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'Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled' gets a dinosaur-themed grand prix
If you've already mastered Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, the game has another challenge for you. When Activision and Beenox revealed their revival of the Naughty Dog classic last month, they kicked off the Nitro Grand Prix. With that first race complete, Activision is ready to launch the second: the Back N. Time Grand Prix.
Mattel's new robot is a pet dinosaur that won't try to eat you
Since dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, we've never experienced them as living, breathing animals. We can look at their bones in a museum, or we can watch recreations of them in films like this summer's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. But both those options lack that visceral feeling you get from seeing a real creature in a zoo. Though it's unlikely you'll ever see a dinosaur in the flesh, you can still pretend to have one as a pet, thanks to Mattel's new Alpha Training Blue robot. She roars, coos and even responds to your commands like her movie inspiration -- but is far less deadly.
Dinosaur eggs reveal one possible reason why they went extinct
The eggs of some dinosaurs took much, much longer to hatch than the eggs of their avian relatives and descendants -- and it could have contributed to their demise. A team of researchers from various institutions examined the embryonic tooth from a soccer-ball-sized egg. It was laid by a 30-foot-long duck-billed non-avian dinosaur called Hypacrosaurus that's closely related to reptiles like crocodiles. By calculating the daily growth markers in the teeth, they discovered that the animal's eggs take around six months to hatch. It's also likely that the bigger the egg, the longer the incubation time. In comparison, ostrich chicks burst out of their shells after only 42 days, and smaller birds have even shorter incubation periods.
Why are dinosaurs everywhere in VR?
There's a key scene early in Jurassic Park when the visiting scientists see their first dinosaur in person. Paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) clamber out of their Jeep as they stare at the majestic brachiosaur looming above them. "It's a dinosaur," Grant stammers in disbelief. His reaction matches the audience's: After a lifetime of looking at fossils and picture books, here, in the flesh, is a real, live dinosaur. We'll never experience this ourselves, but virtual reality can convincingly take us face to face with these extinct creatures.
The Morning After: Monday October 31st 2016
While today officially marks Halloween, we're sure you've already made, worn and irreversibly damaged your costume over the weekend. That's fine; we all have to come back to reality some time. And at least there are dinosaur brains, rep-counting headphones and a tour around Xiaomi's HQ -- the world's next tech giant -- to soften the blow of those Monday blues.
Scientists find the first known dinosaur brain tissue fossil
That lump you see above many not look like much at first blush, but it's a big deal for paleontology: scientists say they have discovered that the sample has the first known example of a dinosaur brain tissue fossil. The team used a scanning electron microscope to detect mineralized blood vessels, collagen, membranes and possibly brain cortex in the remains of an iguanodonid that lived about 133 million years ago. The findings suggest that the dino's brain had a lot in common with those of modern birds and reptiles. Instead of completely filling the cranial cavity, the brain matter significant space for blood vessels and sinuses.
ICYMI: Mars life, bendy smartphone screens and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-427843{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-427843, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-427843{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-427843").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: It's Space Week, and today's celestial story is an earth-bound look at what a colony of humans would have to endure on Mars. People from Hawaii's Space Exploration Analog and Simulation group just finished an eight month camp-out, cut away from society and only allowed outside when clad in space suits. Not so spacey but equally fascinating, MIT scientists figured out a bendable smartphone display's chemistry. And wearable product company Lumo announced new running shorts that aim to fix your body mechanics when pounding pavement.
Beasts of Prey is a dinosaur-themed survival sandbox MMOFPS
If The Stomping Land and Durango aren't enough to sate your appetite for dinosaur-themed survival MMO gameplay, then here's a third game to add to that growing menu: Beasts of Prey. It's currently in early access alpha on Steam for $34.99, though developer Octagon Interactive hopes to launch beta in October. What does your money pay for right now, exactly? "Beasts of Prey has been funded privately and your purchase will help us to further develop the game and pay bills for designers/coders & infrastructure. Additionally and more importantly we need your feedback on what we have created so far so we can make the right adjustments to successfully change game-play & mechanics." The game boasts a single-server infrastructure, a detailed crafting and gathering system, a randomly generated world that adjusts its size based on the population, and dinosaurs that can wreck a camo-colored car much faster than a zombie ever could. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Wizard101 invites us to the dinosaur world of Azteca
While KingsIsle has been heavily focused on Pirate101's recent launch, the studio wanted to send a strong message that it's still fully behind Wizard101 and has a dedicated team working hard to keep improving and expanding the game. In fact, the Wizard101 team is larger now than it was at launch and has a huge announcement to share. So what's the big exciting news of the day? Producer Leah Ruben was bursting at the seams to tell us in three words: "Dinosaurs are awesome!" Actually, the big news is that Wizard101 is preparing to release its ninth new world since launch, a dinosaur world named Azteca. Azteca not only will challenge players to progress through 13 areas but is going to raise the level cap. And the biggest surprise of all? It's going on test servers this week for players to try out. Keep on reading to find out what Azteca is going to do for the landscape of Wizard101!
