Can you blame it on the booze?
Have you made a rash or regrettable decision after a few cold Coors Lights. You can blame it on the booze, right? The University of Missouri College of Arts and Sciences sheds light on how the brain processes mistakes in the presence of alcohol in a new study.
Continue reading… “Can you blame your bad decisions on booze? Maybe not”
Companies are filing overly broad patents on obvious ideas in the hope that one day the technology will become feasible.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that “the quality of patent filings has fallen dramatically over the past two decades. The rush to protect even minor improvements in products or services is overburdening patent offices. This slows the time to market for true innovations and reduces the potential for breakthrough inventions.”
Continue reading… “OECD warns quality of patents ‘falling dramatically’”
Mind reading could become a reality after scientists unveiled a device which translates what we are seeing in our heads onto a screen.
Researchers were able to recreate a moving picture similar to the real footage being played by monitoring the brain activity of people while they watched Hollywood movie trailers.
The Apple App Store has more than 90,000 apps for the iPad.
The marketplace for tablet apps is expanding quickly. The Apple App Store alone has more than 90,000 apps for the iPad. Although many marketers are rushing to get their tablet apps to market, usage data indicates that consumers regularly use a limited number of apps.
Continue reading… “Are there too many apps?”
Featured invention at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase 2011
No time to exercise? Long hours at the computer? Tired? No energy? No problem!
Introducing the GoFidget Xerciser™, your fitness solution to sit-down days. The GoFidget Xerciser™ is an omni-directional fitness device that is easy to use while sitting and working at a computer. With its 360 degrees of movement and non-impact design, the GoFidget Xerciser™ is a whole new way to strengthen muscles from feet to knees, up to thighs and hips! GoFidget™ at home or in the office. It is convenient, effective and surprisingly fun!
Continue reading… “GoFidget Xerciser – fitness device easy to use while sitting”
An amazing new find.
Chalk another one up for Google Earth seeing everything we can’t. Australian armchair archaeologist David Kennedy simply fired up the app and managed to rediscover the ancient ruins of structures that rival the Nazca lines in southern Peru.
The lines were originally discovered by British RAF pilot Percy Maitland in 1927, but this is the first time they’ve ever been seen in all their glory. Kennedy used Maitland’s photos with Google Earth to pinpoint their locations. And Google offers really the only high resolution glimpse at them that can be seen by the ordinary viewer…
Continue reading… “Google Earth reveals strange Nazca-Like ruins in Saudi Arabia”
If you live in the US and think the internet speeds are as fast, you may be surprised to find out that the country is actually ranked 26th in a list of average global download speeds. In the eye-catching infographic below the US (outside of Google’s offices that is) looking like a digital laggard, but who could be sitting pretty at the top?
Digital download delivery company Pando surveyed about 35 petabytes (a petabyte is 1000 terabytes) of data from 27 million downloads from 20 million computers in 224 countries, and found that South Korea has the world’s fastest internet service, in terms of download speed. The country averaged download speeds of 17.62 Mbps. Compared to the download speeds in the US, 4.93 Mbps, South Korea is lightning fast…
Continue reading… “US download speeds ranked at just 26th in the world”
Another reason the patent system is so difficult.
Last month, Google stepped up to defend Android coders against notorious patent troll Lodsys. Apple fought the company a few months earlier on behalf of iOS developers. Patent reform is a hot topic right now, especially after President Obama just signed legislation that means the U.S. is shifting to a “first to file” (over “first to invent”) system. This won’t help much with the patent troll situation, which Boston University researchers James Bessen and Mike Meurer say have cost publicly-traded defendants $500 billion since 1990…
Continue reading… “Patent Trolls costing an astronomical $500 Billion”
Tissue engineers create artificial blood vessels on a 3D printer.
Tissue engineers are building a handful of new body parts, from intestines to tracheas — but progress on larger organs has been slow. This is mainly because tissues need nutrients to stay alive, and they need blood vessels to deliver those nutrients. It’s difficult to build those vascular networks, but now a team from Germany may have a solution: Print some capillaries with a 3-D printer.
Continue reading… “Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer”
People yawned almost twice as much in winter, when their body temperature was higher than the air around them.
The brain is like a computer and works best when it is cool, but putting too great a strain on it can lead to overheating which reduces its ability to process information. Yawning is not just a sign of tiredness or boredom – it is the body’s method of keeping our brain cool, scientists have found.
Touch Bionics has recently introduced a new photographic system that is designed to precisely match a prosthesis to a person’s skin tone.
Touch Bionics, a prosthetic technology company, has unveiled an ultra-realistic range of limbs with features such as freckles, hairs and even tattoos.
NeverWet™ coatings are a featured product at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase 2011
NeverWet™ coatings are Superhydrophobic and Oleophobic. Water on NeverWet™ surfaces sits as an almost perfect sphere. Water beads “glide” over the surfaces like a skate gliding over ice, with almost no surface friction. Superhydrophobic surfaces such as the leaves of the lotus plant have surfaces that are highly hydrophobic, i.e., extremely difficult to wet. “Oleophobic” (from the Greek (oleo) “oil”) refers to the physical property of a molecule that is repelled from oil.
Continue reading… “NeverWet – revolutionary new product that repels liquids”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.