When you stop and think about it, evolutionary science is pretty amazing stuff. On one hand you’re dealing with infinitely complex systems that are constantly changing to adapt to myriad elements of the environment in which they exist. Continue reading
Ever since I was a kid I’ve been a sucker for the fine line where science and parlor magic seem to coexist thanks to the likes of Don Herbert (a.k.a. Mr. Wizard) and others. Thanks to his Mr. Wizard’s Supermarket Science I had my parents and grandparents constantly running to the grocery store to pick up random odds and ends that on more than one occasion required clean-up efforts on par with an EPA Superfund site. Continue reading
66%
Yesterday social media monitoring firm Radian6 released an analysis of nearly 700,000 conversations about New Year’s resolutions from 28 December 2011 through 03 January 2012. They measured sentiment, demographics, subject, and a variety of other characteristics to arrive at the cutesy infographic included below. Continue reading
So you’re thinking about a New Year’s resolution and what better kind of resolution than one focused on self-improvement? Maybe you’d like to recycle more or get a new, higher-paying job? Excellent! Continue reading
47.3 million (47,300,000)
Based on the most recent AECOM Theme Park Attendance report, the annual attendance for the four major parks that make up the Walt Disney World totaled approximately 47.3 million for 2010. Continue reading
When robotics professor Masahiro Mori coined the term “uncanny valley” in 1970, he was both paying homage to Ernst Jentsch’s concept of “the uncanny” (and Sigmund Freud thereafter), as well as forever changing the way in which people look at lifelike robots. According to Wikipedia, the term itself is a hypothesis that robots (and 3D animation) which are designed to closely - although not perfectly - resemble and act like human beings causes revulsion in human observers. Continue reading
The hits keep on coming for Jawbone's UP | "Jawbone Explains UP Wrist Band Failures and Offers Full Refunds" bit.ly/tCpC1u—
Marshall Stanton (@marshallstanton) December 09, 2011
From a scientific perspective, this is huge news | "NASA Rover Spots Unambiguous Evidence for Water on Ancient Mars" bit.ly/uc1fJR—
Marshall Stanton (@marshallstanton) December 09, 2011
Ocular prosthesis dates back to 2900-2800 B.C.E. and eyeglasses (in their current form) were first made in Italy around 1286. Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with having created the concept of contact lenses in his 1508 Codex of the eye, Manual D” but it wasn’t until Thomas Young actually used wax to affix water-filled lenses to his eyes that the contact lens was born. Continue reading
I’m a big fan of robotics although I do recognize that like all technology, innovations in this area should be treated with respect for the possible implications. There’s a lot we can learn about the universe and our own humanity as robotic technology becomes increasingly advanced. Continue reading
