Tulane University just analyzed 35 years worth of flu data, and published the disturbing results in the American Journal of Health Economics. If a city had a team playing in the Super Bowl, its mortality rates due to influenza jumped. Based on data from 1974 through 2009, cities with teams in the Super Bowl saw 18 percent increases in influenza mortality for people over 65.

< … Read More → "Double-dipping at superbowl parties literally kills people"

The Dutch police have partnered with Guard From Above, a raptor training company based in The Hague, to determine whether eagles could be used as intelligent, adaptive anti-drone weapon systems. The eagles are specially trained to identify and capture drones, although from the way most birds of prey react to drones, my guess is that not a lot of training was necessary. After snatching the drone out of the sky, the eagles instinctively find … Read More → "Dutch police training eagles to take down drones"

When a strikingly realistic humanoid robot named Nadine made her public debut last month in Singapore, the world reacted with fascination—and a bit of unease. Something like Apple’s Siri in human form, Nadine has soft, life-like facial features and relatively authentic human expressions. She can remember names and faces and even recognize and express emotion. Yet she never loses her calm, professional demeanor.

Nadine … Read More → "‘Social robots’ may one day help your doctor"

It’s entirely plausible that one day extreme athletes will be blasting across a snow-covered field on a snowboard, powered not by the pull of gravity, but by a flying drone pulling them along. However, as this video of the world’s first droneboarder reveals, that day is still a long ways off.
via Read More → "One day droneboarding could be an exciting sport, but not today"

Training yourself to do something while you’re asleep is a lot easier said than done. For instance, lucid dreaming—in which you know you’re dreaming and can on some level control how the dream proceeds—is more difficult than just willing yourself to remember that you’re asleep. Many lucid dreaming techniques recommend waking up … Read More → "Want to lucid dream? Hit the snooze button"

Sean Andrist, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (who knows what he’s doing), has been researching social gaze with robots. He’s developed algorithms that help robots look at people at the right times and in the right ways. It’s not just making the robots less creepy, but more helpful as well.

Read More → "This robot changes how it looks at you to match your personality"

Taste and smell are linked—a fact that becomes clear if you eat your favorite foods while you have a cold. The sense that you might not realize is affecting your palate? Sound. Food podcast The Sporkful recently took a closer look at the illusion of taste during an interview with psychologist Charles Spence, an expert in the relationship … Read More → "How sound affects the way your food tastes"

A software developer from Kansas has developed a robot that can seemingly solve a Rubik’s Cube in nigh on one second. Jay Flatland and his friend Paul Rose use a setup that includes a Linux-powered PC, an Arduino, webcams and stepper motors. They are targeting a world record.
via Gizmag

… Read More → "Home-built robot solves Rubik’s Cube in one second"

A Google artificial intelligence program has beaten the European champion of the board game Go.

The Chinese game is viewed as a much tougher challenge than chess for computers because there are many more ways a Go match can play out.

The tech company’s DeepMind division said its software had beaten its human rival five games to nil.

… Read More → "Google achieves AI ‘breakthrough’ by beating Go champion"

Kicking off an event that showcases Softbank’s Pepper robot working in a business environment, the Japanese phone carrier says it’s going to test it out for itself, announcing a Pepper phone shop staffed entirely by its robots. According to the company, you’ll be able to sign up to a phone contract with the robot. (In fact, that’s apparently the robot on the left’s role; in the middle is the store manager and … Read More → "Pepper the robot is going to staff an entire phone store"