UK (Next Media) -   Scientists in the UK have shown that plants can communicate with the help of fungal networks.

Mycorrhizal fungi colonises the root structures of plants. Two plants connected by a network of mycorrhizal funghi are able to warn one another of threats, such as aphids. It is already known that plants can communicate through the air, so the scientists wrapped their test plants in plastic to prevent this. Plants were grown in groups of five, then three in a group were allowed to connected via fungal network, while two were kept isolated. Plants which received warning by fungal network secreted chemicals attractive to aphid wasps, while none of the other plants reacted when an unconnected plant was attacked.

SOURCES:

BBC, Yahoo News, Wiley Online Library

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22462855

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12115/abstract;jsessionid=43E51315EFE948C1A0C3617E273ACFDD.d01t01

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/study-shows-plants-communicate-other-via-underground-fungi-211754050.html***For story suggestions please contact tips@nma.com.tw

Japanese security firm Secom has a warning for would-be robbers - keep your eye on the sky because a soon-to-be-launched security drone will track you down. The drone has been designed to fly to the scene of a break-in and wait until the perpetrator tries to leave.

TOKYO, JAPAN (REUTERS) - Life may be about to get tougher for the burglars of Japan as researcher, Professor Toshiki Imamura is happy to demonstrate.

Imamura is co-developer of security firm Secom's new autonomous crime-fighting quadcopter, an airborne sentinel the company believes represents the future of industrial and home security.

"This is the world's first miniature aerial surveillance robot, we developed it to improve our chances of finding -- and ideally catching -- criminals," said Tsuneo Komatsuzaki, head of research at Secom,Japan's largest security firm.

"We've had some really upsetting cases in the past, cameras only managing to film criminals from behind or only capturing their shadows. But this goes right up to the subject and gets the perfect footage from the perfect angle. The camera misses nothing."

Equipped with a range of technologies incuding 3D mapping technology, the helicopter has been programmed to maneuver to catch a glimpse of a robber's face, relaying the camera footage in real time via an encrypted wireless signal.

If the suspect makes a run for it, the robot gives chase using a laser sensor to follow the subject at a predetermined distance. It can also home in on a vehicle to record and relay licence plate information in real time, and is equipped take evasive action if attacked.

"Criminals will get a shock when they see it, they'll look up in sheer amazement. And it's at that moment that the camera will be able to film them head-on, making it far more likely the suspect can later be identified. Our dream of course would be if criminals started to fear these robots so much that they don't even dare approach," Komatsuzaki told Reuters.

After two years of development, the 50-year-old security firm now aims to offer the robots from 2014 to its 1.8 million domestic customers at a 5000 yen ($48) monthly premium on existing contracts.

Each robot will be restricted to a preprogrammed flight area, large enough says Komatsuzaki, to keep a home or office safe while making robbers think twice.

Croatia (Next Media) - Researchers in Croatia have found a way that the humble honeybee can help to clear up a deadly legacy of the 1990s Balkan wars.

The scientists hope that once the bees associate the smell of TNT with food they will help to locate explosives in landmines still buried in the ground.

Estimates suggest there are at least 750 square kilometers (466 square miles) of uncleared mine fields left over from the 1990s Balkan wars.

SOURCES: Sky News

http://news.sky.com/story/1092705/honeybees-may-help-search-for-landmines

UK, (Next Media) -  Researchers have discovered that applying randomly fluctuating currents to the head boosts the brain’s ability to carry out mathematical calculations.

Scientists carried out studies on a group of volunteers by presenting them with math equations and applying transcranial random noise stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of their brains. This is the area of the brain that a person uses to solve math problems.

Researchers found the brains of those in the experimental group actually had reduced blood flow to the DLPFC area, but oxygen consumption was not affected. This suggests that brain cells were actually performing more efficiently by requiring less blood flow for the same amount of activity.

SOURCES:

Forbes, Nature.com

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/05/16/electrical-stimulation-might-improve-the-brains-capacity-for-math/

http://www.nature.com/news/shocks-to-the-brain-improve-mathematical-abilities-1.13012

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO, May 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Google I/O -- This week during the Google I/O developers conference, Vivante Corporation, providers of the world's smallest, fastest and coolest mobile GPU cores, announced product readiness for the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system update.  Today's Google TV™ products featuring the Vivante GC1000 IP cores ready for the update include the Sony Google TV NSZ-GS7 Internet Player, the VIZIO Goggle TV Co-Star™, the NETGEAR NeoTV™ PRIME, the Asus CUBE, the Hisense Google TV, and the Lenovo Smart TV (sold in China).

