a similar conclusion.

Industry representatives criticized the recommendation as way too costly, while environmental activists hailed it as a public health measure.

Since 2008, the standard has allowed up to 75 parts of ozone per billion parts of air. The staff report recommends between 60 and 70 parts per billion.

The report says it will provide more health protection for higher risk populations, including the elderly, very young, outdoor workers and people with asthma and lung disease. And it estimated that there are tens of millions, if not more than 100 million people, in that at-risk category.

'While the costs may be significant, the costs of inaction, including billions of dollars of health and welfare impacts are overwhelming.'- Bill Becker, National Association of Clean Air Agencies

When the agency tried to make a similar rule a few years ago, it estimated it would cost up to $90 billion a year, making it one of the most expensive environmental regulations ever proposed. After industry and Republicans in Congress criticized it, President Barack Obama withdrew it in 2011.

Ross Eisenberg, a vice-president at the National Association of Manufacturers, said Friday the rule that staff recommends would cost up to $270 billion a year. In a written statement, he said "the current standard of 75 parts per billion protects public health" and added that there is much "financial risk evident in this new regulation."

Industry for four decades has exaggerated the costs of cleaning up air, countered Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, saying the current rule is too weak.

"EPA's ultimate decision is literally a matter of life and death," said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents state and local air regulators.

"While the costs may be significant, the costs of inaction, including billions of dollars of health and welfare impacts are overwhelming."

A 2011 EPA study looked at the history of air pollution regulations and found that the benefit of clean air in better health and reduced deaths "vastly exceeds" the costs of air pollution rules going back to 1990. It said that by the year 2020, overall costs of air pollution rules would be $65 billion a year, while savings would be worth almost $2 trillion a year.

Federal law requires that air quality rules be updated every five years. A federal judge ordered the EPA to have a new rule by December after environmental groups sued to get the government to tighten existing rules.

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Asteroid smash-up captured by NASA telescope

Researchers say they believe one of NASA's space telescopes has tracked an asteroid smash-up before and after the collision for the first time.

The Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched in 2003, spotted an eruption of dust around a young star — the probable result of a collision between large asteroids.

"We think two big asteroids crashed into each other, creating a huge cloud of grains the size of very fine sand, which are now smashing themselves into smithereens and slowly leaking away from the star," said lead author Huan Meng of the University of Arizona, Tucson, in an article published Friday online in the journal Science.

While Spitzer has observed suspected asteroid smash-ups before, this marks the first time scientists have been able to collect data before and after a planetary collision. The data will help researchers understand how rocky planets, like Earth, are created.

Rocky planets start life off as dusty material rotating around young stars. The material then bunches together to form asteroids that slam into each other.

Afterwards, and only in a few instances, do these smashed-up clumps grow and transform into small planets. In about 100 million years, the objects grow into terrestrial planets.

Astronomers at the University of Arizona wanted details of such a smash-up and decided to set the Spitzer's infrared eyes on the star NGC 2547-ID8, thought to be about 35 million years old. Starting in May 2012, the telescope began watching the star on a regular basis.

It took five months, but eventually Spitzer captured what researchers believe are asteroids ramming into each other.

"We not only witnessed what appears to be the wreckage of a huge smash-up, but have been able to track how it is changing — the signal is fading as the cloud destroys itself by grinding its grains down so they escape from the star," said Kate Su, A co-author of the study.

A thick cloud of dusty debris now orbits the star. Scientists are examining the undulations of infrared rays and dust levels, gathering unique data on how collisions become rocky planets.  

"We are watching rocky planet formation happen right in front of us," said George Rieke, another co-author of the study. "This is a unique chance to study this process in near real-time."

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'Sailing rocks' mystery of Death Valley solved

A team of scientists say they believe they have solved the mystery of how hundreds of rocks slide mysteriously across a dry lake bed in Death Valley, Calif.

The "sailing rocks" at the Racetrack Playa, a dry lake bed, have been under investigation by researchers since the 1940s. The rocks, some weighing as much as 320 kilograms, move across the lake bed over a period of years, leaving tracks.

A team lead by paleobiologist Richard Norris from University of California, San Diego, decided to monitor a set of test rocks that were deliberately placed on the lake bed in the winter of 2011. The rocks were watched remotely using a high-resolution weather station. 

Because the stones can sit for more than a decade without moving, researchers didn't think they would have results for some time. But around the end of 2013, the rocks began moving.

"Science sometimes has an element of luck," Norris said in a release. "We expected to wait five or 10 years without anything moving, but only two years into the project, we just happened to be there at the right time to see it happen in person."

In December 2013, researchers discovered that the playa was covered with a pond of water about seven centimetres deep. Rock movement occurred shortly after.

Richard Norris and his team say movement is made possible when ice sheets that form after rare overnight rains melt in the rising sun, making the hard ground muddy and slick. (National Park Service/Associated Press)

The team was able to chronicle a set of events that set the rocks in motion.

First the playa fills with water that must be deep enough to form floating ice but shallow enough to expose the rocks. When nighttime temperatures dip, the pond forms thin sheets of ice which can move freely but are thick enough to maintain strength.  

Then, when the sun comes out, the ice melts and breaks up into large floating panels, and light winds drive these ice panels across the lake bed, pushing the rocks in front of them and leaving trails in the soft mud.

"On Dec. 21, 2013, ice breakup happened just around noon, with popping and cracking sounds coming from all over the frozen pond surface," said Norris in the study published on Aug. 27 in the journal PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science).

Rocks moved under light winds at about three to five metres per minute by ice that was only three to five millimetres thick. The rocks remained in motion for a few seconds to 16 minutes.

Previous theories have postulated dust devils or hurricane-force winds as the trigger for the sailing stones.

Researchers say they observed some rocks travelling more than 60 metres in one motion. Because they only used small test rocks, the scientists say they can't be 100 per cent sure about their theory since they haven't observed how the bigger, heavier rocks moved.

The team also concluded that climate change is having an effect on the sailing rocks.

"The last suspected movement was in 2006, and so rocks may move only about one millionth of the time," said study co-author Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University.

"There is also evidence that the frequency of rock movement, which seems to require cold nights to form ice, may have declined since the 1970s due to climate change."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japanese artist Nobumichi Asai projects visual effects onto human faces

Video

Artist bends the mind by changing people's faces with three-dimensional visual projection system

CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2014 7:00 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 8:10 PM ET

Imagine the marvels of movie make-up transforming a face in real-time.

That's what Japanese artist Nobumichi Asai has accomplished with Omote, a work that uses a 3D visual projection system to project anything from glamour make-up to alien masks onto a living human face.

In the video above, a female model wearing no makeup sits in a chair while a light scans the motion-tracking dots on her face. Instantly, makeup appears on her face.

But wait, there's more.

The video takes viewers through several mesmerizing transformations, including one in which the model becomes a Terminator-esque cyborg. The model makes deliberate movements of her head throughout the demonstration and the effects projected on her face follows her seamlessly.

Watch the video above to see for yourself.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Inuit were not the first people to settle in the Arctic

A study published Thursday in the journal Science shows the first people to settle in the Arctic weren't Inuit, but rather 'Paleo-Eskimos' — a Siberian people not genetically related to today's Inuit or First Nations people.

Eske Willerslev is with the Natural History Museum at the University of Copenhagen and one of the study's authors.

• Scroll down to listen to Eske Willerslev's speak with Allison Devereaux of Trail's End

"You can say that we are settling a long debate in Arctic archeology about the Paleo-Eskimos. That is: are they actually representing a different indigenous population?"

Eske Willerslev in Peary Land, North Greenland, sampling for DNA in 2006 with Claus Andreassen, former director of the Greenland National Museum and Archive. (Svend Funder)

Archeologists analyzed remains found in the Arctic and compared them with DNA of ancient and present-day Inuit.

There was no match.

The Paleo-Eskimos came from Siberia about 5,000 years ago and spread all the way from Alaska to Greenland before dying out around 700 years ago. Willerslev says the extinction seemed to happen about the same time that Inuit were moving into the Arctic.

Why the Paleo-Eskimos didn't breed with Inuit remains a mystery, and an anomaly.

