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Girl who hit puberty early are at sharply higher risk of abusing alcohol as teens if their parents don't keep tabs on them, new research shows.

According to Dr. Brett Laursen of Florida Atlantic University in Fort Lauderdale and colleagues found out that early-maturing girls whose parents gave them free rein at age 13 showed a "dramatic increase in alcohol abuse" over the next four years compared to early-maturing peers who were supervised more closely.


And over time, the more often these girls abused alcohol, the less closely their parents supervised them, according to research published in Pediatrics.


The researchers followed 957 girls from a small town in central Sweden over a four-year period, starting when the girls were 12 to 14 years old. Roughly 20% of the girls had their first period before age 12 ("early maturing", about 60% first menstruated at age 12 or 13 ("on-time", while the remaining 20% had their first period after age 13 ("late-maturing".

Alcohol abuse rose in all three groups as the girls got older. But among the on-time and late-maturing groups, levels of autonomy granted by parents (based on the girls' own perception) weren't associated with rates of alcohol abuse.


For the early-maturing group, however, parental autonomy granting made a big difference. Early-maturing girls whose parents gave them the least autonomy - that is, girls whose parents kept the tightest rein - had an 84% increase in alcohol abuse from seventh to tenth grade, while those given "medium" autonomy had a 160% increase in alcohol abuse. For those given the most autonomy, alcohol abuse increased by 234%.


The early-maturing group tended to hang out with older friends, who reported "relatively high" rates of alcohol abuse. But even after the researchers took this into account, the association between parental supervision and alcohol abuse remained.


Dr. Laursen and his colleagues also found that the girls who started out the study at higher levels of alcohol abuse were actually granted more freedom over time. From seventh to tenth grade, parental autonomy granting increased 12% for girls who started out at low levels of alcohol abuse, but it increased by 18% for those at medium levels of alcohol abuse and 24% for those with the highest levels of alcohol abuse.


"The more parents simply pay attention to what their child is doing, the less likely they are to do unhealthy things," said Dr. Terrill Bravender, a professor and division director of adolescent medicine at the University of Michigan Department of Pediatrics in Ann Arbor. Dr. Bravender wrote an editorial accompanying the new study. "The take-home message is be part of your children's life and know what they're doing, who they're with, and set up some appropriate boundaries for them, especially if they're early-maturing girls," he said.


It's not clear why parents in the study seemed to respond to their child's alcohol abuse by giving them even more freedom, he said. "You would hope that once kids started participating in these activities, that parents might find out."

They may assume that their early-maturing daughters are more grown-up than they really are, he added, or the increased autonomy granting may be due to parents' "learned helplessness."

The findings don't mean that being a helicopter parent is the way to go, according to Dr. Bravender. Instead, he added, "you should have a general idea of who your child's friends are, and who they're spending time with."

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Apple has said it is taking steps to remove malicious code added to a number of apps commonly used on iPhones and iPads in China.

It is thought to be the first large-scale attack on Apple's App Store.

The hackers had created a counterfeit version of Apple's software for building iOS apps, which it persuaded developers to download.

Apps compiled using the software could steal data about the users and send it to servers controlled by the hackers.

In addition, the attackers could send fake alerts to infected devices to trick their owners into revealing passwords and other information.

The infected applications includes Tencent's hugely popular WeChat app, a music downloading app and an Uber-like car hailing app.

Some of the affected apps - including the business card scanner CamCard - are also available outside China.

An Apple spokeswoman said apps created using the counterfeit software, XcodeGhost, had now been removed from the App Store.

In Apple's walled garden App Store, this sort of thing shouldn't happen.

The company goes to great lengths, and great expense, to sift through each and every submission to the store. Staff check for quality, usability and, above all else, security.

The Apple App Store is generally considered a safe haven as the barrier to entry is high - there's only been a handful of instances of malware found on iOS apps, compared to Google's Play store which for a while was regarded as something of a "Wild West" for apps (until they introduced their own malware-scanning system too).

It makes this attack all the more surprising, as it looks like two groups of supposedly informed people have been caught out.

Firstly developers, who security researchers say were duped into using counterfeit software to build their apps, creating the right conditions for the malware to be applied.

And secondly, Apple's quality testers, who generally do a very good job in keeping out nasties, but in this case couldn't detect the threat.

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks said on Friday that potentially hundreds of millions of users were impacted by the infected apps.

"We believe XcodeGhost is a very harmful and dangerous malware that has bypassed Apple's code review and made unprecedented attacks on the iOS ecosystem," the firm said on its website.

But Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics at market research firm Euromonitor International, said he did not forecast a major impact on the sale of Apple products.

"It is definitely embarrassing for Apple but the reality is that malware is a persistent problem since the days of PCs and the problem will multiply as the number of mobile devices explodes from 1.4 billion units in 2015 to 1.8 billion in 2020,"

In fact, consumers are less cautious on mobile devices than on PCs, he added.

"In emerging markets like China or Vietnam, mobile devices are their first connected product and security is taken for granted," he said.

"Consumers in emerging markets are also less protective of privacy and security issues," added Mr Wee.

Earlier this month, login names and passwords for more than 225,000 Apple accounts were stolen by cyber-thieves in China.

It was uncovered by security firm Palo Alto Networks while investigating suspicious activity on many Apple devices. It found a malicious software family that targets jailbroken iPhones.

The majority of people affected were in China.

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Pope Francis has met Cuba's former President, Fidel Castro, after celebrating Mass in front of tens of thousands of people in Havana.

The two men discussed world affairs and religion, in what the Vatican called an "informal and friendly" encounter.

Before the meeting, Pope Francis gave a homily in which he urged Cubans to serve each other rather than ideology.

It is the first visit by the Pope to the Communist-ruled island, on a trip that will later take him to the US.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi described the meeting between Pope Francis and Fidel Castro, which took place at the former Cuban leader's home, as low-key.

They exchanged books: Pope Francis gave Mr Castro three titles, including a book of sermons by Mr Castro's former teacher, while in return the Pope received Fidel and Religion, a collection of interviews with a Brazilian priest.

Earlier in the day, thousands streamed into Havana's Revolution Square to hear the Pope.

Security services were seen arresting at least three people who were shouting and attempting to distribute flyers at the edge of the square as the Mass got under way.

During his homily the Pope spoke of how "Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most vulnerable".

He also warned against ideology, saying: "Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people".

It seems difficult to gauge exactly how many people filled the enormous Revolution Square in Havana, but their enthusiasm was clear to everyone watching.

The Pope was greeted by thousands in good voice and high spirits, despite the suffocating Caribbean heat.

It was a rare sight - the iconography of revolution such as the huge cast-iron Che Guevara mural juxtaposed against the images of religion, including a vast huge picture of Jesus Christ. Or Raul Castro embracing Pope Francis.

Once again, it felt like evidence that times are changing on the communist island.