"From games to productivity apps, music to movies, Android is rapidly becoming the OS of choice for the convergence of mobile and Smart TV technologies," said Wei-Jin Dai, Vivante President and CEO. "Vivante GC1000 cores are optimized for low-power Android devices and provide the performance required for butter smooth graphics performance of even the most complex apps and games."

The rapidly-growing Google TV ecosystem including hardware manufacturers, software providers and developers are charging towards providing Interactive, on-demand and web-based media content that is best experienced when accelerated by a GPU.  By combining low power, high performance graphics processing with industry initiatives like HTML 5, GPU media processing, natural user interfaces (NUI), and interactive web apps, the consumer experience is becoming more dynamic, responsive and engaging.

For more information on Google TV visit: http://www.google.com/tv. For more information on the Marvell ARMADA HD Video Processor visit http://www.marvell.com/digital-entertainment/armada-1500/.  Specifications of the GC1000 and other cores can be found here:http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/en/technology/3d.

About Vivante Corporation

Smaller – Faster – Cooler: Vivante Corporation, a leader in multi-core GPU, OpenCL™, CPC Composition Engine and Vector Graphics IP solutions, provides the highest performance and lowest power characteristics across a range of Khronos™ Group API conformant standards based on the ScalarMorphic™ architecture. Vivante GPUs are integrated into customer silicon solutions in mass market products including smartphones, tablets, HDTVs, consumer electronics and embedded devices, running thousands of graphics applications across multiple operating systems and software platforms. Vivante is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with additional R&D centers in Shanghai and Chengdu. For more information, visit http://www.vivantecorp.com.

Vivante and the Vivante logo are trademarks of Vivante. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. 

SOURCE Vivante Corporation

Tech innovators and app designers attending the recent "Apps For Asia - Redesigning Development" programme in Uttar Pradesh, say technology holds the answer to many of Asia's poverty-related problems. The programme was created by the Asian Development Bank and Microsoft to bring new solutions for improving the lives of millions across the continent. Jim Drury reports.

NEW DELHI + NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (REUTERS) -  Despite huge economic advances in recent years, Asia remains a continent mired in poverty.

But app developers there believe they have the solution, in smartphone technologythey say can improve quality of life for the millions affected.

Among them was Blue Clover, a food management app for diabetics, co-designed by Donald Zhang.

 DONALD ZHANG OF TRINARY LOGIC, AUSTRALIA,

"You take a photo and then it recognizes the food. It does this by comparing it against a whole list of photos we have on our food database. Right now the database we're using is a large database of Australian foods, but by simply changing the database the application will work in India or any other country."

This online log-book enables users to rapidly record and monitor their eating patterns, via barcode scanning or a database of product images. It also warns users when their glucose levels are low and if necessary, alerts emergency contacts.

Developers Trinary Logic hope it will empower diabetics in developing countries to monitor themselves, instead of depending on medical services which are often unreliable.

Filipino designer Joel Barquez's app, Blood Donor Network, is designed to link blood donors with people in need of blood transfusions. The app works by targeting donors based on locality and blood type.

 'BLOOD DONOR NETWORK' APP DESIGNER, JOEL BARQUEZ FROM THE PHILIPPINES, 

"Basically the application does a crowd-source through a web and mobile application, crowd-source for blood. The advantage is that it saves time as well as money on the part of the patient."

Mapi's designers believe their pedestrian navigation app has huge potential in regions afflicted by poor infrastructure. Integrating GPS technology with smart phone cameras, users navigate themselves on foot, plotting their own journey or receiving directions from others.

The "Apps for Asia" programme was created by the Asian Development Bank and Microsoft.

And while access to smartphone technology is still beyond the reach of nearly two billion people in the region, the developers believes costs will eventually come down to the point where all of Asi a can benefit.

The impact created a flash of light so bright it would have been noticeable to anyone looking at the moon at the moment of impact, even without a telescope.

So far, more than 300 strikes have been recorded.

A NASA satellite orbiting the moon is now on a hunt for the newly formed crater, which scientists estimate could be as wide as 66 feet.

Google unveils new pay music streaming service, new products and user increase at annual developers conference.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MAY 15, 2013) (GOOGLE)  - Google on Wednesday (May 15) launched a music service that allows users to listen to unlimited songs for $9.99 (USD) a month, challenging smaller companies like Pandora and Spotify in the market for streaming music.

