01.03.11

NASA's Tasty-Sounding O/OREOS Mission Launches Today to Study Life's Origins In Outer Space

A nanosatellite no bigger than a loaf of bread -- and named after cookies -- is set to launch today to study the origins of life in the universe. Its name stands for Organism/Organic
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To Thwart Distracted Driving, US Government Considers Cell Phone Jammers in Cars

The Obama administration is considering disabling cell phones in American cars, aiming to cut down on distracted
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In First Stem Cell Stroke Trial, Scottish Patient Has Embryonic Stem Cells Injected Into His Brain

This week, doctors drilled a hole into a Scottish truck driver's head and injected his brain with 2 million stem cells, in the first-ever regulated human trial for stem cell stroke
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Proposed Hopping Mars Rover Will Harvest Its Own Fuel

The next generation of Mars rovers may not rove at all, instead bouncing around the planet while harvesting carbon dioxide for fuel. A new Mars hopper concept involves a carbon
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United Nations' First Satellite Will Study Use of Astronaut Excrement As a Fuel Source

Befitting its mission to promote international cooperation and celebrate our shared world heritage, the United Nations is sending a $5 million satellite into space to find out
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Microthreads Enhanced With Human Cells Help Mice Grow New Muscle

Future stitches could be made out of your own muscle cells, ensuring proper re-growth of injured muscle tissues. Researchers in Massachusetts are implanting injured mice with microthreads coated with human muscle cells,
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Astronomers Make Extraordinarily Detailed Map of the Universe's Dark Matter

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have made one of the most detailed dark matter maps ever, taking advantage of the dark matter's own gravitational effects to bring it into the light. The map suggests massive galaxy clusters may have formed earlier
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James Webb Telescope Project Project Reviewed and Reorganized In Wake of Massive Cost Overruns

The James Webb Space Telescope threatens to eat the budgets of other missions Huge cost overruns caused by mismanagement of the James Webb Space Telescope are delaying NASA's keystone science
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New Biometric Software Tracks Unique Eye Movements For Identification

Biometrics, harrumph. Meet eyeometrics - a new system that tracks not the shape, but the unique movement patterns of your eyes, for simpler, more reliable security. The
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US Carbon Trading Shuts Down, While Other Nations Step In To Fill the Void

America's only nationwide carbon trading market will shut its doors next month, a tacit acknowledegment that Republican gains in Congress spell doom for any sort of federal greenhouse
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New Breed of Variable-Pressure Touchscreens Harnesses Quantum-Mechanical Phenomenon

Tapping a principle of quantum mechanics and a medieval-looking nanoparticle, a UK firm has created a composite material that may soon deliver efficient, pressure-sensitive touchscreens to numerous
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Qatar unveils awesome solar stadium designs for 2022 World Cup

As soccer fans prepare for next month's World Cup, 11 nations around the world are already vying for the one that starts 12 years from now. Qatar's plans, unveiled Friday, won't bring 3D images of soccer action to your doorstep, but the stadiums will probably be worth visiting
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iPhone 4: the wait is over

For those out there that simply cannot wait to get their hands on the latest version of Apple’s iPhone and have been champing at the bit to get any indication of when it will be released, the good news is the end is nigh. According to a recent Apple press release published in full at
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Warning signals: Mobile phones, radiation and the human brain

Per Segerbäck lives in a modest cottage in a nature reserve some 120km northeast of Stockholm. Wolves, moose and brown bears roam freely past his front door. He keeps limited human company, because human technology makes him physically ill. How ill? On a walk last summer, he ran into one of
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Video: Yale's Grab Lab Demonstrates an Unmanned Helicopter With a Grabbing Hand

Researchers at Yale's Grab Lab aren't about to let the nuances of rotary-wing flight restrict what unmanned aerial vehicles can do. A team there has developed a hand-like modular grasping and manipulation platform that can be fitted to the bellies of UAVs to provide them
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Flight attendant meltdown recreated by Hong Kong TV station

