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Science
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Scientists Turn Brain Transparent To Get A Better Look [VIDEO]
11 Apr 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Scientists at Stanford University have developed a new way of looking at the brain – they make the brain tissue almost transparent.
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NASA’s Best Footage Of Earth From Space, So Far [VIDEO]
09 Apr 2013 by Aramat Broccoly / No Comments
It’s earth month everyone, and as a tribute to our pale blue dot, NASA has put together a highlights reel of shots of the earth from space captured over the course of 2012, so we can “understand and sustain our home planet”.
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Scientists Develop Astonishingly Accurate Cancer Breath Test
06 Mar 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Chinese and Israeli scientists have developed a test that can, with 90% accuracy detect and distinguish cancers from other stomach complaints. The test was carried out on 130 patients. Of the 130 patients, 37 had stomach cancer, 32 had stomach ulcers and 61 had other stomach complaints. In Britain alone, some 7 000 people develop [...]
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Meet The Full-Scale Bionic Man – “Rex” [VIDEO]
06 Feb 2013 by Gabi October / 1 Comment
The Robotic Exoskeleton, or Rex as he is more affectionately known, was unveiled yesterday at London’s Science Museum. Boffins have proven that body parts can be replaced by machines. Apart from the silver skeletal structure, synthetic skin and hair, Rex is real in every way. He pumps synthetic blood, has artificial organs and robotic limbs. [...]
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Nobel Prize Winner Predicts Human Cloning A Reality “Within 50 Years”
19 Dec 2012 by Steyn du Toit / No Comments
Sir John Gurdon, the British scientist who won this year’s Nobel prize for medicine, says that the progression to human cloning could happen within the next 50 years. It is also Gurdon’s work involving the cloning frogs in the 1950′s and 60′s that led to the later creation of Dolly the sheep by Edinburgh scientists in 1996.
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Mind-Controlled Artificial Limbs Coming In 2013 [VIDEO]
29 Nov 2012 by Harry Haddon / No Comments
The lives of those with prosthetic limbs may have the chance to improve rapidly with the introduction of thought-controlled robotic arms. These prosthetics and their electrodes will connect directly to the bones and nerves of amputees.
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These Are The 16 Smartest People On The Face Of The Earth
24 Oct 2012 by Albi P / 8 Comments
Whether you agree or disagree with them, IQ tests are the most commonly accepted measure of intelligence. Using IQ data, garnered from The World Genius Directory, the folks over at Business Insider have put together a list of the 16 smartest people alive today.
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The Mesmerising Beauty Of Animals Shaking Themselves Dry In Slow-Motion [VIDEO]
17 Aug 2012 by Albi P / No Comments
As you sit in the smelly spray left all over you, and every inch of furniture in the room, after Milo has “dried himself”, it’s easy to forget that his vigorous shaking is in fact complicated science. Thanks to the wonder of modern technology, experts are finally able to begin unraveling and understanding the advanced drying techniques employed by our four-legged friends.
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Scientists Can Now Block Heroin, Morphine Addiction [VIDEO]
15 Aug 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
The University of Adelaide has reported a major breakthrough in opiate addiction: addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief.
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What’s Faster? Usain Bolt Or Gravity? [VIDEO]
13 Aug 2012 by Simon Gerber / 1 Comment
Undisputed fasted man alive, Usain Bolt, is fast. Really fast. The New York Times has already compared him to every other 100m athlete that’s ever run in the 100m event, but how would he compare against something that isn’t human? Like the force of gravity?
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A Computer Worm May Be Causing Iranian Nuclear Facilities to Blast AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ At Night
24 Jul 2012 by Albi P / 1 Comment
It’s the dead of the night, you’re the last person in the high-tech computer lab frantically working on that bit of code that will bring about world peace, resurrect unicorns and cure all terminal illnesses with single click when suddenly every computer around you blasts the same tune, AAAAhaaaAAAAhaaaAA…Thunder! No, this is not the opening of an epic short story, it’s just another night at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
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From Frankenstein With Love: Harvard Scientists Build Jellyfish From Scratch
23 Jul 2012 by Simon Gerber / No Comments
This is just plain unbelievable. A group of researchers at Harvard, in a study towards building the first artificial human heart, have created their own creature. Similar to a jellyfish, they’ve created a Medusoid – a hybrid “pseudo-organism” made from the cells of a rat’s heart and a special polymer film.
