Feature: Insert
The comments appear like clockwork every time there's a discussion of the Universe's dark side, for both dark matter and dark energy. At least some readers seem positively incensed by the idea that scientists can happily accept the existence of a particle (or particles) that have never been observed and a mysterious repulsive force. "They're just there to make the equations work!" goes a typical complaint. It's a somewhat odd complaint. Physics has a long history of particles that were predicted based on the math and not detected for years, sometimes decades. But it's not simply physics. Other areas of science have produced evidence that suggests something must be present, but haven't hinted as to what that something must be. These situations, where scientists insert a placeholder for a something they don't understand yet, have sometimes led scientists down the wrong path—phlogiston and aether spring to mind.
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Week in gaming: StarCraft AI, 3DS has a price, Portal 2 rules PS3
What a week! Duke Nukem Forever has an actual release date, Portal 2 made a splash on the PlayStation 3 side of things, the 3DS has been given a price and a release date, and there were some interesting legal stories involving mods and hacks. The most popular story, by a country mile, was our look at creating a StarCraft AI that could react to changes in strategy.We have some good stuff to look forward to next week as well, as I'll be playing Dead Space 2 on the PlayStation 3 all weekend in order to write our feature review. Until then, check out what you might have missed last week.
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Week in Apple: record earnings, new iPhone screws, and next-gen iPad rumors
This week's top Apple stories included the company's record earnings report, Steve Jobs going back on medical leave, and more next-gen iPad and iPhone rumors. Those are pretty much expected, though, so we also talked about the new Project HiJack, Apple's decision to switch out iPhone screws, white iPhones, and more. Check it out:Record sales spur Apple to $26.74 billion in 1Q FY2011 revenues: Apple posted record sales and revenue for its first fiscal quarter of 2011, including almost 17 million iPhones and over 7 million iPads. We also liveblogged the earnings call with bonus competitor-trashing from Apple COO Tim Cook.
Detailing the expected hardware changes for the iPad and iPhone: Apple looks to be seriously boosting the CPU and GPU power in its next-gen iDevices while moving to Qualcomm baseband processors, according to the latest out of the grapevine. The iPad will also likely get a big boost in resolution, too, giving the beefed-up GPU something to do.
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Week in tech: Franken calls out Comcast edition
Why you should always encrypt your smartphone: A California court has ruled that the police have the right to search your cellphone without a warrant if you have it on your person if you're arrested. It's another reason why you should always take advantage of your phone's encryption capabilities.Senator Al Franken: No joke, Comcast trying to whack Netflix: Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) hates the Comcast/NBCU mega-merger, he hates the weak net neutrality rules that will give us "two Internets," and he really hates the FCC, which allowed it all to happen. Now that both decisions are official, Franken warns that Comcast has a dark plan for dealing with its few viable competitors like Netflix.
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Week in science: can't stop the music edition
Turns out that music really is intoxicating, after all: Our reaction to the music that we love stimulates the flow of dopamine into certain sections of the brain, concludes a new study out of McGill University. The findings "help to explain why music is of such high value across all human societies," the scientists note.Photoacoustic imaging beyond our wildest dreams: Lihong Wang reviewed some of his recent work in photoacoustic imaging. The combination of sound waves and laser light seems a match made in heaven for imaging your internal organs.
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