Swap bitcoin for $
Bitcoin start-up Coinbase has launched the first licensed exchange in the US, in an attempt to help the cryptocurrency go legit (see 鈥�The coin rush鈥�). Backed by $106 million from the New York Stock Exchange and other funders, it will let users swap bitcoins for dollars in 24 US states with the blessing of financial regulators.
Good news for tigers鈥�
It鈥檚 clawback time in India, where tiger numbers have increased by 30.5 per cent since 2010. There are now 2226 tigers, compared with a low of 1411 in 2006. Indian environment minister Shri Prakash Javadekar said the turnaround was down to better forest management and community cooperation.
鈥� but terrible for rhinos
South Africa鈥檚 rhinos are in trouble. New government figures reveal that a record 1215 rhinos were killed last year, outdoing the 2013 record of 1004. Just 13 were killed in 2007. Wildlife crime charity TRAFFIC says 827 mostly white rhinos were taken from the world鈥檚 largest population in Kruger National Park, thanks in part to poachers from neighbouring Mozambique.
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Asteroid had company
That鈥檚 no moon! No, wait, it is. Radar images of asteroid 2004 BL86, which passed close by on Monday, revealed the 325-metre-wide rock is accompanied by a 70-metre satellite. The pair came within 1.2 million kilometres of Earth, about three times the distance to our own moon, and won鈥檛 be back for 200 years.
An egg, unboiled
鈥淲e have invented a way to unboil a hen egg.鈥� So said Gregory Weiss from the University of California, Irvine, as he described a way to untangle proteins, such as those in egg white, so they can be refolded. The method could be used to recycle proteins in medical and chemical processes (ChemBioChem, ).