Cutting Edge

San Francisco Airport uses tech to meet runway safety standards

For the most part, major airports like San Francisco International avoid closing runways whenever possible. But on May 17, SFO will cut its number of active runways in half just as the summer travel season begins.

The reason isn't the low clouds that often slow air traffic at the Bay Area's largest airport, but rather the last phase of a $214 million project designed to bring SFO's runways up to federal safety standards. Airport officials insist the project will result in only minimal delays, but a looming deadline to complete the work means that the airport has … Read more

Mapping the human face in 900 megapixels

Daniel Boschung is a cartographer, but not as you know it.
He creates intricate photographs captured by his robotic camera that provide incredibly high-resolution overviews of paintings and insects.
For his latest project, Boschung set his camera on faces. He asked his subjects to remain perfectly still for 30 minutes as the robot took their portrait.
Each of the finished photos consists of 600 individual shots all stitched together. The level of detail captured is amazing, turning a regular portrait into a map of the human face. Eyelashes, stray hairs, and pores get captured in all their macro glory with incredible depth-of-field. Just like a gigapixel image, you can zoom in and out to explore every facet of the photo. … Read more

Mark Cuban music fest designed for schmoozing while grooving

Mark Cuban, the entrepreneur of "Shark Tank" fame, has invested in Recess, a music festival that encourages college students to party, brainstorm new ideas, and network with companies all at once.
Two Indiana University graduates started the touring festival last year by turning an existing fest of electronic dance music into a way for students to connect with companies. It lands at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., (northeast of Silicon Valley) on Friday, before making its way across the country.
On top of musical acts like Diplo and Sage the Gemini, the event incorporates panels, … Read more

New XPrize: Can an AI project get a standing ovation at TED?

Can an artificial intelligence system get a standing ovation at the TED conference?
That's the challenge for the brand-new A.I. XPrize, announced Thursday at TED in Vancouver by XPrize Foundation head Peter Diamandis.
Unlike most XPrizes, which have clear rules and goals, this one is a bit more free-form. Described as "a modern-day Turing test, [it will] be awarded to the first A.I. to walk or roll out on stage and present a TED talk so compelling that it commands a standing ovation from you, the audience."
And TED and the XPrize Foundation is turning … Read more

Paleontologists discover 'chicken from hell' dinosaur

A 66-million-year-old dinosaur has been discovered -- a birdlike creature that provides palaeontologists with a first in-depth look at an oviraptorosaurian species called Caenagnathidae (SEE-nuh-NAY-thih-DAY) -- one that has long been difficult to study, since most remains have only been skeletal fragments.
Named Anzu wyliei (Anzu after a bird-demon from Mesopotamian myth and wyliei after Wylie, the grandson of a Carnegie museum trustee), the new species was put together from three separate skeletons found in North and South Dakota, forming almost one entire skeleton. The resultant dinosaur measures 3.5 metres from nose to tail-tip, weighing in at 225 kilograms (496 pounds), with sharp claws and a feathered body -- resembling, according to the researchers, led by Matthew Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, a "chicken from hell."… Read more

Scuba diving trumps surfing on Saturn's Titan moon

There was a lot of hubbub this week among space geeks about the first spotting of waves on the freaky methane lakes that cover much of Titan, perhaps the most Earth-like spot outside of the real deal in our solar system. But it's still waaay premature to pack up your space wetsuit and start nagging NASA or Elon Musk to hitch a ride beyond the asteroid belt.
Saturn's spooky moon has a planet-like atmosphere and liquid covering much of its surface, making it one of the most likely nearby places to harbor (probably very weird) alien life. But while Titan shares a number of Earth-like characteristics such as its craggy peaks, running rivers, and even thunderstorms, it doesn't appear to have strong enough winds to whip up methane waves on its large lakes. … Read more

White House embarks on climate change mapping project

The White House wants people and communities to be prepared for extreme weather events spurred by climate change, like coastal flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. So, it's making data sets and maps from some of the country's top agencies available to the public in it's newly launched "Climate Data Initiative."
The maps and data sets are being collected in one Web site, data.gov/climate, which is full of open government data on the country's infrastructure and geographical features, like bridges, roads, tunnels, canals, and river gauges. The information comes from agencies such as NASA, … Read more

New DNA stool test almost as good as dreaded colonoscopy

Last year alone, almost 50,000 Americans died of colon cancer, and nearly 150,000 new cases were discovered. In fact, it's the third most common cancer in the US, according to the American Cancer Society. And yet one in every three qualifying Americans doesn't follow colonoscopy guidelines: getting one at age 50 and every decade thereafter.
There may be many factors at play behind so many people not undergoing the procedure, but even for those who simply feel squeamish about it, it's hard to blame them. Colonoscopies are invasive, uncomfortable, and at least for some, downright … Read more

With VTOL X-Planes, DARPA aims for a futuristic lift

The helicopters of the future may not look much like helicopters at all, at least in one scheme that DARPA is cooking up.
That's because DARPA, the arm of the Pentagon known for its fanciful and even sci-fi approach to military technology, wants "radical improvements" in aircraft that are capable, as helicopters are and fixed-wing planes are not, of vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL.
The brainstorming agency has now moved a bit closer to realizing its vertical-lift ambitions. Through its VTOL X-Plane program, DARPA has awarded contracts to four companies -- heavyweights Boeing and Sikorsky, and … Read more

Custom 3D-printed kayak is a homemade work of art

Jim Smith is an ambitious man. He not only built himself a large 3D printer, he also decided to have it make him a kayak. It appears to be the world's first 3D-printed kayak, and it's a stunner.

The kayak's multi-colored patchwork design looks like it would appeal to Colin Baker's version of "Doctor Who." The boat consists of 28 parts printed using ABS plastic. The materials to produce the nearly 17-foot-long kayak with a 6mm-thick hull cost around $500, according to Smith. The whole contraption weighs nearly 65 pounds, which is pretty much in line with the weight of a regular kayak.… Read more