Category: Science

Have you stopped being able to identify familiar smells? Then you may be about to die, according to a new study. More »

In an effort to produce mass quantities of healthier H2O, Chinese scientists have come up with a new method to change water’s chemical composition. It involves making light water. More »

A new form of “shape memory polymers” have the ability to return to their previous form once damaged, thanks to embedded fiber optics that let them warm themselves back to health with light. More »

If you were hoping NASA was going to announce the very first tweet from an extraterrestrial being, sorry to break your heart — it is astrobiological, but the findings are actually borne of this rock. Researchers in Mono Lake, California, have discovered a microorganism (pictured) that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous to thrive and reproduce. The latter, as far as terrestrial life is concerned, is a building block of life along with carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, all integral to our DNA and RNA. Arsenic, meanwhile, is generally considered poisonous — but “chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate,” apparently making for a good substitution. In other words, NASA’s proven that life can be made with components different than our current assumptions, both locally and beyond the stars. Seems entirely logical, if you ask us. (A silicon-based Horta, Mr. Spock?)

So, what about other atypical life-forming chemicals? NASA isn’t speculating. That sound you hear is a thousand light bulbs popping up as science fiction writers everywhere conjure up brand new super villains — and a thousand Chemistry professors writing new extra credit questions for their fall semester finals.

NASA reveals arsenic-bred organisms, search for life gets broader parameters originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harvard University researcher Ronald A. DePinho has discovered a way to reverse age degeneration for the first time. His experiments on mice have demonstrated that you can return individuals to a younger state, with new brain growth and improved fertility. More »

Researchers at University Eye Clinic in Tübingen, Germany have begun testing a new retinal implant designed to restore sight to the blind. Previous experiments like this have employed external cameras, but the new device uses the patient's eye itself to help collect and process visual data. A small chip is implanted in the rear of the eye, where it converts light into electronic impulses. These impulses are then fed to the optic nerve; patients are trained to interpret the flashes as images. The resulting images were detailed enough for patients to recognize large letters and navigate a room filled with obstacles.

The most successful results came with Miikka Terho, of Finland, who was — within days of receiving the implant — able to read his own name, which had been intentionally misspelled to ensure that he was actually reading the word. Terho was also able to tell time on a clock, as well as identify and locate cutlery and dishes on a table. His prototype implant has since been removed, but he has been promised an upgraded model soon.

Continue reading New Retinal Chip Temporarily Restores Vision for Blind Man

New Retinal Chip Temporarily Restores Vision for Blind Man originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a recent study, researchers at the University of Utah successfully translated brainwaves into words, a huge breakthrough that could eventually give paralyzed patients a new way to communicate. More »

It’s one of those medical anomalies that nobody can really explain: Longitudinal studies have consistently shown that people who don’t consume any alcohol at all tend to die before people who do. At first glance, this makes little sense. More »

You live your life at 2.4GHz. Your router, your cordless phone, your Bluetooth earpiece, your baby monitor and your garage opener all love and live on this radio frequency, and no others. Why? The answer is in your kitchen. More »

We’ll be honest: we thought SSDs would suck down most of platter-based storage’s milkshake by now — that magnetic disks would follow tapes into obscurity. Alas, SSDs are still niche items, and Toshiba is doing all it can to keep them that way, demonstrating a successful prototype of a new storage technique called bit-pattern recording that currently generates a storage density of 2.5Tb per square inch. That’s about five times more dense than the company’s current offerings, achieved by placing individual bits onto lithographed “islands” of magnetic material. This protects the charge of the individual bits and allows those sectors to be much smaller. Toshiba suggests we won’t see these until 2013, but now we’re left wondering what’s next… can engineers stuff even more bits onto these things?

Toshiba demonstrates successful BPR HDD, is 2.5Tb per inch a platter’s last stand? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 07:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first prototype of a Nao robot that can develop emotions as it interacts with a human caregiver has been completed. A team across Europe was led by Dr. Lola Cañamero of the University of Herefordshire in the UK to develop the bot, which differs in several significant ways from those that came before it. These robots develop over time in much the way that a child does, learning to interact with and respond to the human beings around them. Modeled after human and chimpanzee childhood development paths, they are programmed to be highly adaptable to the people around them, and to become attached to whatever person is most suited to its needs and ‘personality’ profile. Over time, the more they interact, the more they learn and bond to the human being. These little ones, moreover, are capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, including anger, frustration, fear and happiness. The next steps are to research the bots’ emotional and non-linguistic behavior, and to move toward combining linguistic and non-linguistic communication to become further attached and adapted to them. Yes, we want one.

Prototype of robot that develops emotions on interacting with humans officially complete originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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University of Calgary succeeds in building a neurochip out of silicon, human brain cells originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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