Left your keys on the kitchen counter again? No problem. Just go and get them. Walk through the house, into the kitchen, and—what was it you needed to do again? Why are you in here? In less than 30 seconds, you’ve managed to forget the entire purpose of your errand. But don’t worry. It’s not just you, and you’re not losing your … Read More → "Why do we forget what we’re doing the minute we enter a room?"

Researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo have created a way to realistically colorize black-and-white photos without any human intervention for the first time ever. The team’s approach is based on convolutional neural networks — a type of machine learning originally inspired by the visual cortex of a cat.
via < … Read More → "These old black-and-white photos were colorized by artificial intelligence"

If you’re someone who laments losing the days of radio past, you can now surf the dial of history in countries all around the world with a website called Radiooooo.

The service is as simple as this: Click on a country and a decade, and Radiooooo transports you sonically to that particular … Read More → "This musical time machine lets you become an aural world traveler"

A group of underwater archaeologists exploring the sunken remains of King Louis XIV’s flagship La Lune added a very special member to their dive team recently. OceanOne, a Stanford-developed humanoid diving robot with “human vision, haptic force feedback and an artificial brain,” made its maiden voyage alongside human divers to recover 17th-century treasures from bottom of the Mediterranean.

Read More → "Stanford’s humanoid robot diver explores its first shipwreck"

Conventional passwords are marching to their death, and biometric authentication might be the future, especially with the possibility of widespread fingerprint scanning or facial-recognition technology. And now, researchers in Germany have a new way to give users access to their devices. Their technique, which they call “SkullConduct,” relies on the unique way … Read More → "Researchers are using the vibration of your skull to identify you"

Rafinesque was an extremely enthusiastic namer of species: during his career as a naturalist, he named 2,700 plant genera and 6,700 species, approximately. He was self-taught, and the letter of introduction he handed to Audubon described him as “an odd fish.” When they met, Audubon noted, Rafinesque was wearing a “long loose coat…stained all over with the juice of plants,” a … Read More → "Audubon made up at least 28 fake species to prank a rival"

When they aren’t chewing on you, bedbugs spend most of their time hiding in tiny cracks and crevasses. However, not all hiding places are equal for bedbugs, new research finds. They may have a preference for hiding under certain colors, according to a new study in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

Scientists … Read More → "Bedbugs have favorite colors, study finds"

French artist Edouard Martinet assembles faithful interpretations of birds, crustaceans, insects, and other creatures with countless objects from discarded bicycles, cars, and household objects. A bicycle pump forms the abdomen of a dragonfly, windshield wipers serve as the legs of a fly, or the metal logos of a bicycle manufacturer are layered to create the dense scales of a fish. All the more incredible considering Martinet never welds or solders his … Read More → "Edouard Martinet’s masterfully sculpted animals and insects made from bicycle, car, and motorcycle parts"

Freddie Mercury, the late frontman for the legendary band Queen, died almost 25 years ago. But he’s still regarded as one of the best rock singers ever.

What, exactly, made him so great? A research team in Europe wanted to answer that question, so it looked into the science behind his voice. Professor Christian Herbst was part of that team, which just … Read More → "Why Freddie Mercury’s voice was so great, as explained by science"

Two undergraduate students at the University of Washington have created a pair of smart gloves that can translate American Sign Language (ASL) automatically into text or speech. Designed to help bridge the communication gap between the Deaf and hearing communities, the SignAloud gloves use sophisticated sensors to recognize ASL gestures. They were recently awarded a $10,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for their work.
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