Graphene is a cutting-edge wonder material, used in applications ranging from solar cells to supercapacitors. Rubber bands, on the other hand … well, they’re not so high-tech. By combining the one with the other, however, scientists have created ultra-cheap body motion sensors that could make a big difference in the field of health care.

The researchers, from the University of Surrey and Trinity College Dublin, have infused regular rubber bands with … Read More → "Graphene-treated rubber bands used as inexpensive body motion sensors"

One of the unique features inside Google’s self-driving car is that it doesn’t sport a steering wheel or a set of pedals. That won’t fly on public roads in California though, so the folks in Mountain View are faced with adding them or sticking to closed-course testing. New regulations that go into effect next month require autonomous vehicles to let the driver take “immediate physical control” should the need arise. Google … Read More → "California requires manual controls before Google’s self-driving car hits public roads"

Most kids want to stay overnight at the museum of planetarium. But certain weirdos, like me, always wanted to sleep over at Ikea, amongst the endless rows of futons and 99 cent Swedish doo-dads. Now, we’re getting our chance, thanks to an Airbnb promo with Ikea that will rent out beds overnight.

Read More → "Ikea showrooms are being listed on Australian Airbnb"

A paper titled “Identifying emotion by keystroke dynamics and text pattern analysis” published in the journal Behavior & Information Technology outlines software designed by A.F.M. Nazmul Haque Nahin and colleagues that can recognize the emotional state of a human user with up to 87% accuracy.

The study described in the paper asked volunteers to type pre-determined text and note … Read More → "Now computers can guess your emotional state with 87% accuracy"

United States copyright regulators are agreeing with Wikipedia’s conclusion that a monkey’s selfie cannot be copyrighted by a nature photographer whose camera was swiped by the ape in the jungle. The animal’s selfie went viral.

The US Copyright Office, in a 1,222-page report discussing federal copyright law, said that a “photograph taken by a monkey” is unprotected intellectual property.

Wikipedia says the public, not the … Read More → "Monkey’s selfie cannot be copyrighted, US regulators say"

A BrightSource solar energy farm in the Mojave Desert of California is under fire *pats myself on the back* after it’s been discovered that thousands of birds have been set aflame from the farm’s 300,000 focused mirrors. Wow, I feel like that’s poor planning. Or, sadly and much more likely, not-giving-a-shit planning.

More than 300,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect solar rays onto three boiler towers each looming up to 40 stories high. The water inside is heated to produce steam, which … Read More → "Uh-oh: solar energy plant setting birds on fire in midair"

Led by Dr. Alper Bozkurt, the NCSU team has been working with moths suspended in a rig that holds them in place while they fly, but still allows them to turn to either side. As the moths make those turns, implanted electrodes monitor the electrical signals sent by their brains to their flight muscles – those electrodes are first implanted when the moth is in its pupal stage, so they’ve grown right into its body … Read More → "Scientists developing remote-control cyborg moths"

It’s not often that science confirms ideas straight out of vampire lore, but here you have one: aspate of studies in mice have found that infusions of young blood seem to reverse aging. So now we’re moving to the next logical step: giving the blood of young humans to Alzheimer’s patients.

Read More → "Alzheimer’s patients will be injected with the blood of young people"

Brazilian architect Guto Requena launched a project that is very close to his heart at Design Weekend São Paulo. Through a special software developed by D3 Studio, personal emotions are captured to define new shapes for everyday objects. “The Love Project is a study in design, science and technology that captures the emotions people feel in … Read More → "Brazilian architect Guto Requena 3D-prints unique shapes based on participants’ emotions"

While they may not be quite as well-known as migraines, cluster headaches are even more painful, and can occur several times a day. There’s presently no cure, although a new “neurostimulator” is claimed to help control them. A US clinical trial of the device has just begun, with a test subject recently having had one implanted beneath his cheekbone.

Developed by San Francisco-based Autonomic Technologies Inc (ATI), the “almond-sized” … Read More → "First US patient receives cluster headache-stopping facial implant"