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The world's largest plane made its second test flight on April 29, 2021, above the Mojave desert in the US state of California. Nicknamed “Roc”, the aircraft is designed to provide easy access to space for hypersonic vehicles launched from the plane while it is in flight. It is being developed by Stratolaunch, a com…
Although non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have recently been generated controversy over concerns about energy inefficiency, interest in them continues to rise. The Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX), an NFT merchant, shared a video on Earth Day 2021 to provide consumers with some details about the company's technology.
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have been around in some form for decades, but started booming during the Covid-19 pandemic. And the SPAC boom has been sensational. The shell companies designed solely to raise money from investors to buy assets – usually private, unlisted firms – raised more money in 2…
Nasa successfully flew and landed a mini helicopter on Mars on April 19, 2021, achieving the first powered and controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet. Ingenuity rose to about three metres (10 feet), hovered and then landed. It managed almost 40 seconds of flight, overcoming the challenge…
Chinese smartphones were once thought of as cheaply made, unreliable and not very durable. But in recent years, Chinese smartphone brands have made large inroads to take a bigger share of the global market. The Chinese models have earned a reputation for being powerful yet affordable, and because they support advanc…
From a self-portrait painted by Sophia the Robot, to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, to Beeple’s US$69 million JPEG, digital NFT creations also known as “nifties” have been fetching eye-watering prices on auction in the first few months of 2021, and in turn making the global arts scene sit up and take …
A Japanese start-up is working to create man-made meteor showers for use in mass entertainment. The company ALE Co Ltd aims to launch satellites that will release small pellets into the Earth's atmosphere and create artificial shooting stars.
Xpeng, a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (EV) company, said on Friday that its P7 mid-size car, guided by its Navigation Guided Pilot function, a newly released feature, had “set some of the most successful records to date over long distances in real road conditions in China”. A fleet of the battery-powered c…
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on March 22, 2021, blasted the “grotesque” growing gap between the number of coronavirus vaccines administered in rich and poor countries, branding the inequity a global “moral outrage”. The UN health agency chief also appealed to vaccine producer…
Millions of Hindus offer flowers at temples as a symbol of purity and sacredness to the gods. Every year, about eight million tonnes end up in the Ganges river, along with toxic chemicals and pesticides. An Indian startup, Phool, now collects the discarded flowers and turns them into incense sticks.
After senior activity centres in New York City shut down because of Covid-19 pandemic, many elderly citizens who normally used the facilities each day were suddenly faced with extreme social isolation. Zhu Shunliu, an 83-year-old who lives alone in Queens, found ways to use technology to stay connected and survive m…
Black soldier fly maggots, often used for pet food and as fertiliser, have become even more lucrative for an insect farm in Singapore. The innovative facility raises them to extract high-quality biomaterials from fly larvae for use in pharmaceuticals and electronics. Chua Kai-ning, chief marketing officer of Insectt…
A team of Chinese researchers is developing technology that makes it possible to “see” objects hidden around corners even over long distances of as much as 1km. The technology uses laser beams that bounce off walls to map items around the corner of an obstacle.
Cotton masks can be more effective at halting Covid-19’s spread than synthetic masks, a new study by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) showed. Researchers said cotton fabrics are nearly 35 per cent better at capturing particles when made slightly moist by human breath, but synthetic masks’…
A digital collage of 5,000 images sold for US$69.3 million in an online auction organised by Christie's on March 11, 2021. The digital-only work was created by American artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, and an asset with no physical form called a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). The eight-figure sale was the la…
China has launched an International Travel Health Certificate for its citizens that Beijing hopes might one day be recognised for use as a “vaccine passport” as countries around the world consider ways to reopen their borders as the coronavirus pandemic eases. The digital certificates, which work on the Chinese mess…
As Nasa’s Perseverance rover continues its exploration of Mars, scientists are using information gathered from a lake on Earth to aid the search for signs of ancient life on the red planet. Nasa believes Lake Salda in Turkey shares mineralogy and geology characteristics found in the Martian environment, where the US…
An unstaffed SpaceX rocket exploded on the ground on March 3, 2021, after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing.
