Science news

Did you know that black belts do not indicate ninja-level mastery, adding only a sprinkle of salt to fresh water does not make it boil quicker, and that sharks do get cancer? These are all part of the myths and misconceptions infographic created by London-based author, data-journalist and information designer David McCandless. http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/52-common-myths-and-misconceptions-debunked Posted from →

New research suggests that software piracy has a detrimental effect on the adoption of Linux desktop operating systems. Piracy is one of the reasons why Windows has been able to maintain its dominant market position, making open source alternatives “forgotten victims” of copyright infringement. https://torrentfreak.com/software-piracy-hurts-linux-adoption-research-finds-160221/ Posted from WordPress for Android →

Dr. Paul Kelley, a researcher at Oxford University, has scientifically corroborated the claim that nearly every worker to ever live has made: that it sucks to work before 10 AM. “Before the age of 55, the circadian rhythms of adults are completely out of sync with normal nine-to-five working hours, posing a “serious threat” to →

Cameras and audio equipment are getting better all the time, but mostly through brute force: more pixels, more sensors, and better post-processing. Mammalian eyes and ears beat them handily when it comes to efficiency and the ability to only focus on what’s interesting or important. Neuromorphic engineers, who try to mimic the strengths of biological →

The next time someone scoffs at your love of the sciences, ask them what a desperate housewife, a legendary rock guitarist, a Wu-Tang Clan rapper, and the Beavis and Butthead creator all have in common. The Perimeter Institute has put together a list of the biggest celebrities and their nerdy passions, as well as their contributions to →

Future quantum computers might not be all that different from the one you’re using now. An international team of researchers have created a the most fundamental part of a quantum computer—the quantum bit, or qubit—using only a CMOS transistor that is not much different from those in today’s microprocessors. http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/computing/hardware/qubits-quantum-computing-with-run-off-the-mill-cmos-transistors Posted from WordPress for Android →

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41105-015-0027-5 I have critically mentioned this Finnish invention earlier on blog. New research shows that it does not work. Posted from WordPress for Android →

The semiconductor industry will soon abandon its pursuit of Moore’s law. Now things could get a lot more interesting. http://www.nature.com/news/the-chips-are-down-for-moore-s-law-1.19338 Posted from WordPress for Android →

A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles – almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available online. And she’s now refusing to shut the site down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world’s biggest publishers. http://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science?utm_content=bufferda29f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer Posted from WordPress for Android →

For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/news/story/gravitational_waves_detected_100_years_after_einsteins_prediction Posted from WordPress for →