Learn more about artificial intelligence.
If you’ve ever been drawn to the idea of artificial intelligence, Stanford University School of Engineering is giving out the opportunity to learn how to build software that “reasons about the world around it.” The free class is as challenging as courses given to Stanford students and starts on October 10. So far over 100,000 students have signed up…
CSIRO plant scientists have shed light on a problem that has puzzled researchers since the first virus was discovered in 1892 — how exactly do they cause disease?
In a major breakthrough that helps us better understand how viruses cause diseases in plants — and potentially in animals and humans — Dr Ming-Bo Wang and Neil Smith of CSIRO Plant Industry have revealed a genetic mechanism that enables viral organisms to infect hosts and cause diseases…
Continue reading… “Major breakthrough on how viruses infect plants”
Are you tired of crappy earbuds?
If you use earbud headphones, you’ve probably owned more than one pair. They break easily and often, pushing users to spend less money on a product they know won’t last. That in turn pushes manufacturers to make them more cheaply, and crappily. But a new product has stepped in to end the vicious cycle: Ironbuds…
Continue reading… “Repairable, modular ‘Ironbuds’ could end the reign of poorly made earphones”
Seasteading Institute city design (Anthony Ling)
The Seasteading Institute has plans to build floating cities out in the ocean. Now Paypal founder Peter Theil has recently given 1.25 million dollars to the group in an effort to create Libertarian countries out of these floating cities…
Continue reading… “Silicon Valley Billionaire funding creation of Artificial Libertarian Islands”
How many of his inventions can you name?
George Devol (above right) died last week at his home in Connecticut. He invented the Unimate, the first programmable Industrial Robot. But his creative genius did not stop there. Check out these five little-known inventions developed during his long career…
Continue reading… “Five little-known inventions from deceased robot maker George C. Devol”
Brains from a new perspective.
Like explorers mapping a new planet, scientists probing the brain need every type of landmark they can get. Each mountain, river or forest helps scientists find their way through the intricacies of the human brain…
Continue reading… “Scientists have new help finding their way around brain’s nooks and crannies”
Another benefit from flax?
Flaxseed may protect against the damaging effects of radiation, whether from a terrorist’s dirty bomb or a routine cancer treatment, a new study in mice suggests.
Mice that ate flaxseed either before or up to six weeks after receiving a large radiation dose to the chest were more likely to survive and had fewer lung problems than mice not given flaxseed. Four months after receiving radiation, up to 88 percent of mice that ate flaxseed were still alive, compared with just 40 percent of mice who did not eat flaxseed.
Researchers have been particularly interested in finding a cheap, safe supplement to give to people who have been exposed to radiation in the event of a terrorist attack…
Continue reading… “Flaxseed might protect against death from radiation”
Off on a cloud with your phone.
As we approach the fall, all the rumors of the Apple empire descend upon us. And this year may be the craziest yet because for the first time since the iPhone’s inception, Apple did not release new hardware in the summer. And there are still whispers of an iPad revamp as well. iOS 5 is coming. iCloud is coming. And then there are the iPods which are traditionally updated in the fall timeframe each year. Things are already getting crazy enough that potential Apple announcement dates are topping Techmeme one minute, and then stories debunking those dates are the top story in tech the next minute.
This will only get worse…
A replacement sphincter grown inside a laboratory.
The loss of sphincter control is a common and humiliating problem for aging adults. Researchers led by Shreya Rhagavan of the University of Michigan Medical School may have developed a solution: a replacement sphincter grown inside a laboratory…
Continue reading… “Scientists grow functional anal sphincter in petri dish”
Where will the drone take us next?
How do you make a maple seed cool? Turning it into a state-of-the-art single-wing helicopter drone that soldiers and police officers can carry into the field, and that they launch by hurling it like a boomerang, is a pretty good start…
Continue reading… “The Boomerang Drone that’s based on a maple seed”
It’s always a bummer when you decide to try something new, only to discover that it’s not your scene. Crowdmug for iOS helps you avoid these situations by harnessing the most effective crowd motivation tool of our time: money.
The premise is simple: offer cash for photos or videos of whatever place and people will answer…
Continue reading… “Crowdmug lets you pay strangers to be your social spies”
Do black holes NOT swallow everything?
New research by scientists at the University of York gives a fresh perspective on the physics of black holes. Black holes are objects in space that are so massive and compact they were described by Einstein as “bending” space. Conventional thinking asserts that black holes swallow everything that gets too close and that nothing can escape, but the study by Prof. Samuel Braunstein and Dr. Manas Patra suggests that information could escape from black holes after all…
Continue reading… “Information could escape from Black Holes after all, study suggests”