Comment Here's a demo of it (Score 1) 240
Done by a guy at TED this summer
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html
New "Drake Equation" Selects Between Alien Worlds 220
An anonymous reader writes 'A mathematical equation that counts habitats suitable for alien life could complement the Drake equation, which estimates the probability of finding intelligent alien beings elsewhere in the galaxy. That equation, developed in 1960 by US astronomer Frank Drake, estimates the probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in our galaxy by considering the number of stars with planets that could support life. The new equation, under development by planetary scientists at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, aims to develop a single index for habitability based on the presence of energy, solvents such as water, raw materials like carbon, and whether or not there are benign environmental conditions.'
Comment Re:Pickle Ball (Score 1) 950
I loved pickle ball at my school, then again it was because I schooled everyone at it...
Comment Bring back Mr. Wizard... (Score 1) 899
...and that Bill Nye guy, too.
Comment How about... (Score 4, Funny) 224
We create a huge solar array, big enough to cause a solar eclipse, and position it so it happens every other week or so. It would really freak India out...
Comment They have to expect the consensus to be... (Score 2, Interesting) 224
Go to Mars. Most of us would agree that there are much more beneficial endeavors, probably more profitable as well. But the fact of the matter is nothing else would get as much attention from the general public as going to Mars.
Comment Re:Requirements? (Score 1) 176
First off, a weekly build is asking a lot. So much in fact, that it would hinder development. If every week the development team was just trying to produce another working demo, no features would be completed. I worked on a program in college over an entire semester to control a model train set. We spent 130+ hours per team member on the project, and didn't have a working demo until 3 weeks before the end of the semester. If we were required to have a working demo within a week, we would've never been able to work out other features (stopping collisions, allowing the train to reverse, change switches, sound a horn, etc.)
Most builds of the current game status would be unplayable. You wouldn't be able to do much other than look over the code.
As for requesting changes, you would have to invest much more than just the price of the final game before you could be taken seriously. If it were me, I would listen to the guy who paid me $1,000 rather than the person who paid $50 and expects a free copy of the game when it's completed.
Comment Re:Yep, that's why God put em there (Score 0, Offtopic) 299
I think it's clear at this point that the earth wasn't made in a week, and religious fundamentalists are trouble.
Just like the earth isn't round and the sun isn't the center of the solar system, right?
Certain ideas may seem ridiculous, until you take the time to really look at them objectively.
Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females
347
A new study has shown that even sperm can be superficial. Researchers found that males of many animal species, including humans, can adjust the speed and effectiveness of their sperm by regulating the amount of seminal fluid they produce during copulation. The determining factor on that amount of fluid seems to be whether the male finds the female attractive.
Submission + - Cellphones Increasingly Used as Evidence in Court
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that the case of Mikhail Mallayev, who was convicted in March of murder after data from his his cellphone disproved his alibi, highlights the surge in law enforcement's use of increasingly sophisticated cellular tracking techniques to keep tabs on suspects before they are arrested and build criminal cases against them by mapping their past movements. But cellphone tracking is raising concerns about civil liberties in a debate that pits public safety against privacy rights. Investigators seeking warrants must provide a judge with probable cause that a crime has been committed but investigators often obtain cell-tracking records under lower standards of judicial review — through subpoenas, which are granted routinely, or through an intermediate type of court order based on an argument that the information requested would be relevant to an investigation. "Cell phone providers store an increasing amount of sensitive data about where you are and when, based on which cell towers your phone uses when making a call. Until now, the government has routinely seized these records without search warrants," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. Last year the Federal District Court in Pittsburgh ruled that a search warrant was required even for historical phone location records, but the Justice Department has appealed the ruling. "The cost of carrying a cellphone should not include the loss of one's personal privacy," said Catherine Crump, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union."
