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IT 

Fastest home internet access ever rolls out in US city

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Some residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a holiday gift this December – the fastest home internet speed available just about anywhere in the world. US Internet, based in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka, announced this week that it has begun rolling out 10 gigabit per second internet access, ten times faster than Google Fiber‘s much-publicized gigabit connections, and similarplanned networks in the UK. It’s also much faster than typical speeds in South Korea, often cited as having the fastest average connections in the world. The company says that compared to the…

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Other Tech 

Packable device keeps mosquitoes away in the boonies

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Beyond heated insoles, Thermacell makes a variety of battery-powered gadgets for outdoor lovers, among them a line of mosquito repellers. The company is preparing to launch a lighter, more compact repeller designed to go deeper into the wilderness. The packable Backpacker Repeller drops Thermacell’s mosquito-fighting technology into your pack so you can easily carry it to even the most faraway backcountry destinations. We’ve used one of Thermacell’s larger repeller lanterns and can say that it’s an absolute pleasure. Thermacell claims 96 percent effectiveness against mosquitoes, black flies and other pesky flying…

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IT 

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality: What are the differences and similarities?

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Technology is improving at a rapid pace, as many things are possible today that were not possible 10 years ago even if we tried our best to make it happen. Today, some of the impossible things are rising to the occasion in the form of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. But what are they exactly? Let’s find out. Back in the 1990s, virtual reality was on the lips of everyone as multiple companies tried and failed to make it happen. The most notable device back then was the Nintendo Virtual…

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Medical Tech 

Rapid Test Identifies Protein Disease Biomarkers Within 10 Minutes

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Scientists at University of California, Los Angeles have developed a rapid new test for spotting proteins within blood and plasma. Unlike current tests that can take up to four hours to perform, the team’s technique takes only 10 minutes and can be done right inside the doctor’s office instead of a clinical lab.   Typically, enzymes are used to amplify the protein signal, but they introduce their own problems such as difficulty in handling, high associated costs, and false positives. Instead, the team did away with enzymes altogether and focused…

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Other Tech 

Digital Deception: How to Spot a Lie Online

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There are three things you can be sure of in life: death, taxes – and lying. The latter certainly appears to have been borne out by the UK’s recent Brexit referendum, with a number of the Leave campaign’s pledges looking morelike porkie pies than solid truths. But from internet advertising, visa applications and academic articles to political blogs, insurance claims and dating profiles, there are countless places we can tell digital lies. So how can one go about spotting these online fibs? Well, Stephan Ludwig from the University of Westminster, Ko de Ruyter from City University London’s…

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IT 

9 Ways Quantum Computing Will Change Everything

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Computers built on the principles of quantum physics—as opposed to ‘classical’ physics—promise a revolution on the order of the invention of the microprocessor or the splitting of the atom. D-Wave, a small Canadian company backed by Jeff Bezos, NASA, and the CIA among others, is the first firm to sell a so-called quantum computer—at roughly $10 million a pop. The vast increase in power could revolutionize fields as disparate as medicine, space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Inthis week’s TIME cover story, Lev Grossman writes that D-Wave’s machines are “so radical…

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Transport Tech 

Google Car Moves Into the Fast Lane

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John Leonard watched spellbound from the back seat as the Lexus he was riding in drove through downtown Mountain View, Calif., one July day. The steering wheel spun right and left without a driver touching it. The car stopped at lights, switched lanes and even punched its accelerator as it merged into traffic. For Leonard, a roboticist at MIT, riding in a car outfitted with Google’s self-driving technology reminded him of another iconic moment in transportation: when the Wright brothers ushered in the age of air travel 111 years ago.…

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IT Other Tech Transport Tech 

Quiet Skies: How Engineers Are Tackling Aircraft Noise with Smart Design

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Quiet Skies: How Engineers Are Tackling Aircraft Noise with Smart Design Luu Gia Phuc If you’ve ever lived near an airport, you know the sound well. It starts as a low rumble in the distance, then builds until windows rattle and conversations pause. Air travel is miraculous, but let’s be honest—it’s also loud. For decades, engineers have been asking the same question: how can we make the skies quieter? The answer isn’t just about making flights more comfortable for passengers. Aircraft noise affects communities miles away from airports. Studies have…

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IT 

Virtual reality lets you stroll around a breast cancer cell

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By Alice Klein I feel like I’ve landed on an alien planet. I’m walking across the surface of a breast cancer cell as drug nanoparticles whizz past my head like spaceships. One of the particles suddenly crashes in front of me, and I teeter on the edge of an abyss as it is sucked through the surface. It feels real – and in a sense, it is. The cell I am exploring in virtual reality is not a conceptual model. John McGhee of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and…

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Medical Tech 

Synthetic immune cells: a possible solution to antibiotic resistance?

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Dr. Thomas J. Webster – the Art Zafiropoulo chair and professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, and president of the US Society for Biomaterials – and colleagues have created synthetic immune cells, referred to as polymersomes. These polymersomes can mimic the behavior of natural immune cells, according to the team, opening the door to a way to boost infection-fighting capability among individuals with compromised immune systems. “They can significantly aid someone who has a failing immune system, or for someone who needs a…

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