In terms of his homily, the Pope discussed ideas of brotherhood and unity but the more overt political message was aimed not at Cuba, but Colombia.

He urged the Colombian government and the left-wing Farc rebel group to persevere with the talks being held in Havana, saying they could not allow "another failure on the path of peace and reconciliation".

Cuba's President Raul Castro, who is not a practising Catholic, attended, as did Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, president of the Pope's native Argentina.

The Pope praised improved co-operation between the Cuban government and the Church on Saturday, but called for the Church in Cuba to have "the freedom and the means" to pursue its mission.

Both his predecessors, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, visited the island during their papacy.

Pope Francis is due to fly to Washington on Tuesday. He has been credited with helping the recent thaw in diplomatic ties between Cuba and the US.

After his arrival on Saturday, he hailed improving ties between the two countries as "an example of reconciliation for the whole world".

But he also urged both Cuba and the US to "persevere on the path" of detente.

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At least 13 migrants, including children, have died after their dinghy and a ferry collided off Turkey, the coastguard there says.

The accident happened close to the port of Canakkale. The boat was on its way to the Greek island of Lesbos.

In a second incident, Greece's coastguard said 26 people were feared missing from a boat, also off Lesbos.

Meanwhile thousands of migrants continue to cross borders in southern Europe, many now passing into Austria.

'We lost the children'

Turkey's coastguard said it had raised the alarm after being told that a commercial vessel and a migrant boat had collided off Canakkale.

It said it had sent a helicopter and six rescue boats to the area.

Eight people have been rescued, with one seriously injured. Some reports said four of the dead were children.

One survivor who gave his name as Haseen, told AFP news agency: "It was dark, we saw the ship bearing down on us. We tried to signal with flashlights and cell phones but they did not see us."

The passengers were thrown into the water.

"We lost the children. We could not see them in the dark," Haseen said.

In the second incident, Greece's coastguard said it had rescued 22 people spotted in the water near Lesbos - but a further 26 people were feared missing.

On Saturday, a five-year-old girl died and 13 people were feared missing after their boat also sank off Lesbos.

Trips on makeshift craft between Turkey and Greek islands are frequent and dangerous for migrants, many of whom are fleeing conflict in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Bitter exchanges

Meanwhile, thousands of migrants continue to cross borders further north, many of them hoping to reach Germany and Scandinavia.

Austria saw the arrival of at least 10,000 migrants on Saturday and 7,000 more are now crowding the Nickelsdorf crossing with Hungary.

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Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology are testing a revolutionary kind of robotic landing gear which folds in flight, extracts while landing, and bends in response to variable terrain.
These robotic legs allow for stable and safe landings of unmanned helicopters in a variety of rough terrain which is typically not accessible to traditionally outfitted aircrafts. DARPA’s Mission Adaptive Rotor (MAR) program is funding the project, which showcased the research at the recent Wait, What? A Future Technology Forum, in St. Louis, Missouri.

The team at Georgia Institute of Technology developed the novel robotic landing gear using legs with articulated joints that can fold up when the helicopter is flying and extend when the copter is preparing to land.


The legs contain force-sensitive contact sensors which detect the terrain as the unmanned vehicle descends on its landing site. The data from the sensors is interpreted in real-time by the helicopter and used by the flight system to make adjustments, so as to avoid hitting the rotor on the landing area and maintain level flight. The legs add little additional weight to the aircraft and provide a tremendous amount of benefit by expanding its available landing terrain.

The team recently field-tested the system in a controlled trial that, along with simulations and structural analysis, demonstrated the potential effectiveness of the system. According to DARPA program manager Ashish Bagai, the system can land a helicopter on terrain with a 20-percent slope, and on uneven, boulder-laden terrain with a five-fold reduction in the risk of damage to the aircraft. It also can be used to land on moving ships, including those sailing on rough seas.

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The man behind one of the most popular ad-blocking apps has withdrawn his product from the app store, saying "achieving this much success doesn't feel good."

Marco Arment, the co-founder of Tumblr, released Peace, an ad-blocker that worked on iOS9, the latest iPhone operating system, shortly after Apple enabled mobile blocking apps on the new system.

The $2.99 app shot up to the top of the paid app chart overnight, along with ad-blockers Purify and Crystal.

Mr Arment, who also created Instapaper, said Peace brought "quiet, privacy, and ludicrous speed to iOS web browsing."

Data, battery life, time, and privacy were being taken from users without their consent, he said in the same blog post.

However many criticized ad-blockers for charging for something that simultaneously took money away from publishers who depended on adverts so that they could provide their readers with free content.

Today is national kick an indy web publisher in the groin day, spread the word, wrote Christopher Mims. .

However Mr Arment withdrew his app after just two days and offered those who had bought it a refund.

He wrote in a blog post: "Achieving this much success with Peace just doesn't feel good, which I didn't anticipate, but probably should have. Ad-blockers come with an important asterisk: while they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don't deserve the hit.

"Peace required that all ads be treated the same — all-or-nothing enforcement for decisions that aren't black and white. If we're going to effect positive change overall, a more nuanced, complex approach is required than what I can bring in a simple iOS app."

He added: "Pulling Peace from the store after just two days is going to be an immensely unpopular move, and subject me to a torrent of unpleasantness. But that'll end soon enough, and that's better than how I'd feel if I kept going."

Peace had partnered with browser add-on "Ghostery" which blocks adverts and trackers on desktops. This will continue to operate.

An Apple spokeswoman said that Apple enabled ad-blocking in the new version of its mobile software to give customers the option to block content "for an improved mobile browsing experience."

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For all its rough and rugged mystique, masculinity can be the most vulnerable of traits. Forged by the knuckle-worn fists thumping hard against Homosapian chests, and honed to a fine sheen in the the gladiator bathhouses of ancient Rome, the fragile male ego is now under threat by the greatest force the world has ever known: the rose gold iPhone.

Just look at that pretty pink hue, boys. You crave the newest color on the newest model of the world’s most popular phone but can’t stop thinking "pink is for girls" or "pink is gay." You hate yourself for wanting it, and you’re scared; what will people think if you pre-order a bigger better rose gold iPhone 6S Plus to 3D Touch late at night? How will the guys respond when they see you Apple Pay a round of beers with it at the ballpark?


It’s then that you see that your fears were unfounded. Sure, some responses are laced with a homophobic taint (this is Twitter, after all) but they’re the fringe, the homophobes are now the minority. Mostly, nobody cares — nobody but the insecure men who crave a pink object.
In fact, searching Twitter for "rose gold gay" or the more hateful "rose gold gay" reveals an overwhelmingly staunch defense for the color pink against any kind of sexual orientation, even though relatively few people were making those accusations in the first place.

So, chill. If you like the pink iPhone then buy the pink iPhone. Hell, buy two. Nobody cares but you.