"Almost in all other cases where we look back in the past and we see people meeting each other, they might be fighting with each other but normally they actually have sex with each other as well. For some reason, this just didn't happen."

Willerslev says the Paleo-Eskimos may have had cultural reasons for avoiding contact with outsiders. He found evidence that the group was highly inbred, with very little genetic diversity, suggesting that very few of them crossed the Bering Sea into North America from Asia.

Willerslev, a DNA research and evolutionary biologist, says the most fascinating part of the study is that it confirms what Inuit have known for centuries.

"I would certainly in the future pay much more attention to oral traditions among indigenous people because they could really guide us into understanding where are the interesting problems to be investigated scientifically."

Inuit still talk about the Tunit people they encountered when they arrived. The oral tradition says the Tunit were very shy and would run away when approached.

There's nothing to suggest the Paleo-Eskimos were killed off by violence, but Willerslev says it's possible they contracted diseases from the Inuit.

Regardless of why they disappeared, their survival over 4,000 years shows just how resilient they were, even though they likely spent much of that time on the edge of extinction.

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Baby turtles talk to each other before hatching

When it comes to speaking their first "words," baby Giant South American river turtles are astonishingly precocious, a new study shows.

The turtles start talking to each other even before they hatch from their eggs, Brazilian biologist Camila Ferrara discovered when she put microphones up to them, just in case, during a study on turtle vocalizations.

"I didn't expect to hear sounds inside the eggs," she recalled in an interview with Laura Lynch, guest host of CBC's As It Happens. "It was a big surprise to me."

Ferrara is an aquatic turtle specialist with the Brazil Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, a non-profit group based at the Bronx Zoo in New York that runs conservation programs in 60 countries around the world.

She spent three years recording the sounds made by giant South American river turtles along the Trombetas River in the Amazon River Basin, which can grow to be up to 80 centimetres long – more than double the length of the common snapping turtle.

Camila Ferrara spent three years recording the sounds made by giant South American river turtles - and their eggs - along the Trombetas River in the Amazon River Basin. (Camila Ferrara/Wildlife Conservation Society Brazil)

Ferrera started by recording the sounds made by adult females that migrate in groups of up to 300 to nesting sites on the beach.

"We believe when they start to migrate, they start to call the other turtles and say 'Let's go, let's go, it's the time,'" Ferrera said.

Then she recorded the sounds made by the nesting females and by the nestlings after they hatched. Then she started to wonder how soon the turtles started to produce sounds, which led her to record the eggs.

She discovered that the baby turtles started talking up to three days before hatching, Ferrara and her collaborators reported in the journal Herpetologica.

The researchers think the turtles communicate in order to co-ordinate hatching, which takes place 45 to 50 days after the eggs are laid. That provides safety in numbers from predators.

Ferrera started by recording the sounds made by adult female giant South American river turtles that migrate in groups of up to 300 to nesting sites on the beach. (C. Ferrara/Wildlife Conservation Society)

Ferrara said the extra volume provided by many voices together may help their mothers hear them.

The mother turtles respond to the hatchlings, and the researcher think they may be guiding their babies to the water. When that communication was reported by the researchers in 2012, it was the first time scientists had observed parenting behaviour in turtles.

Tracking studies show that the hatchlings travel with their mothers for more than two months after hatching, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a news release.

Ferrara said the researchers are now doing further study to try to figure out what the turtles are saying and when they start talking like adults instead of babies.

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Haiti mangoes, coffee fields under threat from climate change

Coffee and mango fields that help form the backbone of Haiti's agricultural economy are at risk of withering if the country does not take steps soon to prepare for climate change effects, experts at an environmental conference said.

The warning comes as Haiti pushes to strengthen its agriculture industry and boost coffee and mango exports after a devastating 2010 earthquake followed by a series of punishing droughts and storms that led to multimillion-dollar crop losses.

Agriculture Minister Thomas Jacques said Thursday at the conference in Port-au-Prince that the government is working with various organizations to monitor climate change effects in Haiti and plans to unveil details of a carbon-pricing program at the United Nations climate summit in September.

'If certain measures aren't put into place to help farmers make changes to the way they farm, there could be serious consequences down the road.'- Jeff McIntosh, Catholic Relief Services in Haiti

"In Haiti, climate change is felt more acutely given our geographic location and the fragility of our various ecosystems," Jacques said.

The conference was organized in part by the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the Maryland-based nonprofit Catholic Relief Services, which has been working with farmers in Haiti.

Mangoes have become increasingly important to Haiti's economy, with the fruit generating an estimated $11 million in 2011 as one of the country's top exports, according to a recent report by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Coffee exports, however, have declined from $7 million to $1 million, although the demand for high-end Haitian coffee has grown, the report found.

Experts say rising temperatures and limited or erratic rainfall could lead to a decrease in coffee and mango production if farmers don't diversify their crops and embrace drought-tolerant varieties, among other things.

"If certain measures aren't put into place to help farmers make changes to the way they farm, there could be serious consequences down the road," Jeff McIntosh, deputy director for Catholic Relief Services in Haiti, said in a phone interview.

Haiti's agriculture sector represents about 25 per cent of the country's GDP, and nearly 58 per cent of the labor force is employed in agriculture, according to the report.

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Walking fish may reveal how our ancestors emerged onto land

Fish out of water tend to flop around clumsily. But a Canadian scientist has found a way to raise fish to "walk" confidently with their heads held high — by forcing them out of the water at a young age.

The study, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, may give us a peek into how the fishy ancestors of land animals with a backbone – including ourselves – first emerged from the water to colonize the land around 400 million years ago.

Before that time, the only vertebrates that existed were fish, and they lived in the water.

It was "not an easy place to live," said University of Ottawa physiologist Emily Standen, as it was full of other fish competing with each other for resources such as food, including many fierce predators.

Bichirs, which are sometimes kept as pets, are African fish that can breathe airthey can "walk" on land by propelling themselves with their fins, albeit clumsily. (Antoine Morin)

Meanwhile, the land was a comparatively quiet, peaceful world of plants and insects.

"If you can get out there," Standen said, "you've got a big advantage."

Fossil evidence shows some fish made the move and claimed that advantage, evolving into the first four-legged land animals called tetrapods. But scientists still know relatively little about how the transition happened.

Standen is lead author of the new study, which is based on work she did while she was postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Montreal. She wondered whether primitive fish might have an innate but normally untapped ability to make that move to land, and if that could reveal something about what happened 400 million years ago.

Living example

"When we dig up fossils, it's great because we get to see bones," Standen said. "But it's very difficult to understand how those bones move if you don't have a living example because sometimes animals do things in a really unique way, and we'd never guess from just bones."

Standen, working with McGill University paleontology professor Hans Larsson and student Trina Du, decided to conduct her study using a primitive African fish called a bichir.

Bichirs, which are sometimes kept as pets, have a body shape similar to the first tetrapods. They can breathe air and they can "walk" on land by propelling themselves with their fins, albeit clumsily.

Fish raised on land plant their fins closer to body midline when they're walking, allowing them to support their body weight more effectively. They also lift their heads higher off the ground. (Antoine Morin)

Standen ordered very young bichirs from a pet supply company and decided to raise them out of water, so they would be forced to walk instead of swim.

She put them in a tank with just a few millimetres of water on the bottom. To keep the fishes' backs from drying out, she added, "I took a cue from grocery store… You know how they have those misters over the salad? We got misters and we set them up in the aquarium and we misted the fish. "

The fish were raised in the tanks for eight months, and then compared to fish that had been raised in regular tanks full of water.

They found that the fish raised on "land" had differences both in their walking ability and anatomy.

"The fish raised on land appear to be walking more effectively," Standen said. "They plant their fins closer to body mid-line when they're walking, which allows them to support themselves more effectively. And they lift their heads higher off the ground."

That reduced the friction between the fish's head and the ground.

The fish raised on land also slipped less when they planted their fins to push off while walking.

Anatomical changes

Many of those enhanced walking abilities seemed to be linked to changes in the anatomy of the fish. Among the land-raised fish, bones around their chests and shoulders changed to allow them to support more body weight on the fins.

