The search giant is automatically building Knowledge Vault, a massive database that could give us unprecedented access to the world's facts GOOGLE is building the largest store of knowledge in human history – and it's doing so without any human help. Instead, Knowledge Vault autonomously gathers and merges information from across the web into a single base of facts about the world, and the people and objects in it. The breadth and accuracy of this gathered knowledge is already becoming the foundation of systems that allow robots and smartphones to understand what people ask them. It promises to let Google…

In California, people with Alzheimer’s will be given transfusions of young blood to see if improves their cognition – there's good reason to hope it might IT SOUNDS like the dark plot of a vampire movie. In October, people with Alzheimer's disease will be injected with the blood of young people in the hope that it will reverse some of the damage caused by the condition. The scientists behind the experiment have evidence on their side. Work in animals has shown that a transfusion of young mouse blood can improve cognition and the health of several organs in older mice.…

The drought in California is a disaster unfolding in slow motion. The alarm was first sounded earlier this year as snowpack in the state's mountainous areas was far thinner than usual. Arid conditions have continued since, leaving reservoirs at record lows – cities are announcing usage limits for the first time in years, and farmers are rapidly draining water from underground aquifers just to stay in business. The chance of a moisture-bringing El Niño climate event happening later this year, which some had looked to for salvation, has fallen from 80 to 65 per cent according to the latest forecasts.…

Yesterday, BBC news reported the medical teams in western Africa are losing battles with Ebola, and the cases goes steep. Neither people who tested positive or negative in the area, are quarantined. People there looked so desperate, the only hope for them is to live till next day. In May First death from Ebola was confirmed in Sierra Leone. In June It was reported outbreak in West Africa especially in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea area. In July In August Questions: Now People are connected, and they can feel each other, pain or happiness. Now the people there are facing…

Figuring out how the brain works is enough to make your head spin. But now we seem to have a handle on how it gets its folded shape. The surface layer of the brain, or cortex, is also referred to as our grey matter. Mammals with larger brains have a more folded cortex, and the human brain is the most wrinkled of all, cramming as much grey matter into our skulls as possible. L. Mahadevan at Harvard University and his colleagues physically modelled how the brain develops in the embryo, using a layer of gel to stand in for the…

Science will never overcome our appetite for illusion and fakery Primitive notions about hidden beings and forces have helped shaped science, argues Philip Ball in his book Invisible: The dangerous allure of the unseen FOR the past 20 years, Philip Ball has been writing about science. He is indefatigable, polymathic and conscientious. He is also good and, project by project, his books are getting better. Invisible, Ball's eighteenth offering, uses the notion of absence, apparent absence or hidden presence to unpack trunks of pop science treats. There are chapters on microscopy and camouflage, X-rays and stage magic, nods to the…

Chad President Idriss Deby Reuters China's state-run oil company has run into some trouble in Chad. When government officials in the African country traveled to a southern oil field this week to monitor the activities of the China National Petroleum Corporation, they found massive -- and allegedly intentional -- oil spills killing trees and wildlife there. The operation has been suspended indefinitely on charges of environmental violations, and government officials sound livid. Chadian Oil Minister Djerassem Le Bemadjiel said that the Chinese corporation had dug massive trenches and allowed oil to flow into them, and that CNPC then asked local…

Copycat deaths are likely in the wake of the suicide of Robin Williams. More restrained reporting could help When US actor Robin Williams killed himself, a flood of media coverage followed. Some of it has been criticised for glamorising his death in a way that might prompt vulnerable readers to follow suit. Are the critics right? Research stretching back decades suggests that such fears are well founded. Empirical work on the possible role of the media on copycat or imitative suicide began with a seminal article by University of California professor David Phillips in 1974. He checked the impact of…

By Madjiasra NakoTue Mar 11, 2014 12:49pm EDT A view of the Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas September 15, 2008.Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - An ExxonMobil led consortium in Chad is seeking an out-of-court settlement after the government filed a legal claim for more than $800 million in unpaid taxes, finance ministry sources said on Tuesday. The Central African government on March 3 filed a legal claim for 396 billion CFA francs ($837.90 million) in royalties from the consortium which also includes Chevron and Petronas. A representative for the Exxon consortium in the country declined to give an…

N'DJAMENA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Chad plans to take China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to an arbitration court in Paris after talks stalled over its claim for $1.2 billion from the state-owned firm in compensation for breaking environmental rules, a senior official said. The dispute erupted in July last year after Chad said it discovered large quantities of crude oil had been dumped into pits dug in the Koudalwa region, where CNPC has held licenses to several oil blocs since 2009. Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul, secretary-general of the Chadian government, said that weeks of negotiations to reach an amicable solution to…