Submission + - Neuroscientists Identify Brain's Centers of Wisdom
Hugh Pickens writes: "Two geriatric psychiatrists at the University of California have analyzed decades of research and found that wisdom is made up of a collection of attributes: good of the group, pragmatism, emotional balance, self-understanding, tolerance and the ability to deal with ambiguity. Now they have identified that wisdom can be found in the brain's primitive limbic system as well as its more evolutionarily advanced prefrontal cortex and may be accounted for by a surprisingly small number of brain regions: a putative wisdom network. "What was striking was that some regions appeared time and again," says Dilip Jeste. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (which is involved in control of emotions and processing ambiguity), the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (which is involved in empathy, morality, self-reflection and decision-making), the anterior cingulate (which is important to detecting conflict) and the limbic striatum (part of the brain's reward system). As Jeste and his colleague Thomas Meeks continue developing their model of wisdom in the brain, they plan to study the distribution of wisdom in the general population and examine brain-damaged individuals to confirm the regions involved. Jeste and Meeks concede that some might call their conclusions reductionistic because they based their "map" not on the idea that wisdom is a single trait, but a collection of attributes but add that the tale of Phineas Gage, a railway worker whose allegedly wise attributes such as amiability and good judgment were said to vanish after a spike penetrated his left frontal lobe — "makes you think it's not a cultural phenomenon but biologically consistent.""
Submission + - Cisco to launch space-based router (goodgearguide.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "Cisco Systems, the company that pioneered the Internet router, is about to enter a new frontier: sending one into geostationary orbit on a satellite. It's the first big step in a US Defense Department-led initiative, called Internet Routers In Space (IRIS), that could eventually make it easier and less expensive to get high-speed Internet access where wires and cables don't reach."
Comment Watch a kid play Mario for the first time... (Score 1) 251
I remember laughing watching my friends and sister play Super Mario for NES for the first time. Every time they wanted to jump, they'd press A and pull up on the entire controller. Like they were trying to use motion controls when they weren't even part of the game! I understand that buttons will never go away, but motion controls can provide some nice additions to gaming.
I swear that Mario jumped farther when you flailed about madly when he was in the air. (at least my 5-year old mind thought so) When I first played Super Paper Mario for the Wii, and you used motion controls to combo hits on enemies, I laughed out loud. I remembered my first experience with Mario and how it had all come full circle.
It's not that motion controls are better, that isn't my argument. They're just much more intuitive.
I swear that Mario jumped farther when you flailed about madly when he was in the air. (at least my 5-year old mind thought so) When I first played Super Paper Mario for the Wii, and you used motion controls to combo hits on enemies, I laughed out loud. I remembered my first experience with Mario and how it had all come full circle.
It's not that motion controls are better, that isn't my argument. They're just much more intuitive.
Submission + - Scientists Wonder What are Fingerprints for?
Hugh Pickens writes: "The BBC reports that scientists say they have disproved the theory that fingerprints improve grip by increasing friction between people's hands and the surface they are holding. Dr Roland Ennos designed a machine which enabled him to measure the amount of friction generated by a fingerprint when it was in contact with the acrylic glass. Ennos expected the amount of friction to increase in proportion to the strength at which the acrylic glass was pushed against the finger, however the results showed that friction levels increased by a much smaller amount than had been anticipated debunking the hypothesis that fingerprints provide an improved grip. Ennos believes that fingerprints may have evolved to grip onto rough surfaces, like tree bark; the ridges may allow our skin to stretch and deform more easily, protecting it from damage; or they may allow water trapped between our finger pads and the surface to drain away and improve surface contact in wet conditions. Other researchers have suggested that the ridges could increase our fingerpads' touch sensitivity. Dr Jon Barnes, a biomechanics expert at the University of Glasgow, is sanguine about the results. "It's always nice to knock down an urban myth with good data.""
Submission + - Wii-hab boosts Parkinson's treatments (examiner.com)
mmmscience writes: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1242-Science-News-Examiner~y2009m6d12-Wiihab-boosts-Parkinsons-treatments Scientists are investigating the use of Wii Sports as a form of treatment for those suffereing form Parkinson's. After a four-week study, researchers found that rounds of tennis, bowling, and boxing improved rigidity, movement, fine motor skills and energy levels as well as decreasing the occurrence of depression. It is thought that combining exercise and video games helps to increase dopamine levels, a chemical that is deficient in Parkinson's. The therapy is gaining notoriety under the name of Wii-hab.
