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Uber, Google, Facebook: Your experiments have gone too far
It was 2014, around the time when Travis Kalanick referred to Uber as his chick-magnet "Boober" in a GQ article, that I'd realized congestion in San Francisco had gone insane. Before there was Uber, getting across town took about ten minutes by car and there was nowhere to park, ever. With Boober in play, there was parking in places there never were spaces, but the streets were so jammed with empty, one-person "gig economy" cars circling, sitting in bus zones, mowing down bicyclists whilst fussing with their phones, still endlessly going nowhere, alone, that walking across the city was faster.
Genetically engineered mice could fight Lyme disease
Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary biologist at MIT, has conjured up an interesting way to combat Lyme disease. Instead of dealing with ticks that carry the pathogen, his method involves genetically engineering mice (using CRISPR) to become immune to the illness. See, deer ticks originally get the pathogen from small mammals such as white-footed mice. By creating rodents that are immune to the disease, scientists can prevent it from spreading to deer and to humans. According to The New York Times, Esvelt has recently presented his solution to the residents of Nantucket, Massachusetts, which has a Lyme disease problem.
Next Blue Origin rocket carries two microgravity experiments (update: success)
We only just found out that Jeff Bezos & Co. are planning another round trip rocket flight for tomorrow, and now they've announced something extra. This time around the New Shepard vehicle will be carrying two microgravity experiments. Being able to conduct science not possible on Earth is part of Blue Origin's pitch for its rockets, and each setup takes advantage of the flight in different ways.
Here's what the astronauts aboard the ISS have been up to
The first piece of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched into orbit in 1998 and two years later, its first occupants arrived. It's currently the largest artificial body orbiting the planet and much of it's devoted to testing aspects of living in space. When astronauts aren't busy exercising, eating or working on David Bowie covers, they're knee-deep in an endless array of experiments and observations. We've gathered a sampling of those projects to see just what they've been working on over the years in their orbital laboratory.
Simulated brain cells give robot instinctive navigation skills
A team of researchers at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) announced on Wednesday that they had taught a robot how to navigate on its own, in much the same way that humans and other animals do. They reportedly accomplished this feat by digitally replicating two types of neurons that help animals geolocate naturally.
Google's Android Experiments show what your devices can do
Google has Chrome Experiments to showcase what's possible in its web browser, so it stands to reason that there should be an equivalent for Android, doesn't it? Sure enough, the folks in Mountain View have launched an Android Experiments gallery that demonstrates what Google-powered mobile and wearable devices can do. In many cases, the 20 inaugural experiments take direct advantage of sensors and remote connections. Tilt (above) uses motion sensors to recreate the classic put-the-ball-in-the-hole game, while IOIO Plotter draws flip charts through an Android-controlled board. On Android Wear, the Time Mesh watch face twists and bends based on your movement. The hope is that app makers will use these experiments as springboards for their own ambitious projects -- if you notice that Android apps are markedly more creative in the near future, you'll know who to thank.
Baidu will test a self-driving BMW later this year
We've known for a while that Baidu wants its first self-driving car on the road by the end of this year, and now we know who's making that happen. The Guardian reports that the Chinese company is partnering up with BMW, which will provide the testbed for the duo's autonomous car project. The prototype will be used to ensure that the search engine's automotive know-how is safe enough for the public although, like Google's tests, a human will also be along for the ride.
Twitter experimenting with pop-up notifications on the web
Twitter isn't shy when it comes to experimentation. The social network tests some new features by rolling them out to regular users, albeit on a very limited basis, while other projects, such as @eventparrot, are made available to the entire community. The latest unreleased tool to make an appearance is a notification window that pops up whenever you receive a reply or mention, a la the screenshot above. Engadget editor Sarah Silbert noticed the pop-up in her own account, but she seems to be the only staffer with access to this particular tool. We reached out to Twitter for more information, but reps weren't able to share anything related to this particular implementation. The company has gone on the record before to shed some light on its otherwise mysterious experiment program -- in the past, engineers have "tested various features with small groups," and that appears to be the case here as well. Have you come across any Twitter features that your friends haven't seen? Let us know in the comments, and feel free to send us a tip with a screenshot, too.
Tale of Tales celebrates 10 years with Experiments and Prototypes bundle
The Path and The Graveyard developer Tale of Tales is now ten years old, and is celebrating its anniversary with a special games bundle. Dubbed the "Experiments and Prototypes" bundle, the package contains just that: a collection of 18 prototype projects from the developer's decade-long existence. Many of the projects include multiple PC and Mac downloads for various renditions and experiments, from an experimental early first-person wind control tool for Fatale to special "Adam and Eve" character models for Quake. The bundle even features multiple demos and alpha versions of the unreleased game that started Tale of Tales, 8. Those looking to acquire the Experiments and Prototypes bundle can set their own price for it, though the whole pack carries a minimum price of $5 and a suggested price of $15. Tale of Tales stresses that the bundle is in limited order, as the offer is available until December 25 and "contains many items that have never been released before and will not be available later."
