Reinventing the Gasoline Engine – “A new engine concept developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could cut fuel consumption by about 30 percent in cars and by almost 20 percent in heavy trucks. In gas-powered cars, the new design would add little to the cost of the engine. In heavy-duty trucks, it would substantially reduce costs by eliminating the need for expensive after-treatment systems to reduce emissions…”

Digg is Deadd – “According to the latest Compete.com data (April, 2010) Digg lost an astounding 13.8 million unique visits from March to April, 2010 — a near 36 percent drop. Apparently sensing impending doom, Digg founder Kevin Rose has made several announcements of retooling Digg, but nothing has materialized. In fact, the announcements might have been the worst thing Digg founder Kevin Rose could have done. It’s been over a year since Rose announced that changes would come. In the mean time, Facebook and Twitter have soared and it appears the Digg crowd grew tired of waiting. While the changes seem to be close to a reality now, it’s too late…”

Study Finds Poker Players Using Drugs to Enhance Performance – “A Nova Southeastern University study recently presented at a national conference found that 80 percent of poker players around the world reported using drugs and other substances to enhance their performance in poker…”

Moon Zoo – “with your help, we hope to study the lunar surface in unprecedented detail…”

An introduction to the strange new world of Nanoscience

Internet Statistics In A Gorgeous Infographic

What an average American spends on entertainment

Einstein’s Brain Unlocks Some Mysteries Of The Mind

AT&T caps phone data usage with new wireless plans – “One of the new AT&T plans will cost $25 per month and offer 2 gigabytes of data per month, which AT&T says will be enough for 98 percent of its smart phone customers. Additional gigabytes will cost $10 each. A second plan will cost $15 per month for 200 megabytes of data, which AT&T says is enough for 65 percent of its smart phone customers. If they go over, they’ll pay another $15 for 200 megabytes…” See also: AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

Rise of the replicators – “I AM standing in a cold north London workshop looking expectantly at a bizarre metal and plastic contraption. An acrid smell drifts from the machine as a length of plastic is drawn into a barrel at its centre and heated up. The molten plastic squirts from a nozzle onto a platform moving beneath it, drawing a pattern. The nozzle also moves up and down to build the design upwards like an expert cake icer…”

Einstein’s Brain Unlocks Some Mysteries Of The Mind – ” In the 55 years since Albert Einstein’s death, many scientists have tried to figure out what made him so smart. But no one tried harder than a pathologist named Thomas Harvey, who lost his job and his reputation in a quest to unlock the secrets of Einstein’s genius. Harvey never found the answer. But through an unlikely sequence of events, his search helped transform our understanding of how the brain works….”

Shimizu’s Dream – “Shimizu continues to introduce our vision for the future. We tackle new technological challenges and present wide-ranging proposals for the benefit of up-coming generations…” See also: Futuristic mega-projects by Shimizu

Dreaming big: planning a human mission to outer solar system – “The mission design involves future advanced technologies such as an onboard 100MW nuclear reactor powering magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, which are basically electric ion propulsion engines on hyper-steroids. Electric propulsion systems, which use electricity generated by solar panels to accelerate ionized molecules to produce thrust, have been successfully used on missions such as Deep Space 1, Dawn and Hayabusa. The proposed dream missions would use the electricity generated by a nuclear reactor to shoot a stream of plasma to power us to the distant planets…”

Physicists unlock mystery of subatomic particle – “European researchers observe for the first time a transformation in neutrinos, evidence that they have mass. It’s an important step in understanding the universe’s dark matter…”

UC Berkeley offer to test DNA of incoming students sparks debate – “Freshmen and transfers are asked to send in a sample of their saliva to be analyzed for reactions to 3 dietary substances. Privacy watchdogs and ethicists criticize the move…”

