AMS
Latest
A fleet of self-driving boats will ply Amsterdam's canals next year
Amsterdam's 60 miles of canals cover about a quarter of the city and have helped its citizens get around since the 17th century. While they've matched other trials in self-driving public transportation with their own buses, they aren't ignoring their historic waterways. Next year, the Dutch city's Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) will start experimenting with an entire fleet of autonomous boats to haul people and goods while cleaning up the water.
AMS detects excess of positrons, could suggest existence of dark matter
We've been waiting with bated breath all afternoon to find out what NASA, MIT and the Department of Energy has observed with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Well, we still don't quite understand the exact nature of dark matter, but highly precise measurements of positron fraction (the ratio of positrons to electrons and protons) do bring us a small step closer to proving the existence of the theoretical material. The AMS found a small excess of positrons coming from all directions instead of a single source. That could indicate the presence of dark matter, which is believed to generate the antimatter particles when it collides and annihilates itself. As usual though, this is far from conclusive. The excess of positrons could be caused by a number of cosmic phenomenon, including pulsars, but researchers are hopeful that further testing will narrow down the possibilities. Those of you hoping for direct and obvious evidence of dark matter may be a little disappointed, but let's be honest -- you were being overly optimistic. Besides, don't you want some mysteries left to solve? For more information, check out the PR after the break.
Tokyo Game Show 2011 wrap-up
All good things must come to an end, and likewise with this year's Tokyo Game Show which wrapped up yesterday. Despite the PS Vita's dominance and the lack of newly-announced hero hardware at the show, we were still able to keep ourselves entertained with the odd peripherals here and there, alongside some very interesting exhibits both at TGS and the Amusement Machine Show next door -- head past the break to humor yourselves. Alternatively, feel free to catch up on our TGS coverage while you're here (we have a list after the break as well), and don't forget to check out our awesome buddies over at Joystiq for even more gaming news. %Gallery-134244%
$2 billion antimatter detector to go on last shuttle mission, taxpayers agree it better find -something
The airspace above the Atlantic Ocean will get a lot more expensive tomorrow as a U.S. Airforce Galaxy jet transports the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer -- developed at CERN -- from Geneva to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The last-ever Space Shuttle mission in February will transport the AMS to the International Space Station, where it will stay docked for 20 years to "search for antimatter and dark matter by measuring cosmic rays." We're not sure what that means, but we trust it will lead to a microwave that heats the interior of our Hot Pockets while keeping the crust crisp and flaky, bringing us one step closer to World Peace.[Image credit: US Mission Geneva's flickr]
