Lawrence Livermore Lab (LLNL) scientists and international collaborators have created the shortest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, fulfilling a 45-year-old prediction and ultimately opening the door to new medicines, devices and materials.
The researchers aimed radiation from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator…
Cancer Research UK scientists have mapped the first 3D structure of a key protein that protects against the development of cancer.
The team at Cancer Research UK’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, in Glasgow used X-ray analysis to map the structure of a protein called c-Cbl and showed that it changes shape…
In a study that holds major implications for breast cancer research and basic cell biology, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a rotational motion that plays a critical role in the ability of breast cells to form the spherical structures in…
Newt Gingrich has called for a bold, aggressive space program that would establish a permanent base on the Moon by 2020, along with a next-generation propulsion system for taking humans to Mars, and commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism, and manufacturing.
Transcript of the speech, courtesy of the National…
New Hanover County, North Carolina, recently rolled out “Super Wi-Fi,” operating in the “white spaces” between 50–700Mhz, where previously only television stations were allowed to transmit, reports Technology Review Mim’s Bits blog.
This could mean high-speed wireless connections for the county’s residents, and also the potential to connect to Wi-Fi towers that…
Rice University physicists have gone to extremes to prove that Isaac Newton’s classical laws of motion can apply in the atomic world: They’ve built an accurate model of part of the solar system inside a single atom of potassium.
Our universe may exist in parallel with other universes in other sets of dimensions, or braneworlds, so things from our Universe might somehow end up in another, some cosmologists suggest, says Technology Review Physics arXiv Blog.
Michael Sarrazin at the University of Namur in Belgium and a few others showed how matter…
The Hayden Planetarium, under Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s direction, is becoming Space Cruiser, a giant virtual spacecraft videogame on a 4500×4500 pixel screen, Mother Board blog reports.
Together, players will collaborate to navigate a virtual ship through asteroid belts and other dangers — kind of like a massively-multiplayer version of Carl Sagan’s imaginary space…
A full-scale version of the stackable, electric CityCar, created by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and commercialized by a consortium of automotive suppliers in the Basque region of Spain, was unveiled at the European Union Commission headquarters on January 24.
Branded “Hiriko,” the two-passenger EV vehicle incorporates all of the essential…
Nanomaterials have moved into the marketplace over the last decade, in products as varied as cosmetics, clothing and paint. But not enough is known about their potential health and environmental risks, which should be studied further, an expert panel of the National Academy of Sciences said on Wednesday.
And because the… [New York Times]
Questions of legal liability, privacy and insurance regulation self-driving vehicles have yet to be addressed, and such challenges might pose far more problems than the technological ones.
Should the police have the right to pull over autonomous vehicles?
Human drivers frequently bend the rules by rolling through stop signs and driving above speed… [New York Times]
A merging of artificial intelligence and healthcare is tougher than many realize because of the search space problem (complexity) and the good data (validity) problem.
“Eventually, people will get better care from AI,” says medical AI programmer Fred Trotter. “For now, we should keep the algorithms focused on the data that… [O'Reilly Radar]
Google will soon know far more about who you are and what you do on the Web: it plans to follow the activities of users across nearly all of its ubiquitous sites, including YouTube, Gmail and its search engine.
Consumers who are logged into Google services won’t be able to opt… [Washington Post with Bloomberg]
The notion that 3D printing will on any reasonable time scale become a “mature” technology that can reproduce all the goods on which we rely is to engage in a complete denial of the complexities of modern manufacturing, unless you’d like everything made out of plastic, says Technology Review | Mim’s Bits blog.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientists have created detailed models of a single protein using electron microscopic images.
Scientists routinely create models of proteins using X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance, and conventional cryo-electron microscope (cryoEM) imaging. But these models require computer “averaging” of data from analysis of thousands, or…
If you’re driving on the Autobahn right now, I advise you keep an eye out for this guy, who is apparently praying his driverless BMW doesn’t crash into something (note: this is a highway without speed limits — not reassuring).
(Videos here.)
Stoner alert: psilocybin (the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms) messes with your brain.
OK, not exactly a news flash. But that’s what researchers in the U.K. and Denmark found when they scanned the brains of 30 people tripping on psilocybin.
