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YouTube will launch a new app specifically for children on Monday in a bid to make using the service safer. It is understood that YouTube Kids will have parental controls and restrictions on who can upload content. The app will run separately to the main YouTube service and it will initially be available in the US only, but it is understood that it will be rolled-out in the UK later. The move has been welcomed by the NSPCC child protection charity. A spokesman for the charity said: "Keeping children safe online is the biggest child protection challenge of this generation. So it's good to hear about the launch of YouTube Kids. "I'm sure it will be embraced by parents wanting increased reassurance that their younger children won't be exposed to inappropriate material."

The sleeping habits of the rich, the powerful, and the genius So many inventions, so little time. Despite what science says about how crucial a good night's sleep is to your health and longevity, one thing's clear from the infographic below - some of history's most powerful and intelligent people had very little time for it. Serbian-American inventor, engineer, and fan-favourite, Nikola Tesla, is said to have adopted what's probably the most ill-advised sleeping habit of them all - devoting just five hours a day to rest, only two of which were dedicated to actual sleep. And this wasn't something he implemented when he realised he had too many inventions and too little time. In his book, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, author John J. O'Neil says Tesla was terrible at sleeping, even when he was just a boy: "By plugging the keyhole and the chinks around his door, he was able to spend the night hours reading volumes purloined from his father'

A soft drink ingredient has been identified as a potential cancer risk New research suggests that drinking just one can of caramel-coloured soft drink a day could expose you to unsafe levels of a possible carcinogen. Soft drinks have never been the most nutritious dietary choice, but new research suggests that an unnecessary colouring ingredient may pose a cancer risk, even to people who consume an average amount of soda. The chemical in question is a byproduct of caramel colour, a common ingredient that gives colas, root beers and iced teas their dark hue. During production of caramel colour type III and IV, a chemical known as 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) can be produced. And here's where the problem lies, because 4-MEI has been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, as a result of "equivocal evidence of carcinogenic activity in female rats", but no human studies. Of course, that doesn't mean the c

TODAY YOU CAN SEE MARS AND VENUS On the night of February 20, 2015, as night is falling, go outside and look west! The waxing crescent moon and the planet Venus – the brightest and second-brightest orbs of nighttime, respectively – will be the first two celestial bodies to pop out after sundown. As dusk ebbs into darkness, watch for the planet Mars to join the moon and Venus. If you have binoculars, aim them at Venus to enhance the view and spot Mars all the sooner in the darkening sky. You'll want to be looking westward beginning around 30 to 45 minutes after sunset on February 20. Don't miss this spectacular sky scene if your sky is clear!  #marsandvenus 

Correlations of quantum particles help in distinguishing physical processes Communication security and metrology could be enhanced through a study of the role of quantum correlations in the distinguishability of physical processes, by researchers at the Universities of Strathclyde and Waterloo. The study involved analysing the impact of quantum steering — the way a measurement performed on a particle can affect another distant particle. The study authors devised a method for both precisely quantifying steering's impact and relating it to the task of distinguishing physical processes. The research could have significant implications for quantum information processing. The study was carried out by Dr Marco Piani, of Strathclyde's Department of Physics, and Professor John Watrous, of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and School of Computer Science. Dr Piani was also at IQC at the time of the study. Dr Piani said: "Quantum particles can be in a particul

A smiling lens In the centre of this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849 — and it seems to be smiling. You can make out its two orange eyes and white button nose. In the case of this “happy face”, the two eyes are very bright galaxies and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing. Galaxy clusters are the most massive structures in the Universe and exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them. This phenomenon, crucial to many of Hubble’s discoveries, can be explained by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. In this special case of gravitational lensing, a ring  — known as an Einstein Ring  — is produced from this bending of light, a consequence of the exact and symmetrical alignment of the source, lens and observer and resulting in the ring-like

Researchers have found a DNA “clock” that predicts how long you’ll live And they can measure how quickly it’s running down. An international team of scientists has found a way to predict how much time you have left - by comparing your actual age to your biological age, a number worked out by measuring chemical changes to your DNA. The difference between these two numbers can be used as a DNA “clock” to estimate someone’s lifespan, the researchers have discovered. And, we're sorry to tell you this, but if your biological age is higher than your real-life age, you’re more likely to die sooner than someone who’s biological and real age match up - regardless of your sex, whether you smoke, or have cardiovascular disease. In fact, the link between a fast-running biological clock and early death was clear across four independent studies, which involved following almost 5,000 people aged over 50 for up to 14 years. The research, led by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland

Team finds hydrogen production in extreme bacterium A researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology has discovered a bacterium that can produce hydrogen, an element that one day could lessen the world's dependence on oil. Dr. Melanie Mormile, professor of biological sciences at Missouri S&T, and her team discovered the bacterium "Halanaerobium hydrogeninformans" in Soap Lake, Washington. It can "produce hydrogen under saline and alkaline conditions in amounts that rival genetically modified organisms," Mormile says. "Usually, I tend to study the overall microbial ecology of extreme environments, but this particular bacterium has caught my attention," Mormile says. "I intend to study this isolate in greater detail." Mormile, an expert in the microbial ecology of extreme environments, wasn't searching for a bacterium that could produce hydrogen. Instead, she first became interested in bacteria that could help clean up

