McLaren have given fans their take on what the future looks like as they presented a futuristic race car that can take to the tracks in 2050.

McLaren Applied Technologies, the sister company of the Formula One team, worked extensively gathering opinions from fans of the sport and now present the 2050: the MCLExtreme which features an on-board artificial intelligence co-pilot, an electric battery that can be folded away and self-healing tyres.

The work done by MAT encapsulates more than just the race car for the drivers in three decades time.  They have also extensively given their thoughts on developments in driver human performance, racing tracks of the future and the fan experience we can expect to see in 2050.

In an extensive breakdown of the various elements that the MCLExtreme includes, fans raved given it is a 500km/h rear-wheel-drive electric car powered by a 'foldable battery moulded to the aerodynamic package'.

This is not a new venture for McLaren having teased fans with futuristic designs back in 2015 when they released images and designs for its MP4-X.

Technology continues to evolve at a rapid rate but the notion of flying race cars was soon quahsed by both fans and engineers.  In the unveiling, McLaren wrote: 'Staying true to the sport's mission to be road relevant, we don't expect race cars to fly by 2050.  Flying road cars equals more aerial congestion, more noise pollution and probably more accidents.  If you think drone sightings at airports cause wide-scale disruption, well... you know the rest.  With the emergence of high-speed underground transportation portals, such as Virgin Hyperloop One, building underground networks that shift large volumes of traffic in less time is more probable.  This is in keeping with the desires of the fans we spoke to, who believe flying race cars are the antithesis of grand prix racing.'

Efficiency is absolutely essential for successful racing teams and chasing quicker times rarely ever puts efficiency at risk.  But with cars getting faster, a fascinating feature on the latest design sees contractible side-pods that alter depending on the natural conditions.

McLaren added: 'Taking inspiration from nature, the MCLE features sidepods that expand and contract like the gills of a great white shark.  They turn it into a 500 km/h bullet on the straights, but expand as the car enters braking zones and corners to provide stability and control.'

Artificial Intelligence is likely to prove one of the biggest advancements in the sport moving forward with on-board assistance potentially making radio communications with engineers redundant.

The statement continues: 'Drivers may be connected to AI via a symbiotic link in the helmet and sensors within the race suit.  The AI learns and predicts the driver's preferences and state-of-mind.  It provides real-time race strategy and key information via a holographic head-up display – but more than that – it understands the driver's mood and emotional state, tailoring advice based on the physiological and psychological feedback it receives.'

Karl Surmacz, Head of Modelling and Decision Science explains at McLaren Applied Technologies: 'In the future we could get to the point where human ingenuity is replaced with an AI algorithm.  Machine learning would see human preferences and decisions, as well as our domain expertise and instinct, captured.  Take enough examples of our creative processes and outcomes, and this could be codified into an algorithm which would enable AI to make creative decisions consistent with those of a human counterpart.'

With plans in the UK to have UK all new cars with 'effectively zero-emission' by 2040, this makes up a key part of the latest designs, too.

Tracks are another area of constant discussion with new countries pitching all the time to bring F1 to their nation.  Transparent roofs and adaptable race tracks depending on conditions are just two of the suggestions that have emerged from McLaren's findings.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

An Anglo-Saxon pendant worth £145,000 has been declared treasure by the coroner's office.

The gold piece has a central cross motif and probably belonged to a woman of 'high social status', according to experts.  It features gold bead work and measures 0.67in by 0.5in (17mm by 13mm), and is believed to date from the late-Sixth Century to the mid-Seventh.

Norfolk's coroner declared that is treasure, which means that ownership now lies with the Crown. It will be valued by the Portable Antiquities Scheme run by the British Museum.

A similar item, The Winfarthing Pendant, was uncovered on nearby farmland by a student in 2014.

