Early 20th Century Robots: Sparko, The Robotic Scottish Terrier

Mar 31 2011 | comment(s)

At the 1939 World’s Fair, Westinghouse, which had an interest in robotics even a decade before, unveiled two robot prototypes: a humanoid named Elektro and a dog named Sparko.

Elektro was able to walk, count and smoke cigarettes (which likely did not make his voice raspy, since he talked using a record player) while Sparko was able to sit up and bark. Take that, G.E.!

Sparko and Elektro. The big guy was 7 feet tall and weighed 300 lbs. No wonder science fiction was scary.

Atomic Bomb Survivors Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki - How They Fared

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

While the current radiation concerns in Japan are not on a par with atomic bombs, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can provide some insight into what effects, if any, radiation might have on residents of Japan today.
A review article in the latest issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (free to read - http://www.dmphp.org) looks at risk estimates and summarizes what has been learned from following the survivors for 63 years.

Depression Impairs 'Empathic Accuracy'

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

Depression erodes intimate relationships not just by making one person withdrawn, needy, or hostile, but also because it impairs a depressed person's ability to perceive the others' thoughts and feelings. It impairs what psychologists call "empathic accuracy" and that can exacerbate alienation, depression in a vicious cycle.

Amgen To Appeal CHMP Opinion On Vectibix(R) (Panitumumab) Use With Chemotherapy In Metastatic Colorectal Cancer In Europe

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

Uptime Institute Awards India's First Tier Certifications

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

Jilion Commercializes Highly Anticipated SublimeVideo Cloud-based HTML5 Player Service

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

Tablet Discovery Pushes Earliest European Writing Back 150 Years

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

A clay tablet discovered Greece changes what is known about the origins of literacy in the western world, obviously a good thing, and, unfortunately, also about the origins of bureaucracy. Measuring 2 inches by 3 inches, the tablet fragment is the earliest known written record in Europe, dating back to between 1450 and 1350 B.C., 100-150 years before the tablets from the Petsas House at Mycenae.