- Demographers Discover The Fundamental Law Governing the Growth of Cities
The discovery of a law governing the growth of cities means that future urban populations can now be forecast in advance
- African Entrepreneurs Deflate Google’s Internet Balloon Idea
Kenyan tech leaders say the high-flying Internet balloons may not be a realistic networking solution for their continent.
Google’s latest pet project, called Loon, is meant to deliver the Internet to new parts of the world via solar-powered balloons soaring through the stratosphere. Yet some technologists in Africa say the project may be unrealistic as a competitive networking solution for their continent.
- Nanotube Probe Gives a Single Neuron’s View of Brain Activity
A thin probe of carbon nanotubes can measure small electrical changes inside a neuron.
A tiny spear made of carbon nanotubes can probe the internal electrical activity of a single neuron, giving researchers a more refined look at how brain cells respond to signals from their neighboring cells. Probing the brain at this resolution could be vital to efforts to understand and map its function in new detail (see “Why Obama’s Brain-Mapping Project Matters”).
- Why Tesla Thinks It Can Make Battery Swapping Work
Tesla is set to announce a way to make recharging its electric vehicles faster than filling up a gas tank.
Tomorrow Tesla Motors will announce a way to charge its Model S electric vehicle faster than a conventional car’s gas tank can be filled—by swapping a depleted battery for a fully charged one.
- Is Facebook Reading Status Updates to Co-opt Comment Threads?
Facebook may be going a step too far by adding unsolicited gift card suggestions to people’s status updates.
A friend of mine is leaving her job and starting a fantastic new one, and so she announced it on Facebook. The likes and comments piled up, but there was also something else I noticed when I saw her post in my News Feed. Right above the comments and below the likes was a nudge from Facebook to “surprise” my friend with a gift.
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