Technology News

Research reveals that a 20-million-year-old African fossil, long thought to be a bat, actually represents one of the earliest branches of the lemur family tree. The reassessment challenges a long-held view that lemurs descended from ancestors that colonized Madagascar in a single wave roughly 60 million years ago, and were the first mammals to get there. Instead, the researchers say two separate lemur lineages may have arrived independently, and much later than previously thought.

Researchers who tested two commercially available baby monitors are raising serious concerns about the accuracy of these products, which are marketed to parents, but are not regulated by the US Food & Drug Administration.

The US Preventive Services Task Force has updated its 2012 recommendations for cervical cancer screening with one important addition. This is the first time they are recommending a method of cervical cancer screening that does not include the Pap test — the gold-standard screening test for more than 75 years. A leading OB/GYN physician provides an important review of these new guidelines, which preserve the greatest range of choices for practitioners and patients.

Trees growing in temperate forests in the eastern US show strong adaptation or acclimation to local climate. So reports a new study that analyzed more than 23,000 tree cores to investigate how adult trees respond to changes in climatic conditions.

The selection process for this roundup started back in May at the tail-end of a previous, but closely related competition, 10 Hot IoT startups to watch.
AI wasn’t a key selection criterion then. Some startups had it, some did not, but enough of them focused squarely on AI that it made sense to look more closely at this subsector of the overall IoT market.
[ Check out our corporate guide to addressing IoT security. ] This roundup considered about 20 companies from the previous contenders that had strong AI components. Notice of the search for candidates was posted on HARO, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., and all told, just under 40 startups were considered.
To read this article in full, please click here

The Flatpak framework for distributing Linux desktop applications is now in prodaction release, after three years of beta status. The framework, originally called XDG-app, is intended to make Linux more attractive to desktop app developers. Applications built as a Flatpak can be installed on just about any Linux distribution.
The open source FlatPak can be used by different types of desktop applications and is intended to be as agnostic as possible when it comes the building of applications. There are no requirements for languages, build tools, or frameworks. Users can control app updates. Flatpack uses familiar technologies such as the Bubblewrap utility for setting up containers and Systemd for setting up Linux cgroups (control groups) for sandboxes.
To read this article in full, please click here

The Flatpak framework for distributing Linux desktop applications is now in prodaction release, after three years of beta status. The framework, originally called XDG-app, is intended to make Linux more attractive to desktop app developers. Applications built as a Flatpak can be installed on just about any Linux distribution.
The open source FlatPak can be used by different types of desktop applications and is intended to be as agnostic as possible when it comes the building of applications. There are no requirements for languages, build tools, or frameworks. Users can control app updates. Flatpack uses familiar technologies such as the Bubblewrap utility for setting up containers and Systemd for setting up Linux cgroups (control groups) for sandboxes.
To read this article in full, please click here

Australian university students give far more credit than the previous generation to the science of human evolution and far less to creationism or divine guidance, according to a landmark new study. The extent and pace of decline in the Australian students' commitment to religious views about divine creation, especially creationism, is in distinct contrast to the corresponding beliefs among American students and the American public.

Laughing gas and the mystery of Carl Sagan's Faint Young Sun Paradox: When the sun shone dimmer an eon ago, Earth remained warm in spite of it likely thanks to a mix of greenhouse gases. Biogeochemists have now shown how N20, known today for its use as a dental anesthetic, may have made it into the mix.

People treated with vagus nerve stimulation experience significant improvements in quality of life, even when their depression symptoms don't completely dissipate, according to a new study.