Technology
Two NASA robots are surveying a rocky, isolated polar desert within a crater in the Arctic Circle. The study will help scientists learn how robots could evaluate potential outposts on the moon or Mars.
The robots, K10 Black and K10 Red, carry 3-D laser scanners and ground-penetrating radar. The team arrived at Haughton Crater at Devon Island, Canada, on July 12 and will operate the machines until July 31. Scientists chose the polar region because of the extreme environmental conditions, lack of infrastructure and resources, and geologic features. Also, Haughton Crater is geographically…
Game over. Computer scientists at the University of Alberta have solved checkers, the popular board game with a history that dates back to 3,000 B.C.
After 18-and-a-half years and sifting through 500 billion billion (a five followed by 20 zeroes) checkers positions, Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer and colleagues have built a checkers-playing computer program that cannot be beaten. Completed in late April this year, the program, Chinook, may be played to a draw but will never be defeated.
"This is a tremendous achievement—a truly significant advance in artificial intelligence," said Dr. Jaap van den…
A singing computer scientist wants to use cutting-edge technology to create Europe's first successful Internet choir.
Dr Barry Cheetham, a senior lecturer in The School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester, is seeking to combine his academic expertise in communications, networks and digital signal processing with his love of choral singing.
He is looking for funding to drive forward a project that will bring together amateur and semi-professional singers across Europe for seamless and polished live performances.
Credit: Barry Cheetham
But to make this possible he will have to…
Jesse Sullivan, a double amputee from Dayton, Tenn., has been called the world's first "bionic man" with his thought-controlled, state-of-the-art prosthetic arm. He can eat with a fork, pick up a cup, paint his house or guide a weed eater by bending his advanced appendage's elbow and rotating its forearm. But he still cannot grasp and throw a baseball, cast a fishing line, tie his shoes or type on a computer keyboard as naturally as before.
That may change with the help of numerous organizations including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, some 50 miles north of Sullivan's hometown.
In 2001…
Engineers at the University of Hertfordshire have developed the first hydrogen-powered racing car which they will race this weekend.
A £5,000 grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry has made it possible for John Goddard and James Waters, two PhD students in the University’s new Sustainable Energy Technologies Centre to convert a Formula Student racing car into a hydrogen-powered vehicle.
This is the first time that a hydrogen-powered racing car has been developed anywhere in the world. It will produce zero CO2 emissions, will be fuelled by ‘green’ hydrogen produced from farm waste, and…
Our bodies, and the biological brilliance built in, are able to move with elegance and efficiency using a combination of appropriate biomechanics, neuronal control, and adaptivity.
Simulating that with technology has so far eluded technological advances because of the motor coordination of complex multi-joint movements and the complicated nature of their dynamics.
Yet now scientists at the University of Göttingen have simulated the neuronal principles that form the dynamics of human walking in a robot.
"RunBot", as it is called, lives up to its name – it holds the world record in speed…
Computer graphics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed systems for editing or altering photographs using segments of the millions of images available on the Web.
Whether adding people or objects to a photo, or filling holes in an edited photo, the systems automatically find images that match the context of the original photo so they blend realistically. Unlike traditional photo editing, these results can be achieved rapidly by users with minimal skills.
“We are able to leverage the huge amounts of visual information available on the Internet to find images that make the…
From the deepest seafloor to the highest mountain, from the hottest region to the cold Antarctic plateau, environments labelled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics. Investigating life processes in extreme environments not only can provide hints on how life first appeared and survived on Earth (as early earth was an extreme environment) but it can also give indication for the search for life on other planets.
To examine these issues and other matters the European Science Foundation (ESF) has published a 58-page report, "…
Insects make up more than half of the known animal species on our planet and they can be found in all kinds of habitat and feed on all kinds of nutrients. They can even be used in evidence in court cases. So we are talking about forensic entomology.
The work of the Forensic Entomology Service in the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) involves drawing up a census of insect species of forensic interest.
These are basically necrophagous diptera, i.e. flies that live on dead tissue, cadavers. Such flies detect a dead body in a question…
LaCie has announced it has boosted the capacity of its d2 SAFE Hard Drive to 1TB in a compact 2 x 6 x 7in casing.
The d2 SAFE hard drive is designed to keep intruders away from private data, and comes equipped with a biometric sensor, 128-bit AES hardware encryption technology, and chain lock port for maximum protection against unauthorized use.
Up to 10 fingerprints (five users with minimum two prints each) can be registered with personal and customized access privileges such as full access to the disk (read/write) or read-only. Once registered, a simple finger swipe locks and unlocks the…