Julie Shoemark, Norfolk's finds liaison officer, said it made a 'valuable contribution to our understanding of Saxon society'.  Ms Shoemark, from Norfolk County Council's archaeology department, said: 'Like the Winfarthing assemblage, this piece most likely belonged to a high-status lady.  It dates to an important turning point in Saxon history during the first flowering of Christianity [in England] and is of similar date to the jewellery assemblage from the now famous and nearby Winfarthing burial, according to the Times.  Male graves of this period appear to be entirely lacking in elaborate jewellery.'

The Winfarthing Pendant was on show at the British Library in London until February 2019 along with the Alfred Jewel and the Domesday Book.

It was found by Tom Lucking, a student who was metal detecting on farmland along with other items near Diss.  He unearthed the grave of an aristocratic woman dating from AD630 to 650 after finding a bronze bowl, including a 7cm (2.8in) pendant.

In November 2016, an inquest in Norwich declared the haul, which included coins and a copper bowl, to be treasure.

Mr Lucking, who was 23 when he found the items, said at the time: 'We knew there was something large, but couldn't predict it would be like that.'

The former student, who's now an archaeologist, said any money he receives will be used for a deposit on a house.  'It's going to make things a lot easier,' he said.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

An online security expert has warned users not to be duped by 'sextortionists' claiming they have sexual footage of you which they intend to share widely.

A live streamed video blog from the cybersecurity company Sophos about sex-related online scams told internet users to 'relax', delete the email and move on.  There is nothing to be afraid of as it is almost certainly nothing more than a bluff, they said.  

Paul Ducklin, computer security expert at Sophos explained in his own blog what the phenomenon involved: 'Sextortion is where crooks, say they have sex-related pictures or webcam footage of you, and demand you to pay them thousands of dollars, or else.

He warned internet users on a video blog called Naked Security Live that if you receive a message telling you to pay up or have a sex footage released, ignore it.  Mr Ducklin said: 'sex combined with extortion makes sextortion'.

On the blog, Mr Ducklin read out a text message of what you might receive from a sextortionist.  Mr Ducklin said: 'You get an email 'final warning' 'you have the last chance to save your social life, I am not kidding, I give you 72 hours to make the payment before I send the video to all your friends and associates.  Do not try to cheat me.  As soon as you open this email I will know you have opened it'.

They will say they have installed malware on your computer and that they have the video without you realising it's been taken.  In almost all cases, this is a lie, says Mr Ducklin, who explained that extortionists will convince you they have hacked your computer and gained access to cameras by feeding you some private information about yourself.  This can be passwords they have simply gathered from a data breach and leak.  Such information can include your address and date of birth, or a guess at the number of contacts in your address book.

While it is possible for a 'RAT' or Remote Access Trojan to control your computer wirelessly, it requires the hacker to implant spyware onto your computer first.  In most cases, this is harder to do than extortionists claim, but there has been cases of it which ended in court, said Mr Ducklin.  He cited the Miss Teen America scandal of 2014 where an IT student was sentenced to 18 months for hacking the beauty pageant winner's computer.

But Mr Ducklin warned viewers not to fall sextortionist scams.  He added: 'Surely if they actually had a video, if they actually had a picture, they'd send you a still from the video or they'd send you a link that'd let you watch it - that would be very convincing'.  Otherwise, they probably don't have anything on you', he said.

Similarly, even if you have opened an email from the supposed hacker, all they would know if that you had opened the email, and would not be able to gain further information such as your location.  They cannot track you in the sense of stalking or following your activities online, he added.

For those still worried about privacy and hacking, Mr Ducklin reassures users to 'relax' - ignore the email and delete it: 'A pack of lies, so don't reply, don't engage with the crooks, just delete the email and move on.  If they did get the malware on your computer... your best defence is to get a good anti-virus on it'.

A study last year by California-based security company Barracuda also warned of a rise in the scam.  Fraudsters send emails to computer users with a password they have used in the past that has been made public during a data leak.  In the same way as described by Mr Ducklin, victims are then told that they have been recorded watching explicit videos on their computer and that the footage will be made public if they don't comply.  The scammers then threaten that they have your contact list from your email and social networking accounts, before demanding a ransom is paid.

