Real Life Transformers On The Way?
It seems that a bunch of scientists over at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms has managed to come up with a new generation robot which could prove to be a precursor to the fantasy organic robotic lifeforms that we have all come to know and love as the Transformers. Toy robots that were able to fold itself into different configurations are not rare at all, but actual robots which are able to do so? Well, lab director Neil Gershenfeld, visiting scientist Ara Knaian, and graduate student Kenneth Cheung, have come up with what they call the Milli-Motein, a reconfigurable robot which has been specially programmed to fold itself into a number of different shapes.
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"Gravity Doesn't Exist" --Is this Fundamental Phenomenon of the Universe an Illusion?
Could both gravity and the Big Bang be an illusion? In January 2010, Erik Verlinde, professor of Theoretical Physics and world-renowned string theorist, caused a worldwide stir with the publication of On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton, in which he challenged commonly held perceptions on gravity, going so far as to state ‘for me gravity doesn’t exist’. If he is proved correct, the consequences for our understanding of the universe and its origins in a Big Bang will be far-reaching.
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New Genetic Links Found Between Native Americans And Northern Europeans
Northern European populations – including British, Scandinavians, French and some Eastern Europeans – descend from a mixture of two very different ancestral populations a new study finds, and one of these populations is related to Native Americans. The results of this study, published in the November issue of the Genetics Society of America’s journal GENETICS, help fill in the gaps in scientific understanding of both Native American and Northern European ancestry, while providing an explanation for some genetic similarities among what would otherwise seem to be very divergent groups.
Murder May Spread Like Infectious Disease
Murder is contagious and may spread like the flu, new research suggests.
The researchers relied on the same techniques public-health officials use to track the spread of diseases, but applied them to the spread of homicide in Newark, N.J., over a 26-year span from 1982 to 2008. And just as in other epidemics, certain neighborhoods were more susceptible than others. Diverse, immigrant-rich communities looked to be protected against homicide's spread in the research, while the poorest neighborhoods were more vulnerable. These findings suggest communities could inoculate themselves against murder waves by addressing the underlying risk factors, said study co-author April Zeoli, a criminal justice researcher at Michigan State University. |  |
British Museum lends ancient 'bill of rights' cylinder to US
One of the British Museum's most iconic objects, the Cyrus Cylinder, will tour five major museums in the US next year.
The cylinder, often referred to as the first bill of human rights, "must be shared as widely as possible", said museum director Neil MacGregor. It is inscribed with the earliest form of writing - Babylonian cuneiform. |  |
New liquid nitrogen lamp recreates weather inside your home
Following the roaring success of the Barbican’s Rain Room installation, you can now recreate the weather in your own home, thanks to a new lamp by experimental Swiss design studio, Micasa Lab.
Through a mysterious combination of “some peculiar techniques, liquid nitrogen, WiFi, and high-powered vacuum suction,†the Nebula 12 creates a circulating cloud of steam that responds to real-time weather conditions outside. The lamp is designed to connect to your smartphone and gather meteorological data via the internet, recreating the climate indoors in a shape-shifting ball of fog. |  |
60-Million-Year Debate on Grand Canyon's Age
How old is the Grand Canyon? Old enough to be gazed on by dinosaurs, which died out 65 million years ago, or closer to six million years old, formed about when the earliest human ancestors began walking upright?
A bitter controversy among geologists over this question edged into the open on Thursday, when a report published in the journal Science offered new support for the old-canyon hypothesis, which is not the prevailing one. In the report, Rebecca M. Flowers of the University of Colorado and Kenneth A. Farley of the California Institute of Technology used an improved dating technique based on the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms into helium atoms in a mineral known as apatite. They said this yielded a thermal record of these rocks under the canyon floor, hot at great depths but cooler the closer they were to the surface. |  |
Blood Red Ocean: Not Exactly The End of Days
It looks like something straight out of Dr. Seuss's world, but this is no imaginary scene. A form of algae has been spreading across Australia's eastern coast since Tuesday, turning the water an alarming shade of red and forcing at least ten beaches, including Sydney's popular Bondi Beach, to close.
Known as an algae bloom or "red tide," the event occurs when unicellular organisms—in this case dinoflagellates from the genus Noctiluca—find optimal conditions (including sunlight and nutrients) and reproduce quickly. "It's sort of like the rapid growth of bacteria," said Stanford University marine biologist William F. Gilly. |  |
Mind-Controlled Artificial Limbs Fusing Man and Machine Coming Next Year
A postdoctoral student has developed a technique for implanting thought-controlled robotic arms and their electrodes directly to the bones and nerves of amputees, a move which he is calling "the future of artificial limbs". The first volunteers will receive their new limbs early in 2013.
"The benefits have no precedent," Max Ortiz Catalan, who carries out research in biomedicine and artificial intelligence at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, told Wired.co.uk. "They will be able to simultaneously control several joints and motions, as well as to receive direct neural feedback on their actions. These features are today not available for patients outside research labs. Our aim is to change that.".
"The benefits have no precedent," Max Ortiz Catalan, who carries out research in biomedicine and artificial intelligence at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, told Wired.co.uk. "They will be able to simultaneously control several joints and motions, as well as to receive direct neural feedback on their actions. These features are today not available for patients outside research labs. Our aim is to change that.".
Humans have added new bones to the pig
A mapping of the pig genome sheds light on how pig farming has changed the animal over time. The new findings could be of great benefit to medical research.
The pig's coat has become lighter, its body is longer and it now has a few more ribs than it used to. Humans have been breeding pigs for thousands of years, and our intervention into pigs' lives has left clear marks. A new international study has investigated how the pig's genes have been affected by man. |  |
DNA is directly photographed for the first time
Fifty-nine years after James Watson and Francis Crick deduced the double-helix structure of DNA, a scientist has captured the first direct photograph of the twisted ladder that props up life.
