Science

As a slight arachnophobe, I'm a bit surprised to discover that I find the above photo of live newborn lynx spiderlings stunning -- and the subjects rather adorable. Stunning and adorable are in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I do know that Walter Piorkowski's photo suddenly makes me feel a bit more comfortable with creepy crawlies.

It happens every year when Nikon announces the results of its annual Small World Photomicrography Competition, which celebrates the art of photography shot through a light microscope. Science becomes exquisite (unexpectedly at times) as photomicrographers turn their tiny lenses on the likes of bat embryos, algae, larva, stinging nettles, and ladybug legs. Even insidious cancer cells become visually mesmerizing. … Read more

Your smartphone could soon become a combination personal trainer and DJ.

Thanks to headphones that can measure your heart rate and acceleration, and a smartphone app that can identify which songs on your phone will help you reach your target heart rate, you won't have to guess which playlist best suits your next jog.… Read more

As a child, I used to concentrate really hard on things like pencils and pebbles, trying to get them to budge with the sheer power of my mind. It never worked, but technology is getting us a little closer to the mind control dream. The Muse brainwave-sensing headband from Interaxon is a step in the right direction.

The Muse uses two sensors on the forehead and two behind the ears. You wear it positioned kind of like a pair of glasses. It measures your brainwaves and sends the information to a smartphone or tablet. Viewing that data in real time can show you if your mind is wandering, if you're relaxed, or if you're in a state of intense concentration.… Read more

Perhaps the Red Planet isn't quite so red as we thought. NASA's Curiosity rover has been digging up some unusual bits in the soil of Mars. A couple weeks ago, the rover found a strange bright object which later turned out to be a part of the rover itself. Now we have a new mystery object to contend with.

Curiosity took a few scoops of Martian soil from a patch called "Rocknest." That activity uncovered a bright particle in the pit it created. Unlike the earlier object, NASA has confirmed the new piece is of Martian origin. There are others like it scattered around.… Read more

Pick one: "Evolution of nanostructural architecture in 7000 series aluminum alloys during strengthening by age-hardening and severe plastic deformation," or "A super-alloy is born: The romantic revolution of Lightness & Strength." I'm betting you're going for the romantic revolution.

"A super-alloy is born" is the interpretive dance version of a Ph.D. thesis by Peter Liddicoat, a materials scientist at the University of Sydney in Australia. It's also the grand prize winner of Science magazine's Dance Your Ph.D. contest. The contest challenges Ph.D. students in the sciences to create interpretive dance videos to explain their theses.… Read more

Roughly 25 trillion miles (or 4.3 light years) from home, astronomers have found that the Alpha Centauri star system hosts a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth. Galactic geeks may recall references to this star system in "Star Trek," "Avatar," "Transformers," and countless other fictional entertainment.

The planet, officially named Alpha Centauri Bb, orbits Alpha Centauri B and took more than four years of observing to fully classify. … Read more

I've been known to wander the wasteland aisles of the grocery store, seeking out a single elusive item in a futile voyage only slightly shorter than "The Odyssey." If only I had a prototype tactile glove developed by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

The glove works by giving the wearer physical feedback. It vibrates to lead the person to a point in 3D space. The researchers see it being useful for locating items in a supermarket, finding a car in a parking lot, or zeroing in on a book among the stacks of a library.… Read more

The X1 Robotic Exoskeleton looks like a cross between the legs of a Stormtrooper and a Transformer. The suit is a spinoff from NASA's Robonaut 2 humanoid robot project.

The X1 is focused on either helping or hindering a person's legs, depending on its job description. When it's set to inhibit, the X1 resists movement and could be used to help astronauts exercise in space. When it's set to help, it could be used to assist paraplegics and others with lower body injuries with walking.

Four motorized joints and six passive joints give the 57-pound suit a good range of motion. It also gives it some nice Iron Man flavor, minus the propulsion feet.… Read more

A little shock now and again can be good for you, if you happen to be a bedridden patient at risk of developing bedsores and the shock is delivered through your underwear at very specific intervals.

So says a team of doctors at the University of Calgary, who recently tested their "Smart-e-Pants" on 37 patients with spinal cord injuries -- some of the most challenging patients because they can neither move nor feel when bedsores are forming.

The researchers found that by placing two pads of electrodes on each, er, cheek, and stimulating each patient's backside for … Read more