A new study casts real suspicion on the possibility of life on Mars. Why? It seems the surface of the planet may be downright uninhabitable for microbial life as we know it. Over the years, and with research into life on other worlds, visions of extra-terrestrials and "little ...more
Colorado State University scientists have developed new tech that quickly identifies the presence of Zika virus in mosquito populations — and in human body fluid. For hard-hit nations like Brazil and Nicaragua, a field-ready test that not only identifies Zika, but also the st ...more
For some, drinking raw milk is a way to get back to nature, improve family nutrition, and hedge against asthma and allergies. However, according to public health authorities, drinking raw or unpasteurized milk is a big mistake—even fatal. So what's the story? Animal milk prod ...more
Earlier this year, NASA reported on findings that might point to water, and microbial life, on moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. Named Europa and Enceladus, those moons contain large oceans under their icy surfaces, which many speculate could hold microbial life. On Earth, l ...more
Just like in the Spy Kids 3D movie, US soldiers may soon upgrade their mission planning from 2D to 3D. Welcome to the wonderful world of augmented reality, US Army. Natick, Massachusetts is home to the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), who ...more
It appears that the Project Aero 3D content development tool isn't the only augmented reality project that Adobe has in the works. The software company recently provided a peek at its Project Glasswing, a prototype transparent display that the Adobe Research team will present ...more
It's safe to say most of us know the dangers of online security. We know there are people trying to steal our most sensitive information, and we try our best to prevent that theft. But new research is showing what we're doing might not be enough, as the sensors in our phones m ...more
Gather all Mad Scientists. Science doesn't have to be all about hitting the books and memorizing formulas. Sometimes it's closer to Frankenstein or Dr.Jekyll than you can imagine. It's time to turn tomatoes into glow in the dark orbs. Video producers ShootingEggs did not incl ...more
Researchers are putting driverless shuttles on campus next year at the University of Michigan and the rides are free for students and teachers. The project was created by Mcity, an autonomous and connected vehicle research center. It includes two shuttles running about every ...more
As the fish farming industry struggles to become more environmentally friendly, it just gained another problem. Fish food loaded with antibiotic-resistant genes. Do you like salmon? Around the world, salmon aquaculture represents about 70% of the market, according to the Worl ...more
After a little more than a year at motion tracking technology maker Leap Motion, Keiichi Matsuda has resigned his position as vice president of design and global creative director, the company announced on Wednesday. A designer and filmmaker (and NR30 member), Matsuda is perh ...more
Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed that "the seed of science" was "wonder," and taking a look at this nine-layer liquid tower from Steve Spangler's Sick Science! channel, one can't help but do just that — wonder. How is this possible? Is this magic or what? While it's not exac ...more
Mercedes-Benz's parent company, Daimler, announced their intention today to put self-driving taxis on the road in three years or less in a partnership with Bosch. The program will reportedly be an Uber-like experience, from hailing a cab from your smartphone, to having a huma ...more
Google, Facebook, and Huawei have made an investment in nurturing the future of augmented and virtual reality through $6 million in contributions to the opening of a new center at the University of Washington. The UW Reality Lab at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science ...more
In recent years, the US military has been utilizing augmented reality as a training tool, giving officers and soldiers an opportunity to train and hone their decision-making, tactical efforts, and weapons accuracy via virtual scenarios. Now, the US Navy is also delving into t ...more
This month, the power of artificial intelligence will be coming to more augmented reality developers as a leader in the game and 3D software development space and a major force behind the current school of cloud-based AI have officially announced a new partnership. In a post ...more
Where in the world did it come from? All of a sudden, one day, someone had an infection with flesh-eating bacteria. It captured headlines and worldwide attention because it was such a severe, strange, uncontrollable, and really disgusting condition. We still might not know wh ...more
Smartglasses startup Nreal enjoyed some highs and endured some lows this week, as the company landed a product placement with Kevin Bacon but then faced production issues related to the coronavirus outbreak. But Nreal wasn't the only company dealing with the virus, as some of ...more
After years of testing and modifications, the US Army is moving forward with its customized version of HoloLens 2 from Microsoft. In separate announcements published on Wednesday, the US Army authorized moving from rapid prototyping to production and rapid field testing. Don ...more
Air New Zealand is looking for a spokesperson for the Antarctica: No Ordinary Place, No Ordinary Assignment project, a two-week adventure in Antarctica, where the chosen candidate will join National Geographic photographer Jason Edwards to document environmental issues and imp ...more
