Technology
sciencetolife | June 7, 2007Three different research groups have show that normal mouse fibroblast cells can be reprogrammed to resemble embryonic stem cells. The significance of this accomplishment has been likened to the cloning of Dolly-the first mammal cloned.
Embryonic stem cells are important as therapeutic agents due to their ability to become any type of cell in the body. According to this Nature news article, until now the only way to obtain embryonic stem cells was to destroy an embryo which raised ethical concerns. Furthermore, to get a genetic match for a patient would be extremely difficult.
The new…
purepedantry | May 30, 2007Researchers have discovered cows with genes that allow them to make skim milk:
Herds of cows producing skimmed milk could soon be roaming our pastures, reports Cath O'Driscoll in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Scientists in New Zealand have discovered that some cows have genes that give them a natural ability to produce skimmed milk and plan to use this information to breed herds of milkers producing only skimmed milk.
The researchers also plan to breed commercial herds producing milk with the unique characteristics required to make a butter that is spreadable straight…
purepedantry | May 30, 2007Memory for computers is getting pretty large, but it is still based on basically the same system that it was several years ago. They have just gotten better a fabricating them.
It is an interesting question to ask whether we could store memories in alternative substrates such as biological ones. The idea is an intriguing one, particularly when we are talking about neurons, because while the capacity of biological networks isn't infinite, it is pretty damn large. Just think of the system for long-term memories in your brain. The fact that you can remember your first grade teachers name…
omnibrain | May 26, 2007Here's what PsyBlog has to say about Omni Brain:
Best humorous (but still scientific) psychology blog
The danger with mixing science and humour is slipping into the 'geek trap' where clever people try to be too clever. Omni Brain easily avoids this. Funky finger pictures on this post about sexual orientation and finger length.
Just to let you guys know... the only way we avoid being too clever is by not actually being very clever ;) haha...
Thanks for the props!
Check out the rest of their psychology blog reviews (which are great!) here.
Oh, and the beanie baby Freud doesn't have anything…
omnibrain | May 23, 2007Ok... not really at home (Are they really suggesting in the picture that you can do it yourself?). There are now some relatively simple consumer devices on the market that will let your Psychiatrist wave his magic wand over your head, helping to alleviate your depressive symptoms in his office without checking you into a hospital and knocking you out. I'm curious whether they need an MRI before doing this procedure? It doesn't look like it's too precise. In any case... here's the device:
And a description from Engadget:
The devices employ a technique known as transcranial magnetic…
drorzel | May 21, 2007So, back in November, I bought a new car, which came with a six-month free trial of Sirius Satellite Radio. That's about to run out, and while it does have its good points, I'm not really interested in paying money to listen to the radio.
What I would prefer is to be able to play my iPod in the car. Which I can do at the moment, using one of those little FM transmitter things. The problem with this is that it requires a clear FM frequency to work, which means it's essentially useless in any major metropolitan area (or at least in Boston and NYC, which are the cities we visit most frequently…
purepedantry | April 30, 2007They didn't need to go out and make artificial snot. It's allergy season...I got plenty for them right here:
Researchers at The University of Warwick and Leicester University have used an artificial snot (nasal mucus) to significantly enhance the performance of electronic noses.
The researchers have coated the sensors used by odour sensing "electronic noses" with a mix of polymers that mimics the action of the mucus in the natural nose. This greatly improves the performance of the electronic devices allowing them to pick out a more diverse range of smells.
A natural nose uses over 100…
jlynch | April 25, 2007I'll admit to spending way too much time lurking at Fark.com. Today the site underwent a re-design and the punters aren't happy. The new layout is ugly (particularly on a wide screen), it loads slooooow, and Firfox extensions no longer work. People on this thread are complaining and things are being made worse by an idiot moderator ("Jeff") telling people - even paid subscribers - to essentially STFU. Pity. It was good while it lasted.
drorzel | April 18, 2007I've got another long lab this afternoon, so I'm stealing an idea for an audience-participation thread from James Nicoll:
Name five things we didn't know in the year that you were born that make the universe a richer place to think about.
This is actually a really interesting exercise for showing how rapidly the world has changed in the last N years. I'm not all that old-- to put it in pop-culture terms, the Beatles broke up before I was born-- but when I try to think about the landscape of science since then, it's astonishing how much the world has changed:
My own field of laser cooling,…
retrospectacle | April 10, 2007Not a huge deal, but hey, its exciting to me to get a facade of legitimacy. ;)
drorzel | April 2, 2007We've been having some problems with our DSL service at Chateau Steelypips again, which has gotten me thinking about the design of devices that are annoying to use. It occurs to me that you might use a sort of control to indicator ratio as a measure of how irritating a device is to use.
