Science

Tags:

Smart Cities Will Require Smarter Sensors

A team of German scientists is working to create better sensors in order to enable “smart cities.” In such cities, all major aspects of infrastructure would be connected to increase efficiencies, cut costs, and save energy.

smartcity_1.JPG
In a smart city, all aspects of city infrastructure would be connected.

Tags:

New Pipe Simulation Could Have Predicted Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Researchers recently applied car-crash models to oil pipes in order to better predict dangerous explosions. In a simulation of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the team accurately predicted the location and spread of damage.

oilrig_1.JPG
The team’s simulation (bottom) closely matches real pictures taken from the Deepwater Horizon site (top).

Tags:

Five Steps to Securing Internet-Enabled Devices

So far the most serious security breaches have been from PCs, but embedded system designers are working to prevent Internet-enabled consumer devices from being used as backdoors for future intrusions.

8_25_ST_1_blog_art_1.jpg
Wind River suggests taking a five-prong approach to securing Internet-enabled devices.

Tags:

Channel Case Study: The Value of Cold Calls

Sure, being the trusted advisor is important. But first you need to get in the door. Here's a look at how a single cold call turned into a giant wireless networking deal at Dean College.

It was the cold call that turned into a half-a-million dollar business deal.

Tags:

Speed Bump on the Way to Exascale Computing

The next stop on the road to exascale computing is systems that perform in the 10-petaFLOPS or greater range. But a planned system to test many of the needed technologies to reach that goal has been put on hold.

8_24_ST_blog_1.jpg
Argonne National Laboratory will use IBM's next-generation Blue Gene/Q supercomputer, a system touting a peak performance of 10 petaFLOPS.

Tags:

Quantum Tunneling Enables 3D Touch

Spiked nanoparticles ease quantum tunneling to allow the third-dimension to be sensed by touch-screen users.

3D_1.JPG
Spiked nanoparticles aid in quantum tunneling to allow Peratech's film to sense a continuum between feather-light and heavy touches, thereby enabling 3D gestures.

Tags:

VA spent $717 million on a drug deemed as effective as a placebo

Over the past decade, the Veterans Affairs Department spent $717 million for an anti-psychotic drug to treat post-traumatic stress disorder that a recent study shows is no more effective than a placebo.

Tags:

Era of the PC Waning

Personal computers were once considered a bottomless market, but the rise of tablets, smart TVs and other Internet-connected devices has finally established an anchor-point to vault over the PC.

era_1.JPG
The PC market will be eclipsed by the Internet-enabled consumer devices by 2013.

Tags:

IBM Debuts Brainlike Cognitive Computer

By replicating the neural networks of the brain in silicon chips, IBM aims to create a cognitive computer that can perform tasks that are easy for people but difficult for traditional computers. These tasks range from playing games to making predictions about the weather.

modha_1.JPG
Principal investigator Dharmendra Modha in front of the brain-wall at IBM Research, where the operation of the neurons and synapses in IBM's cognitive computers are visualized.

Tags:

Obama and Chávez: The World’s Most Influential Heads of State on the Net

The Digital Policy Council’s latest research shows a doubling of the number of heads of state joining Twitter in the hope of better engaging their citizenry.

Analyses as of August 2011 reveal that 42%, or two out of five heads of state, have a presence the social media site Twitter. A total of 69 world leaders out of 164 countries have Twitter accounts set up in their personal name or through an official government office. The new figures represent a startling 100% increase in the number of heads of state and national governments employing Twitter from the fourth quarter of 2010 when only 33 countries were active.