Something to think about

The impossible barber and other bizarre thought experiments. How inventing riddles has revealed the flaws in our grasp of reality

University of Surrey buys K-Alpha+ compact XPS system.

University of Surrey buys K-Alpha+ compact XPS system with MAGCIS cluster ion source.

Cheesy science

Ensuring artisanal Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is the real deal.

ITRS reborn as ITRDS

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, first published in 1965, will start a new life as the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems. The new effort will address road map issues that include computer systems, architectures and software as well as the chips and the components used in them.

Bucket science?

ORNL demonstrates large-scale technique to produce quantum dots

Smartphone market shrinkage

According to Strategy Analytics global smartphone shipments fell 3 percent annually to reach 335 million units in Q1 2016. This is the first time that the smartphone market has shrunk on an annualised basis.

TFS to buy FEI

Thermo Fisher Scientific to buy FEI for $4.2 Billion - electron-microscope maker FEI to become part of Thermo Fisher’s analytical instruments segment.

Pour encourager les autres

Organizational Misconduct Can Make Others in Group Work Harder.

IBM - now more than a 2 bit organisation

Scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated reliably storing 3 bits of data per cell using phase-change memory technology.

Mercedes Bonds?

Google patents pedestrian flypaper for self-driving cars

Patent trolls

Patents are one method that organisations use to protect their intellectual property, generate income and safeguard competitive advantage. An increase in patent litigation could be seen as a good thing as organisations appreciate this and act to enforce the protection of what is rightfully theirs. Unfortunately a recent US study has highlighted that some firms solely exist to amass patent portfolios with the aim of suing cash rich organisations seemingly irrespective of the actual patent infringement. Worryingly, the target organisations seem to react by reducing R&D spending following settling these wrangles.

Pop goes the weasel

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN recently had some performance issues that were categorised as severe electrical perturbation. Fortunately the technical fault was soon identified as a short circuit within a 66kV transformer. It was caused by a weasel. Sadly the animal did not survive the encounter, lost for the advancement of science. Not quite the same as leaves on the line or the wrong type of snow but perhaps mort de la fouine could be added to Network Rail’s lexicon of excuses.

1284 more planets

NASA's Kepler Mission Announces Largest Collection of Planets Ever Discovered

Cause and effect

As Sigmund Freud and others have noted, there many influences that shape us as individuals. Pavlov and his dogs taught us about conditioning and showed how we can be trained to respond in a certain way to a particular stimulus. A modern technological variant in the press recently being an app linked wrist band that can give you an electric shock should you indulge in some bad habit such as smoking or perhaps even spending too much money. No doubt the hackers are looking forward to having some fun with this.

I personally like (and hope that it is true) the story that the creator of the shock giving device once hired someone to sit next to him and slap him on the face every time he was seen using (wasting time on) Facebook. Not Kierkegaard but probably more effective.

Shall I compare thee to a JavaScript?

Dartmouth contest shows computers aren't such good poets

Skin display

Turn your skin into a screen with a super-thin digital display

Wall of Death science

Science behind remarkable new Wall of Death motorcycle world record

LED trends

Top LED Technology Trends at Light+ Building 2016