It seems that there is no stopping Google from pushing its autonomous cars into the public’s presence, even with recent reports of a number of car accidents involving precisely this type of self-driving vehicle. Starting this summer, Google will be introducing some of its test fleet to public roads for actual “out of the lab” testing. Of course, it will be taking every precaution and will include its safety engineers inside the … Read More → "Google’s self-driving cars rolling out to public roads for testing"

The bacteria on and inside of your body, also known as your microbiome, could be another sort of fingerprint to identify you, according to new research out of Harvard. Researchers found that your bacterial buddies have enough unique features to be traced right back to you — at least, when compared to hundreds of other people. Using data from the Human Microbiome Project, they applied an algorithm that identified the distinguishing features of microbiomes, and they were subsequently able to identify who they … Read More → "Researchers show you can be uniquely identified by your bacteria"

“You would go to a special site, buy an animal mummy, using a system of barter. You’d then give it to a priest, who would collect a group of animal mummies and bury them,” Price explained. But despite a dedicated program of breeding and killing animals specifically for mummification, it was hard to keep up with the demand.

So the mummifiers started cutting corners. Or so it … Read More → "Many of Egypt’s animal mummies don’t contain mummies at all"

Jean-Loup Rault, a faculty member with the University of Melbourne’s Animal Welfare Science Centre, has an opinion piece in the open access journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science that discusses how pets will evolve in the digital age. Rault argues that “pet ownership in its current form is likely unsustainable in a growing, urbanized population,” but it’s obviously not realistic to suggest that we … Read More → "Robots might be the necessary future of urban pet ownership"

How do scientists study the evolutionary transformation from snouts to beaks as those winged dinosaurs became birds? By putting dinosaur snouts on chickens, of course. A team of researchers at Yale were able to modify the chickens’ genetic make up in a way that would make then grow a snout like their ancestors (similar to the Anchiornis model above) rather than the beaks we’re all familiar with. The modification allows scientists to study the … Read More → "Scientists create chickens with dinosaur snouts to study evolution"

Drugmakers currently mass-produce pills in the most common dosage sizes and in simple round shapes that are easy to swallow. But researchers at the UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London, have been experimenting with using 3D printers, extruding a water-soluble polymer mixed with acetaminophen and salts, to produce custom pills of various shapes and sizes.

Instead of requiring patients to take a set number of pills repeatedly throughout the day, the research could one day … Read More → "3D-printing oddly shaped pills can change how fast they’re absorbed"

GE engineers have created a small jet engine using next-gen manufacturing technique for building 3D objects “by melting metal powder layer upon layer,” the company said over the weekend. Not content to just sit back and admire the gadget, they then fired it up and tested it at 33,000 rotations per minute for a fiery demonstration of the engine’s functionality.

via Read More → "3D-printed mini jet engine revved up to 33,000rpm"

Phone addiction is real—as evidenced by a quick glance down the street, in the subway, even at the dinner table—and is one of the reasons why Apple developed a watch: so we would look at our screens less and be present more. For some, however, a smartwatch isn’t enough—it still leaves room for fiddling and distraction. Artist and designer Joe Hollier& … Read More → "The Light Phone: Designed for disconnecting"

Spider-Man would be so envious. Spiders have woven webs infused with carbon nanotubes and even graphene, raising the prospect of new materials with record-beating properties.

Graphene – sheets of carbon just one atom thick – is one of the strongest artificial materials, and spider silk is one of the strongest natural ones. So Nicola Pugno of the University of Trento, Italy, wondered what would happen if you combined them.

< … Read More → "Spiders sprayed with graphene or carbon nanotubes spin super silk"

Google says its self-driving cars have been in more accidents than recently reported, but the cars were not at fault in any. A report by the Associated Press said Google’s self-driving cars were involved in four accidents since last September. But according to the company, the cars were actually involved in a total of 11 accidents–all of which were minor. What’ … Read More → "Google’s self-driving cars were not at fault in any of their 11 accidents"