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Wikipedia is developing a crowdsourced speech engine
Wikipedia announced on Thursday that it is collaborating with researchers from Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology to develop an open, crowdsourced speech engine that will make the online encyclopedia more accessible to people with reading or visual impairments. Wikipedia estimates that 25 percent of its user base -- approximately 125 million people monthly -- will benefit from the new service. And while the engine will be optimized for use on Wikipedia itself, any site running MediaWiki software will be able to integrate it as well.
Algae-based thread will keep your clothes odor-free
If you're worried that the silver ions in antibacterial and anti-odor clothing might also pose serious health risks, like destroying genetic material, you'll be glad to hear that there should soon be a safer alternative. The KTH Royal Institute of Technology has developed an antibacterial thread that uses a mix of bio-compatible plastics and lanosol, a bacteria-fighting compound that you normally find in red algae. The material should not only be a less contentious germ-killer than silver, but more effective. Because it's woven into super-thin fibers through electrospinning (which uses electrical charges to draw thread from liquid), the antiseptic element doesn't clump up and leave some areas unprotected.
Everything around you is decaying, and this is what it sounds like (video)
Forget that math music nerd debate, there's no controversy here -- only the sweet, sweet sounds of cascading gamma rays. Working with Nuclear Safety and Training Group, KTH and nuclear physicists from AlbaNova University Centre's KSU, Swedish art collective Kollektivet Livet pieced together interactive software that mutates ionizing radiation into polarizing music. Incorporating all 3,175 known isotopes, the Radioactive Orchestra allows users to tweak decay rate and scale resulting in a personalized, hipster head-boppin glitch-hop track. We admit this sounds like old Bjork (doesn't all bloopy music?), but it's pretty nifty considering this is the sound of environmental decay. The project also has a more noble intent -- one aimed at swapping your radioactive fears for PC-acceptance. We're not sure this is going to get the unseen 'terror' onto anyone's Facebook Like list, but it will provide a good thirty minute distraction. Headphone nutters should plug-in for the full video after the break. [Thanks, Alexander]
