Science and research

Not so fast, neutrinos. CERN says light's speedier still

New experimental evidence is helping disprove last year's highly surprising finding of neutrinos breaking established physics laws by traveling faster than light.

The finding involved clocking the neutrinos--tiny, nearly massless subatomic particles--as they traveled from the CERN particle accelerator near Geneva to the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, about 730km away. An experiment called Opera found the neutrinos taking less time to arrive than light would, but now another Gran Sasso experiment, Icarus, showed neutrinos making the journey at a more sedate pace under light speed, CERN said.

That finding comes after news in February that a fiber-optic connection problem … Read more

Action film inspires low-cost test for chemical weapon attacks

It seems unlikely that the maker of hundred-million-dollar Hollywood blockbusters such as "Armageddon" and "The Transformers" could inspire scientists to develop an ultra low-cost tool for quickly sensing airborne chemical weapons. Yet one former University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researcher says his idea to use a nerve-gas antidote to create an inexpensive litmus paper-like nerve-gas sensor emerged shortly after watching "The Rock" on DVD a few years ago.

During the climax of that 1996 Michael Bay movie, chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (played by Nicolas Cage) injects himself in the heart with atropine … Read more

Judea Pearl named 2011 winner of Turing Award

Judea Pearl is the winner of the prestigious Turing Award for his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence.

In becoming the 35th person to win the prestigious $250,000 award from the Association for Computing Machinery, the 75-year-old Pearl was honored with what is considered to be the highest prize that the computing industry has to offer.

"Of course, I'm delighted that people in your field and outside appreciate what you did, that recognize the work that I do in my little niche," Pearl said in an interview. "It's very rewarding."

List of published papers by Judah Pearl… Read more

NASA: Space flight may harm your eyesight

One can imagine that flying up to space can do peculiar things to one's body. And, in the case of a couple of astronauts who have returned, to one's mind.

Yet new research from NASA suggests that prolonged periods in the bluey-black beyond might cause serious damage to your eyes.

Space.com offers a chilling view of brain scan tests performed on 27 astronauts who had spent an average of 108 days away floating up there.

As they used to say in soothing TV commercials, I am not a doctor. However, the conclusion that a third of the … Read more

Scientists sign on to re-create woolly mammoth--just for fun

Scientists from South Korea and Russia have signed onto a project that sounds like it got lifted off the pages of "Jurassic Park" to bring a woolly mammoth back to life.

Even more controversial than the storyline is the participation of a disgraced cloning expert from South Korea in the project. Hwang Woo-Suk, now with South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, was found to have falsified data claiming a stem cell research breakthrough and then forced to resign his post at Seoul National University in 2009.

In 2005, Suk reported in a paper published in the journal … Read more

Parkinson's patients test video games as therapy (video)

An estimated 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's disease, which causes slowness of movement, tremors, and loss of balance. Physical therapy can ease symptoms and may delay progression of the disease. Now, cutting-edge tech is transforming everyday therapy into entertaining exercises.

Parkinson's patients recently took part in a University of California at San Francisco study to see if special video games could replace their regular exercises. Scientific researchers and game developers came together to create the therapeutic games. Check out this SmartPlanet video that explores the technology.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Video games replace physical therapy for Parkinson's patients.&… Read more

ISS robot handyman practices with mock satellite

The twin-armed Dextre has managed to retrieve tools and release launch locks on the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), an experiment to show that satellites can be refueled by a robot.

Dextre used a wire-cutting tool to sever a wire fastening a mock gas cap to the RRM module, a feat of considerable precision given the fact that Dextre is some 12 feet tall and the wire clearance was only 0.039 inch.

"It's the robotic equivalent of threading a needle while standing on the end of a diving board," the Canadian Space Agency quoted its president, Steve … Read more

EO car explores power-sharing platoons

HANOVER, Germany--The future of cars--or at least one possible future of cars--is on display here at CeBIT.

The Robotics Innovation Center at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is showing off an electric-car prototype designed to test new technologies.

For one thing, the car can lengthen itself and lower the profile of its podlike passenger compartment when it's time for fast driving, then shorten its wheelbase when it's time for tight-turning urban driving. For another, it can toe its tires in as much as 90 degrees, letting it rotate in place or drive sideways for painless … Read more

Stunning auroras sparked by solar flare

A spectacular show of auroras could be visible over the next couple of days as far south as Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and Washington State in the U.S. as well as parts of the U.K., New Zealand, and Iceland, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

These auroras are being caused by a solar flare that burst off the sun last night causing a massive solar storm of charged particles to hurtle toward Earth and crash into the planet's magnetic field. When the particles hit Earth's protective shell they light up the atmosphere wherever they … Read more