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In the movie, The Matrix, Neo masters over a dozen martial arts in a fraction of a second as the necessary skills are uploaded straight into his consciousness. Given our current understanding of how the brain works, this is quite preposterous in real life but you'll be surprised to hear some scientists have tested a similar 'skill upload' system with remarkable results.
A Shenzhen startup has received 200 orders for the Martin Jetpack, what they call "the world's first practical and commercial jetpack".
Geckos may be giving art conservationists an unexpected hand – a new way of keeping art clean. This doesn’t mean we’ll be letting hordes of geckos run rampant through the Louvre because that’s not how science works (though it could create a lovely Disney scene). Instead, researchers took inspiration from geckos, designing a material that […]
While most of the world is sluggish about EVs, Japan seems to be light years ahead. The island state's pro-electric car incentives have paid off and it's never been easier for a Japanese to drive an electric car. Officially, there are now more charging stations than gas stations in the country.
There are Google self-driving cars, Google-made phones and notebooks, and soon there might also a be a Google city.
A lot of car makers are definitely jealous of Elon Musk and his success, but how many would actually want to be in his shoes right now?
Design studio Layer just unveiled their vision for a 3D printed wheelchair which promises to significantly improve the quality of life of users
Quantum computing is still in its infancy, but you can test drive it yourself thanks to IBM.
Self-driving car tech is moving fast -- so fast the laws haven't had time to catchup.
Microbes make up the vast majority of Earth's species but we're still clueless when it comes to identifying them
This beast is called GE9X -- the largest jet engine ever built. Standing at 13 feet in diameter, it's wider than a Boeing 737's fuselage.
Six convoys of semi-automated, smart trucks drove across Europe, arriving at Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
A new study from the University of Toulouse found that intelligence and learning aren't limited to organisms with brains. By studying the mold P. polycephalum they found it can, over time, learn to navigate even irritating environments.
During a meeting with Norway’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk claimed that since 'autopilot' was rolled out, there have been 50% fewer car accidents.
Humans are throwing away an insane quantity of food, both in the developed and in developing countries. While in the latter case this can be attributed to economic and technological constrains, the former is primarily consumer-driven. And the sum of individual choices adds up to major impacts on a global scale, a new study finds.
Being a cheapskate can sometimes backfire spectacularly as a central Bank in Bangladesh just found out.
A new study offers insight into why you might have a hard time sleeping on the first night in a new place: half of your brain stays awake to watch out for potential dangers.
A forest's trees capture carbon not only for themselves, but also engage in an active "trade" of sorts with their neighbors, a new study found. University of Basel botanists found that this process, conducted by symbiotic fungi in the forest's soil, takes place even among trees of different species.
Engineers at the 846th Test Squadron simply shattered the Maglev record with a sled powered by a very powerful rocket. The sled raced through a magnetic levitation track at an incredible 633 mph, or 120 mph faster than the previous record which they set only two days before.
Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a 1,600 year-old complex of glass kilns in the Jezreel Valley. Their size indicates that Israel was one of the most important glass manufacturing center in the ancient world, says Dr. Yael Gorin-Rosen, IAA's Glass Department head curator.
Eelume company developed a snake-like robot for underwater maintenance tasks. The deceptively simple robots could drastically reduce operating costs for deep sea rigs.
Electrically stimulating the frontopolar cortex can enhance creativity, a new study from Georgetown University found.
Security analysts rely on all sorts of automated software that spots suspicious activity. Even so, an analyst has to churn through even thousands of false positives on a daily basis, which makes it easy to miss a cyber attack. Coming to their rescue is MIT which reports an artificial intelligence 'tutored' by the best human experts can identify 85 percent of incoming attacks. Most importantly, it's not confined to a certain set of attack patterns and learns to adapt with each new attack.
Heat engines, whether they're as big as a five-story building or as small as an atom, operate using the same thermodynamic processes. This was proven by Johannes Roßnagel at the University of Mainz in Germany who made a single calcium-40 atom behave like a Stirling engine. Nothing short of amazing!
Using two sets of electrodes, scientists have successfully restored finger movement in a paralyzed patient for the first time in history. The results could be the starting point to developing methods that would allow people around the planet to regain limb mobility.
This huge destroyer is apparently too stealthy for its own good – at least at peace. The U.S. Navy’s new Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer (DDG 1000) is so hard to detect that its crew plans to sail with giant reflectors just to make sure other ships can see it. The USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is the lead ship of the Zumwalt […]
Scientists have completed the most precise measurement of the Universe's rate of expansion to date; but the result just isn't compatible with speed calculations from remanent Big Bang radiation. Should the former results be confirmed by independent techniques, we might very well have to rewrite the laws of cosmology as we know them.
