Lake life survives in total isolation for 3000 years

It is seven times as salty as the sea, pitch dark and 13 degrees below freezing. Lake Vida in East Antarctica has been buried for 2800 years under 20 metres of ice, but teems with life. The discovery of strange, abundant bacteria in a completely...

Read More..

Property tax rebate for most HDB flat owners

SINGAPORE: All one- and two-room owner-occupiers of HDB homes do not need to pay property tax in 2013, similar to 2012. For a majority of other HDB flat types, the property tax bill for 2013 will increase by between S$40 and $50, after taking into account a new S$40 rebate.The increase in property tax comes after the revision of Annual Values (AVs) of HDB flats with effect from 1 January...

Read More..

Apple video shines light on retail store importance

Apple's retail store in Shanghai.(Credit:Apple)It seems like a lot of prep, planning, and philosophy goes into Apple's retail model. Now, a leaked internal video proves this to be true.9to5Mac spotted the video from Washington Square Films, writing that the clip never publicly aired and was only meant for the eyes of Apple retail store employees. "Every great journey begins with a first step and...

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

High Horse Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.Taken...

Read More..

Co. Paying Just $1,200 for Each Factory Fire Life

A company that makes clothes for Sean Combs' clothing brand ENYCE and other U.S. labels reassured investors that a factory fire that killed 112 people over the weekend would not harm its balance sheet, and also pledged to pay the families of the dead $1,200 per victim.In an announcement Monday, Li & Fung Ltd., a middleman company that supplies clothes from Bangladesh factories...

Read More..

New vaccine may give lifelong protection from flu

Flu season has come early this year in parts of the northern hemisphere, and many people are scrambling to get their annual vaccination. That ritual may someday be history. In a first for any infectious disease, a vaccine against flu has been made out of...

Read More..

S'pore's industrial output falls more than expected in Oct

SINGAPORE: Singapore manufacturing output fell more than expected in October as production of electronics and pharmaceuticals slipped.Output fell 2.1 per cent in October from the same month the previous year, led by declines of 6.0 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively in the electronics and biomedical sectors.Economists had forecast a year-on-year drop in total manufacturing output...

Read More..

Facebook uses posters to push employees to switch to Android

Poster in Facebook headquarters encouraging employees to switch from iPhone to Android handsets.(Credit:Josh Constine/TechCrunch)Borrowing a page from war posters of yesteryear, Facebook is using posters of its own to encourage employees to dump their iPhones forAndroid devices.After it was reported in August that Facebook employees were being "nudged, cajoled, and even ordered to give up their iPhones...

Read More..

Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling. Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group...

Read More..

GOP Starting to Rebel Against No-Tax-Hikes Pledge

With the fiscal cliff looming for the United States, some Republican members of Congress said today they are ready to break a long standing pledge not to raise taxes."The only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece. And Republicans should put revenue on the table," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on ABC's "This Week."Read more of the discussion...

Read More..