Describe Your Desk Doohickey for Fidget Widget!

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By: Nina Friedman When I hit a mental roadblock while I’m working, moving always helps. I can’t keep my brain moving unless my body is moving. I might get up from my desk and take a little walk but if I’m in a time crunch I’ll just fidget around in my chair or tap out a fun rhythm. As a growing body of research shows, cognitive functioning increases when we move. In other words, moving helps us think. Michael Karlesky, a PhD candidate at NYU’s Tandon School of Engin ...read more

Under Pressure

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The full text of this article is available to Discover Magazine subscribers only. Subscribe and get 10 issues packed with: The latest news, theories and developments in the world of science Compelling stories and breakthroughs in health, medicine and the mind Environmental issues and their relevance to daily life Cutting-edge technology and its impact on our future ...read more

How Verbs and Nouns Got Apollo to the Moon

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The DSKY in action. NASA. The Apollo guidance computer did a lot with a little, but the idea that your cell phone has more computer power is a little off. Yes, a smartphone can hold more information but it doesn’t exactly have the software to get you to the Moon. But the comparatively weaker Apollo guidance computer (AGC) did, and though it didn’t have a keyboard and monitor like your desktop, it did speak in the familiar language we use every day of nouns and verbs.  Schematic ...read more

Large-Scale, Unhackable Communication Networks Are Within Reach

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From the ground, researchers measured laser signals that originated from a satellite and traveled through Earth’s gravitational potential and the turbulent atmosphere. (Credit: Earth, Google; satellite, ESO) Veering from the path of their counterparts at other institutions, researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Germany say they’ve found an easier path toward large-scale, unhackable communication networks. They demonstrated that it’s possible to distribute quantum infor ...read more

Largest US Employer Adopts Virtual Reality Training

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A Walmart employee experiences virtual reality training. Credit: STRIVR Virtual reality technology that has helped train NFL quarterbacks could also soon provide virtual training experiences for hundreds of thousands of Walmart associates. By the end of 2017, Walmart plans to roll out virtual reality training to the 140,000 associates who complete the retail giant’s training academy program each year. The move by the largest private employer of American workers m ...read more

Microsoft AI Notches the Highest 'Ms. Pac-Man' Score Possible

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(Credit: Maluuba) A Microsoft artificial intelligence has achieved the ultimate high score in Ms. Pac-Man, maxing out the counter at just under a million points. With its randomly-generated ghost movements, Ms. Pac-Man has proven a tough nut for AI to crack, as it cannot simply learn the patterns that govern the ghosts’ movements. Maluuba, an artificial intelligence company recently acquired by the tech giant, succeeded in outwitting the hungry ghosts by breaking their gaming a ...read more

Surviving the Hunt: Female Elk Get Sneakier With Age

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(Credit: Tony Campbell/Shutterstock) Cougars, wolves, and bears (oh my!) all scour the landscape of Western Canada, ready to take out an elk if the opportunity arises. Although each of these predators poses a deadly threat to unsuspecting ungulates, elk have an even bigger problem to deal with: hordes of humans that invade the region every autumn armed with rifles, bows and arrows. But as female elk grow older and wiser, researchers have found, they learn to outwit fervent hunters by changing ...read more

For Funding, Scientists Turn to Unorthodox Sources

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(Credit: isak55/Shutterstock) When Donna Riordan first moved to the idyllic Orcas Island just off the coast of Washington state, she had no plans of doing any sort of research, despite her background in science and education policy. But a few years later, in 2012, she learned that Pacific International Terminals, part of marine and rail cargo operating company SSA Marine, planned to build the largest coal transport terminal in North America. She’d be able to see it from her home. The pro ...read more

Flatworm Travels to Space With One Head, Comes Back With Two

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The “double-headed worm from space.” Look for the googly eyes. (Credit: Junji Morokuma/Tufts University) Researchers have been sending animals to space for decades, and the growing roster includes everything from dogs and monkeys to scorpions and jellyfish. But a more recent animal space traveler returned to Earth with something never before seen: an extra head. The newly bi-cranial creature is a flatworm of the species Dugesia japonica, one of 15 flown abo ...read more