Category: ideas

“The glory of the iPod is lost on those who suffer from a rare condition known as amusia – a complete inability to comprehend or take pleasure from music. Where once these people would have been dismissed as “tone deaf”, there is a growing recognition that amusia is a neurological condition, inherited through families.”

“The urge to cuddle and coo when presented with a baby turns out to be an innate response prompted, at least in part, by the structure of an infant’s face, according to new research that actually shows how this baby love process works in adult brains.”

“Over the decades, evidence concerning cognitive deficits in brain-damaged patients has accumulated, and researchers have concluded that we have a sense of number that is independent of language, memory, and reasoning in general.”

“Most people can’t make such a painful choice, not even the students at a bastion of rationality like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology… In a series of experiments, hundreds of students could not bear to let their options vanish, even though it was obviously a dumb strategy.”

“A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending. Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy. The rise of “freeconomics” is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web.”

It’s a cyberdevice. Neil Harbisson wears “a head-mounted digital camera that reads the colours directly in front of it. The camera is connected to a laptop computer, carried in a backpack, which slows down the frequency of light waves to the frequency of sound waves. The computer then sends the “sound” of each colour to an earpiece worn by Harbisson.”

Social-media sites like Wikipedia and Digg are celebrated as shining examples of Web democracy, places built by millions of Web users who all act as writers, editors, and voters. In reality, a small number of people are running the show.

Particular technologies do not just become associated with certain periods and places; they are an integral part of a particular period and how it is experienced…

“Over the course of time, countless colorful images on the walls of churches or palaces have been painted or plastered over. Until now, there’s been no way to detect these images, rendering them as good as lost. But initial tests have shown T-rays are able to detect penciled sketches under layers of both paint and plaster.”

“The wonders of modern robotics have allowed mankind to attain new technical heights by increasing productivity and making the previously impossible possible. This Wednesday, Italians scientists unveiled a robot in Rome that they hope will continue mankind’s tireless march into the future. This robot, named “Justine,” makes coffee”