Picture this: Is there life after Photoshop? 15 August 2013Last updated at 19:07 ET By Ian Hardy BBC News, New York In focus: Adobe Photoshop has dominated the photo editing space - but with a new subscription model is there life after Photoshop for small businesses looking for something more cost-effective?
For almost all its 23-year existence, Photoshop has dominated the digital retouching and design world. Is this the city with the loudest car horns? 1 February 2014Last updated at 17:27 ET By Anu Anand Delhi Each city has its own distinctive soundscape, from birds and radios to trains and ambulances.
For Delhi residents the backdrop of rush-hour traffic is causing noise pollution so serious that experts are warning of serious health consequences. I am lucky to live on a cul-de-sac in New Delhi. My day begins with green parakeets squawking as they play in the trees. A temple bell chimes. I miss these sounds when I wake up in London, where it often feels as quiet as a morgue. Seven million cars - more than in India's three other major cities combined - jostle for space on Delhi's roads. New waterproof surface is 'driest ever' US engineers have created the "most waterproof material ever" - inspired by nasturtium leaves and butterfly wings.
The new "super-hydrophobic" surface could keep clothes dry and stop aircraft engines icing over, they say. The lotus leaf was thought to be the gold standard for staying dry in nature, but now a team from MIT in Boston say they have surpassed it. Adding tiny ridges to a silicon surface made water bounce off it 40% faster than the previous "limit". Similar ridges are found in nature on the wings of the Morpho butterfly and the veins of nasturtium leaves.
By applying these patterns to metals, fabrics and ceramics, the scientists hope to inspire a new generation of moisture-resistant products - from tents to wind turbines. JP Morgan 'may pay record $13bn fine' 20 October 2013Last updated at 06:12 ET A tentative deal with senior US Justice Department officials is believed to have been reached, as Lisa Hampele reports US banking giant JP Morgan is set for a record $13bn (£8bn) fine to settle investigations into its mortgage-backed securities, US media reports have said.
A tentative deal is believed to have been reached in talks with senior US Justice Department officials. 10 things you might not know about India. For many people writing about India, the common cliches of Delhi belly, lengthy traffic jams, bureaucracy, corruption and yoga retreats are the subjects that fill the column inches.
Here are 10 other observations. 1. Hardly anyone pays income tax Only 3% of Indians pay income tax, in a population of 1.2bn. One explanation for this is that agriculture is exempt and two-thirds of Indians live in rural areas. Bahrain digs unveil one of oldest civilisations. Excavations at an archaeological site in Bahrain are shedding light on one of the oldest trading civilisations.
Despite its antiquity, comparatively little is known about the advanced culture represented at Saar. The site in Bahrain, thought to be the location of the enigmatic Dilmun civilisation, was recently discussed at a conference in Manama, the Gulf nation's capital, organised by the UN's educational, scientific and cultural body (Unesco). The meeting was devoted to wide-ranging debate on heritage tourism; Bahrain is a Unesco regional headquarters and one of its key attractions is an abundance of ancient sites. At Saar (named after the closest modern village), with the scorching sun rising ever higher in the sky, a Bahraini archaeologist patiently explained to a group of workers how to re-point a low wall in a state of near collapse. First crane egg in 400 years laid at Slimbridge. The first crane egg in southern Britain in more than 400 years has been laid by a nesting bird.
The Great Crane Project has been rearing cranes and reintroducing them to the West Country since 2010. The egg, the first from cranes released by the project, is under round-the-clock guard at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. Hunting and the loss of wetlands led to cranes becoming extinct in Britain. Driving through Canada’s Acadian history : Road Trips, Canada. For most Canada-bound visitors, the country’s rich French culture – the result of a colonial movement that began in the 1600s – is well known.
But while many New France pioneers settled in what later became the province of Quebec, where more than six million Francophones live today, others called the adjoining east coast region, now known as the Maritimes, home. 10 questions on grammar. Kickstarter crowd gives glowing plant the green light. Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars. 16 April 2013Last updated at 20:12 ET By Melissa Hogenboom BBC News Want to go to Mars?
Dutch organisation Mars One says it will open applications imminently. It would be a one-way trip, and the company hopes to build a community of settlers on the planet. Uncharted waters, mountains or far away lands have always drawn explorers. History books show that desire for adventure, even in the face of extreme danger, did not deter the likes of Columbus or Magellan. So it is perhaps not surprising that Mars One has already received thousands of prospective applicants.