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Remove any semblance of comfort or the needs of the driver from the equation, and you have the ultimate Bugatti track car. And it's real. Sort of.

Vision Gran Turismo is s a safe environment for a car company (and its designers and engineers) to play around with whatever brand DNA they have lying around. It gets molded into an extreme version of the company's exemplar car, with a nod or two to real-world physics (or maybe not), and everyone with a Playstation gets to try it out. I think it's a brilliant idea, and not building a physical car saves serious dough.

So when a carmaker actually builds a real-world, full-size version of their Vision Gran Turismo car, it's a statement. Chevrolet built a real-world Chaparral 2X, and now Bugatti follows with a show car that'll be at Frankfurt. This is that car, photographed (not rendered) in the flesh.


Bugatti's virtual supercar follows an interesting formula: The company claims it utilizes realistic technology adhering to real-world physics, like a W16 undoubtedly inspired by the Veyron's, but disregards luxury in favor of maximum performance. Without worrying how, say, the ride quality affects real people riding in a real car, they claim that this virtual car could match any real-like LMP1 car around Le Mans. An interesting thought experiment, really.

The aerodynamics, too, are claimed to follow real-world principles but not necessarily things like impact compliance or other regulatory constraints. It's a Veyron successor without any limits. And that's really the point: to give us a sense of what the Veyron's replacement will look like, and perform, as viewed through a slightly extreme lens. In this sense, it's nice that Bugatti gives showgoers at Frankfurt the ability to look at it in person, as two-dimensional photos (and in-engine game renders) don't do a car's styling justice.

If you're at Frankfurt, go look at it. If not, you'll be able to download it and play it on your Playstation 3 sometime soon—no date has been revealed as of this writing.

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SEOUL -- LG Electronics has added a new member to its MiniBeam family of portable projectors that can present images on the equivalent of a 100-inch screen from just 38cm away.

That distance is just one-tenth that required with conventional projection systems and makes the mirror-based projector perfect for small rooms and situations where people moving around might otherwise block the screen.

The MiniBeam PF 1000U is about the size of a 2-liter beverage container and weighs just 1.9kg for easy portability. It can connect with smartphones and computers via a cable or wirelessly, and it can also project content from a USB flash drive.

The South Korean electronics giant has released the MiniBeam PF 1000U in its domestic market at a price of roughly 1.59 million won ($1,342) and will later market the projector in North America, Central and South America, and Europe.

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Bandai Namco Entertainment is developing a virtual reality game called "Summer Lesson," in which the player teaches a female character how to speak Japanese.

Sony Computer Entertainment is taking its virtual reality technology to a new level, and game developers are eager to follow.

Project Morpheus, a headset compatible with SCE's PlayStation 4, has yet to hit store shelves, but its latest prototype offers clearer, crisper images than any virtual reality device that has come before.

SCE recently held a Project Morpheus demonstration event for journalists in Tokyo. Among the games on display, Bandai Namco Entertainment's "Summer Lesson" was a particularly big crowd-pleaser. In the game, the player teaches Japanese to a blond Western woman as the two sit on the veranda of a traditional Japanese house. The game is being developed by the same team that produced "Tekken," the popular series of street-fighting games.

Bandai Namco already boasts world-class computer graphics know-how, and analysts say the company is ahead of its rivals in developing virtual reality games.

"Summer Lesson" is already generating a lot of buzz in the gaming industry, and even a five-minute demonstration gave players a powerfully immersive experience. Many said they felt as if the character really was sitting next to them.

A key factor in creating that illusion is related to the concept of personal space, the distance at which people feel comfortable interacting. Experts say the amount of personal space varies depending on the nature of the relationship. For people on intimate terms, for instance, it is within touching distance, or about 45cm.

In "Summer Lesson," the character often moves into the player's personal space quite casually. She affectionately calls the player sensei (teacher), and her attitude is meant to be endearing. When the player and the character sit next to each other and read from a textbook, she brings her face close from time to time -- but if the player tries to get too close to her, she moves away.

This sense of personal space cannot be replicated with conventional video games. When "Summer Lesson" is officially released, it would not be surprising if some players forget that it is all computer programming and fall for their "student."

Moreover, Project Morpheus uses an organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, display panel, which reproduces more natural-looking colors than ordinary liquid crystal display panels. This makes the colors of the summer sky and the ocean in the background of the game look even more lifelike.

SCE unveiled the latest Project Morpheus model in March at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The previous version, which made its debut in 2014, had a 5-inch LCD panel and a 90-degree field of view. By contrast, the new model is equipped with a 5.7-inch OLED panel with a 100-degree field of view.

The new model is also capable of rendering graphics at 120 frames per second, as opposed to the 60 frames of the old model. Oculus Rift DK2, a virtual reality headset released by Oculus VR of the U.S., has a rate of 75 frames per second.

A higher frame rate means smoother, more natural motion. This not only makes for a more realistic experience, it also alleviates a problem known as virtual reality sickness, a type of motion sickness some users experience, especially at lower frame rates.

Endless possibilities

"Summer Lesson" is not the only virtual reality title currently under development. SCE London Studio is working on a game called "The London Heist," in which the player uses a set of two PlayStation Move motion controllers to engage in gun battles with enemy characters attacking from all directions. Though the game is still at the demonstration stage, it is already highly sophisticated.

Japan's Sega Games, meanwhile, has developed a title for Project Morpheus featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. When the player puts on the headset, he or she is transported to a concert hall packed with more than 10,000 fans, all waving glow sticks in unison. The player can join in by waving a PlayStation Move controller. Once players experience a virtual reality concert, they may find it hard to enjoy the flat images of a conventional TV screen.
Japan's market for virtual reality games has yet to take off, but Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, seems unconcerned. At a Tokyo game event on July 17, he said U.S. and European venture capitalists already sense the opportunity in virtual reality games.

But there is another issue: While more than 20 million PS4 consoles have been sold in the U.S. and Europe, only 1.5 million have been sold in Japan. Because Project Morpheus cannot be used without a PS4, boosting console sales in Japan is a must.

Even so, Yoshida says he is not worried. "In Japan, major game companies are still the dominant players. But once the market is developed, a number of businesses, including startups, will join the fray. We are on the verge of dawn."

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NINTENDO HAS A NEW PRESIDENT: It’s Tatsumi Kimishima, a longtime company executive who was formerly the CEO of its American branch. Most recently, he was the company’s Managing Director.

The announcement follows the untimely death of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata on July 11. But Nintendo didn’t stop there, announcing a “large-scale revision of the organizational structure of the [company]” effective September 16.

Kimishima has rarely if ever spoken or appeared in public on behalf of Nintendo; when he was CEO of Nintendo of America, the division’s president Reggie Fils-Aime was its public face. We should probably expect other Nintendo employees to pick up Iwata’s role as the company’s YouTuber-in-chief, announcing new games via Nintendo Direct video presentations.
Nintendo also announced that its two senior managing directors, Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, will henceforth be known as the company’s “Creative Fellow” and “Technology Fellow,” respectively.