Kiyoko Mori’s livelihood was washed away on March 11, 2011, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami hit her farm in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. The disaster caused a meltdown at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which then spewed massive amounts of radioactive particles which contaminated the soil. U…
Whenever Nami Hamaura feels lonely, all she has to do is talk to her singing companion: a robot named “Charlie”, who will respond with some calming music. Charlie is part of a new generation of cute and clever robotic “pets” being developed in Japan, where sales of automatons have boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic…
A Singaporean start-up, Nervotec, has developed a smartphone app that it claims can scan a user’s heart rate, oxygen level, respiration rate and even stress level within 45 seconds. The app is undergoing reviews at Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority. However, some private companies in the city state are already u…
Pirry Leung, who had previously worked at a food-waste recycling facility, founded FurryGreen – an upcycling startup in 2020, hoping to turn leftover but unspoiled ingredients into pet food. Every month, they send some of their products to a dog shelter in Yuen Long as “rescue food for rescued pets”. There are more …
Hong Kong eased Covid-19 restrictions on February 18, 2021, for the first time since a fourth wave of infections hit the city three months ago. All sports venues, gyms, beauty salons, cinemas and theme parks are allowed to resume operations. Restaurants can now extend dine-in hours from 6pm to 10pm and seat up to fo…
The popularity of Chinese video-sharing platform Kuaishou is growing fast. The app made news on February 5, 2021, when its shares nearly tripled in its trading debut in Hong Kong. Here is some background about the rival to TikTok that many Chinese have been using to record and share short clips about their daily lives.
Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot “Spot” can now perform tasks such as carrying objects and opening doors with the new arm extension unveiled in February 2021. The addition even allows the robot to play jump ropes and dance.
China’s second-ever cloned kitten may only be tiny, but Chinese scientists have big plans for it. Researchers at the Qingdao Agricultural University hope the “copy cat” can assist in the development of medicines for feline diseases and protect endangered species in the broader cat family.
SpaceX’s Starship prototype rocket crashed in a fireball as it attempted an upright landing during a test flight on February 2, 2021. It was the second Starship explosion after the previous prototype met a similar fate in December. SpaceX hopes the rocket system will one day carry humans to Mars.
Workers at some technology firms in Japan have been swapping the office for the slopes, thanks to a pilot scheme that lets them work remotely from holiday destinations. Special mobile workstation vans at Ikenotaira Ski Resort in Myoko city allow participants to hop off and hit the slopes in their free time. The pilo…
A TV programme in South Korea brought back the voice of deceased singer Kim Kwang-seok with the help of artificial intelligence technology. The sound system can perform in Kim’s voice after analysing and learning 20 of the legendary singer’s songs.
Hong Kong-based engineering company Hanson Robotics is making plans to mass produce humanoid robots following its successful creation of Sophia, which became world famous when it was unveiled in 2016. Hanson officials say the company’s new robots will be able to help with health care, such as taking body temperature…
Austrian company Nanographics made the first 3 dimensional image of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The real image, not a computer graphic or model of it, was unveiled by researchers from China's Tsinghua University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the Austrian company Nanographics. The 3D scan of the …
A father continues to make toys for his daughter, Nini. He turns video games such as Tetris and Flappy Bird into real-life toys for the girl, hoping to give her a unique childhood in a hi-tech world. That, and more trending videos from China this week.
Four-year-old Lucas has become an internet sensation in China after his parents posted a video of him strolling around in an inflatable space suit. The family said they were not expecting the attention – they now have more than 350,000 followers on Douyin, the domestic version of popular video app TikTok.
A father from central China’s Henan province continues to make toys for his daughter, Nini. He turns video games such as Tetris and Flappy Bird into real-life toys for the girl, hoping to give her a unique childhood in a hi-tech world.
