Monthly Archives: January, 2011

Automation Domination: Robotic Hydroponic Lettuce Farm in Belgium

The steady march of industrial automation continues to envelop the world. Many of us have a quaint early 20th century vision of agriculture, but...

DLR Robot Hand is Tough Enough to Withstand a Hammer (video)

Most experimental robot hands are delicate fragile instruments of advanced research. In other words, they're wimps. Not so for the latest fist coming from...

Making Predictions for the Year 2030

We often cover the big names in futurism: Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Michio Kaku, etc, but what about the rest of us? Can't...

The Era of Brain-Based Law through the Eyes of David Eagleman

Law is the distilled essence of the civilization of a people, and it reflects people's soul more clearly than any other organism. -...
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Could Quadrotor Robots Construct Buildings? (video)

What works in teams, can build any tower you design, and makes a horrifically angry buzzing sound? No, not super intelligent construction wasps. Quadrotors....

Paying For Starbucks With Your Smartphone – Now in 6800+ Locations!

Wake up and smell the coffee, techies, Starbucks has made its mobile app payment plan a national phenomenon. Since late 2009, customers at select...

Ultra Sharp 3D Outdoor and Indoor Maps for Mobile and Home

C3 Technologies makes Google Maps look like it was drawn by a toddler. A Swedish offshoot of SAAB, C3 has ultra sharp 3D maps...

Harvard Controls The Minds of Worms…With Lasers! (video)

I love cutting edge science, but sometimes it can seem nefarious enough to make a James Bond villain squeal in delight. Researchers at Harvard...

Holding Signs on the Side of the Road – Robots Take That Job, Too

You've surely seen them: the men and women standing alongside a highway holding a sign that entreats you to "Act Now" and "Save 50%"...

Catching Students (and Teachers) Who Cheat In the 21st Century

Your child's smart phone could be helping them fake their own intelligence. School administrators, teachers, and industry organizations are worried that high tech gadgets...
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China Erects 15 Story Hotel in Less Than 6 Days! (video)

There are many ways to get your message out to people, but one of the most impressive has to be making a building magically...

Our Digital Culture: Hunting for the World’s Strangest Features on Google Maps (video)

Google Earth lets you see the surface of the world in remarkable detail. Turns out there was a lot hiding out there. Since its...

BigThink’s Series on Longevity: A Fun Place To Start (video)

Thinking about living forever? You've got a lot of reading to do...or maybe you can just watch a few videos. The science surrounding longevity...

More and More Thai Robots In Restaurants (video)

Every nation is known for their specialty goods. Switzerland has its chocolates, France has its wine... and Thailand has its robot waiters. MK Restaurant...

Woman Speaks With Her Own Voice After Larynx Transplant

After eleven years, Brenda Jensen is finally able to speak with her own voice, but she's using someone else's larynx to do it. Over...

Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria – “Arms Race” Between Nature and Tech?

A recent spike of infections in the United Kingdom involving bacteria armed with an enzyme that makes them resistant to virtually all antibiotics has...

Robot Domination – Look At The Making of a Memory Card

Every product in your home tells a story. Listening to the memory card in your camera or computer will give you a sneak peak...

Car Radio Powered by Android. Introduce Your Ride to Some Apps (video)

Sure your car can go from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds, but can it play Angry Birds? French wireless specialist Parrot...

Our Robot Culture: R2D2 Statue Made from a Keg of Beer!

Behold, BeertooD2, the keg that is a work of art, and a symbol of my generation. There are few things that my contemporaries love...

Camera Goggles Record Your Extreme Life: Ski, Scuba, Stunts (video)

Whether you're about to die doing something stupid awesome on a mountain, or about to die doing something stupid sweet in the ocean, you're...

Turn Your iPhone into a Robot Factory With LoveBots (video)

I can fit more than a million robots in my pocket. So can you. LoveBots, a fun new iPhone app from Kit-Robot, allows you...

Japanese Scientist To Clone Woolly Mammoth Within 5 Years!

More than a decade after their first attempt, a team of Japanese scientists have announced that they will aim to clone a woolly mammoth...

Blood Tests to Diagnose Schizophrenia, Other Brain Disorders On the Horizon

Nearly all of us know someone who has struggled with mental illness or dementia, and the consequences of these disorders can be especially difficult...

China Completes World’s Longest Bridge – More than 26 Miles!

I'm beginning to think that China's motto for the new century is: bigger, longer, better. Not satisfied with world's fastest supercomputer or the largest...

Russia To Adopt Universal ID Card in 2012

For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, Russia will...