Meanwhile, bones attached to the heads of the fish changed to allow the head to move more freely from side to side and up and down, as though the fish had something they generally don't have – a neck.

That's important on land, where most animals can't approach their food from above or below, and may need to tuck their chin in order to eat something off the ground.

Standen said she knew there would be differences in the land-raised fish, but found the nature of the anatomical changes interesting.

"I was surprised at how well it mirrored what was going on in the fossil record."

One fish that lived 375 million years ago in the Canadian Arctic, Tiktaalik, shows many traits that would have allowed it to support itself on land, such as a mobile neck, a robust ribcage, and shoulders, elbows and partial wrists on its forelimbs.

The similarities between the land-raised bichirs and fossil fish at the time of the move to land suggest that movement and behaviour of the land-raised bichirs might also reflect changes in the fossil fish as they adapted to life on land.

"It's nice to be able to compare something living that has a similar body shape to fossil to get an idea how they move," Standen said.

But she thinks the most interesting finding of the study is it suggests individual animals' ability to adapt to changes in their environment plays a role in evolution.

Standen is now busy raising more baby bichirs on land so she can look at changes not just to different bones in the their bodies, but also changes in their muscles.

On mobile and can't see the video below? Watch here

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JPMorgan investigates possible cyberattack by Russian hackers

JPMorgan Chase & Co. says it is working with law enforcement to investigate a possible cyberattack. Bloomberg reported the attack may be part of a co-ordinated attack by Russian hackers triggered by U.S. sanctions against Russia. (Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)

JPMorgan Chase & Co is investigating a possible cyberattack and working with law enforcement to determine the scope, company spokeswoman Trish Wexler said.

The announcement comes after the FBI said Wednesday it's working with the Secret Service on the recently reported cyberattacks against several U.S. financial institutions.

Earlier, Bloomberg.com reported that Russian hackers attacked the U.S financial system this month, possibly in retaliation against U.S. government-sponsored sanctions aimed at Russia.

The attack, Bloomberg said, led to the loss of sensitive data.

Bloomberg cited security experts saying the attack appeared "far beyond the capability of ordinary criminal hackers."

Additionally, the New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported at least four other firms in addition to JPMorgan were hit this month by co-ordinated attacks that siphoned off huge amounts of data, including chequing and savings account information.

Wexler says JPMorgan is taking additional steps to safeguard sensitive or confidential information, though it not seeing unusual fraud activity at this time, she said.

JPMorgan is the largest bank in the U.S. by assets.

The FBI said in a statement that fighting cyber threats and criminals remains a top priority for the U.S. government, and it's "constantly working with American companies to fight cyberattacks."

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Painful memories edited in mice, sparking hope for PTSD treatment

The frailty of remembrance might have an upside: When a memory is recalled, two research teams reported on Wednesday, it can be erased or rewired so that a painful recollection is physically linked in the brain to joy and a once-happy memory to pain.

While lab rodents were used in the research, it adds to growing evidence that the malleability of memory might be exploited to treat disorders such as post-traumatic stress.

In both studies, scientists focused on a phenomenon called reconsolidation. Discovered in the 1990s, it refers to the fact that when a memory is retrieved, its physical manifestation in the brain is so "labile," or changeable, that it can be altered. False memories can form, and the associated emotions can flip.

"Recalling a memory is not like playing a tape recorder," said Susumu Tonegawa of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led one of the studies. "It's a creative process."

The MIT team decided to see how creative. They gave male mice a small electric shock when the animals wandered into one part of a cage, creating a memory linking that place to pain. In a different part, mice got to cavort with females, so they remembered that spot quite fondly.

The mice had been engineered so specific brain neurons could be activated with light, a technique called optogenetics. Using lasers, the scientists reactivated the where, what and when of the memories, which are encoded in the hippocampus.

While the shock memory was active and labile, the mice got to play with females. While the memory of socializing was active, they got a shock.

That changed brain wiring, the scientists reported in the journal Nature. The memory of the shock became physically connected to neurons encoding pleasure; the memory of socializing connected to neurons encoding fear.

"We could switch the mouse's memory from positive emotions to negative, and negative to positive," Tonegawa told reporters.

More research is needed before anything similar could be used in people, MIT's Roger Redondo said, "but the circuits appear to be very similar" as in mice.

In a separate study, researchers at Boston's McLean Hospital also exploited the malleability of reactivated memories to erase them completely.

After training rats that a flash of light precedes a shock, the researchers turned on the light, reactivating the memory. They immediately gave the animals xenon gas, an anesthetic that blocks molecules involved in memory formation.

That apparently jammed the machinery needed for memory reconsolidation, psychologist Edward Meloni and colleagues reported in the journal PLOS ONE: The rats forgot that light precedes a shock. Similarly trained rats not given xenon remembered just fine.

Psychologist Elizabeth Phelps of New York University called both studies "interesting advances."

But clear ethical issues involved in manipulating human memory remain, even for therapeutic purposes.

"I think we are still a long way from translating this research to good clinical interventions," since memories that contribute to PTSD are "likely much more complex" than in mice and rats, Phelps said.

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Apple reportedly rolling out larger iPads amid sales slump

Company currently struggling with declining sales because people replace iPads less frequently

Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 26, 2014 8:24 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 8:24 PM ET

Apple Inc is preparing to roll out a larger, 12.9-inch version of its iPad for 2015, with production set to begin in the first quarter of next year, Bloomberg cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying on Tuesday.

The report comes as Apple struggles with declining sales of its 10-inch and 7.9-inch tablets, which are faltering as people replace iPads less frequently than expected and larger smartphones made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other rivals encroach upon sales.

Apple has been working with its suppliers for over a year on larger touch-screen devices, Bloomberg cited the sources as saying.

It is expected to introduce larger versions of its 4-inch iPhone next month, although the company has not publicized plans for its most important device. Apple was not immediately available for comment.

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N.L. fossil shows earliest evidence ever of animals with muscles

A fossil that was discovered on Newfoundland could be the oldest complex animal and the earliest evidence of muscular tissue in the world.

The fossil, dating from about 560 million years ago, was discovered in the Port Union area on the Bonavista Peninsula in 2009 by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and Memorial University in St. John's.

This artist reconstruction of the organism shows its bundles of fibres in a four-fold symmetrical arrangement, similar to modern Cnidarians like jellyfish and sea anemones. (Submitted by Martin Brasier)

"It's amazing, because it is completely different from everything we'd seen before in the rocks in Newfoundland, both down at Mistaken Point [on the southern Avalon] and up on the Bonavista Peninsula," said Jack Matthews, an Oxford PhD candidate in geology. "Whereas everything else is what we call a frondose organism, this is completely different. 

"And we believe we've interpreted that it is a Cnidarian, so, of a similar nature to modern jellyfish, and corals, and sea anemones."

Matthews said the researchers have named the fossil Haootia quadriformis.

"The last part is a reflection of its four-fold symmetry, which is one the features we used to identify it as a Cnidarian," he said. 

"It's a strange looking beast. It looks a bit creepy. And 'haootia' is the Beothuk word for spirit or demon, so we thought we'd use that term."

The discovery was published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Changing history

Matthews said the fossil is an important find.

"It shows to science that animals were around earlier than previously thought. There's been discussion for some time about when animals first appeared in the fossil record," he said.

The origin, evolution, and spread of animals has been viewed as starting in the Cambrian explosion, which was a time of rapid evolutionary development around 541 million years ago. That's when most major animal groups first appeared in the fossil record.
 
But now, this new fossil dates from the Ediacaran Period, from 635 to 541 million years ago.

These are the bundles of fibres that the researchers have interpreted as muscle tissue. (Submitted by Alex Liu)

"There had been molecular evidence that animals appeared early, [but] we've now got the actual fossils to work alongside that molecular evidence," Matthews said. 

"And it's also the first example of muscular tissue preserved in the fossil record, which means that we now know these animals were moving, and they could react to their surroundings."

The Haootia quadriformis fossil is a rare find because it differs from all other Edicaran fossils. Instead of being a flat, sheet-like or frond-like creature, this organism has symmetrical fibrous structures — bundles of fibres in a four-fold symmetrical arrangement, similar to modern Cnidarians — that are interpreted as muscle tissue.

