Comments

Solace

Science

Liquid Cooling Bags For Data Centers Could Trim Cost and Carbon By 90 Percent

By Clay Dillow Posted on 11.17.2009 10 Comments
Server farms are undeniably awesome in that they store huge pools of data, enable such modern phenomena as cloud computing and Web-hosted email, and most importantly, make the Internet as it stands today possible. The downside: data centers get very, very hot. Cooling huge banks of servers doesn't just cost a lot, it eats up a lot of energy, and that generally means fossil fuels.

11.17.2009 at 07:10pm - Comment by Solace

If keeping server farms cool is so expensive, why not build some in a place that's naturally cold?
Technology

How Much Power Does The Human Brain Require To Operate?

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 11.6.2009 21 Comments
According to Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist at Stanford University, a robot with a processor as smart as the human brain would require at least 10 megawatts to operate. That's the amount of energy produced by a small hydroelectric plant. But a small group of computer scientists may have hit on a new neural supercomputer that could someday emulate the human brain's low energy requirements of just 20 watts--barely enough to run a dim light bulb.

11.6.2009 at 04:16pm - Comment by Solace

Except that each neuron is more like a small computer than a transistor (varying degrees of one-or-more of thousands of neurochemicals for a yes/no signal?), and that glial cells (10X more common) also have processing power, and we don't know how the inside of either of those cells work. Oh, and also software is harder to make than hardware; we still haven't got an ai that's as smart as an ant. So, we're more than slightly away from the laptop-human.
Technology

Armored Airbags to Protect Vehicles from RPGs and Roadside Bombs

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 11.6.2009 18 Comments
Despite the vehicles' armor, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) can still take out Humvees and MRAP vehicles with ease. But a company wants to change that equation with airbags that neutralize incoming RPGs and prevent them from exploding.

11.6.2009 at 04:11pm - Comment by Solace

So, you made the armor resistant to explosives but vulnerable to flashlights. gj
Science

Robots That Eat Bugs and Plants for Power

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 10.9.2009 8 Comments
No matter how intelligent a robot might be, it’s nice knowing you can pull its plug to halt the anti-human insurrection. Whoops, not anymore. A new cohort of ’bots that make energy by gobbling organic matter could be the beginning of truly autonomous machines.

10.9.2009 at 05:54pm - Comment by Solace

Color me impressed when it actually finds enough fuel to function in the wild... and doesn't get stuck in a pothole.
Science

What Does a Star Sound Like?

By Sally Younger Posted on 10.1.2009 5 Comments
Observing a star up close (putting aside for a moment how you’d get there or withstand its heat) is probably like sitting beside an enormous silent fire. Sounds—which are simply pressure variations in a medium such as air or water—can’t propagate in the vacuum of space, so the roiling surface of a star would make an impression on the eyes, but not the ears.

10.1.2009 at 09:45am - Comment by Solace

An exploding star sounds like... an explosion. So deep.
Science

Your Screen Saver Could Help Create New Life

By Stuart Fox Posted on 9.29.2009 17 Comments
In the beginning, there were organic molecules. And they were good, but unorganized. Then, those organic molecules formed proteins, and evolution kicked in and started a three-billion-year journey culminating in you and me. But the question of just how life made the jump from inert organic chemicals to the complex building blocks of life has vexed scientists for years. A company hopes that software originally designed to find extraterrestrial life will now help them unlock the origin of life on this planet.

9.29.2009 at 01:48pm - Comment by Solace

I think that you don't quite understand how much primordial soup there was. We're talking about individual atoms forming molecules in the /entire volume of all the oceans on Earth/ over the course of a billion years or so.
DIY

Open Source Homeland Security: The $250 DIY Bedazzler Induces Nausea via LEDs

By Mikey Sklar Posted on 9.28.2009 3 Comments
Can pulsing 36 high-powered LEDs invoke sea-sickness? Adafruit have put together a $250 non-lethal weapon modeled after a 1 million dollar government project. The source code, schematic, and circuit board files are available. Included is a helpful video describing how she learned about these weapons and tests her own unit out on her boyfriend.

9.28.2009 at 05:09pm - Comment by Solace

Well I think strobes are a good idea for a non-lethal weapon... by pulsing the light you can 'dose' it to cause temporary vision impairment, instead of no-to-permanent vision impairment with a continuous beam. However I don't really see the point in a DIY project that doesn't work. :P
DIY

Open Source Homeland Security: The $250 DIY Bedazzler Induces Nausea via LEDs

By Mikey Sklar Posted on 9.28.2009 3 Comments
Can pulsing 36 high-powered LEDs invoke sea-sickness? Adafruit have put together a $250 non-lethal weapon modeled after a 1 million dollar government project. The source code, schematic, and circuit board files are available. Included is a helpful video describing how she learned about these weapons and tests her own unit out on her boyfriend.

9.28.2009 at 11:58am - Comment by Solace

"It turns out it doesn't work that well." Oh yeah, I'm gonna rush to spend 250$ on that. :P
Science

Laser Refrigeration is Fastest, Coolest Chilling Tech Yet

By Clay Dillow Posted on 9.3.2009 12 Comments
Physics nerds and sci-fi geeks just about everywhere agree: lasers are cool. But cool enough to drop the temperature of a gas by 119 degrees in a matter of seconds? German researchers say so, having made advances on ideas reaching back 30 years but never successfully executed. Bombarding high-pressure gas with a laser, the scientists were able to create a significant cooling effect, shaving the aforementioned 119 degrees from the gas almost instantly by pushing electrons into higher orbit.

9.3.2009 at 02:34pm - Comment by Solace

... does this mean someone made an actual, honest to god freeze ray?
The Environment

Synthetic Tree Soaks Up Carbon 1000x Faster Than the Real Thing

By John Brandon Posted on 6.24.2009 17 Comments
Trees are great absorbers of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and inhibitors of climate change -- that's why treehuggers hug them so much. But leave it to humanity to engineer a better tree. A synthetic tree, currently being tested as a prototype, ensnares carbon about 1,000 times faster than a real tree.

6.24.2009 at 05:01pm - Comment by Solace

Well if they come up with a use for the carbon, 90000 tons a year is a heck of a lot for a single 30k instillation. This could be some sort of productive appliance rather than just an environmental bandaid. If someone was willing to buy the output for just a cent a pound... in one year that's 1.8 million dollars, minus the cost of running it. That's... just crazy, I'm sure some of those numbers must be off...