… Read More → "This silk-screened art glows with electroluminescent ink (video)"

Danish geneticists have mapped the DNA of a 700,000-year-old horse bone, yielding the world’s oldest full genome. National Geographic reports that Ludovic Orlando, an evolutionary geneticist with the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and his team identified key patterns in Equus evolution — the group of animals that include horses, donkeys, and zebras — tracing the genus’ ancestry back … Read More → "Geneticists map the oldest genome yet from 700,000-year-old horse bone"

Scientists have been attempting to perfect the robotic fish for years in order to perform difficult underwater maneuvers such as exploring sunken shipwrecks or detect leaks in pipelines. Now, we’re one step closer to robot fish perfection, as the National University of Singapore has released a next generation fish-bot that, in addition to being able to move laterally from side to side, can also dive and float just … Read More → "Meet RoboCarp, the first robotic fish that can dive and surface"

Contact lenses are great if your only issue is near or farsightedness, but for those struggling with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among older adults, those flimsy little lenses ain’t going to cut it—or at least not the kind of contact lenses you’re used to. But soon, AMD-sufferers could see their vision vastly improving thanks to a slim, adjustable telescope that sits right in the middle of … Read More → "New contact lens basically turns your eye into a telescope"

The media is full of geek stereotypes, everywhere from Big Bang Theory to episodes of CSI and NCIS. These images of geeks as antisocial, immature dorks may seem harmless — but a new study suggests these media images help keep women out of … Read More → "Do geek stereotypes keep women out of computer science?"

A creative resource for adults and kids alike, Disruptus is “designed to open every mind,” and from what we can tell, it works as advertised. Using product flashcards as a starting point, and a die for direction, the game instructs players to either improve, transform, disrupt or create upon the item depicted on the preselected card (or cards). While there are two suggested ways of … Read More → "Open your mind with this innovation-driven game for creative thinkers"

On Monday, NASA announced that its advanced ion propulsion engine operated for 48,000 hours, or five and a half years – and that’s without stops for fuel or coffee. Developed under NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) project, the engine now holds the record for the longest test duration of any type of space propulsion system.

NEXT is a solar electric propulsion system where electricity from the spacecraft’s … Read More → "NASA’s NEXT ion thruster runs five and a half years nonstop to set new record"

A 13.4 inch-tall humanoid robot named Kirobo will be launched into space in August. Kirobo, which has the capability to speak and carry out conversations, will join Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakada aboard the International Space Station as a conversation partner. Great news, so long as Kirobo will not be given control of the pod bay doors. . .

According to its website, the Kibo Robot Project‘s goal … Read More → "Talking robot to fly to space with Japanese astronaut"

A few years ago, the IKEA Foundation struck up a partnership with an unlikely ally: the United Nations. However, it quickly became apparent that the furniture designer and retailer could bring something valuable to the UN — the company’s experience with flat-packed home furniture made it a good choice to help the UN redesign and update its refugee shelters. The older tent-style shelters … Read More → "IKEA partners with the UN to produce more innovative and durable refugee shelters"

The Hemopurifier has been in development for years now, and it finally got approval from the FDA for a extremely limited field test where it’ll try to treat Hepatitis C by filtering the blood Hep-afflicted kidneys can’t handle. The very first phase of tests will involve 10 patients, all with end stage renal disease, who get to replace two weeks of standard … Read More → "A pint-sized dialysis machine gets its first taste of human blood"