Google's service lets users customize song selections and stream individual playlists, or listen to a curated, radio-like stream. It will launch for U.S. users first, then roll it out in several other countries.

Google, Amazon.com Inc and Apple are among the Silicon Valley powerhouses sounding out top recording industry executives, according to sources with knowledge of talks and media reports. Pandora is spending freely and racking up losses to expand globally. Even social media stalwarts Facebook and Twitter are jumping on the streaming music bandwagon.

Executives also said on Wednesday that some 900 million smartphones and tablets running Google Android software have been activated since the platform's inception in 2010.

Google said revenue from Android, the software used by Samsung and othermobile device makers that competes with Apple, is also gaining momentum. Google executives said revenue per user for Android applications developers is now 2-1/2 times its year-earlier level.

Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page also took the stage at the end of I/O keynote. Page made headlines on Tuesday (May 14) after providing the first public details of the voice ailment that sidelined him from speaking engagements last summer, saying that he has limited movement in his left and right vocal cords. The medical issues did not deter him from talking about his vision for Google.

"Every story I read about Google is kind of us versus some other company over some stupid thing and I just don't find that very interesting. We should be building great things that don't exist," said Page, speaking very softly into a microphone.

Roughly 5,500 software developers are attending this year's "Google I/O" convention at San Francisco's Moscone Center through Friday May 17.

Mosh-pits at heavy metal concerts may seem chaotic but, according to researchers at Cornell University, they are governed by the same laws of physics that govern the behaviour of gas particles. The researchers say law enforcement officials could apply the lessons of the mosh-pit in creating new strategies for crowd control.Sharon Reich has more.

ITHACA, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (REUTERS/YOUTUBE/CORNELL UNIVERSITY COHEN GROUP) -  Mosh pits are better organized than you might think.

Scientists at Cornell University say that while large groups of flailing heavy metal fans may look chaotic, they are governed by the same laws of physics that determine the movement of gas particles.

CORNELL UNIVESRITY GRADUATE STUDENT AND RESEARCHER JESSE SILVERBERG:

"The collective motion of people depend on social circumstances. at one end you have people walking down street, they form lanes so they don't bump into each other. At the other end at riots and protests you ahve people who get jammed, crushed or there's a stampede. So what we learn from the physics of moshpits, is that by studying how people behave in extreme social situations found at heavy metal concerts we get a lens into how people will behave in other similiarly extreme situations like riots and protests and situations of escape panic."

Silverberg broke the mosh pit down by studying the videos and then creating computerized mosh pit simulations based on a few rules - namely that people collide and that they want to move but do so in a random manner.

They then added flocking terms, which illustrate that people want to move in the same direction as those around them.

CORNELL UNIVESRITY GRADUATE STUDENT AND RESEARCHER JESSE SILVERBERG:

"We focused on two distincly different types of collective behavior. One of them, which is called a mosh pit, is this very random mess of people bouncing around and jumping into and bouncing off each other its' just this total mess. On the other hand there is a very ordered type of collective motion where people run around in a circle. There will be this giant vortex of humans. And the really cool thing we found in our simulation is that we were able to reproduce both behaviors just by changing a single number."

That discovery came as a surprise, and turned what began as a fun project into something Silverberg's adviser Itai Cohen says, has potential application in the real world.

 ITAI COHEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AT CORNELL UNIVESRITY:

"If we could understand how to move between the mosh pit, which is this random motion to the vortex state, which is this herding motion where you can get a stampede and people getting hurt, if you could control that transition then that would have serious implications for crowd control. Could you put a post somewhere, an architectural design piece, that would essentially prevent the crowd from nucleating a stampede in some place. Could you in the way that salt preventscrystallization of water in some way inhibit the formation of stampedes."

The Cornell team say their research is still in its infancy but hope, with more mosh-pit experience under their belts, to shed even more light on the science of headbanging.

 Australia (Next Media) -   A new brain implant developed by researchers at the University of Melbourne can warn of epileptic seizures minutes before they strike, enabling sufferers avoid potential hazards.

An early warning system for seizures could avoid dangers for individuals such as an attack while driving. It could also improve the effectiveness of anti-epilepsy drugs such as benzodiazepines, as they are only effective before a seizure starts.

The researchers said the next step in the development of the device is to test it on a larger sample of patients.

SOURCES:

New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23475-brain-implant-gives-early-warning-of-epileptic-seizure.html

MIT Technology Review

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/416599/brain-implant-cuts-seizures/

Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence

http://www.kurzweilai.net/brain-implant-gives-early-warning-of-epileptic-seizure