Science & Technology World

This is supposedly the year 3- D television becomes the hot new thing: Updated sets and disc players are coming out, and 3- D cable channels are in the works. But it's not clear the idea will reach out and grab mainstream viewers. Besides having to spring for expensive new TVs, people would have to put on awkward special glasses to give the picture the illusion of depth. That limits 3- D viewing to times when viewers can sit down and focus on a movie or show. It's one thing to put on 3- D glasses in a theatre, but "at home, you're with other people in the living room, running to the kitchen and doing other things," said Greg Ireland of the research firm IDC. Unfazed by the potential hang-ups, the biggest TV makers began revealing their 3- D models Wednesday before the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics Co.' s consumer division, said in an interview that 10 to 14 percent of the roughly 35 million TVs sold in the US this year will be 3- D-capable. Samsung is determined to make 3- D a big feature on its more expensive TVs this year. It's teaming with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. to make the Blu-ray 3- D version of the movie " Monsters vs. Aliens" an exclusive for buyers of Samsung's 3- D TVs. Panasonic Corp. said it will debut four 3- D sets this spring, but they won't be LCD sets, the most common type of flat panel. Instead, Panasonic is using plasma panels, saying the viewing quality will be superior to 3- D on LCDs. Sony Corp. said its 3- D sets will be out this summer. Some will come with glasses, others will be "3- D ready," which means that buyers will have to complement with a separate plug-in device and glasses for 3- D viewing. LG Electronics Inc. said it will introduce 47- inch and 55- inch flat-panel TVs with 3- D capabilities in May. LG didn't announce exact prices for its new sets. But Tim Alessi, director of product development at LG Electronics USA, said 3- D TV sets will likely cost $200 to $300 more than comparable flat- panel sets without 3- D capabilities, which already run more than $1 ,000. Even Vizio Inc, which is one of the TV market share leaders in the US but mainly sells inexpensive sets, said it would have 3- D capabilities on its larger, higher-end sets. Manufacturers aren't counting on 3- D to take over instantly. Colour TV and high definition caught on over many years. Like those earlier advances, 3- D programming requires upgrades throughout the TV and movie infrastructure, from shooting to editing to distribution. Incidentally, Samsung and Dreamworks are working with Technicolor, which pioneered color movies, to get 3- D right. Of course, movies in 3- D have been around since the 1950 s and from time to time have been billed as the next big thing in entertainment. And technically speaking, 3- D viewing in the home has been possible for the past few years. But there has been no good way to get 3- D movies and shows to watch. That obstacle is being swept away this year, as plans for a 3- D version of the Blu-ray disc have solidified. Players are expected this spring. Also, satellite broadcaster DirecTV Inc. said Wednesday that it will send out software upgrades to most of its set-top boxes in June that will enable 3- D reception. On Tuesday, two major cable networks - ESPN and Discovery - said they plan to start beaming 3- D entertainment into homes for the first time. ESPN plans to have its channel running in time to show World Cup soccer matches in 3- D on June 11. Discovery Communications Inc. will partner with Imax Corp and Sony to bring out its own full-time 3- D network in 2011. Samsung isn't waiting for 3- D programming: It said its sets will be able to convert standard 2- D programming to 3- D on the fly. The effect likely won't be as good as original 3- D footage, but it will "tide consumers over" until there is more 3- D programming, Baxter said. Toshiba is taking the same tack. It plans roll out a new line of five TVs this year that will perform the 2- D to 3- D conversion in a separate box with a powerful processor similar to one used in the Sony PlayStation 3. Like the other manufacturers, Toshiba didn't announce prices for the sets, but they will probably be expensive. TV manufacturers, movie studios and broadcasters are counting on the excitement around the latest wave of 3- D movies in theatres to finally drive interest in adapting the technology for the home. In particular, James Cameron's "Avatar" has set a new standard for 3- D in movies and has surpassed $1 billion at the box office. It demonstrates that 3- D is viable for more than just computer-animated children's or family movies such as "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." "The hopes of the industry have undoubtedly been raised by the success of `Avatar,'" said NPD analyst Ross Rubin. But it's not clear people will be eager to pony up the premium prices for 3- D in the home - at least for a few years - or even that the experience will translate well from the movie theatre to the living room. (It is possible to do 3- D TV without glasses, but those solutions usually require viewers to keep their heads in one particular place. The image quality is also lower.)