Fossil to be displayed

Matthews said the research group is working with the Newfoundland and Labrador government to preserve this important specimen.

"As I found out from the past week, there are many people who want to visit Newfoundland and see these amazing rocks and visit the fossils, so we need to make sure these are conserved. So, hopefully, working with the provincial government, we can bring about a Geopark — is one of the ideas that's on the table — and protect these fossils and really celebrate them," he said.

"We've made rubber copies of the fossil already, so that that can be put into museums. And hopefully, fingers crossed, this specimen can be preserved and put in The Rooms [museum in St. John's] so that it can be viewed by all scientists, but also tourists and local people can go and see this really, really important fossil."

'So there's a really big story to tell in Newfoundland about the origins of animals, and it's a top destination for scientists to come to view this important evolutionary transition in Earth's history.'- Jack Matthews

Matthews said the discovery shows that Newfoundland is a place to study the origins of animal life.

"We've known for some time that Mistaken Point is an important place, down by Trepassey, a really important place to study the origins of complex multicellular organisms, and whereas Fortune Head [on the Burin Peninsula] has the important geological boundary, the Pre-Cambrian/Cambrian boundary, we can now go over to Bonavista and we can see the first evidence for complex animals and we can see the first evidence for musculature," he said.

"So there's a really big story to tell in Newfoundland about the origins of animals, and it's a top destination for scientists to come to view this important evolutionary transition in Earth's history."

More work to be done

Matthews said there's still more work that's left to be done.

"I'm working with scientists back in the U.K. and at Memorial University to get a better understanding of the environments that these fossils lived in. And also, a more precise understanding of the age of these fossils, so working with the British Geological Survey to do the analysis on that. And that's both the Bonavista rocks and Mistaken Point," he said.

"Hopefully, we can then put them in their proper global geological context, so we can compare these rocks to rocks in Australia and China and Namibia in Africa."

Matthews said he hopes the fossil will spur more people to take a serious look at the rocks in Newfoundland, especially around the Port Union area and the Bonavista Peninsula.

"It's a really, really great area to go and find fossils, and there's certainly a lot more there to be found," he said.

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Global warming likely already dangerous, may be irreversible

Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous — and it's increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new international science report says.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. There is little in the report that wasn't in the other more-detailed versions, but the language is more stark and the report attempts to connect the different scientific disciplines studying problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas.

The 127-page draft, obtained by The Associated Press, paints a harsh warning of what's causing global warming and what it will do to humans and the environment. It also describes what can be done about it.

Indian farmer, Vangala Anji Reddy works in a parched paddy field at Medak district, some 60 kilometers from Hyderabad on July 31, 2014. India received nearly 35 percent below average rain fall since the start of monsoon season (June to September). (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty)

"Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems," the report says. The final report will be issued after governments and scientists go over the draft line by line in an October conference in Copenhagen.

Depending on circumstances and values, "currently observed impacts might already be considered dangerous," the report says. It mentions extreme weather and rising sea levels, such as heat waves, flooding and droughts. It even raises, as an earlier report did, the idea that climate change will worsen violent conflicts and refugee problems and could hinder efforts to grow more food. And ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life, it says.

Without changes in greenhouse gas emissions, "climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st century," the report says.

In 2009, countries across the globe set a goal of limiting global warming to about another degree Celsius)above current levels. But the report says that it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point. Limiting warming to that much is possible but would require dramatic and immediate cuts in carbon dioxide pollution.

The report says if the world continues to spew greenhouse gases at its accelerating rate, it's likely that by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another two degrees compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 3.7 degrees warmer.

"The report tells us once again what we know with a greater degree of certainty: that climate change is real, it is caused by us, and it is already causing substantial damage to us and our environment," Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann wrote in an email. "If there is one take home point of this report it is this: We have to act now."

John Christy of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, is in the tiny minority of scientists who are skeptical of mainstream science's claim that global warming is a major problem. He says people will do OK: "Humans are clever. We shall adapt to whatever happens."

While projections show that the world will warm and climate will change, there's still a level of uncertainty about how much, and that makes the problem all about how much risk we accept, said MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel.

If it's soon and only a little risk, he said, that's not too bad, but when you look at the risk curve the other end of it is "very frightening."

The report used the word risk 351 times in just 127 pages.

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Rogers, Shaw launch rival Netflix-like service Shomi

Rogers and Shaw have unveiedl their Shomi streaming service, pitching it as a rival to Netflix. (iStock)

A new subscription video-on-demand service with 11,000 hours of popular TV shows was unveiled today in Toronto by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.

Shomi is a joint venture of Rogers and Shaw, and will initially be available to their internet or TV customers.

Users will be able to access the service on tablet, mobile, online and through Xbox 360. At any one time, two internet-enabled devices and one set-top box can be streaming video from Shomi in a single home.

Shomi will launch in the first week of November at a suggested retail price of $8.99 per month, the same price as Netflix after its price rise announced earlier this year.

Shomi will offer 340 TV series and 1,200 movies, with 30 per cent Canadian content.

Shomi has past-season streaming rights to popular contemporary TV shows including:

• Modern Family
• Sons of Anarchy
• Sleepy Hollow
• Shameless
• 2 Broke Girls

"We keenly understand the media landscape is rapidly changing and that viewers are looking for greater flexibility when it comes to what they watch and how they watch it," Barbara Williams, senior vice-president for content at Shaw Media, said in a statement.

Although the company is a joint venture of Shaw and Rogers, it will operate as a stand-alone entity. With almost one third of anglophone Canadians already subscribing to Netflix, it will be a struggle for the service to attain a significant subscriber base. 

However, both companies need a strategy to build their businesses, as traditional cable sales are flat, with the big operators poaching each other's customers and more Canadians considering cutting the cord altogether.

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Advanced hypersonic weapon destroyed during U.S. test

A hypersonic weapon being developed by the U.S. military was destroyed four seconds after its launch from a test range in Alaska early on Monday after controllers detected a problem with the aircraft, the Pentagon said.

The craft was destroyed to ensure public safety, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT) at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Maureen Schumann, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department.

"We had to terminate. That's correct," Schumann said.

"The weapon exploded during takeoff and fell back down in the range complex," she said, adding that the test craft was destroyed in the first four seconds of its launch.

"I don't know the exact altitude, but it was not very far," she said.

The weapon was developed by Sandia National Laboratory and the U.S. Army as part of the military's "Conventional Prompt Global Strike" technology development program, which is seeking to build a weapon that can destroy targets anywhere on Earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.

Schumann said the craft, known as the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, was one of several platforms being tested as part of the Prompt Global Strike program. The craft had successfully flown from Hawaii to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands during a previous test in November 2011, she said.

The weapon, described by the Army as a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, was supposed to fly from Alaska to the Kwajalein Atoll during Monday's test.

Schumann said that, in addition to the previous successful flight test, the hypersonic weapon had "gone through a series of ground testing and modelling and simulation." She said she wouldn't characterize Monday's terminated flight as a significant setback for the prompt global strike program.

"This was one concept that we were looking at in a range of possible CPGS (Conventional Prompt Global Strike) concepts," she said. "The whole CPGS program is event-driven, not time- or schedule-driven. So we learn, we keep learning from a variety of ground testing and modeling and simulation and other tests done on the range of concepts under CPGS."

Schumann said officials from the program, the U.S. Army, Navy and Missile Defense Agency were conducting an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

The investigation will inform future tests for the weapon and other prompt global strike vehicles, she said.

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GPS rival Galileo set back after satellites put in wrong orbit

The European Commission says it still has confidence in its plans to build a rival to the U.S. satellite navigation system despite a problem with the latest launch of satellites for the network.

Space transport company Arianespace launched two satellites for Europe's Galileo system aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from French Guiana on Friday but they were put into the wrong orbit, calling into question their usefulness for the Galileo system.

It is the latest setback to Galileo, which has been beset by delays, financing problems and questions over whether Europe really needs its own Global Positioning System.