Through the Wormhole – “Hosted by Morgan Freeman, Through the Wormhole explores the deepest mysteries of existence — the questions that have puzzled mankind for eternity. What are we made of? What was there before the beginning? Are we really alone? Is there a creator? These questions have been pondered by the most brilliant minds of the human race. Now, science has evolved to the point where hard facts and evidence may be able to provide us with answers…”

What the Google Intranet Looks Like – “What do around 16,000 Google employees stare at in the morning when they’ve arrived at the office? They might be looking at Moma, the name for the Google intranet. The meaning of the name of “Moma” is a mystery even to some of the employees working on it, we heard, but Moma’s mission is prominently displayed on its footer: “Organize Google’s information and make it accessible and useful to Googlers.” A “Googler,” as you may know, is what Google employees call themselves (they have other nicknames for specific roles; a noogler is a new Google employee, a gaygler is a gay one, a xoogler is an ex-one, and so on)…”

BP clashes with scientists over deep sea oil pollution – “BP has challenged widespread scientific claims that vast plumes of oil are spreading underwater from its blown-out rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The denial comes as the oil giant prepares for a new operation to put an end to the worst oil spill in US history – which could see the leak get worse before it gets better…”

Kent Wells Technical Update – 31 May 2010

MYCOREMEDIATION AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO OIL SPILLS – “While we will need a wide array of efforts to address this complex problem, mycoremediation is a valuable component in our toolset of solutions. Mycoremediation has demonstrated positive results, verified by scientists in many countries. However, there is more oil spilled than there is currently mycelium available. Much more mycelium is needed and, fortunately, we know how to generate it.”

More on mycoremediation:

Blood test picks up early signs of lung cancer – “A blood test for lung cancer is being released commercially across the United States this week. The makers of the early Cancer Detection lung test (CDT) hope it will help more people survive lung cancer. Currently sufferers are diagnosed on their symptoms, which means it can often be too late for treatment. “

Bendable screen creates new user interface:

China has world’s fastest supercomputer – “The Nebulae supercomputer has a theoretical peak performance of 2.98 petaflops, and China now runs 24 of the top 500 computers in the world. But America’s Jaguar machine still has the fastest actual performance…”

Google blocks Tetris clones from Android market – “The classic block game Tetris has frequently been the subject of legal disputes. The rights to the trademark are currently held by The Tetris Company, a corporation located in Hawaii that licenses the name to other parties. The Tetris Company, which routinely threatens legal action against clones of the popular game, has sent a DMCA takedown notice to Google, prompting the search giant to remove 35 Tetris-like games from the Android market.”

Police investigate Habbo Hotel virtual furniture theft – “Thieves have struck again in the virtual world Habbo Hotel. Finnish police are investigating up to 400 cases of theft, with some members reporting the loss of up to €1000 (£840) worth of virtual furniture and other items, according to Detective Sergeant Marko Levonen. ..”

Worker Suicides Have Electronics Maker Uneasy in China – “Around 300,000 people work here, in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, outside Hong Kong, on a gigantic factory complex belonging to the Taiwanese firm Foxconn. Another 120,000 people work at a smaller complex several streets away. They build cult products for global digital brands like Apple, Nintendo and Dell, ranging from the iPhone and iPad to the Notebook. Many sacrifice their health; others, even their lives…” See also: Apple boss defends conditions at iPhone factory

The iPad Pulse Reader Scales the Charts – “Much has been made of the opportunity presented by Apple’s iPad to big media companies. But surprisingly, it is a $3.99 application created by two Stanford graduate students that is now the top paid application in the entire iPad section of the App Store…”

Apple is the new AOL and new Microsoft, and whoa that can’t be a good thing – “Two astoundingly good analyses hit the InterWebs over the US holiday weekend: John Battelle’s “Is The iPad A Disappointment? Depends When You Sold Your AOL Stock” and Kroc Camen’s “Will Apple Embrace the Web? No.” If you’re a geek, developer or investor and read nothing else today, it should be these two posts — and this one, of course…”

‘Quit Facebook Day’ falls flat – “Monday was Quit Facebook Day, and for all intents and purposes, it was a bust. According to the group’s homepage, only 34,000 users vowed to “quit Facebook” — and remember, committing to quit and actually quitting aren’t the same thing….”

