SMART BULLET: U.S. Develops Bullet That Pursue Targets

The U.S. military said this week it has made great progress in its effort to develop a self-steering bullet.

In February, the "smart bullets" -- .50-caliber projectiles equipped with optical sensors -- passed their most successful round of live-fire tests to date, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

In the tests, an experienced marksman "repeatedly hit moving and evading targets," a DARPA statement said.

"Additionally," the statement said, "a novice shooter using the system for the first time hit a moving target." In other words, now you don't even have to be a good shot to hit the mark.

Multi-functional LED Series Interactive White Board Now In Nigeria

It goes without saying that the world has left black boards to the museums. Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs, have even moved beyond the once modern white boards to interactive boards that not only aid teaching and learning, but can be used for presentations in the corporate world.

Newer innovations are even several steps away from the conventional ways of projecting texts and pictures on whiteboards to having a multi touch &multi-functionalities solution. One of such is the CNIT IT-Pad which has been newly introduced into the Nigerian market by YS technologies. Mr.Yomi Soyinka, the MD/CEO of YS Technologies, explained that the tool is a computer on its own, a writing board and yet a normal TV.

AeroMobile Aiming To Put Flying Cars On The Market By 2017

At SXSW this week, AeroMobil CEO Juraj Vaculik revealed that the company is aiming to put flying cars in the sky and on the market by as early as 2017.

“We are now scaling up quite fast, building the team, and the plan is that in 2017 we’ll be able to announce the first flying roadster,” Vaculik told CNBC. “The point is not only to showcase that it’s possible to marry together a plane and a car, but to really commercialize it.”

According to the report, AeroMobil's first model will be a two-seater with a top air speed of 124 miles per hour and the ability to take off and land on grass.

Clay Seals Suggest Kings David, Solomon Are No Myth

Kings David and Solomon may be memorable figures from the Bible, but plenty of scholars think they were mere figments of somebody's imagination. One big reason is that the archaeological record doesn't mesh: These two supposedly ruled in the 10th-century BC, but where's the physical evidence? Now, however, an archaeological team from Mississippi State University has dug up six clay seals in Israel that support the idea of such reigns, reports Science Daily. The seals are tangible evidence that some kind of government was operating near what is present-day Gaza in the Iron Age, say the researchers.

Nail Polish Can Reduce A Baby's IQ

Want your baby's IQ to be a few points higher? Then keep it away from chemicals in household items like shower curtains, nail polish, and dryer sheets during pregnancy, a new study says. Researchers at Columbia University came to this conclusion after analyzing 328 women and their kids in New York City, CTV News reports. The research team measured how much the moms were exposed to chemicals called phthalates during the third trimester of pregnancy, and then, seven years later, gave their children IQ tests. Kids in the top 25% of chemical exposure scored 6.6 to 7.6 points lower. "The magnitude of these IQ differences is troubling," a senior study author tells Science Daily. "A six- or seven-point decline in IQ may have substantial consequences for academic achievement and occupational potential."

Prenatal Exposure to Common Household Chemicals Responsible For Drop In Child IQ

Children exposed during pregnancy to elevated levels of two common chemicals found in the home--di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP)--had an IQ score, on average, more than six points lower than children exposed at lower levels, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The study is the first to report a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and IQ in school-age children. Results appear online in the journal PLOS ONE.

DnBP and DiBP are found in a wide variety of consumer products, from dryer sheets to vinyl fabrics to personal care products like lipstick, hairspray, and nail polish, even some soaps. Since 2009, several phthalates have been banned from children's toys and other childcare articles in the United States. However, no steps have been taken to protect the developing fetus by alerting pregnant women to potential exposures. In the U.S., phthalates are rarely listed as ingredients on products in which they are used.

Electric Eels Use 'Remote Mind Control' to Paralyze Prey

Electric eels have long been known to deliver low-voltage pulses as a form of natural sonar—but now researchers out of Vanderbilt University have discovered the eels also deliver high-voltage shocks, which they use to paralyze their prey—from a distance, with no physical contact—in just three milliseconds. It's the first known case of an animal remotely controlling another via electricity, reports National Geographic. "Apparently, eels invented the Taser long before humans," biologist Kenneth Catania, who published his findings in Science, tells Reuters.

