When you take a whiff of something, odor molecules sail inside your nose where they bind to proteins — called olfactory receptors — on cells that line your nasal cavity. These receptors trigger signals that your brain interprets as one or many smells. A team of scientists has identified the Read more…
Since its inception, Facebook’s user growth has essentially been up and to the right. But on Wednesday, it reported its first-ever quarterly decline of daily users globally, along with lower-than-expected ad growth that sent its stock plunging roughly 20 percent. From a report: The massive stock drop, which instantly wiped Read more…
Quantum computing is still rare enough that merely installing a system in a country is a breakthrough, and IBM is taking advantage of that novelty. The company has forged a partnership with the Canadian province of Quebec to install what it says is Canada’s first universal quantum computer. The five-year Read more…
One day, we will all don AR glasses, capable of serving up information geospatially tied to every house and place in our neighborhoods. But who will own and control these spatial AR layers? It’s the stuff of nightmares: The other day, I found my property occupied by a stranger, who Read more…
Astronomers have discovered a captive asteroid shadowing Earth in its orbit. The asteroid, known as 2020 XL5, is only the second of its type ever seen, shepherded by Earth’s gravity into an orbit that is locked in synchrony with our planet’s. It has not shared our orbit for long — Read more…
Disappointed with the lack of US response to the Hermit Kingdom’s attacks against US security researchers, one hacker took matters into his own hands. For the past two weeks, observers of North Korea’s strange and tightly restricted corner of the internet began to notice that the country seemed to be Read more…
The government of El Salvador on Monday rejected a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund to drop Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American country. Treasury Minister Alejandro Zelaya angrily said that “no international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.” Zelaya told a local Read more…