The EU has approved a 7 billion-euro ($10.1 billion) budget for Galileo and another navigation project between now and 2020. It says Galileo will strengthen Europe's position in a satellite-navigation market expected to be worth 237 billion euros in 2020.

The European Commission said on Monday it had asked Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) for details of the incident along with a schedule and a plan to rectify the problem. Early information from Arianespace indicate the problem involved the upper stage of the launcher, it said.

"The European Commission will participate in an inquiry with ESA to understand the causes of the incident ... " European Industry Commissioner Ferdinando Nelli Feroci said in a statement. "I remain convinced of the strategic importance of Galileo and I am confident that the deployment of the constellation of satellites will continue as planned."

A board of inquiry looking into the problem is expected to give preliminary results in the first half of September.

The European Space Agency has control of the two satellites, but they probably cannot be moved into the right orbit. They still might contribute to the Galileo system, with reduced effectiveness, a Commission source said.

The EU's use of a Russian rocket to put the satellites into orbit comes as conflict in Ukraine has strained EU-Russian relations. But EU officials said Arianespace simply selected the rocket best suited to the job.

An Arianespace spokesman said the satellites were not guaranteed and the company was not liable to pay compensation to the European Commission for the mishap.

Arianespace uses Soyuz instead of the European Ariane 5 rocket for Galileo because Ariane 5 is much more powerful than the launch needed. Soyuz is the right size and can carry two satellites at once, the spokesman said.

"Using Ariane 5 would be the same as using a truck to carry two suitcases," he said.

The European satellite problem was just one of two major space launch mishaps last Friday. The same day, an unmanned SpaceX rocket self-destructed shortly after launching on a test flight at a Central Texas development site.The test flight involved a three-engine version of the company's reusable Falcon 9 rocket.SpaceX has been using the Falcon 9 to launch satellites and the Dragon spacecraft, which delivers cargo to the International Space Station.

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Why it's hard to stop a peeping drone

When hobbyists send their tiny, camera-mounted drones up to capture pictures of a beautiful sunset, the results can be stunning.

But when unmanned aerial vehicles — which have been rapidly growing in popularity across Canada — are spotted hovering outside condo windows or over backyards, the resulting unease is understandable. But is the peeping drone illegal?

Commercial use of drones falls under Transport Canada regulations and requires a Special Flight Operations Certificate.

'Right now in Canada we don't have any laws that regulate recreational drones, especially in terms of privacy.'- Ciara Bracken-Roche

But recreational users of UAVs weighing less than 35 kilograms — considered "model aircraft" in government terms — don't need permission from the federal department to send their remote-controlled devices up in the air.

"Right now in Canada we don't have any laws that regulate recreational drones, especially in terms of privacy," says Ciara Bracken-Roche, a PhD candidate at Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., and member of its Surveillance Studies Centre.

But at the same time, she says, "If you're inside your 10th-floor condo and a drone flies outside your window and takes pictures into your private dwelling, your reasonable expectation of privacy is totally violated."

In Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms says "you have the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure," Bracken-Roche says, noting that legal rulings around a "reasonable expectation of privacy" come up quite a bit.

The key issue, though, is what recourse you have if you're uncomfortable with a drone hovering near your property.

Is it harassment?

A call could be made to the police, and perhaps they would find grounds to lay charges.

"The use of drones to invade someone's private home, business etc. could potentially be viewed as criminal harassment or voyeurism," says Const. Pierre Bourdages, the public information officer for Halifax Regional Police

Transport Canada is investigating a possible close call with a drone while an airplane was en route from Halifax to St. John's in July. (CBC)

"In some instances there may be grounds to lay charges if the behaviour was seen to meet the requirements under the Criminal Code for these charges.

"That said, it would be very dependent on the individual facts of each case."

Alternatively, a formal complaint could be made to the federal Privacy Commissioner's office.

But one problem there: how to know who's flying the drone, since the operator may well be out of sight, and the tiny machine doesn't have a licence plate or, usually, other identifying features. It's not the Goodyear blimp.

"Under the current privacy complaint intake process, Canadians must be able to identify the organization they want investigated and must also specify what of their personal information was collected," says Shayna Gersher, a graduate student at the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University in Ottawa.

"Identifying the drone operator or an unmarked drone for that matter, as well as the type of information that was collected, poses almost insurmountable challenges to Canadians seeking recourse."

Popularity soars

So far this year, the Vancouver Police Department has fielded about a dozen drone complaints.

Rising numbers

Transport Canada has issued increasing numbers of Special Flight Operations Certificates for UAVs operating for commercial purposes in recent years. From 155 in 2011, the number grew to 347 in 2012 and 945 last year, the department said.

"The terms outlined in the SFOC will stipulate where, when and how the UAV can be operated."

The maximum penalty for operating an AUV without a certificate is $5,000 for a person, or $25,000 for a corporation, Transport Canada said.

The department's "enforcement tools" range from verbal counselling to those penalties.

"What we are finding is that many operators are simply unaware of their responsibilities," the department said, and its first approach is to talk to the operator.

In the spring, an Ottawa resident complained to his city councillor about a drone buzzing around his neighbourhood.

Such complaints come as the popularity of drones has taken off.

The electronics retailer Future Shop has seen double-digit growth in drone sales so far in 2014, says communications manager Elliott Chun.

"People are always looking for what that next great gadget is going to be, and the drone is certainly one that's among the top 10 of people's …want or gift lists."

Chun says Future Shop is keeping an eye out for any regulations that might arise around drones.

"With anything we carry, whether it's an appliance or your smartphone or even a DSLR camera, we expect our customers will use products purchased at Future Shop responsibly and according to the law, so … if any type of regulation comes into play, we'll make sure we enforce those types of things."

Use common sense

For her part, Gersher also sees bigger privacy issues at stake around the use of drones, pointing to an instance earlier this year when the Ontario Provincial Police were reported to have deployed a drone over a group of protesters for surveillance.

"Drones in this context become a political tool of intimidation that has profound, far-reaching impacts for a free and democratic society such as ours."

Concerns about drones are arising outside Canada, too.

Last month, a man in upstate New York was arrested and charged with unlawful surveillance after a drone was spotted flying outside exam room windows at a hospital in Ulster.

In Washington, D.C., on Friday, model aircraft hobbyists, research universities and commercial drone interests filed lawsuits challenging a government directive that they say imposes tough new limits on the use of model aircraft and broadens the Federal Aviation Administration's ban on commercial drone flights.

Back in Canada, Dany Thivierge, the founder of Mississauga-based Canada Drones, draws attention on the company's website to safety, and urges drone users not to fly above people, houses, cars or pets.

Thivierge also urges those flying drones for commercial purposes to ensure they follow the regulations as set by Transport Canada, but says in the hobby area, there are "no real rules except common sense."

When it comes to privacy concerns, he says, it's impossible to warn drone operators against their "own stupidity."

"What I always say with privacy is that today you can buy a pretty good pair of binoculars or even a camera with a big lens and you can spy on all your neighbours without them knowing … it's quite easy, and there's no big fuss about that.

"The drone is quite noisy in the sky. It has lights. Your chances of not being spotted are pretty slim," he says.

"That one per cent or less of people who are going to do stupid things, they need more education, that's for sure."

Beneficial uses

Both Gersher and Bracken-Roche note that drones can be deployed for beneficial uses.

"The Canadian public at large isn't against UAV technologies," says Bracken-Roche, referencing data collected by the Queen's surveillance centre for a report.

"They see the benefits of things like using technologies for emergency response, search and rescue … even border patrols in remote areas."

"But then things like UAVs that would fly too high to be seen, people were very uncomfortable about that, or UAVs that could see into their homes perhaps with a thermal sensor or radar — individuals were very uncomfortable about that as well."

Gersher notes that drones can offer "many benefits to society."

"However, we must ensure that their uses and the types of equipment affixed to them fall in line within our protected rights and freedoms," she says.

Transport Canada has a UAV group that is working with industry stakeholders to recommend amendments to existing regulations, the department said in an email.

But Gersher says that effort, which she says is due for completion in 2017, focuses only on safety, and doesn't account for other types of uses.