Electric eels (which have a deceiving nickname—they're not eels at all but serpentine-bodied knifefish native to the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers in South America) can grow up to 8 feet in length. Their electric organs generate up to 600-volt charges that match the electric pulses from their prey's nervous systems, allowing the eels to remotely activate their prey's nerve cells, which in turn control muscles.

Water Vapor On Rosetta's Target Comet Much More Than That Found on Earth

ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has found the water vapour from its target comet to be significantly different to that found on Earth. The discovery fuels the debate on the origin of our planet's oceans.

The measurements were made in the month following the spacecraft's arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August. It is one of the most anticipated early results of the mission, because the origin of Earth's water is still an open question.

One of the leading hypotheses on Earth's formation is that it was so hot when it formed 4.6 billion years ago that any original water content should have boiled off. But, today, two thirds of the surface is covered in water, so where did it come from?

Beautiful Choreography Of Dragonfly During Hunt Revealed

This is a composite image of dragonfly carrying retroreflective markers. The markers are used to measure the orientation of the dragonfly's head and body during flight. The data from the measurements allows the underlying steering strategy to be inferred.

Credit: Igor Siwanowicz, Leonardo Lab, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus

The dragonfly is a swift and efficient hunter. Once it spots its prey, it takes about half a second to swoop beneath an unsuspecting insect and snatch it from the air. Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have used motion-capture techniques to track the details of that chase, and found that a dragonfly's movement is guided by internal models of its own body and the anticipated movement of its prey. Similar internal models are used to guide behavior in humans.

"This highlights the role that internal models play in letting these creatures construct such a complex behavior," says Janelia group leader Anthony Leonardo, who led the study. "It starts to reshape our view of the neural underpinnings of this behavior." Leonardo, postdoctoral fellows Matteo Mischiati and Huai-Ti Lin, and their colleagues published the findings in the December 11, 2014, issue of the journal Nature.

A Mountain-Sized Asteroid Is Heading Towards Earth - Russain Scientist

A mountain-sized asteroid which crosses paths with the Earth every three years has been discovered by a Russian scientist.

Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, said the space rock, named '2014 UR116', poses no immediate threat.

But he warned that it could hit the Earth with an explosion 1,000 times greater than the surprise 2013 impact of a bus-sized meteor in Russia. That object entered Earth’s atmosphere over the city of Chelyabinsk, resulting in a series of ferocious blasts that blew out windows and damaged buildings for miles around.

Prof Lipunov said it is difficult to calculate the orbit of big rocks like '2014 UR116' because their trajectories are constantly being changed by the gravitational pull of other planets.

And he warns that its existence proves how little scientists know about other asteroids which could cause harm to the planet.

PHOTO: World's First Underground Park Scheduled To Open In 2018

The world's first underground park is coming, and it's scheduled to open in 2018.

It's called the Lowline, and it will be located in a historic trolley station in the Lower East Side of New York City.

The best part about the Lowline is that it will actually include natural sunlight, using reflectors and fiber optics to pipe sunlight below the ground's surface.

No, this isn't science fiction, it's happening, and it looks incredible.

Smoking Seems To Make It Difficult To Quit Drinking

Alcoholics are usually smokers, too, and that presents something of a problem for someone trying to get back on the wagon. It seems that smoking makes it harder to quit drinking. Puzzlingly, it's not nicotine but rather an as yet unknown component of tobacco smoke that's to blame, according to research published today.

Both alcohol and nicotine dependence result from complex processes in the brain, involving a number of different chemicals, known as neurotransmitters, that help regulate signals sent from neuron to neuron and across regions of the brain. At the same time, tobacco smoke in particular has many different components, making it tough to sort out how alcohol and nicotine interact. One known point of overlap between alcohol and nicotine addiction, however, is a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid A. GABA-A actually slows down signals as they spread through the brain, but it's thought that it underlies the particular kind of high one gets when drinking and that nicotine similarly stimulates production of the chemical.

DISCOVERY: Animals Create Their Own Pharmacies

Many animal species have created their own pharmacies from ingredients that commonly occur in nature.

Birds, bees, lizards, elephants, and chimpanzees all share a survival trait: They self-medicate. These animals eat things that make them feel better, or prevent disease, or kill parasites like flatworms, bacteria, and viruses, or just to aid in digestion. Even creatures with brains the size of pinheads somehow know to ingest certain plants or use them in unusual ways when they need them.