WildStar gets the band together for a game jam
You don't get into a video game career to make huge stacks of money, you do it because you love games. That means that the idea of Game Jams can actually make sense. What's a Game Jam? Well, it's the event on display in the latest WildStar Wednesday, and it's also a way for the Carbine Studios team to relax from the stress of a work week by coming in and working for another eight hours on something crazy. No, that's really the idea. As explained in the article, Game Jams consist of people coming into the office, deciding on a task, and splitting off into small teams to make a playable build of something within eight hours. It's a chance for designers, programmers, and artists to all stretch their legs a bit more, possibly exploring aspects of the game that they're not normally involved in on a day-to-day basis. And a chance for people to relax from work by doing more work, that's also a thing.
SpaceX Dragon team opens the hatch, to spend Memorial Day with more cargo hauling than barbecues
SpaceX's Dragon docked with the International Space Station on Friday, but if you think the involved crew is spending the US long weekend experimenting with how well grills prepare burgers in low gravity (hint: not very), you're in for a bit of an awakening. The private space capsule's hatch flew open just before 6AM ET on Saturday, and while that's a historic first docking for a private spacecraft, it's just the start of a long process. At the same time as we'll be catching fireworks on Monday, the ISS team will bring onboard the 1,014 pounds of cargo and science experiments that Dragon hauled as proof it could fulfill a 12-mission, $1.6 billion cargo delivery contract. Don't think the spacefarers won't get any time off for Memorial Day weekend -- they'll get Saturday and Sunday for reflection -- but the 25 hours' worth of cargo shuffling on Monday will spill over into Tuesday, just as we're all stumbling back into our offices on Earth. [Image credit: NASA TV]
ISS ready for new zero-g experiments, students asked to float ideas
Those secret space experiments you've been scheming? They may never happen if you try to go it alone. Fortunately, the space science group NCESSE can get you a ride, having started the countdown for its fifth wave of microgravity experiments aboard the International Space Station. US and international students from grade 5 up to university level can submit ideas until September 12th, 2012, with final culling by December 7. The mini-labs -- which can include experiments in seed germination or crystal growth, for example -- are set to be ferried aboard a SpaceX flight in April 2013. Three similar missions have flown nearly 60 student experiments already, with a fourth set as soon as the Falcon 9 craft deigns to go. If you've got a flat-out good idea being prevented by big G, hit the source to see how you could get it fired off to the ISS.
CERN scientists discover particle traveling faster than the speed of light, Einstein theory threatened
It ain't over till the LHC says so, which is why researchers at CERN are opening up their most recent OPERA experiment to the scientific community before officially releasing its findings. Why, you ask? Because the experiment could shatter one of the fundamentals of physics -- Einstein's theory of special relativity, which says nothing with mass can accelerate faster than the speed of light. While studying neutrino oscillations -- where particles shift from one type of subatomic particle (muon-neutrinos) to another (tau-neutrinos) -- scientists clocked a beam of muon-neutrinos outpacing the aforesaid ray of light by 60 nanoseconds. Calling the result "crazy," lead scientist Antonio Ereditato published the findings online, hoping to attract the attention of others who might shed some light on what it all means. We're not expecting a conclusive answer any time soon, but budding whiz-kids can get educated in the links below.
Virgin Galactic, XCOR land suborbital contracts with NASA
Have $200,000 to spare for a ticket to space? NASA does, apparently, a few times over. Following the retirement of its Space Shuttle program, the US agency just announced two-year contracts with seven space flight companies, worth a combined $10 million. NASA will partner with Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and five other companies to bring engineers, scientists, and equipment to space, for a variety of experiments in low-gravity environments. The contract provides few financial implications for Virgin, which has already collected $55 million in deposits from future space tourists, but the company did acknowledge it as an "important milestone" in its efforts to grow beyond initial consumer offerings. Space Adventures, which serves as a low-cost carrier of sorts in the industry with its $102,000 flight, may be represented as well, through its partner Armadillo Aerospace -- so it's probably safe to assume that NASA won't be paying two large huge a pop to blast its personnel to space.
Google 'winding down' Labs, likely due to meddling older sister
Google Labs, that breeding ground for the wacky, sublime, and sometimes useful experiments that Mountain View's scooter-loving employees are so fond of, is getting ready to "wind down." The software giant announced today that the experimental forum for testing out potential features is being sidelined, in order for the company to focus on bigger picture ideas. Some of the more useful experimentation for properties like Calendar and Gmail will stick around, as will the Labs experiments that eventually made their way into the Android market. Google has promised to keep us all in the loop during the transition, so perhaps we can pick up a few secondhand test tubes for our own collections.