From a safety perspective, that may be fine, she says, but considering that drones can be used in many contexts, "Canadians and elected officials should have a fair chance to debate the kinds of uses they want permitted in their domestic skies."

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Where to 3D print cool stuff yourself

Every day, it seems, there is more cool stuff that you can 3D print — from wedding cake toppers based on a 3D scan of you and your betrothed to replicas of fossils in museums to personalized iPhone cases — if only you had a 3D printer. And who does?

Toronto Public Library users can choose from a variety of different colours of plastic in which to 3D print their projects. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Not many people, but publicly accessible 3D printers are popping up all over the country, at places ranging from libraries to makerspaces to small businesses that liken themselves to internet cafés for 3D printing.

It's not just libraries in big centres like Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa that are offering 3D printing now, but even smaller communities like Sudbury and Kitchener, Ont., and towns right across Nova Scotia, from Yarmouth to Sydney.

Ab Velasco, who helped set up the Digital Innovation Hub at the Toronto Reference Library that includes 3D printers, said it's just a continuation of what libraries have always done.

"Libraries were one of first places to offer free access to computers, internet, wifi… and so offering access to other new emerging technologies — it's just a natural fit," said Velasco.

Personalized chess set, TV mount

Mike Ross is co-ordinator for the program that offers access to a 3D printer at the Colchester-East Hants Public Library in Truro, N.S. Since the printer was installed in 2012, people have printed all kinds of things from a personalized chess set based on the Magic: The Gathering card game to parts to repair a dishwasher or mount a TV, he said. The City of Truro has even used it to print out waterproof cases to protect devices designed to provide the town with public wireless internet access.

Mike Harvie checks the progress on his print job at the Toronto Public Library. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Alex Lai, digital design technician at the Fort York Branch of the Toronto Public Library, said nameplates and jewelry have been popular with library users. One couple even scanned themselves holding hands using the library's 3D scanner and printed out a custom cake topper for their upcoming wedding.

Since the Toronto Public Library started providing access to its 3D printers in February, there have been huge waiting lists for the 60-minute certification "class" that library users have to take before getting access to the 3D printers.

Mike Harvie is one Toronto library user keen to take advantage of his new access to 3D printing. On a sunny August morning, he came into the Fort York branch of the library with a file he downloaded from the popular website Thingiverse, eager to 3D print an object for the very first time. Thingiverse offers free printable 3D models of objects ranging from toys to jewelry to home decor.

It took about an hour to print the bottom half of the Raspberry Pi case on the library's Makerbot 3D printer. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Harvie said he's interested in having access to the printer in case something small gets broken around the house and he needs a spare part.

But he wanted to do a test project first – "to see the texture and sturdiness of it," he explained.

He considered making a toy for his two-year-old son, but changed his mind and decided to make something for himself — a case for his smartphone-sized Raspberry Pi computer.

Lai was on hand to help Harvie out.

He asked Harvie to pick what colour plastic to use. He chose red. They then discussed which way up it should print to minimize the amount of time and plastic and therefore the cost. Because the entire project would take longer than the two-hour time limit, they decided to start with the bottom half of the case and print the top half another time.

Then, with a push of a button, the print job started.

Curious onlookers

As the print head of the microwave-oven-sized MakerBot printer moved back and forth, squirting out red plastic layer by layer, half a dozen other library users popped by for a look.

A couple recently used the 3D scanner at the Toronto Public Library to scan themselves and then 3D printed the model to use as a caketopper for their upcoming wedding. (Emily Chung/CBC)

"Oh wow, that's amazing," said Nomi Drory, an art teacher and designer who had never seen a 3D printer before. She was quick to ask about how she could sign up for a library workshop.

An hour later, Harvie was invited to peel his case off the tray with a spatula.

"I think it's going to work out pretty good," he said as he examined it.

In addition to casual users printing knick-knacks, at the library entrepreneurs and engineering students have created prototypes of devices such as smart watches for a fraction of the price that it would cost to print commercially. The library charges just $1 per print job plus 5 cents a minute.

Both Ross and Velasco say they have a wide range of users, from kids to seniors.

"We definitely have a lot of people who are newcomers to technology, who have never seen a 3D printer before," Velasco said. "Because we're the library, generally we are a space for everybody… there's less of an intimidation level to use the technology."

New makerspaces opening

Unfortunately, not every community has a 3D printer in their library yet. But in many of those communities, the public can still get access to 3D printers at clubs called hackerspaces or makerspaces, which exist in most major cities across the country.

Mike Harvie holds up his first 3D-printed creation - a case for his Raspberry Pi computer - which was printed at the Fort York Branch of the Toronto Public Library. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Some brand new ones providing access to 3D printers have opened up in the past few months, including the Saint John Makerspace in New Brunswick, Yukonstruct in Whitehorse and Vancouver MakerLabs.

"Part of it is just the access to the technology is becoming more affordable," said Derek Gaw, cofounder of MakerLabs.

Using a makerspace is more expensive than using 3D printers at the library — MakerLabs, which is for-profit, charges $100 per month. Non-profit makerspaces such as Regina's Crashbanglabs and Calgary's Protospace charge as little as $30 and $50 a month respectively.

But for that price, members typically get access not just to 3D printers, but often a wide range of other equipment, such as laser and plasma cutters, said Ben Eadie, who is on the board of directors for the Protospace hacker space in Calgary: "You could literally build a vehicle from scratch in that place."

Many members are also very experienced with different kinds of equipment.

"The people in the library can't necessarily help you out to the same level that Protospace can," he said. He added that the club has a variety of members, some as young as nine years old, and he encourages anyone interested in 3D printing to come in and try it.

'Internet café for 3D printers'

Finally, for those who want to avoid the commitment of a club and the waiting lists of the library, there are a few other options, such as Toronto's MakeLab.

MakerLabs' essentially acts as a showroom their 3D printer, which is on loan from a 3D Systems distributor. (MakerLabs)

"It's essentially like an internet café for 3D printers," said Jonathan Moneta, creative lead for the business that offers 3D printing workshops and one-on-one training, as well as assistance with preparing models for 3D printing.

"You can really just stop in, take a short training course and then parachute in whenever you need to use the 3D printer."

He said the facility is popular with entrepreneurs, partly because they can use multiple 3D printers at once to test different versions of an object.

On the other end, MakeLab's couples' workshops are popular on date nights and kids who drag their parents in to print out physical versions of things they built in the video game Minecraft.

Other companies that primarily serve businesses sometimes also offer workshops for the general public, including Toronto's Hot Pop Factory. It has hosted special events like a "3D printed kissing booth" where participants were encouraged to scan themselves while kissing and print out a model.

With so many options, just about anyone should be able to try 3D printing for the first time. It's just a matter of figuring out what to print and where. For some ideas, check out our photo gallery.

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Sony PlayStation Network back online after weekend cyberattack

Group claims responsibility for attack and bomb threat against Sony's John Smedley

The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 10:01 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 10:05 AM ET

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Sony's PlayStation Network service for video games is back online after being disrupted Sunday by an online attack.

Separately, an American Airlines flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley was diverted to Phoenix while the online attack was happening, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Nakajima said.

An individual or group called Lizard Squad claimed through a Twitter account there might be explosives on the plane, which was en route from Dallas to San Diego. The account also claimed responsibility for the attack on PlayStation Network.

It was still unclear if the account's claims were true, Nakajima said.

Sony confirmed via its PlayStation Twitter account shortly after 1 p.m. ET Sunday that its engineers were "aware of the issues and are working to resolve them."

Sony's network was compromised for about a month in 2011, including the personal data of 77 million user accounts. The network's security was upgraded to protect against such attacks.

Sony says there was no breach of personal information in the latest incident, which was resolved between Sunday night and Monday morning.

Smedley said on Twitter: "Yes, my plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys."

American Airlines officials in Tokyo were not immediately available for comment.

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Where to 3D print cool stuff yourself

Every day, it seems, there is more cool stuff that you can 3D print — from wedding cake toppers based on a 3D scan of you and your betrothed to replicas of fossils in museums to personalized iPhone cases — if only you had a 3D printer. And who does?

