Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, has said that the search giant would not build a database capable of recognising individual faces even though it is increasingly possible.
All Articles
Researchers at Tufts University’s Biomimetic Devices Laboratory are building robots that imitate the movement of caterpillars, one of the most efficient power-building animals in nature.
A new milk carton-size printer developed by the Vienna University of Technology may allow users to download and print anything from earrings to replacement machine parts to silverware.
Dead regions of the heart can be brought back to life using nanotechnology—new research out of Brown University could help heart attack patients recover their most vital organ.
The same people who brought you Wikileaks are back, and this time, they’ve created a virtual currency called Bitcoin that could destabilize the entire global financial system. Bitcoin is an […]
Criminal Implications of Implantable Medical Devices Since the dawn of the 1970′s television action show the Six Million Dollar Man, the public has been fascinated by bionics and the integration […]
Is free will real, or is just one of our happy illusions? As it turns out, the answer might not matter as much as our belief in the answer does. […]
Have you had days that you would just like to erase out of existence? Or maybe burn away, collect the ashes and let the wind carry them as far away […]
A $10 million competition to create a mobile device that can diagnose illnesses could threaten to replace doctors in less than a decade.
Today is May 18 and that marks the date of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington that killed 57 people (video). I don’t have an elaborate post […]
When arrested in 1936 during a protest over the dismissal of 500 artists from the WPAFederal Art Project, Lee Krasner told the unsuspecting police officer processing her that her name […]
One of the more exciting frontiers in geology is that of planetary volcanology – that is, how do volcanoes work on other planets. We know at least a few in […]
Yale University didn’t wait for federal civil rights officials to determine whether the presence of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was contributing to a hostile sexual environment. The University has […]
So one of our BIG THINKERS, Daniel Honan, gave us a fine introduction to one of the biggest ideas around, THE END OF HISTORY. Daniel is right that the idea […]
“Unless you love, your life will flash by.” These are the last words of the voice-over for Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life trailer. There isn’t much that distinguishes them from […]
At American University, students can study dimensions of the climate change challenge across multiple disciplines including environmental science, communication, public affairs, business, and international relations. This spring two students in the School […]
Scheduled to launch in 2012, M.I.T. has developed a satellite the size of a loaf of bread that will search for Earthlike planets beyond our solar system—or exoplanets—that could support life.
Will homo sapiens define a geological period in the way dinosaurs—and their vanishing act—helped mark the Jurassic and the Cretaceous? Yes, say scientists, for better or worse.
The Holographic Principle is one of several clues suggesting that the concept of “space” is an elaborate illusion—it seems to have plenty of room to hold stuff, yet it doesn’t, writes George Musser.
Stephen Hawking recently said that the afterlife is a fairy tale for people “afraid of the dark”. He compares the mind to a computer—once its component parts stop, the whole operation ceases.
N.A.S.A. Administrator Charles Bolden recently spoke about private development of the American space program, getting help from the Russians and the future of deep space missions.
A group of astrophysicists believe they have discovered the first potentially habitable exoplanet, named Gliese 581d. And there could be billions more just like it.
Humanity is on the verge of making the transition off of Earth, making physicist and space activist Gerard K. O’Neill’s vision of space colonies ever closer to reality.
As more and more SlutWalk marches against sexual violence and victim blaming take place across the country and overseas, the movement is attracting criticism from some feminists who regard the […]
When I moved to Halifax Nova Scotia, where I live now, I was told that people in the Maritimes were happy to set their friends up for love and romance. […]
Power changes how we make decisions. That’s what I thought when I first read about Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s debacle – and the escapades that have apparently preceded it. Actually, the first […]
After last week’s steam-driven phreatic explosions, it might have been expected that Bulusan would go back to being quiet – that has been the pattern for over 8 months since […]
The working class job of tomorrow is going to be a digital job. The American economy can’t stay afloat and the workforce stay working unless we teach kids digital technology.
Environmental impact is often forgotten in the stampede to get the latest tech-toy. Apple has been accused of making it hard to fix or upgrade its latest iMacs. Should you care?