Extreme
Nobel Prize awarded to scientists for discovering the brain’s ‘inner GPS’ system October 6, 2014 at 9:27 am
2014′s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Moser for their discovery of the brain’s ‘inner GPS’ system. The prize revolves around their discovery of place cells and grid cells in the brain that appear to create a cognitive map of every room or space that you’ve ever explored. As you move around a room or space, a very specific place cell fires — and when you visit the same place again in the future, the same place cell fires every time.
Musk’s million man march to Mars October 3, 2014 at 1:04 pm
With SpaceX now set to receive its $2.6 billion slice of the manned space travel pie, Elon Musk has sensed the time is right to set the Mars agenda. He argues that a colony on Mars would just be for thrills or exploration, but a necessary safeguard for human life at large.
IBM unveils new Power8 servers in last-gasp effort to battle Intel’s x86 dominion October 3, 2014 at 11:52 am
Just two days after jettisoning its last Intel/x86-oriented division to Lenovo, IBM has unveiled the first servers based on the new Power8 CPU architecture. Somewhat unusually, IBM’s press release directly attacks both Intel’s “closed and proprietary” way of doing business and its products (IBM says Power8-based systems are nearly 20% better on price-performance than x86-based systems). Is IBM all bark and no bite? Or does the Power8 architecture and and OpenPower Foundation (which now has 59 members) actually stand a chance against Intel’s server monopoly? Let’s dive in and take a closer a look.
This weird exoskeleton adds the sensation of touch to virtual reality October 3, 2014 at 10:15 am
Virtual reality is so much more than visuals, but most of what we’re used to seeing is little more than head-tracking and 3D imagery in a head-mounted display. For real immersion, VR is going to need to take advantage of the other senses as well. Touch and smell are just as important as sight and sound, but those are much harder problems to solve. Thankfully, a company by the name of Dexta Robotics is developing a peripheral to simulate the sensation of touch in a virtual world.
This air-breathing solar panel stores its own electricity, cutting the cost of solar power significantly October 3, 2014 at 9:06 am
It’s a solar cell! No… it’s a rechargeable lithium-air battery! No… wait… it’s both: It’s the world’s first all-in-one solar battery! This is significant, because one of the biggest problems with wide-scale solar power deployment is that you also need huge banks of batteries to store electricity. An integrated solution is both cheaper and more efficient — about 25% cheaper and 20% more efficient, according to the researchers.
$1200: The price of (legally) 3D printing your own metal AR-15 rifle at home October 2, 2014 at 1:10 pm
Defense Distributed, the organization that created the 3D printed Liberator pistol, is back with a new way to exploit legal loopholes. The $1200 Ghost Gunner can built a crucial and highly regulated component of the AR-15 assault rifle.
The Man in the Moon was born of apocalyptic lava flows, not asteroid strikes October 2, 2014 at 12:05 pm
For thousands of years, humankind has stared up at the night sky and seen the Man in the Moon. Scientifically, the current theory is that the formations were caused by giant asteroid strikes. Now, however, using data from NASA’s twin GRAIL lunar orbiters, an MIT team proposes another hypothesis: The Man in the Moon was created by apocalyptic volcanic activity. We’re talking volcanic eruptions and rifts that would be large enough to cover almost one half of the United States in lava.
2015 BMW i8 review: The first eco-friendly supercar October 2, 2014 at 10:30 am
The secret’s out: Electric motors make cars fast. Not just efficient.
Windows 10 Start menu: Taking a closer look October 2, 2014 at 9:30 am
As you’ve probably heard by now, Windows 10 will see the illustrious return of the Start menu — except it isn’t quite the Start menu that you’re used to from Windows 7 and Vista. In fact, it’s better! The Windows 10 Start menu is the best Start menu yet. There, I said it.
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