Even if you’re pretty good at searching, the majority of your website’s users are probably not. In fact, user experience expert Jakob Nielsen thinks most people are so bad at searching that site-specific search engines would do better to return navigation elements rather than actual search results.
Nielson’s research reveals that while more people reach for the search box to find what they’ … Read More → "You suck at search"
A new type of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) could enable doctors to detect a number of diseases in a matter of minutes. Unlike the traditional MRI method, which generates a magnetic field and pulses of radio waves to map the body, Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) works by generating multiple magnetic frequencies simultaneously and using software algorithms to decode the results.
Mark Griswold, a radiology professor at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, compared the difference between the techniques to the difference between two choirs. While MRIs “sing” a single tone, MRFs generate a rich … Read More → "MRI fingerprinting detects diseases in minutes by their signature ‘song’"
The Serendipity Emotion Player is not your regular shuffle that plays music by genre or albums. It takes into account your emotional status by interpreting the color that your subconscious mind chooses and then plays songs accordingly. The player is equipped with a camera and the user is supposed to point it towards a colored object, for example if my mind takes fancy to the apple and I point the player towards it; the device interprets my … Read More → "The color of music: Serendipity Emotion Player"
On this date 23 years ago, two individuals entered the Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts disguised as police officers. After tying up the museum’s real security guards, they spent 83 minutes raiding the facility and emerged with 13 pieces of art including original paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. In all, the stolen goods were valued at $300 million by the FBI, though other experts say that figure should be closer to $500 million. The Gardner heist remains the single largest property … Read More → "FBI takes to the internet in search of stolen art worth $500 million"
NASA has announced this year’s International Space Apps Challenge, the second annual event aimed at solving practical problems in space and on Earth. The challenge will run in 75 cities around the world, and NASA has curated over 50 challenges for participants to tackle. There will also be a “make your own challenge” option for those who already have a great idea that doesn’t fit into the … Read More → "NASA’s second annual International Space Apps Challenge"
Actroid-SIT, a lifelike robot from Japanese firm Kokoro, hasn’t received as much attention as her cousin Geminoid F, which happens to be a copy a real woman. But while Geminoid F is a teleoperated robot, Actroid-SIT can function autonomously, talking and gesturing while interacting with people. In fact, researchers have recently demonstrated how improvements to Actroid’s behavior can make it look smarter and more expressive than your average android.
< … Read More → "Japanese robot Actroid gets more social, has no fear of crowds"
Chances are that if you were heading into battle, you wouldn’t wish that you were covered in sponges. It turns out that the sea sponge, however, has a unique structure that allows it to be flexible while remaining relatively impervious to predators. Scientists have now simulated this structure, in a lab-created material that may someday find use in body armor.
Sponges’ “skeletons” – their internal structural elements – … Read More → "Next-generation body armor could be based on … sponges?"
Nanotechnology researchers have built a microscopic fridge that can cool objects millions of times more massive than itself.
The prototype solid-state device takes advantage of the way quantum physics operates in micro- and nanostructures to cool comparatively-vast objects to sub-cryogenic temperatures.
Project leader Joel Ullom said that the cooling power is equivalent to a window-mounted air conditioner cooling a building the size of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, and … Read More → "Tiny quantum fridge can cool huge objects"