Google Science Fair winners announced: grilled chicken, ovarian cancer, asthma take center stage
Google's first-ever science fair came to a close yesterday, as 15 finalists, ranging in age from 13 to 18, showed off their smarts at Google HQ. Top honors went to three young ladies -- score one for the girls -- in three separate age groups, but there could only be one Highlander Grand Prize winner. The big win went to Shree Bose for an experiment which focused on improving treatment of ovarian cancer, following accumulated resistance to chemotherapy drugs. Lauren Hodge and Naomi Shah also took home trophies for their experiments which dealt with carcinogens in grilled chicken and reducing reliance on asthma treatment, respectively. Along with trophies built of Legos, these young brainiacs took home prizes that included lifetime subscriptions to Scientific American and big-money scholarships ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. A very long video documenting the award ceremony can be found -- featuring a shocking lack of baking soda volcanoes -- after the break.
The Mog Log: A story of perspective
He could still hear the sounds that should have gone with the wooden walls, even though they were nigh-deserted: the swishing sounds of arrows in flight, the hard chopping of blades hacking apart mandragoras, even the faint humming of curative magics. It had been years since he had last set foot in Yuhtunga, but in some ways it felt like he had never left. Lost in his momentary reverie, Kerensky breathed deep, savoring the earthy scent of the jungle before glancing over his shoulder toward his young companion. "Can you see it?" he asked, shifting his weight slightly and wrapping his fingers around the hilt of his sword. "See what?" she shouted, trudging up the path in her dun-colored shirt and loose slacks, a look of exasperation playing across her features. "There's nothing here! How, exactly, is this supposed to be training?" He checked the response that sprang to mind. Of course she couldn't see what he did; she hadn't been here before. "This is where one trains at your level of knowledge," Kerensky replied calmly. "Now we sit, and we wait."
GDC 2011: Backflip Studios' Boss Battles, Army of Darkness Defense, and more
Backflip Studios' Julian Farrior was here in attendance at GDC 2011 this week. His company has been doing quite well lately, and he tells me that they've recently hit 85 million downloads across all of their free apps, with over 23 million monthly active users. In plain terms, that means that tons of people have downloaded Backflip's apps (like Paper Toss, Ragdoll Blaster and the popular NinJump), and they're playing them often as well. As I heard at last year's conference, Farrior is all about experimentation, using paid downloads, freemium apps and a large, well-organized network of in-app advertising to drive traffic around and monetize his company's users. He has a relatively large slate of games due out in 2011, including four social games that we'll be hearing about later in the year, and a few games using various models that I got to see in action. Boss Battles was the first -- it was still in an early stage of development, but the idea is that Farrior wants to try to marry a scrolling arcade shooter (like Gradius) with the freemium business model.
HTML5: seriously, it's not just for video
In a way, HTML5 has been reduced to a buzzword. You hear a lot of noise about how great it is for video, and how the web standard is an alternative to Flash content, but you don't see a whole lot of examples of that. We thought we'd take a moment and round up some of the cooler, more exciting instances of HTML5 online -- sites and experiments that go way beyond just playing someone's home movies. We're talking 8-bit gaming, some really crazy video effects, and a handful of incredibly interesting ways designers are maximizing the potential of the everyone's favorite new toy. Check out the links below, and prepare to readjust your expectations of HTML5. Note: Your best experiences for the links below will be in Chrome or Safari. You can get some of this working in Firefox, but as Chris Ziegler just remarked, "It's mega slow." These will absolutely blow your mind. Mr.doob's Chrome experiments -- Ball Pool and Google Gravity. Here's a roundup of experiments from Ben Joffe, including a rudimentary 3D shooter, a 3D functions plotter, and an HTML5 color picker. Some of my personal favorites, KesieV's Akihabara game room. The Legend of Sadness is where it's at. Exploding, real-time video. WPilot -- a multiplayer shooter. Like Asteroids meets Quake. A giant, color-cycling canvas. Weirdly addictive to play with. 3D molecules. 'Nuff said. Mega Man intro. In HTML5. If you guys have suggestions or examples you'd like to show off, let us know in comments!
Artificial Intelligence solves boring science experiments, makes interns obsolete
Researchers at Aberystwyth University in Wales have developed a robot that is being heralded as the first machine to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of a human operator. Named Adam, the device has already identified the role of several genes in yeast cells, and has the ability to plan further experiments to test its own hypotheses. Ross King, from the university's computer science department, remarked that the robot is meant to take care of the tedious aspects of the scientific method, freeing up human scientists for "more advanced experiments." Across the pond at Cornell, researchers have developed a computer that can find established laws in the natural world -- without any prior scientific knowledge. According to PhysOrg, they've tested the AI on "simple mechanical systems" and plan on applying it to more complex problems in areas such as biology to cosmology where there are mountains of data to be poured through. It sure is nice to hear about robots doing something helpful for a change.[Thanks, bo3of]Read: Robo-scientist's first findingsRead: Being Isaac Newton: Computer derives natural laws from raw data
