Massachusetts is poised to lift its wage floor to $11 an hour—50% higher than the federal rate– becoming the fifth state so far this year to lay claim to setting the nation’s highest minimum wage. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, is expected to sign a bill by early next week to increase the state’s... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KSUJ9Xtw9E Exoskeletons have people who couldn't walk kicking soccer balls, but one Swiss company has much more modest aspirations—they're taking the exoskeleton and disrupting the humble stool. Before workers are replaced by robots, there's a chance they'll start to resemble them. Noonee has a pending patent on the “Chairless Chair,” which they describe as “wearable... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEbioFpdK5E Ian Burkhart, a 23-year-old quadriplegic from Dublin, Ohio, is the first patient to use Neurobridge, an electronic neural bypass for spinal cord injuries that reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralyzed limb. Burkhart is the first of a potential five participants in a clinical study. "It's much... Continue Reading →
Wristbands are the accessory of choice for people promoting a cause. And the next wave of wrist wear might act as a fashionable archive of your chemical exposure. Researchers at Oregon State University outfitted volunteers with slightly modified silicone bracelets and then tested them for 1,200 substances. They detected several dozen compounds – everything from... Continue Reading →
Germany has set a new record, with solar power providing 50.6% of its electricity in the middle of the day on Monday June 9th. Solar production peaked that day at 23.1GW. Three days earlier it was 24.2GW between 1 and 2pm, but on the 9th demand was down for a public holiday, allowing the breaking... Continue Reading →
Seeking to reverse a tide of money inundating politics, the Democratic-controlled California Senate on Monday called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting corporate campaign activity. "If the only voice heard is the one with the most money," said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, "what's become of our democracy?" While Assembly Joint Resolution 1... Continue Reading →
It takes a certain daring to invent a technology that mimics magic a step beyond anything JK Rowling contemplated, but that is what scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, claim to have done. Where Rowling gave Harry Potter an invisibility cloak that prevented the wearer from being seen, the KIT team claim... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSDgtaW0Jp8 “Tesla was right and we are ready to prove it!” So say the two Russian physicists who have just launched an Indiegogo campaign to rebuild Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower in Fall, 2014. Tesla believed that the tower could transmit power wirelessly but this was never definitively proven in his lifetime. If he was right,... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7duGwgsw20 After unsuccessfully trying to catch a cab one night, Tallis Gomes got an idea that would grow into Easy Taxi, a global company that’s making it easier to get a ride. Tallis had never heard the word “startup” when he decided to attend the first ever Startup Weekend in Brazil in 2011. On his... Continue Reading →
One of the recent revelations by Edward Snowden is that the U.S. National Security Agency is currently developing a quantum computer. Physicists aren't surprised by this news; such a computer could crack the encryption that is commonly used today in no time and would therefore be highly attractive for the NSA. Professor Thomas Walther of... Continue Reading →
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