If anyone could capture the terror, desperation, and occasional joy of surviving the apocalypse, you’d think it might be award-winning war photographer Ashley Gilbertson — a man who spent years covering the Iraq invasion for The New York Times. This week, for Time magazine, Gilbertson “embedded” himself in (also award-winning) video game The Last of … Read More → "An award-winning war photographer futilely attempts video game photojournalism"

Ikea promoted the opening of its 30th store in France by building an apartment into a vertical rock-climbing wall. Marketing shop Ubi Bene helped devise the impressive outdoor installation in the city of Clermont-Ferrand.

The wall is 9 meters high by 10 meters wide and fitted with steps and grips, allowing the public to navigate among stylish beds, cabinets, tables, chairs, sofas and accessories. (Using harnesses and with safety … Read More → "Ikea billboard tips an apartment sideways to become a rock-climbing wall"

Researchers at the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience at the University of Nebraska have developed a prototype electronic skin made from nanoparticles that they claim can offer an early detection method for breast cancer.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, developed a … Read More → "Electronic skin made from nanoparticles offers early breast cancer detection"

A robot unveiled today at the British Science Festival will be loading dishwashers next year, its developers claim.

“Boris” is one of the first robots in the world capable of intelligently manipulating unfamiliar objects with a humanlike grasp.

It was developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham.

The team also work with “Bob”, an autonomous robot who recently completed work experience at security firm G4 … Read More → "‘Boris’ the robot can load up dishwasher"

You are looking at Puppis A, a supernova remnant that is 7,000 light years away and is 10 light years across (!) And yet it looks like microscopic view of a coral here on Earth. Amazingly beautiful.

Capture by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s … Read More → "NASA publishes unprecedented X-ray image of supernova remnant"

A woman living in China’s Shandong Province got a bit of a surprise recently when doctors at the Chinese PLA General Hospital told her that her brain was missing one of the most important centers for motor control: the cerebellum. She had initially checked herself into the hospital because of a bad case of dizziness and nausea, New Scientist  … Read More → "Woman in her twenties discovers that she was born without a cerebellum"

When we think about gadgets to aid the hearing impaired, cochlear implants usually come to mind — but these devices are expensive and require invasive surgery. Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman and graduate student Scott Novich have another idea: sensory substation clothing. The two are developing a hearing device that you wear on your torso. It’s called the Vibrotactile Extra-Sensory Transducer (or simply “Vest” for short) and it translates sound into tactile feedback. … Read More → "Vest translates sound into vibration for the hearing impaired"

Previous studies at Imperial College London showed xenon, a chemically inert gas, has the ability to protect brain cells from mechanical injury in the lab. The researchers have now shown for the first time that the protective effects also carry through to live animals.

The team started by anesthetizing mice before applying a controlled mechanical force to the brain. They then treated some of the mice with different concentrations of xenon at different times … Read More → "Xenon could provide protection for the brain after a blow to the head"

As the story goes, the folks at BioPop were trying to make a sustainable light that relied on something other than man-made batteries. They tried using a bioluminescent plankton called dinoflagellates, but the tiny creatures required too much intervention to be a practical light source. They would, however, make for a really neat desk toy, and so the aptly-named Dino Pet < … Read More → "Plankton makes this dinosaur toy glow, batteries not required"

Marine biologists from the University of Copenhagen have discovered two new species that “defy all existing classifications of life.” They are rather cute and pretty—like some monsters from a Mario Bros. game.

Found in the sea southeast of Australia, the research paper published in … Read More → "Scientists find mysterious species that defy all classifications of life"