You've probably seen the classic fruit battery science experiment a thousand times, but I doubt you've ever seen it turned into an art project! Photographer Caleb Charland uses everyday objects like apples, coins and vinegar to create makeshift batteries, then takes these gorg ...more
It looks like Chris Urmson has spent the six months since he left Google's Self Driving Car Project trying to build a get-rich-quick self-driving unicorn, along with Sterling Anderson, formerly with Tesla Motors. At least that is one of several scandalous accusations in a Tesl ...more
Bacteria gets a bad rap. Most headlines focus on the danger and discomfort posed by pathogens like bacteria, but many of the bacteria that live on and in us are vital to our health. Many products out there, called probiotics, are sold with the implication that they're supporti ...more
Microsoft Research has published a technical paper reviewing their work with near-eye displays for virtual and augmented reality to project phase-only holograms. The team built a holographic projector that displayed a series of sub-holograms, which allowed the hologram to dis ...more
Hundreds of Windows 10, macOS, and Linux vulnerabilities are disclosed every single week, many of which elude mainstream attention. Most users aren't even aware that newly found exploits and vulnerabilities exist, nor that CVEs can be located by anyone in just a few clicks fro ...more
On Tuesday, at the Unite Berlin developers conference, Unity unveiled new tools designed specifically for augmented reality that could literally raise the technology to the next level. Coming this fall, a new extension for Unity called Project MARS (short for Mixed and Augmen ...more
All those early prototype images Magic Leap is so fond of showing off are great, but they rank a far second when compared to a new set of images just revealed by Microsoft in relation to the HoloLens. In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft's Bay Area Team posted images of the e ...more
Robots are always really cool, if you ask me. Sometimes they're made out of Legos, and that's even cooler. The Papercube, previously called the Legomaschine, is a fully automated Lego "factory" created by students in the Management, Information, and Technology program at Germ ...more
By connecting the dots between theory and real-life effect, two new studies offer more proof that neonicotinoid insecticides are causing extensive damage to honeybee colonies. Research studies have linked neonicotinoid insecticides to damage to honeybee colonies, while agricu ...more
Apple Pay has been available to use in stores, as well as in select apps and websites, ever since its first appearance in iOS 8.1. Now, with iOS 12, there are currently 13 different iPhone models that support Apple Pay functionality without the use of an Apple Watch, and the l ...more
When you think of AR experiences, you typically think of something that either involves a headset or a handset. Augmented reality without either of those things has seemed impossible in the past. But if anyone is going to try to find a way to have an augmented reality experien ...more
Kuru is called the shaking disease, its name derived from the Fore word for "to shake." Caused by an organism that infects the part of the brain that controls coordination, people afflicted with kuru shake uncontrollably. First, there is headache and joint pain, then shaking, ...more
Action games encompass a wide array of categories, ranging from racing games that pit you against players the world over for track domination, to endless runners that push you to set ever higher scores, and RPGs that let you embark on adventures in fantasy worlds. With such a ...more
It appears there are endless things you can do with Coke. The Nokia Coke-powered phone is not in production, but certainly an interesting idea. Designed by Daizi Zheng, the Coke phone is an eco-friendly solution to charging your cell. Zheng's proposition: This is a client p ...more
Just days before the release of the first image of the Magic Leap device, the company's CEO, Rony Abovitz, knew that the biggest moment of his life was about to unfold the following week. But instead of hunkering down in the Florida-based confines of the company's skunkworks, ...more
The worlds of augmented reality and virtual reality are closely linked in many ways. That means it's smart for AR insiders to keep a close on new developments in VR. If you have been paying attention, you know that Oculus CTO John Carmack is one one of the most important think ...more
Google's Nexus 7 tablet has just been released, and for only $199, it seems like a great deal. Now, some of you are probably immediately thinking that you're going to want to root this thing as soon as possible to install all of your tweaks. Luckily, some clever hackers have a ...more
It's fitting that students at the University of Washington can catch a glimpse of the new, 135,000 square-foot computer science building in augmented reality before construction is completed. The university's contractor for the project, Mortenson Construction, has built a mob ...more
With new diet and health claims coming at you everyday, it's sometimes hard to know what to believe. Well, here's a bright spot: A pair of studies confirm that whole grains are healthy for you, and for the diversity of microbes living in your gut. Grains, and the breads made ...more
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that augmented reality (or, AR for short) will "change everything." But what, exactly, is augmented reality? Generally, augmented reality refers to the process of presenting virtual objects and imagery — usually through a wearable lens or external ...more
