Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
BOOK LIST | Guilty Robots, Happy Dogs: The Question of Alien Minds
The alien minds are of animals. The question: Can robots mimic them? Oxford Univ. Press, 2008, 252 p., $34.95. GUILTY ROBOTS, HAPPY DOGS: THE QUESTION OF ALIEN MINDS
- Tech
I, computer
Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.
- Physics
Catching the cell in action
A light microscope with high resolution may enable scientists to view the 3-D structures within living cells.
- Tech
The flap on dragonfly flight
New experiments have revealed an aerodynamic trick that dragonflies use to fly efficiently — a trick that engineers could exploit to improve the energy efficiency of small aerial vehicles with a similar design.
- Health & Medicine
Testing nanoparticles
Testing the toxicity of dozens of nanoparticles en masse may offer a faster track to medical applications.
- Computing
Scientists Get a 2nd Life
The virtual world of Second Life offers new ways to do and learn about real science.
- Tech
Down with the transistor
A new type of electronic component could shrink computer chips and make them more powerful.
- Humans
A Proposed NSF for Innovation
Researchers with the Brookings Institution have just published a blueprint for tackling what they perceive as a brewing innovation crisis. They propose that Uncle Sam create a federal agency to focus squarely on helping home-grown companies increase their innovation, productivity and profitability.
- Tech
Power from heat
A more efficient material that converts heat into electricity could make a new kind of solar panel possible.
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- Tech
Finding mass graves from on high
Aerial surveys that scan the ground at many wavelengths, some visible and some not, may offer a way to quickly and easily detect mass grave sites.
