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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Computing
Building ‘The Matrix’
Simulating new materials could help in building them — but only quantum simulators could fully model reality. A team reports a first step in realizing quantum simulation.
- Materials Science
Solar panels to dye for
Scientists show that cheap chemical dyes may one day help with the efficient capture of the sun's energy
- Humans
Cars Are Learning to Drive
Hands-free driving, truth be told, sounds very appealing.
By Janet Raloff - Computing
Video Search à la Web
Finding videos on the web can still be a hit-or-miss proposition.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Son of Furby
How Star Wars' robots catalyzed an MIT program to build companionable robots.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Reading minds … or at least brain scans
By analyzing brain activity, computers can tell what word is on your mind.
By Tia Ghose - Chemistry
Kavli Awardees Named
Norwegian Academy awards three novel and hefty prizes to three teams of scientists.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
BOOK LIST | Guilty Robots, Happy Dogs: The Question of Alien Minds
The alien minds are of animals. The question: Can robots mimic them? Oxford Univ. Press, 2008, 252 p., $34.95. GUILTY ROBOTS, HAPPY DOGS: THE QUESTION OF ALIEN MINDS
By Science News - Tech
I, computer
Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.
- Physics
Catching the cell in action
A light microscope with high resolution may enable scientists to view the 3-D structures within living cells.
By Tia Ghose - Tech
The flap on dragonfly flight
New experiments have revealed an aerodynamic trick that dragonflies use to fly efficiently — a trick that engineers could exploit to improve the energy efficiency of small aerial vehicles with a similar design.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Testing nanoparticles
Testing the toxicity of dozens of nanoparticles en masse may offer a faster track to medical applications.