Agence France-Presse

LONG BEACH–US university researchers have created a portable “sixth sense” device powered by commercial products that can seamlessly channel Internet information into daily routines.

The device created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists can turn any surface into a touch-screen for computing, controlled by simple hand gestures.

The gadget can even take photographs if a user frames a scene with his or her hands, or project a watch face with the proper time on a wrist if the user makes a circle there with a finger.

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Agence France-Presse

PARIS — Men significantly outnumbered women in the “out-of-Africa” migration some 60,000 years ago that eventually populated the rest of the world, according to a new study.

Africa is known to be the cradle of human evolution, and recent studies show that the people inhabiting other continents originate from a relatively small band of Homo sapiens who moved through the Near East, into Europe and beyond some 50,000 and 70,000 years ago.

But until now no one had figured out a way to determine what the sex-ratio of this so-called founding population might have been.

A quartet of researchers led by Alon Keinan at the Harvard Medical School thought that the secret might be locked inside differences in genetic code across distinct geographic regions.

They knew that the percentage of X chromosomes in a given population varies depending on the proportion of men.

The “X” and “Y” chromosomes determine sex — men have one of each, while women have two X chromosomes. The other 22 chromosome pairings in the human genome are all the same.

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By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

DESPITE the migration of many Filipino medical professionals abroad, the Department of Tourism (DOT) still believes the Philippines can become a medical tourism destination.

“In fact, a lot of them are coming back because of that [medical tourism],” said Cynthia Carrion, DOT undersecretary for Sports and Wellness, during the Philippine Health and Wellness Summit here in Manila.

Carrion related that Filipino doctor Samuel Bernal has been bringing his patients to the Philippines for the past 15 years.

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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

MANKIND has long been fascinated with time travel, fantasizing about machines that will transport us to the past. However, one need not wait for these futuristic inventions because within our reach are tools that can serve as windows to the past: fossils.

Yes, the fossil is a time machine.

In my video below, fossil collector Larry Gotauco further elaborates on what fossils are.

According to Gotauco, fossils are preserved matter or impressions from prehistoric animal or plant life — parts of the organism or its excrements such as plant sap or dinosaur dung.

“Unlike rocks which are non-living records of time, fossils were life preserved in stone,” he said.

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By Agence France-Presse

PARIS — A Japanese researcher has put paleo-biologists in a flap by suggesting pterosaurs — the winged lizards beloved of toymakers and dino movies — were unable to fly, New Scientist says.

Katsufumi Sato of the University of Tokyo carried out an unusual study on the Crozet Islands, in the southern Indian Ocean, to test flying ability among large sea birds.

He attached accelerometers the size of AA batteries to the wings of 28 birds from five large species, including the wandering albatross, the world’s biggest flying bird.

Albatrosses fly by riding shifting winds, thanks to wings spanning 3.5 metres (11.4 feet) whose shape can be varied to exploit each draft.

When there is no wind, or if the wind blows at a constant speed, the bird can only stay aloft by flapping its wings, otherwise it is forced down by gravity and air resistance.

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