Enzo Di Fabrizio, a physics professor at Magna Graecia University in Catanzaro, Italy, snapped the picture using an electron microscope. Previously, scientists had only seen DNA's structure indirectly. The double-corkscrew form was first discovered using a technique called X-ray crystallography, in which a material's shape is reconstructed based on how X-rays bounce after they collide with it. |  |
Most of the Harmful Mutations in People Arose in the Past 5,000 to 10,000 Years
A study dating the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human DNA code reveals that most of these mutations are of recent origin, evolutionarily speaking. These kinds of mutations change one nucleotide -- an A, C, T or G -- in the DNA sequence. Over 86 percent of the harmful protein-coding mutations of this type arose in humans just during the past 5,000 to 10,000 years.
Some of the remaining mutations of this nature may have no effect on people, and a few might be beneficial, according to the project researchers. While each specific mutation is rare, the findings suggest that the human population acquired an abundance of these single-nucleotide genetic variants in a relatively short time.
Some of the remaining mutations of this nature may have no effect on people, and a few might be beneficial, according to the project researchers. While each specific mutation is rare, the findings suggest that the human population acquired an abundance of these single-nucleotide genetic variants in a relatively short time.
World’s First Open-Ocean Farm An Unfettered Success
The Velella Project Beta-trial tested the world's first open-ocean, unanchored fish farm — a drifting "Aquapod" fish pen entrained in eddies in the lee of the Big Island of Hawaii.
The heart of the NSF-funded trial was a net pen, an Ocean Farm Technologies Aquapod®. Approximately 22 feet across, this synthetic lumber geodesic sphere had ballast tanks fore and aft, and an experimental copper alloy mesh intended to reduce biofouling (a potentially corrosive accumulation of water life such as bacteria and protozoa). |  |
Greenland and Antarctica 'have lost four trillion tonnes of ice' in 20 years
More than 4 trillon tonnes of ice from Greenland and Antarctica has melted in the past 20 years and flowed into the oceans, pushing up sea levels, according to a study that provides the best measure to date of the effect climate change is having on the earth's biggest ice sheets.
The research involved dozens of scientists and 10 satellite missions and presents a disturbing picture of the impact of recent warming at the poles. |  |
2012 Mayan Apocalypse Rumors Have Dark Side, NASA Warns
NASA scientists took time on Wednesday (Nov. 28) to soothe 2012 doomsday fears, warning against the dark side of Mayan apocalypse rumors — frightened children and suicidal teens who truly fear the world may come to an end Dec. 21.
These fears are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar. On the 21st, the date of the winter solstice, a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun comes to an end. Although Maya scholars agree that the ancient Maya would not have seen this day as apocalyptic, rumors have spread that a cosmic event may end life on Earth on that day. |  |
A Good Day in NYC: Nobody Reported Shot, Stabbed or Slashed Monday, Say Police
This is one that has to be approached with skepticism — after all, this is New York City.
Despite the omnipresent sound of sirens, the ambulances racing down busy streets, and crimes being committed throughout Gotham’s five boroughs, there were no reported shootings, stabbings or slashings all day Monday, police officials told the New York Daily News — an unheard-of statistic in a city of more than 8 million people. The rare “triple zero†was a welcome departure from two decades ago, when the city logged more than 2,200 murders over the course of 1990, according to CompStat figures. |  |
400-Year-Old Playing Cards Reveal Royal Secret
Call it a card player's dream. A complete set of 52 silver playing cards gilded in gold and dating back 400 years has been discovered.
Created in Germany around 1616, the cards were engraved by a man named Michael Frömmer, who created at least one other set of silver cards. According to a story, backed up by a 19th-century brass plate, the cards were at one point owned by a Portuguese princess who fled the country, cards in hand, after Napoleon's armies invaded in 1807. |  |
Bigfoot Is Part Human, and Here Are the DNA Tests to Prove It, Claims Researcher
Bigfoot is people! At least that’s according to a new five-year study of the creatures purported DNA by a prominent Bigfootologist. “Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry,†reads a statement released last weekend by former veterinarian Melba T. Ketchum, the lead researcher of the study. â€Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago.†Yes, that would mean that Bigfoot is more man-ape than ape-man. However as the hominids are notoriously reclusive, if not entirely fictional — there has never been a single confirmed sighting — it’s unclear whether we will need to extend an invitation to our Sasquatch relatives for Easter brunch.
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'Vampire on the loose' in Serbia
Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose - or so say villagers in a tiny western Serbian hamlet.
People in Zarozje, which is nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests, say rumours that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened has seen fear - and a potential tourist opportunity - spread through the remote village. A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished region bordering Bosnia. Images at Mail Online |  |
'Hi, deliver me from evil': Catholic Church sets up an exorcist hotline to deal with demand
The Catholic Church has established an exorcist hotline in Milan, its biggest diocese, to cope with demand. Monsignor Angelo Mascheroni, the diocese's chief exorcist since 1995, said the curia had also appointed twice as many exorcists to cope with a doubling in the number of requests for help over 15 years.
"We get many requests for names, addresses and phone numbers; that's why we've set up a switchboard in the curia from Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5pm," he told the chiesadimilano website.
"People in need can call and will be able to find a priest in the same area who doesn't have to travel too far." And to that end, the number of demon-busting priests on call has increased from six to 12.
"We get many requests for names, addresses and phone numbers; that's why we've set up a switchboard in the curia from Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5pm," he told the chiesadimilano website.
"People in need can call and will be able to find a priest in the same area who doesn't have to travel too far." And to that end, the number of demon-busting priests on call has increased from six to 12.
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