Blog Archives

Keeping track of reality

A structural variation in a part of the brain may explain why some people are better than others at distinguishing real events from those they might have imagined or been told about, researchers have found. The University of Cambridge scientists found that normal variation in a fold at the front of the brain called the […] … learn more→

New boulder frogs discovered

Two amazing new species of boulder-dwelling frogs have been discovered by researchers exploring remote areas of Cape York Peninsula. The frogs are completely new to science and have been named and described in a paper just published by Dr Conrad Hoskin from James Cook University and Kieran Aland from the Queensland Museum. Dr Hoskin said […] … learn more→

A heart of gold

A team of researchers at MIT and Children’s Hospital Boston has built cardiac patches studded with tiny gold wires that could be used to create pieces of tissue whose cells all beat in time, mimicking the dynamics of natural heart muscle. The development could someday help people who have suffered heart attacks. The study, reported […] … learn more→

Smarter robot arms

Ask someone with her hands in her lap to pick up a coffee mug on the table she’s sitting at, and she’ll extract her hand from under the table and stretch her arm out toward the mug. Instruct an autonomous robot to perform the same feat, and it may think for a few seconds, zigzag […] … learn more→

Localizing language in the brain

New research from MIT suggests that there are parts of our brain dedicated to language and only language, a finding that marks a major advance in the search for brain regions specialized for sophisticated mental functions. Functional specificity, as it’s known to cognitive scientists, refers to the idea that discrete parts of the brain handle […] … learn more→

Berkeley scientists discover an \’instant cosmic classic\’ supernova

A supernova discovered Thursday is closer to Earth—approximately 21 million light-years away—than any other of its kind in a generation. Astronomers believe they caught the supernova within hours of its explosion, a rare feat made possible with a specialized survey telescope and state-of-the-art computational tools. The finding of such a supernova so early and so […] … learn more→

Will Google get good TV reception? All eyes on Edinburgh

Google chairman Eric Schmidt will make history tomorrow as the first IT/internet executive to deliver the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In doing so, he will face significant challenges. The company is making overtures to the TV industry to collaborate with the US$30 billion a year internet behemoth. Schmidt is expected to […] … learn more→

Google v Facebook: The privacy battle

Social media is the new mantra of life, irrespective of the sex or age group. You name any Tom, Dick, and Harry; you will find him or her on the popular social networking websites like Facebook or Orkut, LinkedIn and so on. If the sweet memory of your lost school or college friend is haunting […] … learn more→

Field to fork: safeguarding livestock health

A staggering 17 billion chickens, almost 10 billion pigs, and nearly 2 billion each of cattle and sheep were produced as livestock worldwide in 2009. And, by 2050, demand for livestock is projected to double. With the added strain of increasing meat production on resources such as land, water, crops and energy, it’s vital to […] … learn more→