New submitter SessionExpired writes “Five 9th graders from Denmark have shown that garden cress won’t germinate when placed near a router (Google Translation of Danish original. Article text is in Danish, but the pictures illustrate their results. The exact mechanism is still unknown (Danish original), but experts have shown interest in reproducing the experiment.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Georgia Tech and Udacity — the online courseware project led by Sebastian Thrun — have announced a plan to offer an accredited M.S. Computer Science program online. The two organizations are also working with AT&T. This is the first time a major university has made an actual degree available solely through the MOOC format. Getting a degree in this manner is going to be much cheaper than a traditional degree: “… students also will pay a fraction of the cost of traditional on-campus master’s programs; total tuition for the program is initially expected to be below $ 7,000.” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have quickly become one of the most significant catalysts of innovation in higher education. As parents know all too well, America urgently needs new ideas about how to make higher education accessible and affordable. This new collaboration between Georgia Tech, AT&T and Udacity, and the application of the MOOC concept to advanced-degree programs, will further the national debate — pushing from conversations about technology to new models of instruction and new linkages between higher education and employers.” Georgia Tech is looking at the big picture: “At present, around 160,000 master’s degrees are bestowed in the United States every year in computer science and related subject disciplines; the worldwide market is almost certainly much larger, perhaps even an order of magnitude larger.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Jeet Singh and Joe Chung have already had a nice exit, taking their enterprise software company Art Technology Group public (it was acquired by Oracle for $ 1 billion back in 2010). Now they’re hoping to turn the act of building successful startups into a “repeatable process,” through their new firm Redstar ventures.
Singh and Chung, along with their third co-founder Matt Beecher, said they became interested in angel investing a few years ago, but at the same time they were turned off by the randomness and risk of the traditional model. So they developed their own approach, a “venture foundry,” where the firm focuses on a few broad themes, develops companies internally, and then spins them out if they seem to be getting traction. Here’s how the model is described on the Redstar website:
TechCrunch
It wasn’t until widely respected economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff shared the Excel files behind their influential paper on the relationship between government debt and economic growth, that a very basic and consequential spreadsheet error was discovered.
Suddenly, a conclusion that policy makers around the world had seized on for years to justify steep spending cuts was thrown in doubt.
TechCrunch
egjertse writes “A Louisiana law that opponents say leaves the backdoor open to teaching ‘creationism’ in public schools will stay on the books after a Senate committee Wednesday effectively killed a bill that would repeal the statute. After hours of testimony for and against House Bill 26, which repeals the 2008 Louisiana Science Education Act, the senators narrowly deferred the legislation, effectively killing it in committee. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
new submitter heybiff writes “It is the time of year where students are scrambling for extra credit assignments to boost grades. As a middle school science teacher, I want to accommodate them, while still keeping science involved; and book reports are a popular activity in my school. Unfortunately, I have only been able to come up with a short list of science related books that a 11-14 year old would or could read in their free time: Ender’s Game, Hitchhiker’s Guide. What books would you recommend as a good read for an extra credit book report, that would still involve a strong science twist or inspire a student’s interest in science? The book must be in print, science related, fiction or non-fiction, and not be overtly objectionable or outright banned. I look forward to the submissions.” “Outright banned” actually seems a rich vein on which to draw; note that not even Ender’s Game is safe.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Software-defined networking in universities today is like the early Internet decades ago, and big-data researchers in genomics and other fields already need it for their next set of discoveries, according to the head of Internet2.
Computerworld News
Sift Science, a Y Combinator-backed startup founded by former Google engineers, is today launching its fraud-fighting service based on machine learning – a system designed to adapt to the ever-changing techniques used by criminals online. The company is also announcing $ 4 million in Series A funding, led by Union Square Ventures. As a part of the funding, Union Square’s Albert Wenger is joining the company’s board.
Sift Science had previously raised $ 1.5 million in seed funding, bringing its total raise to $ 5.5 million.
TechCrunch
Science fiction? Or science fact? We explore the connection between fantastical technologies of the past and their real world analogs, along with Tekzilla’s Veronica Belmont, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s John Scalzi and Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson.
For a full list of Expand sessions, be sure to check out our event hub.
The majority of students in computer science department graduate programs are from overseas, and that percentage is rising, according to data from the Computing Research Association.