One woman who spoke to Barracuda, under the condition of anonymity, told them that the scammers had sent her three emails over the month of October.  She said they contained her passwords that were 'all very old,  but in an exchange with her the scam artists said it 'didn't matter because they had been controlling her computer for years.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

In today's all-connected world, it can seem impossible to remain truly anonymous and insulated from being tracked, watched or indexed by the internet or other means.  But Jameson Lopp, CTO at Bitcoin security company Casa, has discovered how to get off the grid.

Lopp devised an exhaustive, albeit extremely complicated, list of 15 steps to 'escape the all-seeing eyes of corporate America and the government,' according to the New York Times.  Among the solutions Lopp recommends are to create an LLC to shield your identity, use cash as much as possible, quit using a smartphone GPS for directions and even move to a new home.  The goal was to completely remove oneself from databases that host our personal information and sell it to third parties, the New York Times reported.

His concerns aren't unlike the recent attention that's been given to the shadowy underworld of 'data brokers' and online surveillance systems that profit off the sale of users' data - often without their knowledge or consent.

Many organizations, ranging from telecommunications firms and hotels to the likes of Silicon Valley giants have been criticized for extensively collecting and sharing users' data.  Facebook and Google in particular have been called into question for the massive amounts of data they store from users.  But the rise of facial recognition technology and other types of biometric authentication has also stoked fears of a global surveillance state in which anyone's whereabouts can be easily tracked.

Many of Lopp's strategies sought to stamp out the kinds of information collection and monitoring overseen by federal agencies.  To start, he sought to mask his identity by creating a limited liability company, or LLC.  People can be recorded in a database each time they fill out a form for everyday things like buying a property, registering a credit card or other common transactions, the Times noted.

In some states, it's not required for the owner's name of an LLC to be publicly available.  This makes it that much harder for people to snoop on and track down the owner of an LLC.

After his LLC was established, Lopp set up new bank accounts and payment cards, creating a bank account under his new LLC, as well as a corporate credit card with a firm that doesn't require users to list their name.  He now purchases items with a prepaid debit card, which has money already loaded onto it, limiting the number of transactions linked to his LLCs.  Lopp also uses cash for many purchases, which allows him to remain anonymous.

The Bitcoin evangelist then got a new phone number that's linked to his LLC and often uses services that create random phone numbers that are deleted after each call, akin to having a burner phone.  He has changed his phone habits as well, by refusing to use the device for GPS directions and disabling geolocation services.  This means his device can't keep a record of his location activity, which also prevents apps on the device from slurping up that data too.   When Lopp needs directions, he uses a GPS device that isn't tied to him, the Times said.

He recommends that users encrypt their data when traveling so that if officials seize your device, they're unable to access private information stored on any devices.

Lopp also uses a Virtual Private Network when browsing the web at home to mask his IP address.

In what is perhaps some of his more drastic measures, Lopp also moved into a new house, which he purchased in full using a cashier's check from his LLC, uses a pseudonym when interacting with his neighbors and wears a disguise when traveling outside to avoid being tracked by CCTV cameras or facial recognition software.

Lopp got rid of his motorcycle and Lotus Elise sports car as part of the effort and, instead, purchased a more 'boring' model under the LLC, the Times said.

Additionally, he acquired a decoy house to throw off the local Department of Motor Vehicles, as they require residents to register a new car with their real name and an address.  'It’s the crappiest, cheapest hole in the wall I could find that has a physical mailbox,' Lopp told the Times.

To further protect his location, he only works remotely and reports into videoconferences from an obscured room.  Lopp also set up a private mailbox to prevent his name from being added to mailing lists and has packages sent through a remailing service, which sends the package to a random address, then reroutes it back to the private mailbox, according to the Times.

Finally, he recommends that people hire a private investigator periodically to try to find them.

In all, he estimates the process of going off the grid cost him $30,000, the Times said.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

It’s a common claim among marijuana enthusiasts that the plant can boost sexual arousal and even lead to more powerful orgasms.  And now, there’s research to back it up.

