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Science & Policy News
Recent News Items
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Will Bureaucracy Keep The U.S. Drone Industry Grounded?:
Americans are suspicious of drones. Reports of the unmanned aerial
vehicles' use in war zones have raised concerns about what they might do
here at home.
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April 30, 2013
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As cyberthreats mount, hackers conviction underscores criticism of government overreach:
Recent cybercrime cases highlight the growing debate over how to define right and wrong in the digital age, what is public and proprietary online, and how far law enforcement should go in pursuing cybercrime.
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April 29, 2013
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Supreme Court Asks: Can Human Genes Be Patented?:
Today the Supreme Court tackles a truly 21st century issue — whether human genes may be patented. Myriad Genetics, a Utah biotechnology company, discovered and
isolated two genes that are highly associated with
hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad patented its discovery, giving it a 20-year monopoly over use of the genes for research, diagnostics and treatment. A group of researchers, medical groups and patients sued, challenging the patent as invalid. There is no way to overstate the importance of this case to the future of science and medicine.
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April 15, 2013
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Biological computer created at Stanford:
In the foreseeable future,
humans might carry microscopic natural computers inside their cells
that could guard against disease and warn of toxic threats based on a
Stanford research achievement. A team of engineers there has invented genetic transistors,
completing a simple computer within a living cell, a major step forward
in the emerging field of synthetic biology.
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March 29, 2013
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Researchers create ultra-thin and flexible Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak:
Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin have created a new, ultra-thin Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak. Until now, most invisibility cloaks have been large, cumbersome, desk-mounted constructions that really stretch the definition of the word cloak; for the most part, they’re more like proof of concepts for the invisibility material being tested, rather than actual invisibility cloaks. The University of Texas invisibility cloak, however, at just 166 micrometers thick, really is a cloak in the Harry Potter sense of the word.
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March 26, 2013
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Another 3D-Printed Moon Base Concept Uses Sintered Regolith Bricks:
A team of space architects presented their concept for a 3D-printed
Moon base called SinterHab near the Lunar South Pole in March, after
Foster and Partners together with ESA announced that they had conducted
first tests for another design and concept in January this year. The
concept would use a microwave sintering technique to bake bricks and
other elements from the lunar dust, called regolith, by utilizing a
large NASA spider robot.
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March 22, 2013
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It's Called 'De-Extinction' It's Like 'Jurassic Park,' Except It's Real:
Sorry to disappoint, but science writer Carl Zimmer says we're not
going to bring back dinosaurs. But, he says, "science has developed to
the point where we can actually talk seriously about possibly bringing
back more recently extinct species." It's called "de-extinction," but why should we do it?
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March 15, 2013
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Dad's 'Donkey Kong' Hack Recasts Female As Hero For Daughter:
The world of video games has a long history of damsels in distress. It's the go-to framework for endless heroic adventures where fabulous male heroes journey to save [insert female captured by villain here]. One of the earliest of these is the classic tale of a plucky, mustachioed plumber on a vertical, girder-climbing quest to save his lady Pauline from the barrel-throwing primate Donkey Kong. After being introduced to the game, Mike Mika's 3-year-old daughter, Ellis, asked why she couldn't "play as the girl" and rescue Mario instead. So Mika, a game designer by trade, set out to flip the script on the game and make it happen.
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March 12, 2013
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New Voices For The Voiceless: Synthetic Speech Gets An Upgrade:
Ever since she was a small child, Samantha Grimaldo has had to carry her voice with her. Grimaldo was born with a rare disorder that renders her unable to speak. Instead, she's used a device to speak. She types in what she wants to say, and the device says those words out loud. But it's not her voice, not the way she thinks of herself. Rupal Patel, a speech scientist at Northeastern University uses sound samples from people who can't speak to re-create their voices, giving voice to the voiceless.
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March 11, 2013
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Google Glass: is it a threat to our privacy?:
The
tech giant's 'wearable computing' project is now being tested by
volunteers, meaning you might already have been surreptitiously filmed
and uploaded on to Google's servers. How worried should you be?
