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b00n3s

Technology

Boeing's Latest Mobile Laser Weapon Tracks and Shoots Down Drone

By Clay Dillow Posted on 11.18.2009 12 Comments
Boeing has just announced it successfully tracked and shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle with a laser weapon. Actually, it shot down five UAVs at various ranges with the trailer-mounted Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX).

12.2.2009 at 12:44pm - Comment by b00n3s

@jessicowhite "Sounds cool! Now lets see if we can get a smaller version of this for duck hunters." Remember, you don't want your goose cooked before you clean it.
Technology

FDA Approves Gene-Testing Device for Doctor's-Office Prescription Screening

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 12.2.2009 3 Comments
Drugs can affect different patients in unexpected ways, because of each person's unique genetic makeup. Now a newly FDA-approved device that screens blood for genetic variations within hours could allow physicians to choose the drug that best suits a particular patient, according to Technology Review.

12.2.2009 at 12:30pm - Comment by b00n3s

"The cartridge then goes into the Verigene device, where mechanical vales and air pressure mix different chemical reagents in separate chambers to produce different reactions." I believe "vales" is really "valves". Interesting product though.
Technology

Find Your Twitter Friends In Real Life With an Augmented Reality iPhone App

By Stuart Fox Posted on 12.2.2009 4 Comments
Like most Internet applications, Twitter connects you with people who seem to exist in a vast, abstract, cyberspace. Now, a new iPhone app from the French company Presselite uses augmented reality to show you exactly where your friends are tweeting from.

12.2.2009 at 12:18pm - Comment by b00n3s

I'd be interested to know if there is any kind of block the friend can put in place if they don't want to be found. If there is, there should be a counter block for parents. Like an override.
Technology

Scientists Stun Nematode Worms With UV Phaser Straight Out Of Star Trek

By Stuart Fox Posted on 11.19.2009 13 Comments
Star Trek introduced the world to a wide range of fictional technology, most of which, like beaming or warp drive, will likely remain fiction. However, a team of scientists from the University of Canada has taken the phaser, the show's famous stun-laser, out of the TV and into reality. Unfortunately, right now it only works on worms.

12.1.2009 at 12:06pm - Comment by b00n3s

Nothing is impossible, just highly improbable to succeed. If it can be imagined, it can be worked on. Since when has a perceived impossibility stopped us from making the discoveries necessary to make the impossible possible?
Technology

Wearable Artificial Intelligence Could Help Astronauts Troll Mars for Signs of Life

By Clay Dillow Posted on 11.5.2009 7 Comments
Not since RoboCop has being a cyborg seemed so very cool. University of Chicago geoscientists are developing an artificial intelligence system that future Mars explorers could incorporate into their spacesuits to help them recognize signs of life on Mars' barren surface.

11.5.2009 at 11:20am - Comment by b00n3s

I wonder if the ai has curiosity.
Science

NASA Scientist to Distraught Dupes: The World Won't End in 2012

By Clay Dillow Posted on 10.20.2009 31 Comments
As it turns out, the end is not near after all. While you can't keep a good doomsday rumor down, NASA Senior Scientist David Morrison is trying to dispel widely circulated rumors that cosmic events will lead to the end of life on Earth, if not outright destroy the planet, on Dec. 21, 2012.

10.21.2009 at 10:23am - Comment by b00n3s

Armageddon is about the final battle between "GOD" and "Satan". Now, wether or not that is the end of the world as we know it is a different discussion. The end of the world as we know it could be brought upon us by anything; a new invention, a natural disaster, or by our search for knowledge uncovering something we can't control. Either way, the end is of the old which begins something new.
Technology

Video: Autonomous Indoor Copter Drone Steers with Laser Scanner

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.19.2009 4 Comments
MIT's robotics whizzes have created a new flying drone that can navigate unknown indoor areas all by itself. The tiny helicopter manages its explorations by using an onboard laser scanner to map out walls and windows. The researchers started with a quad-rotor helicopter developed by Ascending Technologies GmbH, and outfitted the micro aerial vehicle with sensors and instruments galore. Their laser scanner setup combines with a mapping algorithm to help compensate for the lack of GPS navigation in most indoor areas.

10.19.2009 at 01:18pm - Comment by b00n3s

I see a future in law enforcement for you, young Copter
Gadgets

Scientists Find Fundamental Maximum Limit for Processor Speeds

By Adrian Covert Posted on 10.23.2009 21 Comments
Silicon wafers. Quantum computing. Light-based processors. Any way you slice it, scientists say that processor speeds will absolutely max out at a certain point, regardless of how hardware or software are implemented. Lev Levitin and Tommaso Toffoli, two researchers at Boston University, devised an equation which sets a fundamental limit for quantum computing speeds. According to their studies, a perfect quantum computer can generate 10 quadrillion more operations per second than fastest current processors. They estimate that the maximum speed will be reached in 75 years.

10.19.2009 at 09:35am - Comment by b00n3s

You know, for a while there I forgot that we were talking about the limits of processors. So many good arguements about tachyons (a hypothetical particle from what I can understand). I do agree with the idea that faster-light-transmission isn't viable, but to say that the tachyon can't exist period is in my opinion so wrong. It should read more like "The tachyon can't exist in any observable-by-us-in-our-current-orientation dimension." Hmm, sounds just about right. I love to here others opinions, so feel free to comment.
Science

The Bond Breaker

By Melinda Wenner Posted on 10.22.2008 4 Comments
Why are there so many diseases and so few cures? It’s not just that medicine moves slowly; chemistry holds us back, too. To build drugs, chemists start with a base molecule, then add and subtract atoms from it one by one in a sequence of reactions. The process is tedious and wasteful—a 10-step reaction might convert only 8 percent of the starting material into the right end product. And that’s if chemists can make the drug at all.

10.23.2008 at 09:57am - Comment by b00n3s

The idea behind alchemy was to turn dull, drab common metals into precious metals like gold. To do that would require the fusion of two elemental atoms into ONE different elemental atom. What the article is talking about is the chemistry of atomic bonds, not atomic fusion.
DIY

Remote Control Authentication

By Dave Prochnow Posted on 10.20.2008 3 Comments
What's better than RFID tags? Your own fingerprints, of course. No batteries needed, no electronic eavesdropping devices, and no storage problems. They're always convenient and, well, they're always at your fingertips. The only problem with using fingerprint biometric controls is finding a suitable fingerprint reader. And, no, we're not talking about that archaic monstrosity used at the local cop shop, either. We're talking about an small, inexpensive fingerprint reader that just needs a swipe of your precious digit for unleashing a torrent of programming power.

10.22.2008 at 07:26am - Comment by b00n3s

Can it start your car too?