Science & Technology News

By Jonny Hogg and Nick Tattersall ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Frustrated by Western failure to heed his advice in Syria and Iraq and still smarting over the collapse of the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu makes no apology for a foreign policy that has left his country isolated. His dream of a Middle East with political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey at its heart seems to be fading as chaos in Syria and Iraq threatens its borders and diplomatic ties with Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, remain broken. …

By Julie Steenhuysen and Sharon Begley REUTERS – A man who flew from Liberia to Texas has become the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus to be diagnosed in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday, a sign the outbreak ravaging West Africa may spread globally. The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. U.S. …

By Donny Kwok and Yimou Lee HONG KONG (Reuters) – For some mainland Chinese in Hong Kong, the sight of thousands of people on the streets protesting for greater democracy is an alien one that has prompted comparisons with the relative lack of political freedom back home. Others are less impressed, and see the mass show of defiance as a dangerous tactic that has shut down large parts of the city and raised the risk of serious confrontation with Hong Kong police. “For the first time in my life I feel close to politics,” said a Chinese tourist from Beijing who gave only her surname, Yu. …

By Clare Baldwin and Anne Marie Roantree HONG KONG (Reuters) – Some academics at the forefront of Hong Kong’s fight for more democracy say they have become targets of death threats or other intimidation as the former British colony remains near-paralysed by the biggest protests since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Hong Kong has freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, but Beijing last month rejected demands for free elections to choose the city’s next leader, prompting outrage and protests by tens of thousands of people, mostly students, who have blockaded roads in the global financial hub. …

By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – The world populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles fell overall by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, far faster than previously thought, the World Wildlife Fund said on Tuesday. The conservation group’s Living Planet Report, published every two years, said humankind’s demands were now 50 percent more than nature can bear, with trees being felled, groundwater pumped and carbon dioxide emitted faster than Earth can recover. …

By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK (Reuters) – Walking may never become as trendy as CrossFit, as sexy as mud runs or as ego-boosting as Ironman races but for fitness experts who stress daily movement over workouts and an active lifestyle over weekends of warrior games, walking is a super star. For author and scientist Katy Bowman, walking is a biological imperative like eating. In her book, “Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement,” she suggests there are movement nutrients, just like dietary nutrients, that the body needs. “Walking is a superfood. …

By Eric M. Johnson REUTERS – A portion of late science fiction author Ray Bradbury’s estate, including George Bernard Shaw’s garden spade and artworks both comedic and surreal, sold for $493,408 in California, the auctioneer said. Bradbury, who died in 2012, was perhaps best known for his dystopian classic, “Fahrenheit 451.,” the auctioneer said. In a career spanning more than 70 years, the Waukegan, Illinois, native also wrote “Dandelion Wine,” “I Sing the Body Electric” and “From the Dust Returned” as hundreds of short stories, poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays and screenplays. …

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) – Western strategists have long debated the spectre of Iran “breaking out” – suddenly showing the ability to explode an atom bomb. But some see a “sneak-out” less visible to U.N. inspectors as a possibly bigger risk and world powers have calibrated their demands in negotiations with Iran to forestall any such outcome. Under a “sneak-out” scenario, Western officials and experts say, Iran could build a uranium enrichment plant in secret to make bomb material unbeknownst to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, now empowered to visit only Tehran’s declared nuclear sites. …

By Lin Noueihed CAIRO (Reuters) – In a dusty courtyard in Egypt’s Nile Delta, men gather to ask for favours at the home of retired police general Sayyed Azb. Some are seeking jobs, others want certificates proving they are literate or help in securing building licences – a throwback to the patronage politics of Hosni Mubarak that many Egyptians had hoped would disappear when the autocrat fell three years ago. What Azb has to say suggests the chances of a fresh start when Egypt elects a new parliament in the next few months are slim. …

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL Fla (Reuters) – Water found in Earth’s oceans, in meteorites and frozen in lunar craters predates the birth of the solar system, a study published on Thursday shows, a finding with implications for the search for life on other planets. Scientists have long debated whether the solar system’s water came from ice ionized during the formation of the solar system, or if it predated the solar system and originated in the cold interstellar cloud of gas from which the sun itself was formed. The study was published in this week’s issue of the journal Science. …