Read More
March 6, 2013
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BigDog Robot Can Hurl Heavy Stones, Climb Rough Terrain:
Robot technology has been developing at a fast pace and a company, Boston Dynamics, has built a robot that is agile and strong enough to climb rough terrain and even carries and hurls heavy loads. The robot, named BigDog, has been in development since 2005, and it has now been given stronger limbs that could potentially help troops navigate rough terrains by carrying heavy loads - including artillery, medical supplies and food - for them. Research for the robot has been funded by the Pentagon.
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March 3, 2013
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Nanotechnology to preserve cultural treasures:
Experts from nine countries have come together to promote the use of nanotechnology to preserve works of art and other cultural treasures at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.
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February 28, 2013
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Brains of rats connected allowing them to share information via internet:
Scientists have connected the brains of a pair of animals and allowed
them to share sensory information in a major step towards what the
researchers call the world's first "organic computer". The
US team fitted two rats with devices called brain-to-brain interfaces
that let the animals collaborate on simple tasks to earn rewards, such
as a drink of water.
Read More
February 28, 2013
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Nanotechnology to outsmart counterfeiters of traditional pashminas:
It is among the most exquisite and expensive fabrics on earth, hand-spun from a few precious combs of wool collected in spring from the soft underbelly of the Himalayan mountain goat. Pashmina is in such demand that there is a booming counterfeit trade, but Kashmir's traditional shawl-makers are hitting back, using the latest security technology to protect their livelihood.
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February 27, 2013
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Flipping The Switch: What It Takes To Prioritize Electric Cars:
"Electricity is the most likely out of all of the alternative fuels ... to be the next fuel for the consumer," says Jonathan Strickland of the website HowStuffWorks. But electric vehicles are not without their controversies or challenges. One of the biggest questions is how a transition from gasoline to electric fuel can actually take place.
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February 23, 2013
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As Police Drones Take Off, Washington State Pushes Back:
Last year, Seattle became one of the nation's first cities to buy
unmanned drones for use by the police department. Public reaction was
less "Gee-whiz" than "What the heck?" The phrase "unmanned
drones" typically conjures images of places like Afghanistan. But the
Federal Aviation Administration says it wants to start testing the
civilian use of aerial drones here in the U.S. and has already issued
special permits to a few police departments interested in trying them
out. But after a raucous Seattle City Council hearing earlier
this month, the mayor killed the drone program. The controversy has now
moved to the state capital.
Read More
February 22, 2013
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Drone Pilots Are Found to Get Stress Disorders Much as Those in Combat Do:
In the first study of its kind, researchers with the Defense Department have found that pilots of drone aircraft experience mental health problems like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at the same rate as pilots of manned aircraft who are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. The study affirms a growing body of research finding health hazards even
for those piloting machines from bases far from actual combat zones.
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February 22, 2013
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Boston Grapples With The Threat Of Storms And Rising Water:
Since the drubbing that Superstorm Sandy gave the Northeast in November, there's a new sense of urgency in U.S. coastal cities. Even though scientists can't predict the next big hurricane, they're confident that a warmer climate is likely to make Atlantic storms bigger and cause more flooding. Cities like Boston are in the bull's-eye.
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February 22, 2013
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As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise:
Many people think 3-D printing could help spark a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. — even President Obama highlighted this technology in his State of the Union address last week. But as 3-D printers and 3-D scanners get cheaper, this nascent industry could be roiled by battles over intellectual property.
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February 19, 2013
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Weapons made with 3-D printers could test gun-control efforts:
Twenty minutes into his State of the Union address last week, President Obama entered the realm of uber-geekery — three-dimensional printing. The magical devices capable of printing prosthetics, violins and even aircraft parts have the potential, the president said, “to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” Forty miles away from the Capitol, in Glen Burnie, Md., Travis Lerol is proving Obama’s point — with guns.
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February 18, 2013
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Scientist Gets Research Donations From Crowd Funding:
What do you do when you're a scientist and you have no job and
no money for your research? If you're Ethan Perlstein, you try crowd
funding. He raised $25,000 to investigate where the drug methamphetamine
is stored in the brain.
Read More
February 14, 2013
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When Resistance Is Futile: Bring In The Robots To Pull Superweeds:
A future without weeds would be a kind of farmer utopia, but
currently, herbicide-resistant "superweeds" are part of today's reality.
