Sure, you’ve probably seen countless scientific studies involving video games — but have you have you ever wondered what your brain actually looked like while your playing video games? Well, feast your eyes on the image above. That’s an MRI scan of New York Times writer Matt Richtel’s brain that was captured while he played a simple driving game — all in the name of science (and journalism), of course. As Richtel notes, however, that’s just one example of the ways researchers are using such technology to “map the ethereal concept of attention,” and scientists have turned up some other interesting findings as of late. Researchers at the University of Utah, for instance, have found that people’s ability to juggle two tasks begins to drop off in their 30s and then sharply drops in their 40s, which contradicts earlier suspicions that people’s ability to multitask only began to degrade when they’re much older. Some other researchers are still suspicious of those findings, however, and Dr. Gazzaley of the University of California at San Diego is quick to point out that all of this research is still in the earliest stages — he’s expecting some more detailed findings next year when his team expands their tests and begin to incorporate EEG monitoring as well.
This is your brain. This is your brain on video games originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re not exactly sure of the cause of this fancy new issue affecting Apple’s super cool iPhone line of cellphones, but apparently you’ve got trouble come 1/1/2011. According to an explosive stream of frustration-filled tweets on the Twitter microblogging service, when the clock strikes midnight, one off alarms will cease to sing out. The issue sounds eerily similar to recent Daylight Savings Time trouble we witnessed back in November, although we saw both repeating alarm and single alarm failures.
So how can you fix this potentially life-ruining problem? Well until Apple patches its OS — and it’s currently unclear if this is just iOS 4.2.1 or earlier versions as well — you can simply create a recurring alarm at the time you need to be woken up, and then disable it once your dreams are completely ruined. We’re taking a deeper look into the issue and have contacted Apple — if we get more news, you guys will be the first to know. In the meantime, feel free to commiserate in comments, and… happy new year?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PSA: iPhone alarms not working come New Year’s Day 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Over the past two weeks we’ve been incorporating a lightweight flexible technology into our workflow. Usually, of course, just about everything we write is routed through a processor, operating system and application and immediately reflected on an LCD using some multitasking user interface. However, we have been seeking a way to organize to-do lists on a separate display so that they are not lost in the course of a day’s work or taking up undue screen real estate. As it happens, we were invited to an exclusive press event extolling the latest version of paper.
Paper is a thin, foldable substance that can accommodate a wide array of styli to produce words and graphics. The catch is that, much like printer cartridges, these styli must be refilled with ink or replaced. But there is a wide ecosystem of these devices that are broadly available.
The developers of paper have really put a lot of forethought into a wide array of uses. The tool has almost no learning curve and data entry is so simple that young children will have no problems mastering its basics. Paper yields high contrast when used with the appropriate ink and consumes no power. And, simply put, there is no display on the market that can fold as flexibly as paper, allowing us to slip a small sheet imperceptibly into a shirt pocket or wallet.
Continue reading Reserve Power: Paper 2010, The Inkgadget Review
Reserve Power: Paper 2010, The Inkgadget Review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What are you doing tonight? How about………………listening to all 100 minutes of the 2010 wrap-up edition of the Engadget Podcast? The Engadget Podcasters reminisce and predict as we peer into the void of yet another year of exciting and flawed technology. They just keep coming, and rest assured — we’ll just keep podcasting.
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: 99 Luftballoons
14:30 – Engadget’s biggest stories of 2010
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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
Engadget Podcast 223 – 12.31.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hybrid cars have officially jumped the shark, boring drivers from coast to coast as they smugly hypermile wherever they’re going. Meanwhile, those with big trucks have been relatively out of luck, having to stop frequently for gas — and to scrape the remains of those little hybrids out of their fender wells. That’s changing soon, with Via Motors taking its rebranded Chevy trucks (dig that flying V on the grille) and offering them to fleets in 2011, with sales to individuals coming two years later (you can get in line now for $1,000 down). Big companies like, apparently, PG&E will be able to roll in these so-called E-REV trucks that offer either 20 or 40 miles of electric range, augmented by an onboard generator. Yes, it’s a series hybrid layout similar in theory to the Volt, with the internal combustion engine charging the batteries which, in turn, send juice to the 268hp motor. Interestingly, though, that generator can power other things as well, providing 120 or 240V to tools, lights, maybe even hot tubs if you’re a super cool contractor. No word on anticipated vehicle cost nor efficiency, but we’re not expecting miracles on either front.
