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    Hey Google, do you really record everything I say? Yes

    January 7, 2020, Categories  Technology/Electronics

    Credit: CC0 Public Domain

    Google says it only records interactions with connected devices like the Google Home speaker when we use the “wake word,” of “Hey, Google,” or “OK, Google.” But when using many of the Google smartphone apps with a microphone for voice search, or even Google on the desktop with voice commands, it can actually record every word you say to it—whether you use the wake word or not.

    The fine print is that you have to click on the microphone in the apps to communicate with Google. (For queries like “Hey, Google, find Italian restaurants near me.”) Once you do that, Google will start transcribing you, word for word, and storing your commands, in text and audio, as U.S. TODAY discovered in tests this week.

    This is similar to Google’s monitoring of our keystro...

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    New Radiotracer offers opportunities for Earlier Intervention after Heart Attack

    January 5, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

     Binding specificity test. (A) PET/CT axial views, autoradiographs, and corresponding H&E stainings of 10-micron cross-sections prepared from MI nonblocked, blocked, and sham-operated rats. Autoradiographs and H&E stainings from nonblocked hearts show increased Ga-68-FAPI-04 uptake in infarcted area at 7 days after MI, whereas uptake is negligible after sham operation or injection of nonlabeled FAPI-04 (blocked). Infarcted areas in H&E stainings are identified with arrows. (B) PET image–derived infarct-to-noninfarct uptake ratio (derived from 6 nonblocked and 3 blocked rat hearts subjected to coronary ligation). (C) Autoradiography image–derived infarct-to-noninfarct uptake ratio (derived from 3 nonblocked and 3 blocked MI hearts). QL = quantum level.

    New radiotracer offers opp...

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    Supercharging tomorrow: Team develops world’s most efficient Lithium-Sulfur Battery

    January 5, 2020, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Associate Professor Matthew Hill, Dr. Mahdokht Shaibani and Professor Mainak Majumder. Credit: Monash University

    Imagine having access to a battery, which has the potential to power your phone for five continuous days, or enable an electric vehicle to drive more than 1000km without needing to “refuel”.

    Monash University researchers are on the brink of commercialising the world’s most efficient lithium-sulphur (Li-S) battery, which could outperform current market leaders by more than 4X, and power Australia and other global markets well into the future.

    Dr...

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    Scientists find evidence that Venus has Active Volcanoes

    January 5, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons (at 46 degrees south latitude, 214.5 degrees east longitude) in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The colored overlay shows the heat patterns derived from surface brightness data collected by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), aboard the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft. Image credit: NASA
    This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons (at 46 degrees south latitude, 214.5 degrees east longitude) in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The colored overlay shows the heat patterns derived from surface brightness data collected by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), aboard the European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft. Image credit: NASA

    New research led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and published today in Science Advances shows that lava flows on Venus may be only a few years old, suggesting that Venus could be volcanically active today—making it the only planet in our solar system, other than Earth, with recent eruptions.

    “If Venus is indeed active today, it would make a great place to visit to better understand the in...

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