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At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated.
The ESO's Very Large Telescope, with help from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, has found the most powerful pair of jets ever witnessed ejecting from a small, stellar-sized black hole.
Like many American families across the country, the Stern family of Colorado celebrated the Fourth of July holiday together on Sunday. But instead of a traditional barbecue or picnic, the family took to the skies for a novel weightless daytrip on a Z
Whereas raps and knocking sounds produced by ordinary means exhibit a normal acoustic pattern, those recorded in alleged poltergeist cases show quite a different sound signature.
the problem is that the authorities do not wish to acknowledge it, and this course of action may probably be justified, since a collective panic situation may be unleashed."
Two of the laser’s first experiments show the device will be able to take snapshots of single molecules in motion — without destroying them first.
announced a surprise result that could point to a fundamental difference between neutrinos and their anti particles. The findings, if confirmed by further experimental runs, may help physicists to explore some of the elemental differences between mat
As the man behind some of the most successful McLaren Formula 1 cars and the incomparable McLaren F1 supercar, Gordon Murray has designed some of the fastest cars ever. Now he’s building one of the smallest. And most radical.
Posters of the periodic table on the walls of science labs in schools around the world will need to be updated after the discovery of the newest superheavy element, element 117. With the temporary name of ununseptium, the temporary symbol Uus and the
Cosmologists at UCL are a step closer to determining the mass of the elusive neutrino particle, not by using a giant particle detector, but by gazing up into space. Neutrinos are one of the top candidates for dark matter.
s the future of whales once more comes under global debate, some scientists say the marine mammals are not only smarter than thought but also share several attributes once claimed as exclusively human.
At first glance, the circle looks like a half-finished maze. But its broken arcs apparently contain a code which, when deciphered, reveals a formula from higher mathematics. Known as Euler’s Identity, it links together five of the most important numb
A new remote-control light cycle toy scales walls just like the sci-fi vehicles do in the upcoming film Tron Legacy.
The fact that women remain minorities in these fields is far more attributable to the findings of other, lessfeminist-friendly studies. Namely, studies which show a difference in mathematical aptitude between men and women and also a difference in li
To watch the uncanny synchronization of a starling flock in flight is to wonder if the birds aren’t actually a single entity, governed by something beyond the usual rules of biology. New research suggests that’s true. Mathematic
Researchers demonstrate that high-energy electrons lost in conventional solar cells can be captured.
Lithium-ion batteries with nanotube electrodes could go longer between charges.
Sheets of atom-thick carbon could make displays that are super fast.
Using a garage-door opener, microwave parts and a cordless drill, Gregory Charvat made a working synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system, the same kind of technology the military and NASA use.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will get its best look at Saturn's biggest moon Titan this weekend, when it takes the deepest dip yet into the cloud-covered satellite's hazy atmosphere.
'There are about 4.5 billion tons of dissolved uranium in the ocean. This is nearly 1000 times more than the terrestrial uranium sources in the western world,' says Orion Berryman, a member of the research team. 'Our work addresses the challenges
This simple trick to control graphene oxide's conductivity could pave the way for etching electronic circuits into the carbon material, an important advance toward high-speed, low-power, and potentially cheaper computer processors.
A breakthrough in deformable liquid mirror technology could drastically reduce the price associated with adaptive optics, making the best in high-tech telescopes more widely available.
Never mind that the largest study ever conducted on the cell phone-cancer link found that your cell phone addiction isn't increasing your risk of cancer. San Francisco voted yesterday requiring that all cell phones sold in the city display the amount
A tiny space camera has snapped amazing photos of the world's first solar sail spacecraft to voyage into deep space on an interplanetary mission for Japan.
A new blacker-than-black metamaterial absorbs almost all the light that hits it, heralding a new breed of stealth technology.
With huge quantities of rare-earth elements valuable to high-tech industries like lithium-ion battery production, will Afghanistan become the "Saudi Arabia" of the future?
On the eve of its first race--at one of the toughest and most dangerous motorcycle racetracks in the world--we take an exclusive inside look at one man's quest to engineer the ultimate electric race bike
Early adopters will always exist, but this current wave of next-gen home-theater gear has more standing in its way than price. Who wants to wear those glasses?
The moon's interior may harbor 100 times more water than previous estimates, according to a new study that took a fresh look at samples of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts nearly 40 years ago.