Computerworld News
Hugh Pickens writes writes “Discover Magazine reports that Hugo Chavez will apparently get an embalming job designed to keep him looking alive for decades similar to that of Russia’s Vladimir Lenin, whose body still lies in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square, nearly 90 years after his death. So how do you preserve a human body for decades without it turning into a pile of melted tissue? First, get to work quickly. Upon death, the human body starts decomposing immediately. The way to stop it is with formaldehyde, a preservative used for the past century, which inhibits the enzyme decomposition as well as killing bacteria. ‘You pump the chemical in, and as the formaldehyde hits the cells of the body, it firms up the protein of the cell, or fixates it,’ says Vernie Fountain, head of the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in Springfield, Mo. ‘That’s what makes them stiff.’ With a body that will have to be on display for years, it’s likely to require a top-shelf, super-strong solution. ‘If I were doing Hugo Chavez, I would strengthen the solution and use more preservative product,’ says Fountain. Next, get a good moisturizer. Formaldehyde preserves, but it also dries out the body. Vaseline or other moisturizers can preserve the look of skin, according to Melissa Johnson Williams, executive director of the American Society of Embalmers. Finally keep cool. Heat decomposes a body so for long term preservation, the body has to be kept at the temperature of a standard kitchen refrigerator, somewhere in the mid-40s. Lastly, if Venezuelans really want to keep Hugo Chavez around forever, like many other world figures, there’s only one solution that works, according to Fountain. ‘The best form of preservation is mummification.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The number of new undergraduate computing majors in U.S. computer science departments increased more than 29% last year, a pace called “astonishing” by the Computing Research Association.
Computerworld News
In the second century, an ethnically Greek Roman named Galen became doctor to the gladiators.
FOX News
carmendrahl writes “Photos used to be second-class citizens in the art world, not considered as prestigious as paintings or sculpture. But that changed in the 1990s. As daguerrotypes and the like started selling for millions of dollars, fakes also slipped in. Unfortunately, the art world didn’t have good ways of authenticating originals. Cultural heritage researchers had to play catch-up, and quickly. Two fraud cases, one involving avant garde photographer Man Ray, turned photo conservation from a niche field into a mature science.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
redletterdave writes “Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Yuri Milner have teamed up to create The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, which now offers the most lucrative annual prize in the history of science: A $ 33 million pot to be split among 11 people, with individual rewards worth $ 3 million apiece. Comparatively, the monetary value of the Nobel prize is just $ 1.1 million. ‘Our society needs more heroes who are scientists, researchers and engineers,’ Zuckerberg said. ‘We need to celebrate and reward the people who cure diseases, expand our understanding of humanity and work to improve people’s lives.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader writes “Ars reports on new legislation in the Missouri House of Representatives which is seeking equal time in the classroom for Intelligent Design, and to redefine science itself. You can read the text of the bill online. It uses over 600 words to describe Intelligent Design. Scientific theory, the bill says, is ‘an inferred explanation of incompletely understood phenomena about the physical universe based on limited knowledge, whose components are data, logic, and faith-based philosophy.’ It would require that ‘If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a course of study, biological evolution and biological intelligent design shall be taught.’ The legislation’s references to ‘scientific theory’ and ‘scientific law’ make it clear the writers don’t have the slightest idea how science actually works. It also has this odd line near the end: ‘If biological intelligent design is taught, any proposed identity of the intelligence responsible for earth’s biology shall be verifiable by present-day observation or experimentation and teachers shall not question, survey, or otherwise influence student belief in a nonverifiable identity within a science course.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Like many great startup ideas, the formation of L.A.-based incubator, investment firm, and accelerator Science had its origins at a dinner. In 2007, Peter Pham and Mike Jones found themselves working in L.A., having recently sold companies to News Corp. and AOL, respectively. The duo, who were friends, started to organize dinners, called Beta South, to bring together startup founders and tech leaders in the area. Pham says that attendance at these dinners was in the single-digits but soon expanded to include many more. At that point, Jones and Pham started thinking about ways to foster entrepreneurship and bring more VC dollars to L.A. Flash forward four years, and Jones had just sold News Corp.’s Myspace, where he was CEO, to Specific Media. As he was thinking about what to do next, he came back to what he and Pham discussed. He was certain that the best way to foster more entrepreneurship in L.A. would be to combine the best elements of Idealab, Y Combinator, Betaworks and a VC firm into a startup-creation machine. From the start, Jones had a very different view on how to structure Science, and it’s this unique model that he hopes will set it apart from the hoards of incubators that are emerging in the current market. While many of the companies that Science is incubating are interesting, what’s far more intriguing is the process through which Science forms, develops and then supports these companies. Jones reconnected with BillShrink founder Pham who had just, infamously, left the photo sharing app Color, in 2011 at the The Lobby conference, a yearly gathering hosted by August Capital partner David Hornik. Pham was brought on to control investments and the money side of things. One Part Art, One Part Scientific Formula After spending years at News Corp. and AOL, Jones had observed the structure of media companies, realizing that the right management structure could provide strategic services to launch and support businesses. For example, large media companies have some assets that they own 100 percent of, some assets they own part of, and some assets they produce in-house to support other content. This model, says Jones, has not been applied to venture capital yet. “Why weigh a startup down with things like developing customer-acquisition tools, handling financing and legal operations,” he explains. “We have an operational and strategic way we build companies, and there is a set structure behind this.” And Science’s
TechCrunch
Qedward writes “As the UK prepares to shake up the way computer science is taught in schools, Redmond is warning that the UK risks falling behind other countries in the race to develop and nurture computing talent, if ‘we don’t ensure that all children learn about computer science in primary schools.’ With 100,000 unfilled IT jobs but only 30,500 computer science graduates in the UK last year, MS believes: ‘By formally introducing children to computer science basics at primary school, we stand a far greater chance of increasing the numbers taking the subject through to degree level and ultimately the world of work.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
lukej writes “Over eleven years ago, the possibility of using the retired Homestake Mine as an underground science laboratory was first proposed. Today the local newspaper gives a science-filled tour of that facility, along with a short photo tour, and decent descriptions of some of the experiments it hosts (Majorana, LUX, Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment). Some fairly interesting deep, dirty, and real physical science!”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader writes “The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) has put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution, daily Radikal has reported. The books have long been listed as “out of stock” on TÜBTAK’s website, but their further publication is now slated to be stopped permanently. Titles by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson are all included in the list of books that will no longer be available to Turkish readers. In early 2009, a huge uproar occurred when the cover story of a publication by TÜBITAK was pulled, reportedly because it focused on Darwin’s theory of evolution.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Earlier this afternoon, I started seeing a bunch of tweets from science fiction writers and fans about what looked a big screw up at PayPal. Author Jay Lake has been fighting cancer since 2008, and to raise money for a new treatment (whole genome sequencing), he pulled together a number of big-name writers to perform “acts of whimsy” when different funding levels are reached. (For example, fantasy author Neil Gaiman offered to cover a Magnetic Fields song on the ukulele if fans donated $ 20,000.) Within 24 hours, the campaign seemed like a big success, shooting way past the $ 20,000 goal.
