Sep 12
This is sick. Sick because the spiral effect is making me sick and sick because it reminds me how flawed/awesome/trippy our color perception is. Believe it or not, the green and the blue in this spiral is the same color. More »
Sep 12
This kitten may have the key to protect humans against HIV, the lentivirus that causes AIDS. He was genetically modified at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. And yes, he glows in the dark. More »
Sep 08
Cuba, famed maker of delicious (and cancery) cigars, may just have an anti-lung cancer vaccine that’s worth getting excited about. CimaVax-EGF isn’t preventative, but it may make this horrible deadly disease just a plain old horrible disease. More »
Sep 06
Researchers demo full-duplex wireless: double the throughput with no new towers
Posted in: mobilepostcross, network, networking, research, science, Today's Chili, Wireless
Back in February researchers at Stanford first taunted us with the possibility of simultaneous, two-way data transmission on the same frequency. Now some folks at Rice University are edging full-duplex communication closer to reality. By the time carriers get around to rolling out 4.5G networks, engineers could potentially double throughput without adding more cell towers and using only existing mobile hardware. With an extra antenna and some fancy software tricks, which allow the device to ignore locally produced signals, the Rice team was able to produce a connection ten-times stronger than previously published studies. Since the technology is based on existing MIMO setups, it may also prove the shortest route to asynchronous full-duplex transmissions. That means you’ll be able to upload ill advised videos of your drunken antics (and suffer the consequences) that much faster, without having to pause the latest Maru clip. Check out the PR after the break.[Image credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University]
Continue reading Researchers demo full-duplex wireless: double the throughput with no new towers
Researchers demo full-duplex wireless: double the throughput with no new towers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 06
Scientists develop the world’s smallest single-molecule electric motor
Posted in: medical, Medicine, research, science, Today's Chili
Bigger is certainly not better when it comes to the world’s first single-molecule electric engine, which measures in at one nanometer wide — for perspective, that lash hanging from your left eye is around 60,000 times larger. Single-molecule engines have been used for years, but the new method uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope to power and control the molecule more effectively. In the future, scientists could use the technology for things like lab-on-a-chip devices, miniature medical testing equipment that require a motor to push fluid through tiny pipes. Tufts researchers responsible for the discovery warn that a practical application is still a ways off, but are hopeful that they’ll snag a Guinness world record, regardless. After hearing the news, both Pinky and The Brain are feeling entirely more confident about their lifelong goals.
Scientists develop the world’s smallest single-molecule electric motor originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 03
Princeton neuroscientists map your brain, play words with subjects
Posted in: research, science, Today's Chili
Don’t speak. Princeton researchers know just what you’re saying — kind of. Alright, so the Ivy league team of neuroscientists, led by Prof. Matthew Botvinick, can’t yet read your minds without the help of a functional MRI, but one day the group hopes to take your silent pauses and broadcast them for public consumption. By mapping highlighted areas of brain activity to words meditated upon by subjects, the group was able to create “semantic threads” based on “emotions, plans or socially oriented thoughts” associated with select neural activity. So, what good’ll these high-brow word association experiments do for us? For one, it could pave the way for automatic translation machines, extending a silicon-assisted grok into our nonverbal inner worlds that churns out computer-generated chatter; giving a voice to those incapable of speech. And if it’s used for bad? More terrifically horrific psychobabble poetry penned by Jewel’s unencumbered mind. Actually, wait. We might be into that.
Princeton neuroscientists map your brain, play words with subjects originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 01
Scientist creating rain-making lasers, Weezy and Fat Joe await royalty checks
Posted in: laser, science, Today's Chili
We’ve heard of “making it rain,” but actually making it rain — with lasers, no less — now, that’s something to write home about. A team of researchers at the University of Geneva is coming ever closer to creating real-deal downpours by shooting beams from their Teramobile mobile femtosecond-Terawatt laser system into the sky above the Rhone River. While logging nearly 133 hours between the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010, the team observed that the beams actually triggered the creation of nitric acid particles, which bound water molecules together creating water droplets. Those droplets proved too small and light to actually be categorized as rain, but the discovery has apparently spurred the scientists on. Previous efforts to make it rain, known as seeding, have used rockets and jets to shoot silver iodide and dry ice into the sky. No word yet on when the scientists expect to successfully “wash the spider out.”
Scientist creating rain-making lasers, Weezy and Fat Joe await royalty checks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Aug 31
UCLA creates portable microscope that uses holograms, not lenses
Posted in: medical, Medicine, science, Today's Chili
Instead of lugging a heavy microscope into the field, doctors and nurses in remote regions may have a more portable choice — a lightweight microscope that replaces lenses with holograms. Researchers at UCLA announced a prototype dual-mode microscope that’s lightweight, costs between $50 and $100 to produce and is similar in size to a banana. Like a hologram that uses interfering rays to create an image, this device shines light on a sample where its sensor chip (apparently also found in iPhones and BlackBerrys) and a cloud-based software program analyze the interference pattern and reconstruct an image of the sample. Since it’s dual-mode, both large samples and small samples can be analyzed through processes called “transmission” and “reflection,” and doctors could potentially use their laptops or smartphones to access the images remotely. Although still considered a prototype, researchers think the development has the opportunity to revolutionize health care by allowing doctors to test things like water, blood and food. Check out the full PR after the break.
Continue reading UCLA creates portable microscope that uses holograms, not lenses
UCLA creates portable microscope that uses holograms, not lenses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Aug 29
Startling Video Shows the Dramatic Effect of Humans on Earth
Posted in: science, Today's Chili, top, video
Anthropologist and Gizmodo friend Félix Pharand is mapping the effect of humans on planet Earth. His latest video—which shows cities, transmission lines, pipelines, roads and railways with amazing detail—is simply spectacular. Play it at full screen. More »
Aug 29
The Republican Party Hates Science
Posted in: politics, science, Today's Chili, top
Michele Bachmann’s easily one of the GOP’s most prominent candidates. She also has scientific views from the 15th century, claiming both earthquake ’11 and Irene were divine warnings. That’s insane. She’s not alone. And that’s absolutely terrifying. More »
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