Stormtroopers and Tusken Raiders aren't always known for their warm and cuddly sides. After all, these folks either work for Darth Vader or enjoy kidnapping helpless moisture farmers.
All about Hi-Tech
Showing posts with label Crave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crave. Show all posts
5/12/2015
Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson explain why you should support solar sailing
Inspiring words from an inspiring guy.The Planetary Society
As I reported earlier this year, The Planetary Society is soon planning to explore the heavens with a unique and lightweight solar sail called LightSail. While the Society -- which is the world's largest nonprofit space advocacy group -- had originally raised enough funds from private contributors to develop LightSail, it's now turning to the public again and asking for help to take things to the next level through a just-launched Kickstarter campaign.
4/26/2015
Is Ultron inevitable? PBS video explores whether AI is out to get us
With "Avengers: Age of Ultron" beginning its international theatrical release this week, the time seems right to talk about whether artificial intelligence could really one day surpass human intelligence and set out on a mission to destroy humanity. In PBS' latest episode of "It's Okay to be Smart," host Joe Hanson explores the possibilities in a clip titled "Is Ultron Inevitable?"
4/23/2015
Drug-buying robot cleared of all charges
The returned installation.!Mediengruppe Bitnik
When does a robot want to buy ecstasy pills? When it's part of an art installation about the deep web, the portion of the internet not indexed by most search engines. Random Darknet Shopper by Switzerland-based art group !Mediengruppe Bitnik was recently displayed as an installation as part of exhibition The Darknet -- From Memes to Onionland at the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen.
4/22/2015
'Daredevil' gets a second season on Netflix
Charlie Cox proves justice is blind in "Daredevil."Netflix
The Man without Fear -- aka Daredevil -- will be protecting Hell's Kitchen in New York City for another season now that Netflix has renewed Marvel's popular, gritty superhero series.
4/21/2015
Robotic kitchen will be your own personal chef
Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET
Experimenting with different flavours and techniques to produce something delicious can be as satisfying as sitting down and eating it -- but if you don't have the time to cook every night, it can quickly become just another chore.
4/20/2015
'Thor's Helmet' is a strikingly beautiful, messy nebula
With a blue dome made from X-rays and wings created by superheated gas, nebula NGC 2359 is a fitting tribute to a certain Norse god.J.A. Toala & M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y.-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), R.A. Gruendl (UIUC), S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, D. Verschatse & R. Gilbert (SSRO-South) and ESA
With "Avengers: Age of Ultron" set to debut in just a few days in the UK, perhaps the European Space Agency has caught a touch of superhero fever. Surely that must be why ESA just chose a nebula known as "Thor's Hammer" (or much more boringly as NGC 2359) as a featured space science image on its website.
4/19/2015
NASA's Dawn gazes at Ceres' sunlit north pole
Ceres' north pole shines in the sunlight.NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
NASA's intrepid Dawn mission set a record on March 6 when it became the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet. Space watchers followed Dawn's approach through a series of images ranging from a far-off fuzzy dot to the latest view, an animation showing Ceres' north pole dramatically lit up by the sun.
4/16/2015
How ancient 'zombie worms' screwed up valuable fossils
In 2002, biologist Robert Vrijenhoek from The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute was searching for deep-sea clams in Monterey Canyon when he came upon strange red worms feeding on a whale carcass. After some lab work, Vrijenhoek and his fellow researchers determined that he had discovered a brand new species of worm, which he called Osedax, and popular culture quickly called it the "zombie worm" because of its penchant for devouring bones. (Yes, you and I both know zombies eat brains, but there you have it.)
Since the discovery, it's been assumed that the worms evolved with whales about 45 million years ago because they're often found chowing down on the bones of dead whales on the seafloor. New research, however, says the red-colored bone eaters evolved a lot earlier than that -- at least 100 million years ago -- when they dined on the bones of prehistoric animals like sea turtles and plesiosaurs (aquatic reptiles with long necks). In doing so, they might have literally devoured much of the fossil record left behind by such animals.
"Our discovery shows that these bone-eating worms did not co-evolve with whales, but that they also devoured the skeletons of large marine reptiles that dominated oceans in the age of the dinosaurs," researcher Nicholas Higgs said in a statement. Higgs is a research fellow at the Marine Institute of the UK's Plymouth University who helped make the new discovery. "Osedax, therefore, prevented many skeletons from becoming fossilized, which might hamper our knowledge of these extinct leviathans."
Higgs and his colleagues at the university examined fossil fragments from a plesiosaur found in Cambridge and a sea turtle found in Kent, England. They then used a CT scan to make a computer model of the bones that revealed bore holes that matched up to the trail Osedax would leave in its wake.
The way they produce those bore holes is one of the things that makes Osedax worms especially fascinating. They don't have a mouths or stomachs. Instead, they shoot out "root-like tendrils through which they absorb bone collagen and lipids that are then converted into energy by bacteria inside the worm," says the university.
"The increasing evidence for Osedax throughout the oceans past and present, combined with their propensity to rapidly consume a wide range of vertebrate skeletons, suggests that Osedax may have had a significant negative effect on the preservation of marine vertebrate skeletons in the fossil record," said lead researcher Silvia Danise of Plymouth's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.
"By destroying vertebrate skeletons before they could be buried," Danise added, "Osedax may be responsible for the loss of data on marine vertebrate anatomy and carcass-fall communities on a global scale."
Thanks, Osedax.
The researchers' work was published this week in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters.
4/15/2015
Cards Against Humanity starts scholarship for women in science
Cards Against Humanity has shown its true colours. Outing itself as Cards Against the Humanities, it has announced the formation of the Cards Against Humanity Science Ambassador Scholarship.
The full-ride scholarship will be funded by proceeds from the adults-only card game's latest expansion -- the aptly themed Science Pack -- and is for women seeking undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the so-called STEM subjects).
A planet like Star Wars' Tatooine just became more science than fiction
When Luke Skywalker stares off toward the horizon of Tatooine at a double sunset in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," we know we're watching a moment of pure science fiction. At least, that was the assumption until now, as it appears that the science may have just caught up with the fiction.
Brik Case turns your MacBook into a Lego playground
The Brik Case on Kickstarter kicks off its project description with a disclaimer. It's not affiliated in any way with Lego, Mega Bloks, PixelBlocks, KRE-O or K'Nex Bricks. Now that we have that out of the way, let's move on to exactly how fun this product looks.
SnapPower USB electrical outlet coverplate requires no wiring
Smartphones, tablets and gadgets, oh my! Wall warts suck all the space out of our electric outlets. If only every outlet also came with a separate USB port. Oh wait...they all can. The SnapPower Charger coverplate on Kickstarter wants to transform all your outlets into USB charging stations.
4/14/2015
Tweets by new 'Daily Show' host Trevor Noah come back to haunt him
Fans of "The Daily Show," the humorous news program run by longtime host Jon Stewart, found out who would step into their departing hero's shoes this weekend. South African comedian Trevor Noah, who has logged a few appearances on the show, is taking over the reins on Comedy Central.
Awww. Watch R2-D2 fall in love with the droid he's looking for
A long time ago, in a galaxy not very far away at all, R2-D2 set out on a journey to find true love.
"Artoo in Love" is a short film by writer and director Evan Atherton that follows the whimsical "Star Wars" droid as he tries to court a pretty peculiar choice of partner, only to discover after trying to win her over that she belongs to another. Now heartbroken, Artoo sadly and aimlessly wanders through the streets of San Francisco and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, until he makes a discovery that could change his life forever.
Poison Ivy vs Groot: Just one matchup in eBay's DC/Marvel smackdown
It's a question that little kids -- and, apparently the folks at eBay -- never seem to get tired of: who would win if you pitted certain Marvel and DC heroes or villains against each other?
Fancy a game of Pac-Man? Head to Google Maps
Ever imagine what it'd be like to play a monster game of Pac-Man through the streets of your hometown? Now you can, sort of, as Google has built a fully playable game of Pac-Man into Google Maps.
4/13/2015
Golfer and 'Game of Thrones' fan? Build a Five Iron Throne with spare clubs
Everyone could use his or her very own Iron Throne from the hit TV series "Game of Thrones." Now golf enthusiasts can build a Westerosi royal seat using 300 metal golf clubs -- instead of the swords of their defeated enemies.
Adam West and Burt Ward team up for new 'Batman' animated film
The original Batman and Robin will team up once more for an animated film featuring the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder.
Aziz Ansari turns to Reddit for dating advice in his new book 'Modern Romance'
Aziz Ansari has turned to Reddit for relationship advice for his new book. The comedian and "Parks and Recreation" star consulted the social networking site as research for his new book on love in the age of technology, entitled "Modern Romance".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)