Robots Building Robots (Or At Least Parts Of Robots)

Intelligent Design: Scientists Create Robot Which Can Build Its Own Tools -- Daily Mail

It sounds like a bad sci-fi film: A group of scientists build an robot intelligent robot, give it the ability to build its own tools, and arm it with a gun.

Thankfully, while the first part is true, the gun on this occasion is just a glue gun.

Still, the reality of a tool-building robot is a scary enough thought, with the team from the science and technology university ETH Zurich building a robot which can built its own tools to carry out its missions.

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My Comment: news like this always makes me wonder on where is all of this heading to in the next decade or two.

Rating Insect Stings

The 10 Most Painful Stings On The Planet, By The Self-sScrificing Man Who Tried 150 Different Varieties In The Name Of Science -- Daily Mail

Justin Schmidt's colourful descriptions include how the sting of a yellowjacket wasp is like 'W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue'

Most of us will have felt the pain of a bee sting. Luckily most of us will have avoided the dreaded pain of a tarantula hawk or a fire ant.

Justin Schmidt felt all three of these - and 147 other horrible, burning sensations - after a dedicated life-long career devoted to insects.

On numerous fieldwork trips, The University of Arizona entomologist would find himself digging up living colonies of creatures, who in turn were not happy with this destructive human scooping them into bags - and promptly sank their fangs, stingers or pincers into him.

Still, no pain, no gain, and Schmidt turned his experiences into the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, ranking 78 species in a list which, while subjective, was put together by the man who must surely know best, ranking their pain on a scale of 1 to 4.

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My Comment: Ouch

The U.S. Army And It's Smartphones

Nett Warrior Returns From The Dead -- DoD Buzz

WHITE STANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — Most had left the Army’s Nett Warrior program and it’s futuristic eye scope in the expensive trash heap of Future Combat Systems. But it lives on here where soldiers test the glorified smartphones that Army leaders want its squad leaders carrying on the battlefield.

Soldiers like Staff Sgt. Jesus Vasquez and Sgt. First Class Frederick Chinlever wear Motorola Atrix smartphones inside a green case mounted to their chests connected to Rifleman Radios on their backs. They can’t make calls on it, but they can see fellow soldiers’ positions, mark IED and enemy positions, and even text each other.

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My Comment: The technology is already out there .... but as well use it.

Green Energy From Beneath The Waves

An underwater generator developed by a Maine firm was tested on riverbeds and the seafloor. Ocean Renewable Power Company

Tidal Turbines: New Sparks Of Hope For Green Energy From Beneath The Waves -- Christian Science Monitor

After decades of abandoned plans and crushed prototypes, tidal powers finds new footing off the shores of Eastport, Maine.

Eastport is used to being on the fringe of things – the easternmost city in the United States, a remote outpost of Maine's poorest county, and one of the westernmost communities of the Bay of Fundy, home to the world's most dramatic tidal swings.

But in recent years, this community of 1,600 has found itself at the center of an industrial enterprise that its people thought had abandoned them for good: harnessing the tides to generate electricity. Amid Eastport's abandoned sardine factories and often-empty storefronts, engineers have been testing a new generation of tidal turbines that could power the region's homes and businesses without having an adverse effect on the environment, fisheries, or the beautiful views of the forested islands of neighboring Canada.

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My Comment: Every little bit helps.

Morphing Robots and Shape-Shifting Sculptures

This graphic illustrates the creation of morphing robot-like mechanisms and shape-shifting sculptures from a single sheet of paper in a method reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. The robotic and artistic designs are made up of building blocks called "basic structural units," or BSUs. Each BSU contains two segments joined by a creased hinge, and many BSUs are linked together to create larger structures. (Credit: Purdue University)

Morphing Robots and Shape-Shifting Sculptures: Origami-Inspired Design Merges Engineering, Art -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2012) — Researchers have shown how to create morphing robotic mechanisms and shape-shifting sculptures from a single sheet of paper in a method reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

The new method, called Kaleidogami, uses computational algorithms and tools to create precisely folded structures.

