Science

Researcher: Email wording a dead giveaway of who's the boss

IDGNS staff — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:30:29 +0000

A Georgia Tech researcher's deep dive into some half a million Enron emails could some day result in smarter messaging software.

Real-world superpowers: Eye surgery lets some see well into the ultraviolet

KevinFogarty — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:09:21 +0000

Having your corneas removed and replaced with artificial lenses to fix cataracts or other eye problems is no picnic, but it does give some patients a cool new ability: vision that scales far higher up the electromagnetic spectrum than normal humans.

Can scientists get elected today?

James Gaskin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:36:50 +0000

In Singapore, the new president with a Ph.D. In applied mathematics joined the Prime Minister who also has a mathematics degree. Could that happen here?

Robot hockey player: it shoots, it scores!

keithshaw — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:05:25 +0000

It's February and it's cold, so let's watch a video of "the world's first autonomous humanoid robot ice hockey player."

Gaming wins big at National Science Foundation's Visualization Challenge

IDGNS staff — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:16:13 +0000

Protein-folding might not sound like an especially exhilarating way to spend a weekend, but puzzle mavens and scientific researchers alike rallied behind the game's innovative take on crowd-sourcing public ingenuity to tackle scientific conundrums. The effort has long since paid off, but this year the game adds another feather to its cap: taking top honors at the ninth annual International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, with a first place win in the Interactive Games category.

NASA plans an outpost on the far side of the moon

IDGNS staff — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:53:22 +0000

Back on February 3, NASA released a memo saying that it is determined to move forward with a "human-tended waypoint" around the far side of the moon, according to MSNBC. The base's location would be in a pocket of space where the combined gravity pulling from two large bodies in space in different directions causes in essence a "parking spot", called a libration or lagrangian point.

When you're president, you get to fire marshmallow cannons

keithshaw — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:46:55 +0000

I don't normally comment on political items or videos, but when the President of the United States gets to fire a marshmallow cannon (as part of the White House Science Fair), and it gets captured on video, well, I just have to comment.

President Obama shoots marshmallow at White House Science Fair

abennett — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:11:50 +0000

With help from Joey, an 8th grader from Arizona, U.S. President Barack Obama loaded a homemade rocket launcher and fired it inside the White House.

Telepresence robots less creepy when used as more than just a way to bug co-workers

KevinFogarty — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:09:27 +0000

Telepresence gets big every time travel budgets get small, but the number of situations in which someone would need to remote-control an avatar in a distant office are pretty small. oVideo conferencing does the trick in most cases; in the rest, apparently, there's the VG0.

Mobile app may help schizophrenics tame the wild voices in their heads

KevinFogarty — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:15:42 +0000

Auditory hallucinations -- hearing voices in your head is one of the most frustrating symptoms of schizophrenia. Even schizophrenics who know the voices aren't real have a hard time ignoring them due to abnormalities in the frontal lobe. A mobile app under development in Norway may help train them to filter the noise and hear the right voices.

World of Glass: The future will have lots of fingerprint smudges

keithshaw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:26:54 +0000

See all of the things that will be made of glass in the future.

Science Monday: Slingshot rubber and thermal energy

keithshaw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:17:28 +0000

No slingshots here, just cold rubber.

Science Monday: Why We Live in the Past

keithshaw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:54:24 +0000

The next time someone tells you to "live in the present" or "live in the now", hit them in the face. Or better, show them this video.

Robot moves like a snake, but won't make you squeamish [video]

IDGNS staff — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:18:38 +0000

Sometimes it can be really hard to improve on nature's designs. From the awesome strength of spiderwebs to the improbable stickiness of a gecko's feet, scientists have long been inspired by nature's feats of engineering. And now, scientists from Georgia Tech are looking to snakes to help them design an energy efficient robot that can be used for search-and-rescue missions.

Robots learn how to play catch with soulless, mechanical precision

IDGNS staff — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:57:48 +0000

Last year, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the German Aerospace Center created the "Rollin' Justin" robot, a technical marvel that could catch a ball through a mix of precision, user input, and motion sensors. It proved to be a success, but there's only so much research you can do with a single-function robot. Enter "Agile Justin," the counterpart machine that can pitch a ball with a great deal of finesse.