Science is not all about what happened millions of years ago, insights into the structure of matter, or new methods of space travel. Sometimes, science is about very down-to-earth things…like the effect of receiving flowers on our emotional well-being–and how to keep those flowers fresher after we receive them. Flower-giving is a natural topic for …
From the U.K.’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council: A Chinese astronomer from the University of St Andrews has fine-tuned Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of gravity, creating a ‘simple’ theory which could solve a dark mystery that has baffled astrophysicists for three-quarters of a century. According to the scientists, their “simple” theory explains with ease difficult …
Reports the CBC: Researchers in Saskatchewan have discovered a way to block a pathway in the brain’s pleasure receptors that are involved in drug addiction. The team hopes the findings will lead to a universal therapy that works regardless of what drug an addict abuses. Intriguing…
A slime mould that avoids light has been put in charge of a six-legged robot’s movement, creating a robot that’s scared of the light. Up next after slime-bots: cat-bots that avoid water and climb trees in the presence of dogs; rabbit-bots that freeze up when threatened, then run like the dickens; and elephant-bots that are …
Or, to put it another way, it’s the Science Fiction Headline of the Day: New Antigravity Solution Could Enable Space Travel Near Speed Of Light. I don’t know what to make of this, except to note that this is a press released issued by the scientist in question himself. I guess we’ll have to see …
There’s been a new breakthrough in computer chip lithography–and it’s way ahead of schedule. A new computer chip lithography method under development at Rochester Institute of Technology has led to imaging capabilities beyond that previously thought possible. Leading a team of engineering students, Bruce Smith, RIT professor of microelectronic engineering and director of the Center …
Worldwide Aeros hopes to have a prototype flying luxury hotel–a massive helium-filled airship–ready by 2010. Have I mentioned I love airships? I’d buy a ticket to fly on this thing in an instant.
A 19th-century mechanical computer built out of 21st-century plastic toy construction bricks. Just because.
…has been discovered by a New Jersey Institute of Technology professor. Guess it’s about time I updated this column.
Put your thinking cap on, gather a team of space-enthused engineers, and see if you can meet one of NASA’s new challenges–for cold, hard cash. Looks like the X Prize really started something.
…which reminded me of the time I heard him play live, in a jazz club in Chicago in 1999. I’d love to say it was a life-changing experience, or at least an awesome concert, but in fact I pent part of the evening crouched over the toilet in the men’s room not throwing up but …
Possibly. A carbon-rich substance found in cracks inside a Martian meteorite may point in that direction. (Via digg.)