Chemist discovers new information about elemental boron Dalhousie chemistry researcher and Royal Society of Canada Fellow Dr. Mary Anne White led a team of researchers to new discoveries about boron (B), the fifth element in the periodic table. White's research, recently published in the highly regarded German chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, discovered which form of boron stable at room temperature. Before this work, it was unknown. Additionally, boron stands out among other elements because atoms in its stable form were found to be disorderly. Atomic positions in the stable structures of every other element are completely known and ordered in some way. "Boron's stable structure has disorder, and that was surprising to learn. Nature likes things more orderly," explains White, a professor with Dalhousie's Faculty of Science. "It is especially surprising that the disordered form remains stable at very low temperatures, where matter tends to become more

Google eyes nanoparticle platform as part of health rethink Google likes taking on big problems and that's no secret. Transportation. Communication, and now Health. The Atlantic has posted a video and it is all about Google's attempt to redefine how we manage our health. "Over the last three years, Google has quietly built a cutting-edge health care facility," said the magazine video. Google's facility employs over 100 doctors and scientists. James Hamblin, senior editor at The Atlantic, sat in Mountain View, California, and spoke with Andrew Conrad, head of Google Life Sciences. Conrad told him that the group is trying to change medicine from being episodic and reactive (like going to the doctor because your arm hurts) to proactive. Google is working on a wristband that can detect cancer cells when they first appear. That would be possible in a system where they would be designing tiny magnetic particles to patrol the human body for signs of cancer and other di

Black holes do not exist where space and time do not exist, says new theory The quintessential feature of a black hole is its "point of no return," or what is more technically called its event horizon. When anything—a star, a particle, or wayward human—crosses this horizon, the black hole's massive gravity pulls it in with such force that it is impossible to escape. At least, this is what happens in traditional black hole models based on general relativity. In general, the existence of the event horizon is responsible for most of the strange phenomena associated with black holes. In a new paper, physicists Ahmed Farag Ali, Mir Faizal, and Barun Majunder have shown that, according to a new generalization of Einstein's theory of gravity called "gravity's rainbow," it is not possible to define the position of the event horizon with arbitrary precision. If the event horizon can't be defined, then the black hole itself effectively does not exist. "

Black holes do not exist where space and time do not exist, says new theory The quintessential feature of a black hole is its "point of no return," or what is more technically called its event horizon. When anything—a star, a particle, or wayward human—crosses this horizon, the black hole's massive gravity pulls it in with such force that it is impossible to escape. At least, this is what happens in traditional black hole models based on general relativity. In general, the existence of the event horizon is responsible for most of the strange phenomena associated with black holes. In a new paper, physicists Ahmed Farag Ali, Mir Faizal, and Barun Majunder have shown that, according to a new generalization of Einstein's theory of gravity called "gravity's rainbow," it is not possible to define the position of the event horizon with arbitrary precision. If the event horizon can't be defined, then the black hole itself effectively does not exist. "

WATCH: What would the world look like if humans disappeared? The latest episode of AsapSCIENCE imagines our planet without all the people. And, sadly, it's kind of beautiful. We know that we have a huge, and often negative, impact on the planet. But what would happen if all humans suddenly disappeared? In the in the episode above, AsapSCIENCE shows us how Earth would look a few months, centuries and millennia from now. As you can imagine, one of the biggest impacts would be on other species on the planet - within a few hundred years, the animals we haven't already wiped out would begin to bounce back, albeit with altered habitats, and plants and trees would begin to take over our cities. But it wouldn't all be good news for wildlife - within a few weeks our beloved pets and the 1.5 billion cows, nearly a billion pigs and 20 billion chickens we have in captivity would all break out and try to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, many of these animals wouldn't make it

What Microsoft didn't say about Windows 10 is important to know There's a lot to like about Windows 10, the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. But the tech giant has also worryingly left unanswered a lot of important questions about the software. At an event at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters last week, Microsoft gave developers and the press the latest peek at Windows 10. I've not yet tested the software, but from what I've read and seen from the webcast of the event, the new operating system appears to address many of the worst flaws in its predecessor, Windows 8. It also offers a bunch of cool and innovative features, such as a Siri-like personal assistant that will work on your desktop computer, the ability to stream Xbox games to your PC, and support for HoloLens, a new kind of computerized eyewear. Best of all, Microsoft will be offering it as a free upgrade to many existing Windows users and will continue to upgrade the software to tho

Quantum computer makes finding new physics more difficult Physicists often work unusual hours. You will find them running experiments at 4am and 10pm. This is because, so long as the pertinent conditions inside a lab – such as temperature or light level – are fixed, the outcome of an experiment should not depend on location of the lab in space or time. This property of the world to behave according to the same laws of physics everywhere is called Lorentz covariance, after the Dutch Nobel-Prize winner Hendrik Lorentz. All existing evidence suggests that the world is naturally Lorentz covariant. Even a small violation of this property would be shocking. In particular, it would imply the existence of a "preferred frame": by travelling at an appropriate velocity, in just the right part of the universe, an observer would perceive physics to be significantly simpler than it is from all other points of view. Such a violation would break the standard model, our best description of