Anyone who has seen a dog eat grass during a walk has witnessed self-medication. The dog probably has an upset stomach or a parasite. The grass helps them vomit up the problem or eliminate it with the feces.

The science of animal self-medication is called zoopharmacognosy, derived from the roots zoo (“animal”), pharma (“drug”), and gnosy (“knowing”). It’s not clear how much knowing or learning is involved, but many animals seem to have evolved an innate ability to detect the therapeutic constituents in plants. Although the evidence is entirely circumstantial, the examples are plentiful. The practice is spreading across the animal kingdom in sometimes surprising ways:

‘Made-In-Nigeria’ Satellite To Be Launched Into Space In 2018 – Minister

The Minister of Science and Technology, Abdu Bulama, Monday, said Nigeria, in a bid to hasten the pace of socio-economic development, would launch its first “made-in-Nigeria” satellite by 2018.

Mr. Bulama said in Abuja that science and technology would fast track the Federal Government’s transformation agenda and sustain the growth of national economy.

“The African economy, I believe in the last couple of years, has shown a remarkable sign of growth; but this growth is unfortunately more of community drive, not of the manufacturing sector.

“For this growth to be sustained and for it to be transformed into a real national transformation agenda for the development of the nation it must be productivity-based; productivity aspect must come in.

“And the only way you can do that is to develop your time and technology, to apply science and technology in your economy.

Fashion Fast Trending Towards Nudity With Introduction of C-String Pants

Some crazes are brief but these briefs are just crazy!

Forget the G-string, the latest thing to be seen in is the C-string… and there really is not much to it.

Looking more like a headband, the briefest of fronts tapers to a wire that tucks between your cheeks and, ahem, holds everything together.

Men are buying them in droves for their wives and girlfriends as an alternative to sensible granny pants.

Women, it has to be said, are not so smitten.

Proudly Naija: Car Built By Uniben Students Passes International Tech Evaluation

Nigeria has recorded a major feat in automotive technology innovation with a car called “Tuke-Tuke’`, produced by students of the University of Benin.

The car has passed international technical evaluation in Rotterdam, Netherlands, a statement said.

The statement was signed by the Media Manager of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mr Precious Okolobo on Thursday in Abuja.

It said that the car was now qualified to race at the 2014 Eco Marathon in Netherlands with cars from 25 countries, mostly advanced countries.

World's Oldest Sperm Found In Australia

The world's oldest and best-preserved sperm, dating back 17 million years, has been unearthed in Australia, scientists said Wednesday.

The sperm from an ancient species of tiny shrimp was discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site, an area in the far north of the state of Queensland where many extraordinary prehistoric Australian animals have previously been found.

They include giant, toothed platypuses and flesh-eating kangaroos.

Scientists Develop A Way of Controling Dreams

After several attempts without success, researchers in Germany have finally developed a way of enabling sleepers to control their dreams.

According to the scientists who carried out the research, by applying electric current to the brain one can experience sweet dreams.

It was gathered that the new breakthrough could enable sleepers to control their dreams by applying an electric current to the brain which prompts lucid dreams, involving a state of heightened awareness.

It was added that the current prompts lucid dreams, which involve a state of heightened awareness that allows the sleeper to recognise they are dreaming and influence what happens next.

Internet Explorer Browser Unsafe, Leaves Computers Vulnerable To Hackers

Millions of computer users have been left vulnerable to hackers after a major security flaw was found in the most popular web browser. US Homeland Security advised people with versions of Internet Explorer 6 to 11 to use alternatives until Microsoft fixes the bug. The software giant launched an investigation after confirming it had detected “limited, targeted attacks” in the browser, installed on more than half of computers worldwide. The security scare could allow crooks to access victims’ accounts and change passwords. Email addresses and other personal data could then be ransacked if a victim clicked on a hostile website. Online security firm Symantec said in a statement: “Our testing confirmed that the vulnerability crashes Internet Explorer on Windows XP.

(Interview): Man Invents Vehicle That Moves On Sea, Land And Air; Needs $250M To Complete Project

Durojaiye Kehinde Obasanjo poses with his Amphibian Jet Car A2

OCB caught up with Durojaiye who  prefers to be called Kenny Jet, in Ikeja. He proudly paraded his Amphibian Jet Car round the streets of Lagos causing every neck to twist and turn at the sight of this alien car. When OCB approached him he granted this interview. This is Proudly Naija!