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One of the International Space Station’s cooling systems has failed. Fortunately, there is a redundant cooling system, otherwise the six-person crew would be quickly bailing out and heading back to Earth aboard a Soyuz capsule before being cooked alive. NASA is now working out how to fix the primary cooling loop, to get the space station back to full working ...

Over the last few months, you may have heard about China’s growing smog problem. In Beijing, Shanghai, and many other areas of China, the smog is so bad that the air quality index (AQI) has started spiking over 400, and sometimes reaching 500 — the top of the AQI scale. Just for some context, an AQI above 100 is generally ...

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have built a beam of darkness that can make objects invisible from a long distance away. This isn’t the plot from some not-so-distant sci-fi movie: It really works. The beam of darkness can create a 3D region of invisibility — or “empty light capsule” as the researchers call it — that can hide ...

Many beetles, like ladybugs, have the ability to stick to things as they walk underwater. They can do this by trapping tiny bubbles within hair-like structures on their feet. Researchers at the National University of Singapore have used a similar bubble trick to develop a way to make high quality graphene films. Their new technique is the first which can ...

Why is a keyboard shaped like a keyboard? Better yet, why are all of the letters of the alphabet, numbers, and some punctuation, arranged in four slightly diagonal rows of keys — and more importantly, why has the layout of the keyboard gone almost unchanged in 100 years? There must be a really good reason, right? Wrong. Typewriter diagram, showing ...

It’s difficult to tell just how upset to be about the latest NSA techno-super power uncovered by Washington Post reporters, because it’s unclear just what exactly is going on. A series of Snowden-leaked slides from an NSA meeting entitled “NSA signal-surveillance success stories” has revealed that the agency is collecting location and browsing data through the cookies and geo-tags openly ...

NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) has finally unveiled Valkyrie, its “superhero robot” entry to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials, which take place on December 20 in Florida. Valkyrie will compete against fellow humanoid robots, such as Atlas, on a series of eight physical tasks to test the dexterity and autonomy of the robots, with the chance of going forward ...

A research group at MIT’s CSAIL has created a high-resolution, 3D motion tracking system that works through walls and other obstructions. From a static location connected to a computer, the system can track you as you walk around your house. Even when tracking you through walls or obstructions, it has enough resolution to detect gestures, such as lifting your arm. ...

With The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hitting cinemas this Friday, December 13, our attention yet again turns to one of the film’s most exciting and divisive aspects: Peter Jackson’s decision to film the entire thing at 48 frames per second (fps), rather than the industry standard of 24 fps. Just as talkies replaced the silent film, and color has ...

Showing an almost shocking lack of sensitivity for gender stereotyping, Microsoft Research has developed a smart bra that prevents women from emotional and stress eating. Microsoft posits that by reducing emotional and stress eating, the bra wearer’s overall health can be improved. The jury is still out on whether stress eating is actually that big of a deal health-wise, mind ...