Are we ever going to use antimatter to drive a starship?
Are we ever going to use antimatter to drive a starship? The question is tantalizing because while chemical reactions liberate about one part in a billion of the energy trapped inside matter – and even nuclear reactions spring only about one percent of that energy free – antimatter promises to release what Frank Close calls…
How MMA Fighters Use Plastic Surgery to Bleed Less
For many MMA fighters, surgeon Frank Stile offers the ultimate combo: more fighting and less bleeding. Watching the blood drive known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship one evening in 2007, Las Vegas plastic surgeon Frank Stile sat talking to his guests about the unfortunate nature of cuts. Eventually, the question was posed: Wouldn’t it be…
How would a tsunami form in the Atlantic Ocean?
As Japan assesses the toll of yesterday’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami, onlookers half a world away are likely wondering if a similar force of nature could strike in the Atlantic. The short answer? It’s improbable, but not impossible. Tsunamis have been a phenomenon primarily located around regions of intense geological activity, such as fault…
Simon the robot can tell when it’s being ignored, and try to get your attention
A new robot can tell when it’s being ignored, and it politely and subtly gets a person’s attention. Researchers say the new computer vision system could help robots and humans interact more effectively, by allowing robots to use the same social cues as people. Simon the robot, developed at Georgia Tech’s Socially Intelligent Machines lab,…
This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: Spring Break ’88
Hey, remember 1988?! Of course not, you weren’t even born yet. But for those of us who lived through the MTV Spring Break broadcasts of decades past, Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island crew couldn’t have found a more perfect pitch. The rest of the best top comedy videos from the week can be found…