NewScITech

The Altair 8800, introduced in the early 1970s, was the first computer you could build at home from a kit. It was crude, didn’t do much, but many historians would say that it launched the desktop computer revolution. Hod Lipson, Cornell assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, thinks a little machine he calls a Fab@Home may have the same impact. Read the rest of this entry »

From the far reaches of space to inner workings of molecules, discoveries resulting from National Science Foundation (NSF) investments in research and education enable the United States to remain at the forefront of science and engineering knowledge and also enhance the nation’s economic strength in the face of global competition. Here are some of the NSF-supported activities highlighted in 2006. Also, listed separately are the stories that visitors to our Web site selected most often. Read the rest of this entry »

How will we enjoy entertainment in the future? Via a high-definition plasma TV screen, computer, cellphone or iPod? Who will create entertainment? Will it be mega studios, independent producers or the whiz kid on his laptop–or a network of whiz kids? And who will watch the result when the audience is also the writer, critic and marketer? Read the rest of this entry »

Engineers pushed a newly designed, metal shear wall to its limits at a Nov. 20 seismic test at the University of California, Berkeley’s Structural Engineering Research Lab. The panel proved strong enough for use in California and other earthquake-prone regions throughout the world, researchers said. Read the rest of this entry »

A team of South Korean scientists on Sunday claimed to have created a “cellular fountain of youth,’’ or a small molecule, which enables human cells to avoid aging and dying. Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists working in the southern Atlantic Ocean have found a 407 °C hydrothermal vent, the hottest yet known on an ocean floor. Although only 5 °C hotter than the previous deep-sea high of 402 °C, recorded in the Pacific Ocean, the new hotspot bumps seawater into the strange state of being a supercritical fluid. Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists are recreating the human body on a microchip - using clumps of cells from different organs linked by fluid-filled channels - to reduce the amount of animal testing for drugs. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers here have learned how a derivative of vitamin E causes the death of cancer cells. The researchers then used that knowledge to make the agent an even more potent cancer killer. Read the rest of this entry »

Food contains an amazing amount of energy. If you don’t believe it, feed candy to some kids and watch them bounce off the walls. Of course, tot-baiting is only one way to turn food energy into noise and destruction. Read the rest of this entry »

As a kid I wasn’t so bright Read the rest of this entry »

Young adults in the United States fail to understand the world and their place in it, according to a survey-based report on geographic literacy released today. Read the rest of this entry »

Physicists have made water run uphill quite literally under its own steam. The droplets propel themselves over metal sheets scored with a carefully designed array of grooves. Read the rest of this entry »

The PF (Police Force) can help you to see perfectly through sunglasses and dark, tinted car windows. Read the rest of this entry »

SEOUL, South Korea - The world’s first and only cloned dog celebrated its first birthday on Monday, as the leader of the South Korean team that produced the Afghan hound faced a criminal investigation for possible fraud and ethics violations. Read the rest of this entry »

Structure believed one-third taller than Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. Researchers in Bosnia on Wednesday unearthed the first solid evidence that an ancient pyramid lies hidden beneath a massive hill — a series of geometrically cut stone slabs that could form part of the structure’s sloping surface. Read the rest of this entry »