Alt-week 4.20.13: NASA's Space Shop, nature's needles and 30 years of cellphone bills

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.

The natural world offers up some ingenious biology that is only possible through many, many years of evolution. Other ideas, well, they come about through good old-fashioned brain power. We've got examples of both in this edition. Naturally. This is alt-week.

When you're in the Space business, you're pretty much already at the forefront of the technology game. NASA, however, is looking to the maker community -- especially 3D printing -- to encourage a breeding ground of new engineering creativity. The agency's Ames research centre has a "Space Shop" which already uses advanced metal-cutting and milling tools for prototype development, but recently, 3D printing has become an increasingly important part of that process. NASA believes that the ability to quickly experiment with real working prototypes (rather than digital simulations) is a vital step in effective design, one it hopes will encourage its young engineers to bring their ideas to the table. This is all land-based at the moment, but NASA is already working with a third-party to develop a 3D printer that's suitable for space missions. You can see the Space Shop in CNET's video below. Warning, there's a "rocket science" pun right at the beginning.

In a world full of synthetic materials and digital data, it's easy to forget that mother nature was really the first science geek. Her latest influence can be seen in a new surgical patch, inspired by a marine parasite. The patch will hold skin grafts more securely than current methods (like surgical staples) thanks to microneedles that mimic those found on the Pomphorhynchus laevis worm. The patch's tiny needles pierce tissue easily, with minimal damage, before a releasing a hydrogel that swells under the skin to keep it in place. The new technique results in a grip up to three times that of staples, and as there are no chemicals involved, also removes the risk of allergic reactions. The researchers even claim there's potential for even more benefits, including a dissolving version for internal use, or using the hydrogel as another vehicle for drug administration.

It was just this month we saw the 40-year anniversary of the first ever mobile phone call. This week marks another important milestone, 30 years since the first commercial cellphone call. Bob Barnett, former CEO of Ameritech (that developed the network the call was placed on) recounts how AT&T passed up the opportunity to develop a mobile network believing there to be limited demand for such a thing. Which, as we know, turned out to be something of a gross underestimation. What was the first commercial call like? Well, we could tell you that it took place in Chicago, and was between Barnett and the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. Or, you could jump on the video below, and see it unfold for yourself. Details of the number of bundled minute it used, however, remain unclear.

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

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Alt-week 4.13.13: micro-LED mind control, clear brains and clairvoyant ants

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.

Brains are complex things. Man's quest to understand this lump of gray mass has become something of an obsession. In this edition, we learn about two new studies that could help oil the wheels of this cerebral journey. That, and some clever ants. This is alt-week.

Should we be concerned about science's continued attempts at controlling the actions of animals? We're giving the benefit of the doubt. For now. But new research using micro-LEDs to wirelessly control the behaviour of mice could make the process less intrusive, and open it up to the use of other sensors. The microscopic device allows the scientists to observe animal activity more naturally than before, too, thanks to it not requiring a tethered light source. Optogenetics is an increasingly popular method of controlling and studying neural activity (remember those cocaine loving rats?), so this new, lightweight technology should only serve to enhance this area of research, allowing for more complex test environments. Roughly one-fifth the width of a strand of hair, the micro-LED implant can be placed deep inside the rodent brain, while an even thinner wire connects it to an external wireless module (on top of the mouse's head). While it might not sound like it, this new approach is better for the mice, with tests showing less neural damage and less reaction from the immune system. The fact that one of the co-inventors of optogenetics, Ed Boyden, claims the ability to integrate sensors (which this small scale technology could offer) could enable "closed-loop" control of brain function definitely isn't a cause for paranoia. Is it?

If you are worried about a future drenched in optical mind-control, then this next story might only serve to make things worse. A team at Stanford University has developed a process that can turn mice brains transparent, while maintaining their form and molecular structure. The process allows the brain to be studied intact without needing to slice and dissect, it also facilitates non-destructive light- and chemical-based observation. The process -- called CLARITY -- not only offers a new level of insight to the physical brain, it could give a better understanding of how its structure is changed by disease. CLARITY works by removing the opaque lipids, and replacing them with a hydrogel from within the brain itself. This is an important step, as without replacing the lipids, the structural integrity of the brain falls apart. The process also works on human tissues that have been preserved for long periods, and is also thought to be applicable to larger scale biological systems and organs. Likewise, techniques such as anti-body staining, to visually reveal relationships between brain components can theoretically be flushed out, and repeated to explore different targets within the same brain.

Current earthquake prediction systems only provide a few minutes advanced notice of the fact. Seeking a reliable method of predicting the occurrence of these destructive events has proven elusive. Results from a three-year study in Germany, however, suggest that Red Wood Ants might hold the (ahem) answer. Gabriele Berberich from the team at University Duisburg-Essen noted that the ants instinctively build nests along tectonically active faults. The study also observed that the Red Wood Ant has a reliable, regular daily pattern of working during the day, and resting at night. In the two seismically active areas under investigation, Berberich found that there was a regular change in the ants' behaviour, hours before a quake. It's thought that the creatures have a sensitivity to gas levels in the local climate, or small shifts in the Earth's magnetic field. An extended study will be required to rule out confounding factors and influences, but Berberich claims the initial results are promising.

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

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Alt-week 3.23.13: Universal snapshots, cosmic world records and print your ride

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

If you are a fan of absolutes, then you are in the right place. We have a first, a fastest and a biggest in this week's round-up of all things sci-tech. We'll try to add one more to that -- a quickest. The quickest intro for this feature ever. Did we manage it? This is alt-week.

Ever play that game where you try to see how quickly you can start / stop a stopwatch? No? Just us? Either way, spare a thought for Planck -- the European Space Agency satellite. Its data has been used to create a map showing the universe just one trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang. Planck has been observing cosmic background radiation originating 370,000 years after the universe came to be. Some of the findings have changed our understanding of the great "out there," including re-ageing the universe to 13.8-billion years old (100 million years older than previously thought), and revealing slightly more matter than previously thought. The image below shows that super-early snapshot of the universe, but with the contrast jacked right up to show regions that contained slightly more matter than others, which would ultimately start to attract more and more, before coalescing over vast periods of time into galaxies, and other celestial bodies. The data also adds weight to the theory of inflation, while not supporting others (such as cosmic strings, that string theory would predict).

While this next one might not be the first trillionth of something, it's possibly the first whole 3D printed snowboard. We've marvelled at the creative output from Every Third Thursday before, and the Signal team are at it again. This time, they've taken another tech angle, printing one out in parts. The process is obviously somewhat different to that of a regular board, and the results reflect that. But, if you thought 3D printing was all figurines and bracelets, then this video might just change your mind. We'll stick to our regular steel edges for now, but in a couple of years, who knows?

We started with speed, before moving onto a first, now we're looking at the biggest. The biggest astronomy lesson in the world, that is. NASA, along with 526 space lovers set a Guiness World Record with the outdoor class. The students came together at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Texas as part of SXSW, and learned about the use of color and light as tools for understanding cosmic objects. It possibly wasn't just the skies causing the students to be starstruck, either, with a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope no doubt stealing some attention, y'know, as it would. The previous record was held by 458 participants in Mexico back in 2011. To be fair, it sounds like a record we could have a pop at. Maybe at the next Expand? Who's in?

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

[Image credits: ESA and the Planck Collaboration, NASA / Chris Gunn ]

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Alt-week 02.16.13: robo-rats, a young black hole and a computer that cannot crash

Seven days, 26,000 lightyears, 637 languages, two groups of terrorised rats and one computer that never, ever crashes. We're light on intro, heavy of the numbers. You know the drill by now, this is Alt-week.

It's common for mice and rats to be the subject of testing during research ultimately intended to benefit humans. Something which makes this first story all the more worrying. Researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo have created a robotic "Terminator Rat" designed to torment its biological rodent counterparts. The team set the cyber-rat loose on two different groups of the furry subjects. One group was harassed constantly, while the other, slightly luckier set, only received "intermittent" abuse. Fear not, however, as the object of the research isn't to test out future cyborg oppressors. Instead the idea is to model different psychological conditions that could assist in the development of antidepressants. A relief for us, perhaps, but not much consolation for the poor test subjects. It's also worth making sure that your boss doesn't find out the results. According to team, led by Hiroyuki Ishii, the rats under constant attack suffered less stress than the group receiving more lenient punishment.

In other -- slightly less mean sounding -- research, an algorithm has been developed at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver that can rewind the evolution of languages, giving us a better understanding of how ancient dialects may have sounded. Working with probabilistic models, the algorithms were tested on words from 637 Austronesian languages, and over 85 percent of the generated reconstructions were within one character of those manually provided by a specialized linguist. The new technique could assist with automated translation, as well as unpicking a language's evolutionary progress. It's not just about a better understanding of communication over the ages, either, as the timeline of a language can also play a useful role in determining the order of pre-history events, such as the movement of populations over a continent.

On a cosmic scale, the odd meteorite shower is a fairly modest event. Supernovas, on the other hand, truly run with the big boys. The picture below shows the remnants of one such event -- called W49B -- that happened 26,000 light-years away from Earth. But it's NASA's description of this as a "rare explosion" that hints at there being more to this than an astronomic postcard picture. New data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory indicates that this distorted supernova remnant potentially hosts the youngest black hole in our galaxy. Why so rare? Well the asymmetrical spread of matter suggests it was ejected from the top and bottom of the star faster than elsewhere, unlike typical supernova remnants that leave symmetrical patterns. The juvenile black hole would be only a 1,000 years old as seen from earth, much more recent than other examples such as SS433, another potential host estimated to be between 17,000 and 22,000 years old from our perspective.

If you've got this far in one go, then that likely means your device hasn't crashed. Thankfully, as technology matures this modern phenomenon is hopefully on the decline. A new computer in operation at University College London, however, claims to be able to reprogram itself in a way that means it will never crash. The "systemic" machine operates very differently to conventional PCs and desktops, which execute instructions in an ordered, linear fashion. UCL's system takes its inspiration from the distributed and decentralised patterns often found in nature. Essentially, data is coupled up with information on what to do with it. These pairings are then set up as pods of "systems" bundled in with contextual data linking it to similar sets of instructions. A pseudorandom number generator tells the computer when to run any of these systems, which can be done simultaneously. The crash-proof part comes from multiple copies of these instruction sets being distributed throughout the system, so if one tanks, there's a fresh copy of it waiting in the wings. The technique could ultimately lead to machines that can repair and adapt after damage, too. No one tell Skynet.

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

[Image credits: PNAS / University of British Columbia, Chandra X-ray Observatory]

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Alt-week 2.9.13: Seismic invisibility, bacterial gold and really, really big prime numbers

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

The lure of gold, the unpredictable weather and the power of invisibility. What do these three things have in common? We'd argue their almost universal appeal to the human race. Science makes headway in all three of these areas in this edition. On top of that there's a really, incredibly, massive prime number. This is alt-week.

The hunt for gold's spun many a tale of rags to riches and even woven its way into our folklore. We bet, however, that (like us) many didn't know that gold production can take place at a microbial level, with much more than just the family farm at stake. Delftia acidovorans is a bacteria that lives in the biofilm environment found atop gold deposits. But, its luxurious choice of habitat also presents a real danger -- as gold ions are also fatally toxic to the bug. No biggie though, as the clever bacteria has turned alchemist, by creating a chemical -- a protein called delftibactin -- that converts the ions into gold nanoparticles. We know what you're thinking, and we're right ahead of you. So are the people behind the team that discovered this activity, with Nathan Magarvey from McMaster University suggesting that this could, indeed, have uses for the discovery and extraction of gold in natural sources. Given the tiny amounts that are being talked about, there'll be no worries about a modern gold rush, but, if harnessed correctly, it's thought the critters could play a role in recovery of, or as a biosensor for the shiny stuff in the future.

What's the biggest prime number you can think of? If like us, it's no bigger than 131 (okay, we even had to wiki that), then don't worry, you're not alone. There are, however, mathmatical minds that dedicate themselves to this very pursuit -- albeit with the use of technology. The largest known such number is 257885161 - 1, is 17 million digits long, and was recently discovered by a bunch of computers in Missouri taking part in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). Not sure how big a number like that is? Well, it reportedly took the computer array that discovered it 39 days to double check that it was actually prime. Our heads are hurting just thinking about that. The previous largest prime was apparently "just" 13 million digits long -- still some 12,999,997 longer than our best effort.

Invisibility is possibly the holiest of holy grails for many young (or once young) fertile minds. Sadly, it still seems like the cloak of our dreams is still some way out. Much of the current work in invisibility is concentrating on the visual aspect -- directing photons etc. Recently announced work at the Institut Fresnel in Marseille, France, however, has used a similar idea to create a "seismic invisibility cloak" that could help protect structures against earthquakes and more. The team drilled an array of 200 meter-deep boreholes, filled them with clay silt, and then set up acoustic monitoring of the area. To test their theory, 50 Hz waves with a 14mm displacement were emitted from one side, allowing them to measure what was received on the other. The result? According to the researchers, the waves were diverted away well, with almost nothing making its way past the second round of boreholes. The experiment is only designed to work with waves at a certain frequency, and there is the issue of dealing with where the reflections actually go (potentially other nearby structures?), but, for now, this represents a promising stretch in the right direction.

Dutch researchers at Wageningen UR have published results of their work that repurposed mobile network infrastructure to provide detailed, real-time rainfall maps. By monitoring the water-induced attenuation between mobile transmitters and receivers a surprisingly accurate gauge of rainfall intensity was recorded. The work could benefit the measurement of surface precipitation in areas where radar is either not present, or not viable (assuming a mobile network exists there also). This could help the management of water resources, climate research and, of course, weather prediction. The team's example used just one Dutch national network to demonstrate the method, but are keen to stress that due to the proliferation of these Tx / Rx network links around civilised areas generally, there's a wealth of resource sat there untapped.

[Image credits: BlurbfromtheBurbs]

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

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Alt-week 2.2.13: SpaceLiners, building a brain and the man made multiverse

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

What's black and white, and read all over? This week's dose of sci-tech news, silly. What is less black and white, however, IS where reality ends, and the stuff of science fiction begins. Europe to Australia in 90 minutes? Automatically-melting military technology? A material that hosts multiple universes? It's all here, it's all alt-week.

If the highlight of your long-haul is that leg-stretching trip to the bathroom, the bad news is that's a situation not likely to change any time soon. But, that doesn't mean they aren't working on it. If recently announced estimates are to be believed, the hypersonic SpaceLiner that would reduce the journey time from Europe to Australia down to just 90 minutes is about 50 years out. The ESA-supported project started in 2005, and would use a propellant based on liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The craft will likely launch vertically from a booster -- just like NASA rockets -- with up to 50 passengers onboard. Once an altitude of around 50 miles is reached, the SpaceLiner would "glide" down to its destination, reaching speeds of up to 15,000 mph while it did so. And here is the problem. Creating a design that is capable of tolerating the heat generated at such speeds, that is also consistent with the rest of its consumer requirements is quite a challenge. Still, we're content with the in-flight movie choice, and the occasional stroll down the aisle while they work on it.

If you thought the SpaceLiner sounded like a worthy project, what about "The Human Brain Project?" What might that be? Well, the lofty goal of "pulling together all our existing knowledge about the human brain and to reconstruct the brain, piece by piece, in supercomputer-based models and simulations" no less. The project is actually the latest to be chosen by the European Commission to receive funding as part of its FET Flagship Initiatives program. The cerebral challenge will be headed up out of Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and cost an estimated 1.19 billion euros ($1.63 billion). It's hoped that the work could result in a better understanding of disease, as well as provide useful data for the advancement of robotics. Most impressive of all, with an estimated duration of 10 years, that's a fifth of the time required to develop a SpaceLiner...

This next project (is it project week or something?) is almost the anti-idea. Instead of concerning itself with understanding or creating, its goal is to destroy. DARPA is keen that its hard work doesn't fall into the wrong hands. As such its (somewhat wordy) Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program has been set up to create rugged technology, that can degrade into its surroundings when triggered. You might disagree with it, but DARPA claims that today's consumer technology "lasts nearly forever," which is clearly not what you want if you are trying to keep items away from unfriendly eyes. The research could help develop new materials that are durable enough for everyday use, but also easy to dissolve from existence. Expect a swathe of disposable tech to follow.

If you thought melting gadgets were clever, how about a multiverse-containing metamaterial? That's exactly what physicists at the University of Maryland claim they have made. We should probably back-up a little. Metamaterials contain nanostructures that manipulate light. This might not sound like much, until we understand that it has been theorised that the way in which they do so is similar to how spacetime manipulates light in general relativity. This essentially means that metamaterials can be used to mimic our spacetime, as well as many others. The physicists state that the material contains multiple universes analogous to our own, but with three, rather than four dimensions. To make the metamaterial, the team worked with cobalt nanoparticles -- which have self assembling qualities -- suspended in kerosene. When light passes through, it behaves as a dimension of time, with the cobalt structure providing the foundation for two dimensions in space. This is what is referred to as a Minkowski universe. What the Maryland researchers have done is create a substance containing many Minkowski universes. The work not only gives evidence of the potential of self-organisation in metamaterial creation, but could also have implications for the study of new types of optical devices.

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

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By: Unknown On 7:10 AM

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Alt-week 12.15.12: rivers on Titan, electric handcuffs and crashing into the moon

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.

Space, it's the final frontier, where no-one can hear you scream in frustration at not knowing who the villain of Star Trek: Into Darkness is, as well as where 50 percent of our stories take place this week. NASA's planning to crash satellites into the moon, someone's patented an electo-shock handcuff and there's a river on Titan that you wouldn't want to canoe-down. This is alt-week.

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Alt-week 11.17.12: freestyle brain scans, hovering moon base and robot dolphin replacements

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.

This week we're all over the place. Sorry about that, but it's all for the greater good. We start things off right down at the quantum level, then head to the oceans, before a quick jaunt into space before landing back deep inside your mind. All in the name of science, of course. Science and hip-hop that is. This is alt-week.

It wasn't all that long ago that CERN made headlines with its Higgs-related findings (work that still goes on), but it's not all about the Boson. Tiny pulses of light created in atomic nuclei in colliders such as the LHC could lead to new levels of timing accuracy. Currently, ultra-short laser pulses can be used to measure with an accuracy of attoseconds (one billionth of a billionth, 10-18th, or if you prefer, a quintillionth of a second) but, these atomic-level pulses created in collisions, are potentially a million times shorter once again. So brief, in fact, that they are currently undetectable with the typical tools. There is, however, another way of spotting the fleeting flashes of light, and it's the same method used to measure the diameter of stars. The method relies on the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, and uses the correlation between two detectors to observe changes in light data with the minutest of detail. Why is this good for science? Well, timing accuracy aside, quantum physics experiments often use light pulses for state change, and observation. Being able to do this at such a detailed scale could allow experiments in areas previously unobtainable.

According to a BBC Worldwide report, it could be time for a few long-serving members of the US military to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Speaking with beeb's Future section, the US Navy advises that after more than 50 years of using sea mammals, such as dolphins, for mine detection, it will be phasing them out. Instead, the role will now be performed by sonar-enabled torpedo-like drones, such as the Knifefish pictured below. These new underwater unmanned vehicles, or robots, can be deployed for mine sweeps of up to 16 hours, and while not 100 percent as effective as the creatures they replace, represent substantial monetary savings. The new recruits won't be able to take over from the dolphins just yet, but are expected to be ready by 2017. In the meantime, our smart, ocean-faring friends will have to hold out just a little longer for that army pension. We're not kidding about that last part, either.

A few weeks back we covered an idea for a supercomputer on the moon. The fanciful notion caught our imagination, but seemed a little out of reach. News this week that NASA might be planning a floating moon base, however, is just real enough to get us pretty excited. The rumors started a few weeks ago when the Orlando Sentinel claimed to have seen papers describing such a thing. Well, they've resurfaced again, and a few people with knowledge on the matter are suggesting it has every chance of being possible. The details are short at the moment, but essentially it would be an outpost located in the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2 (EML-2). This is a spot where the moon and the Earth's combined gravity would be balanced, just enough, to keep the satellite in a fixed position -- no fuel required. As EML-2 is beyond the point of existing human-based missions, and doesn't enjoy the earth's protection from radiation, it could be the ideal "testing ground" for longer term exploration into deeper space. The suggestion is, that if this is a reality, NASA might let more details slip once the federal budget gets announced early next year.

You might think that spittin' lyrics was all about practise making perfect. And likely that's a large part of it. Researchers at the -- decidedly non-rhyming -- voice, speech and language branch of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) wanted to better understand the creative process, and decided to look at the brains of rappers while in "flow" to do so. The same team did previous research involving improvising Jazz musicians, which was then spotted by hip-hop lover Daniel Rizik-Baer. He thought that the freestyle dialog of rappers would be an even better fit for such studies, and got in touch with the NIDCD. The team agreed it was a great idea, and so it came to pass. Several artists were subjected to fMRI scans while both free-forming, and using rehearsed lyrics. The findings? Increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex but a decreased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal region. The area of the brain that lit up is responsible for self motivation, and compiling information, while the area that saw a decline in use is what provides attention and self monitoring (criticism etc). The outcome suggests that this is the cerebral recipe for the "flow" state, where information is dealt with as it comes, without passing critical judgement on it, or being distracted by over analysing. There were also increases in the areas associated with language, action and emotion, which were seen working tightly together. The work doesn't end here, however, with the same team wanting to continue the research, to see how the brain operates in what they believe is phase two of creativity -- where people refine, or improve what they have just created.

Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com.

[Image credits: BBC, NIDCD]

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Alt-week 11.03.12: zombie animals, martian methane and self healing buildings

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

After a week where large numbers of people found themselves at the mercy of mother nature, many will be reminded just how vulnerable we really can be at times. That said, science still provides us with a pretty big stick to whack many other

By: Dilusha On 3:31 PM

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