Scientists have revealed that there is not one but two types of killer whale living in UK waters. Each differs in its appearance and diet, with males of one type being almost two metres longer than the other. The killer whales could be at an early stage of becoming two separate species, the researchers say. The international group of scientists has published its results in the journal Molecular Ecology. "It's exciting to think about two very different types of killer whale in the waters around Britain," says Dr Andy Foote from the University of Aberdeen, UK, who undertook the study. This divergence may eventually lead to the two types becoming different species Dr Andy Foote University of Aberdeen "Killer whales aren't really a species that we think of as being a regular visitor to Britain, but in fact we have two forms of these killer whales in our waters," he told the BBC. Scientists have found different forms of killer whale that occupy particular niches in the Pacific and the Antarctic, but this is the first time that they have been described in the North Atlantic. Dr Andy Foote undertook the study along with colleagues from universities and museums in Denmark and the UK. Killer whales ( Orcinus orca ), otherwise called orcas, live in family groups called pods. As the largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales are known for their intelligence and range of hunting behaviours. Tooth work There was very little prior to this study to suggest that different types of killer whale would be found in the North Atlantic. However, Dr Foote and colleagues studied teeth from remains of killer whales stranded over the past 200 years and found a difference in tooth wear. "We found that one form, which we call 'type 1 ' had severely worn teeth in all adult specimens," explains Dr Foote. "The other form, 'type 2 ', had virtually no tooth wear even in the largest adults." In the wild, killer whales that "suck up" herring and mackerel display this tooth wear. Knowing this, the researchers suspected a difference in diet and ecological niche between the two groups. Dolphin predator Using stable isotope analysis that gives clues to the orcas' diet, the scientists found that type 1 is a generalist feeder, consuming fish and seals. It's similar to how Darwin's finches have adapted to different ecological roles in the Galapagos but on a larger scale Dr Andy Foote University of Aberdeen Type 2 , on the other hand, is a specialist feeder that scientists suspect exclusively feeds on marine mammals such as small dolphins and whales. This specialisation for alternate ecological niches has also resulted in a difference in shape and appearance. "The two types also differed in length, with type 2 adult males being almost two metres larger than types 1 males," Dr Foote says. The researchers also found that colour, pattern and number of teeth vary between the groups. Dr Foote says the fish feeding type 1 killer whales are found across the North East Atlantic and around Britain. The cetacean hunting type 2 killer whales are regularly seen off the west coast of Scotland and Ireland. New species Genetic analysis indicates the two types belong to two different populations. "Type 1 specimens were from closely related populations, but the type 2 whales were more closely related to a group of Antarctic killer whales," Dr Foote explains. Comparing the findings with studies on killer whales around the world shows that killer whales have radiated to fill different ecological niches. "It's similar to how Darwin's finches have adapted to different ecological roles in the Galapagos, but on a larger scale," Dr Foote notes. He suggests this could be an important discovery for the future of the animals. "They seem to have occupied completely different ecological niches and have started to diverge morphologically. This divergence may eventually lead to the two types becoming different species." He also recommends the two types be considered "evolutionary significant units" and monitored separately in order to more effectively conserve one of the oceans most charismatic animals.