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Is Amazon Changing The Rules For Books And Movies?

Amazon Studios is crowdsourcing movie-making, creating test movies that fans can review, with storyboard art in the place of video. This image is from a possible upcoming release called "Touching Blue." (Credit: Amazon)

How Amazon Is Changing The Rules For Books And Movies -- CNet

The online retail giant is tapping its huge customer base and vast technical underpinnings to reshape the way books, movies, and television programs are made.

If you want a glimpse into the way Amazon sees your digital future, look no further than Jeff Ragsdale's new book, "Jeff, One Lonely Guy."

Last October, after being dumped by a girlfriend and mired in depression, Ragsdale posted a flier around New York City on a whim that read, "If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me." It listed his mobile phone number. Calls streamed in, by the dozens, then the hundreds, and now well into the tens of thousands.

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My Comment: They have the loyal fan base.

TV Remote Control Inventor Eugene Polley Dies At 96

A 1955 advertisement for Flash-Matic, the first wireless TV remote control

TV Remote Control Inventor Eugene Polley Dies At 96 -- BBC

The inventor of the television remote control has died at the age of 96, his former employer has said.

Zenith Electronics said Eugene Polley passed away of natural causes on Sunday at a Chicago hospital.

His 1955 invention, Flash-Matic, pointed a beam of light at photo cells on each corner of the TV, turning it off and on and changing the channels.

His invention was a luxury add-on in the days before hundreds of cable television channels.

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My Comment: This is an invention that has influenced .... and is still influencing .... everyone.

Apple Again The World's Most Valuable Brand

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Apple Again The World's Most Valuable Brand; Google Third -- CNet

Apple took the top spot for the second year in a row, beating out IBM, Google, and McDonald's to assume the position of the world's most valuable brand.

Another day, another Apple victory.

At $183 billion, Apple is the world's most valuable brand, according to Millward Brown Optimor's annual BrandZ study. Apple was last year's most valuable brand, as well, though the company's value jumped 19 percent over last year's $153.3 billion tally.

Millward Brown Optimor's findings, which were released today, are based on a company's financial data, market intelligence, and consumer opinions related to brand equity.

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My Comment: Steve Jobs is smiling somewhere.

Famed SETI Astronomer Jill Tarter Retiring

Image: ET-hunter Jill Tarter will look for funds instead of aliens. Credit: SETI Institute

Famed SETI Astronomer Retiring, Says Discovery Of Alien Life ‘Very Close’ -- National Post

Jill Tarter has devoted most of her adult life to the mission of scanning the sky, in the hopes of one day discovering a signal from above that would finally reveal that human beings are not alone in the universe.

One of the world’s most famous astronomers, she has spent nearly 30 years as the director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., the world’s preeminent scientific organization devoted to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and astrobiology, or simply, the evidence of aliens.

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My Comment: She will be missed.

Chrome Is Not The Number One Browser On The Web

Chrome Browser Usage Artificially Boosted -- PC World

Tech blogs were abuzz yesterday over the news that Google Chrome had topped Internet Explorer in global browser market share. But the source for this story was StatCounter, which Microsoft has accused of using a somewhat flawed methodology. The other major traffic measurement site, Net Applications, reports IE as having a comfortable 54 percent of browser usage this month, with Firefox in second place with 20.20 percent and Chrome in third with 18.85 percent.

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My Comment: Now I know why Microsoft was quiet on yesterday's news that Chrome had become the number one browser on the web .... they knew that it was not true.

SpaceX Rocket Is Launched Successfully Toward The Space Station

SpaceX Rocket Lifts Off For Space Station Trial Run -- Reuters

(Reuters) - An unmanned rocket owned by privately held Space Exploration Technologies blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday for a mission designed to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

The 178-foot (54-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:44 a.m. (0744 GMT) from a refurbished launch pad just south of where NASA launched its now-retired space shuttles.

