XBox 360 graphics chip helps cardiac researchers

The Xbox 360 is many things: games console, media streamer, DVD player (and, in some cases, an expensive paperweight with a shiny red ring.) But now it’s got a new role: predicting heart problems. Researchers in Britain are using the console’s graphics chip (pictured, courtesy of Flickr user avalonstar) to power parallel processing: splitting a […]



Meet the Elements: A musical infographic about the periodic table of elements

Performed by They Might Be Giants and directed by Feel Good Anyway, this animated, upbeat ode to the periodic table of elements and how they form our world, appears on the new TMBG kids’ album “Here Comes Science.”

NASA Tests Ares I Rocket

NASA and industry partners lit up the Utah sky on Sept. 10, 2009, with the initial full scale, full-duration test firing of the first motor for the Ares I rocket. Engineers will use the measurements gathered from the test to evaluate thrust, roll control, acoustics and motor vibrations. This data will provide valuable information as […]



How people read each other’s minds

Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for most people. But how do we do it? In the following video presentation, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts — and judges their actions.

Do Social Networks Make Us Dumber?

By Casey Lynn Contributing Writer, [GAS] According to an Australian psychologist, Facebook makes you smarter, but Twitter makes you dumber. Why? Well, it has to do with exercising your working memory. Staying on top of Facebook is like solving puzzles, since it hones our ability to remember and use information. But more “micro-level” activities like […]

Rat-Brain Controlled Robot

I, for one, welcome our future rat-brain controlled robot overlord. This is no ordinary robot control system – a plain old microchip connected to a circuit board. Instead, the controller nestles inside a small pot containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot, some 300,000 rat neurons have made – and continue […]

Let there be light: students turn “grade 12 physics” into giant multi-touch screen

While many students would surely like to own a 48-inch multi-touch screen, most don’t have the cash to buy a Microsoft Surface device. But a group of engineering students at the University of Waterloo in Ontario didn’t see that as a problem: they just built their own. Their device does not strictly work on touch, […]

Why Pi is Called Pi.

Yes, it all makes perfect sense now! Pies are circular and Pi is often referred as the circular constant. No need to dig further, this has to be the truth. Edit: Before I get another email telling me I’m an idiot for posting this *sigh* , here’s a quick explanation of the true origin of […]