And then PayPal froze the account associated with the campaign, blocking Lake’s access to the funds.
TechCrunch
You won’t take those eye-catching geometric patterns on snowflakes for granted after seeing this video. [Read more]
CNET News
The Bad Astronomer writes “A recent hearing of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform became a bully pulpit for antivaccination rhetoric when Representatives Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) made speeches connecting vaccines to autism — a connection that medical experts have shown does not exist. Although there were actual medical researchers there as witnesses, they were mostly berated by the Congressmen on the panel. Vaccines are one of the most successful medical advancements in human history, having saved hundreds of millions of lives, and after copious studies have been shown to have no connection with autism. Despite this, a vocal antivax lobby exists, including, clearly, members of Congress. In part this is why preventable and potentially fatal diseases like pertussis and measles are once again on the rise.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Oyjord writes “I have a very smart and curious 3-year-old daughter. Before anyone tries to derail my query, yes, we get a lot of play time outside with soccer and baseballs, and inside with blocks, Hot Wheels, PlayDoh, etc. However, on the rare occasion that we do sit down with my iPad, I’d like to solicit recommendations for good Math and Science apps for kids. There are hundreds of horribly gender-biased baking apps and Barbie apps for young girls, but they turn my stomach. She has a wonderfully curious mind, and really likes SkyView already, but I feel lost in a sea of pink and Hello Kitty apps.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Republicans have not had a friendly relationship with science these past few months: crazy theories about rape, attacking climate scientists, and referring to evolution as “lies straight from the pit of Hell.” Just yesterday, 2016 Republican presidential contender, Marco Rubio, made headlines for refusing to answer how old he thinks the Earth is, sparking widespread concern over another anti-science congressman who ironically sits on the Committee on Science.
TechCrunch
More fun out of MIT’s AI lab. Grad student Peng Yu happily showed off a couple of flying demos on our visit, controlling an Ar.Drone with a number of methods, including keyboard, tablet (touch), voice and gesture, each naturally presenting their own positives and negatives, in terms of ease of use and specificity. The latter was certainly the most intriguing of the bunch, executed via a Kinect hack that allowed Yu to direct the flying robot over a small model town in the middle of the lab.
Voice, meanwhile, played an important role in a computer demo that keeps in line with a vision from Boeing of a future (some 20 or 30 years out, according to its estimates) in which citizens utilize personal aircrafts capable of carrying two to four people to, say, commute to work. Speaking into the system, the user essentially negotiates with the aircraft, giving a destination, hoped for flight duration and any pitstops to be made along the way. The system in the demo adjusted for storms and let Yu know how quickly it thought it would be able to make the run.
Demos of all of the above can be found after the break.
Filed under: Robots
MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab envisions a future of personal air transport (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Engadget
theodp writes “Microsoft’s promotion of Julie Larson-Green to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering in the wake of Steven Sinofsky’s resignation is reopening the question of what is the difference between Computer Science and Software Engineering. According to their bios on Microsoft’s website, Sinofsky has a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an undergraduate degree with honors from Cornell University, while Larson-Green has a master’s degree in software engineering from Seattle University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Washington University. A comparison of the curricula at Sinofsky’s and Larson-Green’s alma maters shows there’s a huge difference between UMass’s MSCS program and Seattle U’s MSE program. So, is one program inherently more compatible with Microsoft’s new teamwork mantra?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Today the folks at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, NVIDIA, and Cray have brought on the next generation of accelerated computing with not just a re-naming of the Jaguar supercomputer, but integration with NVIDIA’s solutions for GPU-powered greatness. This update turns the Titan (as it is now called) into the flagship accelerated computing system – the
Recent Comments