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Smartphone and gaming tech offers the vision-impaired the promise of better lives, for much less than the cost of a guide dog. By combining imaging, display, and sensing technology honed for smartphones, with games consoles and systems like Microsoft's Kinect, Oxford scientists have designed a set of high-tech glasses that could radically change the life of people suffering from a number of vision-impairing disorders.

While you won't have any trouble finding a way to learn Spanish, French, or German in the United States, brushing up on your Lakota or Navajo isn't so easy.

Thomas Levet shot a 1-under 70 in windy conditions to win the French Open, beating Thorbjorn Olesen and Mark Foster by a stroke Sunday.

Rickie Fowler made six birdies in his opening 10 holes for a 6-under 64 to share the third-round lead with World Golf Championship winner Nick Watney at the AT&T National on Saturday.

Vijay Singh has pulled out of the AT&T National with a back injury.

PGT: With five birdies over his last six holes, K.J. Choi had a 6-under 64 and built a two-shot lead over four players

Editor's Note: William Gilly , a professor of biology at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, embarked on new expedition this month to study jumbo squid in the Gulf of California on the National Science Foundation–funded research vessel New Horizon . This is his sixth blog post about the trip. [More]

What's been happening this week in the world of robotics?

If seeing the putts drop for birdie were not enough, K.J. Choi noticed his gallery growing and getting more exciting for him Friday at Aronimink in the AT&T National.

James Morrison of England shot a 5-under 66 Friday to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the French Open.

The French parliament voted on June 30 to ban the controversial technique for extracting natural gas from shale rock deposits known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the web sites of Le Monde and other French media reported .

PGT: Adam Scott made a couple of long birdie putts and hit a 5-iron within 2 feet for birdie on the 14th hole on his way to a 4-under 66 on Thursday to share the AT&T National first-round lead with Hunter Haas.

By swapping one superconducting material for another, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have found a practical way to boost the efficiency of the world's fastest single-photon detector, while also extending light sensitivity to longer wavelengths. The new tungsten-silicon alloy could make the ultrafast detectors more practical for use in quantum communications and computing systems, experiments testing the nature of reality, and emerging applications such as remote sensing.

Editor's Note: William Gilly , a professor of biology at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, embarked on new expedition this month to study jumbo squid in the Gulf of California on the National Science Foundation–funded research vessel New Horizon. This is his fourth blog post about the trip. [More]

By combining advanced laser technologies in a new way, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have generated microwave signals that are more pure and stable than those from conventional electronic sources. The apparatus could improve signal stability and resolution in radar, communications and navigation systems, and certain types of atomic clocks.