Tag Archives: New Scientist

Science & Technology

Scientists use AI cobweb analysis to determine spider species

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(Phys.org) —The identification of spider species based on pattern recognition of their cobwebs has been shown to be quite possible and successful. The paper, “Spider specie identification and verification based on pattern recognition of it cobweb,” was published in Expert Systems and Applications and the paper’s research was also recently discussed in New Scientist. A team came up with an AI cobweb recognition system through the use of special software for analyzing images supplied by a spider expert. More specifically the team used images from William Eberhard of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Costa Rica. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Movies & TV

A Real-Life Spidey Sense?

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You’re never going to have the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider. But maybe, just maybe, you can have Peter Parker‘s spider-sense someday…

New Scientist has word on creator Victor Mateevitsi from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He designed “SpiderSense,” which “lets you feel how close you are to a nearby object

can even let the wearer navigate with their eyes closed.”

SpiderSense has “small robotic arms packaged in modules with microphones that send out and pick up ultrasonic reflections from objects. When the ultrasound detects someone moving closer to the microphone, the arms respond by exerting a growing pressure on the body. Seven of these modules are distributed across the suit to give the wearer as near to 360 degree ultrasound coverage as possible.”

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Movies

Science & Technology

17M-Digit Prime Number is Biggest Ever Found

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By Rob Quinn Bringing out GIMPS has paid dividends in the hunt for ever-bigger prime numbers, New Scientist reports. University of Central Missouri mathematician Curtis Cooper has discovered the biggest prime number yet, a 17 million-digit behemoth, as part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. GIMPS uses a huge network of volunteer…
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Science

News, Politics, Government

It's 2013: Let's Check Those New Scientist Claims About Running Out Of Terbium And Hafnium

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By Tim Worstall, Contributor Forgive my little foolishness but I do like to go back to past claims of how everything is running out and measuring them up against reality. And here’s something from the New Scientist published back in 2007. Something which offers a testable claim about how resources are running out. They seem to be saying that terbium should have run out last year: so that means no more compact fluorescent light bulbs ever. And further that hafnium is going to run out in 2017.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Automobiles

Report: Would you drive safer if your car gave you gruesome warnings? [w/poll]

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By Jeffrey N. Ross

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Engineers at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology in Japan are trying to come up with a new way to encourage people to drive safer by using scare tactics. Rather than a flashing red light or beeping tone to warn drivers of potential crashes, this system would be more proactive by warning drivers if they are driving too fast for conditions or following too close to the car in front of them. It would also give feedback warnings such as “You would die right now if you were in a crash” – an example given by New Scientist.

The safety system uses radar, sonar and lasers to monitor how the car is being driven, and if risky driving habits are detected, it would respond with a more evocative and emotional warning to scare the driver into safer habits. Would such visual or audible warnings change how you drive? Let us know in the poll below.

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Would you drive safer if your car gave you gruesome warnings? [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog