SpaceX cargo ship reaches International Space Station

Astronauts plucked a commercial cargo ship from orbit on Wednesday and attached it to the International Space Station, marking the reopening of a U.S. supply line to the orbital outpost following the space shuttles' retirement last year. After a 2-1/2 day trip, Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship positioned itself 33 feet away from the $100 billion research complex, a project of 15 countries, which has been dependent on...

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Redefining Medicine With Apps and iPads - The Digital Doctor

As a third-year resident in internal medicine, Dr. Rajkomar was the senior member of the team, and the others looked to him for guidance. An infusion of saline was the answer, but the tricky part lay in the details. Concentration? Volume? Improper treatment could lead to brain swelling, seizures or even death. Dr. Rajkomar had been on call for 24 hours and was exhausted, but the clinical uncertainty was “like a shot of adrenaline,” he said. He reached into a deep pocket of his white coat and produced not a well-thumbed handbook...

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Citing privacy concerns, U.S. panel urges end to secret DNA testing

They're called discreet DNA samples, and the Elk Grove, California, genetic-testing company easyDNA says it can handle many kinds, from toothpicks to tampons. Blood stains from bandages and tampons? Ship them in a paper envelope for paternity, ancestry or health testing. EasyDNA also welcomes cigarette butts (two to four), dental floss ("do not touch the floss with your fingers"), razor clippings, gum, toothpicks, licked stamps and...

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Nobel for quantum "parlor trick" that could make super computers

A French and an American scientist won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for finding ways to measure quantum particles without destroying them, which could make it possible to build a new kind of computer far more powerful than any seen before.Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland, both 68, found ways to manipulate the very smallest particles of matter and light to observe strange behavior that previously could only...

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Bits Blog: From the Land of Angry Birds, a Mobile Game Maker Lifts Off

For a country with a population about the size of Minnesota, Finland has produced some giant global hits in the mobile business, like the phone maker Nokia and Rovio, the company responsible for Angry Birds and Bad Piggies. A Finnish mobile games start-up called Supercell wants its crack at glory too. The Helsinki-based company calls itself a “tablet first” games company, meaning that it designs its games to take advantage of the larger screen of the tablet rather than just blowing up smartphone games to a bigger display (though...

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Design: Who Made That Escape Key?

Jens Mortensen for The New York Times“It’s the ‘Hey, you! Listen to me’ key,” says Jack Dennerlein of the Harvard School of Public Health. According to Dennerlein, an expert on how humans interact with computers, the escape key helped drive the computer revolution of the 1970s and ’80s. “It says to the computer: ‘Stop what you’re doing. I need to take control.’ ” In other words, it reminds the machine that it has a human master. If the astronauts in “2001: A Space Odyssey” had an ESC key, Dennerlein points out, they could...

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Wal-Mart and American Express Join In Prepaid Card Deal

It is a surprising alliance between the discounter Wal-Mart and American Express, which until recently has been focused on high-end consumers. The move is intended to strengthen both companies’ position in the prepaid card market — which, unlike credit and debit cards, is largely unregulated and has far fewer consumer protections. The account, called Bluebird, will be available next week. The companies are positioning it as an option for people turned off by bank fees. “The only fees consumers will ever pay are clear, transparent...

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