One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: the Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered
Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.
The possible news has a… read more
By synchronizing 98 tiny cameras in a single device, engineers from Duke University and the University of Arizona have created a prototype camera that could capture up to 50 gigapixels of data (50,000 megapixels) and images with unprecedented detail.
The AWARE-2 camera’s resolution is five times better than 20/20 human vision over a 120 degree horizontal field.
By comparison, most consumer cameras are capable of taking photographs with sizes ranging… read more
A new study proposes a communication routing strategy for the brain that mimics the American highway system, with the bulk of the traffic leaving the local and feeder neural pathways to spend as much time as possible on the longer, higher-capacity passages through an influential network of hubs, the “rich club.”
The study by researchers from Indiana University and the University Medical Center Utrecht in the… read more
Pests are adapting to genetically modified crops in unexpected ways, researchers have discovered. The findings underscore the importance of closely monitoring and countering pest resistance to biotech crops.
Resistance of cotton bollworm to insect-killing cotton plants involves more diverse genetic changes than expected, an international research team reports.
To decrease sprays of broad-spectrum insecticides, which can harm animals other than the target pests, cotton… read more
Stanford’s popular free iPhone and iPad apps online course opens June 25 with a new feature: help and inspiration 24×7 via Piazza, a peer-to-peer social learning site — a first for Stanford online courses and on iTunes U.
Whazzit: your questions are answered by course instructors (“course captains”) and by fellow online learners.
When: June 25 to Aug. 27. Registration opens June 19 and ends July 6.… read more
Researchers at the University of Southern California‘s Viterbi School of Engineering have developed a BioTac, a robot appendage that can outperform humans in identifying a wide range of natural materials according to their textures, paving the way for advancements in prostheses, personal assistive robots, and consumer product testing.
BioTac sensor is new type of tactile sensor built to mimic the human fingertip, using a newly designed algorithm… read more
Bioinformaticist Robert MacCallum of Imperial College London and colleagues have adapted DarwinTunes — a program that produces 8-second sequences of randomly generated sounds, or loops, from a database of digital “genes” — to be accessed online.
Almost 7000 participants rated each sound loop, played in a random order, on a 5-point scale from “can’t stand it” to “love it.”
In a musical take on survival of the fittest,… read more
Microsoft today unveiled Surface, a line of tablet devices running the company’s next-generation Windows operating system.
The Surface tablets feature 10.6-inch touch-screens wrapped in a magnesium case that Microsoft calls VaporMg (pronounced “Vapor mag”).
The distinctive feature of the new tablets is a magnetically-attached, 3mm-thich Touch Cover that folds down and functions as a full touchscreen keyboard.
The Surface tablets will be available in two distinct versions.… read more
The EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) is working on a robot made up of soft, floating modules that connect to each other through electroadhesion.
Electroadhesion uses very high voltages to generate a charge differential between two surfaces (even on non-conductive surfaces), causing them to stick together.
This makes it an ideal dynamic connector for soft, modular… read more
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s IBM Blue Gene/Q Sequoia supercomputer is the new world’s fastest high-performance computing system, at 16.32 sustained petaflops (quadrillion floating point operations per second), according to the Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
For the first time since November 2009, a U.S. supercomputer tops the ranking.
A 96-rack system, Sequoia will enable simulations that explore phenomena at a level of detail… read more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded contracts for the creation of three new centers tasked with responding to the threat of future pandemics and biological attacks, Nature News Blog reports.
Based in Maryland, North Carolina and Texas, the three “Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing” are the first tangible result of a review concluded by HHS in 2010.
It… read more
Vienna University of Technology, scientists presented a method to prove the existence of hypothetical “axions” that could accumulate around a black hole and extract energy from it.
This process could emit gravity waves, which could then be measured.
Background
Finding new particles usually requires high energies — that is why huge accelerators have been built, which can accelerate particles to almost the speed of light.
Axions … read more
Microsoft is planning to introduce its $299 next-generation Xbox console ( ”Xbox 720″) in 2013, with improvements like SmartGlass, a Metro dashboard, Kinect 2 hardware, and Xbox TV apps, according to a leaked document (now removed)..
It will include support for Blu-ray, native 3D output and glasses, concurrent apps, additional sensor and peripheral support, 6x performance increase, and true 1080p output with full 3D support and an “always… read more
The Singularity Is Near: a True Story About the Future movie will be available to the public this Summer, KurzweilAI announced today (June 16, 2012).
The movie will be available for downloading and via DVD.
A new website, singularity.com/themovie, launched today, includes a movie teaser and links to Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up to be notified when… read more
NanoSatisfi is launching a Kickstarter project to send an Arduino-powered satellite into space, and you can send an experiment along with it, DVICE reports.
NanoSatisfi, a tech startup based out of NASA’s Ames Research Center, is designing a low-cost satellite made almost entirely of off-the-shelf (or slightly modified) hobby-grade hardware, launching it quickly, and then using Kickstarter to give you a way to get directly involved.
ArduSat is… read more