It’s once again the time of year for rewarding some of the most truly remarkable efforts in various fields of science and other research. And no, I don’t mean the Nobel Prizes. I mean the Ig Nobel Prizes. Now in their 20th year, the prizes are awarded by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Unlike […]
Nintendo’s 3DS is coming! Just in time for the holiday season—oh, wait. No. Scratch that. Just in time for right after the holidays, sometime in February. If you’re in Japan. For the rest of us we get to wait until March, during that rich retail period around St. Patrick’s Day. So clearly I have some […]
Researchers at Stanford University have successfully used light signals to stimulate muscle activity in mice. The concepts used in the experiment could one day form the basis of medical treatment for humans with a range of muscle-related conditions, including reversing the process to reduce involuntary muscle spasms. The experiment began with using an algae-derived gene […]
IBM has been looking into the concept of what would be the ultimate in tiny memory chips. And like any good scientific research, it’s all down to a super-powerful microscope. The study is based on a remarkably simple premise. The best way to produce a smaller memory chip (or in turn, to get more capacity […]
If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll remember us posting about Raytheon’s original XOS Exoskeleton back in 2007, and now, the company has released the Mark II version of the suit, which apparently consumes 50% less power than the original. Check it out: Raytheon’s second-generation exoskeleton (XOS 2), essentially a wearable robotics suit, […]
We live in the future, having finally achieved the tablet computer if not our jetpacks. But are we happy? According to CNBC, if you own an iPad you most likely are. A study by the American Consumer Satisfaction index has put Apple high atop the technology tree, as it were, with a whopping 86% satisfaction […]
Information technology makes you happy — and it’s not just because of earning more money. At least that’s the claim of a new report by the former British Computer Society. The group, now known as “BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT” says its analysis shows the biggest beneficial effects are for women and new users. […]
Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and marks any heart not tough enough or strong enough to take a lot of pain. But what the Everly Brothers, Nazareth, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and Roy Orbison all omitted to mention is that love costs you two close friends. That’s the conclusion of research at Oxford University […]
What’s purported to be the “master key” that protects Blu-ray and other HD content has been published online. But even if it is genuine, it’s debatable how much practical difference there will be. A poster on the Pastebin site, designed for easy sharing of text and code, has published what’s billed as the HDCP master […]
The city of Chattanooga has beaten Google to provide a 1 gigabit broadband service. But while Google is planning to one day offer such services at rates comparable to “regular” broadband, the Chattanooga deal is available today for an eyewatering $350 per month. The service comes from the publicly owned Chattanooga Electric Power Board and […]