As the Universe Expands, the Less We Can Learn
Cosmology is an interesting science. It is a combination of astrophysics and history because every time you peer at the farthest objects in the Universe, you are looking back in time. By studying the objects we can see now we can also determine what they were like before we could have viewed them. Unfortunately, even though the passage of time means we can view more of the Universe, our ability to figure out what everything was like pre-observation is being diminished by more recent interactions. Researchers at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics decided to crunch the numbers and find when the optimal time for viewing the Universe would be.
The answer, unsurprisingly, is in the distant past when the Universe was only a half billion years old. This is the same time that the first stars and galaxies were forming, which is not a coincidence. Stars and galaxies are massive structures and their formation requires the original structure of the Universe, left by the Big Bang, be destroyed. It is like the reverse of Humpty Dumpty, in that the pieces once made into the egg, cannot be broken the same way again.
Though the optimal time to observe the Universe has passed, it is not impossible to study the prehistoric Universe. Radio observatories can explore the 21 cm emissions from 13 billion year old hydrogen gas to learn what regular optical observatories cannot. However, there will still come a time when objects are so far away, and the Universe is expanding so fast, that light from those objects will be unable to reach us, ever.
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EA's Dead Space 3 to Debut in E3 2012
News of Dead Space 3's existence have been simmering for a while now thanks to a few leaked tidbits, but EA will finally be announcing the action/horror hybrid during next week's E3. While Dead Space 3 footage will be shown at EA's press conference, a few intriguing screenshots of the game have also been released. Among these are Isaac and a second character sporting blood-stained winter clothing (with glowing red-eyes to boot). It has been heavily speculated that the third installment of the Dead Space franchise will feature some form of co-op gameplay, and if these images are any indication, Isaac will indeed be fighting abominations with an ally throughout the game's frosty campaign. A teaser for the Dead Space graphic novel was also released recently, and may have a connecting storyline with Dead Space 3. Be on the lookout for the Dead Space 3 live stream on June 4, 1:00 pm PDT.
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Inflammation, Aging and Cancer All Linked to One Gene
A future with a failing body is not something anyone looks forward to, so researchers are looking for ways to control the process. We already have medications and treatments so senior citizens can stay active with each passing year, but researchers are still working towards a way to stop or completely reverse the aging process itself.
Studies have discovered that as people age, the telomeres at the ends of their chromosomes fall off. Preventing this from happening inhibits aging, but can also cause cancer, which is an unchecked and uncontrolled mutation of normal cells. Researchers have known that inflammation is also connected to aging and cancer, but did not know how these three, seemingly unconnected, things were intertwined. Those at NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine have discovered that the link is through the AUF1 gene.
This gene controls inflammation by turning off that natural response before septic shock can occur. What the researchers discovered is that AUF1 also triggers the activation of telomerase, an enzyme that repairs telomeres, or kills cells by not activating, to repair the telomeres. This one gene regulates inflammation, can prevent accelerated aging, and prevent cancer by not activating telomerase. The researchers' next step is to examine the human population to see if mutations of the AUF1 gene are linked to different diseases.
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Check Out the Brand New Tomb Raider Trailer
The new trailer for Tomb Raider was teased earlier this week, and it was shown off just hours ago on GameTrailers TV. Crystal Dynamics' new Tomb Raider game tells the origin of how Lara Croft became the hardened explorer we all came to love. This time a teenage Lara Croft has to learn how to survive on an island populated by murderers and wild natives, and the trailer starts off with our heroine in peril. Lara is suspended upside down in some kind of wrapping and she has to figure out how to escape it. Once she manages to do that, her fall proves less than ideal as a piece of metal stabs through her side, which elicits a scream of pain. Lara cannot waste more time than necessary to remove it before she is on the move again to get out of the cave. I will not spoil any more of the gameplay shown in the trailer, as you will just have to watch it below to see how Lara Croft manages to survive. I will say that Tomb Raider is looking mighty impressive already and should have everyone on the edge of their seats once released.
Tomb Raider arrives on March 5th, 2013, for the PC, PS3, and 360.
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New Dishonored Trailer has to be Seen
One of the more interesting games in development would have to be Bethesda and Arkane's Dishonored. This futuristic assassin game is shaping up to be like no other, with guns, swords, powers, stealth, and mystery all wrapped up into one first-person adventure. E3 is right around the corner, but Geoff Keighley and GameTrailers TV showed off a world exclusive trailer for Dishonored that you just have to see. The music is fairly haunting throughout, but there is a ton of action and intrigue included in it. We start off by seeing a young girl, potentially the Empress, but soon the footage shows off a little bit of everything you can do in Dishonored. There also appears to be a plague outbreak ravaging the city, as quarantine zones and swarms of rats are featured at various points. The enemies on the stilt walkers should present some interesting challenges, but hopefully you have the right power to take them out, like seen in the trailer. There is plenty more to the new trailer, so be sure to kick back and watch it below.