Social network giant Facebook has blocked a website from accessing people's profiles in order to delete their online presence. The site, Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, offers to remove users from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Myspace. It does not delete their accounts but changes the passwords and removes "friend" connections. Seppukoo.com, which offers a similar service, was issued with a "cease and desist" letter by Facebook in 2009. Netherlands-based moddr, behind Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, says it believes that "everyone should have the right to disconnect". However Facebook says that by collecting login credentials, the site violates its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR). "Facebook provides the ability for people who no longer want to use the site to either deactivate their account or delete it completely," the company said. "We're currently investigating and considering whether to take further action." Web 2.0 Suicide Machine claims that it only stores the name, profile picture and "last words" of its clients, who can choose to watch their friend/follower connections disappear in real time as their profiles unlink from others. "Seamless connectivity and rich social experience offered by web 2.0 companies are the very antithesis of human freedom," says a statement on its website. " Seamless connectivity and rich social experience offered by web 2.0 companies are the very antithesis of human freedom. " Web 2.0 Suicide Machine The machine operates on an adjusted Linux server which runs open source software Apache 2. Seppukoo.com, which offers to remove people from Facebook, received a letter from the social network site's lawyers in December 2009. Once they have deleted their friends Seppukoo clients can choose an image instead of their profile picture to remain as a "memorial" . The site is run by a group called Les Liens Invisibles, and describes itself as an artistic project. The name Seppukoo is taken from a Japanese ritual form of suicide known as Seppuku. In November 2009 the group orchestrated the " virtual suicide" of a group of fictitious Facebook profiles set up in the names of deceased well- known figures including Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Virginia Woolf.

Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has detected its first five exoplanets, or planets beyond our Solar System. The observatory, which was launched last year to find other Earths, made the discoveries in its first few weeks of science operations. Although the new worlds are all bigger than our Neptune, the US space agency says the haul shows the telescope is working well and is very sensitive. The exoplanets have been given the names Kepler 4 b, 5 b, 6 b, 7 b and 8 b. They were announced at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC. The planets range in size from an object that has a radius four times that of Earth, to worlds much bigger than even our Jupiter. And they all circle very close to their parent stars, following orbits that range from about 3.2 to 4.9 days. This proximity and the fact that the host stars are themselves much hotter than our Sun means Kepler's new exoplanets experience an intense roasting. Intriguing density Estimated temperatures go from about 1 ,200 C to 1 ,650 C (2 ,200 F to 3 ,000 F). "The planets we found are all hotter than molten lava; they all simply glow with their temperatures," said Bill Borucki, Kepler's lead scientist from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. THE KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE Will study more than 100 ,000 suns Continuously for 4 to 6+ years Tuned to see Earth-size planets Will target the habitable zone Will also see Mars to Jupiter sizes "In fact the upper two are hotter than molten iron and looking at them might be like looking at a blast furnace. They are very bright in their own right and certainly no place to look for life." Kepler 7 b will intrigue many scientists. It is one of the lowest-density exoplanets (about 0.17 grams per cubic centimetre) yet discovered. "The average density of this planet with its core is about the same as Styrofoam," explained Dr Borucki. "So it's an amazingly light planet, something I'm sure theoreticians will be delighted to look at in terms of trying to understand [its] structure." Kepler blasted into space atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 6 March, 2009. It is equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space. The telescope's mission is to continuously and simultaneously observe more than 100 ,000 stars. It senses the presence of planets by looking for a tiny "shadowing" effect when one of them passes in front of its parent star. 'Water worlds' Kepler's detectors, built by UK firm e2 v, have extraordinary sensitivity. Nasa says that if the observatory were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front of it. The space agency hopes this sensitivity will lead it to planets that are not only Earth-size but which orbit their stars at distances more favourable to life, where liquid water might potentially reside on their surfaces. The mission's scientists told the AAS meeting that Kepler had measured hundreds of possible planet signatures but that these needed further investigation to establish their true nature. To confirm the existence of the most ideal Earth- like planets would take a few years, they warned. In the meantime, all detections will help scientists improve their statistics on the distributions of planet size and orbital period. The follow-up observations needed to confirm the new exoplanets' existence used a suite of ground-based facilities including the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.

