914ian914
- Science
Is Digital Nature as Soothing as the Real Deal?
Discovery Channel addicts, get outside! HDTV may offer a vivid window on the natural world, but it won’t substitute for the real thing. That’s the implication from a new psychological study from the University of Washington’s Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems (HINTS) Lab, which found, in fact, that nature on a plasma screen is no more soothing than a blank wall.
6.15.2008 at 04:33pm - Comment by 914ian914another problem with nature "windows" is that viewers are too aware that they are looking at a flat surface, which triggers thoughts that would supposedly be associated with staring at a blank wall, although the detail of the nature scenes would still be soothing, depending on the person's taste.
- Science
Is Digital Nature as Soothing as the Real Deal?
Discovery Channel addicts, get outside! HDTV may offer a vivid window on the natural world, but it won’t substitute for the real thing. That’s the implication from a new psychological study from the University of Washington’s Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems (HINTS) Lab, which found, in fact, that nature on a plasma screen is no more soothing than a blank wall.
6.15.2008 at 04:26pm - Comment by 914ian914we're doing it wrong; current technology has yet to provide complete sensory feedback that we find in nature, such as heat, 3D sound, stereo imagery, smell, touch, and possibly taste.
- Science
Victimless Leather?
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has had to kill one of the works currently on display in its recent Design and the Elastic mind show. Literally. The piece is called Victimless Leather. It's an incubator built from a series of flasks which provides nutrients to feed a miniature living coat. The tiny coat was comprised of a biodegradable polymer matrix in the shape of a doll's jacket covered in a layer of living tissue made up of mouse stem cells. When the cells began growing to quickly, the curators of the show had to cut off the nutrients—effectively killing the cells.
5.16.2008 at 08:56am - Comment by 914ian914to europeanguy: what?
- Technology
Canada Hunts for Killer Asteroids
In 2009, Canada plans to launch a suitcase-sized spacecraft that will be charged with spotting asteroids that could be on a collision course with Earth. There's already a big ground-based program underway. NASA regularly identifies and tracks asteroids, calculating the likelihood that they could at some point run into our pale blue dot.
5.12.2008 at 09:48pm - Comment by 914ian914the "Bruce Willis" link is broken.
- The Environment
Satellite Images of Devastation in Burma
Tropical Cyclone Nargis slammed the Burmese coast with 130 mph winds and bursts of up to 160 mph—the equivalent of a category 3 or low-level category 4 hurricane. It reportedly led to thousands of deaths, and as of Monday, thousands more were missing. Now NASA has released a set of images that show how drastically the flooding has drenched Burma's coast.
5.12.2008 at 09:28pm - Comment by 914ian914why'd you post 3 comments? And what's the difference between "empathy" and "sympathy"?
- Entertainment & Gaming
Folding Proteins On Your Lunch Break
Tired of car chases, robberies, and general action-packed anarchy? Set aside Grand Theft Auto IV for a minute and enter a new kind of gaming adventure: the exciting world of protein folding! Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Washington have developed Foldit, a free, online game in which players compete to design proteins.
5.12.2008 at 09:15pm - Comment by 914ian914Crowsfoot: It works for me. redwarrior: the software says there's an excessive load.
- Science
School Official Sues Facebook
This probably seemed really funny until they heard about the court order. A few anonymous Facebook users—most likely students—created a fake profile for the dean of Roncalli High School, a Catholic prep school in Indianapolis, then sent out messages and images from the account to other students. The profile has since been pulled down, but the dean sued Facebook to find out who created it.
5.12.2008 at 08:49pm - Comment by 914ian914It would be a lot easier if people weren't ignorant enough to believe FaceBook users are who they say they are.
- Science
Powerful New Laser Could Aid Search For Extrasolar Planets
Scientists have shown off a new laser that boasts an incomparable mix of speed, short pulses and power. That's newsworthy in and of itself, but this laser, developed by researchers at the University of Konstanz in Germany and, here in the U.S., at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, could also lead to a 100-fold increase in the sensitivity of observatories searching for extrasolar planets. The laser itself is the size of a dime, and pops out 10 billion pulses per second with an average power of 650 milliwatts.
5.7.2008 at 09:24pm - Comment by 914ian914what's it look like?
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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