A new study that analyzed reports from hundreds of women, both pot smokers and non-smokers, has found that marijuana use prior to sex doubles the chances of having a more satisfying orgasm.

Exactly why marijuana seems to improve the sexual experience is still somewhat of a mystery.  But over the years, scientists have come up with several possible explanations.

Researchers explain in the new paper, published to the journal Sexual Medicine: ‘It has been postulated that it leads to improvement in sexual function simply by lowering stress and anxiety.  It may slow the temporal perception of time and prolong the feelings of pleasurable sensations.  It may lower sexual inhibitions and increase confidence and a willingness to experiment.  Marijuana is also known to heighten sensations such as touch, smell, sight, taste, and hearing.’

The study led by a team at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine reviewed self-reported survey responses from 373 women.  About 47 per cent of the participants indicated that they were marijuana smokers, and of this group, 34 per cent noted that they used it before sex.

To find out how pot use factors into sexual satisfaction, the researchers developed a Sexual Health Survey addressing a broad variety of topics, including sex drive, lubrication, and the presence of sex-related pain.

‘To limit bias, the authors embedded the questions about marijuana deeper into the questionnaire,’ the paper notes.

In reviewing the data, the researchers found significant differences in the participants’ reported sexual experiences depending on whether they used marijuana beforehand or not.

‘Most women reported increases in sex drive, improvement in orgasm, decrease in pain, but no change in lubrication,’ the researchers wrote.  These differences translate to 2.13 higher odds of reporting ‘satisfactory orgasms’ for women who smoke pot.

‘Marijuana appears to improve satisfaction with orgasm,’ the team concluded.

‘Women who used marijuana before sex and those who used more frequently were more than twice as likely to report satisfactory orgasms as those who did not use marijuana before sex or used infrequently.  Our study is consistent with past studies of the effects of marijuana on sexual behaviour in women,’ the researchers wrote in the paper.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

A Google employee has broken the world record for calculating Pi to the highest number of digits - at 31 trillion.  The announcement was made on Pi day which falls on March 14th, or 3.14, the US format of the date and the first three digits of the mathematical constant.

Emma Haruka Iwao, a developer for the search firm, used an application called y-cruncher on 25 different virtual cloud computers to generate the number.  The Japanese researcher said the calculation took about 121 days to complete – with zero breaks, otherwise the process would have been disrupted.

In mathematics pi, represented as the symbol 'π', is the ratio of a circle's radius to its circumference and has far more digits than 3,14, which continue infinitely.  The constant is used in engineering, physics, supercomputing and space exploration - because its value can be used in calculations for waves and circles.

Supercomputers are often tasked with calculating the number to more digits, with the previous record set in November 2016 by Peter Trueb, at 22 trillion digits.  Ms Iwao used Google Cloud's Compute Engine to calculate pi to 31,415,926,535,897 decimal places.  According to the firm's estimates, it would take 332,064 years to say the 31.4 trillion digit number.

Coming up with the figure used about 170 terabytes of data, roughly the same amount of browsable data on the whole of the internet in 2014.

Ms Iwao who had been fascinated by the number since she had been a child said: 'Pi seems simple – it starts with 3.14.  When I was a kid, I downloaded a program to calculate pi on my computer.  When I was a kid, I didn't have access to supercomputers.  But even if you don't work for Google, you can apply for various scholarships and programs to access computing resources.  I was very fortunate that there were Japanese world record holders that I could relate to myself.  I'm really happy to be one of the few women in computer science holding the record, and I hope I can show more people who want to work in the industry what's possible.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Israeli beauty-tech firm Pollogen has launched a sleek new device that can give you a ‘super-facial’ in less than 10 minutes, without having to go to the salon.

The egg-shaped Geneo Personal is a handheld oxygenation system that taps into a process known as the Bohr Effect to give you clearer, fresher skin at home.  Instead of simply ‘rubbing air bubbles on your face,’ Geneo Personal stimulates oxygen from beneath the skin’s surface, according to the firm.