Continue reading Via Motors E-REV hybrid trucks power your commute and the job site too (video)
Via Motors E-REV hybrid trucks power your commute and the job site too (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Early this morning, Perfect Third Inc. — makers of the less than perfect WakeMate wristband — issued a recall for the sleep analyzer’s USB charger, which apparently has a tendency to go up in smoke, and we don’t mean disappear. An e-mail sent out by the company’s CEO at 12:30 AM states, “we were informed by a customer of a safety incident with the black USB chargers.” A little vague if you ask us, considering the video we received shows the device “smoking after exploding.” The recall ensures that the WakeMate itself is perfectly safe, and that the Chinese-manufactured USB cables are at fault, but if you ask us, anything that is supposed to help you sleep soundly shouldn’t put you in danger of catching fire.
[Thanks, Ringram and Nick]
Continue reading WakeMate sleep-aid recalled due to ‘exploding’ USB charger, gives new meaning to being hot in the sack
WakeMate sleep-aid recalled due to ‘exploding’ USB charger, gives new meaning to being hot in the sack originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While we were jealously hung up on
South Korea’s working electric bus system, Christmas apparently came early for a couple of lucky US
fuel cell bus research projects — in the form of $16.6 million in Federal Transit Administration grants. Pasadena based Calstart snagged almost $10.2 million and will funnel 70 percent of the funds to developing the first phase of a low-cost, longer lasting fuel cell power system. Calstart will then spend its remaining $2.9 million in partnership with the Chicago Regional Transit Authority to develop and test the viability of fuel cell bus fleets in cold climates. The Center for Transportation and the Environment in Atlanta was the other project to hit the federal money gravy train. It received a hefty $6.4 million to spread across six different projects that dabble in everything from developing fast-charging 35-foot fuel cell buses, to similar lithium ion versions, to improving existing hybrid bus platforms. Federal pork for
fuel cell DSLR development regrettably missed the cut. For the full scoop hit up the press release after the break.
Continue reading FTA awards $16.6 million in grants for fuel cell bus research
FTA awards $16.6 million in grants for fuel cell bus research originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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2010 was a great year for Science. NASA’s space plane (and the Dolly lineage) were resurrected while a secret laboratory Neturino observatory was built under the South Pole. Check out our best science stories of the year!
1. The Real Story Behind NASA’s Resurrected Space Plane
Why did NASA quietly move two long-grounded X-34 space planes for inspection? Did they want to see if they could fly? Were they eyeing a return to space via reusable, airplane-style vehicles? Here’s what they were doing and why.
2. This $271 Million Telescope Is Buried Under the South Pole
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, built over a decade at a cost of $271 million, is buried under the South Pole… and longer than the world’s tallest skyscrapers combined.
3. NASA Engineers Propose Combining a Rail Gun and a Scramjet to Fire Spacecraft Into Orbit
NASA has been working on creating a new, cheaper method to launch spacecrafts. Their latest proposal involves train tracks, a rail gun and a scramjet. Here’s what they’re trying to do.
4. A Guide to Bad Space Science In Movies
Sorry to ruin your enjoyment of Mission to Mars-or, fine, Aliens and Star Wars-but it joins a host of sci-fi movies that just can’t quite get their space science right. Here are the most common offenses and offenders.
5. Study: Daily Aspirin Can Reduce Your Chances of Dying From Cancer Up to 60%
Researchers have found a drug that’s unexpectedly effective at reducing one’s chances of dying from many common forms of cancer, in some cases lessening fatalities up to 60%. It’s a small, long term daily dose of aspirin.
6. Dolly the Sheep Is Alive, Alive, Alive, Alive!
In 1996, Dolly the sheep made headlines for being the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. She was put down in 2002. But as it turns out, Dolly’s still alive today. A scientist secretly made four copies years ago.
7. The Most Unforgettable Way To Learn About Neutrino Physics
It looks like a scene from some sci-fi epic. But for a week in October, anyone visiting the Manchester Science Festival was able to don a white tyvek suit and paddle through this wormhole of spectacular golden balloons. For science!
8. This Is How Good the Next Mars Rover’s Camera Is
The metal balls in this image are only 2 millimeters in diameter (0.078 inches). The image, which covers an area about 0.5-inch long and is illuminated by four white light-emitting diodes, was taken by NASA’s latest and most advanced camera.
