AltWeek
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Alt-week 7.27.13: The blind pixel-painter, redirecting the sun and Saturn's view of Earth
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. This week is all about being humbled. New images from NASA remind us how truly small we are, while a blind computer artist reminds us we could try harder. Perhaps the "easiest" feat this week is a village that is redirecting the sun for five months of the year. No biggie. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 7.20.13: 5D super-memory cards, space snow and the tar drops!
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. You know, we're done with the whole three dimension thing. It's waaaay to restrictive. That's why we're adding not one, but two more to the list this week. Now we've got a little more breathing space, we can consider some of science's bigger questions, like how comets might form, and how long until the results of an 85-year old experiment might finally be caught on film. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 7.13.13: cancer-smelling machines, singing synchronicity and the solar system's tail
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Science and research. Two of our favorite words around these parts. This week, we have both in spades. From the first good visualization of the solar system's tail, to the prospect of diagnosing cancer through smell -- this is alt-week.
Alt-week 7.6.13: deep-space radio, scent-ography and the new hunt for Aliens
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. It's not often that smell gets a look-in when it comes to gadgets and technology. That all changes this week with the "scent camera" you see above. But, while you're thinking about preserving the aroma of those killer cookies you baked, others are wondering what's going on in the deep, dark sky above. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 6.29.13: DARPA's robot finalists, the IRIS solar mission and empathetic computers
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Sure, DARPA is slightly sinister, but it's so into robots that we're willing to let that slide. In fact, last year it launched the DARPA Robotics Challenge, and it just announced the top six nine seven teams to advance. But if just the idea of figuring out robotics frustrates you, NC State's face tracking program literally gets that, and NASA just launched the IRIS solar probe from the belly of a transport jet. It's Alt-week, baby.
Alt-week 6.22.13: The LRO's fourth moon-year, a 3D brain and alien telegrams (video)
The moon is far from old hat. In fact, after exactly four years on the job, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is just scratching its jagged surface. The dearth of info on our celestial neighbor isn't stopping us from trying to send personal space messages to a far-flung star system, though. Why? Blame it on our huge brains, which we've now mapped in detailed 3D. Yes, this is alt-week.
Alt-week 6.15.13: Chris Hadfield's retirement, invisibility cloaks and dino-bird feathers
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. What goes up must eventually come down, and shortly after landing on Terra Firma from his last of three ISS missions, Chris Hadfield has resigned from the Canadian Space Agency. That leaves us to wax poetic on his legacy of space education and other oddities, while we also make goldfish disappear and admire dinosaur plumage. Welcome to alt-week.
Alt-week 6.8.13: the Tetris printer, micro-vacuums and naked Antarctica
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Printing can take many forms these days, it seems. It's a term we see pulled in another direction this week, but one we think you'll enjoy. Want something a little more tangible? How about advanced Antarctic topology, or gas-detecting microscale vacuum pumps? Yep, this is alt-week.
Alt-week 6.1.13: cloning a mammoth, psychic robots and making music with your mind
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. We've not had a week quite as exciting as this in... well, weeks! Not only has a team of paleontologists discovered mammoth remains with liquid blood, there's good news for future generations who'd rather put their feet up (while hiding from mammoths, we assume). This is alt-week.
Alt-week 5.25.13: regenerating limbs, robo-politans and science's playground
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. We think it's fair to say that, we all aspire to a future where robots do the hard work, lost limbs self-regenerate, and kids love science. That's not too much to ask now is it? This is alt-week.
Alt-week 5.16.13: bug eyes, robo-cops and fake flowers
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. If we're to find a common thread in this week's collection of stories, it'd be nature's guiding hand. How it inspires science, how we seek to imitate it, and how unnatural the future of policing could be. This is alt-week,
Alt-week 5.11.13: drones, more drones and dual perspective advertising
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. There was a time when young, engineering minds were content with putting together radio controlled vehicles for leisurely amusement. Now, they're using their clever brains to make UAVs fly longer and land anywhere. At least we know who to blame when robopocalypse finally rolls around. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 5.4.13: Atacama's mystery skeleton, move to Mars, and lights out for Herschel
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Well, here we are. It's happening. We're officially talking about setting up a human colony on Mars. Not only is this very real, it's something you can be part of. You don't have to leave the planet to get your extra-terrestrial fix though, as our two other stories demonstrate. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 4.27.13: stargazing, antimatter and a robot turtle
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. As a youngster, you may have been told -- and quite rightly so -- not to stare directly at the sun. This creates a dillema. It's the center of our solar system, but how are we to ever gaze upon it with our own eyes for more than a few fleeting seconds? Don't worry, NASA has that comprehensively covered. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 4.20.13: NASA's Space Shop, nature's needles and 30 years of cellphone bills
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. The natural world offers up some ingenious biology that is only possible through many, many years of evolution. Other ideas, well, they come about through good old-fashioned brain power. We've got examples of both in this edition. Naturally. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 4.13.13: micro-LED mind control, clear brains and clairvoyant ants
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Brains are complex things. Man's quest to understand this lump of gray mass has become something of an obsession. In this edition, we learn about two new studies that could help oil the wheels of this cerebral journey. That, and some clever ants. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 4.7.13: Skylab II, reading your dreams and addiction fighting lasers
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Evolution, devolution, review-lution. Okay, so we made that last one up. But if they ever do invent a machine that can re-view your dreams in full HD, we're betting that's what they'll be calling it. The even better news is that that's possibly not as crazy as it sounds as we learn this week. What week? Why, alt-week of course.
Alt-week 3.23.13: Universal snapshots, cosmic world records and print your ride
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. If you are a fan of absolutes, then you are in the right place. We have a first, a fastest and a biggest in this week's round-up of all things sci-tech. We'll try to add one more to that -- a quickest. The quickest intro for this feature ever. Did we manage it? This is alt-week.
Alt-week 3.9.13: Sunstones, knotted vortices and a zero-g robot
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Technology is all relative. We imagine there was a time when even the wheel was the latest must-have gadget. This week we straddle the past and the future of exploration technology to illustrate this point wonderfully. Two very different objects, both a marvel of their time. There are also two hat tips to the every impressive power of mother nature, too. Where else but alt-week? Exactly.
Alt-week 3.2.13: A mission to Mars, robosparrow and facial recognition in fertility treatment
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Life -- as they say -- is short. So, you gotta cram in as much as you can while you're here. Right? How about a once in a lifetime trip around Mars? Well, if that's on your bucket list, then you might just be in luck. There's other news pertaining to one of life's biggest events over the fold, too, but we'll leave you to figure out which story that is. Hint: it's not the robotic bird. This is alt-week.
