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Bacteria are social microorganisms: MIT researchers

MIT scientists: Bacteria plays different social roles, including attacking and defending other bacteria
September 12, 2012

vibrio_phylogeny

Bacteria can have social structures similar to plants and animals, new MIT research reveals.

Bacteria can produce chemical compounds that kill or slow the growth of other populations of bacteria in the environment, but not harm their own.

“Bacteria typically have been considered purely selfish organisms and bacterial populations as groups of clones,” said Otto Cordero, a theoretical biologist and lead researcher on the paper.

“This result… read more

Topics: Biotech | Environment/Climate | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Intel: low-power processors to fuel future of mobile computing innovation

September 12, 2012

Intel-2012-Haswell-CPUs-Will-Feature-Improved-Multi-Core-Support-2

Intel Corporation‘s chief product officer David Perlmutter today described how its low-power processors, starting with the company’s 4th generation Intel Core processor family available next year, will set a new standard for mobile computing experiences and innovative Ultrabook, convertible and tablet designs.

He said Intel reduced the platform idle power of its 4th generation Intel Core processor family based on the next-generation “Haswell” microarchitecture… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics

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Google launches open-source Course Builder

September 12, 2012

google_course_builder

Google has launched an open source course building web application for the growing list of K-12 and big-name universities developing online classes.

In July, Research at Google ran a large open online course, Power Searching with Google, taught by search expert, Dan Russell. The course was successful, with 155,000 registered students. Through this experiment, we learned that Google technologies can help bring education to… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Lit Motors will shake up the electric vehicle market with its two-wheeled, untippable C-1

September 12, 2012

c1_lil_motors

Imagine a vehicle that’s smaller than a Smart Car, nearly a third of the price of a Nissan Leaf ($32,500), safer than a motorcycle with a range capacity that just lets you drive and won’t ever tip over.

What you get is Lit Motors‘ C-1, the world’s first gyroscopically stabilized, two-wheeled all-electric vehicle, which launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco today, writes Peter Ha on … read more

Topics: Energy | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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Why software’s wealthiest should fund experimental technologies

September 12, 2012

terrapower_tp1

In the next few decades, we need more technology leaders to reach for some very big advances, says Nathan Myhrvold, a founder and vice chairman of TerraPower and former chief technology officer of Microsoft, writing in Technology Review.
If 20 of us were to try to solve energy problems — with carbon capture and storage, or perhaps some other crazy idea — maybe one or two… read more

Topics: Energy | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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Whoa, dude, are we inside a computer right now?

September 11, 2012

the_sims

Two years ago, Rich Terrile appeared on Through the Wormhole, the Science Channel’s show about the mysteries of life and the universe. He was invited onto the program to discuss the theory that the human experience can be boiled down to something like an incredibly advanced, metaphysical version of The Sims, Vice reports.

It’s an idea that every college student with a gravity bong and The Matrix… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Open-source Firefox OS for smartphones due out in 2013

September 11, 2012

firefox_os

Mozilla posted a new video on YouTube that offers a fresh, up-to-date look at its forthcoming mobile operating system in action, PC World reports.

Recorded last Thursday, the video — embedded below — demonstrates the latest build of Firefox OS running on a developer phone by Chinese manufacturer ZTE.

Built using HTML5, the operating system is intended for use on smartphones built entirely to… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Entertainment/New Media | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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We are now one year away from global riots, complex systems theorists say

September 11, 2012

Riots

What’s the number one reason we riot? Hunger — food becoming too scarce or too expensive. So argues a group of complex systems theorists in Cambridge, and it makes sense, Motherboard reports.

In a 2011 paper, researchers at the Complex Systems Institute (CSI) unveiled a model that accurately explained why the waves of unrest that swept the world in 2008 and 2011 crashed when they… read more

Topics: Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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Wind could meet many times the world’s total power demand by 2030, Stanford reseachers say

September 11, 2012

wind farms

Researchers at Stanford University’s School of Engineering and the University of Delaware have used what they call the “most sophisticated weather model available” to  meet many times the world’s total power demand by 2030 — in fact, enough to exceed the total demand by several times, even after accounting for reductions in wind speed caused by turbines.

In related news today, Lawrence Livermore and Carnegie Institute researchers have found… read more

Topics: Energy | Environment/Climate

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Wind power not enough to affect global climate

September 11, 2012

Wind Farm

There is enough power in the Earth’s winds to be a primary source of near-zero emission electric power for the entire world, but some scientists have been concerned they would substantially affect climate.

In related news today, Stanford University and University of Delaware researchers found that there’s plenty of wind over land and near to shore, using 4 million turbines, to supply 7.5 terawatts of power without significant negative affect on… read more

Topics: Energy | Environment/Climate

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Nano-velcro used for fast, inexpensive testing of mercury levels

September 10, 2012

nano_velcro

Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Northwestern University have devised a simple, inexpensive system based on nanoparticles, a kind of nano-velcro, to detect and trap mercury dumped in lakes and rivers.

The particles are covered with tiny hairs that can grab onto toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium. This technology makes it possible to easily and inexpensively test for these… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Nanotech/Materials Science

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First mind-controlled leg prothesis

September 10, 2012

BCI-controlled prosthesis

Researchers at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California have built and tested the first prosthetic lower limb that can be controlled in real time by EEG (electroencephalogram) signals.

An EEG signal is fed to brain-computer interface (BCI) computer, which then controls a robotic gait orthosis (RoGO), which stimulates leg muscles.

The experimental setup showed the subject suspended in the RoGO, while donning an EEG cap, surface EMG… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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First all-optical nanowire switch

Representing data by bursts of light instead of electrons
September 10, 2012

penn_nanowire1

University of Pennsylvania researchers have made an important advance in photonics, creating the first all-optical photonic switch out of cadmium sulfide nanowires and combining these photonic switches into a logic gate, a fundamental component of computer chips that process information.

The research team’s innovation built upon their earlier research, which showed that their cadmium sulfide nanowires exhibited extremely strong light-matter coupling, making them especially efficient… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

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FBI launches face recognition project

The Next Generation Identification program will include a nationwide database of criminal faces and other biometric data
September 10, 2012

ngi_fbi

As part of an update to the national fingerprint database, the FBI has begun rolling out facial recognition to identify criminals, New Scientist reports.

It will form part of the bureau’s long-awaited, $1 billion Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, which will also add biometrics such as iris scans, DNA analysis, and voice identification to the toolkit. A handful of states began uploading their photos as… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Reducing the cost of solar power with mobile robots

September 10, 2012

qbotix_qts

QBotix has developed a dual-axis tracking system that uses rugged, intelligent mobile robots to dynamically operate solar power plants and maximize energy output.

The QBotix Tracking System (QTS) increases energy production of ground-mounted solar power plants by up to 40 percent over existing fixed mount systems and lowers the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) by up to 20 percent,. the company claims.

QTS utilizes a pair of… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Energy

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