9. Humans Can Only Walk In Circles and We Don’t Know Why
Humans can’t walk in straight lines. If there’s no fixed point of reference, we just walk in circles and inevitably get lost. Nobody knows why, but researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have confirmed it in several experiments.
10. What Are Anticrepuscular Rays?
Perhaps you have seen something similar to this one day, probably when you thought you were hearing a choir of angels and the Apocalypse was about to break loose. They are anticrespuscular rays, and they happen opposite to the Sun.
Been under a rock? See what else happened this year in our Best of 2010 series.
The author of this post can be contacted at tips@gizmodo.com
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Put this one in the “We’d feel bad about it if they were mammals” files. With dengue fever infections on the rise and two fifths of the world’s population at risk, scientists devise a scent trap that kills pregnant mosquitos.
There are dangers to navigating the world using scent. These dangers are multiplied when living in a world in which chemistry has advanced enough to create or mask certain vital scents. When seeking out places to lay their eggs, female mosquitos look for damp areas with decaying matter; which they mostly find in swamps. The eggs remain undisturbed until they breed the next generation of whining bloodsuckers. Recently researchers developed a low-tech device shaped like a trash can and doused with a chemical mixture that smells like the decaying matter which draws pregnant mosquitos in. Inside, the mosquitos land on insecticidal fabric, which kills them and any eggs they’ve laid.
It’s a grisly end to the miracle of life, but it has the advantage of being cheap, and of being as specifically targeted as possible. Female mosquitos are the ones that bite, and during pregnancy they’re particularly voracious. Not only does the scented trap draw in only female mosquitos, it draws them in at a specific, and high-risk, time. Female mosquitos take in blood before and after laying their eggs. Often, Dengue fever is spread because the mosquitos drew blood from an infected person, laid their eggs, and were still carrying the infected blood when they moved on to the next meal.
The trash can trap is small enough to have near humans, which means that when a female mosquito bites a person, she would head to the trap before biting the next human being. Even if someone with dengue gets biten, the disease is not passed on because the mosquito is trapped before it can move on to its next victim.
Dengue is no joke. One hundred million people are infected every year, five hundred thousands are hospitalized, and around 2.5% of those hospitalized die. Two fifths of the world is in a dengue infected area, and in some countries it’s one of the leading causes of death among children. A bad-smelling trash can could be an easy way to sharply curb the spread of infection.
Via Live Science and the World Health Organization.
Send an email to Esther, the author of this post, at einglisarkell@gmail.com.
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Let me share with you how my thinking is going on this.
From what I have learned in my time here on Jalopnik, most of us on here cannot afford this car. Most of us cannot afford a Ferrari period. Oh sure, some could. And many more could swing for one of the lesser valued, slow, ungainly malaise models just to get it into the driveway, but not much more. And also, most of us would like a Ferrari. This NPOCP can be our first stepping stone to being one of the beautiful people.
Ferraris are expensive to begin with, but their values stay high because collectors and connoisseurs covet them. The market for them is driven by these people who buy and sell many of the higher models, such as this one, amongst themselves. They’re names are on lists and records the factory keeps and doles out special models to them. It’s a special society that we are not in, or allowed to visit. We do not understand what it takes to be a member. We are outsiders.
Every sale and purchase of a Ferrari affects the value of others like it. Call it a ripple effect. And this we can exploit. We need to Crack Pipe this thing.
Imagine the next Enzo that comes up on the stage at Pebble Beach. Pages of stats, history, comparative pricing, and fancy brochures accompany it. But deep in this pile of data is a glaring factoid: it was deemed too pricey at $1.2m on Jalopnik.com. Every other Enzo owner feels the pang. The sigh that is silent yet heard throughout Ferraridom travels into the hearts and wallets of owners all over the world; The King of all Ferraris is not worth as much as was believed, the stone is cast, the ripple spreads, and all models depreciate accordingly. The top dog is no longer a moonshot. And when the gavel falls at the Beach, we Jalops are one step closer to realizing a dream. One step closer to filling our garages with the prancing horse. We take one step, then another. We hunt every Ferrari for sale and onto NPOCP it goes. And every one is Crack, until every man, woman, and child Jalop who desires to sing the song that is Ferrrari can be heard loud and clear. We do understand.
Then we stop and let the values climb back and get some return on investment. We don’t want them to be Camrys after all.
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