Engadget http://www.engadget.com Engadget http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif Engadget http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/23/oxford-makes-big-push-into-bigfoot-research-enlists-swiss-zoolo/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/23/oxford-makes-big-push-into-bigfoot-research-enlists-swiss-zoolo/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/23/oxford-makes-big-push-into-bigfoot-research-enlists-swiss-zoolo/#comments Image

The search for Bigfoot continues and, no, that's not a nod to a very special episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Though Harry and the Hendersons did its best to humanize that monster of myth, a group of well-heeled European scientists are seeking to go beyond the Hollyweird fantasy to actually prove the creature's existence using advanced genetic techniques on Yeti remains. Part of a collaborative effort between Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology, the Collateral Hominid project aims to gather material from public and private cryptozoological collections for analysis to determine whether that elusive species branched off from bears or our neanderthal forebears. Project head Prof. Bryan Sykes hopes the research, the results of which will eventually make the rounds of peer-reviewed journals, will dispel skepticism that has surrounded this controversial creature by providing " a mechanism for... identification that is unbiased, unambiguous and impervious to falsification." Basically, these real-life Mulder & Scullys want incontrovertible DNA proof that these fantastic ape-like beings are simply the stuff of evolution. Whatever the case, the truth is most certainly out there, folks -- it's just likely encased in fossilized dung.

[Image courtesy Worch.com]

Continue reading Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study

Oxford makes big push into Bigfoot research, enlists Swiss zoologists for DNA study originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BigBrotherCollateral Hominid ProjectCollateralHominidProjectcryptozoologyDNAdna testingDnaTestinggenetic testingGeneticTestingHarry and the HendersonsHarryAndTheHendersonsLausanne Museum of ZoologyLausanneMuseumOfZoologyoxford universityOxfordUniversityvideoyeti townYetiTownWed, 23 May 2012 15:25:00 EST<![CDATA[Vatican and Oxford libraries scan ancient works, let scholars stay in their armchairs]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/16/vatican-and-oxford-libraries-scan-ancient-works/http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/16/vatican-and-oxford-libraries-scan-ancient-works/http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/16/vatican-and-oxford-libraries-scan-ancient-works/#comments Vatican and Oxford libraries scan ancient works, let scholars stay in their armchairs

Two of the world's most hallowed libraries are about to get even quieter, having been given $3 million to go with the flow and put some of their oldest collections online. The Vatican Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library will together offer up 1.5 million pages of hoary text, including Gutenberg's Latin Bible from the 15th Century, a 1,200-year-old Hebrew codex called the "Sifra," and enough Greek philosophy to make even Homer seem succinct. At the end of a five-year flatbed scanner marathon, these digital copies will be accessible to speakers of dead languages everywhere, and hopefully for less than sacrilegious prices.

Vatican and Oxford libraries scan ancient works, let scholars stay in their armchairs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ancientancient textsancient worksAncientTextsAncientWorksbiblebodleiancloudeducationgreekhebrewinternetlearninglibrarieslibraryonlineoxfordoxford universityOxfordUniversityscanscholarscholarshipvaticanMon, 16 Apr 2012 07:31:00 EST<![CDATA[X-ray laser bakes solid plasma from aluminum foil, brings us closer to nuclear fusion]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/x-ray-laser-bakes-solid-plasma-from-aluminum-foil-brings-us-clo/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/x-ray-laser-bakes-solid-plasma-from-aluminum-foil-brings-us-clo/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/x-ray-laser-bakes-solid-plasma-from-aluminum-foil-brings-us-clo/#comments Nuclear fusion, like flying cars, is one of those transparent, dangling carrots that've been stymying the scientific community and tickling our collective noses for decades. But recent research out of the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory might help us inch a few baby steps closer to that Jetsonian future. The experiment, conducted by a group of Oxford University scientists, utilized the DOE's Linac Coherent Light Source -- an X-ray laser capable of pulsing "more than a billion times brighter" than current synchrotron sources -- to transmute a piece of aluminum foil heated to 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit (or 2 million degrees Celsius) into a cube of solid plasma. So, why go to such lengths to fry a tiny piece of metal at that extreme temperature? Simple: to replicate conditions found within stars and planets. Alright, so it's not that easy and we're still a ways off from actually duping celestial bodies, but the findings could help advance theories in the field and eventually unlock the powers of the Sun. Until that fateful day arrives, however, we'll just have to let these pedigreed pyros continue to play with their high-tech toys.

