Science-and-Technology
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Trippy exhibit uses Kinect to send kids to the wilderness
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-351325{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-351325, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-351325{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-351325").style.display="none";}catch(e){}"Whoaaa," said a child as he walked through the doors around noon. His eyes widened and he picked up his pace at the sight of Connected Worlds, a series of stunning landscapes projected on giant walls at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. The light from the 3,000-square-foot installation illuminated his face in hues of green and blue. At the center of the room, surrounded by screens, a couple dozen kids ran from one magical habitat to another, chasing fantastical creatures and digital streams in the interactive space.
'BeeRotor' drone uses an insect-style eye to navigate tight spaces
Accelerometers have become integral components for many of our favorite gadgets. By measuring acceleration forces, such as gravity or someone's arm waving clumsily back and forth, these sensors can accurately identify a device's angle in relation to the Earth. It's how your smartphone knows when to automatically switch between portrait and landscape orientation. Now, scientists are researching how drones can be built to fly autonomously without the use of accelerometers. It's led to the creation of "BeeRotor," which, as the name implies, takes inspiration from the visual cues and analysis used by winged insects.
The Big Picture: a closer look at live rodent nerve cells
What you're looking at up above isn't a crazy anaglyph 3D image. Well, at least not intentionally. It's actually the result of a decade-old tagging method that researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Italy are now using in live mice. The method, called SNAP-tagging, uses proteins that latch onto specific chemical structures and don't let go. To explore rodent nerves, researchers genetically engineered the mice to produce SNAP proteins and then injected the vermin with fluorescent probes that the proteins would attach to. This allows them to be followed through the body with a microscope. For example, in the picture above, the thick blue lines are hairs and the red bundles are nerves.
The Big Picture: giving birth to a solar system
While one hot topic regarding outer space lately is a work of science fiction, here's some fact to switch that up -- in case comets aren't really your bag. What you see above is the first result of the Alma telescope array set up in its near-final form, capturing the beginnings of a solar system that could be much like our own given enough time. HL Tauri is a star some 450 light years away that's surrounded by the dusty disc-shaped remains of star-birth, is around a million years old and already forming planets by the looks of things. As ESO reports, scientists say that this sole image will "revolutionize theories of planetary formation" because it means planets may actually, well, form, faster than previously expected. Even better? This image might give us a clearer idea of what our own solar system looked like in its early days.
The first zero-g 3D printer is about to launch into orbit (update: launch scrubbed)
Gravity. More than the name of a killer movie, it's likely something we take for granted every single day. After all, nearly everything we do is reliant on the idea that stuff stays in place when we stop holding it. Astronauts don't have that luxury, however, and when even simple tasks take a ton of effort, something relatively complex like using a 3D printer is even harder. Why would astronauts need one of those? Well, because stuff breaks in space, and replacing a busted part isn't as simple as hitting Home Depot -- just ask the crew of Apollo 13. To help get around that, the folks at Made in Space have designed a 3D printer that circumvents the lack of Earth's gravity when used in orbit. Instead of molten filament essentially "stacking" on itself to form an object like it does planetside, according to The Verge, the Zero-G Printer liquid's surface-tension holds a widget together. Update: No launch tonight! Weather conditions forced a postponement. According to NASA, the next launch window is tomorrow night, on the 21st at about 1:52 AM ET.
Mars 2020 rover will give us a way to know the red planet better
NASA's been planning for the Mars 2020 rover for a long time now, back when Curiosity was just making its way to the red planet. Now, the agency has finally chosen seven scientific instruments that'll be equipped on the new rover out of the 58 proposals submitted by researchers from all over the globe. These instruments were chosen based on their potential to discover how humans can live off the extraterrestrial land by using the natural resources available, and also by their capacity to unearth any danger posed by Martian dust to future human explorers.
