News Revisited

What will they think of next?  Guy Hoffman of the Robotic Life Group at the MIT Media Laboratory has designed a robotic desk lamp.  This thing watches you and positions the light where you need it.  As if that wasn’t enough, it recently performed in a theater production.

Check out this video of the lamp interacting with someone working at a desk.

NewScientist reports Nanocomp, a start-up based in New Hampshire, succeeded in creating a carbon nanotube textile.  This textile could potentially be used to create super lightweight armor since the company claims pound for pound it is seven times stronger than steel.  They are currently able to make 1 meter by 3 meter sheets but hope to make larger sheets in a year or so.  They are also able to spin the nanotubes into a thread.

This form of nanotube material can also conduct electricity.  Aircraft manufactures could theoretically use it as a lightweight wiring.

LiveScience reports John Jost, a psychologist at New York University, after an overview of previous studies covering 22,000 in 12 different countries, has claimed that genetics influences political disposition as much as 50%.  His finding suggest that environmental situations only determine half of your political preferences.

John Hibbing, a University of Nebraska political scientist, has demonstrated that identical twins have more similar political leanings than fraternal twins.

The suggestion is not that genes rule your political beliefs but that they influence your tendency to lean one way or the other.

The prevailing theory has been that our solar system started when the shock wave of a nearby supernova compressed the gas and dust in our neighborhood.  NewScientist reports<