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Researchers find new 'most distant' galaxy in the universe
Peering through the voids of space is a lot like time travelling: the deeper we gaze into a seemingly endless Universe, the further back in time we can see. Now, a team of researchers led by astronomers from Yale University and UC Santa Cruz have announced that they've discovered the most distant galaxy to date. In fact, the galaxy, known a EGS-zs8-1, is so ludicrously far from Earth that light just now reaching us from it is about 13 billion years old. To put that in perspective, the Universe itself is 13.8 billion years. That means this galaxy began forming stars when the Universe was only 5 percent of its current age -- barely 670 million years after big banging into existence.
Switched on Bach: David Cope's computer compositions
Professor David Cope speaks in purposeful abstraction, attempting to brace us for what we're about to see. We've been on the road for a while now, I tell him. We've seen a lot of strange and wonderful things -- robots and space shuttles and ghost hunts. "Yes, well," he answers quietly, as we ascend the stairs of his Santa Cruz, Calif., home. "I guarantee you've never seen a laboratory like this." It's hard to say precisely what we've gotten ourselves into. It's a fairly standard suburban house from the outside, a few blocks from the base of the hill that holds the University of Santa Cruz. In amongst a forest of redwoods, it overlooks the pristine wilderness of the central coast that so famously inspired Kerouac, Miller and Steinbeck. Cope, a lifelong music professor, wears a denim jacket, floral button-up, white stubble and a sly smile. If there exists a walking manifestation of Santa Cruz, it might well be him. It's the perfect uniform for an unassuming computer music pioneer. There's nothing of particular note to speak of downstairs in the living room, where Cope gives lessons on a grand piano littered with any number of music books. When we first arrive, Cope's wife answers the door slightly confused and momentarily sure that we're there to sell magazines -- the professor, it seems, has forgotten to inform her that our arrival has been pushed up by an hour. From upstairs, Cope suggests we shoot the art lining the walls above the piano as he readies himself for our conversation. "I made them on a computer!" he excitedly exclaims about the planetary orbs and psychedelic swirls -- mathematical, formulaic interactions imprinted into a bronzed-aluminum backing. They're a small selection of a seemingly infinite and diverse collection of Cope's artistic expressions that decorate the house.
Computer composition pioneer David Cope discusses his iPad app (video)
We probably shouldn't have been surprised when David Cope excitedly asked us if we'd like to see his new iPad app, as we began packing up our shoot for a forthcoming Engadget Show episode. After all, the former UC Santa Cruz music professor's name has, over the past several decades, become closely tied to the world of computer-generated music -- it figures that the journey that began with punch cards would have eventually led to tablets and smartphones. Jambandit hit the App Store a couple of weeks ago. It's the first offering from Recombinant Inc., a small company co-founded by Cope in Santa Cruz a few years back as a "commercial extension of a body of [his] academic work." His time in the field began during one particularly bad bout with writer's block -- tasked with writing an opera, Cope eschewed traditional paths for the earnest development of a new system for creating music, working to create a software program that could generate scores in the styles of different composer -- a move that, unsurprisingly, opened up a slew of questions on the subject of creativity.
Go see Hecker, Neuse and Blow speak at UC Santa Cruz next week
Between Jonathan Blow, Chris Hecker and Alex Neuse, the University of California Santa Cruz panel being held next week should be chock full of interesting, honest discussion from the trio of all-star indie developers. The group is being gathered to speak for UCSC's "Foundations of Interactive Game Design" class on May 26, though the panel is open to the public. The discussion is being moderated by associate professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin. As for what's being discussed, your guess is as good as ours. Hecker describes it as "an open panel discussion" and notes that his game SpyParty unfortunately won't be on-hand for attendees. Blow separately confirmed to us that he doesn't plan on having his studio's next game, The Witness, at the event either. Bit.Trip series co-developer Alex Neuse didn't get back to us before this post was run, but it stands to reason that his next game, Laserlife, won't make an appearance either. That isn't to say you should miss the talk, which will assuredly be thought provoking. And hey, if you're that worried about getting a chance to play SpyParty, why not sign up for the beta? That worked out pretty well with you and Minecraft, right?
Donkey Kong scales college, students search for hammers
Some extremely inventive and intrepid students at UC Santa Cruz decided to recreate a scene from Donkey Kong on the side of their E2 building on campus, using nothing but colored Post-It notes. The result is a comparitive study in awesomeness and the power of procrastination. We can only imagine that this was spawned during some late-night "we should be working on that paper ..." session.The finished product is fairly impressive. Check out more pictures here, and the Livejournal entry with even more pictures here. As one LJ commenter summed up nicely, "Pretty rad especially considering they were either in diapers or not even born when this game was popular." We're waiting on the inevitable YouTube video showing the construction of this thing, sped up and set to some popular alternative song.
Ethernet speeds raised to 100 gigabits per second
Our consumer-grade home DSL is starting to look pretty paltry compared to the records that are coming out of research labs these days. While we told you about the latest speed record of 14 terabits per second over fiber in Japan, that really doesn't help use mere mortals who are still using 100Base-T routers in our homes and offices -- even though about a month ago, we spied one of the first gigabit routers on the market, which raised our spirits a bit. Well our hopes have been kicked up a few more notches today, with the news from GigaOm that Infinera, the University of California Santa Cruz, Internet2 and Level3 Communications have just demoed a 100 gigabit per second Ethernet connection over a fiber network between Houston, Texas and Tampa, Florida. Now if only we could get the IEEE bureaucracy and networking manufacturers to move this fast -- we need at least a gigabit per second in our pads, like, last year.