Some researchers, though, are looking for a solution that seems ripped
from science fiction: weed-seeking robots.
Read More
February 14, 2013
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In Cyberwar, Software Flaws Are A Hot Commodity:
There have been security flaws in software as long as there has been
software, but they have become even more critically important in the
context of cyberweapons development. In the past, security
researchers who stumbled on a software flaw would typically report the
flaw to the manufacturer of the software, so it could be fixed. That
changed, however, when cyberweapon designers started looking at these
flaws as vulnerabilities that could serve as a back door into a computer
network. Most prized of all were "zero day vulnerabilities" — flaws
whose existence was previously unknown.
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February 12, 2013
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Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm:
A multinational security firm has secretly developed software capable of tracking people's movements and predicting future behaviour by mining data from social networking websites.
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February 10, 2013
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Dating 2.0: Crowdsource your smalltalk:
We’ve all seen it: that poor couple sitting in total silence, staring helplessly at their entrees while trying to think of something to say. It’s awful, but it doesn’t have to be, says Lauren McCarthy, an artist and programmer who is currently beta-testing a tech fix for those quiet moments during dates. Her solution? Invite the Internet along and crowdsource your smalltalk. It’s Cyrano de Bergerac for the Twitter age, and it’s called Social Turkers.
Read More
February 1, 2013
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In China, The Government Isn't The Only Spy Game In Town:
China is becoming a surveillance state. In recent years, the government has installed more than 20 million surveillance cameras around the country. Officials use them to solve crimes, but also to monitor democracy advocates and critics of the regime in regions like Tibet. More and more Chinese people appear to be spying on each other as well.
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January 30, 2013
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In China, Beware: A Camera May Be Watching You:
China is becoming a surveillance state. In recent years, the government has installed more than 20 million cameras across a country where a decade ago there weren't many. Today, in Chinese cities, cameras are everywhere: on highways, in public parks, on balconies, in elevators, in taxis, even in the stands at sporting events. Officials say the cameras help combat crime and maintain "social stability" — a euphemism for shutting up critics. In fact, the government routinely uses cameras to monitor and intimidate dissidents. Human rights activists worry that more surveillance will erode the freedom of ordinary people and undermine what little ability they have to question their rulers.
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January 29, 2013
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No Mercy For Robots: Experiment Tests How Humans Relate To Machines:
Many people have studied machine-human relations, and at this point
it's clear that without realizing it, we often treat the machines around
us like social beings. Does the way they interact with us color the way we "bond" with them?
Read More
January 28, 2013
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Google Explains How It Handles Police Requests For Users' Data:
Google wants you to know you're being watched. Or rather, the company wants you to know how and when the police get to watch what you do online. For the first time, the company has posted its policies for when it gives up users' information to the government. It's part of a broader company strategy to push for tougher privacy laws.
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January 28, 2013
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Star Trek style 'tractor beam' created by scientists:
A real-life "tractor beam", which uses light to attract objects, has been developed by scientists. However, The research, published in Nature Photonics and led by the University of St Andrews, is limited to moving microscopic particles. It is hoped it could have medical applications by targeting and attracting individual cells.
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January 24, 2013
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Painkiller Paradox: Feds Struggle To Control Drugs That Help And Harm:
Prescription painkillers can allow those in chronic pain to live normal lives, but they can become addicting and lead to abuse, overdose, and death. How should they be regulated? Officials at the FDA say they're trying to figure out
how to help without causing harm. The agency wants to find the balance
between helping prevent patients from dying and
protecting pain patients. "It is as complex an issue as I've worked on, just for the variety of
social, medical, scientific, legal things that are influencing the
choices people are making," says Douglas Throckmorton of the FDA.
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January 23, 2013
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Sting operations reveal Mafia involvement in renewable energy:
Inside a midnight-blue BMW, a Sicilian entrepreneur delivered his pitch to the accused mafia boss. A new business was blowing into Italy that could spin wind and sunlight into gold, ensuring the future of the Earth as well as the Cosa Nostra: renewable energy.
