DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a US government organization that performs research in military technology. One of their current projects, the Fine Detail Optical Surveillance (FDOS), hopes to develop optical equipment sensitive enough to literally "a needle moving along the surface of a haystack." That phrase is actually in the specs:

The program can be described as developing the technology and systems analogous to that required for the rapid imaging and identification, without the need for scanning or focusing of the optical receiver, of a needle moving along the surface of a haystack, where the location and type of needle on the haystack is uncertain.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/11/darpa_needle_haystack/ via DVICE | Photo: NASA

A team of European computer researchers are building a computer that will simulate the way that neurons work. They hope that successful development could aid in nanotechnology and smart pharmaceutical control systems. Here's how it works:

What distinguishes the current project is that it will make use of stable "cells" featuring a coating that forms spontaneously, similar to the walls of our own cells, and uses chemistry to accomplish the signal processing similar to that of our own neurons.[...]

The group's approach hinges on two critical ideas.

First, individual "cells" are surrounded by a wall made up of so-called lipids that spontaneously encapsulate the liquid innards of the cell.

Recent work has shown that when two such lipid layers encounter each other as the cells come into contact, a protein can form a passage between them, allowing chemical signalling molecules to pass.

Second, the cells' interiors will play host to what is known as a Belousov-Zhabotinsky or B-Z chemical reaction. Simply put, reactions of this type can be initiated by changing the concentration of the element bromine by a certain threshold amount.

Link via Popular Science | Image: US Department of Health and Human Services

Years ago, chef Dave Arnold expressed a desire for a substance that had the consistency, texture, and applicability of chocolate, but wasn't chocolate. He wanted to be able to coat food in ketchup as one coats, for example, cherries in chocolate. After some experimentation, he was successful. Here's his recipe:

1 kg de-odorized cocoa butter
325 g powdered tomato (spray dried or freeze dryed)
60 grams malt vinegar powder
25 grams salt
Spices to taste (onion powder, garlic powder, etc)
60 grams mycryo (to temper)

At the link, you can read about the preparation process, as well as see photos of the results. Pictured above are bits of chicken coated in the substance.

Link via J-Walk Blog

The New York Times has a set of infographics showing the popularity of certain movies distributed in the zip codes of several cities, based on their incidence of Netflix rental. Netflix provided this data on the fifty most popular movies of 2009. Hover over each map to see what movies were the most popular in neighborhoods of a city. The infographic above shows the distribution of Yes Man rentals in Atlanta, Georgia.

Link via Fast Company

The New Jersey design firm Lovegrove & Repucci has created this graffiti-covered dinnerware set in the tradition of the Netherland's Delft-style porcelain. It's called "New York Delft" and in the links, you can can find an Antiques Roadshow spoof featuring the collection.

http://www.lovegroverepucci.com/collection-new-york-delft-dinner-plate.htm via Make | YouTube Video | Image: Davies & Starr

Dick Kleis, a farmer in Zwingle, Iowa, decided to express his affection for his wife in a way that she would (apparently) appreciate. On the occasion of her birthday, he wrote out "HAP B DAY LUV U" in giant letters made of manure across his field:

But Carole Kleis isn’t just any woman — she’s the wife of a farmer, and a little natural fertilizer doesn’t bother her a bit, even if this particular usage is rather unusual.

"He's done weird things before for birthdays," she said. "But maybe not this weird." [...]

"I was going to put a heart out there after the happy birthday, but I ran out of manure," he said. "It's not hard. Any manure will work but the good, soft, gushy, warm stuff works the best. It kind of melts the snow."

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: My Fox DC

The Photonics Research Group of Ghent University in Belgium created a 1 trillionth scale map that measures only 40 micrometers across. That's about half the width of a human hair. It serves a purely decorative purpose on a new type of microchip that the team is developing:

The silicon photonics technology that is being developed with these chips integrates optical circuits onto a small chip: Light can be manipulated on submicrometer scale in tiny strips of silicon called waveguides or photonic wires. Using the unique properties of silicon, combined with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, these silicon photonic circuits can pack a million times more components on the same footprint as today’s commercial glass-based photonics.

