Knowledge Update

Washington, March 23 (IANS) While Arctic Sea ice reached this year a record low wintertime maximum extent, sea ice around Antarctica also hit its lowest extent ever recorded by satellites at the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, scientists have said.

In February this year, the combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent was at its lowest point since satellites began to continuously measure sea ice in 1979, said scientists at NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado.

Total polar sea ice covered 16.21 million square km, which is two million square km less than the average global minimum extent for 1981-2010 -- the equivalent of having lost a chunk of sea ice larger than Mexico, the study said.

"It is tempting to say that the record low we are seeing this year is global warming finally catching up with Antarctica," Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a NASA release on Wednesday.

"However, this might just be an extreme case of pushing the envelope of year-to-year variability. We'll need to have several more years of data to be able to say there has been a significant change in the trend," Meier added.

The ice floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas shrinks in a seasonal cycle from mid-March until mid-September. 

As the Arctic temperatures drop in the autumn and winter, the ice cover grows again until it reaches its yearly maximum extent, typically in March. 

The ring of sea ice around the Antarctic continent behaves in a similar manner, with the calendar flipped --it usually reaches its maximum in September and its minimum in February.

This winter, a combination of warmer-than-average temperatures, winds unfavourable to ice expansion, and a series of storms halted sea ice growth in the Arctic, the scientists said.

This year's maximum extent, reached on March 7 at 14.42 million square kilometres, is 97,00 square kilometres below the previous record low, which occurred in 2015, and 1.22 million square kilometres smaller than the average maximum extent for 1981-2010, according to the scientists.

New York, March 23 (IANS) While the rise in machine learning technology may be making people's lives smarter and easier, it has conversely given rise to fear and anxiety among people about losing jobs to artificial intelligence (AI) devices, a study has showed.

"Technophobes" -- persons who fear robots, artificial intelligence and new technology that they don't understand -- are three times more likely to be fearful of losing their jobs to technology when compared to others and nearly three times more likely to fear not having enough money in the future, the study has shown.

"If you're afraid of losing your job to a robot, you're not alone. This is a real concern among a substantial portion of the population. They are not simply a subgroup of generally fearful people," said researcher Paul McClure, a sociologist in Baylor University's College of Arts & Sciences, in Texas, US.

"People in certain occupations may legitimately fear losing their jobs to robots and software that can work for cheaper and for longer hours than any human," McClure added, in the paper published in the journal Social Science Computer Review.

Technophobes also have 95 per cent greater odds of not being able to stop or control worrying when compared to others, and 76 per cent greater odds of feeling as if something awful might happen and are also more likely to suffer anxiety-related mental health issues.

While a transformation would most likely be gradual, it could trigger a major social unrest among those who are displaced from their jobs, McClure said.

For his study, McClure examined 1,541 participants, of whom more than a third were found to be more fearful of automation that could lead to job displacement than they are of potentially threatening or dangerous circumstances such as romantic rejection, public speaking and police brutality.

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Joining the 'go digital' bandwagon, South Korean giant Samsung on Wednesday launched Samsung Pay, the company's flagship mobile payments service, in India.

​Las Vegas, March 22 (IANS) Claiming it is "creating magic in the clouds", top officials of creatives company Adobe launched its Experience Cloud, bringing together digital intelligence and machine learning to provide customers with what they called was a complete solution for their digital needs.

​Hong Kong, March 22 (IANS) Investors based in Hong Kong are putting more money in start-ups and are increasingly looking at India as an investment option due to its strengths in areas such as information technology, a senior official has said.

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Marking its entry into the mid-segment smartphone category, domestic mobile manufacturing company Lava on Wednesday launched Z25 and Z10 smartphones at Rs 18,000 and Rs 11,500, respectively. Lava Z25 sports 5.5-inch 2.5D-curved HD IPS display. The dual-sim device is powered by an Octacore processor, supported by 4GB and 32GB on-board memory with 3020 mAh (ATL) battery. The phone runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 operating system. The device sports 13MP rear camera and an 8MP selfie camera. "Lava Z25 and Z10 are packed with premium features of camera, fingerprint, design and durability that go well beyond the conventional boundaries in this price segment," said Gaurav Nigam, Product Head, Lava International. Lava Z10 sports a 5 inch 2.5D curved HD IPS Display, an 8MP rear camera and 5MP selfie shooter. It is also powered by Octacore processor and runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS. This device has 2620 mAh (ATL) battery with 'Power Saver mode' and ‘Super Power Saver mode'. Lava Z25 and Lava Z10 will be available in select retail stores in Delhi from March 23 and in other cities in a few weeks' time, the company said.

​New York, March 22 (IANS) Scientists have developed an ultra-thin gel-like coating material that has the potential to extend the life and improve the efficiency of lithium-sulfur batteries.

"Our approach is general, in that it can be integrated with virtually any kind of sulfur electrode to increase cycling stability," said lead investigator of the study Hailiang Wang, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US.

In a study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers described the new material which can be applied to any sulfur cathode. 

A cathode is the positive terminal on a battery.

Sulfur cathodes coated with the material can be stably discharged and recharged for more than 1,000 cycles, enhancing the battery's efficiency and number of cycles, according to the researchers.

"The developed film is so thin and light it will not affect the overall size or weight of the battery, and thus it will function without compromising the energy and power density of the device," Wang said.

New types of electrodes -- positive and negative terminals -- are considered essential for the development of a new generation of high energy-density batteries. 

As lithium-ion batteries -- currently widely used in mobile phones and laptops, among other electronic devices -- begin to reach their capacity limits, many researchers are looking at lithium-sulfur as a solution. 

Sulfur is both lightweight and abundant, with a high theoretical energy capacity. 

The Yale team made its discovery by combining the distinct properties of two material components. 

They merged the mechanical strength of graphene oxide with the ability of a dendrimer molecule to confine lithium polysulfides. 

The result is a gel-like slurry that can be readily coated as a 100-nanometer-thin film onto sulfur electrodes, the study said.

​Washington, March 22 (IANS) The first woman to serve on Facebook's board, who is now the Social media giants Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg has announced the release of her latest book, which focusses on finding meaning and happiness after an adversity.

Titled "Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy," the book has been co-written with author Adam Grant. 

In a Facebook post, Sandberg said that the book focuses on how she learned to find meaning and happiness after the sudden death of her husband, Dave Goldberg, in 2015. 

The title, Sandberg said, has been inspired by a conversation with a friend. 

"A few weeks after my husband Dave died, I was talking to my friend Phil Deutch about a father-son activity that Dave was not here to do. We came up with a plan for someone to fill in so my son would not have to miss out. I cried, 'But I want Dave.' Phil put his arm around me and said, 'Option A is not available. So let's just kick the shit out of Option B,'" Sandberg wrote in a post on Facebook. 

"That became my mantra, and for the past two years I've tried hard to find meaning and happiness in the wake of our despair." 

"Because no one's life is perfect, we all live some form of Option B," she wrote. "It's my deepest hope that Option B will help others learn what I learned: that when life pulls you under, you can kick against the bottom, break the surface, and breathe again."

Sandberg, who previously authored "Lean In" in 2012, she was named in the Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine.

​New York, March 22 (IANS) Researchers have found that flaw in a gene linked to birth defects in mouse models may cause cleft lip and palate in humans too.

In the study, three siblings born with cleft lip and palate were found to have the same gene mutation associated with the birth defect.

The gene intraflagellar transport 88 (IFT88) ensures transportation antennae (cilia) on embryonic cells travel to the right place, enabling the development of cartilage, bone and smooth muscle in the face and skull.

"Finding this birth defect in every single child in a family is like catching lightning in a bottle because it allowed us to pinpoint the gene mutation that is probably responsible," said senior author of the study Yang Chai from University of Southern California in the US.

"Our finding that the gene IFT88 is involved in cleft lip and palate is unlikely to be mere coincidence," Chai said.

However, because this study - published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics -- involved only three children, Chai said more investigation is needed to find a causal relationship.

Operation Smile, an international nonprofit that provides free facial surgeries in developing countries, found and provided support to the three siblings -- two boys and a girl -- in Mexico who were born with cleft lip and palate. 

Their mother did not have the congenital disorder, but their father did.

Researchers went through 32,061 unique gene variations to identify IFT88.

"If someone carries this mutation, they may have a higher chance of giving birth to children with cleft lip and palate," said Chai.

"In our study, the animal model and the human mutation match," Chai said. 

"In the animal model, there is no doubt. We have shown that 100 per cent of the mice who have a single mutation in IFT88 have cleft lip and palate," Chai added.

New York, March 22 (IANS) Insulin resistance, caused in part by obesity and physical inactivity, is also linked to a more rapid decline in cognitive performance, researchers say.

Insulin resistance is a condition in which cells fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin. The resistance prevents muscle, fat, and liver cells from easily absorbing glucose. As a result, the body requires higher levels of insulin to usher glucose into its cells.

The study, appearing in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, showed that both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects with insulin resistance experienced accelerated cognitive decline in cognitive functions such as memory, executive function, visual spatial processing, and attention. 

"The findings may help to identify a group of individuals at increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older age," said David Tanne, Professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel. 

Without sufficient insulin, excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, leading to prediabetes, diabetes, and other serious health disorders.

However, "insulin resistance can be prevented and treated by lifestyle changes and certain insulin-sensitizing drugs. Exercising, maintaining a balanced and healthy diet, and watching your weight will help you prevent insulin resistance and, as a result, protect your brain as you get older," Tanne added.

For the study, the team followed a group of nearly 500 patients with existing cardiovascular disease for more than two decades and assessed their insulin resistance with the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) -- calculated using fasting blood glucose and fasting insulin levels --, and cognitive functions.