New images of Mars suggest the Red Planet had large lakes on its surface as recently as three billion years ago. The evidence comes from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) which spied a series of depressions linked by what look like drainage channels. Scientists tell the journal Geology that the features bear the hallmarks of being produced by liquid water. But they appear to have formed much later in Mars' history than many thought possible, the researchers add. The team, from Imperial and University Colleges London, studied pictures of several flat-floored depressions located above Ares Vallis, a giant gorge running some 2 ,000 km across Mars' equator. The hollows are about 20 km in diameter. Scientists had previously ascribed their formation to the slumping of the ground as ice in the soil was lost to Mars' thin atmosphere almost four billion years ago in the process of sublimation (in which the ice turns directly from a solid into a vapour). But the detail in the MRO pictures has allowed the Imperial-UCL team to trace a series of channels that connect the depressions. The group says these channels could only be formed by running water, and not by ice turning directly into gas. The scientists' ageing of the region, which on bodies like Mars is done by counting craters, suggests the features formed during the so- called Hesperian Epoch on the Red Planet. "The exciting thing is that this occurred at a time when Mars is thought to have been cold and dry and [liquid] water wasn't stable at the surface," Dr Sanjeev Gupta from Imperial College London told BBC News. The researchers propose that Mars may have experienced bouts of short-lived warming during this epoch that were caused perhaps by volcanic activity, meteorite impacts, or even shifts in the planet's orbit. This could have provided both the warmth to melt ice in the soil and the pressure needed in the atmosphere to maintain liquid water on the surface. "We don't really understand what caused this transient episode," Dr Gupta explained. "We have different hypotheses. Maybe local conditions generated an atmosphere creating a minor greenhouse effect that allowed these lakes to exist. We don't know how long they existed for, but it's exciting nonetheless that we see [evidence of] liquid water." The conditions would have made it possible for the depressions to fill with meltwater and even overflow, cutting channels as the liquid ran from a higher basin to a lower one. "This provides another environment - another place to go and look for microbial life," said Dr Gupta. "This would be fossil life. This is somewhere we hadn't perhaps considered as a place to go."

Veteran British game makers have featured strongly in the Queen's New Year Honours list. In total, four games figures won honours including Oliver and Paul Collyer, the brothers behind the Championship Manager series. Also honoured were Rodney Cousens, head of Codemasters and Paul Jackson former head of industry group Elspa. Dr Andrew Herbert, who manages Microsoft's Research labs in Cambridge, was given an OBE. The two brothers were made Members of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition for their services to the UK's computer games industry. The pair founded Sports Interactive in 1992 and have been behind the iconic Football and Championship Manager games. In a statement posted to the Sports Interactive site, the pair said: "We are really proud to have been given this honour, which is something we never thought would happen to us." "We're still heavily involved in the games, with Paul heading up the match engine, and Ov heading up Football Manager Live, and we look forward to many more years making games with the rest of the team that so many people out there enjoy to play." Rodney Cousens, currently boss of Codemasters, was made a Commander of the British Empire ( CBE) also for services to the computer games industry. Mr Cousens began his career in gaming in 1981 and has worked at Activision and Acclaim. Recent games from Codemasters include Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Fuel. Paul Jackson was given the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his long service at EA and on the board of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa). He is currently head of specialist game firm Rail Simulator. An OBE was also awarded to Andrew Herbert, who is current managing director of Microsoft's UK research labs in Cambridge. He won his honour for services to computer science.