A “Fellow,” reads the announcement, is an “individual selected from among the Representative Directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area.”

Here’s where it gets interesting, a little bit inside baseball, and a little bit murky: Miyamoto and Takeda were the heads of the Entertainment Analysis & Development division (aka EAD, the division within Nintendo that created Super Mario, Zelda, andSplatoon) and the Integrated Research & Development division.

However, while Miyamoto and Takeda are no longer in those roles, no new heads of those divisions have been named. Instead, Shinya Takahashi, who was the head of another Nintendo game development division called Software Planning & Development, now has the title of General Manager of a new division called “Entertainment Planning & Development.”

It would seem from the language and the job titles that Nintendo plans to merge, or has already merged, several of its game development teams. (WIRED has requested further comment from Nintendo.)

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Dell already makes one of the best Windows laptops you can buy, and now it seems the company is working up its own rival for Microsoft's Surface tablet. Leaked slides show a new PC that Dell apparently plans to call the XPS 12.

It's a tablet that magnetically latches onto a standalone keyboard, creating a setup that looks very similar to Microsoft's. Lenovo also recently unveiled its own Surface-like PC. Dell's keyboard for the XPS12 will feature an illuminated keyboard and what the company promises is a touchpad that "works flawlessly." That's always been the weak point of Surface keyboards, so it'll be interesting to see if Dell can jump out ahead of Microsoft.

The information listed on the slides also puts this XPS 12 ahead of the Surface Pro 3 when it comes to the display; Dell's latest will reportedly feature a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution with an InfinityEdge design that cuts down on bezel size. There'll be a stylus for it, and other specs include a Thunderbolt 3 port, 10-hour battery life, and cameras on both back and front (8-megapixel on the rear, with a 5-megapixel selfie cam).

Unfortunately this leak doesn't offer us any specifics about the XPS 12's processor, nor the amount of RAM inside. But with both this and Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 around the corner, it's shaping up to be a pretty great fall for Windows 10. The leaked documents point to an October launch for Dell's XPS 12. Some friendly competition won't stop Dell from helping Microsoft carve out a bigger audience for Surface in the enterprise.

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Unbeaten Leicester City produced a thrilling second-half comeback to recover from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa and move second in the table.

Jack Grealish curled in a deserved opener from 20 yards, his first goal, for a dominant Villa early on and Carles Gil swept in a second.

Ritchie de Laet volleyed the hosts a lifeline and Jamie Vardy prodded Leicester level.

Nathan Dyer scored the winner with a brave late header on his debut.

The winger had only signed from Swansea on loan on deadline day but made himself an instant hero and left Villa with just one win from five matches.

He just beat goalkeeper Brad Guzan to a chipped pass from the impressive Riyad Mahrez before taking a blow to the head and staying down injured as the ball rolled into the net.

Algerian winger Mahrez proved the inspiration behind Leicester's second-half recovery as he continued his impressive start to the season.

He had scored four goals already this season to help the Foxes to an unbeaten start, but a poor first half was mirrored by his side as they were dominated by Villa.

He came to life after the break with a stunning display of pace and skill, having a hand in all three of rejuvenated Leicester's second-half goals.

His improvement, and his side's, came when they switched to a 4-2-3-1 from a 4-4-2, as the Foxes took the game to Villa.

They were well on top when Gil doubled Villa's lead but, with Mahrez's corner flicked home by De Laet, Leicester continued to push and got the goals their second-half display deserved.


Leicester City 3-2 Aston Villa: Ranieri only thinking about survival

Leicester City have now gone nine Premier League games unbeaten, winning six, and are joint level with Manchester City as the Premier League's form team since 4 April.

Leicester have picked up 33 points from 14 matches and, with the exception of top scorers Manchester City, have scored at least 11 more goals than any other team in this period.

There were fears for their top-flight safety after the sacking of manager Nigel Pearson in the summer but, under former Chelsea bossClaudio Ranieri, they have continued where they left off.

Who will Grealish choose?

Villa had to cope with the summer losses of Fabian Delph , Ron Vlaar and Christian Benteke down the spine of their team, making their slow start to the season no surprise.

But 20-year-old Villa academy product Grealish helped his side control the first half, in just his second league appearance this season, and thoroughly deserved his first goal.

He struggled to repeat his influence after the break though as Villa were undone by a vibrant Leicester.

With the Republic of Ireland and England wanting him to commit his international future to them, repeats of Sunday's first-half performance will increase the interest in the talented midfielder.

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri told BBC Sport: "It was a fantastic second half. We know they played better early on but after 2-0 we started to play with our spirit and it was a very fantastic match.

"We scored a good first goal that gave confidence to everybody and maybe Villa players were wondering what could happen now."

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood told BBC Sport: "I've never felt this bad. Ever. There was a lot of bad play there in the last half hour. The only way you can stop the momentum is to stop the opposition. We turned it over stupidly.

"What can I say? I'm gutted for everyone who's associated with the football club. We have to stop letting in soft goals. Who cares if we played well? We lost. Totally lost."


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Scientists say they have developed a way of testing how well, or badly, your body is ageing.

They say it could help predict when a person will die, identify those at high-risk of dementia and could affect medicine, pensions and insurance.

The team at King's College London say looking at "biological age" is more useful than using a date of birth.

However, the work, published in Genome Biology, provides no clues as to how to slow the ageing process.

The test looks for an "ageing signature" in your body's cells by comparing the behaviour of 150 genes.

It was developed by initially comparing 54,000 markers of gene activity in healthy, but largely sedentary, 25 and 65-year-olds and then whittling them down to a final 150.

Prof Jamie Timmons, from King's College London, told the BBC News website: "There's a healthy ageing signature that's common to all our tissues, and it appears to be prognostic for a number of things including longevity and cognitive decline.

"It looks like from the age of 40 onwards you can use this to give guidance on how well an individual is ageing."
The team said "health" and "age" were two separate entities.

And while some lifestyle decisions, like spending all day on the sofa, could be bad for your health they do not appear to affect the speed your body ages.

The team believe combining lifestyle factors and your biological age would give a more accurate picture of your health.

Death's door?

The researchers tried the test out on samples from a group of 70-year-old men in Sweden.

They worked out who was ageing well and who was ageing very rapidly and were able to predict who would die in the next few years.

"You could actually pick out people who had almost no chance of being dead, and you have people who had an almost 45% chance of being dead," said Prof Timmons told the BBC.

There are plans to pilot the test in organ transplants in the UK to see if people who are technically old, but have a young "biological age", can still donate organs safely.

The researchers say it could also alter cancer screening, with people who are ageing rapidly needing to be screened at a younger age.