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The US Army Has A Laser-Guided Lightning Gun
29 Jun 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
In more news to terrify you, the US Army has released photographs depicting their new laser-guided lightning gun blowing up a car. They’re calling it the Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) because it’s important to make the ability to call down lightning with a laser pointer sound safe.
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Leap Second Scheduled for June 30, 2012
27 Jun 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
Attention time geeks: a leap second has been scheduled for June 30, 2012. The month will be one second longer, to re-synchronize Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is based on an atomic clock, and Universal Time (UT) which is based on the earth’s rotation. Basically it’s a cool moment where your clock will legitimately read 23:59:60.
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Trailer For Sundance Hit ‘Robot And Frank’ [VIDEO]
26 Jun 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
‘Robot and Frank’ stars Frank Langella as an old man forging an unlikely bond with his Peter Sarsgaard-voiced robot butler, which starts off as an odd-couple comedy and then turns into a heist film, because Langella used to be a jewel thief. It looks pretty great, and they loved it at Sundance. Take a look.
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Infinite-Capacity Wireless Vortex Beams Could Transfer 60 DVD’s A Second
26 Jun 2012 by Harry Haddon / 2 Comments
I don’t really care how fast it is, I just want to own something that uses an infinite-capacity wireless vortex beam. Though it sounds like a death-ray, it describes what American and Israeli researchers have used to create the fastest ever wireless network: twisted beams of light that transfer data at 2,56 terabits per second.
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European Commission Draws Flack For “Sexy Female Scientist” Video
25 Jun 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
The European Commission is drawing pretty widespread condemnation for releasing a video — ostensibly aimed at getting girls into science — which pretty much depicts female scientists as sexy models in short skirts who hang around bunsen burners, giggling. Take a look at what lady scientists apparently look like in Europe after the jump.
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Paralysed Woman Controls Prosthesis, With Her Mind
17 May 2012 by Albi P / No Comments
Science! Technology! In a worldwide medical first, researchers have successfully implanted a computer-mind interface into the motor cortex of a 58-year-old, quadriplegic woman which allowed her to control a robotic limb using only the power of her mind. The future is now.
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They’re Going To Have A Freddie Mercury Hologram, Too
15 May 2012 by liam kruger / 1 Comment
When Queen’s drummer, Roger Taylor, was asked if he’d want a hologram Freddie Mercury a la Tupac – he declined, saying “I don’t want to appear with a hologram of my dear friend.” Which is unfortunately ambiguous wording, because they’ve decided to conjure up a Mercury hologram at tonight’s 10th anniversary We Will Rock You musical.
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Billion-Dollar Ghost Town Being Built For Science
14 May 2012 by liam kruger / 1 Comment
Hey there, science fiction. Defence contractor, Pegasus Global Holdings is building a replica of Rock Hill, a South Carolina city, in the middle of the New Mexico desert as a testing ground for futuristic infrastructures – self-driving cars, green buildings and next-generation Wi-Fi. It’ll be an uninhabited laboratory – they’re calling it “an amusement park for scientists.”
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Fatal Shark Attack: City Of Cape Town Releases Official Report And Review
23 Apr 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 3 Comments
The City of Cape Town has released its official report on the fatal shark attack that claimed the life of bodyboarder, David Lilienfeld, 20, on Thursday at Kogel Bay, “Caves”, near Gordons Bay. In it, the City concluded that the tagging of False Bay sharks for a documentary could not be directly linked to the attack.
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Physicist Uses Mathematics To Get Out Of Traffic Fine, Publishes Findings
18 Apr 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
UC San Diego physicist, Dmitri Krioukov got ticketed recently for running a stop sign – which isn’t unusual. What is unusual is the fact that, rather than pay the $400 fine and move on, Krioukov wrote a mathematical paper proving that the cop who ticketed him had a “perception of reality that did not properly reflect reality.”
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Young Butchered Mammoth Discovered In Siberia
05 Apr 2012 by liam kruger / No Comments
A juvenile mammoth – nicknamed “Yuka” – was found entombed in Siberian ice near the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and shows signs of being cut open by ancient people. The frozen carcass is believed to be at least 10 000 years old – and could prove to be the first mammoth carcass revealing signs of human interaction in the region.
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NASA Releases Infrared Map Of Entire Universe [PIC]
05 Apr 2012 by Steyn du Toit / No Comments
Have you ever wondered what the universe would look like on a single photo? You did!? Well, what a coincidence, because NASA has just released this infrared map of the entire universe. This serves as a capstone for a bigger cosmic map – containing 18 000 images and 560 million different objects. It took NASA fourteen years of preparation and three years of data collection.
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