Category: Tech News

• A Video-Game Algorithm to Solve Online Abuse

  How a team of psychologists and scientists at Riot Games is unlocking the secret to eliminating abuse within an online video game.

  Like many online spaces, League of Legends, the most widely played online video game in the world today, is a breeding ground for abusive language and behavior. Fostered by anonymity and amplified within the heated crucible of a competitive team sport, this conduct has been such a problem for its maker, Riot Games, that the company now employs a dedicated team of scientists and designers to find ways to improve interactions between the game’s players.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Peter Thiel Explains Biotech Investing Rationale: Get Rid of Randomness

  The value placed on biotechnology companies has soared, but are their chances of success any better?

  Peter Thiel knows a promising tech startup when he sees one. The investor was the first outside investor in Facebook. But does he have the same touch in biotech?

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• A Fix for Maximizing Energy from Solar Panels on Slanted Roofs

  Researchers have shown a new way to help solar cells track the sun as it moves across the sky, which could boost a panel’s energy generation by 40 percent.

  Most of the solar panels in the world sit on rooftops at a fixed angle, so they miss out on capturing energy during parts of every day. Now researchers have shown that by cutting solar cells into specific designs using kirigami, a variation of origami which entails cutting in addition to folding, they can allow the cells to track the sun’s angle without having to tilt the whole panel. This could have a substantial payoff: solar panels with tracking mechanisms can generate 20 to 40 percent more energy per year than those without trackers.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• How International Monitors Spot Nukes and Other Rumblings

  This $1 billion global sensing network records 26 gigabytes of data per day and will detect a nuclear bomb anywhere in the world.

  The ultimate nightmare for critics of the Iran nuclear deal being debated in Congress is that somehow, despite the agreement and all its built-in safeguards, Iran will still manage to design and build a nuclear weapon, escaping detection until a large city is consumed by nuclear fire.

• Can Apple Finally Take Over the Living Room?

  Apple hopes adding apps, touch controls, and Siri to Apple TV will help it dominate your home entertainment.

  On Wednesday at a media event in San Francisco, Apple unveiled a slate of new products, including one small, slender one with a touch pad, a button to access Siri, and a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• AI Software Goes Up Against Fourth Graders on Science Tests

  Making AI software take real school exams might accelerate progress toward machines with common sense.

  During which season of the year would a rabbit’s fur be thickest? A computer program called Aristo can tell you because it read about bears growing thicker pelts during winter in a fourth grade study guide, and knows rabbits are mammals, too. It’s studying for New York State’s standard science exams.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Peter Thiel Backs Biotech “Unicorn” Fighting Cancer Stem Cells

  Are stem cells at the root of common cancers? A startup named Stemcentrx thinks so.

  In 2002, Scott Dylla, a skinny postdoc with a Minnesota accent, answered a Craigslist ad for a room for rent in Palo Alto. Although he couldn’t afford to move in with Brian Slingerland, then an up-and-coming technology banker at Credit Suisse, the two got to talking.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Meltdown-Proof Nuclear Reactors Get a Safety Check in Europe

  Researchers say they could build a prototype of a molten salt reactor, a safer, cleaner nuclear power option, in 10 years.

  For years nuclear scientists have talked about a revival of molten salt reactors, which are powered by a liquid fuel rather than solid fuel rods, that will help spark the long-awaited “nuclear renaissance.” Recent developments indicate that this alternative nuclear power technology is finally making gradual progress toward commercialization.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• 3-D Printing Breaks the Glass Barrier

  Researchers have cracked the challenge of printing glass through a nozzle.

  The palette of materials that can be used as 3-D printing “ink” is quickly growing in diversity, but one ubiquitous material has, until now, been absent: transparent glass.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Your Smartphone Can Tell If You’re Bored

  A group of researchers looked at how people used their phones to figure out when they were bored, then suggested they go read a BuzzFeed article.

  Add “boredom detector” to the seemingly endless list of things your smartphone can do. A group of researchers say they’ve developed an algorithm that can suss this out by looking at your mobile activity, considering factors like the time since you last had a call or text, the time of day, and how intensely you’re using the phone.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Transplant Surgeons Revive Hearts After Death

  A technology to keep organs alive outside the body is saving lives. And provoking ethical debates.

  Transplant surgeons have started using a device that allows them to “reanimate” hearts from people who have recently died, and use the organs to save others. 

Digest powered by RSS Digest