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Apr 8, 2016

The new Library of Alexandria builds up its supercomputing powers

Posted by in category: supercomputing

Good trivia.


Julius Caesar set out to destroy the original Library of Alexandria: if only he could see the new resources the researchers have access to now.

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Apr 8, 2016

UV-C LEDs and lasers: low-voltage light sources for killing germs

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Aluminum gallium nitride UV-C LED devices fabricated with novel epitaxial techniques show improved efficiency and have longer operating lifetimes.

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Apr 8, 2016

Quantum dots enhance light-to-current conversion in layered metal dichalcogenide semiconductors

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics, quantum physics, solar power, sustainability

Improving light-sensing devices with Q-Dots.


Harnessing the power of the sun and creating light-harvesting or light-sensing devices requires a material that both absorbs light efficiently and converts the energy to highly mobile electrical current. Finding the ideal mix of properties in a single material is a challenge, so scientists have been experimenting with ways to combine different materials to create “hybrids” with enhanced features.

In two just-published papers, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and the University of Nebraska describe one such approach that combines the excellent light-harvesting properties of quantum dots with the tunable electrical conductivity of a layered tin disulfide semiconductor. The hybrid material exhibited enhanced light-harvesting properties through the absorption of light by the quantum dots and their energy transfer to tin disulfide, both in laboratory tests and when incorporated into electronic devices. The research paves the way for using these materials in optoelectronic applications such as energy-harvesting photovoltaics, light sensors, and light emitting diodes (LEDs).

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Apr 8, 2016

WebTorrent Desktop Streams Torrents Beautifully

Posted by in categories: entertainment, internet, media & arts

WebTorrent is best described as a BitTorrent client for the web. It allows people to share files directly from their browser, without having to configure or install any additional software. Now WebTorrent Desktop has arrived, offering a lightweight yet feature-rich streaming and castable experience on Windows, Linux and Mac.

wtd-logoEvery day millions of Internet users fire up a desktop-based BitTorrent client to download and share everything from movies, TV shows and music, to the latest Linux distros.

Sharing of multimedia content is mostly achieved by use of a desktop client such as uTorrent, Vuze, qBitTorrent or Transmission, but thanks to Stanford University graduate Feross Aboukhadijeh, there is another way.

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Apr 8, 2016

Video: Humans Could Engineer Themselves for Long-Term Space Travel

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, genetics, space

Humans may need to genetically engineer themselves to withstand the harsh and unpredictable environments encountered during long-term space travel, one researcher says.

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Apr 8, 2016

SCHAFT Unveils Awesome New Bipedal Robot at Japan Conference

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Out of nowhere, at a conference in Japan today, SCHAFT demoed a new bipedal robot designed to “help society”.

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Apr 8, 2016

Do we live in a computer simulation?

Posted by in category: computing

Since today everybody is debating the question whether we live in a computer simulation, here is why I think Bostrom’s simulation argument is wrong:

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Apr 8, 2016

Microsoft Is Developing a New JARVIS-Like Artificial Intelligence System

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI

Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, or as it is more commonly known, JARVIS, is a highly advanced personal digital assistant. And it could be your best friend of tomorrow.

Among all of the fictional artificial intelligence (AI) systems, by far, the coolest one has to be Tony Stark’s JARVIS—It can not only control everything for Iron Man, it’s also a highly intuitive and sentient entity that has become part and parcel of his Tony Stark’s way of life.

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Apr 8, 2016

Overwatch | “Alive” Animated Short | PS4

Posted by in category: entertainment

Overwatch launches May 24, 2016 on PS4. Pre-order now to unlock early access to the Overwatch Open Beta for you and a friend starting May 3: http://bit.ly/1qlCYVO

“Alive” weaves a tale of Widowmaker, the peerless Talon assassin who stalks her prey with deadly efficiency. In this episode, we spend a fateful night in London’s King’s Row — where you’ll discover how one death can change everything.

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Apr 8, 2016

Meet Behrokh Khoshnevis, the Man Designing Robots to Build Colonies on Mars

Posted by in categories: energy, robotics/AI, space

When Khoshnevis imagines the future of colonies on Mars, he imagines very tall buildings, with a lot of protection from the elements.

“Gravity is one third of Earth’s, and therefore with less construction material we can build stronger structures out there, therefore we can build much taller,” he says. “The cost of energy for elevators and all that will be much less. Theoretically everything could be three times as high as here with the same consumption of energy,” he says.

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