Memories could become a thing of the past.
If you could take a drug that would erase only your bad memories and memories of being afraid, would you take it? Metyrapone is a drug that could do just that. While there are some obvious advantages to not remembering certain experiences, the negative side effects could outweigh the positive…
When today’s data goldmines becomes tomorrow’s data carcasses
Futurist Thomas Frey: In 1859 the tiny community of Tin Cup, Colorado got its first taste of gold fever. A tiny amount of gold was all it took for prospectors to start poking around with hopes of striking it rich. Twenty years later they landed their first major strike and rumors of the find spread across the country.
Household usage of digital coupons has nearly doubled since 2005.
A digital revolution in couponing coupled with the belt-tightening of the recession have combined to make coupons cool among more than just those clipping the Sunday circular. Digital coupon usage is now firmly a part of the online shopping experience of millions of US consumers.
Continue reading… “88.2 Million People Will Use Digital Coupons in 2011”
Seventy-three percent of students said they would not be able to study without some form of technology.
Many college students are dependent on digital technology in the classroom, according to a study released on Tuesday by etextbook seller CourseSmart and Wakefield Research.
Continue reading… “38% of College Students Cannot Go 10 Minutes Without Digital Technology”
China’s working-age population has plateaued in size and will begin getting smaller.
The large labor force in China has been central to its rise as an economic power. It has allowed companies to tap a seemingly endless pool of workers willing to move from their home towns, often live at the factory site and accept comparatively low wages.
Continue reading… “China’s Workforce Will Start Shrinking in the Next Five Years”
Does a teacher have the right to make a video recording of students without their permission and what privacy rights does a student have in school?
Where do we draw the line at which public video recording becomes an invasion of privacy? Even as cell-phone cameras and handheld video recorders proliferate, public video recording is still murky in the eyes of the law.
Continue reading… “Do Teachers Have the Right to Video Record Distruptive Students?”
Vending with a green bent.
The EcoKiosk is a self-contained stall for street vendors that relies on clean, renewable energy and Earth-friendly components to make street vending greener than ever. From its solar panels to its rainwater collection system, the EcoKiosk is an ecological marvel from the top down…
Continue reading… “Exceptionally Eco-Friendly Outdoor Kiosk”
Facebook can directly effect relationships.
Facebook and romantic relationships make for a potent – and potentially volatile – combination. While the network does offer opportunities for meaningful social interactions and self-esteem boosts, it also opens a Pandora’s box of options for spying, stalking and other insecurity- and jealousy-driven actions between lovers…
Hearing loss detected in Clown Fish
Clownfish, the spectacular tropical species feted in the movie Finding Nemo, appear to lose their hearing in water slightly more acidic than normal.
At levels of acidity that may be common by the end of the century, the fish did not respond to the sounds of predators.
The oceans are becoming more acidic because they absorb much of the CO2 that humanity puts into the atmosphere…
Continue reading… “Acid Oceans Turn ‘Finding Nemo’ Fish Deaf”
Hacking an act of war?
The Wall Street Journal broke the news yesterday that the Pentagon has concluded that hacking and other forms of digital sabotage that originate from other countries can be considered an act of war. This means that for the first time, the U.S. is in the position of possibly responding to an online attack with offline “traditional military force.” Guns, troops, drones, bombs…
Continue reading… “Pentagon: Hacking Can Count As An Act Of War”
If you were around in the 80’s, you had a Rubik’s Cube puzzle. I hated those things and always resorted to pulling the stickers off to win in frustration. Some students from Swinburne University of Technology created a robot that can solve the puzzle in 10.69 seconds…
Continue reading… “Engineering Students Design Robot Rubik’s Cube Solver”
A sample of a co-continuous polymer composite material.
A team of researchers at MIT has found a way to make complex composite materials whose attributes can be fine-tuned to give various desirable combinations of properties such as stiffness, strength, resistance to impacts and energy dissipation.
The key feature of the new composites is a “co-continuous” structure of two different materials with very different properties, creating a material combining aspects of both. The co-continuous structure means that the two interleaved materials each form a kind of three-dimensional lattice whose pieces are fully connected to each other from side to side, front to back, and top to bottom…