The Samsung Galaxy S8's near bezel-free curved edge display, encrypted facial recognition system, and physical button-free front face are the features that may be grabbing the initial headlines, but perhaps the smartest feature of Samsung's latest flagship phone is its ability to work as a desktop PC.

The percentage of people who smoke has fallen in most countries since 1990, but the total numbers of smokers and smoking deaths have risen, a study says. Half the tobacco-related mortalities occur in just four countries. There were more than 6.4 million deaths attributable to tobacco worldwide in 2015, with half of them in only four countries - China, India, the United States and Russia - according to a new study published on Thursday in the medical journal "The Lancet." The study, entitled "Global Burden of Diseases" noted that the percentage of smokers globally had dropped in the past 25 years, with one in four men and one in 20 women lighting up daily in 2015, as compared with one in three men and one in 12 women in 1990. Deutschland Zigarettenschachteln mit Warnhinweis

The scale of "fake research" in the UK appears to have been underestimated, a BBC investigation suggests. Official data points to about 30 allegations of research misconduct between 2012 and 2015. However, figures obtained by the BBC under Freedom of Information rules identified hundreds of allegations over a similar time period at 23 universities alone.

DW: Your book "Understanding the Digital World" has very clear intentions. You want people, non-computer experts, to understand the digital world, and I suppose, how to live in it. Why is that so important now? I mean, the world has been digital for most of us for a good 20 years. Kernighan: I think the world is probably more digital than most people realize, and that all things digital are having more of an effect on our lives. You said 20 years… I guess for me it's been quite a bit longer because almost certainly I'm older than you are!

The aerospace manufacturing company has launched a rocket with boosters from a previous flight. Experts called the launch "historic," with the potential to pave the way for less expensive space travel. USA | SpaceX Falcon 9 gestarted (picture-alliance/Zumapress/R. Huber) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk exclaimed there was a "revolution in spaceflight" Thursday after one of his recycled rockets successfully entered orbit for a second time. The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:27 p.m. (2227 UTC) local time Thursday to launch a communications satellite into orbit for Luxembourg-based communications satellite owner and operator SES S.A. The rocket went into a geostationary transfer orbit, going as high as 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above the Earth's surface before safely returning. SES S.A. chief technology officer Martin Halliwell called Thursday's launch, "a big step for everybody – something that's never, ever been done before."

Twitter on Thursday began rolling out changes to let people pack more into tweets, subtracting from the character count names of those being replied to in posts.

Mark Rittmann officially achieved internet fame on 11 October 2016. It was the day he documented an epic 11-hour struggle to get his Smarter iKettle to boil water for much needed tea, amid the opposing powers of forced debugging, a base station reset and what looked like general connectivity issues. His eventually victorious quest to wrestle a cup of tea from a rogue smart kettle became the go-to example for those debating whether having devices be smarter - and therefore more cost- and energy-saving - necessarily translates into having an easier life.

The Goolarabooloo people of Western Australia had known of the dinosaur tracks for centuries. The find of the world's biggest dinosaur footprint has put Australia's west coast on the paleontologist map. Australien James Price Point Landspitze bei Broome (picture-alliance/dpa/D. Peled) The 1.7-meter stegosaur footprints are the biggest of their kind yet discovered. They are just one of about 21 different kinds of dinosaur footprints found in the 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) stretch of the Dampier Peninsula coastline in northwest Australia.

There's new hope for men with erectile dysfunction. Danish researchers have found that stem cell therapy can help previously impotent men have spontaneous intercourse. The team led by Martha Haahr from Odense University Hospital in Denmark presented their findings at the European Association of Urology conference in London.

Apple's latest iPad – replacing the iPad Air 2 – is a relatively inexpensive 9.7in tablet that bridges the gap between the compact iPad mini and the high-end iPad Pro. Splitting the iPad offer into three distinct categories makes Apple's tablet offer clearer and easier for consumers to understand, which hasn't always been the case.

It's been a decades-long, controversial debate. Now environmental organizations are alleging that the chemical company, Monsanto, actively influenced studies on the risks and hazards of the pesticide active ingredient, glyphosate. Monsanto is said to have mislead regulators.

It was a light moment after a few nervous months in the science community, but one that quickly passed. "You could send congress to space," suggested US Senator Ted Cruz to the President as he spoke in support of NASA's ongoing work. "What a great idea," retorted Donald Trump, but he declined the temptation and the laughter stopped.

A years-long crime spree by Chinese toilet paper thieves may have reached the end of its roll after park officials in southern Beijing installed facial recognition technology to flush out bathroom bandits. Park managers at the Temple of Heaven, an expanse of imperial landmarks in the capital, spent three years testing ways to foil the toilet looters, including fingerprinting and laser sensors, before they settled on the new technology, which was introduced over the weekend.

We're in this wonderful place in Kourou, French Guiana. You're an engineer with the French Space Agency, CNES, and you live and work here? Tamara Tezzele: Yes, in fact I was born here. I grew up here. And I work here on what we call a "local contract," which means I'm here permanently in French Guiana. That's not the case for everybody. So living and working here would be normal for you. What about other people, do most people here work in the space industry?

A French biotech firm is hoping to gain approval within months for a nuclear medicine targeting the type of cancer that killed Steve Jobs.

Wednesday's indictments in the United States of four people in a 2014 cyber attack on Yahoo Inc provides the clearest details yet on what some US officials say is a symbiotic relationship between Moscow's security services and private Russian hackers. The indictment charges two officers of the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, and two hackers who allegedly worked hand-in-hand with them to crack 500 million Yahoo user accounts.

The Pop.Up, a capsule that can connect with a driving module as well as a drone-like airborne module, is a cooperation project between Airbus and the transportation company Italdesign. What is the division of labor like? Mathias Thomsen: We call it a research partnership because really it's been an exploration of new urban mobility concepts. We can see that the automotive industry and the aerospace sector, which we represent, are converging quite a bit when it comes to new mobility technology.

Running errands around Cairo’s hustle and bustle can often end up being a challenge, but Karim Elsahy has found a way to make the ordeal less wearisome by bringing a real-life “personal little helper” to help out from the comfort of a chat window; he dubbed the concept, Elves.

Germany's federal court ruled on Thursday that people "in extreme circumstances" should have legal access to drugs to end their own lives. The federal administrative court in Leipzig ruled in favor of "the right for a patient who is suffering and incurably ill to decide how and when their life should end" provided the patient "can freely express their will and act accordingly."

The feature was launched within a Facebook update with little fanfare, notes industry travel watcher Skift, and enables users to book their hotel room or make reservations in select cities directly through the app via a Book Now button.

The German city of Stuttgart is struggling to overcome its huge air pollution problem. There are options to reduce the environmental risks. Amongst them - a wall covered with moss. "Nitrogen dioxide has put our health at risk for decades." And for years, Maria Krautzberger, president of Germany's Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has pointed out the culprit: diesel car engines.