http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. New cinema blockbuster, Avatar, leapt to the top of box office charts as soon as it came out - a stunning 3D realisation of an alien world. Our fascination with themes of escape to other fantastic places and the thrill of immersion in virtual environments also attracts millions to assume new identities in online virtual worlds. http://www.physorg.com/news180789918.html Technology Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:25:43 EST news180789918 (PhysOrg.com) -- Dutch researcher Igor Berezhnoy has developed computer algorithms to support art historians and other art experts in their visual assessment of paintings. His digital technology is capable of distinguishing a forgery from an authentic Van Gogh based on the painter's characteristic brush work. http://www.physorg.com/news180637621.html Technology Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:20:02 EST news180637621 (PhysOrg.com) -- Data compression is one of the fundamental research areas in computer science, letting information systems do more with less. It`s the reason the iPod nano can hold thousands of songs instead of hundreds, and it`s what keeps transmitted images from choking the Internet. If every digital file is a string of bits - zeroes and ones - then compression is a way to represent the same information with fewer bits. http://www.physorg.com/news180625190.html Technology Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:40:40 EST news180625190 (PhysOrg.com) -- Irish computer scientists have developed a system to improve the helpfulness of online customer reviews. In recognition of the quality of their work, the group received a distinguished paper award at the British Computer Society`s annual Artificial Intelligence Conference. http://www.physorg.com/news180370101.html Technology Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:10:03 EST news180370101 Society will be unable to take full advantage of real-time data analysis technologies that might improve health, reduce traffic congestion and give scientists new insights into human behavior until it resolves questions about how much of a person's life can be observed and by whom, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist contends in a commentary published Friday in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news180282545.html Technology Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:29:58 EST news180282545 The slogan is "one laptop per child." But it will be a long time before that is true everywhere in the world. Meanwhile, a new device aims to make a situation that is common in poor areas - one computer shared among many children - work better in school settings. http://www.physorg.com/news179690698.html Electronics Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:05:32 EST news179690698 The field of artificial-intelligence research (AI), founded more than 50 years ago, seems to many researchers to have spent much of that time wandering in the wilderness, swapping hugely ambitious goals for a relatively modest set of actual accomplishments. Now, some of the pioneers of the field, joined by later generations of thinkers, are gearing up for a massive 'do-over' of the whole idea. http://www.physorg.com/news179400180.html Technology Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:23:41 EST news179400180 (AP) -- Eric Horvitz illustrates the potential dilemmas of living with robots by telling the story of how he once got stuck in an elevator at Stanford Hospital with a droid the size of a washing machine. http://www.physorg.com/news179255617.html Electronics Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:16:48 EST news179255617 You want to go for a run, but you don't want to run in polluted air that might aggravate your asthma. University of California, San Diego computer scientists are creating a network of environmental sensors that will help you avoid air pollution hot spots that exist exactly when you are planning your route. The system will provide up-to-the-minute information on outdoor and indoor air quality, based on environmental information collected by hundreds, and eventually thousands, of sensors attached to the backpacks, purses, jackets and board shorts of San Diegans going about daily life. http://www.physorg.com/news179160276.html Technology Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:10:01 EST news179160276 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some of the same artificial intelligence (AI) underlying NASA`s Hubble Space Telescope is now streamlining patient care at Strong Memorial Hospital, helping radiologists and technologists juggle the hundreds of requests for CT scans, ultrasounds, and other imaging procedures that they receive daily. This AI technology - a software program called On-Cue - works like an air-traffic controller to shuffle procedure schedules for Strong Memorial`s emergency department, inpatient units and outpatient clinics, with the twin goals of shortening wait times and helping staff use equipment more efficiently. http://www.physorg.com/news179084056.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:34:58 EST news179084056 In its first 18 years, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International`s annual aerial-robotics competition posed four successive challenges, which robotics researchers had to meet using entirely autonomous aerial vehicles - no remote control allowed. The first challenge, which stood for three years, was to move a metal disc from one end of an arena to another. The fourth challenge was to travel three kilometers and find a way into a specific building: it stood for eight years. But this summer, for the first time in the competition's history, a challenge fell in its first year, to a team of students representing MIT's Robust Robotics Group. http://www.physorg.com/news179058502.html Technology Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:31:55 EST news179058502 (PhysOrg.com) -- Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict results of many different possible military and policy actions, say computer science researchers at the University of Maryland in a commentary published in the November 27 issue of the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news178458781.html Technology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:00:01 EST news178458781 (PhysOrg.com) -- They already detect and defuse bombs, control traffic patterns and do some basic household chores. And scientists predict that pretty soon, robots will be using artificial intelligence to play a larger role on the battlefield, operate our vehicles and take care of us in old age. http://www.physorg.com/news178220683.html Other Sciences Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:45:27 EST news178220683 Lehigh University's Energy Research Center (ERC) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop methods of recovering and reusing the heat that would be generated by the carbon-dioxide (CO2) compression process in a carbon capture system. The goal of the research project is to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration, or storage (CCS), and thus limit the amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. http://www.physorg.com/news177940311.html Space & Earth Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:54:44 EST news177940311 Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have converted a 2001 Scion xB into an electric commuter vehicle that will serve as a test bed for a new community-based approach to electric vehicle design, conversion and operations. http://www.physorg.com/news177593173.html Technology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:26:55 EST news177593173