This is prompted by the fact that our home network contains two devices, a DSL modem and a wireless router, each of which has four indicator LED's on the front. These LED's have a couple of different states each-- when either devices is functioning properly, they're steady green, but they can also blink, and…
omnibrain | March 27, 2007Sometimes when I'm futzing around the web looking for interesting pieces of news a theme just seems to pop out at me. Today it happens to be the over reliance and distractions of technology.
The first story is an old one...
The elderly German motorist set out sans a clue of what route(s) he'd be taking to reach his destination, but obviously felt that his trusty navigation unit knew far more about the highways and byways than he did. After blatantly ignoring a prominent "closed for construction" sign, he threw common sense to the wind and put that 4MATIC system to good use by wheeling over…
cevans | March 27, 2007
Welcome to the second in an ongoing series of Interviews with authors of Science Fiction. I'm lucky to have had a chance, recently, to review Portland local Thomas A. Day's A Grey Moon Over China, a totally postapocalyptic epic that takes the ongoing cultural fear of an energy crisis to a particularly dark and alienating place in the cosmos. He's an interesting writer for his sense of grand scope -- in the complexity of the narrative and the breadth of time it represents -- but also because of his background: he's worked in the aerospace industry, flown night-cargo planes, and developed…
omnibrain | March 20, 2007It was one year ago today that I made the first post to Omni Brain. I never imagined we would do this well.
In the last year Omni Brain has undergone many many changes, the biggest of which have been Sandra of Neurofuture fame joining the blog, and moving to ScienceBlogs.
We started with not-even 3000 page views in our first full month and now receive tens of thousands of page views and visitors - which is pretty great for a smart ass little science blog! Our Technorati ranking has also grown by leaps and bounds; near 14,000 today.
Thanks everyone, for reading and for all your lively…
jlynch | March 20, 2007
This evening I watched probably one of the coolest live webcasts I've ever witnessed - the second test launch of SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket. Unfortunately, after stage separation, things went a little awry:
To recap, the Falcon 1 rocket blasted off at 0110 GMT (9:10 p.m. EDT) tonight on a demonstration test flight from Omelek Island in the central Pacific Ocean. The first stage engine, which had experienced an abort on the pad earlier tonight due to low chamber pressure readings, powered the rocket skyward for nearly three minutes. The spent stage then separated for a planned parachute-aided…
sciencetolife | March 20, 2007 Science is at its best when it can be translated into useful technologies to improve human wellbeing.
On the dawn of World Water Day (March 22) comes news from Auburn University where chemistry professor Dave Worley has used his research to develop an easily renewable water filtration system ideal for use in developing countries.
According to the Auburn University press release the filtration system, which uses the patented N-halamine technology, contains polystyrene beads that hold oxidative chlorine or bromine atoms for long periods of time.
To activate the filters, chlorinated or…
retrospectacle | March 19, 2007
Which are you? Which am I??!?
My PC, a 2 year old bottom-of-the-line Averatec is on life support. As in, I gotta start planning its funeral quite soon. I can't say that our life together has been blissful, or that I'm even sad to see it go. And if you wanna know the truth (shhhh), I may have even had a hand in its demise. I'm quite abusive to my technological partner, and I don't mind saying so. I'm ready to drop it like its hot (which sometimes the sub-par fan lets it get VERY hot).
About six months ago, one of the Function keys stopped working. As in it is always depressed (ie, ON. I'm…
retrospectacle | March 12, 2007So I got this comment on my post about the "Video Game Mind Control" aka the EEG headset made by Emotiv. Thought I would post is to get a bit more visibility.
Hi guys,
I work at Emotiv and stumbled upon this site by chance.
As you guys seem to have the most knowledge in this area compared to other forums, I can tell you the following:
1. It is an EEG system (new technology that required no gel)
2. It's developed based on the latest breakthoughs in neuroscience. Emotiv has developed a highly sophisicated algorithm (patent pending) to "unfold the cortex" (which individualized across peopl like…
retrospectacle | March 8, 2007Every gamer's wet dream---controlling the game with your mind---may soon be a reality.
Made by Emotiv, its called Project Epoc, and will be demo'd at the Game Developer's Conference this week. This wireless headset if fitted with sensors which, I only guess, can detect changes in blood flow in brain regions. That seems like it would be ridiculously expensive, though. [Edit: Actually it uses EEGs!]
It is connected to different game platforms (from consoles to PCs) wirelessly, enabling gamers to control and influence a game purely by the power of the mind alone. This means even the disabled…
sciencetolife | March 6, 2007 Engineer Joseph Longo has found a way to turn almost any type of trash into a synthetic gas called syngas. For almost 20 years the Bristol, Connecticut-based founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation has been developing a plasma converter-a machine about the size of a two-car garage that can consume nearly any type of waste-from dirty diapers to chemical weapons. It uses a process called plasma gasification which, as explained in an article published by Popular Science Magazine, works a bit like the big bang, only backward (you get nothing from something):
A 650-volt current…