Pollogen unveiled the product in an Indiegogo campaign in March for a discounted $109 ahead of its official release next year, when it will retail at $249.

The palm-sized Geneo Personal device is designed to deliver a high-quality, once-per-week facial treatment in just six minutes.  It releases carbon dioxide bubbles across your face as you exfoliate, lowering the PH levels at the surface of your skin.  This, in turn, draws oxygen up from beneath ‘to react and enrich the surface from within,’ the firm explains.  The carbon dioxide ‘stimulates a release of oxygen from your blood cells up to your skin’s surface,’ according to Pollogen.  ‘This physiological response is what makes your facial skin really level up.’

The campaign has already raised more than $110,000 on Indiegogo, touting the ability to rejuvenate your face in a matter of minutes.

Geneo Personal is currently priced at $109 for early-birds, and comes in three pastel colors: powder pink, mint green, and white.  The device itself measures just under 5-inches long and weighs less than a pound.  When it’s not in use, it fits into a discreet charging stand.  And, according to the firm, it will give you an Instagram-ready appearance – no filter necessary.

Sharon Ravic, CEO of Pollogen said: ‘It’s a 3-in-1 facial experience, because it Oxygenates, Exfoliates, and Nourishes your skin in just 6 minutes.  We put our face through a lot every day, exposing it to the sun’s harsh rays and air pollutants.  It’s time to unlock the skin’s natural potential by raising the oxygen levels in our skin cells.  Throw out the brush heads and bring on the bubbles.’

Geneo Personal is expected to begin shipping February 2019.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

The 'gamification' of dating apps is damaging singleton's chances of spotting the right match for them, a psychiatrist has warned.

Swiping through endless faces on apps like Tinder and Bumble, known as 'infinite swipe'.  The practice has become so addictive that more than one in 10 users swipe for over 14 hours a week, a survey backing up the claims has revealed.  The rise of dating apps has given rise to a new user phenomenon: the 'infinite swipe.

Just like other tech platforms such as Facebook and Google have adopted the persuasive design feature of infinite scroll, to engage the user in habit forming experiences, dating apps have leveraged the power of the 'infinite swipe'.  Users are 'nudged" to process the face of a potential match in less than a second, with little or no context on the person's personality.

Dr Richard Graham, clinical director of Good Thinking, a London digital mental well-being service, said: 'Whilst love at first sight can happen in a moment, this gamification of such an important life search is potentially demeaning to all.  It's time we placed more importance on taking time to get to know someone, on personality and conversation, rather than basing decisions on looks alone.  Would you just choose the person who can take a great selfie?'

A survey of 1,000 dating app users in the UK has found that nearly a third (30 per cent) spending more seven hours per week trying to find a match and 14 per cent swipe for over 14 hours.

Men were found to be more promiscuous with dating apps than women, with nearly half (40 per cent) using three or more apps at a time.  One in ten men admitted to using more than five dating apps at the same time.

Men also spend more time trying to find a date than their opposite sex, with one third (34 per cent) swiping for over an hour each day compared with just a quarter of women (27 per cent).

Forty per cent of men use three or more apps at a time, with one in ten using more than five to find a date.

Despite 76 per cent of users matching with over 30 people each month, only 22 per cent have had more than 10 conversations.

A quarter of women revealed they hadn't been on a single date in the past six months.

While 26 per cent of men questioned admitted to swiping right, for a 'yes' on more than half of the users they came across, only nine per cent of women swiped right, or 'no', to more than half of their options.

The research also found that males and females have different opinions on the key traits they look for in a partner.  Men rated looks as the most important factor in a match, followed by sense of humour and conversational skills, while women rated a sense of humour as the most important, followed by conversational skills, looks and height.

The survey was commissioned by Alex Durrant, CEO of JigTalk, a dating app that aims to put 'personality' rather than 'looks' at the forefront of online dating.

