Opera on the radio, Paul Feyerabend's scientific relativism, and Soviet mistrust of scientists and intellectuals: today's hits in the history of science and technology

An international group of scientists proposes a "knowledge collider" to bring supercomputing to bear on social problems. While crunching the numbers won't be a problem, figuring out what they mean will prove more challenging.

Is it the surface of an asteroid? Alzheimer's-ravaged brain tissue riddled with amyloid plaques? An electron micrograph of Limburger cheese? Answer after the jump.

Scientists at Tokyo Tech have tapped into the neurons of a male silk moth, connecting its tiny brain to a little wheeled robot. When the moth�s sense organs are exposed to female pheremones, the robot performs the silk moth�s mating dance.

A team of brain scientists learns what the artist Yves Klein already knew: that the color blue tickles our emotions.

Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics states that “a robot may not injure a human being.” But it’s hard for robots to comply to such stringent laws when the threshold of pain and injury varies so much from person-to-person. Borut Pov�e from the University of Ljubljana is conducting a research experiment which could help robots better understand their limits. Pov�e persuaded ...

Southern Portugal’s PlanIT Valley is on course to become the greenest city in the world. The developers of the $19 billion city PlanIT Valley are taking a cue from human biology to control the constant renewable processes of the city. Much like the human body, PlanIT Valley will have its own brain (a central control computer connected through the cloud ...

For as long as intelligent human life has existed, we’ve wondered about our origins. How did it all begin? Theories have ranged everywhere from waterborne molecules, to comets, to alien colonization, but now scientists are turning their eyes in a new direction – towards the heavens. A new experiment that simulates chemical reactions in the atmosphere of Titan, the largest ...

Scientists for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences of the University of California at Berkeley have created an electronic skin that can give robots an almost human-esque sense of touch for the first time in technological history. The pressure-sensitive skin, made using germanium and silicon, is controlled via built-in capacitors which interpret changes in the skin�s thickness. Depending ...

I’d love if this thing could actually respond to your drink requests. Like “wait… you’re a man right? What’s with the fruity cocktail Mr. Tough Guy?” The aptly named Drink Making Unit can mix drinks with up to three�components. An 8�8 RGB LED matrix is integrated for use as a data display, and an ice bucket chills your drink as ...