For Snapchat users wondering if that selfie is ready to send to their crush, independent Lens Studio creator Andrew Mendez created a handy tool called the Smile Rater. The lens is simple yet effective. A white bar floats over the user's head, showing a rating of one through 1 ...more
Natural remedies used through the ages abound, especially in Asian medicine. The willow-leaved justicia plant, found throughout Southeast Asia, has traditionally been used to treat arthritis, but scientists have just discovered it contains an anti-HIVcompound more potent than ...more
Flu vaccines can help prevent us from getting or suffering the most severe effects of the flu. But, each vaccine only protects us from three different strains of the flu. If we don't have a vaccine against all types of flu, it leaves us open for an epidemic with a flu virus we ...more
Breastfeeding is the ultimate in farm-to-table dining. It is sustenance prepared just for the baby and delivered with a very personal touch. Along with bonding, breastfeeding provides powerful protection to infants and young children in the form of beneficial bacteria, hormone ...more
Last week it was announced that Waymo, the former Google Self-Driving Car project, had graduated from Alphabet's X innovation center. This graduation had been in the cards for many months with senior members of the project team and X hinting that it would be soon. John Krafci ...more
Alphabet's moonshot factory, X (formerly "Google X"), is a secretive place, but it seems that when they are close to graduating a project, then they need to staff it up quickly. Watching for these job ads is one easy way to know they're close to budding off a baby. The X divi ...more
One thing you'll find a lot of in the Windows Store for HoloLens is demos and mockups, but very few projects are as fully realized and fully-functioning as Muralize. Created by Magnopus, an all-female development team, Muralize first appeared in the Windows Store in late-Novem ...more
The $25 million development alliance Jaguar Land Rover's mobility unit InMotion has formed with US-based ride-share firm Lyft reflects how the British luxury carmaker is leaning towards a fleet service business model for its driverless offerings. The agreement marks the iconi ...more
In December of last year, UK-based Zappar successfully raise $84,356 for their ZapBox mixed reality headset—over $50,000 more than their goal. Well, they just blew that sum out of the water when they announced this morning that they've closed a Series A round of funding with $ ...more
Despite legends to the contrary, it appears that the saliva of a Komodo dragon is not teeming with pathogenic bacteria that kills their prey. Its reputation to survive while colonized with lots of horrible disease-causing bacteria, true or untrue, has made it the subject of re ...more
I was in college, and my 15-inch Sony Vaio laptop was my prized possession. It was my first PC and probably the most important thing I brought with me to my dorm — it was both how I completed my assignments and my primary source of entertainment. How could it turn its back on ...more
For as long as 14,000 years, the First Nations people of the Heitsuk Nation have made their home along the Central Coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Among the territory's inlets, islands, rivers, and valleys lie a clay deposit on the north side of Kisameet Ba ...more
Bioluminescence — the ability of an organism to produce and emit light — is nature's light show. Plants, insects, fish, and bacteria do it, and scientists understand how. Until now, though, we didn't know how fungi glow. Now, thanks to research led by Zinaida Kaskova in the I ...more
First off—Happy Independence Day! Since it's the 4th of July, let's make this week's roundup short and sweet, so you can all get back to your holiday festivities. Things to Do on WonderHowTo WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with top ...more
Google's former Self-Driving Car project, now graduated from Alphabet's X division as Waymo, has found a collaborator and potential new partner in Honda. This is an interesting turn of events given traditional automakers' reluctance to work with driverless-car startups over th ...more
While the next-generation HoloLens does not have a launch date yet, we now have a better idea of how big a leap the device will take in terms of depth sensor performance. At the recent Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, held in Salt Lake City, Utah in June ...more
A lot of my hacks use salvaged parts from an old microwave, with the microwave oven transformer (MOT) being the most useful component. In this "Quick Clip," I'll be using a MOT again (a dual MOT stack) to make deadly flame-looking electricity jumping around midair. This scien ...more
You can take some absolutely gorgeous photos using the natural reflection that appears in people's and animals' eyes. With the right angle and lighting, you can even see a detailed picture of what the subject was looking at when the photo was taken. Photo by Martin Cathrae Th ...more
The final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is here, The Dark Knight Rises, and if you're anything like me, it made you want to immediately don a cowl of your own and run around punching criminals. Don't forget though, one of the most awesome aspects of Batman is h ...more
Helping to prove that science is way awesome, an 18-year old electrical engineering student has successfully made a light bulb float. His name is Chris Rieger, and he's been working on his "LevLight" project for about six months now, with pretty amazing results. This feat of i ...more