Author: Lucas Bennett

Giant pandas living in one of China’s most protected nature reserves have been found to seek out the company of other pandas far more than previously thought, according to research using tracking technology rarely permitted on the endangered species. The findings emerged from a two-year study conducted at the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China, where researchers from Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability monitored five bears between 2010 and 2012 using GPS collar technology. What made the project possible was an unusual decision by the Chinese government, which had banned the use of GPS collars on…

Researchers have identified a new way of detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s disease using a virtual reality navigation test — one that may flag biological risk factors in people as young as their twenties, long before any symptoms emerge. The study, led by scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and published in the journal Science, asked participants aged between 18 and 30 to navigate a virtual maze, collect objects and return them to their original locations. Brain activity was monitored throughout using fMRI scanning equipment. At first glance, the results appeared straightforward — all participants performed equally well…

A person’s eye colour could one day help doctors assess their risk of developing alcohol dependency, according to new research that has found a statistically significant link between light-coloured eyes and alcoholism. The study, carried out by scientists at the University of Vermont and published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, followed 1,263 European Americans and found that those with light eyes — including blue, grey and green — were more likely to show signs of alcohol dependency than those with darker eyes. Among the light-eyed participants, those with blue eyes recorded the highest rates of dependency. The finding…

A senior Republican congressman has warned his party may have no choice but to seek Democratic support to elect the next House Speaker, following Kevin McCarthy’s sudden and unexpected decision to withdraw from the race. McCarthy’s exit blindsided colleagues and threw the House into uncertainty, with no clear successor immediately emerging. In the moments after the announcement, Pennsylvania Republican Charlie Dent told CNN the situation had fundamentally changed the political landscape inside the chamber. Dent argued that whoever takes the speakership must not be a candidate who wins the role by making concessions to the most hardline members of the…

Engineers at a US university have developed a free application that could significantly extend the battery life of Android smartphones by targeting one of the most persistent but least visible causes of power loss — apps that continue running checks in the background while the phone appears to be off. The tool, called Hush, was created by a team at Purdue University in Indiana following a large-scale study of energy consumption across 2,000 Android handsets. The research found that applications which regularly ping servers for updates account for roughly 30% of the battery power a phone loses while in sleep…

A browser extension used by millions to strip advertisements from websites has built a business model that charges some of the internet’s biggest companies for the privilege of having their ads exempted from its blocking list — while letting the vast majority through at no cost. Adblock Plus, made by German company Eyeo, operates what it calls an Acceptable Ads list: a register of advertisements deemed unobtrusive enough to be allowed through its filter. Any company or publisher can apply to be included, but those operating at scale — large advertising networks and major publishers — are charged a fee…

A court order targeting one Wikipedia page about a form of hashish briefly caused Russian internet providers to block the entire website, exposing a fundamental technical problem at the heart of Moscow’s approach to internet censorship. The ban, triggered by a ruling from a court in a small southern Russian town, targeted a Wikipedia entry about charas — a type of cannabis resin originating in India. Authorities deemed the page harmful and ordered it removed. Wikipedia refused. Because the site operates using the secure https protocol, internet providers faced an all-or-nothing choice: they could not block a single page without…

A crested macaque named Naruto picked up a wildlife photographer’s unattended camera in an Indonesian jungle in 2011, pressed the shutter and accidentally produced one of the most widely shared photographs on the internet. Four years later, that moment has ended up in a San Francisco federal court — with an animal rights organisation arguing the monkey should own the copyright. PETA filed the lawsuit on behalf of Naruto this week, naming British photographer David Slater and US publishing company Blurb as defendants. Slater, whose camera was used to take the images, has published a book containing the photographs and…

Federal investigators are looking into whether a government employee used official Department of Homeland Security equipment to edit Wikipedia pages and insert references to unverified claims about the personal conduct of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, days after he dramatically withdrew from the race to become Speaker of the House. The edits, first spotted by a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, were traced to an IP address registered to DHS. One altered page belonged to Republican congresswoman Renee Ellmers, while a separate change was made to McCarthy’s own Wikipedia entry. Both referenced allegations of an affair between the two,…

From Beijing’s ancient alleyways to the banks of the Thames, some of the world’s most celebrated historic places are being altered, crowded or quietly dismantled — and critics say the international body tasked with safeguarding them is either unable or unwilling to stop it. Unesco’s World Heritage programme has spent more than four decades designating the planet’s most significant natural and man-made sites, and its list now runs to over 1,000 locations across 161 countries. This week, the 39th session of the UN heritage committee in Bonn is expected to add a further 18 sites, among them Scotland’s Forth Bridge,…