Prof Timmons said the test would also form a "useful tool" in predicting the onset of dementia.

He said that it could be used in conjunction with other checks to identify those at highest risk of developing the neurodegenerative disease and to enrol them in clinical trials.

"What we really need now are tools to identify those most at risk in 10, 20 years time and I think that's where this research will really have an impact," he added.

Worth a pension?

The research group at King's are aware that being able to check your biological age could have wide-ranging consequences from pensions to insurance premiums.

Prof Timmons told the BBC: "It raises a number questions, no doubt, and strenuous debate, but we are judged by our age already so this might be a smarter way of doing it.

"You might decide not to pay so much into your pension and enjoy your life as it is now."

Dr Neha Issar-Brown, from the UK's Medical Research Council, said: "This new test holds great potential as with further research, it may help improve the development and evaluation of treatments that prolong good health in older age."

Dr Eric Karran, from the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "One of the biggest questions in human biology is how we age, and how this process impacts our wider health and risk for conditions like Alzheimer's.

"There is much interest in developing a blood test for diseases like Alzheimer's but such a test would need rigorously validating to show it was accurate and sensitive before it could be used in the clinic."

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The midfielder has suggested he could continue to dismiss overtures from the Catalans and stay with the Scudetto holders

The central midfielder, 22, was heavily linked with a Turin departure in the recently closed transfer window, but Juve reportedly rejected Barca's €80 million offer in July.

With a host of other clubs also alleged to be keen on signing Pogba – Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City included – it has become a matter of when the Frenchman will leave Juve, rather than if.

However, Pogba has stressed he is comfortable at the 2015 Champions League finalists and he wants to help turn around Juve's poor start to the season, in which they lost both of their opening Serie A fixtures.

"It was not the right time for me to go, and I could very well remain at Juventus," he told Telefoot. "Right now, I'm still happy to be there. We will finish the season and then we'll see again.

"Has a Barca deal been struck in January? I don't know, for now I'm at Juventus and I'm focused only on them because we haven't started well. As for the rest, we'll see."


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Don't act like you wouldn't create a bunch of killer robots in your free time if you worked at a robotics company. Honestly, a tendency to make doofy little robots sounds like a job requirement. That's what the people at Fetch Robotics decided to do to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

The company crafted bunch of robots out of plastic for a "Weaponized Plastic Fighting League" and then pitted them against each other in a makeshift arena. The results of their grand melee at the end of their video aren't exactly easy to interpret, but it seems like "Spinny" took gold.

It's not so much about which robot won, though, as it is about the joy of silly bot violence. That's the important takeaway here.

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A major problem facing the Great Barrier Reef, and coral reefs in general, is the crown-of-thorns starfish. Outbreaks of the critters, which feed on coral, have been a consistent problem over the past several decades, and it's a huge pain to get rid of them manually.

Enter COTSbot (​Crown-​Of-​Thorns Starfish robot), a robot submarine that automates the process.

Previously, human divers would go around injecting the pesky sea stars with poison up to 10 times a year just keep their populations in check. That painstaking process also included documenting and tracking which ones had already been injected. That made it an even bigger challenge to automate the process: How do you get a robot to know which has been tagged already, and which have not?

But a new agent released last year requires only a single injection to kill the target—no more coming back to hit the same starfish time and time again. This innovation led a group of researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia to revisit the robot idea and produce the proof-of-concept COTSbot.

The bot, which closely resembles a yellow torpedo, autonomously swims about hunting for crown-of-thorns starfishes, processing what it's seeing on-board before injecting them with the potent toxin. How good is it at recognizing the hazardous critters? According to the team's documentation, it has "a detection performance of well over 99% whilst being able to operate real-time on-board the AUV​​." So, pretty good.

Given that the bot can run around for about six hours at a time, that's a whole bunch of dead starfish.

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5 things we know about 5G
5 things we know about 5G
Published in Gadgets
Is it just like 4G, only faster? Short answer: no. Newstac gathers more from a reliable source what people have been saying about the potential of this nascent technology

5G doesn’t exist yet. According to Jo Best of Tech Republic, it will be “months, likely years” before the standard is properly defined. She likens it to trying to predict the impact of the iPhone five years before it was launched. “No one foresaw its arrival, or how the market would change in response to it, and how we’d end up where we are now,” she wrote. “We're facing the same situation again: trying [to] imagine how the mobile world will look 10 years from now and design a standard to fit it.”

That hasn’t stopped people from speculating, of course, or governments and companies from investing billions of dollars in its development. Here’s a snapshot of what’s going on.

1. 5G will offer more than speed

4G is faster than 3G, and 5G will be faster than 4G – but there’s more to it than that.

"5G will be a dramatic overhaul and harmonization of the radio spectrum," Professor Rahim Tafazolli, head of the UK's government-funded 5G Innovation Center at the University of Surrey, told the BBC. The current radiofrequency spectrum is a bit of a patchwork, with new technologies being slotted into unoccupied spaces. But the International Telecommunication Union is “comprehensively restructuring the part of the radio network used to transmit data.”

Through more efficient use of the spectrum, 5G should free up space for the ever-growing number of users and connected devices, allowing us to realize the full potential of the Internet of Things.

But yes, it will be fast. Tafazolli believes that people with access to a 5G network will see data speeds of up to 800Gbps – fast enough to download 33 high-definition films in one second flat.

2. It will allow more personalized connected technology

The greater capacity of 5G networks will bring greater flexibility and opportunities for customization. As Susan Kalla wrote for Forbes: “New 5G networks will have far greater capacity, and are designed to work with lots of devices. The network will fetch the TV format that matches your screen size, whether it’s a phone, PC or large screen. New signaling systems will redirect calls to the users’ preferred devices based on preferences. Want to talk privately on your phone while you are in your car? The network will route voice calls to your phone. Want passengers to see a traffic map? Presto! The map appears on the dashboard. The 5G network will learn your preferences and route calls and videos however you want them.”

3. It should be here by 2020

The industry is working toward a 2020 rollout for the first networks built on the 5G standard.

The date wasn’t plucked out of thin air. “Several delegates have pointed out that South Korea and Japan are keen to have 5G networks up and running in some form by the time each country hosts Olympic games in 2018 and 2020, respectively,” wrote Joanne Taaffe for Light Reading. “Certainly South Korea, which is investing US$1.5 billion in 5G development, is taking 5G rollout very seriously.”

In a speech in January, Günther Oettinger of the European Commission noted that the EU had set aside a budget of €700m for the 5G public-private partnership, as part of the Vision 2020 program. “My own view is that 5G PPP is the boldest step that Europe has taken towards building the telecommunications infrastructure of the next decade,” he said.