UK firm Spinvox, which converts voicemails into texts, has been bought by speech recognition company Nuance for $102.5 m (£64 m). The deal is worth $66 m in cash and $36.5 m in stock, about a third shy of the earlier rumoured $146 m price tag. Nuance told BBC News it is too early to say what impact the deal will have on Spinvox's 230 staff. It also declined to comment on whether Spinvox founders Christina Domecq and Daniel Doulton will remain on board. "At the beginning of the year Spinvox was riding high as one of Britain's most promising technology companies," said BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. "But the year has ended with it being sold at a knock-down price which means its investors are not likely to see much of a return." More than $200 m has been invested in the company so far and it had also been given a £30 m loan. "Nuance is likely to have been more interested in Spinvox's contracts with major telecoms firms - such as Telefonica - than in its technology," added Mr Cellan-Jones. Spinvox investor Invesco Perpetual had confirmed in September that Spinvox was up for sale. In recent months doubts had been cast on how effective Spinvox's speech-to-text software actually was. The company claims to use advanced voice recognition software for its service, but the BBC found that human operators were also involved in transcribing many messages. "Around the world, the voice-to-text market has experienced tremendous growth over the last year," said John Pollard, vice president of Nuance Voice-to-Text Services. "With Spinvox's robust infrastructure, language support and operational experience, we will broaden the reach and capabilities of our platform."

Researchers believe they have identified the source of fatal tumours that threaten to wipe out the wild population of Tasmanian devils. Writing in Science, an international team of scientists suggest cells that protect nerves are the likely origin of devil facial tumour disease ( DFTD). The disease is a transmissible cancer that is spread by physical contact, and quickly kills the animals. DFTD has caused the devil population to collapse by 60 % in the past decade. "To look more closely at the tumours' origin, we sequenced the genes that are expressed in this devil cancer and compared them with other genes that are expressed in other devil tissues," explained lead author Elizabeth Murchison, from the Australian National University in Canberra. She told the Science podcast the team's findings delivered surprising results. "We found that the tumours expressed genes that were normally only expressed by Schwann cells, which are cells that are found in the peripheral nervous system that protect nerves." 'Genetically distinct' The researchers sampled 25 different tumours from all over Tasmania, the only place on the planet where the world's largest carnivorous marsupials are found. DEVILS IN DETAIL Scientific name: Sarcophilus harrisii Devils were given their common name by early settlers, who were haunted by "demonic growls" Largest living carnivorous marsupial Now only found in Tasmania Can live up to five years in wild Weight: male 10-12 kg; female 6-8 kg They favour habitats where they can shelter by day and scavenge by night They found that the growths were genetically distinct from their hosts, but were identical to one another. Dr Murchison, who is also a researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, US, said the teams findings had a number of positive outcomes: " Most importantly, this has led to the development of a diagnostic test for the disease. "Devils are susceptible to a number of different types of cancer. Just like humans, they can get breast cancer, leukaemia, etc - especially in their old age. "Sometimes it can be difficult to tell the difference between these types of cancer and the transmissible disease. "Now that we know that these very specific Schwann genes are expressed in the cancer, we can use these genes as diagnostic markers." DFTD was first described in the mid-1990 s, when devils with large facial tumours were photographed in north-eastern Tasmania. By the end of 2008 , the disease - which kills infected animals within nine weeks - had been confirmed at 64 locations, covering more than 60 % of the Australian island state's mainland. Experts warn that without intervention, the disease could wipe out the wild population of the world's largest carnivorous marsupial within decades. Dr Murchison hoped identifying the catalogue of genes associated with DFTD would lead to the development of vaccines, or possibly therapies. "As yet, unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to help the devils that have the disease," she said. "This devil facial cancer is very unusual as it is an infection cancer; it is a little bit like an organ transplant," she said. "In an organ transplant, you have an organ that is transplanted into an unrelated individual. In the case of the devil cancer, you have a cancer that is transplanted into another unrelated devil through biting. "One of the big questions about this cancer is why it is not being rejected or being recognised as a foreign graft. "If we could understand that... we could perhaps use this data to develop a vaccine that could help the devils' immune system reject the cancer before it takes hold."