Continue reading X-ray laser bakes solid plasma from aluminum foil, brings us closer to nuclear fusion

X-ray laser bakes solid plasma from aluminum foil, brings us closer to nuclear fusion originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Department of EnergyDepartmentOfEnergyLinac Coherent Light SourceLinacCoherentLightSourcenuclear fusionNuclearFusionoxford universityOxfordUniversitySLAC National Accelerator LaboratorySlacNationalAcceleratorLaboratoryXaserXrayXray laserXrayLaserThu, 26 Jan 2012 10:39:00 EST<![CDATA[Oxford researchers show off autonomous Wildcat vehicle, no GPS required]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/10/oxford-researchers-show-off-autonomous-wildcat-vehicle-no-gps-r/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/10/oxford-researchers-show-off-autonomous-wildcat-vehicle-no-gps-r/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/10/oxford-researchers-show-off-autonomous-wildcat-vehicle-no-gps-r/#comments BAE Systems has spent years developing an autonomous vehicle based on the rather menacing Bowler Wildcat, but it recently turned the project over to Oxford University, which is now showing off some of the improvements that its researchers have made. Chief among those are a new array of sensors adorning the vehicle, which promise to let it more accurately map out its surroundings and navigate without relying on GPS -- that not only includes monitoring the road (or lack of road, as the case may be), but keeping an eye on traffic patterns and changing conditions, and watching for pedestrians and other obstacles. That's the same basic idea seen from the likes of Google's self-driving cars, of course, although we're pretty sure this could drive over one of those if it wanted to. Head on past the break for some videos showing off the vehicle's capabilities, and hit the source link below for a few more.

Continue reading Oxford researchers show off autonomous Wildcat vehicle, no GPS required

Oxford researchers show off autonomous Wildcat vehicle, no GPS required originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>autonomousautonomous vehicleautonomous vehiclesAutonomousVehicleAutonomousVehiclesbaebae systemsBaeSystemsbowlerbowler wildcatBowlerWildcatoxfordoxford universityOxfordUniversityself-drivingvideowildcatMon, 10 Oct 2011 22:52:00 EST<![CDATA[Scientists create 10 billion qubits in silicon, get us closer than ever to quantum computing]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/21/scientists-create-10-billion-qubits-in-silicon-get-us-closer-th/http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/21/scientists-create-10-billion-qubits-in-silicon-get-us-closer-th/http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/21/scientists-create-10-billion-qubits-in-silicon-get-us-closer-th/#commentsqubits We are totally ready for a quantum computer. Browse the dusty Engadget archives and you'll find many posts about the things, each charting another step along the way to our supposed quantum future. Here's another step, one that we think is a pretty big one. An international team of scientists has managed to generate 10 billion quantum entangled bits, the basic building block of a quantum computer, and embed them all in silicon which is, of course, the basic building block of a boring computer. It sounds like there's still some work to be done to enable the team to actually modify and read the states of those qubits, and probably a decade's worth of thumb-twiddling before they let any of us try to run Crysis on it, but yet another step has been made.

[Image credit: Smite-Meister]

Scientists create 10 billion qubits in silicon, get us closer than ever to quantum computing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>John MortonJohnMortonoxford universityOxfordUniversityquantumquantum computerquantum computingquantum entanglementQuantumComputerQuantumComputingQuantumEntanglementqubitFri, 21 Jan 2011 09:33:00 EST<![CDATA[Oxford neuroscientists shock the parietal lobe, improve math scores]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/05/oxford-neuroscientists-shock-the-parietal-lobe-improve-math-sco/http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/05/oxford-neuroscientists-shock-the-parietal-lobe-improve-math-sco/http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/05/oxford-neuroscientists-shock-the-parietal-lobe-improve-math-sco/#comments
We always knew that the willy-nilly application of electricity (or, for that matter, radiation) endowed the person on the receiving end with super powers, but neuroscientists at Oxford have taken our misguided notion one step further. The researchers were looking into dyscalculia, a rare impairment related to dyslexia that creates an innate difficulty in understanding mathematics, when they came up with an idea that, to us, seems totally obvious: a very low level (one thousandth of an amp) electrical stimulus across the parietal lobe. So far, the study has been limited to fifteen right-handed students but the results have been pretty interesting. When the current flowed from the right to the left, subjects' ability to solve various mathematical puzzles were improved -- for up to six months after the treatment. However, if the electricity was sent the other way, the effect was reversed and the volunteers' scores were on par with a six year old. "Much more research is needed before we can even start thinking of this kind of electrical stimulation as a treatment," said Oxford's Dr. Cohen Kadosh. "However, we are extremely excited by the potential of our findings and are now looking into the underlying brain changes."