Future explorers take note. Neanderthals' large eyes 'caused their demise' 12 March 2013Last updated at 20:50 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News The eyes have it: The Neanderthal skull (L) has larger eye sockets compared with a modern human skull (R).
Consequently, the now extinct species used more of its brain to process visual information A study of Neanderthal skulls suggests that they became extinct because they had larger eyes than our species. Antarctic ice volume measured. Quebec prepares for hypothetical zombie attack - Montreal. If zombies do eventually strike in Quebec, the province's public security department wants to be ready. Participants at an annual symposium on civil security next week will be discussing how to handle a zombie attack in the province, among other topics. The zombies, of course, are hypothetical.
Exoplanets near red dwarfs suggest another Earth nearer. BBC Nature - Ice Age warmth wiped out lemmings, study finds. 26 November 2012Last updated at 22:07 By Michelle Warwicker BBC Nature Lemmings became "regionally extinct" five times due to rapid climate change during the last Ice Age, scientists have found. Each extinction was followed by a re-colonisation of genetically different lemmings, according to the study. It investigated how Europe's small mammals fared during the era when large numbers of megafauna became extinct. Previously, experts believed that small mammals were largely unaffected during the Late Pleistocene.
Who, What, Why: In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold? Grapefruit and pills mix warning. Grapefruit juice reacts with expanding list of drugs. Grapefruit juice is known to interact with some types of medications, leading to an overdose hazard. Bailey reviews new product monographs and prescribing information for the Canadian Pharmacists Association, and keeps a close eye on those with the potential to produce serious adverse reactions. "What I've noticed over the last four years is really quite a disturbing trend, and that is the increase in the number of drugs that can produce not only adverse reactions but extraordinarily serious adverse drug reactions," Bailey said. "Between 2008 and 2012, the number of drugs in the list has gone from 17 to now 44. " Many of the drugs are common, such as some cholesterol-lowering statins, antibiotics and calcium channel blockers used to treat high blood pressure. Clue to grapefruit drug reaction.
Scientists say they have the best evidence to date pinpointing the substance in grapefruit that can interact dangerously with some drugs. Grapefruit is known to increase the rate at which some drugs - including cholesterol and blood pressure medications - enter the blood stream. It was thought the flavonoids that make grapefruit taste bitter were to blame. But a US study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests other chemicals - furanocoumarins - are key. The drugs affected by grapefruit juice usually have some difficulty entering the body after they are consumed because an intestinal enzyme partially destroys them as they are absorbed. Grapefruit juice, but not other commonly consumed fruit juices, inhibits this enzyme, allowing more of these drugs to enter the body. As a result, grapefruit juice is avoided by some patients while others deliberately take their drugs with the juice.
Risk of robot uprising wiping out human race to be studied. 26 November 2012Last updated at 13:28 ET In The Terminator, the machines start to turn on the humans Cambridge researchers are to assess whether technology could end up destroying human civilisation. The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) will study dangers posed by biotechnology, artificial life, nanotechnology and climate change. The scientists said that to dismiss concerns of a potential robot uprising would be "dangerous". Majorana particle glimpsed in lab. 13 April 2012Last updated at 11:12 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News. Hobson-Jobson: The words English owes to India. 11 July 2012Last updated at 23:36 GMT By Mukti Jain Campion Writer and radio producer. India's love affair with Charles Dickens. 6 February 2012Last updated at 00:34. Audio slideshow: Bombay's jazz age. 27 January 2012Last updated at 03:14. 7 billion people and you: What's your number?
Is trillion the new billion? 28 October 2011Last updated at 11:45 By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Magazine. Breakfast, lunch and dinner: Have we always eaten them? 14 November 2012Last updated at 19:33 ET By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine. Segmented sleep: Ten strange things people do at night. The castaway who annoyed Churchill. 26 January 2012Last updated at 10:42 By Alex Hudson BBC News. Teacher's first day - CBC News: Calgary at 6:00 - CBC Player. Pea plant grows inside man's lung. 11 August 2010Last updated at 17:59. Being Black in Canada - CBC Television - CBC Player.