Dishonored arrives October 9th for the PC, PS3, and 360.
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LucasArts Announces Star Wars 1313 - New Bounty Hunter Game
After nearly a month of speculation, LucasArts has taken the wraps off its newest project. The new game will be called Star Wars 1313 and it focuses on the bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe. Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV was invited to Lucasfilm to get the world premiere of Star Wars 1313, and while the studio is not quite ready to show off everything, it did reveal just enough. Star Wars 1313 will be set on Coruscant, the capital world in the Star Wars galaxy, on Level 1313, and is all about bounty hunters. LucasArts did not reveal the exact bounty hunter we will get to play as, but the speculation of a young Boba Fett could be accurate (or far off). The game will be played from a third-person perspective and LucasArts is using state of the art motion capture to make sure every character moves realistically. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic will be helping out to develop this mature Star Wars game, which should help return the series to prominence.
More on Star Wars 1313 will be revealed during E3 in the next several days, including the first gameplay footage. You can keep it tuned right here for all the information on this new Star Wars franchise. LucasArts now has the website up for 1313, but you need to pass an age gate first. The website is pretty barren right now, however it should fill up before long.
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Valve Announces Dota Store and Steam Workshop for Dota 2
Last month, we reported that Gabe Newell stated Valve's upcoming Dota 2 would be free-to-play. Today saw the official announcement along with the unveiling of an in-game store. The Dota Store will sell cosmetic customization for heroes and custom couriers, along with some "tools", such as bonus battle points for a specified period of time or the ability to edit an item's description. Currently, hero customization ranges from $0.75 to $9.99, tools from $0.99 to $24.99, couriers from $7.99 to $11.99, and bundles from $1.49 to $11.99. There's also a special bundle for $39.99 called the "Dota 2 Early Access Bundle", which not only gets you a Mighty Boar courier and a full set of items for Sven and Axe, but also immediate access to the game, which is still in beta testing. Thankfully, anything you purchase now will remain once the game is available for everyone. Aside from that important note, there were two other things Valve wanted to make crystal clear:
- Dota 2 will not be a pay-to-win game. All the items in the store are cosmetic, and don’t affect gameplay.
- All of the heroes will be available free of charge. We believe restricting player access to heroes could be destructive to game design, so it’s something we plan to avoid.
The last bit of news that came out from Valve today was the inclusion of Dota 2 in the Steam Workshop, which will operate in a similar fashion as it does for Team Fortress 2. If you're not familiar with the Steam Workshop, basically anyone can create and upload content they've created for the game, and other players can vote and comment on it. Garner enough votes and positive feedback and Valve may actually take your content and put it in the game for sale, providing you a cut of the profits. Valve stated that Dota has always been a game where the community has had an extremely active role, so having players be able to directly contribute to the game was only natural. The Steam Workshop has been a huge success in Team Fortress 2 for both Valve and fans, and this should be no different.
If the above announcement link is too drab to you, you can check out the official announcement page instead, equipped with flashy graphics.
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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Will Arrive on Steam
When Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition was announced as coming to the PC, many fans were elated to hear the news. However, the bad part was it would require Games for Windows Live, which is not thought of too highly in the PC gaming world. A petition went around to get Namco Bandai to use Steam, and now our voices have been heard yet again. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition will arrive on Steam on August 24th, but there is no word on whether it will use Steamworks or still be a GFWL title. Since the PC version of Dark Souls is pretty much a port, sticking with the GFWL plan would make sense in order to make the transfer easier. On the other side, completely ditching GFWL would not be a bad thing and I imagine sales would increase from it, but we just have to see what Namco Bandai does.
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New View of Superconductivity
The ultimate goal for many materials scientists and the field of electronics is the creation of room-temperature superconductors. These, thus far, undiscovered material are able to carry electric currents with no resistance and no energy loss, like their low temperature brethren. The key to this ability is the formation of Cooper pairs, which scientists do not fully understand at the moment. Researchers at Berkeley Lab have recently done an interesting experiment to see how Cooper pairs form, and this research may lead to a new understanding of the pairs.
Cooper pairs are, essentially, electrons that have overcome their usual electromagnetic repulsion so they may travel together. In this coupled state the electrons have less energy than they would separately, but this energy they keep as they travel, which is what makes a material a superconductor.
To understand how the Cooper pairs form, the researchers decided to break some up using a pump-probe technique. An initial pumping laser pulse hits the Cooper pair, causing it to split into two higher energy quasiparticles which the probing laser pulse interacts with. The probing laser pulse captures some information from these quasiparticles, including their momentum and energy. The data show the momentum of the quasiparticles and the energy of the pumping pulse influence how quickly the Cooper pair reforms. This could be an indication of what keeps the pairs together.