Oxford neuroscientists shock the parietal lobe, improve math scores originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>braindr. cohen kadoshDr.CohenKadoshelectricitymathneuroscienceoxfordoxford universityOxfordUniversityparietal lobeParietalLobescienceshockFri, 05 Nov 2010 12:43:00 EST<![CDATA[Next edition of Oxford English Dictionary may be online-only]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/30/next-edition-of-oxford-english-dictionary-may-be-online-only/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/30/next-edition-of-oxford-english-dictionary-may-be-online-only/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/30/next-edition-of-oxford-english-dictionary-may-be-online-only/#comments Video killed the radio star and the internet, it seems, is about to obviate printed reference tomes. Oxford University Press, the publisher of the 20-volume authoritative text on the English language, has said it might not publish a printed version of the next edition. The OUP cites 2 million monthly hits on its subscription-based ($295 per annum) web lookup service, which compares rather favorably to the 30,000 total print sales since the current (Second) edition's publication back in 1989. The complete Oxford English Dictionary hardback set costs $1,165 and weighs in at a whopping 130 pounds altogether, so perhaps Oxford would be doing Ma Earth a favor as well by going paperless. Of course, we're talking about the somewhat distant future here; the next OED isn't expected to be completed for another decade, by which time we could have all sorts of magical devices, maybe even a color Kindle!

Next edition of Oxford English Dictionary may be online-only originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dictionaryenglish dictionaryEnglishDictionaryoedonlineoxfordoxford english dictionaryoxford universityoxford university pressOxfordEnglishDictionaryOxfordUniversityOxfordUniversityPresspaperpaperlessprintreferencewebMon, 30 Aug 2010 09:24:00 EST<![CDATA[QderoPateo Ouidoo to pack 26-core chip, looks like Palm Pre and Windows Phone 7 love child]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/qderopateo-ouidoo-to-pack-26-core-chip-looks-like-palm-pre-and/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/qderopateo-ouidoo-to-pack-26-core-chip-looks-like-palm-pre-and/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/qderopateo-ouidoo-to-pack-26-core-chip-looks-like-palm-pre-and/#comments Really now? KIRFing a phone and a UI is one thing, but claiming to have a 26-core CPU (!) capable of 8-gigaflop (!) floating point operation -- or the "equivalent of four iPads combined," apparently -- is one helluva stretch for a smartphone. This is apparently how awesome the QderoPateo Ouidoo will be. According to the launch event at the Shanghai World Expo on Friday, the too-good-to-be-true Divinitus CPU will help power the Ouidoo OS's augmented reality articulated naturality apps and 3D social-networking virtual world. The rest of the specs include 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM, 28GB of built-in storage, microSD expansion, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, built-in 3D map, accelerometer, digital compass, 5-megapixel camera with flash, 220 hours of standby battery life, and a sharp 3.5-inch 800 x 480 screen. No prices or even videos of the UI available yet, but our friends over at Engadget Chinese are promised a review unit in July or August -- around the time of the global launch (followed by an LTE revision in 2011), so it won't be long before we find out whether this is just some absurd vaporware. A couple of pictures of the prototype after the break.

Update: Recombu has pinged us a link to Oxford University's PTAM (Parallel Tracking and Mapping) augmented reality software, which is licensed to QderoPateo. You can see it demoed on an iPhone 3G after the break.

[Thanks, xleung]

Continue reading QderoPateo Ouidoo to pack 26-core chip, looks like Palm Pre and Windows Phone 7 love child

QderoPateo Ouidoo to pack 26-core chip, looks like Palm Pre and Windows Phone 7 love child originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>articulated naturalityArticulatedNaturalityaugmented realityAugmentedRealitycellphonedatangDivinitusmobile phoneMobilePhoneouidooouidoo gaianouidoo osOuidooGaianOuidooOsoxfordOxford UniversityOxfordUniversityphoneQderoPateoQderoPateo ouidooQderopateoOuidoovideoworld expo 2010WorldExpo2010Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:29:00 EST<![CDATA[Transparent aluminum! Would that be worth somethin' to ya, eh?]]>http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/04/transparent-aluminum-would-that-be-worth-somethin-to-ya-eh/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/04/transparent-aluminum-would-that-be-worth-somethin-to-ya-eh/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/04/transparent-aluminum-would-that-be-worth-somethin-to-ya-eh/#comments
It's hard to say if boffins at Oxford University got their inspiration from Nimoy and Co., but one thing's for sure: they aren't joking about the creation of transparent aluminum. In what can only be described as a breakthrough for the ages, a team of mad scientists across the way have created "a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before" by blasting aluminum walls (around one-inch thick) with brief pulses of soft X-ray light, each of which is "more powerful than the output of a power plant that provides electricity to a whole city." For approximately 40 femtoseconds, an "invisible effect" is seen, giving the gurus hope that their experiment could lead to new studies in exotic states of matter. For a taste of exactly what we mean, feel free to voice command your PC to jump past the break. Or use the keyboard, if you're feeling quaint.

Continue reading Transparent aluminum! Would that be worth somethin' to ya, eh?

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Transparent aluminum! Would that be worth somethin' to ya, eh? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aluminumFLASH laserFlashLaserlasernuclear fusionNuclearFusionoxfordOxford UniversityOxfordUniversityresearchsciencespaceStar trekStarTrekTransparent aluminiumTransparentAluminiumuniversityuniversity of oxfordUniversityOfOxfordworld recordWorldRecordx-rayTue, 04 Aug 2009 01:44:00 EST