Even if one was allowed to make a volcano explode, creating the flows of interest looks impossible In "Too Hard for Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated. For instance, they might involve machines beyond the realm of possibility, such as particle accelerators as big as the sun, or they might be completely unethical, such as lethal experiments involving people.
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Feed SubscriptionBill Gates Takes On Education’s Biggest Bureaucratic Beast With Video Games
As states scramble to understand new educational standards, Gates eyes an opening for video games. Around the country, a new career-minded education standard is slowly edging out the old academic focus on Lord Of the Flies book summaries and five-paragraph essays. So far 42 states have pledged to adopt the (coercively) voluntary standards championed by President Obama, the National Governors Association, and billionaire education crusader, Bill Gates
Read More »Science on the White House Lawn
“Ooh, science!” said the mom, two little ones in tow. “We like science!” I was at the Lawrence Hall of Science station during the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House yesterday, a tradition since 1878.
Read More »Truvia’s Test: Can Diet Sweeteners Go Natural?
Illustration by Dan Winters When supersecretive agriculture giant Cargill decided to attack the no-calorie-sweetener market dominated by Sweet'N Low, Splenda, and Equal, it sent its best marketers and scientists to basement war rooms and covert labs. Only now can the inside story of Truvia -- and its unlikely success -- be told. SAYS ZANNA MCFERSON , plucking a stevia leaf from a plant on her desk and biting into it, "I knew there had to be something we could do with it." Through the expansive windows of her corner office at Cargill's headquarters, an Aspen-like mega-lodge on the outskirts of suburban Minneapolis, she stares out at the snowy pines and at the horizon beyond
Read More »Too Hard For Science? A Digital Panopticon
Collecting all digital data on people could yield key insights into our nature, but violate privacy In "Too Hard For Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated.
Read More »Earth and environment science projects favored by entrants in Google Science Fair
The fuel of the future isn't gasoline, ethanol or even hydrogen--it's education. Specifically, the science and engineering education that will enable a fresh group of smart young people to tackle the world's ongoing energy crisis. Solve the energy crisis and you go a long way's toward solving a host of environmental problems: pollution, environmental health risks, climate change, to name just a few
Read More »Too Hard for Science? Creating naked singularities
Neutrino beams might create such enigmas, but dare we risk making anything so unpredictable? In "Too Hard for Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated
Read More »Too Hard For Science? The Adventures of a Biomolecule in a Cell
Following the motions of a specific molecule inside a cell is no easy task In "Too Hard For Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated. For instance, they might involve machines beyond the realm of possibility, such as particle accelerators as big as the sun, or they might be completely unethical, such as lethal experiments involving people.
Read More »Regeneration: The axolotl story
Last week, the science community was set a-buzz with a new study that showcased the unique relationship between salamanders and algae.
Read More »Too Much Information? Noninvasive Genetic Tests for the Unborn
Today expectant parents concerned about the diseases that could afflict their unborn children don’t have a lot of options. Blood tests can determine whether parents carry mutations for such genetic diseases as cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs, but they can’t determine whether the baby will inherit them
Read More »DARPA Designing Augmented Reality Goggles to Fight Friendly Fire
Remember how the Beastmaster could see through the eyes of his pet eagle? DARPA does.
Read More »Too Hard For Science? The Sense of Meaning in Dreams
In dreams, could we discover where the mysterious feeling of revelation comes from? In "Too Hard For Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated. For instance, they might involve machines beyond the realm of possibility, such as particle accelerators as big as the sun, or they might be completely unethical, such as lethal experiments involving people.
Read More »Researchers discover way to create true-color 3-D holograms
(PhysOrg.com) -- Satoshi Kawata, Miyu Ozaki and their team of photonics physicists at Osaka University in Japan, have figured out a way to capture the original colors of an object in a still 3-D hologram by using plasmons (quantums of plasma oscillation) that are created when a silver sheathed material is bathed in simple white light. The discovery marks a new milestone in the development of true 3-D full color holograms. In their paper, published in Science magazine, the researchers show a rendered apple in all its natural red and green hues.
Read More »Short Story Science: Lenina Versus the Pneumococcus
Today is January 28, and Lenina has a smashing headache; she is a Streptococcus pneumoniae researcher. Not that this was the main reason for the headache, but an important meeting was being held today to launch the Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network’s [PMEN] new paper in Science . Oddly enough, her role at the meeting is to summarize the history of Streptococcus pneumoniae prior to her group’s latest bit of information
Read More »Direct Thought Control of a Computer’s Cursor: Say Hello to Your Mind-Reading PC
A science team has, for the first time, engaged a brain-reading electrode setup to allow a computer's cursor instructions to come from a living, thinking human brain.
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