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January 22, 2013
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Men more likely than women to commit research fraud, study finds:
Male scientists, particularly those of high academic rank, are more likely than women to commit research fraud and other forms of misconduct, according to a study published in mBio, the online journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Researchers suggested that a penchant among men for risk-taking and an increasingly competitive “winner-take-all” funding environment were among the reasons for growing misconduct in life sciences research.
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January 22, 2013
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3D printed house to emerge:
A Dutch architecture firm plans on using a D-Shape 3D printer to output a house in the shape of a Mobius strip, a project they estimate will take 18 months.
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January 21, 2013
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Behind Manti Teo hoax about girlfriend lies a deep desire to believe:
The Internet can be a blunt and brutal place. It’s built on unruly mobs moving across the virtual terrain, digesting stories and leaving behind carcasses. But it is also one of the last vestiges of wide-eyed, unfettered belief.
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January 17, 2013
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3-D printers could bring manufacturing to your home office:
3-D printers, once an obscure and expensive innovation, are gaining traction among businesses, with broad implications for manufacturing. Ford is putting them in the hands of every one of its engineers. NASA uses the printers to test parts that could eventually make it to space.
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January 7, 2013
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Disney creates the happiest data mine on earth:
Okay...so how's this for a fantasy? You take the kids to Disney World, or go yourself, and there are no turnstiles to deal with. No epic lines at Space Mountain. And you've got reserved front row seats for the fireworks. Magic? No. More like Disney's new MagicBand. Come spring, visitors to Disney World will be given wristbands with chips that hold credit card numbers, FastPass codes and other personal information, like your child's name and birthdate.
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January 7, 2013
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As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemalas Hunger Pangs:
In the tiny tortillerias of Guatemala City, people complain ceaselessly
about the high price of corn. Just three years ago, one quetzal — about
15 cents — bought eight tortillas; today it buys only four. And eggs
have tripled in price because chickens eat corn feed. Recent laws in the United States and Europe that mandate the increasing
use of biofuel in cars have had far-flung ripple effects, economists
say, as land once devoted to growing food for humans is now sometimes
more profitably used for churning out vehicle fuel.
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January 5, 2013
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Online Science News With User Comments Fraught With Unintended Consequences, Study Suggests:
A science-inclined audience and wide array of communications tools make the Internet an excellent opportunity for scientists hoping to share their research with the world. But that opportunity is fraught with unintended consequences, according University of Wisconsin-Madison life sciences communication professors, Dominique Brossard and Dietram Scheufele, in a Perspectives piece for the journal Science.
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January 3, 2013
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Highway of the future is seriously smart:
How a Dutch design lab could make roads cleaner, safer and weirder.
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January 3, 2013
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Neuromarketing:
A new branch of market research is using neuroscience to look inside the living brain to understand and manipulate consumer behaviour.
Read More
January 1, 2013
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Games for Science:
Scientists are using video games to tap the collective intelligence of people around the world, while doctors and educators are turning to games to treat and teach.
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January 1, 2013
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New Car Features May Keep Older Drivers Out Of The Big Yellow Taxi:
In some of the most potent cultural images we have of cool cars, they are being driven by young men — Ron Howard cruising in American Graffiti, cousins Bo and Luke from The Dukes of Hazzard sliding over the hood of the General Lee, James Dean behind the wheel of his Porsche. But these days some of the coolest things about our cars aren't there to dazzle the young. They're there to accommodate the aging. With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, it's easy to see why.
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December 17, 2012
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Helping Decide Guilt or Innocence:
As DNA evidence is increasingly used in courtrooms, forensic scientists are struggling to find more-precise ways to analyze smaller and smaller samples that contain multiple contributors. Two scientists at the forensic biology laboratory of the New York City medical examiner’s office have created a way, the Forensic Statistical Tool, an algorithm for a software program that can analyze a mixture of DNA from a crime scene and determine the probability that it could include the defendant’s profile.
December 15, 2012
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THE END OF SMARTPHONES: Here's A Computer Screen On A Contact Lens:
Over in Belgium, scientists have finally taken a crucial step toward building screens into contact lenses. Jelle De Smet and a team of researchers at Ghent University built an LCD screen in a curved contact lens. To do it, they had to come up with new kinds of "conductive polymers" – and mold them into "a very thin, spherically-curved substrate with active layers."
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December 14, 2012
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