May 1, 2009
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/supercomputers-2/
The Department of Energy is releasing a record amount of supercomputing time, 1.3 billion processor hours, which has astrophysicists, biologists and everyone in between drooling in anticipation.
Starting in 2010, some of them will have the chance to run the biggest and most intricate simulations ever, creating experimental galaxies, plasma fusion reactors and global climates to help solve some of science’s most complex problems.
April 29, 2009
April 27, 2009
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/indusscript
Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated linguists thought the symbols were merely pretty pictures.
April 27, 2009
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_guidestones
Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why. The only clues to its origin are on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gives the dimensions and explains a series of intricate notches and holes that correspond to the movements of the sun and stars—and the “guides” themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appear in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflect a peculiar New Age ideology. Some are vaguely eugenic (guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity); others prescribe standard-issue hippie mysticism (prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite).
April 23, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/new-tool-shows.html
Participatory media may be the future, but a look at most comment threads shows that technology hasn’t figured out a good way to force humans to act like citizens instead of fifth graders.
UC Berkeley’s Center for New Media hopes it has a way to fix that mess in its Opinion Space visualization tool, which provides a planetarium view of users opinions.
April 8, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/thermodynamino.html
That’s the tantalizing implication of a pattern found in the formation of amino acids in meteorites, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and simulations of primordial Earth. The pattern appears to follow basic thermodynamic laws, applicable throughout the known universe.
Bring on the mutant half-breeds!
April 8, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/schizoillusion.html
Schizophrenia sufferers aren’t fooled by an optical illusion known as the “hollow mask” that the rest of us fall for because connections between the sensory and conceptual areas of their brains might be on the fritz.
The good news is, based on that test, I don’t have schizophrenia!
April 3, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/robotscientist.html
Scientists designed “Adam” to carry out the entire scientific process on its own: formulating hypotheses, designing and running experiments, analyzing data, and deciding which experiments to run next.
April 1, 2009
http://www.wired.com/video/twitter-plans-to-make-money/18173818001
“Wired’s Danny Dumas and Steven Leckart stop by Twitter headquarters to probe its new moneymaking brainchild. Is Twitter making a gadget?”
March 20, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/gmails-new-undo.html
A new feature for Gmail aims to rid your life of that classic “Oh Shit” e-mail moment.
March 17, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/predictrecall.html
Researchers have found a telltale mental signature that predicts whether an experience will be remembered. Once deciphered, the signals could be used to help people know when their brains are primed to remember, perhaps using an iPhone app.
February 26, 2009
http://www.wired.com/medtech/genetics/magazine/17-03/st_qa
Flip the right genetic switches in a chicken embryo and you just might hatch a baby dino. Paleontologist Jack Horner intends to do it. He explains his scheme to rewind evolution in a new book, How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have to Be Forever. We asked him if there is anything—anything at all—that could possibly go wrong.
February 9, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/cognitive-compu.html
Imagine a computer that can process text, video and audio in an instant, solve problems on the fly, and do it all while consuming just 10 watts of power.
It would be the ultimate computing machine if it were built with silicon instead of human nerve cells.
Compare that to current computers, which require extensive, custom programming for each application, consume hundreds of watts in power, and are still not fast enough. So it’s no surprise that some computer scientists want to go back to the drawing board and try building computers that more closely emulate nature.
January 21, 2009
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-02/st_thompson
Normally, we expect society to progress, amassing deeper scientific understanding and basic facts every year. Knowledge only increases, right?
Robert Proctor doesn’t think so. A historian of science at Stanford, Proctor points out that when it comes to many contentious subjects, our usual relationship to information is reversed: Ignorance increases.
He has developed a word inspired by this trend: agnotology. Derived from the Greek root agnosis, it is “the study of culturally constructed ignorance.”
January 7, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/usaf-blog-respo.html
In a twelve-point plan, put together by the emerging technology division of the Air Force’s public affairs arm, airmen are given guidance on how to handle “trolls,” “ragers” — and even well-informed online writers, too. It’s all part of an Air Force push to “counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force,” Captain David Faggard says.
The Linkening 