Scientists have analysed DNA extracted from the remains of a 30 ,000- year-old European hunter- gatherer. Studying the DNA of long-dead humans can open up a window into the evolution of our species ( Homo sapiens ). But previous studies of this kind have been hampered by scientists' inability to distinguish between the ancient human DNA and modern contamination. In Current Biology journal, a German-Russian team details how it was possible to overcome this hurdle. Svante Paabo, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues used the latest DNA sequencing techniques to study genetic information from human remains unearthed in 1954 at Kostenki, Russia. Excavations at Kostenki, on the banks of the river Don in southern Russia, have yielded large concentrations of archaeological finds from the Palaeolithic (roughly 40 ,000 years ago to 10 ,000 years ago). Some of the finds date back as far as 45 ,000 years. " The ironic thing is that our group has been one of those that raised this issue " Professor Svante Paabo, Max Planck Institue The DNA analysed in this study comes from a male aged 20-25 who was deliberately buried in an oval pit some 30 ,000 years ago. Known as the Markina Gora skeleton, it was found lying in a crouched position with fists reaching upwards and a face orientated down towards the dirt. The bones were covered in a pigment called red ochre, thought to have been used in prehistoric funeral rites. The type of DNA extracted and analysed is that stored in mitochondria - the "powerhouses" of cells. This mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from a mother to her offspring, providing a unique record of maternal inheritance. Using technology pioneered in the study of DNA from Neanderthal bones, they were able to distinguish between ancient genetic material from the Kostenki male and contamination from modern people who handled the bones, or whose DNA reached the remains by some other means. The new approach, developed by Professor Paabo and his colleagues, exploits three features which tend to distinguish ancient DNA from modern contamination. One of these is size; fragments of ancient DNA are often shorter than those from modern sources. Previous ancient DNA studies used the widespread polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. PCR amplifies a few pieces of genetic material, generating thousands to millions of copies of a sequence. But the researchers found many fragments of ancient DNA were too small to be amplified by PCR. A second characteristic of ancient DNA was its tendency to show particular changes, or mutations, in the genetic sequence at the ends of DNA molecules. A third feature was a characteristic breakage of molecules at particular positions in the DNA strand. Trust issues The apparent ease with which modern DNA can infiltrate ancient remains has led many researchers to doubt even those studies employing the most rigorous methods to weed out contamination by modern genetic material. "The ironic thing is that our group has been one of those that raised this issue," Professor Paabo told BBC News. "To take animal studies on cave bears, for example, if we use PCR primers specific for human DNA on cave bear bones, we can retrieve modern human DNA on almost every one. That has made me think: 'how can I trust anything on this'." Using the new techniques, the researchers were able to sequence the entire mitochondrial genome of the Markina Gora individual. Future studies like the one in Current Biology could help shed light on whether the humans living in Europe 30 ,000 years ago are the direct ancestors of modern populations or whether they were replaced by immigrants who introduced farming to the continent several thousand years ago. The modern gene pool contains a wide variety of mtDNA lineages. Studying these maternal lineages provides scientists with clues to the origins and histories of human populations. Scientists look for known genetic signatures in order to classify an individual's mtDNA into different types, or "haplogroups". These haplogroups represent major branches on the family tree of Homo sapiens . Early arrival The researchers were able to assign the Kostenki individual to haplogroup "U2 ", which is relatively uncommon among modern populations. U2 appears to be scattered at low frequencies in populations from South and Western Asia, Europe and North Africa. Despite its rarity, the very presence of this haplogroup in today's Europeans suggests some continuity between Palaeolithic hunters and the continent's present-day inhabitants, argue the authors of the latest study. U2 , along with closely related haplogroups such as U5 , are among those which could plausibly have arrived in Europe during the Palaeolithic. Geneticists use well-established techniques to " date" particular genetic events, such as when a haplogroup first diversified. The "U" branch ( comprising haplogroups U1 , U2 , U3 and so on) appears to be more ancient than many other genetic lineages found in Europe. A recent study found a very high percentage of U types in the skeletal remains of ancient hunter- gatherers from Central Europe compared with later farming immigrants and modern people from the region. Meanwhile, an analysis last year of mtDNA from 28 ,000- year-old remains unearthed at Paglicci Cave in Italy showed this individual belonged to haplogroup "H" - the most common type found in modern Europeans.