Earlier this year, scientists confirmed the presence of gravitational waves, a cosmological feature first predicted by Albert Einstein. In recognition of this remarkable achievement, the scientists involved in the study have won the $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize.
For the first time in history, a woman has given birth to a baby after receiving a womb transplant. The mother and child, both of whom are said to be doing well, offer hope to women the world over with missing or non-functional uteruses who desire to carry their own children to term.
A new study suggests that kinetin, a chemical frequently used in anti-aging creams, could be used to develop a treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Forget regenerating your youthful skin—this chemical could be used to reverse the cell-death that causes, the deadly disorder which afflicts more than a half-million people…
It seems as though every day we read (and write) about another amazing new breakthrough, be it medical, technological, epicurean, or other. And then we wait... and wait... and wait... and... hey, just a minute. Where'd that quantum computer go?
One image can change the way we see the world, especially in science. From photographs of movement that's too fast for the human eye to perceive, to atomic force microscope images of atomic bonds, pictures created by new technologies have often catalyzed scientific discovery. More than tools of discovery, though,…
Liquid crystals - yes the same as the ones in your calculator — may soon save lives: they'll be detecting deadly bacterial infections. It turns out liquid crystals are incredibly sensitive to endotoxin, a lipid that's found on the outside of many bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella.
The tobacco mosaic virus is a destructive beast infecting over a hundred different species of plants, including tomatoes. But it may have a weird eco benefit: Incorporated into lithium batteries, it can increase storage capacity ten times.
Chill them enough and some atoms creep up walls or stay still while the bowl they sit in rotates, thanks to a quantum effect called superfluidity. Now molecules have got in on the act.
It may look like some diagrams and a few blobs, but what you're seeing here is nothing short of a nanotech revolution. Four nanorobots made of DNA are interacting on an "assembly line" in order to build a tiny device.
A new element has been created, and it's so massive they call it "superheavy." Element 117 on the periodic table is currently known as ununseptium, and was made when scientists smashed together some atoms from the elements calcium and berkelium.
Scientists have developed a new type of semiconductor structure—using microscopic crystals called magnetic quantum dots—that could more than double current hard drive storage capacity. That's just for starters.
Venerable journal Science has announced its top breakthroughs of 2009, and topping the list is a breakthrough in evolutionary biology. It's the discovery of Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4-million-year-old hominid skeleton that reveals how homo sapiens' ancient ancestors looked and lived.
Another day, another innovation from MIT researchers. This time, it's a camera built in the middle of a 25mm fiber sheet, which might be the coolest invention we will never use (save for an appearance in Splinter Cell 10).
AU Optronics unveils 0.69mm ultra-thin mobile device panel and multi-touch coolness [AU Optronics]
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MIT have developed a battery that uses carbon nanotubes and paper to make a flexible battery that can be cut by scissor and could eventually be printed. The energy density is fair, at about 110mAh/gram, and small prototypes are powerful enough to power small fans.…
IBM trash-talks all those other chipsters with its latest breakthrough, an optical transceiver chipset that can accomplish the technological equivalent of cramming a basketball through a garden hose. The trick here is moving data through fiber optic cables at 160GB per second; that's eight times faster than today's…
Two companies blurted out some boisterous bluster today, saying they have laser TV technology that can smack down LCDs and plasma displays because their idea costs half the price, looks twice as good, is half the weight and thickness, and only uses a quarter of the electricity. Big talk.
Seasoned scientists at EEStore say they've created a battery made of glass- and aluminum-coated ceramics that could allow electric motors to completely replace the internal combustion engine. The inventors, erstwhile Xerox PARC and IBMmers, boast about the car's efficiency, saying it'll be so cheap it'll be as if…
In the search for that holy grail, the everlasting battery, not much has been accomplished over the 200 years since old man Volta rolled out the first crude battery back in the dark ages. Now those whiz kids at MIT are using nanotube structures to create new super batteries by using energy storage doodads called…
