Science

The mad scientists at Samsung's R&D labs have apparently been working overtime. Their latest creation is a double-sided LCD screen that can show different images on the front and back of the same display.

It's able to do this, according to Fareastgizmos, because it's controlled by two gates that operate each pixel. Pretty neat trick, huh? The rear display is slightly less bright than the front, but that's a minor quibble at this stage of the game.

Speaking of games, we can think of at least one useful purpose for a double-sided monitor: Making … Read more

Feeling down, down in NOLA? Well, that sinking feeling in New Orleans is not imaginary. Scientists tell us a whole slice of the Mississippi River delta is slowly sliding southward into the Gulf of Mexico.

This just makes the whole political and social quicksand of NOLA's future even more complex. You've got your rising sea levels, your sinking levees, occasional big hurricanes, oil and gas extraction, your Corps of Engineers, your local government agencies and now you've got another piece of scientific bad news. Subsidence. This is verrrrry slow, but seemingly inevitable. Houseboats, anyone?

An international team of scientists from the United States and Japan said this week that they genetically altered a dozen cows to lack the proteins called prions that cause mad cow disease, according to a report from the Associated Press. The scientists hope the development will lead to an immunity in cows against the brain-degenerating disease, and in turn, protect people from eating infected beef.

Still, food derived from genetically altered animals must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The scientists are still conducting tests on the genetically engineered cows to ensure their immunity from mad cow disease, … Read more

'Tis the season to get sick, and Crave wants to do its part to help keep you healthy. We could list various types of bacteria-resistant and washable equipment on the market, but we've learned of another gadget that claims to detect and zap germs even before touching a piece of potentially infected hardware.

Hammacher Schlemmer says its "Handheld Germ-Eliminating Light" can "eliminate 99.99% of E-Coli, staphylococcus, salmonella, and germs that cause the flu and the common cold." The miracle gadget supposedly works with the same type of ultraviolet light and nanotechnology used to sterilize … Read more

Lest there be any doubt, the science of robotics isn't being used only to produce novelty toys or to populate Japan's service industry. This robotic skeleton, by contrast, has been developed by Japanese researchers with a decidedly humanitarian goal: to help the partially paralyzed regain movement.

Using the synthetic blue muscles of the exoskeleton pictured here, patients can theoretically help their limbs relearn their intended motions. A paralyzed left arm, for example, can mimic the movement of a healthy right one to help patients remember "the feeling of moving the arm themselves," according to Ubergizmo. The … Read more

You got your snakes. You got your restless tectonic plates. You got your snakes banging into walls. You got your science of these phenomena.

Perhaps because they are so close to the earth, snakes appear to be especially sensitive to whatever vibrations and sounds occur prior to an earthquake, say Chinese scientists. There's evidence that snakes launching themselves head first into walls is an indication of a tremor to come.

There's some high-tech involved, as the snakes are monitored by digital cameras mounted above their nests. So Chinese seismologists have snakes on a screen.

Using high tech monitoring devices, including satellite images, scientists have reconstructed a major climate event that occurred on August 13, 2005. That afternoon the forty-one square mile Ayles Ice Shelf broke free of Canada's Ellesmere Island. It now floats free, an ice island off northeastern Canada.

Satellite images and earthquake monitoring devices recorded the event. Nobody lives in the area so it was only digital evidence that existed. Now scientists have visited the newly formed ice island. Its position will be closely watched.

Only five Canadian ice shelves remain connected to land. And measurements show they are 90% smaller … Read more

Even if the world is crumbling around you in a massive earthquake, there's no reason to lose your fashion sense in the rubble. You can still be the best-accessorized refugee in the bunker or tent city with one of these quake detectors from Japan's Ubukata Industries.

I4U News says these devices, which also double as smoke detectors, are equipped with sensors that will warn of temblors with magnitudes of 5 or more. (For those of you outside earthquake country, anything beyond 6.5 or so will likely give you religion in a hurry.) At $124 it's not … Read more

When you finally become a celebrity (unless you already are one), this pen will mean you'll never have an excuse not to give out your autograph. Worse, you'll never have an excuse not to write a check when your career goes south.

That's because this writing instrument doesn't need ink to work--that's right, Skippy. Instead, it has a metal-alloy tip that can write on most types of paper and will never smudge or be erased, according to Spluch. That could come in especially handy when your bar napkins get wet.