A new algorithm developed at Brown University and the Technical University of Berlin is the first computer application designed for “semantic understanding” of abstract drawings, and the research team says it could improve search applications and sketch-based interfaces. Someday, building on this research and other line-drawing computer recognition, you might be able to finger-draw something…
Every time a new sea ice extent record for Arctic melting is broken, the same question comes up: how long until it’s gone? That is, how long will it be before the Arctic Ocean is functionally ice-free in the summer, legitimately opening the once-fabled Northwest Passage? The fact is, we don’t know. Climate models continue…
People have dreamed of colonizing the Red Planet for more than a century. USA Today takes a look at NASA’s most recent Mars plan for landing astronauts there about 2035. The first outposts could come after 2060. “Mars has captured the human imagination certainly since people started gazing up at the sky,” says NASA science…
From climate change to vaccines, evolution to flu, denialists are on the march. Why are so many people refusing to accept what the evidence is telling them? In a special feature, New Scientist looks at the phenomenon in depth. What is denial? What attracts people to it? How does it start, and how does it…
At first glance, the center of the Milky Way seems like a very inhospitable place to try to form a planet. Stars crowd each other as they whiz through space like cars on a rush-hour freeway. Supernova explosions blast out shock waves and bathe the region in intense radiation. Powerful gravitational forces from a supermassive…
Researchers from Australia have developed a genetic test that can predict an individual’s risk of developing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). The test will be particularly useful to detect autism in people whose families have a history of the developmental disorder. ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral…
Many politically unstable areas of South Asia are “water-stressed,” meaning the areas are facing water scarcity due to poor infrastructure or simply lacking enough water to meet demand. The potential impacts of climate change on water scarcity could further inflame political tensions, finds a new report, “Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security,”…
New research indicates that life might be able to survive on some of the odder exoplanets discovered so far – from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to freezing balls of ice. Habitable planets are usually defined as those where liquid water can exist. But not all exoplanets orbit, like Earth, at a fairly constant…
Researchers at Newcastle University have revealed the mechanism by which neurons, the nerve cells in the brain and other parts of the body, age. The research, published in Aging Cell, opens up new avenues of understanding for conditions where the ageing of neurons are known to be responsible, such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. The…
A pair of detectors that measure minute distortions in images of distant galaxies will probe the riddle of cosmic acceleration.