Cool stuff brought to you by SCIENCE:
Researchers at Harvard University have successfully created a functioning, respirating human ‘lung’ on a chip in a lab. Made using human and blood vessel cells and a microchip, the translucent lung is far simpler in terms of observation than traditional, actual human lungs (for obvious reasons), in a small [...]
by VorJack
I was reading through the old Slacktivist archives and laughing at his deconstruction of Left Behind. LeHaye and Jenkins did a miserable job of, among other things, predicting what their “not to distant future” would look like. They made no real attempt to predict technological change, and their work looked dated as [...]
by VorJack
Here’s an interesting new trick for certain laptops, via NPR:
By downloading a free program, you and your laptop could help researchers pinpoint earthquakes and even sound an early warning to surrounding areas.
Newer models of laptops manufactured by companies like Apple and Lenovo contain accelerometers — motion sensors meant to detect whether the computer has [...]
The Google Blog has a fascinating blog post about a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on Google’s servers. It originated from China and they believe the primary goal was “accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.” Here is Google’s explanation and response:
In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure [...]
by Jesse Galef
Those of you who also follow my posts at FriendlyAtheist know I’m a huge fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson. I think he’s an excellent science communicator and role model. He’s so enthusiastic about science and he makes others interested through his exuberance.
Back story (taken from the youtube info):
TIME recently went to interview [...]
A lot, at least if we were to replicate it with our current technology:
According to Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist at Stanford University, a robot with a processor as smart as the human brain would require at least 10 megawatts to operate. That’s the amount of energy produced by a small hydroelectric plant. But a [...]
I’ve been hearing the more radical conservatives complaining about a new “Obama internet kill switch” that is being concocted to destroy our freedoms. For instance, here’s what Norman E. Hooben (“Stormin’ Norman”) says about it:
There has been some publicity lately about the Dictator and his Czars taking over the control of the Internet…and believe it [...]
You already knew that, but I’m going to rant about this anyway.
I have a business account with paypal that I use for a business of mine. In general, things have been fine — until about a month ago, when I logged in and couldn’t access any of my account history. Nothing recent and nothing old. [...]
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