But here’s what’s interesting: the researchers did two different types of functional MRI (fMRI) brain…
It’s not just that workers are cheaper abroad, according to an important article in The New York Times Saturday. Most of the components of cellphones, computers, and other electronic products are now manufactured in China (and European and other East-Asia countries), so assembling the device half-a-world away would create huge logistical challenges, the…
We received an interesting email from sustainability expert/Singularity University grad Eric Ezechieli:
On January 27, I will be delivering a TEDx Trieste presentation, and I will speak in ‘”Exponentialish.” In exponential times, half a gallon of brain does not suffice to keep up with what is going on, and in any…
What? You thought distracted drivers texting on cell phones and swerving erratically is a problem? That’s so 2011.
Imagine a future in which icons flash on your car windshield, hologram-style, as your car approaches restaurants, stores, historic landmarks or the homes of friends, effuses CNN.
The 1961 classic science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage movie is about a team of scientists who are shrunk down and sent in a miniature submarine inside the body to repair a blood clot in an ailing colleague’s brain. How far have today’s scientists come in exploring inside the body?
China Telecom is reportedly launching mobile services in the U.K., the first time a Chinese telecom operator has launched MVNO services outside China (an MVNO is a mobile operator that sells services directly to its customers but does not own any of the infrastructure), according to China Tech News.
“We are creating systems of comprehensive surveillance in which a billion people are involved and those people’s lives are being lived under a kind of scrutiny which no secret police service is the 20th century could ever have aspired to achieve,” claims militant digital privacy advocate Eben Moglen, Betabeat reports.
Could this be the “Limitless” breakthrough we’ve been looking for?
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have discovered that when the activity of PKR — a molecule normally elevated during viral infections — is inhibited in the brain, mice learn and remember dramatically better.
OK, this one’s right out of The Matrix and The Manchurian Candidate.
Imagine watching a computer screen while lying down in a brain imaging machine and automatically learning how to play the guitar or lay up hoops like Shaq O’Neal, or even how to recuperate from a disease — without any conscious…
How will we know if we have passed through a Singularity? Damn good question, one that keeps me up at night. Like right now.
Science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, originator of the technological Singularity concept, came up with some interesting answers in an io9 video interview: “When things begin to…
Introducing random — a new, occasional blog category for stuff that’s way too weird for our regular weird posts. Like these wacky robot stories:
Wanna take a ride on a 15-foot-long inflatable walking robot named Ant-Roach (as in anteater-cockroach)? Um, maybe not, but hey, “human safe” bots are not a bad idea,…
Here’s an idea: why don’t we just tell everybody in the world how to make an airborne H5N1 influenza virus strain (“bird flu”) that has been genetically altered to be easily transmissible (between ferrets, which mostly closely mimic the human response to flu), and which if released, could trigger an influenza pandemic, quite possibly with…
Originally published in 2005 with the launch of The Singularity is Near.
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Recent Comments
Jan 28 2012
First time I've seen a scientist live using the DUH! word! LOL But he's right, and it happens in other ...
Jan 28 2012
I have no doubts that he really believes we should go back to space. I am sure he was perfectly ...
Jan 28 2012
That was also my first reaction, why does it have to be the Grinch? I like Gingrich's positions on other issues ...
Jan 27 2012
Actually, it WAS impressive. He knows what he speaks about... and, unlike others, he did not get a short briefing ...
Jan 27 2012
For that last one, officers or safety workers could have a special wand that would send out radio signals to ...
Jan 27 2012
Add to that the fact that China has a very cautious immigration policy, as opposed to that of the US, ...
Jan 27 2012
We need those driverless cars in Afghanistan, although the enemy will just find new methods of death and destruction.
Jan 27 2012
In the full length film, it could go matrix style where all Humans turn out to be robots like RL7 ...
Jan 27 2012
@Logic It is not as simple as you state. If we were simply talking about money as a tool to empower the ...
Jan 27 2012
PLEASE make this is feature length film. Looks SO cool. Great ideas with the HUD camera, R7 design looked awesome, ...
Jan 27 2012
...and p**s off the ignorant creationists who will only proclaim that it is a miracle from god.
Jan 27 2012
I always wonder about how the resulting data from foldit is treated regarding intellectual property. Are the gamers providing breakthroughs ...
Jan 27 2012
Ray Kurzweil comments: "This person is imagining that 3D printing will never move beyond the materials that are currently used. ...
Jan 27 2012
Is no one else concerned that neural blood flow was decreased during the experiment? And what were the participants' dosages? ...
Jan 27 2012
3) All commenting systems will allow for editing so words like "indevidual" can be quickly repaired.