… Read More → "Kids should learn programming as well as reading and writing"

Dutch architecture firm Universe Architecture is planning to build a house with 3D printed materials in the shape of a Möbius strip.

This is the first project of its kind and the building, dubbed ‘Landscape House,’ will be printed in parts using a massive D-Shape printer. On this scale, the printer can make sections up to about 20 x 30 feet from a combination of binding agent and sand.
via < … Read More → "Dutch architects first to build a house with 3D printer"

As odd as it may seem, Cuba is working its way into headlines today. We’re hearing reports that Cuba has finally fired up its underwater fiber optic cable that stretches all the way to Venezuela, perhaps giving some residents their first taste of fiber optic Internet. The report comes from Internet tracking company  … Read More → "Cuba reportedly fires up underwater fiber optic cable for first time"

… Read More → "Demolishing a skyscraper from the inside"

This Sunday evening at the Cultural Center’s Yates Gallery, Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist Katinka Kleijn will play more than her usual instrument—she’ll be wearing an EPOC Neuroheadset, an electroencephalography (EEG) device whose 14 sensors connect with the scalp and pick up brain waves. Retailing for $299, it’s designed largely for gamers, but Kleijn will use it to give the world premiere … Read More → "A duet for cello and brain waves"

After writing about Ray Kurzweil’s ambitious plan to create a super-intelligent personal assistant in his new job at Google (see “Ray Kurzweil Plans to Create a Mind at Google—and Have it Serve You”), I sent a note to Boris Katz, a researcher in MIT’s Computer Scientist and Artificial Intelligence Lab who’s spent decades trying to give machines the ability to parse the information conveyed … Read More → "What makes a mind? Kurzweil and Google may be surprised"

Forget the humble double helix: scientists from Cambridge University have now spotted four-stranded strings of DNA working inside human cells.

The researchers have published a paper in Nature Chemistry which demonstrates the existence and function of quadruple helix human DNA. The researchers believe it might be related to cancer—and that understanding it could be key to treating the disease in the future.
via Read More → "Scientists spot quadruple helix DNA working in human cells"

Micromechanical chips that pump chemicals and living cells around them are already being used to amplify DNA strands and make health diagnoses. Now a new use for these miniature microchip marvels is being patented in the US: blowing things up.

It’s not quite as bad as it sounds: the idea is to make weapons magazines safer. When shells, bombs and rockets are stored near a combat front line there’s always a risk that a stray piece of shrapnel or a bullet will strike one of the munitions – and if it hits the warhead’s … Read More → "Qinetiq MEMS could make arms dumps safer"

Researchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for medicine and research.

The theory behind the technology, called rapid electrokinetic patterning – or REP – has been described in technical papers published between 2008 and 2011. Now the researchers have used the method for the first time to collect … Read More → "New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes"

Sandia National Laboratories scientists in New Mexico have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used.

The tiny cells could turn a person into a walking solar battery charger if they were fastened to flexible substrates molded around unusual shapes, such as clothing.

The solar particles, fabricated of crystalline silicon, hold the potential for a variety of new applications. They are expected eventually … Read More → "Glitter-sized solar photovoltaic cells could revolutionize solar collection"