Close encounter with a bizarre venomous beast – “Thick gloves are donned, essential for protection against the solenodon’s most ancient feature – it is the only mammal in the world that can inject venom through its teeth…”

Why teenagers can’t concentrate: too much grey matter – “Parents who despair over their teenagers’ lack of concentration in class, inability to sit still long enough to finish homework or plan ahead, should take solace. Their children are not being lazy or careless – they are hapless victims of neurobiology…”

Foucault’s Pendulum Snaps, Crashes To Paris Museum Floor – “Alas, earlier this month, Times Higher Education reported that the original Foucault’s pendulum has been irreparably damaged, when its cable snapped unexpectedly, sending the brass bob crashing to the marble floor in the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris…”

Star Trek Space Jump – “Of course, I talking about the latest Star Trek movie where three guys jump out of a shuttle and into the atmosphere…”

Huge order for Iridium spacecraft – “The mobile satellite services provider Iridium has ordered 81 spacecraft to upgrade its global network. Thales Alenia Space of France will build the satellites – 66 to form the operational constellation, the remainder to act as spares…”

Copper Spurs New NanoTube Growth! – “Most people probably don’t realize that thin film solar panels and flat screen TV’s share alot in common, since they both rely heavily on the technologies of ‘thin-film dialectrics’ (TFD) to produce the substrates (electrode layers) that either control the emission or absorption of light. So obviously, any advances made in the manufacturing processes for these films are going to create both cost and technical efficiencies that will enable them to either consume less power, or generate more energy on a cost basis for a given amount of light…”

Brain powered robot – “A squat, circular robot scurries along the floor of a laboratory, moving left, then right, then left again, before coming to a stop. A Northeastern University student researcher commands the gadget through a brain-computer interface that controls the movement of the robot using signals produced by his visual cortex…”

Coulomb Details Huge Electric Car Charging Infrastructure Plans – “In what amounts to one of the largest developments yet in the American build out of a national vehicle charging infrastructure for supporting electric car owners, Coulomb Technologies announced today it will offer in nine regions around the country no cost home and public charging stations (you’ll still have to pay for the actual electricity). This comes on the heels of a related announcement by Ford, which is partnering with Coulomb to offer free charging stations to some of its first electric vehicle owners (Chevrolet and smart USA also will have similar arraignments)…”

Rumor: Xbox 360 to support Hulu – “Rumor has it that Microsoft will unveil Hulu’s streaming video service working on the Xbox 360 at this month’s E3 convention in Los Angeles. This info comes from Gear Live who says they heard it from one of their reliable sources…”

Adobe’s Wired Magazine iPad Publishing Platform to be Released to the Public – “Adobe is poised to capitalize on this apparent success in a big way. You like the iPad version of Wired? You think you could do something cool if you had the same tools the publishers used to create it? Well, they’re going to give you that chance by releasing what they call their Digital Publishing Platform. It’s Adobe’s effort to help publishers embrace the digital age by allowing them to offer “content plus experience.”…”

DNA logic gates herald injectable computers – “DNA-based logic gates that could carry out calculations inside the body have been constructed for the first time. The work brings the prospect of injectable biocomputers programmed to target diseases as they arise…”

Using Windows for a Day Cost Mac User $100,000 – “David Green normally only accessed his company’s online bank account from his trusty Mac laptop. Then one day this April while he was home sick, Green found himself needing to authorize a transfer of money out of his firm’s account. Trouble was, he’d left his Mac at work. So he decided to log in to the company’s bank account using his wife’s Windows PC. Unfortunately for Green, that PC was the same computer his kids used to browse the Web, chat, and play games online. It was also the same computer that organized thieves had already compromised with a password-stealing Trojan horse program….”

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