4. Adoption of 5G might be slower than 4G

Research body ABI has predicted that it will take more than five years for a 5G network standard to reach 100 million subscribers. It only took 4G three years, as it was “fueled by the capabilities of increasingly powerful smartphones and the availability of 4G devices.” ABI believes the US will have the largest number of 5G subscribers in 2025, followed by China, Japan, South Korea and the UK.

5. Everyone wants to be the first

Competition among countries to launch 5G ahead of the others is fierce, and South Korea seems to be edging ahead – for now. It was one of the first to roll out 4G, and it has now committed US$1.5 billion to ensuring that its telecom companies will launch 5G by 2020. One of its mobile giants, LG, and its Finnish counterpart, Nokia, recently announced they were working together on developing 5G in South Korea.

Samsung, another South Korean tech giant, announced late in 2014 that it had smashed the global 5G speed record when it “topped 7.5Gbps while stationary on a 5G network as well as 1.2Gbps while in a vehicle travelling at more than 100kmph,”wrote Liam Tung for ZDNet.

Other countries aren’t far behind. The UK has its 5GIC, part funded by Huawei, Samsung and the BBC; the European Union has its Metis consortium, which aims to “lay the foundation of 5G”; and Swedish network giant Ericsson claimed a slightly slower 5G speed record in July 2014.

But as Oettinger said in his speech, “Let's not lose sight of worldwide interoperability. If a stable ‘vision’ for 5G could be achieved at a global level, it would be of huge long-term benefit to … citizens across the EU.”

The bottom line is there are a lot of unknowns – but one thing we do know is that you might want to start saving now for the 5G-ready smartphone you’ll need around 2020.

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Some Austrians cheered as busloads of migrants pulled up on their border with Hungary early Saturday -- and weary passengers clutching children streamed toward them.

The passengers carried their meager belongings in backpacks as they exited the vehicles in the rain.

They walked on foot over the border to Nickelsdorf, in Austria's Burgenland state, where applause broke out among groups welcoming the convoys of buses with food, Austrian public TV ORF reported.

The Austrian Red Cross also provided medical supplies and warm blankets.

At least 5,500 refugees have arrived in Austria from Hungary since Friday night, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday afternoon local time. Some 2,500 are still in the border town of Nickelsdorf and are waiting to head to the capital, Vienna, the UNHCR said via Twitter.
Deputy Chief of Burgenland State Police Werner Fasching earlier said about 10,000 migrants were expected in total. There are only enough beds for 600 people in and around Nickelsdorf, and the bulk of the refugees are being sent to Vienna via trains and buses, he said.

"We are trying to move as many as possible in the direction of Vienna," Fasching said. There the migrants will receive food, drink and, if needed, medical care. Some who wish to continue on to Germany will be permitted to do so.

Their arrival in Austria caps an emotional week for the migrants, many of whom had walked for hours before they got into dozens of buses provided by the Hungarian authorities.

In light of the acute situation, Austrian and German officials agreed to allow thousands of migrants into their countries, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said.

The UNHCR said it "welcomes the decision of Austria and Germany to receive thousands of refugees and migrants who crossed the border last night from Hungary. This is political leadership based on humanitarian values."

And it's not just the politicians who have extended a hand. Some individuals in Vienna are donating train tickets for refugees heading onwards across Europe, the UNHCR said, while others elsewhere are giving food and supplies.

UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the refugees she'd met at a Vienna station were enormously grateful for the welcome they'd received since reaching Austria.

Chaotic scenes erupted Thursday as trains packed with Syrian refugees hoping to travel to Austria or ultimately Germany were abruptly halted at Bicske station outside the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

Hungarian authorities wanted to send them to a nearby holding camp, but -- fearing that once there they would be badly treated and unable to continue their journey north -- the migrants refused to get off the train despite suffocating heat and limited food.

After a standoff lasting more than a day, hundreds set off on foot Friday along the train tracks toward the Austrian border, about 100 miles away. Hungary eventually sent buses to pick them.

About 300 more at Bicske station agreed to go to the nearby refugee camp, according to a Hungarian government statement.

Amid the chaos, the U.N. refugee agency said a 50-year-old man had died Friday in Bicske. Initial reports suggest he fell and hit his head on the tracks while trying to run away from police, said Montserrat Feixas Vihe, the UNHCR's Central Europe representative.

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The Bugatti vision Gran Turismo- The official bump claims the Bugatti styling team were inspired by the brand’s rich tapestry of historical designs, like the two-time Le Mans-winning Type 57 ‘Tank’. That inspiration seems to have got so far as the two-tone paint job, because from where we’re sitting, this is a Veyron on steroids. GT3 racing car flavour ones.

Eagle-eyed readers will have scrolled agog through the gallery above and spotted a very recognisable track map front’n’centre in the Vision GT’s 22nd Century interior. Yup, that’s the Circuit de la Sarthe. Le Mans. Forgive us for getting a tad excited, but what with the racey carbon seat and F1-style steering wheel already in place, is it too much to hope to see a Bugatti GT3 racer dicing with the new Ford GT at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June 2016?

Sadly, it almost certainly is. The Bugatti Vision GT is just a styling exercise – a canvas for Bugatti’s designers to go a little crazy, and perhaps throw us a few clues to how the difficult second album that is the Veyron MkII might look.

The stats are sure to be mighty, the top speed aircraft-spec. But is Bugatti’s next road car actually going to be, well, a looker? On this evidence, we might be in for more than just a new physics lesson. What do you reckon?

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Serena Williams took another step towards her first calendar Grand Slam with victory over Kiki Bertens in the second round of the US Open.

The world number one trailed 4-0 in the opening tie-break but came back to win 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Top men's seed Novak Djokovic had little trouble overcoming Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4 6-1 6-2.

But eighth seed Rafael Nadal was tested during his 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 victory over Diego Sebastian Schwartzman

The Spaniard, who trailed 5-3 in the first-set tie-break and fell a break behind in both the second and third sets, admitted he had to fight for the victory.

Elsewhere, defending champion Marin Cilic returned to the Arthur Ashe stadium for the first time since winning the title last year with a 6-2 6-3 7-5 win over Evgeny Donskoy.

Grigor Dimitrov made another early Grand Slam exit as the 17th seed, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2014, was beaten 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 4-6 6-4 by Mikhail Kukushkin, the world number 56.

Tenth seed Milos Raonic overcame a back problem to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-1), women's 25th seed Eugenie Bouchardbeat Polona Hercog 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3, while Venus Williams saw off Irina Falconi 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-2.

The scream after the first set and the grimace at the end of the match were evidence that Williams was far from her best, but the 33-year-old is now five wins from her 22nd major title and the first calendar Slam in 27 years.

Bertens, ranked 110th, took an early lead and served for the first set but could not convert, and the Dutch qualifier then let a 4-0 lead slip in the tie-break.

Williams has spent much of her Grand Slam year fighting back from slow starts, however, and said afterwards: "It definitely doesn't worry me. I think being down a lot, I know I can try to make a comeback."

