Minding The Planet is Nova Spivack’s weblog on emerging technologies and trends. It focuses on ways in which the Web is becoming more present, personalized and precise.
Nova Spivack is a technology futurist, entrepreneur, angel investor, and a leading voice on search, collective intelligence and the Semantic Web. More...
Ok, this will be pretty interesting… as long as nothing unexpected happens, like for example, our universe starting to drain out through the wormhole they are making…that would suck… PHYSICISTS IN JAPAN PLAN TO CREATE NEW UNIVERSE IN LAB USING THE HIGGS FIELD, SCIENTISTS THEORIZE IT IS POSSIBLE TO CAUSE A ‘BABY UNIVERSE’ TO BREAK [...]
Amazon Rainforest Faces Desertification Amazon rainforest ‘could become a desert’ And that could speed up global warming with ‘incalculable consequences’, says alarming new research The Independent (U.K.), July 23, 2006 The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world’s climate, alarming research suggests. And the [...]
A University of Arizona professor has invented a ripeness sticker that shows how ripe a piece of fruit is. Why didn’t I think of this!!! This is a simple, brilliant idea. It’s right up there with the blue-tip match. The University of Arizona is going to make a lot of money on this. Related Posts:A [...]
150 years ago, German physiologist Emil Du Bois-Reymond discovered that electric currents could speed up the healing of flesh wounds. But his research has been ignored ever since. Until now… Now Josef Penninger of the Austrian Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna and Min Zhao of the University of Aberdeen, UK, have demonstrated that natural [...]
New research has shown that fatherhood brings about dramatic enhancements in male brains. Although the researchers don’t suggest it, this effect may be nature’s way of counteracting the dramatic decrease in male brain function that occurs in proportion to the number of times they get laid in a given week (Note: this particular malady was [...]
This is a really cool science and art project — Researchers in Japan have developed a device that uses waves to cause images to form on the surface of water. Check the link for a cool picture. Related Posts:Burning Salt Water — A New Form of FuelSteorn Set to Demo "Free Energy" Device TomorrowA Modern [...]
A major new discovery about the structure of DNA molecules has been announced. Researchers have found there is a pattern to the organization of nucleosomes in DNA, which may explain why certain parts of the moleculare are accessible or inaccessible to transcription. This in turn may help explain how certain genes are conserved in nature, [...]
A strain of bacteria has been discovered that turns dissolved metals into gold. Related Posts:A Universal Classification of IntelligenceA Bottle That Purifies Enough Water for a YearScientist Says "Never in Our Imagination Could This Happen." Famous Last Words?Networked Genome — New Finding Shatters Current ThinkingNew Aspartame Concerns — Study Finds Link to Cancer At Lower [...]
New research has found that ants navigate in part by counting the number of steps they take. Related Posts:A Universal Classification of IntelligenceA Bottle That Purifies Enough Water for a YearScientist Says "Never in Our Imagination Could This Happen." Famous Last Words?Networked Genome — New Finding Shatters Current ThinkingNew Aspartame Concerns — Study Finds Link [...]
The next generation of the breathalyzer won’t just measure blood alchohol content, it will detect many types of disease as well. A laser-based technology for measuring the breath is being proposed as a viable alternative to blood tests. Related Posts:New Aspartame Concerns — Study Finds Link to Cancer At Lower LevelsAnti-Aging Molecule DiscoveredBig Thinkers' Most [...]
A tribe in South America has been found to have a reverse concept of time from all known cultures: New analysis of the language and gesture of South America’s indigenous Aymara people indicates they have a concept of time opposite to all the world’s studied cultures — so that the past is ahead of them [...]
South Korean researchers have synthesized a molecule that seems to not only stop, but also reverse, the built-in aging functions of cells. A team of South Korean scientists on Sunday claimed to have created a “cellular fountain of youth,’’ or a small molecule, which enables human cells to avoid aging and dying. The team, headed [...]
A new mathematical technique provides a dramatically better way to analyze data, such as audio data, radar, sonar, or any other form of time-frequency data. Humans have 200 million light receptors in their eyes, 10 to 20 million receptors devoted to smell, but only 8,000 dedicated to sound. Yet despite this miniscule number, the auditory [...]
Wow — this page has some fabulous photos of devices for locating things using sound. Think radar, only much louder… Related Posts:British Ministry of Defense Chief Resigns; Cites Concerns About UFO'sBig Thinkers' Most Dangerous IdeasFascinating US Air Force Teleportation Physics StudyWater Powered Car — Too Good to Be True? Video.New Quantum Propulsion Being Researched By [...]
I’ve been interested in bacteriophages for a few years, ever since I first heard about them. This article goes into more detail about why they may present a new and better alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of resistant bacterial infections. In the 1920s and ’30s, with diseases like dysentery and cholera running rampant, the [...]
This is pretty cool. It turns out you can freeze water at room temperature, creating so-called "hot ice." There are at least two known methods for doing this. Hot ice effectively transforms water into a solid that is like a form of glue. This opens the door for some interesting potential applications — including using [...]
US military researchers are working on devices that augment human sensory perception, through the tongue: By routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue to the brain, they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses similar to owls, snakes and fish. Related Posts:Big Thinkers' Most Dangerous IdeasNew Wireless Power Technology — [...]
A new study has found a fatal flaw in past studies that claimed moderated drinking is good for your health. It seems the past studies compared moderate drinkers to abstainers, and found the moderate drinkers were more healthy. Unfortunately what they neglected to consider was the fact that many of their abstainers were abstaining because [...]
More evidence that many synthetic food and beverage packaging materials are unsafe: A CHEMICAL used to make food wrapping and line tin cans could be the cause of surging prostate cancer rates in men, says a study. Bisphenol A is widely used in the food industry to make polycarbonate drinks bottles and the resins used [...]
New research into the mathematical properties of whale songs reveals that they have a complex language: The songs of the humpback whale are among the most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers have now mathematically confirmed that whales have their own syntax that uses sound units to build phrases that can be combined to form [...]
Hot news from Fermilab… (see this article) Tom Spears Ottawa Citizen A major physics lab in the U.S. has found a particle, far smaller than any atom, that switches itself back and forth between being a piece of matter and a piece of anti-matter 17 trillion times each second. It has taken 700 people in [...]
Researchers continue to make progress in fusing living neurons with computer chips: The line between living organisms and machines has just become a whole lot blurrier. European researchers have developed "neuro-chips" in which living brain cells and silicon circuits are coupled together. The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to [...]
An innovative new 3D display technology uses lasers to create plasma dots in mid-air. Can you say, "Help me, Obi-Wan," anybody? Check the link to see the kewl pics! Related Posts:Powers of Ten: The Simpsons VersionPocket Holographic Video Projector DemonstratedNew Photon Thruster: Get to Mars in 1 Week!Reverse Anthropology: Native Tribe Visits UK to Study [...]
The head of the Russian space corporation, Energia, has been quoted as stating that Russia is planning on setting up a permanent mining base on the moon to mine Helium-3. Helium-3 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium that is rare on earth but plentiful on the moon. It is an ideal fuel for nuclear fusion. [...]
Where’s George, an internet game in which people track the spread of dollar bills as they move around, has yielded an unexpected breakthrough in the science of predicting the spread of epidemics. Related Posts:Is There Room for The Soul? – Good Article on Cognitive ScienceBreakthrough in Finding Patterns in Complex Data Such as SoundQuantum Evolution [...]
It was previously thought that some types of bacteria carry around magnetic crystals in order to orient themselves. But a recent study has found that in fact this does not seem to be the case — so why do they carry magnetic crystals? Nobody knows. It’s an interesting mystery. Related Posts:Is There Room for The [...]
In a big step for medicine, scientists have figured out how the flu virus replicates — including the bird flu – inside cells. This opens up new pathways for developing drugs to fight all strains of the flu. Related Posts:Networked Genome — New Finding Shatters Current ThinkingScientists Encode Message into Bacterial DNAGM Grapes and Toxic [...]
In an amazing scientific breakthrough, researchers have just discovered that sex before public speaking calms nerves. Phew, I’m glad they settled that burning question! Related Posts:Fun With CoolWhip: The Twine Crunchies VideoThe Honor of a Lifetime!The State of our Country: Newscaster Refuses to Read Paris Hilton Story; Burns Script on CameraMy Week Was IntenseFunny Cartoon [...]