Less than 10 minutes later, the rocket delivered its cargo - a Dragon capsule with 1,200 pounds (544 kg) of supplies for the station crew - into orbit.

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More News On The Successful Launch Of SpaceX

Private supply ship rockets toward space station -- Boston.com/AP
SpaceX launches vehicle to dock at International Space Station -- Washington Post
SpaceX Rockets Toward Space Station -- and History -- Sci-Tech Today
NASA hails SpaceX launch as 'a new era' for spaceflight -- L.A. Times
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says launch 'a giant weight ... off my back' -- L.A. Times
SpaceX Launches for Space Station—Like "Winning the Super Bowl" -- National Geographic

Stroke: Everything You Need To Know

CSN Editor: The gallery starts here.


Stroke: Everything You Need To Know -- The Guardian

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the UK and across the world. What is stroke, how many people does it kill and how are mortality rates changing?

Does Pumping Groundwater Raise Sea Levels?

For many crops around the world, farmers must supplement rainfall with irrigation — and much of this added water comes from underground reservoirs. Globally, extraction rates now greatly exceed that of groundwater recharge, and have begun raising sea levels.Cinoby/Istockphoto

Pumping Groundwater Raises Sea Level -- Science News

Two new studies flag an underreported factor in global ocean change.

Pumping groundwater, some 70 percent of it to irrigate crops, has recently become a potent force in global sea-level rise, two new studies conclude.

It sounds obvious: Once brought to the surface, water will eventually run into the seas, says hydrologist Yoshihide Wada of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. But until now, most major assessments of factors affecting sea-level rise — such as those reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — ignored the role of groundwater extraction, he says. For instance, the IPCC has assumed that groundwater extraction would be largely balanced by river water impounded by dams.

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My Comment: If true .... this is a serious problem. Especially since much of our food is produced using irrigated water.

Apple And Microsoft Are Arming For The Patent Wars

Inside the reverse-engineering lab at Rockstar, Scott Widdowson is looking for products that infringe on the company's 4,000 patents. Photo: Rockstar

How Apple and Microsoft Armed 4,000 Patent Warheads -- Wired Enterprise

In many ways, Scott Widdowson is your typical electrical engineer. Most days, when the weather’s good, he bikes the 15 miles along the Ottawa River to his company’s offices in the west end of the Canadian capital. Once there, he settles in for a day of reading technical specifications, poring over computer textbooks, or prying apart consumer electronics — logic probe in one hand and a soldering iron in the other.

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My Comment: I suspect that this group is very busy.

Pre-Orders For Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone Shoot Up To Nine Million

Samsung Galaxy S3

Pre-Orders For Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone Shoot Up To Nine Million - Meaning Phone Will Sell As Many On First Day As Predecessor Sold In Six Months -- The Daily Mail

The Samsung Galaxy S3 looks set to follow its predecessor as one of the biggest-selling phones of the year.

More than nine million people have already pre-ordered the Android-powered smartphone, with the phone due out at the end of the month,

The amount is extraordinary, considering the S2 - which battled with the iPhone to be the world's biggest-selling phone last year - took about six months to sell 10million phones, and 11 months to sell 20million.

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My Comment: This phone is hot.

Why People Climb Mt. Everest In May?

Mount Everest from Kalapatthar. Pavel Novak

Why Does Everyone Climb Everest In May? -- Popular Mechanics

This past weekend, scores of adventurers tried to ascend the world's tallest peak—and not all of them made it alive. We asked a geographer who's climbed Everest why this is about the only time of the year to try it and whether he saw any bodies on his trip to the top.

The AP reported this morning that three climbers who attempted to scale Mount Everest this weekend died and that two more were still missing. But about 150 climbers managed to summit the world's highest peak on either day—including a 73-year-old who became the oldest woman to reach the zenith.