Who needs cover shots and voiceover when you can digitally re-create the moment? That's what staff at a Hong Kong TV station must have thought when they heard about the US flight attendant who made a hasty exit from his aircraft following an incident with a passenger this week. Steven Slater,
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Nanotech Makes Single Molecule Glow, Showing New Promise For Tiny Optoelectronics

For the first time, scientists have observed a single molecule emitting light when sandwiched between broken segments of a carbon nanotube. The new device emitted
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UK-designed smart house learns your desires and adjusts to make you happy

Smart house tech is about to go a step beyond your average energy-efficiency monitoring systems. What about a house that prepares a fresh pot of coffee when you wake up, plays your favorite music without being told to, and sets the thermostat to your ideal setting? Now that's
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Some Japanese Patients Shun Robot Helpers, Throwing High-Tech Future of Elder Care Into Doubt

In Japan, robot-led weddings, robot factory workers and even squeaky robot pets
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MIT's Self-Assembling Solar Cells Recycle Themselves Repeatedly, Just Like Plant Cells

Plants are extremely efficient converters of light into energy, more or less setting the bar for researchers creating photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity. As such, researchers are constantly trying to mimic the tricks that millions of years of
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WIN a Garmin Nuvi 1690 GPS!

For your chance to WIN one of three Garmin Nuvi 1690 GPS devices (valued at $599 each), email us at [email protected] with the subject line ‘The Buzz August Comp’ and in 25 words or less: What was your first family car
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Gorilla glass LCD panels make it easier to monkey around

Arguably, the greatest thing about the initial release of the Wii—Nintendo’s faux-next-generation console that makes use of motion control for most of its games—was the subsequent release of many, many videos of ‘Wii accidents’. Looking up this simple phrase in YouTube will reap hundreds
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Non-physical controllers should only be complementary

Ever since the dawn of the television remote control, we’ve been led to believe that any media item that can be controlled must be done so by way of a physical controller. Even the Nintendo Wii with all of its fancy motion-control interaction still requires the user to hold a physical controller
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Tangible omnipresence: is it the (creepy) way of the future?

It was not so long ago that I was pointing out the potential pitfalls of our ever-growing obsession with digital (read: impersonal) forms of communication. Whether its sending emails, texts, instant
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Is Google to be trusted?

Maybe it’s the semi-jaded side of me, perhaps it’s the fact that I like to explore the possibilities of a Jason Bourne-esque conspiracy theory or possibly I occasionally have too much time on my hands, but Google seems to be increasingly hitting headlines with (arguably) ‘justifiable’
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Could we survive without the internet?

There are certain points of social evolution that once crossed, it becomes difficult to imagine how life could ever return to a time before their profound advent. And for every Fight Club-loving anarchist who not-so-secretly wishes the contemporary world could return to a simpler time,
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Kraft proves further that the cure for everything is chocolate

It wasn’t so long ago that Kraft was issuing a challenge to the general populace. They had specially labelled jars of Vegemite that offered everyday folk the chance to help in naming the latest variation of their popular spread. With some 48,000 suggestions, you wouldn’t have been mistaken
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There are some things a gadget will never be able to replicate

In an age where there’s a gadget solution for almost everything (even for things that don’t seemingly need a gadget), there’s still not a gadget solution for absolutely everything – and I doubt there ever will be such a time where this changes. You may have
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Quantum Hackers Use Lasers to Crack Commercial Quantum Encryption Without Leaving a Trace

Quantum cryptography is one of the most secure known means of transmitting data, due to the fact that even if a third party does intercept a quantum signal, that interference changes the encryption key, making the tampering apparent to parties at both ends. But a handful
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LEDs Dethrone Compact Fluorescents as King of Eco-Friendly Lightbulbs

Never mind that twisty compact fluo­rescent. The new energy-efficient way to light your home is with LEDs. An upcoming crop of bulbs draw 12 watts or less, edging out a typical fluorescent, and they have a more conventional shape, contain no mercury, and last at least
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