December 2010
114 posts
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The anatomy of gadgets.
I always thought that gadgets has electrical circuits inside, but I guess I was wrong…
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WatchVideo of the day: Ice Touchscreen.
Created in Finland, this touchscreen works by projecting infrared light through the back of the ice. When people put their hands on the screen, some of the infrared rays bounce back to a sensor, and a visible light projector then beams a picture through the ice.
The resulting effect makes it look like colorful flames are following your hands. Pretty neat, but I...
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Do Pterosaurs still live in Papua New Guinea?
Pterosaurs are a type of flying dinosaur thought to have been extinct for 65 million years. Some evidence, however, suggests that they may be living in remote cliff areas of Papua New Guinea.
Actual giant nesting sites have been found in some of the mountainous cliffs, and some zoologists claim to have seen them firsthand. Natives in the area have...
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Meanwhile, in South Korea.
Almost 30 robots have been ‘employed’ in South Korean schools to teach English, in a pilot program that is helped to also further develop South Koreas robotics industry.
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From PhysOrg:
“Engkey, a white, egg-shaped robot developed by the Korea Institute of Science of Technology (KIST), began taking classes Monday at 21 elementary schools in...
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Finally, DNA sequencing to create better chocolate.
An international team of scientists has recently sequenced and assembled the chocolate tree genome, and hope to use the information to make better cacao for better chocolate.
The variety was Theobroma cacao, considered to produce the world’s finest chocolate. Many growers now produce a similar variety that is more resistant to disease,...
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Predictions for gaming in 2011
Mashable has a list of their predictions for the video gaming industry in 2011.
Among the highlights:
• Apple releases a game console (again).
• Wii upgrades to HD graphics.
• Flash video and content loses it’s dominance - HTML5 picks up.
• Mobile gaming on smartphones sees a huge boost.
Read the full list here at Mashable.
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From io9:
“Newborn babies have an instinctual need to hear their mother’s voice…and nobody else’s. For the first time ever, electrodes were placed on babies hours after their birth to probe the connection between the mother’s voice and their newborn brains.
The electrodes monitored which parts of the infants’ brains were activated when they came into...
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WatchVideo of the day: More lasers!
European scientists have found a way of creating clouds, on demand, using lasers.
It is hoped the technology will one day be able to be used on a larger scale to create rainclouds to help areas in drought. Or perhaps just a cloud to shine the Bat-signal onto.
How does it work?
“the laser pulses generate clouds by stripping electrons from atoms in air, which...
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Next Mars rover to have frikken laser beams built in.
NASA has announced the next Mars rover - named Curiosity - will have a new tool for analyzing soil and rocks. The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will be able to use a laser to excite a small point on a sample, then observe as it heats up and identify its chemical composition by analyzing the spectrum of light it gives out.
NASA hopes to use...
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WatchVideo of the day: Blue eclipse from Mars.
The Martian rover Opportunity took this time lapse video of the moon Phobos passing in front of the Sun last month. Due to the size and distance of Phobos from Mars, it’s not a full eclipse but is instead called a sun transit or partial eclipse.
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WatchVideo of the day: Mario in Chicago.
Mario takes a wrong turn in the Mushroom Kingdom and ends up in Chicago.
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The last couple of years have seen huge advances in carbon nanotubes, including advances in electronics, making stronger body armor, and potentially boosting lithium batteries by 10x.
Now a NASA engineer is researching ways to use them to tether a flying vehicle up to 30,000 feet in the air. The flying vehicle would be used to generate energy from the huge amounts of wind at 30,000 feet, and...