Why is everyone ascending Everest in May? To find out, and to get other answers to our questions about Everest, we talked to John All, a geographer at Western Kentucky University. All climbed Everest in 2010 via the Northeast ridge and has spent a year collecting data on climate change at Nepal's base camp.

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My Comment: Yup .... it all comes down to the weather.

Witnessing The Death Of An Exoplanet

Artist concept of the curious events going at the star named KIC 12557548. Credit: MIT

Doomed Mercury-Sized Exoplanet May Be Turning to Dust -- Universe Today

The old saying of the universe being stranger than we can imagine definitely applies to a newfound exoplanet orbiting a star about 1,500 light years from Earth. Researchers using the Kepler space observatory have detected what appears to be a planet about the size of Mercury literally turning to dust. A long tail of debris — almost like a comet’s tail — is following the planet as it whirls around the star, KIC 12557548. Scientists think the planet could be evaporating under the blistering heat of the star, and that by analyzing the dust, they could decipher the history of the planet. But they better hurry. According to the team’s calculations, the planet will completely disintegrate within 100 million years.

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My Comment: I suspect that the info that they are getting is awesome.

Telerobotics Wil Make It Possible For Robots To Explore The Surface Of Mars

Awaiting Commands Three generations of Mars rovers, seen at JPL's test site. The small one is the first Mars rover, Sojourner, which landed on Mars in 1997. On the left is a Mars Exploration Rover Project test rover that is a working sibling to Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004. On the right is a Mars Science Laboratory test rover the size of Curiosity, which is on course for landing on Mars in August. NASA/JPL-Caltech

With Telerobotics, Astronauts Orbit Mars While Robots Explore the Surface -- Popular Science

Humans could avoid the dangers of landing on Mars.

Getting humans to Mars is a challenge in several steps, with the most difficult and dangerous likely to be the descent. Landing safely on another world is hard for a rover, let alone a spacecraft carrying people. But telerobotics could offer a unique alternative — send the people to the planet, but keep them in orbit, and deploy robots to the surface to do the difficult stuff.

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My Comment: You probably can use robots to explore the surface of Mars .... but lets face it .... having a living person is far more "exciting and attention grabbing" than having a machine do it.

SpaceX Will Try To Launch Tomorrow

Photographers work on their remote cameras as the SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket is being prepared for a second launch attempt from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Floriday on Monday. Michael Brown/Reuters

How One Faulty Nitrogen-Purge Valve Forced SpaceX to Abort -- Autopia

SpaceX has replaced a faulty valve that led to the aborted launch attempt early Saturday morning and is currently planning a second launch attempt at 3:44 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 22. The first launch attempt was unsuccessful after a last-half-second shutoff occurred due to higher than acceptable pressure in the combustion chamber of one of the Falcon 9′s Merlin rocket engines.

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Update: SpaceX Will Try 1st Private Cargo Run Again Tues. -- ABC News/AP

My Comment: As for the launch, it will be carrying one VIP.

Mongolia Wants Its $1m T-Rex Back

The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar will be sold at Heritage Auction's Natural History sale on May 20. It is estimated between $950,000 and $1.5 million. Source: Heritage Auctions via Bloomberg

Disputed Dinosaur Fossil Auctioned For $1M In NYC -- CBS

NEW YORK — A dinosaur dispute is brewing between the Mongolian government and an American auction house, which sold a fossil of a fearsome T. Rex relative despite a court order not to.

The 8-foot-tall, 24-foot-long skeleton of a Tyannosaurus bataar — or tarbosaurus, a name that means "alarming lizard" — went for $1,052,500 Sunday at a New York auction, says Heritage Auctions, which hasn't identified the buyer or seller. But the sale is contingent on the outcome of the Dallas-based auction house's court fight with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the auction house said.

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Update: Dinosaur fossil auctioned for more than $1M in NYC despite dispute with Mongolian government -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: There's money in those bones.