Alt-week 10.13.12: is the Universe a simulation, cloning dinosaurs and singing mice
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Are you reading this? Seriously, are you? Sure, we know you think you are, but what if you're just a sub-feature of a complex computer program. A sprite, nothing more than the creation of software. The problem with this question is, how would you ever know? You wouldn't, right? Well, not so fast there. Turns out, maybe there is a way to unravel the matrix (if there is one). It'll come as no surprise, that this is one of the topics in this week's collection of alternative stories. Think that's all we got? Not even close. We'll explore the truth behind cloning dinosaurs, as well a rare performance by singing mice -- all before dinner. Or is it really dinner? This is alt-week.
Alt-week 8.25.12: robotic noses, Nodosaurs and Space X launches again
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. All good things come to an end, they say. Thankfully, most bad things do, too. So while the rest of the world of tech is dealing with the fallout, and possible implications of patent law, over here in the wild party that is Alt, we're fist pumping at all the awesome weekly sci-tech fodder. For example, we've got a robo-nose that can sniff out nasties in the air, a 110-million-year-old footprint found in NASA's back yard, and not one, but two space stories to reflect on. There's a hidden joke in there too, come back once you've read through to find it. This is alt-week.
WobbleWorks: flapping ears and robotic dinosaur dreams
Artisan's Asylum's 30,000-odd square feet were largely uninhabited when we arrived early Wednesday afternoon. No shocker there, really -- the space's president and co-founder Gui Cavalcanti warned us in advance that it wouldn't begin filling up until later that evening, seeing as how a big portion of renters hold down nine-to-fives. They occupy desk jobs during daytime hours in order to support their after-work passions, stopping by the space in the evening hours to produce works that might some day rise above the category of hobby. The duo behind WobbleWorks are strange cases, however, not simply due to the moving rabbit and dog ears they donned during our interview -- their paying gigs hardly qualify them for the straight-laced, button-down world we've come to associate with the term "day job." In 2011, Max Bogue and Peter Dilworth founded the small toy company aiming to help fund their true passion: robotic dinosaurs.
Drexel University turns to 3D scanners, printers to build robotic dinosaurs
3D printers, 3D scanners and robotics are usually more than enough on their own to get us interested in something, but a team of researchers at Drexel University have played one other big trump card with their latest project -- they've thrown dinosaurs into the mix. As you can probably surmise, that project involves using a 3D scanner to create models of dinosaur bones, which are then reproduced (at a somewhat smaller scale) using a 3D printer. The researchers then hope to use those to build working robotic models that they'll use to study how dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals may have moved and lived in their environments. That work will start with a dinosaur limb that they expect to have completed by the end of the year, after which they say it will take a year or two to build a complete robotic dinosaur replica.
iPad 2 gets an $8 million Cretaceous makeover with dino bones, diamonds and gold
In case you weren't aware, Apple's sold a whole lot of iPad 2s, so aside from the couple of bezel color choices or adding a Smart Cover, there's not much you can do to make your tablet stand out from the crowd. Well, now there's another option for the well-heeled gadget lover. Stuart Hughes is back with another custom gadget for the economic elites called the iPad 2 Gold History Edition. It's got a solid gold backside, an Apple logo and home button crafted from a total of 65 flawless diamonds, plus a bezel crafted from Ammolite rock and slivers of thigh bone from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Between all that ice and prehistoric bling, there won't be a problem picking this iPad out of a lineup. What is a problem (for most of us, anyway) is the price: eight million dollars. We dig the dino look and all, but that's an awfully hefty entrance fee -- we'd rather buy a stock slate and take a few dozen trips to the final frontier instead.
