Applied Physics Laboratory

Though algorithms are increasingly being deployed in all facets of life, a new USC study has found that they fail basic tests as truth detectors. Most algorithms have probably never heard the Eagles’ song, “Lyin’ Eyes.” Otherwise, they’d do a better job of recognizing duplicity. Computers aren’t very good at discerning misrepresentation, and that’s a

Emerging technologies are ushering in more fuel-efficient, comfortable and exotic aircraft. Get ready for the future of flight ON THE evening of July 23rd 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel after a series of human errors. The new Boeing 767, lightly loaded with 61 passengers and eight crew, became a glider with

An international research team has manufactured a new protein that can combat deadly flu epidemics. The paper, featured on the cover of the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates ways to use manufactured genes as antivirals, which disable key functions of the flu virus, said Tim Whitehead, assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science

Computer networking researchers at Rice University have a new idea for how to handle the mountains of data piling up in the labs of their fellow scientists around campus: Create a customized, energy-efficient optical network that can feed rivers of data to Rice’s supercomputers. The new network is called BOLD- short for “Big data and

Engineered quantum dots could bring down the cost of solar electricity Using two types of “designer” quantum dots, researchers are creating double-pane solar windows that generate electricity with greater efficiency and create shading and insulation for good measure. It’s all made possible by a new window architecture which utilizes two different layers of low-cost quantum

A new invention may make it a lot easier–and cheaper–to find landmines. This chemical film can be sprayed on the ground and glows over the spots where it senses explosives. Landmines are one of the worst remnants of war; they remain long after conflict has ended. There are currently 110 million mines in 64 countries, including

Image via Wikipedia The short video made its way around China’s Web in early 2006, passed on through file sharing and recommended in chat rooms. It opens with a middle-aged Asian woman dressed in a leopard-print blouse, knee-length black skirt, stockings and silver stilettos standing next to a riverbank. She smiles, holding a small brown

The electric sail (ESAIL), invented by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Kumpula Space Centre in 2006, produces propulsion power for a spacecraft by utilizing the solar wind. The sail features electrically charged long and thin metal tethers that interact with the solar wind. Using ultrasonic welding, the Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of

Novel processing method helps pave the way for carbon technology as a viable alternative to silicon in future computing IBM scientists have demonstrated a new approach to carbon nanotechnology that opens up the path for commercial fabrication of dramatically smaller, faster and more powerful computer chips. For the first time, more than ten thousand working

Fracking in Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale has used up to 13 million gallons of water per well Of all the troubles with fracking, the biggest—and growing—challenge seems to be what to do with all those millions of gallons of water contaminated with frack chemicals, leached minerals and salts. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process