The six-time US Open champion would end the match with 10 double faults, and 34 errors to 23 winners, and was just happy to get the job done in straight sets.

"I've been really relaxed, but today I was a little tight and and I think it showed," she said.

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A fire in an apartment building in northern Paris has killed eight people, including two children, French officials say.

Newstac gathers that the blaze in the 18th district of the French capital broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, and it took more than 100 firefighters to contain it.

Four survivors - some of whom are in a critical condition - are in hospital.

The cause of the fire in the building, located at the foot of the famed Montmartre hill, is being investigated.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said it was "too early to determine the causes of this tragedy", according to the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecutors are now leading the investigation at 4 rue Myrha, suggesting that the fire may have been started deliberately.

Fire crews were first called to the scene at about 02:20 local time (00:20 GMT) and quickly put out the blaze, but they were then called back again two hours later to extinguish a second, much larger fire, AFP says.

"It's clear that when you have two call-outs in the same night... this could be a malicious act," interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

The larger blaze is believed to have started on the ground floor before quickly spreading into the stairwell and then upper floors.

Some of the residents reportedly attempted to escape through windows.

The fire broke out in a private building, not a block of flats for low-income families, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.

She added that about 15 other buildings in the area had been affected by the blaze.

This is believed to be one of the deadliest fires in the French capital in the last decade.

In a statement, French President Francois Hollande said: "Everything is being done to shed light on the cause of this tragedy."

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Thai police investigating the deadly Erawan Shrine bombing in Bangkok say fingerprints on possible bomb-making equipment found at the weekend match those of a man detained on Tuesday.

They believe the foreign man, arrested close to the Cambodian border, is a key part of a network behind the attack.

Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said he could have carried the bomb to the Bangkok flat or the shrine itself.

He also said an eighth arrest warrant had now been issued over the blast.

Mr Prawut said the new suspect was Emrah Davutoglu, a Turkish man and the husband of Thai suspect Wanna Suansan.

Her name was on the lease of one of the flats raided at the weekend.

But a woman claiming to be Ms Suansan told AFP news agency from Turkey on Tuesday that she had not been in Thailand for three months.

'Directly involved'

No claim of responsibility has been made for the 17 August bomb, which killed 20 people.

Two foreign men are now in detention. Police have not confirmed their nationalities.

However, they say the suspect held on Tuesday closely resembles a man wearing yellow seen on security camera footage leaving a bag at the shrine shortly before the blast.

The first detainee was arrested in a raid on an apartment in Bangkok on Saturday, which also uncovered detonators, ball bearings, a metal pipe and several fake passports.

The second unidentified man was seized in Sa Kaeo province, east of Bangkok on the border with Cambodia, on Tuesday.

Deputy police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said he had been speaking Turkish.

Mr Prayut said police could now "confirm that this man is directly involved with the bomb material", as his fingerprints matched those on a bottle of suspect material found in the Bangkok flat.

He was also carrying a bank book bearing the same name as a Chinese passport which has been widely circulated by Thai media.

Reports say the passport belonged to the man detained on the border, and shows him as coming from China's Xinjiang province, home to a significant Muslim Uighur population.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says up until now, Thailand and China have refused to confirm the passport is that of the suspect.

If it is confirmed, he says, that would establish Muslim Uighurs as principal suspects in the bomb attack, a very sensitive issue for both countries after the controversial deportation of more than 100 Uighurs from Thailand to China in July.

China has long faced criticism for the perceived harsh restrictions it places on religion and culture in its western Xinjiang region - where the majority of its predominantly Muslim, Uighur minority live.

The bombing of the Erawan Shrine, a Hindu site popular with Thai Buddhists and tourists, was the deadliest-ever such attack in Thailand.

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The venom of a wasp native to Brazil could be used as a weapon to fight cancer, scientists believe.

A toxin in the sting kills cancer cells without harming normal cells, lab studies suggest.

The University of Brazil team say the experimental therapy latches to tumour cells and makes them leak vital molecules.

The work is at an early stage and more studies are needed to check the method will work safely in humans.

Polybia paulista is an aggressive social wasp endemic in south-east Brazil.

Though its sting is largely seen as unwelcome, scientists increasingly believe it could be put to good use.

It contains an important toxin called MP1 which the insect uses to attack prey or defend itself.

And recent studies in mice suggest it may target and destroy cancer cells.

Prof Joao Ruggiero Netto and colleagues set out to discover how, by putting it under the microscope.

They found MP1 interacts with fat molecules that are abnormally distributed on the surface of cancer cells, creating gaping holes that allow molecules crucial for cell function to leak out.

In healthy cells, the same molecules are hidden on the inside. This means healthy tissue should avoid MP1's attack, the scientists say in Biophysical Journal.

Co-researcher Dr Paul Beales, from the University of Leeds, said cancer therapies that attacked the lipid composition of the cell membrane would be an entirely new class of anti-cancer drugs.

"This could be useful in developing new combination therapies, where multiple drugs are used simultaneously to treat a cancer by attacking different parts of the cancer cells at the same time," he said.

Dr Aine McCarthy, science information officer for Cancer Research UK said: "This early stage research increases our understanding of how the venom of the Brazilian wasp can kill cancer cells in the laboratory.

"But while these findings are exciting, much more work is needed in the lab and in clinical trials before we will know if drugs based on this research could benefit cancer patients."

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A new method of applying insecticide to netting has proved 100% effective against some strains of mosquito, an international study reports.

The electrostatic coating allows the netting to carry much higher doses of insecticide.

In experiments, the coating killed off many more mosquitoes than usual.

Dutch researchers, writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say this could help control diseases such as malaria.

Insecticide resistance in mosquitoes has become a significant problem in many parts of the world where malaria is endemic.

It is thought that water-based spray insecticides and bed nets, which often contain low levels of insecticide, don't always kill the mosquitoes, allowing them to develop resistance.

In this study, researchers from the Netherlands used a charged surface, originally developed for trapping airborne pollen, and applied insecticide to it.

The long-lasting electrostatic charge allowed high levels of insecticide to stick fast to the netting, giving the mosquitoes a lethal overdose when they came into contact with the surface - even for just a few seconds.

The technique was tested on different strains of mosquito in South Africa, Tanzania and at a lab at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

The research team found that the electrostatic coating of insecticide killed more mosquitoes than other nettings and, for certain insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, was 100% effective.

Conventional nettings kill fewer than 10% of mosquitoes, the study said.

Marit Farenhorst, who led the research, from In2Care at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said the coating could be used on screens on windows and doors around the home, on curtains and walls, and in mosquito traps and wall ventilation tubes in homes.

"It's a new way of trying to target and contaminate mosquitoes," she said.

She also said the new method would be suitable for a number of different types of chemical insecticide.

