How the Ancient World Used Color
Were ancient Greece and Rome filled with dignified white marble statuary? Not a chance. Though we still think of them in terms of white marble sparkling under a hot Mediterranean sun, a new exhibition shows at least one Greco-Roman lady as they really were -- in technicolor. Under Stanford sophomore Ivy Nguyen's skillful watch in the Cantor Arts Center lab, long-dead colors on marble have indeed ... posted on Jun 06 2011, 5,666 reads

Genius of the Fold
People who think of origami as simple paper playthings may be surprised to know of a professional origami artist, much less one who's a Caltech physicist. Robert Lang walked away from a successful career in lasers and opto-electronics to fold paper full time. Now widely regarded as a legend in the field, Lang has published more than 500 original origami designs, with some of his work exhibited at ... posted on May 16 2011, 5,116 reads

Is the Internet Changing the Way We Think?
Each year, Edge.org poses a provocatively deep question to visionaries in science and culture. Last year, it collected 168 essays relating to the question, "How is the Internet changing the way you think?" In answer, academics, scientists and philosophers responded with musings on the Internet enabling telecommunication, or functioning as a sort of prosthesis, or robbing us of our old, linear mode... posted on May 09 2011, 6,441 reads

Intelligence That Transcends the GRE
Was Albert Einstein a wise man because of his intelligence? Did Mother Teresa's spirituality make her wise? These are the type of questions that UC San Diego researchers are trying to answer in a new study that attempts to define the abstraction we call wisdom. According to their findings, wisdom is not limited to a high IQ quotient or moral righteousness, but is a form of advanced cognitive and ... posted on May 03 2011, 6,882 reads

72 Hours to Transform Your City
A hundred designers, 10 urban challenges, very little money, and no sleep. That's the recipe for 72 Hour Urban Action, a three-day marathon for designers to improve their city. Founder Kerem Halbrecht first debuted the concept at the Bat-Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel in September, where 120 participants working in 10 teams got three days and three nights to solve problems in public ... posted on Apr 20 2011, 3,297 reads

Connecting for Good: Social Networks in 2015
New networks are emerging everywhere. It's exciting, and daunting. What is this new network-centric world? What could it mean for community and social change? A new report by the Knight Foundation and Monitor Institute explores how an increasingly connected world - where social networks are proliferating on and off-line- will affect the way people push for social change by 2015. Drawing from more ... posted on Apr 14 2011, 5,137 reads

Students Debut Life-Saving Infant Warmer
A baby's small hands and dainty fingers have turned blue. Her body is shaking and she lets out a barely audible cry. Moved by stories like this, Jane Chen and her MBA classmates designed an innovative, low-cost baby wrap to prevent infant deaths caused by hypothermia, a common occurrence in developing countries. With the potential to reach millions of infants across the globe, Chen describes, "Whe... posted on Mar 29 2011, 3,325 reads

Recycled Cell Phones Save Lives
"It's your trash, but it turns into value, it turns into lives saved really quickly." Josh Nesbit says excitedly. Four years ago, Nesbit noticed that health workers in Malawi often lost important information during their strenuous trips to patients in isolated villages. Instead of walking for hours on end, doctors and patients could instantly text each other if they just had the right technology, ... posted on Mar 22 2011, 2,936 reads

Museums Without Walls
Walk through Philadelphia and you'll see public art poised throughout the city. "Museum Without Walls: AUDIO" brings these sculptures to life with audio stories, told by people from all walks of life and somehow connected to the sculpture by knowledge, experience or affiliation. Nearly 100 "voices" at 35 stops explore 51 sculptures. These stories can be discovered while touring the city or sitti... posted on Mar 19 2011, 2,950 reads

New Way to Watch your Blood Pressure
Researchers have developed a device to measure pressure in the largest artery in the body. More accurate than the arm cuff, the technology works by a sensor in the watch recording the pulse wave of the artery, which is then fed into a computer together with a traditional blood pressure reading from a cuff. Scientists are then able to read the pressure close to the heart, from the aorta. Professor ... posted on Mar 17 2011, 3,679 reads