Fascinating first-ever images of an electron in orbit

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The first image of an electron’s path.

It was only two years ago that IBM showed us an image of a complete molecule, atomic bonds and all, but today’s news does that one infinitesimally-sized breakthrough better. Ladies and gents, behold the first image of an electron’s path.

Utterly amazing stuff! The IBM breakthrough was amazing enough, but now we have images of the electron’s orbital path around a nucleus! This is good, good news, because until now physicists only had models and hypotheses to work with…

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Going Under: What we don’t know about anesthetics

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Are anesthetics as safe as we think they are?

The majority of people reading this sentence will, at some point in their lives, undergo a medical treatment that requires general anesthesia. Doctors will inject them with a drug, or have them breathe it in. For several hours, they will be unconscious. And almost all of them will wake up happy and healthy.

We know that the general anesthetics we use today are safe. But we know that because they’ve proven themselves to be safe, not because we understand the mechanisms behind how they work. The truth is, at that level, anesthetics are a big, fat question mark. And that leaves room for a lot of unknowns. What if, in the long term, our anesthetics aren’t as safe for everyone as we think they are?

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Android app locates endangered species wherever you are

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Once they are gone, they are gone.

This is one of those cool-yet-terribly-sad-it-exists apps. The Center for Biological Diversity has created an app for Android users that will tell you exactly which endangered species are living in the area you’re standing in. On the one hand, it’s amazing to know at any point in time which species are living in the area you’re walking though, and especially interesting to know which endangered species are struggling to survive. It could be a way to stay aware of local ecology and how you can help with conservation efforts. However, it’s of course a bummer that there’s an app that will tell you all the species that are thiiiiis close to being found only in history books.

The free “Species Finder” Android app has over 1,000 plants and animals from the endangered species list in its database. Using your smartphone’s GPS, the app generates a list of all the threatened and endangered species living in whichever county you’re currently located in.

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Google Street View is using canoes and tricycles to map the Amazon

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Trecking down the Amazon on your computer thanks to Google.

Google has teamed up with Amazon for a new project. Well, not Amazon, as in the company that sells the Kindle. No, we’re talking about the great, untamed wilderness of the Amazon rainforest. In a partnership with the Sustainable Amazon Foundation, Google aims to use its Street View technology to raise awareness of the world’s largest rainforest and its important ecosystems.

To do this, Google is mapping the byways of the Amazon River…

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Free artificial intelligence class

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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…

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Amazon Instant Video reaches 100,000 on-demand titles

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Amazon grows again.

Amazon is constantly growing and expanding its catalog of videos available for on-demand streaming. The service just reached the 100k mark with 9,000 of those available under the Prime streaming plan. The bulk of the library is set aside for à la carte renting and buying with TV titles starting at $.99 cent and movies for $3.99. With deep living room penetration, all Amazon needs to do is flip the switch, offer a reasonably-priced subscription plan open to all titles, and effectively shut down Netflix…

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Major breakthrough on how viruses infect plants

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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…

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Silicon Valley Billionaire funding creation of Artificial Libertarian Islands

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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…

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Scientists have new help finding their way around brain’s nooks and crannies

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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…

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Fossilized pregnant dinosaur may present first evidence of live birth

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A soon to be famous fossil.

This fossilized Polycotylus latippinus, a carnivorous marine reptile that lived 78 million years ago, contains a smaller, less developed skeleton inside of her. Scientists are therefore speculating that this creature did not lay eggs like other dinosaurs, but gave birth to live young…

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Information could escape from Black Holes after all, study suggests

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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…

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You can finally share photos natively using Twitter

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Is sharing caring?

Wow. Five years after it launched, Twitter has finally added native photo-sharing to its service. Starting now, all Twitter.com users have a camera icon that lets you add a photo to your tweet.

Images that are 3MB or less in size can be uploaded and embedded into a tweet…

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.