Toronto Public Library users can choose from a variety of different colours of plastic in which to 3D print their projects. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Not many people, but publicly accessible 3D printers are popping up all over the country, at places ranging from libraries to makerspaces to small businesses that liken themselves to internet cafés for 3D printing.

It's not just libraries in big centres like Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa that are offering 3D printing now, but even smaller communities like Sudbury and Kitchener, Ont., and towns right across Nova Scotia, from Yarmouth to Sydney.

Ab Velasco, who helped set up the Digital Innovation Hub at the Toronto Reference Library that includes 3D printers, said it's just a continuation of what libraries have always done.

"Libraries were one of first places to offer free access to computers, internet, wifi… and so offering access to other new emerging technologies — it's just a natural fit," said Velasco.

Personalized chess set, TV mount

Mike Ross is co-ordinator for the program that offers access to a 3D printer at the Colchester-East Hants Public Library in Truro, N.S. Since the printer was installed in 2012, people have printed all kinds of things from a personalized chess set based on the Magic: The Gathering card game to parts to repair a dishwasher or mount a TV, he said. The City of Truro has even used it to print out waterproof cases to protect devices designed to provide the town with public wireless internet access.

Mike Harvie checks the progress on his print job at the Toronto Public Library. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Alex Lai, digital design technician at the Fort York Branch of the Toronto Public Library, said nameplates and jewelry have been popular with library users. One couple even scanned themselves holding hands using the library's 3D scanner and printed out a custom cake topper for their upcoming wedding.

Since the Toronto Public Library started providing access to its 3D printers in February, there have been huge waiting lists for the 60-minute certification "class" that library users have to take before getting access to the 3D printers.

Mike Harvie is one Toronto library user keen to take advantage of his new access to 3D printing. On a sunny August morning, he came into the Fort York branch of the library with a file he downloaded from the popular website Thingiverse, eager to 3D print an object for the very first time. Thingiverse offers free printable 3D models of objects ranging from toys to jewelry to home decor.

It took about an hour to print the bottom half of the Raspberry Pi case on the library's Makerbot 3D printer. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Harvie said he's interested in having access to the printer in case something small gets broken around the house and he needs a spare part.

But he wanted to do a test project first – "to see the texture and sturdiness of it," he explained.

He considered making a toy for his two-year-old son, but changed his mind and decided to make something for himself — a case for his smartphone-sized Raspberry Pi computer.

Lai was on hand to help Harvie out.

He asked Harvie to pick what colour plastic to use. He chose red. They then discussed which way up it should print to minimize the amount of time and plastic and therefore the cost. Because the entire project would take longer than the two-hour time limit, they decided to start with the bottom half of the case and print the top half another time.

Then, with a push of a button, the print job started.

Curious onlookers

As the print head of the microwave-oven-sized MakerBot printer moved back and forth, squirting out red plastic layer by layer, half a dozen other library users popped by for a look.

A couple recently used the 3D scanner at the Toronto Public Library to scan themselves and then 3D printed the model to use as a caketopper for their upcoming wedding. (Emily Chung/CBC)

"Oh wow, that's amazing," said Nomi Drory, an art teacher and designer who had never seen a 3D printer before. She was quick to ask about how she could sign up for a library workshop.

An hour later, Harvie was invited to peel his case off the tray with a spatula.

"I think it's going to work out pretty good," he said as he examined it.

In addition to casual users printing knick-knacks, at the library entrepreneurs and engineering students have created prototypes of devices such as smart watches for a fraction of the price that it would cost to print commercially. The library charges just $1 per print job plus 5 cents a minute.

Both Ross and Velasco say they have a wide range of users, from kids to seniors.

"We definitely have a lot of people who are newcomers to technology, who have never seen a 3D printer before," Velasco said. "Because we're the library, generally we are a space for everybody… there's less of an intimidation level to use the technology."

New makerspaces opening

Unfortunately, not every community has a 3D printer in their library yet. But in many of those communities, the public can still get access to 3D printers at clubs called hackerspaces or makerspaces, which exist in most major cities across the country.

Mike Harvie holds up his first 3D-printed creation - a case for his Raspberry Pi computer - which was printed at the Fort York Branch of the Toronto Public Library. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Some brand new ones providing access to 3D printers have opened up in the past few months, including the Saint John Makerspace in New Brunswick, Yukonstruct in Whitehorse and Vancouver MakerLabs.

"Part of it is just the access to the technology is becoming more affordable," said Derek Gaw, cofounder of MakerLabs.

Using a makerspace is more expensive than using 3D printers at the library — MakerLabs, which is for-profit, charges $100 per month. Non-profit makerspaces such as Regina's Crashbanglabs and Calgary's Protospace charge as little as $30 and $50 a month respectively.

But for that price, members typically get access not just to 3D printers, but often a wide range of other equipment, such as laser and plasma cutters, said Ben Eadie, who is on the board of directors for the Protospace hacker space in Calgary: "You could literally build a vehicle from scratch in that place."

Many members are also very experienced with different kinds of equipment.

"The people in the library can't necessarily help you out to the same level that Protospace can," he said. He added that the club has a variety of members, some as young as nine years old, and he encourages anyone interested in 3D printing to come in and try it.

'Internet café for 3D printers'

Finally, for those who want to avoid the commitment of a club and the waiting lists of the library, there are a few other options, such as Toronto's MakeLab.

MakerLabs' essentially acts as a showroom their 3D printer, which is on loan from a 3D Systems distributor. (MakerLabs)

"It's essentially like an internet café for 3D printers," said Jonathan Moneta, creative lead for the business that offers 3D printing workshops and one-on-one training, as well as assistance with preparing models for 3D printing.

"You can really just stop in, take a short training course and then parachute in whenever you need to use the 3D printer."

He said the facility is popular with entrepreneurs, partly because they can use multiple 3D printers at once to test different versions of an object.

On the other end, MakeLab's couples' workshops are popular on date nights and kids who drag their parents in to print out physical versions of things they built in the video game Minecraft.

Other companies that primarily serve businesses sometimes also offer workshops for the general public, including Toronto's Hot Pop Factory. It has hosted special events like a "3D printed kissing booth" where participants were encouraged to scan themselves while kissing and print out a model.

With so many options, just about anyone should be able to try 3D printing for the first time. It's just a matter of figuring out what to print and where. For some ideas, check out our photo gallery.

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Elevated selenium levels found in fish near Mount Polley mine spill

Fish from Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake, downstream from the Mount Polley mine spill, have elevated levels of selenium, arsenic and copper among other elements, but there is no threat to human health, according to the B.C.  government.

The fish tissue analyzed shows an elevated level of selenium in the livers and gonads that exceed guidelines for human consumption. But the province says the elevated levels are similar to those found in the lakes before the spill.

"These results are to be expected for fish from Quesnel and Polley lakes," says a release from the Ministry of Environment. "When these results were compared to a 2013 report of fish flesh, gonad and liver data, similar levels of selenium in excess of the guideline for human consumption were found.

"The sampled fish also show slightly higher levels of arsenic, copper, manganese and zinc when compared to fish sampled from 54 other lakes throughout the province, but are still within human consumption guidelines."

The ministry says the elevated levels likely have more to do with the local geology than the recent breach at the Mount Polley tailings pond.

"The local geology where mines are located often have elevated levels of metals, meaning naturally occurring metal concentrations in local water bodies could be much greater in this region than elsewhere in the province," the release says.

Safer to remove livers, gonads

Interior Health and the Ministry of Environment reiterate the fish are safe to eat, and anyone who wants to take extra precautions can remove the liver or gonads of the fish.

An aerial view of the Mount Polley mine tailings pond shows the area where the earthen wall gave way early on the morning of August 4. (Ministry of the Environment)

"A person would need to consume about one cup of lake trout and rainbow trout livers and gonads in one day in order to exceed the high-consumption threshold," said a statement released by the ministries on Friday morning.

"By comparison, consumption of one cup of lake trout or rainbow trout flesh (not including livers and gonads) per day does not exceed the guideline."

Previous bans on water use in the region have already been lifted.

The tailings pond breach on Aug. 4 near the town of Likely, B.C., released 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden sand, contaminating lakes, creeks and rivers in the region.

