42570853
submission
Calopteryx writes:
The correspondence of Alfred Russel Wallace has gone online for the first time (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/collections/library-collections/wallace-letters-online/index.html). New Scientist has opened a wormhole between the 21st and 19th centuries and has "interviewed" the great man
16972606
submission
Calopteryx writes:
A computer has beaten a human at shogi, otherwise known as Japanese chess, for the first time. As New Scientist reports, computers have beaten humans at western chess before, but that game is relatively simple, with only about 10^123 possible games existing that can be played out. Shogi is a *bit* more complex, offering about 10^224 possible games.
14837578
submission
Calopteryx writes:
New Scientist has a story on how Avidians — digital organisms in a computer world called Avida — replicate, mutate and have evolved a rudimentary form of memory. They — or things like them — might eventually evolve to become artificially intelligent life forms.
13442276
submission
Calopteryx writes:
"This is arguably the single most impressive and important pattern ever devised," says a Game of Life enthusiast. New Scientist has a story on a self-replicating entity which inhabits the mathematical universe known as the Game of Life. The existence of Gemini could help us understand how life on Earth began, or inspire strategies to build tiny computers
13027464
submission
Calopteryx writes:
It could lead to a Titantic discovery — two potential signatures of life on Saturn's moon Titan have been found by the Cassini spacecraft. New Scientist reports that in 2005, researchers predicted two potential signatures of life on Titan — now both have been seen, although non-biological chemical reactions could also be behind the observations.
11927254
submission
Calopteryx writes:
Following Obama's announcement to send humans to Mars by the mid-2030s, New Scientist reports on plans to piece together the elements of a starter kit for the first colonists of the Red Planet: "The creation of a human outpost on Mars is still some way off, but that hasn't stopped us planning the garden."