Physicists use diamonds to reach quantum teleportation breakthrough
Quantum teleportation promises a leap into the next great era of computing -- but first we've got to get it working consistently. Scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft say they've managed to reliably teleport quantum info stored in one bit of diamond to another sitting three meters away (roughly 10 feet). Now, they want to go much farther.
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.
Alt-week 2.24.13: Mapping the brain, discovering dark matter and our inevitable, grizzly end
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. The discovery of what is hoped to be the Higgs boson was an exciting time for anyone with a curious mind. It turns out, that the price of knowledge is often a heavy one. Without putting too much of a negative spin on it... that teeny-weeny boson could predict bad news. On a lighter -- or is that darker -- note, other areas of science and technology bravely march ever-onward with the goal of a better understanding of life, the universe, and tattoos. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 2.16.13: robo-rats, a young black hole and a computer that cannot crash
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Seven days, 26,000 lightyears, 637 languages, two groups of terrorised rats and one computer that never, ever crashes. We're light on intro, heavy of the numbers. You know the drill by now, this is Alt-week.
Alt-week 2.9.13: Seismic invisibility, bacterial gold and really, really big prime numbers
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. The lure of gold, the unpredictable weather and the power of invisibility. What do these three things have in common? We'd argue their almost universal appeal to the human race. Science makes headway in all three of these areas in this edition. On top of that there's a really, incredibly, massive prime number. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 2.2.13: SpaceLiners, building a brain and the man made multiverse
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. What's black and white, and read all over? This week's dose of sci-tech news, silly. What is less black and white, however, IS where reality ends, and the stuff of science fiction begins. Europe to Australia in 90 minutes? Automatically-melting military technology? A material that hosts multiple universes? It's all here, it's all alt-week.
NASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flow
Curiosity may have spent a while limbering up for the mission ahead, but now it's found evidence of an ancient streambed on Mars that once had "vigorous" water flow. Photos of two rock outcroppings taken by the rover's mast camera between the north rim of Gale Crater and the foot of Mount Sharp reveal gravel embedded into a layer of conglomerate rock. The shape of the small stones indicate to NASA JPL scientists that they were previously moved, and their size (think from grains of sand to golf balls) are a telltale sign that water did the work instead of wind. Evidence of H2O on Mars has been spotted before, but this is the first direct look at the composition of riverbeds NASA has observed from above. According to Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich, it's estimated that water flowed at the site anywhere from thousands to millions of years ago, moved at a clip of roughly 3 feet per second and was somewhere between ankle and hip deep. "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment," Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger said. "It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment."
China's new liquid oxygen and kerosene-fueled rocket engine lights up for testing
Liquid oxygen and kerosene, that's what fuels China's new -- and freshly tested -- rocket engine. When fired up on Sunday, it withstood temperatures as high as 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit (3,000 degrees Celsius) for 200 seconds and powered through almost 20,000 revolutions per minute in a rotational test. "The successful tests confirm the reliability of China's LOX / kerosene engine," test commander Lai Daichu told China Daily. According to China Central Television, the engine is non-toxic, pollution-free and the first of its kind for which China holds proprietary intellectual property rights -- though similar engines have been used by other space agencies. The engine is on track to lend the upcoming Long March 5 rocket a total of 118 tons of thrust, giving it enough oomph to launch a 25-ton payload into low-earth orbit or 14-ton cargo into geostationary orbit. Its expected to haul additional portions of the country's space station and aid lunar exploration, but the first voyage isn't slated until 2014. [Image Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation]
MIT engineers develop glucose-based fuel cell to be used in neural implants
We've seen fuel cells used in a variety of gadgets -- from cars to portable chargers -- and while medical devices aren't exactly at the top of the list, they're yet another application for these mini power sources. MIT engineers are turning to sugar to make fuel cells for powering brain implants. The scientists developed cells that use platinum to strip electrons from glucose molecules found in a patient's cerebrospinal fluid to create a small electric current. The fuel cells are fabricated on a silicon chip so they can interface with other circuits in a brain implant. The prototype can generate up to hundreds of micro watts, which is enough to power neural implants used to help paralyzed patients move their limbs. Mind you, this technology is years away from making it to market. The next step will be proving that the devices work in animals, which reminds us of one Ricky the rat, who survived a biofuel cell implant back in 2010.
