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Google and NASA buy D-Wave quantum computer

, May 16th 2013 Discuss [7]

Google will co-invest in a quantum supercomputer lab near its Mountain View campus, exploring the potential for incredibly-fast processing tipped to run 11,000x faster at some tasks compared to a standard Intel chip. The computer itself will be manufactured by D-Wave and based at NASA‘s Ames Research Center, where the Universities Space Research Association nonprofit will be responsible for its operation; Google and other companies will share access to the “D-Wave Two” hardware, which is rumored to cost around $10m.

d-wave_quantum_computer

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Earth’s carbon dioxide levels reach near-record high

, May 10th 2013 Discuss [9]

According to scientists and researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carbon dioxide levels on Earth have reached a level that hasn't been seen in at least three million years. Scientists believe that large changes in the climate and sea levels are to blame for the rising amount of carbon dioxide. Read The Full Story

Remains of Earth-like planets discovered orbiting burnt-out stars

A huge number of incredibly cool and impressive discoveries about our solar system and the universe in general have been made using the Hubble space telescope. One of the latest discoveries made by scientists using the space telescope is signs of Earth-like planets discovered in the atmospheres of a pair of burnt out stars in a nearby star cluster. Read The Full Story

Study suggests water on the Moon came from Earth

, May 9th 2013 Discuss [2]

Scientists and researchers have discovered that droplets of water found in lunar rocks brought back from the Moon are identical on a chemical level from that of samples of ancient Earth. The rocks used in the study came from samples brought back by Apollo 15 in 1971 and Apollo 17 in 1972, the latter being NASA's last mission to the moon. Read The Full Story

Robot with gooey feet can scale tall mountains using hot plastic

Researchers in Switzerland are currently working on an interesting new robot that uses melting plastic feet to adhere to vertical surfaces. The robot is designed with special footpads that heat rapidly allowing plastic compounds to melt and ooze into the surface that the bot needs to climb. Molded plastic feet may not sound particularly strong, but strong they are. Read The Full Story

Herschel space telescope watches our neighborhood black hole feasting

Never before seen observations of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way have been made by the Herschel space observatory, revealing unexpectedly huge temperatures as the stellar body chews through gas and dust. Sagittarius A*, the black hole around 26,000 light years from our solar system, had previously been shrouded in too much space debris to clearly make out the processes going on around it; however, thanks to new work by the European Space Agency, new theories around radiation have been spawned to explain the 1,000-degree centigrade heat. Read The Full Story

Researchers discover correlation between bullet speed and number of cracks in glass

, May 6th 2013 Discuss [3]

Scientists and researchers at Aix-Marseille University have conducted a study that claims there is a correlation between a bullet's speed and the number of cracks in a glass window where the bullet went through. After shooting at over 100 plexiglass plates, the researchers have concluded that the number of cracks tells us something about how fast the bullet penetrated through. Read The Full Story

Manned Mars missions in 20 years say space experts

A manned mission to Mars could take place within the next two decades, NASA and the private sector have agreed, though the race is on to research and fund such the next ambitious step fo the space race. The feasibility of such a mission – and the political, financial, technological, and social problems that would need to be addressed first – is on the agenda of the Humans to Mars (H2M) summit this week, with NASA staffers, researchers, private space agencies, and more all coming together at George Washington University to explore the practicalities of sending astronauts to Mars by the 2030s.

mars

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Touch-notebooks to suck some tablet sting from Post-PC says NPD

A rise in convertible and slider touchscreen form-factors will offset the "post-PC era" slide of notebooks, but will be unable to fend off the full might of tablets, new research suggests. Tablet shipments will rise to 579.4m units by 2017, NPD DisplaySearch projections indicate, while traditional notebooks will drop to 183.3m units by the same point. However, a new breed of touch-enabled notebooks will step in to help arrest some of the slump. Read The Full Story

Robot hand has strength of a strongman, dexterity of a doctor

Huge amounts of money and time are being spent researching robotics for myriad of potential uses in the future. Robots promise the ability to be able to work in environments that are too hazardous for humans. A robot must have the strength and dexterity to handle difficult situations that would confront human beings. A lot of research is being put into creating robotic components that mimic the human body in functionality if not design. Read The Full Story

3D printed bionic ear hears radio frequencies

Scientists and researchers all around the world are hard at work on creating replacement body parts to help people who were born lacking senses or lost senses to disease or accident. One group of researchers are working on technology to create a working artificial ear to help those who have lost their hearing. The artificial ear is 3-D printed and was developed by researchers at Princeton University. Read The Full Story

BBC reveals IllumiRoom style immersive video tech

The BBC has been working on its own version of Microsoft's IllumiRoom technology, a seven year project that creates immersive viewing by projecting wide-angle content around a central display. The technology, which the BBC describes as "surround video", has been simmering in the broadcaster's R&D labs since 2006, division director Alia Sheikh says, and in fact has already been used to film a live-action movie. Read The Full Story

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