The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

Will the World Have Quantum Computing by 2050?

"Quantum Computing" gets thrown around by people who don't really know what it means - apart from something to do with security, and how "Quantum" is such a cool word even Bond hopped on the wagon.  But will we really have quantum computers in our lifetimes?

The Spaser -New Nano Laser Smallest Ever

Scientists have just unveiled the spaser, a device smaller than a human hair which emits laser light in all directions.  No, it's not Q-branch preparing James to escape from extremely specific otherwise-inescapable conditions, it's real science.  This is a brand new system which could revolutionize nanoplasmonics.  A field of research so brand-spanking new that most people don't even know it exists.

"Firestarter" Discovery: 1st Technology Began 70,000 years Ago

The very beginning of modern man was setting fire to things, smashing them off each other, and using the result to kill whatever you wanted dead.  Which means action movies are the pinnacle of evolution!  Humanity was harnessing fire for technology over seventy thousand years ago - leading to us winning the evolutionary game so hard we ended up researching it instead of playing.

Is The "Digital Era" Overriding Our Ability to Forget?

We're entering a new stage of human society, a defining part of which could be losing a vital flaw: the ability to forget.  We've all heard stories of people reaching out of Facebook to destroy careers. The permanence of digital records could mean we might be heading for Strange Days where the inability to forget paralyzes our ability to move forward.

The benefits of permanent records are unquestionable: despite all our attempts to turn it into a hell of advertising and porn, the internet is an essential research tool with an ever-increasing amount of information available.  Multi-million dollar programs work to scan ancient, crumbling tomes into electronic form before they're lost for ever.

NASA's Volcanic Robo-Spiders: Sentinels of Future Eruptions

NASA has deployed a swarm of robo-spiders to stand guard over an active volcano.  Possibly in preparation for appearing on a huge screen in the White House and demanding one hundred billion dollars (in funding for space science).  But this isn't Bond villain posturing, it's an effort to save lives and learn about extraterrestrial environments at the same time.  They couldn't be more awesomely humanitarian if they were the Thunderbirds.

Should Netflix Run the U.S. Post Office? A Daily Galaxy Poll

The quotation etched into the wall at the main NYC post office is from the Greek historian Herodotus describing the expedition of the Persians under Cyrus against the Greeks, about 500 B.C. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." The quote describes the spirit and tenacity of the Persians who operated a system of mounted postal couriers.

The Emerging Shadow World of Digital Stalking - Experts Warn It's Here

Remember terrified Will Smith being tracked by the NSA in Enemy of the State? Well, a real world GPS scifi horror might be coming to a neighbor near you: like the "neighborhood" in your pocket or backpack. In a “white paper” -On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever- The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns how everyday ways of life and our gadgets are morphing us into a digitized stalking society.

Ultra Cool Holography: Let's Users "Touch" Virtual Objects (VIDEO)

Researchers at the University of Tokyo led by Hiroyuki Shinoda has developed a display that lets users "touch" objects that appear to float in space in front of them. The virtual objects appear in mid-air via an LCD and a concave mirror, creating the sensation of touching the objects produced using an ultrasound device positioned below the LCD and mirror.

NASA "Extraterrestrial-Life" Hacker Faces Extradition (Video Interview)

NASA hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his latest bid to be tried in the UK, and is now almost certain to face trial in the US. The 43-year old from London has admitted hacking the Pentagon and NASA in 2001 and 2002, claiming that he was looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

"Where Am I? Augmented-Reality's Killer App: Personal Visual Navigation

Augmented Reality (AR) is the information age overlaid on the real world.  The idea is that if you know where a billboard is, and what it says, and what direction it's facing, then there's no need to bother with the actual object: you can just call up the information whenever you're in the area.  Until recently AR required specialist gear, which meant it was never going to happen - such as system needs society-wide use before the databases will be updated enough to be useful.

Will the World Have Quantum Computing by 2050?

"Quantum Computing" gets thrown around by people who don't really know what it means - apart from something to do with security, and how "Quantum" is such a cool word even Bond hopped on the wagon.  But will we really have quantum computers in our lifetimes?

The Spaser -New Nano Laser Smallest Ever

Scientists have just unveiled the spaser, a device smaller than a human hair which emits laser light in all directions.  No, it's not Q-branch preparing James to escape from extremely specific otherwise-inescapable conditions, it's real science.  This is a brand new system which could revolutionize nanoplasmonics.  A field of research so brand-spanking new that most people don't even know it exists.

"Firestarter" Discovery: 1st Technology Began 70,000 years Ago

The very beginning of modern man was setting fire to things, smashing them off each other, and using the result to kill whatever you wanted dead.  Which means action movies are the pinnacle of evolution!  Humanity was harnessing fire for technology over seventy thousand years ago - leading to us winning the evolutionary game so hard we ended up researching it instead of playing.

Is The "Digital Era" Overriding Our Ability to Forget?

We're entering a new stage of human society, a defining part of which could be losing a vital flaw: the ability to forget.  We've all heard stories of people reaching out of Facebook to destroy careers. The permanence of digital records could mean we might be heading for Strange Days where the inability to forget paralyzes our ability to move forward.

The benefits of permanent records are unquestionable: despite all our attempts to turn it into a hell of advertising and porn, the internet is an essential research tool with an ever-increasing amount of information available.  Multi-million dollar programs work to scan ancient, crumbling tomes into electronic form before they're lost for ever.

NASA's Volcanic Robo-Spiders: Sentinels of Future Eruptions

NASA has deployed a swarm of robo-spiders to stand guard over an active volcano.  Possibly in preparation for appearing on a huge screen in the White House and demanding one hundred billion dollars (in funding for space science).  But this isn't Bond villain posturing, it's an effort to save lives and learn about extraterrestrial environments at the same time.  They couldn't be more awesomely humanitarian if they were the Thunderbirds.

Should Netflix Run the U.S. Post Office? A Daily Galaxy Poll

The quotation etched into the wall at the main NYC post office is from the Greek historian Herodotus describing the expedition of the Persians under Cyrus against the Greeks, about 500 B.C. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." The quote describes the spirit and tenacity of the Persians who operated a system of mounted postal couriers.

The Emerging Shadow World of Digital Stalking - Experts Warn It's Here

Remember terrified Will Smith being tracked by the NSA in Enemy of the State? Well, a real world GPS scifi horror might be coming to a neighbor near you: like the "neighborhood" in your pocket or backpack. In a “white paper” -On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever- The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns how everyday ways of life and our gadgets are morphing us into a digitized stalking society.

Ultra Cool Holography: Let's Users "Touch" Virtual Objects (VIDEO)

Researchers at the University of Tokyo led by Hiroyuki Shinoda has developed a display that lets users "touch" objects that appear to float in space in front of them. The virtual objects appear in mid-air via an LCD and a concave mirror, creating the sensation of touching the objects produced using an ultrasound device positioned below the LCD and mirror.

NASA "Extraterrestrial-Life" Hacker Faces Extradition (Video Interview)

NASA hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his latest bid to be tried in the UK, and is now almost certain to face trial in the US. The 43-year old from London has admitted hacking the Pentagon and NASA in 2001 and 2002, claiming that he was looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

"Where Am I? Augmented-Reality's Killer App: Personal Visual Navigation

Augmented Reality (AR) is the information age overlaid on the real world.  The idea is that if you know where a billboard is, and what it says, and what direction it's facing, then there's no need to bother with the actual object: you can just call up the information whenever you're in the area.  Until recently AR required specialist gear, which meant it was never going to happen - such as system needs society-wide use before the databases will be updated enough to be useful.