Scientists develop rewritable digital storage built into DNA; biological binary exists
We've seen DNA flirt with computing and storage before, but a biological system that can record digital data? That's something different. Stanford researchers used natural enzymes to create rewritable data storage built directly into living cells' DNA. The enzymes can flip DNA sequences back and forth, enabling a programmable, binary-like system where the DNA section is a zero if it points in a particular direction and a one if it points the other way. (Color coding indicates which way a section of genetic code is facing.) The so-called recombinase addressable data (RAD) module can store one bit of information without consuming any power, and in addition to letting scientists switch DNA sequences, it allows them to count how many times a given cell has doubled. That capability could come in handy for studying how cancer spreads, and could even give scientists the ability to "turn off" affected cells. The next step for the scientists will be upping the storage capacity to a byte, which will reportedly take a good ten years. That gives you plenty of time to study up on that science -- for a start, check out a more detailed account of the research in the source link.
Visualized: 121-megapixel satellite photos show Earth in glorious, psychedelic detail (video)
We're starting to think the Russians have an inside track on high-resolution space photos. When Nokia's 41-megapixel photo of Earth's horizon was just a twinkle in the 808 PureView designers' eyes, the Russian Federal Space Agency had long since finished taking 121-megapixel photos of the whole planet that we're just now seeing in earnest. Unlike NASA photos, which are usually composites of multiple shots, the Elektro-L weather satellite's images display the entire planet in one ridiculously detailed take from 22,369 miles away. Why the trippy colors? Instead of just displaying Earth as-is -- real colors are so passé, dahling -- the satellite layers on near-infrared imagery that paints vegetation in wide swaths of rust-like orange. You can get a peep of what a day-night cycle looks like for Elektro-L in the video below, and hop over to the sources to get an inkling of just how insanely detailed the images can be. You can also be slightly jealous of the satellite's network connection: at a minimum 2.6Mbps and maximum 16.4Mbps for bandwidth, odds are that it has faster broadband than you do.
Scientists bend gamma rays, could neuter radioactive waste (update: more credit)
Bending most light is easy; bending it in gamma ray form, however, has often been deemed impossible given how hard it is for electrons to react to the extreme frequencies. LMU Munich scientist Dietrich Habs and his Institut Laue-Langevin teammate Michael Jentschel have proven that assumption wrong: an experiment in blasting a silicon prism has shown that gamma rays will refract just slightly through the right material. If a lens is made out of a large-atom substance like gold to bend the rays further, the researchers envision focused beams of energy that could either detect radioactive material or even make it inert by wiping off neutrons and protons. In theory, it could turn a nuclear power plant's waste harmless. A practical use of the technology is still some distance off -- but that it's even within sight at all just feels like a breakthrough. Update: The research also involved the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics' Marc Günther. Thank you, Dr. Günther.
Google dives deep to bring underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef this September
Your next trip to the Great Barrier Reef could be from the comfort of your home now that Google's partnered with Catlin SeaView Survey, the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute and the Underwater Earth organization to document this amazing ecosystem. Equipped with a special underwater camera capable of withstanding depths of 328 feet, the survey aims to photograph 50,000 shots in 360-degree panoramic view and incorporate them into Google Earth and Google Maps. Dubbed "Google SeaView," it seeks to open opportunities for increased conservation as well as a free look for wanna-be world travelers who can't afford a plane ticket down under. As an added perk, the collected data may also be used to help future ship captains navigate through the treachery of the intricate coral highways. Check past the break for more info on the survey and plenty of footage teeming with aquatic wildlife.
