News
Hip-hip-Hadoop: Data mining for science
May 30, 2013 11:25 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsThe model of distributed calculations, where a problem is broken down into distinct parts that can be solved individually on a computer and then recombined, has been around for decades. Divide-and-conquer techniques allow scientists to predict complex phenomenon from tornado formation to the qualities of nanomaterials to tomorrow's weather forecast.
Locomotion in confined spaces could help future robot teams work underground
May 30, 2013 11:18 am | by John Toon, Georgia Tech | CommentsFuture teams of subterranean search and rescue robots may owe their success to the lowly fire ant, a much despised insect whose painful bites and extensive networks of underground tunnels are all-too-familiar to people living in the southern United States. By studying fire ants in the laboratory using video tracking equipment and X-ray computed tomography...
The solar duel: China vs. the United States
May 30, 2013 10:42 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | CommentsIn the past decade, the massive expansion of China’s production and export of silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels has cratered the price of those items globally, creating tension between China and the United States, and, more recently, China and the European Union. In a new study (see PDF), MIT researchers explain why these tensi...
Beer-pouring robot programmed to anticipate human actions
May 30, 2013 10:00 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsA robot in Cornell's Personal Robotics Lab has learned to foresee human action in order to step in and offer a helping hand, or more accurately, roll in and offer a helping claw. Understanding when and where to pour a beer or knowing when to offer assistance opening a refrigerator door can be difficult for a robot because of the many variables it encounters while assessing the situation.
For pundits, it's better to be confident than correct
May 30, 2013 9:53 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsIt would be nice to think the pundits we see yelling on TV and squawking on Twitter are right all the time. It turns out they're wrong more often than they are right. Now two Washington State University economics students have demonstrated that it simply doesn't pay as much for a pundit to be accurate as it does to be confident. It's one thing to be a good pundit, but another to be popular.
Diamonds, nanotubes find common ground in graphene
May 30, 2013 9:46 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsWhat may be the ultimate heat sink is only possible because of yet another astounding capability of graphene. The one-atom-thick form of carbon can act as a go-between that allows vertically aligned carbon nanotubes to grow on nearly anything. That includes diamonds. A diamond film/graphene/nanotube structure was one result of new research carried out by scientists at Rice University and the Honda Research Institute USA....
Stanford scientists develop high-efficiency zinc-air battery
May 30, 2013 9:32 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsStanford University scientists have developed an advanced zinc-air battery with higher catalytic activity and durability than similar batteries made with costly platinum and iridium catalysts. The results, published in the May 7 online edition of the journal Nature Communications...
Organic polymers show sunny potential
May 30, 2013 9:25 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsA new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar energy devices. The photovoltaic devices created in a project led by Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and Penn State chemical engineer Enrique Gomez are based on block copolymers....
Labor union decline, not computerization, main cause of rising corporate profits
May 30, 2013 9:23 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsA new study suggests that the decline of labor unions, partly as an outcome of computerization, is the main reason why U.S. corporate profits have surged as a share of national income while workers' wages and other compensation have declined.
Helping advance computational capabilities, expand student research options
May 30, 2013 9:23 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | CommentsMIT’s Computational Reactor Physics Group (CRPG) supports leading-edge research across the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, providing new simulation and modeling capabilities for development and refinement of nuclear reactors. So why does the group’s co-leader, Benoit Forget, counsel his researchers to study the early days of computing for clues on how to accomplish their goals?Forget’s answer speaks to CRPG’s critical r...
The formula for turning cement into metal
May 30, 2013 9:21 am | by EurekAlert! | CommentsIn a move that would make the Alchemists of King Arthur's time green with envy, scientists have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. This makes cement a semi-conductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips.
Microsoft aims to simplify with Windows 8.1
May 30, 2013 9:19 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE - AP Technology Writer - Associated Press | CommentsMicrosoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows. It's making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar format designed for personal computers. The revisions to Windows 8 will be released...
Americans talk, surf more than Europeans on cells
May 30, 2013 9:16 am | by PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer | CommentsAmericans pay more for their cell service than Europeans, but they're getting a lot more use out of their phones, a global wireless trade group said Wednesday. In releasing the report, GSM Association urged European regulators to take cues from the U.S.
Microsoft aims to simplify things with Windows 8.1
May 30, 2013 9:02 am | by The Associated Press | CommentsMicrosoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows by making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar format designed for personal computers. The revisions to Windows 8 will be released later...
Timberlake to headline iTunes festival
May 30, 2013 8:40 am | by The Associated Press | CommentsJustin Timberlake will be the headliner when the iTunes festival kicks off in September in London. The superstar is among the acts slated for the annual music series, which will be held each night that month and streamed on Apple Inc.-made devices like the iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. Fans can see...
