Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Everything really is relative
Two tabletop experiments demonstrate the time-warping principle at the human scale.
- Earth
Gulf spill may have been somewhat bigger than feds, BP estimated
Researchers estimate the oil output using a new technique developed for measuring the output of marine hydrothermal vents.
- Tech
A compass that lights the way
Researchers develop a highly sensitive optical instrument for measuring magnetic fields.
- Tech
To tame traffic, go with the flow
Lights should respond to cars, a study concludes, not the other way around.
- Computing
Most influential media Twitter feeds
Computer scientists find surprises when they rank top 100.
- Chemistry
Light-harvesting complexes do it themselves
A new technique could yield solar cells with no repair or assembly required.
- Tech
Tar sands ‘fingerprint’ seen in rivers and snow
A new study refutes a government claim (one echoed by industry) that the gonzo-scale extraction of tar sands in western Canada — and their processing into crude oil — does not substantially pollute the environment.
- Tech
New help for greasy works of art
NMR technique identifies oil stains, guiding art conservation efforts.
- Chemistry
Deep-sea oil plume goes missing
Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.
- Computing
Going viral takes a posse, not an army
Quality of followers, not quantity, determines which tweets will fly
- Humans
Protecting innocent — and not so innocent — bystanders
Technique removes pedestrians from Google Street View images.
- Tech
The people’s pulsar
Thousands of volunteers help discover a neutron star by donating the processing power in their idle home computers.