This is the first time a two-stage model has been proposed for how consciousness arises, and it offers a more complete picture than the purely continuous or discrete models. It also provides useful insight into the the way our brain processes time and relates it to our perception of the world.
Don’t believe your eyes – nothing you see is real, and everything can be manipulated. Many people have a long-standing belief that images are easy to forge, while videos are authentic because they’re impossible to tamper with. Well… that’s not really true. Several companies are making millions by tweaking how actors look on film, and […]
There are six components that make or break an apology, a new study finds. Depending on many of these you include, your feelings of regret will either be accepted or get a cold shoulder.
The Environmental Defense Fund’s Oil and Gas program has released a new nation-wide report of the most common sites of methane leaks at oil and gas pads. Surprisingly, most of the leaks were traced back to faulty piping, vents or doors on gas tanks in newer, not older, wells.
Astrophysicists have discovered a new class of exoplanets whose atmospheres and volatile elements have been blown away by the star they're orbiting. Their findings help cover a previously uncharted gap in planetary populations, and offers valuable insight for locating new worlds to colonize.
A new solar cell prototype developed by Chinese researchers may change the way we use solar panels.
Curiosity is probably the single most powerful force behind our species' scientific discoveries. It can drive us to explore and discover even if the outcome might be painful or harmful. But this need to discover and learn can also become a curse; a new study found that people are willing to face unpleasant outcomes with no apparent benefits just to sate their curiosity.
People frequently overindulge, sometimes to the point of developing sugar addictions. There has been a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry in finding treatments that can combat this effect, with little results up to now. But, a world-first study led by QUT might change that.
Adding extra-salt may make food tastier, but it can also has a negative effect on your health. With that in mind, Japanese researchers have invented a fork that creates a salty taste in your mouth at the press of a button, by releasing an electrical current which stimulates the tongue. Salt has long been associated with blood […]
Portable data storage, such as USB drives, might not be quite as useful or sought after as they once were but they remain an undeniably handy method to carry your data around.
Creating artificial skin may sound weird, but it can be extremely useful (or even life saving) for people who suffered from burns or any type of similar accident; it is also useful for testing drugs or cosmetic products. Skin transplants are a growing need, and many teams from across the world hope to one day […]
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is one of the most talented and famous artists in human history. It's been almost four centuries since he created his unique masterpieces. Now, a team of artists, researchers and programmers wanted to see if they can create a new Rembrandt painting - through a computer algorithm.
Composite metal foam (CMF) is light, but strong -- it can even stop bullets!
The first case of white nose syndrome, a disease that has wreaked havoc on bat populations in the eastern U.S. has been identified west of the Rockies. The disease's spread threatens to drastically impact bat populations there, altering ecosystems throughout the country.
NASA plans to improve today's planes with a blast from the past -- re-implementing a structure known as a wing truss would reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions of common commercial aircraft by as much as 50%, according to computational models.
Here's a great way to spend science dollars: see if humans literally find robots sexy. They do sort of, or so conclude Stanford researchers who asked volunteers to touch an anthropomorphic robot in various body parts.
Biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly and efficiently program and design DNA-encoded circuits, giving new functions to living cells. There are already a myriad of programming languages. Fortran and C++ allow for rapid computations, PHP is a scripting language for web development, Ruby is a popular object-oriented language – […]
For centuries, chocolatiers have been trying to develop the perfect chocolate coating for bonbons, honing their skill to the point of artistic performance. But scientists believe they can take things even further.
Fake 3-D printed eggs packed with sensors help scientist learn how vultures incubate their eggs. This way, they might be one day able to incubate their own eggs, without having to rely on vultures.
Takeout, instant noodles and cheap beer -- the only known organisms able to survive solely on these three items are university students. A new study examined undergraduates' dietary habits to see what powers their resilience to low-quality food, and if this trait can be grafted into human beings.
A new report questions the legitimacy of today's "War on Drugs," seeing as the five-decade long process has failed to reduce either the supply or demand for narcotics. The authors urge for 'scientifically grounded' policies to be implemented, including regulated markets for cannabis.
Food packaging does influence the amount of calories consumed, a new study found. By showing portion sizes much larger than recommended, the pictures on various product's packaging could make it difficult to eat healthy. Extras such as toppings or frosting on cakes are also usually not taken into account on nutritional labels, exacerbating the problem.
Wood, one of the cheapest and most widely used construction materials humanity has ever employed, has just had its range of uses expanded; Researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a method of turning wood transparent that's suitable for mass production.