Naturally, further study has to be done. Only one high temperature superconductor was used for this study, and likely the researchers will want to use additional samples. Also the light sourced used for this test is only able to produce low energy pulses. For this experiment though, that limit proved useful as it allowed for better momentum resolution. Future experiments will likely want to explore other, potentially more intriguing, energy levels however.
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Noctua Partnering with RotoSub to Provide Fans with Noise Canceling
Noctua has announced a partnership with noise reduction specialist RotoSub to create case fans that feature active noise canceling technology. The first Noctua fan to be outfitted with this technology will be on display at Computex Taipei next week. Noise cancelation is achieved by one of two techniques, phase cancelation or destructive interference. The method developed by a pair of employees at RotoSub will allow the fan to produce the necessary sound waves to reduce its own sound. RotoSub cited the Noctua NF-F12 fan as a primary reason for the partnership, stating that "their new NF-F12 fan with its FocusedFlow system is ideal for integrating our ANC technology." The two companies have stated that the "performance target is to achieve about 80% more airflow and 120% higher static pressure at the same noise level as the original NF-F12," and a fan with these parameters should be done within the next 12 to 18 months.
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AMD Announces 12.6a Beta Drivers and End of Monthly Updates
AMD has announced its new Catalyst 12.6a beta drivers today, but also a curious move that may not please everyone. The 12.6a beta drivers fix a lot of issues for HD 7000 series cards and adds profiles for various games, so everything sounds like a win for the consumer. However, AMD also announced it will be moving away from monthly driver updates in order to deliver "a substantial benefit" to Radeon video card owners. The naming convention will still be the same (Year.Month), but it just means we may not see a new AMD Catalyst driver until 12.8 or later. Basically there will now be a longer wait for any user having issues with the most recent driver, so I would keep the last stable one on hand just in case. This also means whenever a new game comes out, it could be a while before we see a driver that supports it or improves performance. Some people may not agree with this move away from monthly driver updates, but we just have to see what kind of repercussions (if any) there will be from it.
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New Database for Carbon Capture Materials Created
With the need for cheap energy always growing it is either impossible or infeasible to keep up with demand while only building green power plants that utilize wind, solar, or hydrothermal. Potentially carbon capture systems can help with this problem, by allowing fossil fuel burning power plants to be made more environmentally friendly. The problem with this strategy though is how expensive using the carbon capture systems would be, and not just in materials.
The current carbon capture systems being tested utilize nitrogen-based amines, which are similar to ammonia. The emissions from the power plant pass through the liquid amines, which capture the carbon dioxide. The liquid is boiled to release the CO2 which is then compressed and pumped underground for permanent storage. The whole process however can take as much as 30% of a power plants output though, which means four plants, with carbon capture systems, would have to be built to generate the same amount of power as three without the carbon capture system.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Rice University, Berkeley Lab, and the Electric Power Research Institute have created an advanced database for all carbon capture materials. This database will not only allow a researcher to find carbon capture materials others have found, but also test their own. Using a full model of a power plant and the processing power of GPUs, the database can test new materials to determine how effective they may be as a carbon capture material. This will save countless months as researchers will no longer have to synthesize new materials to test them. Also, by using GPUs instead of CPUs, the modeling of the materials has been accelerated from 10 days to 2 seconds.
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Humble Indie Bundle V Launches
The folks over at Humble Bundle are certainly a busy bunch, with new bundles coming out seemingly every month. Today the Humble Indie Bundle V launches, which includes five great indie games at whatever price you want. LIMBO, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, and Psychonauts are available to everyone who purchases the bundle, while Bastion will be added for everyone who beats the average price. The average price is currently at $7.18, so act quick to get Bastion. Each game is available DRM-free, but you also get a Steam code if you pay more than one dollar. You will also receive the soundtracks in FLAC and MP3 formats for every game, so you can experience the music while you are taking a break from gaming. The Humble Indie Bundle V will run for the next two weeks, and judging by the over 80,000 bundles already sold, this could be the biggest one yet.
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First Biochemical Circuit Made With Transistors and NAND Gates
Many people would like to see a future where technology can be integrated into the human body for many reasons. Medical implants for treatments and controlling prosthetics are two examples of the potential uses. Before that can happen though, a means to connect the technology to our body's chemistry must be found. One promising possibility is technology that uses ions and molecules similar to how modern electronics use electrons and holes. Researchers at Linköping University have created the world's first circuit made from this biotechnology.
The parts needed for this circuit have already been developed, but this is the first time the components were put together. Ion transistors that can work with both positive and negative ions, along with other biomolecules, may operate the same as an electronic transistor but are definitely a different beast. The same can be said of the NAND gates that also had to be developed. With these two components, any kind of logical function can be performed.
As biochemical circuitry is further developed we may start using some very advanced uses for it, beyond what is currently being envisioned. The molecules being used are considerably more complicated objects than the electrons in electronics, and this complexity may allow for more advanced functions.
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