Technology

Humans: The New Supercomputer

A computer can probably beat you at chess and no one goes anywhere without a GPS. Transhumanist prophet Ray Kurzweil says we will ascend into being computers in a few years (though he also claims solar power will out-produce fossil fuels in a decade, so u ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2016 - 12:00pm

Monovision: How Victorian Technology Can Improve Virtual Reality

HANOVER, N.H.- Virtual and augmented reality have the potential to profoundly impact our society, but the technologies have a few bugs to work out to better simulate realistic visual experience. Now, researchers at Dartmouth College and Stanford Universit ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 19 2016 - 12:17pm

World's Tiniest Thermometer Made Of DNA

Researchers have created a programmable DNA thermometer that 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, using a discovery made 60 years ago- that DNA molecules that encode our genetic information can unfold when heated. "In recent years, biochemists als ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 27 2016 - 12:08am

Want To Build Better Computer Games?

If I said I was a licensed architect helping to fight dementia, you’d probably assume I was designing a care home or some similar building. Actually, I’ve been working alongside neuroscientists, psychologists, doctors and programmers to produce a computer ...

Article - The Conversation - May 8 2016 - 7:30am

Why Science Still Matters In The Age Of Big Data

By Vikram Jandhyala&Nitin Baliga, Inside Science- We recently met with a host of biotechnology leaders and were struck by their infatuation with Big Data and machine learning. In fact, upon reflection, it was amazing how often the word "algorithm ...

Article - Inside Science - May 12 2016 - 9:47am

Big Data Deficit: Learning Analytics Don't Tell Us The Way Kids Learn

A big push is under way in higher education to measure how students are learning and how good lecturers are at teaching them. Universities can track how much time a student spent on a learning module or how often they accessed a journal article or online ...

Article - The Conversation - May 18 2016 - 1:23pm

Autonomous Vehicles: The Deal Killer

A chain saw, sporting all the safety interlocks, might still kill you if you use it carelessly. You’re self-confident and you suffer the usual optimism bias. ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Jun 11 2016 - 1:23am

23andMe is Monetizing Your DNA The Way Facebook Monetizes “Likes"

If you paid 23andMe to take a look at your DNA, maybe you wanted to know more than why you like cilantro or are related to Genghis Khan, maybe you thought you were advancing science. Well, you are, in the same old way marketers have long advanced science- ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Jun 22 2016 - 10:57am

Watt a Box: KFC Lunch Will Also Charge Your Phone

KFC is launching a 5-in-1 meal with a built in power bank so you can charge your phone while you eat lunch. Watt a Box is designed to offset the drop in discretionary spend brought on by the moribund economy. One way to gain a competitive advantage over o ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Jun 26 2016 - 8:00am

Lack Of Voluntary Data Sharing From Clinical Trials

There has been plenty of criticism about academic clinical trial reporting mandated by government funding and now a new paper analyzing four companies finds that the private sector is better about it, though results vary. In JAMA, Isabelle Boutron, M.D., ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 29 2016 - 12:51pm