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‘Science’ Stories

Malt whiskey experiment aboard the ISS

Shane McGlaun, Apr 12th 2012 Discuss [0]

If you're a fan of scotch or other malt whiskey beverages, the latest experiment headed to the ISS might grab your attention. An experiment in the chemistry of whiskey maturation is being conducted on the ISS. A liquor company with headquarters on the island of Islay in Scotland called Ardbeg Distillery announced this week that it had sent vials of raw materials to the ISS aboard a Russian cargo flight that took off last October. Read The Full Story

Adidas ‘smart uniforms’ to be used in MLS All-Star Game

Mark Raby, Apr 11th 2012 Discuss [0]

If you happen to catch the Major League Soccer All-Star Game on July 25, take an extra close look at the players' uniforms. If you don't notice anything different, your eyes will be deceiving you because those uniforms will contain technology that's never been used in a professional soccer game before. It will be the MLS unveiling of Adidas's new miCoach system, which tracks player performance in real time. Read The Full Story

ESA puts actual astronaut training material online

Shane McGlaun, Apr 11th 2012 Discuss [0]

I bet more than a few people out there are fans of anything having to do with space and grew up wanting to be an astronaut, wondering if they actually had the right stuff. There's no guarantee that you are the right stuff for sure, but the ESA has placed actual astronaut training materials online and available for computer and tablet users. The documents available are the same ones that astronauts on the ISS use to refresh themselves on Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV docking. Read The Full Story

Mind controlling virus infects wasps and alters behavior

Shane McGlaun, Apr 11th 2012 Discuss [0]

A variety of wasp known as the Leptopilina boulardi has very strange reproduction method. The female wasp finds a fly maggot it delays a single egg inside the maggots body. When the wasp egg hatches, the grub will eat the maggot from the inside out. Generally the female wasps are prone to skip a maggot that already has an egg from another female inside, but occasionally two wasp eggs do wind up inside one maggot resulting in wasp grub fight. Read The Full Story

SpaceX and Orbital race to be first private spaceship to dock with the ISS

Shane McGlaun, Apr 10th 2012 Discuss [0]

NASA has granted two companies in the United States with multibillion-dollar contracts to supply the orbiting ISS with cargo since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. The two companies are Orbital and SpaceX. We have heard a lot more about SpaceX in the recent months while hearing relatively little from Orbital. Read The Full Story

Robo Octopus research refines tentacle tech

Ben Kersey, Apr 10th 2012 Discuss [0]

Good morning! Ready to see something creepy cool to start off your day? Happy to oblige. The European Octopus Project is designed to better understand the fine motor controls of an octopus and applying them to robotics. They seem to be making progress, with a new prototype having eight soft tentacles. Read The Full Story

Liquid body armor more effective than Kevlar

Ben Kersey, Apr 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

Kevlar and ceramic body armor can potentially stop a bullet and prevent the death of a soldier, but tends to be bulky and restricts movement. Certain types of armaments can also pierce Kevlar. Defense contractors have been searching for a way to make armor lighter and provide additional protection, and a new method involving liquids could do just that. Read The Full Story

New self-repairing film destined for smartphones and tablets

Ben Kersey, Apr 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

While a screen protector is handy for avoiding a dirty screen or scratches to your smartphone or tablet, they can’t work miracles, and tend to degrade over time. Thus begins the laborious process of putting on a new one and ensuring there are absolutely... no... bubbles. You may not have to do that in the future, as a company called Toray Advanced Film is working on a special protector that will be able to heal itself. Read The Full Story

North Korea says this is a rocket not a nuclear missile

Chris Davies, Apr 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

North Korea has rolled out the welcome mat and invited Western media to view its latest rocket, though intelligence agencies warn the "satellite launch" research is in fact a thinly-veiled nuclear missile test. The notoriously secret country plans to fire the rocket at some point April 12-16, with the stated aim being putting an observation satellite into orbit as part of centennial celebrations. However, it has encountered widespread criticism around the launch, with suggestions that it would contravene United Nations resolutions as well as being a colossal waste of money in a nation where the population struggles to feed itself. Read The Full Story

Large Hadron Collider restarts stronger than ever

Chris Davies, Apr 6th 2012 Discuss [0]

Scientists hunting the Higgs boson have reactivated the Large Hadron Collider, waking the slumbering proton smasher from its winter slumber, and coaxing it to faster speeds than ever before. Running in 2011 at 3.5 TeV (teraelectronvolts) in each direction - for a total collision speed of 7 TeV - the new running speed is 8 TeV, ostensibly a small step up but one which the team at CERN says will have a significant impact on the potential for discovering new particles. Read The Full Story

NASA extends Kepler Earth-a-like search until 2016

Chris Davies, Apr 5th 2012 Discuss [0]

NASA has extended its Kepler space observatory project, announcing that the orbiting telescope will continue its search for alien planets capable of sustaining life until the end of 2016. So far, Kepler has discovered 61 confirmed alien planets - defined as Earth-scale and orbiting stars at a point where liquid water and potentially life could be supported - and flagged up around 2,300 more that could also be contenders; in fact, the project has been described in a NASA review as "an outstanding success." Read The Full Story

Bitbanger Labs promises cheap device for lucid dreams

Mark Raby, Apr 4th 2012 Discuss [0]

In a world where everyone comes from a different walk of life and has different tastes in everything, one thing that pretty much every single person can agree on is that having a lucid dream is one of the greatest experiences in life. To know you're in a dream and can do whatever you want with no consequences is awesome no matter who you are. Now, a company based in Brooklyn, New York has developed a solution it says can be put to mass market and is better than any other solution available right now. Read The Full Story