Link via Gizmodo

Sure, you could talk to actual human beings, but who would want to? Cleverbot, an artificial intelligence, is willing to have a conversation with you. Just start typing in the blank space. The program was developed by computer scientist Rollo Carpenter and his firm, Icogno Ltd.

Link via Geekologie | Screenshot: Geekologie | Video from Popular Science about the project

(Video Link)

In 2008, Eirik Solheim of Oslo, Norway, filmed his backyard regularly for a year and compiled the results into a 40-second time-lapse video. In 2009, he did the same thing in a 120-second video. But this time, the video and audio quality are superior and the transitions smoother. You can read a post by Solheim on the technical details at the link.

Link via Urlesque

Every year for the past decade, Duck Tape brand duct tape has held a contest for the creative use of their tape in prom dresses and tuxedos. Winners earn scholarship money. Gallery at the link. Link via DudeCraft Oh, and congratulations to Paul Overton, the dude behind DudeCraft, on his first blogiversary!

The experimental Quest to Learn School in New York City opened last September. In the hopes of preparing students for high-tech careers, it teaches students almost entirely though video games:

This year’s 72-student class is split into four groups that rotate through five courses during the day: Codeworlds (math/English), Being, Space and Place (social studies/English), The Way Things Work (math/science), Sports for the Mind (game design), and Wellness (health/PE). Instead of slogging through problem sets, students learn collaboratively in group projects that require an understanding of subjects in the New York State curriculum. The school’s model draws on 30 years of research showing that people learn best when they’re in a social context that puts new knowledge to use. Kids learn more by, say, pretending to be Spartan spies gathering intel on Athens than by memorizing facts about ancient Greece.

Most sixth-graders don’t expect to ever need to identify integers, but at Quest, it’s the key to a code-breaking game. In another class, when creatures called Troggles needed help moving heavy objects, the class made a video instructing how long a ramp they should build to minimize the force they needed to apply. “They’re picking concepts up as well as, if not better than, at other schools,” says Quest’s math and science teacher Ameer Mourad. Beyond make-believe, Quest is the first middle school to teach videogame design. Salen says building games teaches students about complex systems, which will prepare them for growing fields such as bioinformatics.

http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-12/new-school-teaches-students-through-videogames via Fast Company | Official Website | Photo: Claudio Midolo

A team of scientists led by Keizo Tomonaga of Osaka University determined that a virus dating from 40 million years ago is embedded in human DNA. This infection, known as the bornavirus, might be the cause of schizophrenia and passes from generation to generation inside human cellular nuclei, filling out 8% of human genetic code:

The assimilation of viral sequences into the host genome is a process referred to as endogenization. This occurs when viral DNA integrates into a chromosome of reproductive cells and is subsequently passed from parent to offspring. Until now, retroviruses were the only viruses known to generate such endogenous copies in vertebrates. But Feschotte said that scientists have found that non-retroviral viruses called bornaviruses have been endogenized repeatedly in mammals throughout evolution.

Bornavirus (BDV) owes its name to the town of Borna, Germany, where a virus epidemic in 1885 wiped out a regiment of cavalry horses. BDV infects a range of birds and mammals, including humans. It is unique because it infects only neurons, establishing a persistent infection in its host's brain, and its entire life cycle takes place in the nucleus of the infected cells.

Link via io9 | Image: US Department of Energy

(YouTube Link)

Jordan Breindel of Urlesque compiled thirteen student-made music videos about Advanced Placement courses and tests available in many American high schools. Those subjects featured are: calculus, chemistry, economics, European history, U.S. history, English, statistics, Spanish, art history, government, psychology, world history, and physics.

The video above was created by students of Ms. Seckar-Martinez of McCallum High School in Austin, Texas.

Link

Artist Elisa Strozyk took discarded wood veneer, sliced it into tiny triangles, and repurposed it into an upholstery replacement. The end result looks like a pixelated image which can be used to cover chairs, couches, and tables. More at the link.

Link via Make | Official Website | Photo: Elisa Strozyk

(YouTube Link)

Roombas and similar commercially-available robots can plug themselves into docking stations when they need to recharge. But that requires having a designated recharging station. Marvin, a robot by Intel Labs, can search for an electrical outlet and plug itself in. This approach is superior to the alternative solution.

Link via Make