Last week, the Russian government issued a statement regarding the forthcoming Mayan apocalypse, reassuring its citizens that everything is going to be all right. Well, except for “blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, floods, trouble with transportation and food supply, breakdowns in heat, electricity and water supply.” (Might want to work on your reassuring skills, guys). Actually, …
The John Templeton Foundation’s New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology is a research grant and awards program that awards funding to scientists looking to answer one of four (very) big questions: What was the earliest state of the universe? Is our universe unique or is it part of a much larger multiverse? What is the …
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Researchers at the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory have created an interface that allows humans to control humanoid robots using only their minds. Users wear an electrode-laden cap and focus their attention on flashing symbols on a computer screen. The computer then processes the user’s brain signals and converts them into actions the robot can perform. …
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When it comes to the looming Mayan apocalypse, some people are fine with just buying some bottled water and canned goods. Others are a bit more serious, building bunkers and stocking up on ammo. A Chinese man, however, has spent his entire life savings — ¥1million, or £100,000 or about $160,000 — to create an …
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Make no mistake: The Walt Disney Company may have begun as a simple animation studio, but these days it’s at the forefront of a variety of innovative technologies. Namely, Autonomatronics. They’ve already developed some shockingly realistic skin for their robots, and now they’re taking humanoid robot development one step forward by making their animatronics far …
Scientists at the University of Waterloo in Canada have successfully created the most complex simulation of the human brain ever. Called the Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network, or Spaun, the software consists of 2.5 million simulated neurons, and can recognize images, numbers and handwriting by simulating various neural activities of the human brain. Unfortunately, it …
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Scientists researching the frozen Lake Vida in East Antarctica have discovered living microbes, sealed away beneath the ice for 2800 years. They retrieved the bacteria by drilling some 27 meters into the ice, where it flourished in salty, unfrozen water. “[The bacteria] probably survive by metabolising the abundant quantities of hydrogen and oxides of nitrogen …
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A recent computer simulation has led scientists to believe that the universe behaves very much like a brain. Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, the results of the simulation point to “undiscovered, fundamental laws” that dictate the development of both large and small networks, and draw a fairly direct parallel between the transmission of electrical signals …
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Produced by MIT Game Lab, A Slower Speed of Light is an open-source “game prototype” that takes players on a (very) short tour of the relativistic nature of light. It’s more a demonstration than a game, though. Players are tasked with collecting floating spheres, and for each sphere they collect, the speed of light slows …
Researchers have just discovered that a small island in the South Pacific, visible on Google Maps and other charts, apparently doesn’t exist. It’s called Sandy Island, and (should be) situated northeast of Australia, off the west coast of New Caledonia. You can see it clearly on the Google Map image above, just a relatively small …
We don’t have much time. On December 21, 2012, many believe the world will end. The Mayan prophecies will prove correct, and at the end of the 13th Baktun of the Maya Long Count Calendar, our world will forever change. Of course, NASA continues to rebut the idea of a looming doomsday, and even Pope …
Everyone has their own theories on the existence of time and time travel.
The Sun unleashed what many are calling a “solar tsunami” on Friday, November 16, 2012, with two massive eruptions occurring within four hours. The action was caught by NASA’s space-bound Solar Dynamics Observatory. Luckily, the eruption wasn’t aimed at Earth, so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Yet. The Sun’s activity will reach it’s …
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