Informatics

Atoms, photons, and other quantum particles are often capricious and finicky by nature; very rarely at a standstill, they often collide with others of their kind. But if such particles can be individually corralled and controlled in large numbers, they may be harnessed as quantum bits, or qubits — tiny units of information whose state…

University of Canterbury Distinguished Professor Jack Copeland and UC alumni and composer Jason Long have restored the earliest known recording of computer-generated music, created more than 65 years ago using programming techniques devised by Alan Turing. In 1951, a BBC outside-broadcast unit in Manchester used a portable acetate disc cutter to capture three melodies played by a…

When scaling down robots to the micrometer scale for tiny tasks such as incising tissue and puncturing retinal veins, minimalism is key. To make smaller, simpler microrobots, researchers at Drexel University have developed a fabrication method which utilizes the minimum geometric requirements for fluid motion — consisting of just two conjoined microparticles coated with bits…

Chemists at the Complutense University of Madrid have developed a method that allows brewers to measure the freshness of beer, using a polymer sensor that changes colour upon detecting furfural, a compound that appears when this beverage ages and gives it a stale flavour. The sensor can be controlled from a smartphone app also created…

If you’re looking for a way to use a computer more efficiently, researchers at the University of Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science may have a solution for you. Master’s candidate Jingjie Zheng and Professor Daniel Vogel have recently filed a patent that would allow computer users to trigger different shortcut commands by…

Most people are aware of open-source computer programs. These free programs, accessible by anyone, spread technology to distant corners of the world. Cutting-edge innovations, however, come at a price. As a result, many software companies license their work. These same concerns exist within the seed-development arena. Some plant researchers support the free exchange of new…

Here are just a few excellent online repositories that provide free viewing and downloads of fascinating scientific information, ranging from Einstein transcripts to NASA posters, from personal papers and letters to Feynman lectures, from Darwin manuscripts to high-resolution space program photos, and from diaries to virtual worlds. Nearly 3 Million Astonishing Earth Images NASA has…

These spiky foam wedges, seen here in ESA’s Maxwell test chamber, cover the walls of facilities that simulate the endless void of space. This ‘anechoic’ foam absorbs radio signals, enabling radio-frequency testing without any distorting reflections from the chamber walls. In addition, it also absorbs sound — making these chambers eerily quiet places to work.…

NEW YORK (AP) — With famed physicist Stephen Hawking at his side, an Internet investor announced April 12, 2016, that he’s spending $100 million on a futuristic plan to explore far outside our solar system. Yuri Milner said the eventual goal is sending hundreds or thousands of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an…

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) — To astronomers’ relief, NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has won another reprieve. The spacecraft — responsible for detecting thousands of planets beyond our solar system — slipped into emergency mode last week nearly 75 million miles from Earth. Ground controllers managed to stabilize the probe on Sunday, April 10, 2016, and…

A new era of robotics is upon us, bring with it stories of science-fantasy robots; doctorless hospitals; learning how to tame robots; automatically controlling a 600-robot swarm; searching for electronic immortality; crowd-sourced flood data; humanoid robots; transferring real-time data from fire scenes; human-robot emergency response; falling in love with a robot; and establishing trust in…

If we are serious about long-term human presence in space, such as manned bases on the moon or Mars, we must figure out how to streamline human-robot interactions. Right now, even the most basic of robots seem to have impenetrable brains. When I bought an autonomous vacuum cleaner, one that roams the house on its…

RENO, NV (AP) — A drone has successfully delivered a package to a residential location in a small Nevada town in what its maker and the governor of the state said was the first fully autonomous urban drone delivery in the U.S. Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney said the six-rotor drone flew about a half-mile along…

A 55-acre “cosmic landscape worthy of the ancients” now occupies the site of a former open-pit coal mine in southern Scotland. Inspired by the themes of space, astronomy and cosmology, what was once a derelict site is now a truly stunning “artland” presenting a network of paths that navigate features and landforms representing the sun,…

We are in the middle of a long-term global transition away from fossil fuels and toward more efficient, renewable-based energy systems. This shift will deliver many benefits, including jobs, reduced air pollution, lower greenhouse gas emissions and less exposure to the volatility and risks of extracting, storing and transporting fossil fuels. It also will offer…

Reaching the stars, or reducing our travel time to Mars and other planets, will require a method of travel that can approach relativistic speeds. Currently, missions launched during the most optimal launch windows, which occur every two years, take several months to reach the Red Planet. However, NASA researchers are working on a new laser…

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a new, more computationally efficient way to process data from the Global Positioning System (GPS), to enhance location accuracy from the meter level down to a few centimeters. The optimization will be used in the development of autonomous vehicles, improved aviation and naval navigation systems, and…