Science & Technology

Edge Of America/Data Hollywood/N.H.'s World Cup

05/18/2013

A new show from the Travel Channel explores America’s recreational fringe. “The Edge of America” is an experiential survey of some of the bizarre, dangerous, and hilarious things people do to have fun all over the country. Geoff Edgers is the host and writer for the program. When he’s not jousting bicycles or eating who-knows-what, he’s also an arts and culture reporter for the Boston Globe.

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Nate Silver opened the public’s eyes to the power of predictive statistics… now, having already conquered politics, marketing, and social media, data-crunchers are taking on their next big

E-Cigarettes Suck In Users/The Nasty Effect/Are Re-Runs Good For You?

05/4/2013

The tobacco industry faces strict regulation, but the market for E-cigarettes is still an unregulated, wild, wild west with endorsements ranging from Playboy Playmates to Stephen Dorff. Chris Robbins wrote about the growing and still unregulated industry of electronic cigarettes for Gothamist.com.

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A study published in the journal of computer-mediated communication measured the influence of reader comments on the articles they describe.   Dietram Scheufele, John E.

Space Law. Yes, That's A Thing/The 'Original' Social Network

05/4/2013

For a long time, outer space was conceptually  and legally a no-man’s land – that changed on October 4th, 1967 when the Soviet Union launched a satellite called Sputnik into Earth’s orbit, triggering an international space race and calls for internationally binding laws to govern  space exploration.  Last amended in 1979, the outer space treaty drafted in 1967 facilitated smooth, peaceful interactions between nations capable of probing space.  As the prospect of civilian space travel and settlement appears more accessible, international space law may be in need of revision.

The Gamer As Athlete/Video Games As Art/Holocaust Memorial Uses Holograms

05/4/2013

For the industry that makes and sells them, video games are an over twenty-five billion dollar business.  For the millions of consumers they sell them to, they’re an every day part of home life.  And for a select few, playing video games is even a competitive and potentially lucrative career path.  The BBC's Matt Danzico recently attended an event held by the MLG – or major league gaming – where international gaming champions square off for big money in front of big crowds.  The event prompted Matt to ask the question, “are pro-gamers our 21st century athletes?”

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The Museum of Modern

Robot Interrogators/Why Jury Duty Matters/Norway's Halden Prison

04/27/2013

They may not be able to dream or feel emotion, but a recent study suggests that robots do a better job of getting accurate witness statements than their human counterparts.  Cindy Bethel, is an assistant professor at Mississippi State University that specializes in human-robot interaction and the lead author of a study recently covered by The New Scientist. Also joining us is Deborah Eakin, the psychologist on the project.

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Sure, it's your civic duty, but why does jury duty actually matter One day you check the mail, and you find a letter that begins “Dear citizen"—a summons to serve

Dronestagram/Trinity

04/20/2013

An artist creates an online gallery of landscapes of drone strike locations before they were hit. A fascinating combination of journalism and art that creates a new view of a largely secret war.

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The author of the graphic novel "Trinity" discusses illustrating a turning point in U.S. history, the top secret WWII Manhattan Project, which resulted in the atomic bomb.

Telepathic Rats/Genomic Liberty/Robotic Knee Surgeons

04/6/2013

Mr. Spock’s Vulcan ability to transfer his consciousness into another being was a technique he used on numerous occasions in the Star Trek franchise. His colleague Dr. McCoy was, on several occasions, an unwitting recipient of the 'green blooded, inhuman' Spock’s consciousness…impossible science fiction, right? Well, maybe not. Recently, we came across a story about scientists creating telepathic rats in a lab at Duke University. On the line to tell us more is Douglas Heaven, who wrote about the experiment for New Scientist Magazine.

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As of last month, over forty-thousand patents on DNA

Alone In The Zone/Albania's Bunkers

04/6/2013
Naoto cares for the cattle at his makeshift farm.

Last month marked the second anniversary of the nuclear disaster and subsequent evacuation of Fukushima, Japan defying the government-mandated evacuation orders and living by himself inside “The Zone” is 53 year-old Naoto Matsumara, a fifth generation rice farmer who returned to Fukushima not long after the disaster first unfolded. Vice Japan’s Ivan Kovac is director and editor of “Alone in the Zone”, a documentary that follows Naoto on his mission to care for the pets and livestock abandoned after the 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown.

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More than 25 years after the death of

Autism The Video Game/Spying In Space

03/23/2013

Last month, Vancouver hosted the Hacking Health Weekend Hackathon, a place for collaboration between technology experts and health officials from across Canada. A team of three in attendance created a game simulation that elicits understanding and empathy towards those suffering from autism. The first-person indie game is called “Auti-Sim”, and uses 3-D graphics to simulate the horrors of sensory overload. Taylan Kay is a developer behind the thought-provoking indie game, and joins us today.

 

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The existence of planets outside our solar system was first confirmed in 1992. Since then,

Hologram Holocaust Survivors/The Russian Swiss Family Robinson

03/16/2013

New research by historians at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reveals the shocking scope of Hitler’s final solution that led to the death of an estimated 15-20 million people and the imprisonment of millions more. It’s an incomprehensible number—42,500 Nazi concentration camps, ghettoes, and labor sites were created leading up to and during World War Two.  

The average age for a Holocaust survivor is 79-years-old, and their carefully documented personal histories may just become that—a record.

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