Activist remains concerned

But not everyone agrees with the government's findings. Earlier this week wild salmon advocate Alexander Morton said she found a strange blue film on the surface of the lake that needs to be investigated.    

"People need to know what this blue film is because it's oil based. It looks like a wax that has dried on the lake. It cracks when you touch it," said Morton earlier this week.

"People in town are wearing masks. They're very, very nervous. So, I think a lot more information needs to come out and I think this needs to be cleaned up."

Morton says that when she touched the blue film it burned her hand, and she's written to Interior Health about the situation.

Dr. Sue Pollock, medical health officer with Interior Health, says the authority has been working with the Ministry of Environment to determine what is causing the sheen.

"If decaying debris is the reason, we would not expect this to impact water quality or pose a health hazard," Pollock said. "We have asked for additional testing to be done from the Ministry of Environment so we can make a full public assessment."

Environment Ministry manager Jennifer McGuire said ministry tests on one sample had so far shown the blue sheen was likely caused by decaying debris.

"Based upon our physical observations as well as the one lab result, and the experience of the staff that have seen vegetation that has been decomposing, we believe it to be of an organic matter, which is related to the vegetation and the trees that did come down during the tailings breach," McGuire said.

On Friday Morton said she remains concerned about contamination in the lakes.

"The B.C. government's first response was that all the grey slurry pouring out of the mine was just sand, no different than an avalanche and that we got 'lucky' — the water is safe to drink," said a statement released by Morton.                

"That is not at all what the situation looks like and the people in the area and downstream have virtually no confidence in the B.C. government's assessment. The federal government is completely missing in action — a stunning silence."

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Bao Bao, rare captive-bred panda, gets 1st birthday cake at National Zoo

Female is only 2nd cub born at the zoo to survive to her 1st birthday

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Smart grizzly bears can use tools to solve problems

Three-year-old grizzly bear Roan has just figured out that he can move the stump in order to stand upon it and grab a doughnut hanging out of reach during a study by Washington State University researchers. (Washington State University)

It may no longer be good enough to hang your food in a tree to keep it away from bears when you go camping, according to a first-of-its-kind study at the Washington State University Bear Research Education and Conservation Center.

Some — but not all — grizzlies can use primitive tools to thwart your efforts, veterinary student Alex Waroff found this summer in an experiment assisted by Charlie Robbins, WSU bear centre director, and O. Lynne Nelson, assistant director and professor of cardiology at WSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

"The bear was observed to pick up a rock or shell and use it to scratch his face," Nelson said. "Those of us who work with bears read the report and essentially said, 'Really? Is that the best you have?' "Nelson said the idea for the study came from a report in a peer-reviewed journal of "first tool use" by a brown bear in Alaska.

Nelson said she, and others who work with bears, see evidence of bears manipulating objects for a specific goal all the time — the definition of tool use.

"Of course, all of these observations are anecdote," she said. "So we decided to put this problem-solving skill to standardized research protocol."

The study's participants are eight grizzly bears — five males and three females — who are challenged to get their paws on a glazed doughnut hung out of reach in their play area on the WSU campus.

Researchers place a sawed-off tree stump below the hanging treat to see if the animals will stand on it to reach the object of their desire. Once they do, the stump is turned on its side and moved away from the treat. Researchers observe whether the bears will move it back under the doughnut.

Using her paws, nine-year-old Kio flips a plastic box to position it under the hanging doughnuts to use as a footstool. She has started selecting the box over the tree stump, presumably because it is easier to manipulate. (Linda Weiford/Washington State University News)

So far, researchers have identified one bear — a nine-year-old female — who has become the star of the show.

Kio, who was born in the centre in 2005, has sailed through the tasks, while others are still discovering the basics.

"She manipulates an inanimate object in several steps to help her achieve a goal, which in this case is to obtain food. This fits the definition of tool use," Nelson said.

She said the value in this study will be to assist professionals like wildlife managers to address bear-related problems and zookeepers to keep their captive wards mentally and physically stimulated.

"This study helps us understand something about the evolution of problem solving in bears and how it compares to other species, including humans. It helps us to understand the way bears think and perhaps how we might anticipate and alter our practices in backcountry places and campgrounds," Nelson said.

She said it also shows how a species may adapt to a changing environment.

"Being able to problem solve allows for a species to 'think outside the box' so to speak. This may be important if habitat and food resources change."

Nelson said she and the other researchers have plans to continue with other bear-related studies after this one is completed in the fall.

"People often don't like to see us feeding the bears sweets such as doughnuts," she said. "I really appreciate that and I am glad that people care. We do give sweets as special treats, but not as a major part of their diet."

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Elevated selenium levels found in fish near Mount Polley mine spill

Fish from Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake, downstream from the Mount Polley mine spill, have elevated levels of selenium, arsenic and copper among other elements, but there is no threat to human health, according to the B.C.  government.

The fish tissue analyzed shows an elevated level of selenium in the livers and gonads that exceed guidelines for human consumption. But the province says the elevated levels are similar to those found in the lakes before the spill.

"These results are to be expected for fish from Quesnel and Polley lakes," says a release from the Ministry of Environment. "When these results were compared to a 2013 report of fish flesh, gonad and liver data, similar levels of selenium in excess of the guideline for human consumption were found.

"The sampled fish also show slightly higher levels of arsenic, copper, manganese and zinc when compared to fish sampled from 54 other lakes throughout the province, but are still within human consumption guidelines."

The ministry says the elevated levels likely have more to do with the local geology than the recent breach at the Mount Polley tailings pond.

"The local geology where mines are located often have elevated levels of metals, meaning naturally occurring metal concentrations in local water bodies could be much greater in this region than elsewhere in the province," the release says.

Safer to remove livers, gonads

Interior Health and the Ministry of Environment reiterate the fish are safe to eat, and anyone who wants to take extra precautions can remove the liver or gonads of the fish.

An aerial view of the Mount Polley mine tailings pond shows the area where the earthen wall gave way early on the morning of August 4. (Ministry of the Environment)

"A person would need to consume about one cup of lake trout and rainbow trout livers and gonads in one day in order to exceed the high-consumption threshold," said a statement released by the ministries on Friday morning.

"By comparison, consumption of one cup of lake trout or rainbow trout flesh (not including livers and gonads) per day does not exceed the guideline."

Previous bans on water use in the region have already been lifted.

The tailings pond breach on Aug. 4 near the town of Likely, B.C., released 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden sand, contaminating lakes, creeks and rivers in the region.

Activist remains concerned

But not everyone agrees with the government's findings. Earlier this week wild salmon advocate Alexander Morton said she found a strange blue film on the surface of the lake that needs to be investigated.    

"People need to know what this blue film is because it's oil based. It looks like a wax that has dried on the lake. It cracks when you touch it," said Morton earlier this week.

"People in town are wearing masks. They're very, very nervous. So, I think a lot more information needs to come out and I think this needs to be cleaned up."

Morton says that when she touched the blue film it burned her hand, and she's written to Interior Health about the situation.

Dr. Sue Pollock, medical health officer with Interior Health, says the authority has been working with the Ministry of Environment to determine what is causing the sheen.

"If decaying debris is the reason, we would not expect this to impact water quality or pose a health hazard," Pollock said. "We have asked for additional testing to be done from the Ministry of Environment so we can make a full public assessment."

Environment Ministry manager Jennifer McGuire said ministry tests on one sample had so far shown the blue sheen was likely caused by decaying debris.

"Based upon our physical observations as well as the one lab result, and the experience of the staff that have seen vegetation that has been decomposing, we believe it to be of an organic matter, which is related to the vegetation and the trees that did come down during the tailings breach," McGuire said.

On Friday Morton said she remains concerned about contamination in the lakes.

"The B.C. government's first response was that all the grey slurry pouring out of the mine was just sand, no different than an avalanche and that we got 'lucky' — the water is safe to drink," said a statement released by Morton.                

"That is not at all what the situation looks like and the people in the area and downstream have virtually no confidence in the B.C. government's assessment. The federal government is completely missing in action — a stunning silence."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More