JigTalk says it tries to encourage conversation by initially hiding a users' face, before revealing it like pieces of a puzzle the more users talk to each other.  JigTalkers have to send eight messages each to completely unveil their match's face.

Mr Durrant said: 'Dating apps have led to hundreds of thousands of marriages and partnerships across the world, but we must use them as messaging platforms to make conversations on, rather than just photo sharing apps.  Getting to know a potential partner's personality is key to finding love.  It's an innate need which goes hand in hand with visual attraction.  You wouldn't meet someone in a bar and not talk to them, so it's crazy why we do this on dating apps.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

The first ever incarnation of a dating app can be traced back to 1995 when Match.com was first launched.  The website allowed single people to upload a profile, a picture and chat to people online.  The app was intended to allow people looking for long-term relationships to meet.

eHarmony was developed in 2000 and two years later Ashley Madison, a site dedicated to infidelity and cheating, was first launched.

A plethora of other dating sites with a unique target demographic were set up in the next 10-15 years including: OKCupid (2004), Plenty of Fish (2006), Grindr (2009) and Happn (2013).

In 2012, Tinder was launched and was the first 'swipe' based dating platform.  After its initial launch, its usage snowballed and by March 2014 there were one billion matches a day, worldwide.

In 2014, co-founder of Tinder, Whitney Wolfe Herd launched Bumble, a dating app that empowered women by only allowing females to send the first message.

The popularity of mobile dating apps such as Tinder, Badoo and more recently Bumble is attributable to a growing amount of younger users with a busy schedule.

In the 1990s, there was a stigma attached to online dating as it was considered a last-ditch and desperate attempt to find love.  This belief has dissipated and now around one third of marriages are between couples who met online.

A survey from 2014 found that 84 per cent of dating app users used online dating services to look for a romantic relationship.  Twenty-four per cent stated that that they used online dating apps explicitly for sexual encounters.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Global leaders in innovation and science have been revealed and, yet again, the US leads the way.  European countries dominate the top ten but the most innovative three nations are the US, Israel and South Korea.  But, six of the top ten nations are European, with the UK sitting in 15th position, between Norway and Singapore.

The list was compiled by engineering firm RS Components, based in the UK, who compiled a list of metrics to gauge the nous of each nation.  RS Components analysed each country across four different areas: number of scientific research papers released, number of patents registered, percentage of GDP spend on research and development and number of researchers per 1,000 people.  Every country was allocated a score based on their figures for each metric with their overall score determining their final rank within the index.

1. United States - 26,855
2. China - 14,234
3. Germany - 8,201
4. United Kingdom - 7,214
5. Japan - 4,670
6. France - 4,572
7. Switzerland - 3,059
8. Canada - 3,041
9. Australia - 2,531
10. Spain - 2,476

1. United States - 155,982
2. Japan - 54,422
3. South Korea - 20,201
4. Germany - 17,752
5. China - 14,234
6. Canada - 7,492
7. United Kingdom - 7,167
8. France - 7,026
9. Israel - 3,804
10. Italy - 3,090

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Although there is no single measure that helps us capture scientific progress in one metric, there are a few ways to discover how certain countries are doing in regard to leadership within the scientific sector.  Science is constantly adapting and aiming to help cure and combat diseases worldwide and it is clear to see that as a human race we prioritise its success and funding.'

The finished data set revealed the US is the overall runaway winner with a score of 75.07 out of 100.

Israel came in second with a mark of 61.33 but comes when looking at the amount of people in the population working in research.  However, it is the world leader when it comes to spending on research and development and the amount of researchers in its population.  It tops the chart in regards of the latter with 17 individuals working in research for every 1,000 people.

South Korea and Japan came third and fourth, respectively, and are the only other non-European countries represented in the top-ten.

Global 'leaders', the UK and China, marked surprisingly low on the scale - coming in at 15th and 20th.  China's rapidly developing innovation sector has been hugely driven by tech advancements from firms such as Huawei.  The analysis revealed that despite the investment and focus, it has less researchers per capita than Argentina - with only two people per 1,000 working in research.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk