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Submission + - Terminator Sparrows? (bbc.co.uk)

AstroPhilosopher writes: In a move not far removed from the model T-101, US researchers have succeeded in re-animating a dead sparrow. Duke scientists were studying male behavior aggression amongst sparrows. So they cleverly decided to insert miniaturized robotics into an empty sparrow carcass and operate it like a puppet. It worked; they noticed wing movements were a primary sign of aggression. Fortunately the living won out this time. The experiment stopped after the real sparrows tore off the robosparrow's head. But there's always a newer model on the assembly-line. Good luck sparrows.

Submission + - Israeli scientists freeze water by warming it. 1

ccktech writes: As reported by NPR and Chemistry world this morning the Journal Science has a paper by David Ehre, Etay Lavert, Meir Lahav, and Igor Lubomirsky of Israel's Weizmann Institute has figured out a way to freeze pure water by warming it up. The trick is that pure water has different freezing points depending on the electrical charge of the surface it resides on. They found out that a negatively charged surface causes water to freeze at a lower temperature than a postively charged surface, Putting water on the pyroelectric material Lithium Tantalate which has a negative charge when cooler but a positive change when warmer; water would remain a liquid down to 17 degrees C. and then freeze when the substrate and water was warmed up and the charge change positive where water freezes at 7 degrees C.

Comment Depends on your situation (Score 1) 837

My helpdesk decided on their own to wear flourescent vents that highway workers wear. They wanted to as part of a rollout of a new knowledge base system for the employees and as a way to let people know who they are. Results seem to be pretty good so far as when they go somewhere we get more of the hallway conversations that are really useful rather than just being some random unknown person in the building.

Comment Active Whiteboards (Score 3, Informative) 411

I work for a school district in the US and the bang for your money is Active Whiteboards and software such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activstudio. It was incredible how this technology really enabled better teaching and interactions with the kids. The next thing is mobile labs of laptops. However, these do require a good wireless support network. ski

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