However, she said the coating was probably not suitable for bed nets because people regularly touch and wash them so the insecticide would come off over time.

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A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the bombing at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine on August 17 that killed more than 20 people and injured many others, police said Tuesday.

The unidentified man was arrested on the Thai side of the Thai-Cambodian border and is a "foreigner," according to national police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri.

When asked if the suspect is the man seen in a yellow T-shirt and dark-framed glasses who was identified from surveillance video as the chief suspect in the bombing, Thavornsiri said the suspect's identity still had to be verified.

The man is connected to the bombing and is "very important," he added.

The blast ripped through crowds gathered near the shrine, killing 22 people and reportedly injuring about 120.

In one closed-circuit television image released by police, a man carries a dark-colored backpack near the shrine. Police said he hid a backpack, with a pipe bomb, underneath a bench.

The shrine, at a bustling intersection near a large shopping mall, is a big draw for tourists. At least seven people from other Asian countries were reported to be among the dead, as well as one Briton. The site is popular among Buddhists as well as Hindu and Sikh members of Thailand's Indian community.

Police had arrested one man and issued warrants for two other people.
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The "halo" part of that name refers to the circular display, which uses color and segmented lights to indicate turn-by-turn directions. (SmartHalo learns your destination through a paired smartphone app.)The system includes a night light that switches on and off automatically, as well as a notification system for incoming calls and messages and inclement weather alerts.

As is seemingly required of every gadget, it has a fitness tracker too.Since this is supposed to live permanently on one's bike -- save for removing it to recharge on occasion -- security is a key factor. SmartHalo appears to be tamper-proof, and it has an alarm system to ward off would-be thieves. The app can lead you to your bike if you've misplaced it.

There's an impressive array of functions crammed into SmartHalo, and for both complete novices and experienced riders, it could prove a boon. The estimated retail price of US$149 seems fair for what SmartHalo can do.

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A NASA funded team has started a year of living in a dome near a rugged Hawaii volcano to simulate what life would be like for humans on Mars.

The international group, made up of four scientists, an architect and a pilot - closed themselves away at 1am (3pm Friday local time) on Saturday as they prepared for 365 days without fresh air, food or privacy.

If they want to leave the solar-powered dome - which measures 36ft (11m) across by 20ft (6m) tall - members of the team must wear a spacesuit.

Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) mission will help NASA plan for a human mission to Mars - which experts believe could last between one and three years.

Researchers are focusing on team cohesion and performance and will monitor their crew with cameras, body movement trackers, electronic surveys, and other methods.

The project's principle investigator, University of Hawaii professor Kim Binstead, said: "The longer each mission becomes, the better we can understand the risks of space travel. "We hope that this... mission will build on our current understanding of the social and psychological factors involved in long duration space exploration and give NASA solid data on how best to select and support a flight crew that will work cohesively as a team while in space."

One member of the team, scientist and journalist Sheyna Gifford, tweeted a photo of her first meal of her simulated mission to the Red Planet - a rehydrated cheese and turkey quesadilla with peas and sweetcorn.

The HI-SEAS project has already seen recruits conduct four-month and eight-month stays in the dome.

Missions to the International Space Station generally last for six months.

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The 'unhackable, unbreakable, and waterproof' Turing phone which was unveiled in July this year, now finally has a shipping date - December 18.

The Turing Phone will be available in three colour variants - Beowolf, Pharaoh, and Cardinal. All three colour variants will be available in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB variants, priced at $610 (roughly Rs. 39,000), $740 (roughly Rs. 47,300), and $870 (roughly Rs. 55,700) respectively.

Developed by San Francisco-based Turing Robotic Industries, the 5.5-inch Turing phone has no USB port and no headphone jack. The smartphone is called 'unhackable, unbreakable, and waterproof' as it features end-to-end encryption built into most of the core apps on the phone. It is made of a material called liquidmorphium that is stronger than steel or aluminium and apparently the next big thing in phones. The phone is also extraordinarily waterproof owing to a nano-coating on the internals. No rubber is used and everything is accessible and open.

It runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Turing Aemaeth UI. Other specifications of the Turing Phone include a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixel) display; 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC; 3GB of RAM; a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash; an 8-megapixel front-facing camera; 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE; NFC; GPS/ Glonass; and a non-removable 3000mAh battery. Sensors include fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, proximity, ambient light, temperature, and humidity.

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Donald Trump is finally showing us more of his economic plan beyond the "Make America
Great Again" slogan on his red hat.

America has now learned:
-- He wants to tax the rich more and the middle class less.
-- He wants to lower corporate taxes.
-- He wants to cut government spending and stop raising the
debt ceiling.

"The hedge fund people make a lot of money and they pay very little tax," Trump said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg. "I want to lower taxes for the middle class."
In short, Trump is willing to raise taxes on himself and those like him.

Many hedge fund managers and real estate investors are able to list their earnings as "carried interest" because of an IRS tax rule. They are able to cast their earnings as investment gains instead
of income, which allows them to be taxed at a lower rate. "You've seen my statements. I do very well. I don't mind paying a little more in taxes. The middle class is getting clobbered in this country," he said.

Trump has been all over the place on taxes over the years. He criticized President Obama for not wanting to keep the Bush tax cuts in place on the wealthiest Americans. He has also proposed eliminating the so-called "estate tax" on people that inherit money, gifts and property from their parents. Both moves would
be a major gain for the rich.

Now Trump is starting to sound more populist. "The middle class built this country, not the hedge fund guys," he said Wednesday. "One of the reasons he is winning votes is he's talking about the macro issues that so frustrate many Americans and seem so blatantly unfair," says Peter Morici, a professor of economics at University of Maryland's Robert Smith school of business.

Trump also wants to even the playing field on taxes that businesses pay. He believes that lowering the corporate tax rate will stop American companies from trying to move their headquarters -- and possibly jobs -- overseas in an effort to dodge taxes in the U.S. Many U.S. companies such as Apple ( , Tech30 ) have huge cash reserves that they could spend on growing their businesses, but that money is mostly held overseas to avoid U.S. taxes.

Trump estimates as much as $2.5 trillion could return to America if taxes were lower. "This is money that could be spent in this country," he said. "We have companies with thousands of jobs that re leaving this
country."

Trump was also asked about whether he would continue to raise America's debt ceiling. The standoff between President Obama and Republicans in Congress over whether to raise the ceiling in 2011 caused U.S. debt to lose its AAA rating .

Republicans should fight Obama again over the issue, Trump argues, even if it causes pain in financial markets. "I think there's so much waste, so much scandalous waste in Washington that we shouldn't have to [raise the debt ceiling]," he said.

Trump continues to lead the GOP field solidly. Rivals accuse him of not having real plans. "The big issues he talks about do make some sense," says Morici. "The question is...is there really much substance there or is this just a few phrases?"

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