GSK Drops Resveratrol. Could the Embattled Supplement Live on in Other Forms?

Resveratrol has been hailed as the wonder substance, that stuff in red wine that could help you live a healthier and longer life. It...

White House Warns Against Supercomputer Arms Race With China

2010 saw China take the number one spot in the list of the top 500 fastest supercomputers, but advisors to the White House want...

NPR Covers the Singularity – As The Biggest Threat to Humanity! (audio)

Everyone has their own take on the concept of the Singularity. NPR's is a little apocalyptic. One of the National Public Radio's most popular...

iRobot’s AVA Has an iPAD for a Head

Faced with an intellectual problem you just can't handle? Why not swap out your head for a different one? Oh, that's right, you're not...
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Watch the Watson Computer Kick Jeopardy’s Ass (video)

Today is the day computers took over...game shows. In a brief exhibition match in upstate New York, IBM's pure language processing computer, Watson, faced...

So You Think Your Robot Can Dance, Part II (video)

There are times when I'm not sure I'm laughing with someone or laughing at them. This is one of those times. The annual Robot...

Winter is No Match for the ROBOPLOW! (video)

Are the winter months getting you down? Are piles of snow trapping you in your home? Are you in need of a hero? Fear...

Will Lady Gaga’s New Glasses Bring Lifelogging to the Masses?

Pop diva Lady Gaga's latest sunglasses are straight out of a spy movie. Produced in collaboration with Polaroid, and unveiled recently at CES 2011,...

Will The Future of the Internet be Written in Chinese?

English is the most spoken language on the internet, with more than 550 million regular visitors across the globe. Yet just this past year,...

Transcendent Man Film To Be Released in February, Digitally in March (trailer)

Almost two years after it premiered, Transcendent Man is finally making its way to widespread distribution, though maybe not in the way we expected....

Periodic Table Engraved On a Human Hair – Nanotech FTW

In a sure sign that a scientist will try anything once, Professor Martyn Poliakoff has had the periodic table engraved on one of the...

Google Goggles Uses Your Phone to Solve Sudoku and More!

Sorry Sudoku fans, you're about to be beat by anyone with a smart phone. In their latest deviation from the 'don't be evil' motto,...

Robot Ball Controlled by Your iPhone – Video Games Move into Reality (video)

Concerned mothers and congressmen have publicly lamented that children don't know the difference between video games and the real world. Little did they realize...

Rear View Cameras May Become Mandatory in US. Is Safety Trailing Technology?

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently proposed a new regulation to make rear-view cameras mandatory in all new US cars by the...

Eyes are the Gatekeepers of the Uncanny Valley (video)

The poets and philosophers were right, the eyes really are the windows to the soul. Or at least what we perceive to be the...

Robot Sumo Battle…BEGIN! (video)

There are many reasons I love Japan but one of the biggest is definitely their penchant for making robots fight to the death. At...

Electronic Glasses Let You Change Focus In a Split Second. Goodbye Bifocals! (video)

Move over Ben Franklin, we finally have a replacement for bifocals. Virginia-based Pixel Optics has developed a composite lens that can change the range...

Centuries Of Wisdom From the World’s Oldest Man (video)

Watching the world change in three centuries gives you a unique perspective on things. Walter Breuning turned 114 this fall, one of only a...

XWave iPhone Accessory Channels Your Brain Waves into iPhone

Do your friends complain that you can’t pull your eyes away from your iPhone? Well, if you get the new XWave by PLX Devices,...

Diabetes Defeated by a Microchip? Silicon Pancreas Hits Trials

Most people who treat their Type I Diabetes must still rely on pricking their finger and testing their blood several times everyday. Researchers at...

Kindle Rocks in 2010, Survives the iPad

2010 could easily have been the year that the Kindle died a quiet death, buried alongside fellow victims of the Apple empire... the year that...

Google Translate’s ‘Conversation Mode’ Coming To Your Phone

Hundreds of companies are working to hammer down the language barrier, but Google's about to bring in a wrecking ball. For the past year,...

Controlling Video Games With Your Pee – SEGA Brings Awkward Fun to the Restroom

In the early '90s, Sega held 65% of the US video game console market, had millions of fans, and was considered one of the...

XBox Kinect Controls Humanoid Robot (video)

In the future, we might be able to operate robots the same way that we play dancing video games. Taylor Veltrop, a software engineer...

iRobot Unveils Smarter Roomba and Smaller Scooba (video)

iRobot is proud to announce some new additions to their family. The reigning champions of robot vacuuming are looking to stay on top with...
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