Pleo bares it all for FCC approval
Poor Pleo. Everyone fell in love with the little green dino at first sight, but no one actually bought the thing. Undaunted, the adorable fleshy robot made a triumphant return at this year's CES as Pleo RB (that's "Reborn"), with the help of adopted manufacturer Innvo Labs. The newly invigorated 'bot brings voice recognition, more sensors, and RFID-based command learning technology to the table. With all its new gear in place, Pleo was poked, prodded, and peeled by the FCC, revealing, among other things, that new RFID reader in its chin. The results are gruesome and not recommended for faint of heart robot dinosaur lovers. You've been warned. %Gallery-123937%
Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns
FROG (Four-legged Robot for Optimal Gait) has a ways to go before it can become a real dinosaur. The camouflaged robot is a prototype of a triceratops skeleton designed by Dr. Wei Wang and a number of PhD students at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Automation, and is downright timid compared to, say, Boston Dynamics' horn-wielding BigDog robot. It has joint angle sensors, acceleration sensors, a pan-tilt camera, and a number of other sensing devices. The robot has a Linux system inside and communicates wirelessly with a host computer -- though it still requires a plug for power. Dr. Wang hopes that the 'bot will show up in museums or other dinosaur exhibits when it's a bit more complete. He balks at comparisons to our beloved BigDog, however, since it has DC Motors and isn't hydraulic, so don't expect this herbivorous reptile to carry your luggage over rocky terrain any time soon.
Pleo RB cuddles up to CES, we go hands-on and talk to Innvo about future Pleos
The folks behind the Pleo robot dinosaur didn't have much but promises and a giant, not-for-sale version of the bot at last year's CES, but Innvo Labs has come through this year. They have a number of their new Pleo RB dinos on hand, and we got a chance to both check them out and talk to Innvo COO Derek Dotson about what the future might hold for the robot dinosaur that refused to die. As for the current Pleo RB, while it may look relatively unchanged from before, it does boast some fairly impressive improvements, including voice recognition (with any language), more touch sensors, the ability to sense temperatures, RFID-based "learning stone technology" for feeding and other advanced commands, and time of day awareness. As you might be able to surmise, the combination of those latter two means that the Pleo will get slow and lethargic if you don't take care of it, but Innvo assures us that it won't actually die (just make you incredibly sad). It sounds like we could be seeing some even bigger changes in future generations of Pleo, though. Innvo tells us that they've basically pushed the current design to the limit, and they seem to be keeping all options on the table for future models. We asked about different versions, internet-connectedness, and even a Roomba-like ability to recharge itself, and Dotson said that Innvo considering all of those, but that it doesn't want to rush and do anything that would dilute the Pleo brand. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look at the Pleo RB, and head on past the break for a video. %Gallery-113464%
Fly with the bears in Moonlight Online
Have you ever dreamed of a truly special mount in your MMO, perhaps a half-lion, half-tiger that you name a Liger? While Ligers may be a dream of the future, Moonlight Online has plenty of fanciful mounts now that don't easily fit in typical MMO stereotypes. Coming soon to the game are a plethora of bizarrely beautiful mounts that run the spectrum from dinosaur (Megalosaurus), Harry Potter pal (Phoenix), combustible lupine (Flaming Wolf), round (Crystal Ball), blind (Bat), and two of the most unstoppable forces of nature combined into one (Angel Bear). Players will be able to "evolve" these special mounts over time as well. Every time a mount levels up, it increases its attributes, gains faster speed, and even has the chance to gain a cool new skill, such an an AOE attack. Mounts also change in appearance as they evolve, which means that Angel Bear just got 100% more awesome. Check out the new mounts as well as the game over at IGG's Moonlight Online forums.
Pleo RB robosaur now on sale for $469, Christmas now cleared to take place
Worried that your holiday celebrations just wouldn't be able to take place without an autonomous robotic dinosaur roaming the halls and frightening the grandparents? Fret no more. With under a fortnight to go, Innvo Labs has managed to put the revitalized Pleo RB (Pleo Reborn, if you must know) on sale, with a stiff $469 getting you a newborn dinosaur with a Li-Polymer battery, a charging cradle and a training leaf. Yeah, a training leaf. Unfortunately, the MSRP here is a fair bit higher than the $350 that Ugobe charged for the original, but at least the price premium does include a tougher hide, a newfangled RFID sensing system and a stronger, longer-lasting battery. And really, who could say no to a smile like that?
The Maelstrom: Now with epic video turned to 11
A couple of weeks ago, Valnoth, lead world designer at Blizzard, reported that the Maelstrom is now "10 - 50x more epic." For some people, a giant whirlpool surrounded by lightning and crashing surf wasn't epic enough. What was clearly needed was a flying shark with a giant laser mounted on its head, being ridden by a dinosaur that was in turn being ridden by an undead wailing away on the guitar. WoW.com has now exclusively learned that a video of a flying-laser-shark-dinosaur-guitar-wailing-mage is far more epic yet than that pitifully un-epic picture we posted last week, and we are happy to share this video with you. Are you ready to rock?