A new maglev train prototype and 165 metres (540 feet) of test track were unveiled in Sichuan province in China on January 14, 2021. It was developed by researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University, who said their “high-temperature superconducting maglev” technology is more economical and efficient since it uses liq…
Hong Kong has seen a rise in locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 since a fourth wave of infections began in November 2020. A team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong’s department of civil engineering have developed a sewage monitoring programme that has helped authorities find at least nine hidden virus …
Scotland is bidding farewell to 2020 with one of UK’s largest-ever drone shows. A swarm of 150 LED drones, choreographed by artificial intelligence software, lit up the skies over Scotland. The event is part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival to celebrate the New Year. The annual celebration went online this year due …
The State Administration of Market Regulation, China’s antitrust watchdog agency, officially started investigating Alibaba Group Holding over alleged monopolistic business practices on December 24, 2020. Separately, the country’s central bank said it would summon executives of Ant Group — Alibaba’s fintech affiliate…
Taiwan launched its first domestically made missile corvette on December 15, 2020. The Ta Jiang is armed with subsonic missiles that can destroy targets on land or sea, such as an aircraft carrier. It is also equipped with stealth technology to avoid detection. The corvette is designed to defend against a possible a…
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was denied bail on December 3, 2020, on a charge of fraud related to the lease of a building that houses the tabloid-style Apple Daily newspaper he founded. Lai and two senior executives of his company Next Digital, were charged on suspicion of defrauding a government-owned …
A video of three Paris police officers beating up a black man has caused public anger in France. The footage published by Loopsider, a French digital news outlet, shows music producer Michel Zecler attacked by the officers for about five minutes on November 21, 2020.
A South Korean court has sentenced the leader of an online sexual blackmail ring to 40 years in prison. The court found 25-year-old Cho Ju-bin guilty of running online chat rooms on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, where at least 10,000 users paid up to US$1,200 to see sexual content featuring young girls. At l…
Researchers in Singapore have developed a smart mask with sensors that can detect a wearer’s vital signs, including blood oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate and skin temperature. The data can be used to watch for potential illnesses, including Covid-19. Researchers at Nanyang Technological University and …
The second international Cybathlon has been held despite the Covid-19 pandemic, with paraplegic athletes from around the world taking part in over 50 teams from about 20 countries. The event on November 14, 2020 was conducted remotely in six categories, including obstacle courses and bike races. Cybathon is schedule…
Sony’s PlayStation 5 finally went on sale in Hong Kong on November 19, 2020. Gamers who pre-ordered a console were able to pick it up, but those who weren't able to pre-order will have to wait until Sony gets stock for walk-in sales, or pay twice the price to get a console on the resale market at local game stores.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted its 20-month flight ban on Boeing’s 737 MAX plan on November 18, 2020. The aircraft model was grounded in March 2019 after it was involved in two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The disasters within five months of each other in late 2018 and early 2019 kil…
China’s government has praised a UK diplomat who recently dived into a river in Chongqing to save a drowning student. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said the woman was saved by an “act of bravery” on the part of 61-year-old Stephen Ellison, Britain’s consul general in the southwestern city. The spoke…
The Hong Kong government has launched a new app for tracing contacts among people in an effort to prevent a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in the city. The app called LeaveHomeSafe enables users to record the date and time they visited public venues. The software is part of government efforts to help people keep…
Sony’s PlayStation 5 officially went on sale on November 12, 2020 in six markets including Japan, Australia and North America, with launches elsewhere on November 19. As the launch date for China has yet to be announced, Chinese scalpers were taking orders with the price up to four times the retail price.
A project that aims to restore lost coral beds in local Hong Kong waters has found that hexagonal clay tiles made using 3D printing technology provide a suitable habitat for the species to grow and repopulate. Under a project launched in 2016, scientists from the University of Hong Kong placed tiles designed to look…
