Computing, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2013

Computer Algorithm Seeks To Crack Code Of Fiction Bestsellers

(ISNS)--The English novelist W. Somerset Maugham once said that there are three rules for writing novels. Unfortunately, he added, no one knows what they are. Three computer scientists at Stony Brook University in New York think they found some rules through a computer program that might predict which books will...

Sep 10, 2015

Why We Must Build an 'Immune System' to Ward Off Cyber Threats (Op-Ed)

Nicole Eagan is the CEO of Darktrace, a cyber threat defense company that uses technology to detect previously unidentified threats in real time, powered by machine learning and mathematics developed at the University of Cambridge. This op-ed is part of a series provided by the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers,...

Sep 20, 2015

3D Computer Chips Could Be 1,000 Times Faster Than Existing Ones

ST. LOUIS — A new method of designing and building computer chips could lead to blisteringly quick processing at least 1,000 times faster than the best existing chips are capable of, researchers say. The new method, which relies on materials called carbon nanotubes, allows scientists to build the chip in...

Oct 13, 2015

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Exhibit Honors 1st Computer Programmer

A century before the first computer was developed, an Englishwoman named Ada Lovelace laid the theoretical groundwork for an all-purpose device that could solve a host of mathematically-based problems. Widely credited as being the first-ever computer programmer, Lovelace's pioneering work is explored in a new exhibit that opens today (Oct....

Oct 16, 2015

Photos: Retro Computers and Calculators Up for Auction

The Apple computer that started it all, a Nazi German cipher machine and a 14th-century clock are among the items available for purchase in the Seven Centuries of Science sale, an online auction hosted by Christie's auction house in London. The sale, which kicked off yesterday (Oct. 15), features items...

Jan 6, 2016

How Computers Help Biologists Crack Life’s Secrets

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Once the three-billion-letter-long human genome was sequenced, we rushed into a new “omics” era of biological research. Scientists are now racing to sequence the genomes (all the genes) or...

Jan 29, 2016

Mind-Reading Computer Instantly Decodes People's Thoughts

A new computer program can decode people's thoughts almost in real time, new research shows. Researchers can predict what people are seeing based on the electrical signals coming from electrodes implanted in their brain, and this decoding happens within milliseconds of someone first seeing the image, the scientists found. The...

Mar 3, 2016

Tiny Molecules Could Solve Problems Supercomputers Take Lifetimes to Crack

The molecules that help muscles contract could one day help drive a new kind of molecular supercomputer, researchers said. These biological computers could quickly solve complex problems that conventional supercomputers would take lifetimes or more to crack, scientists added. Modern supercomputers are staggeringly powerful. The world's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2 in...

Mar 3, 2016

US Government Invites Hackers to 'Hack the Pentagon'

The Pentagon is about to pay hackers to break into government security systems. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday (March 2) that it plans to launch the first cyber bug bounty program in the history of the federal government. The so-called Hack the Pentagon program, which is slated...

Mar 7, 2016

Do Computer Coding Toys for Kids Really Work?

From beating the best human players at chess, to flying planes, to running stock market transactions, computers are now used in virtually every facet of modern-day life. But children aren't being adequately prepared to understand and use this omnipresent technology, experts say. That's why many parents are turning to coding...

Jun 17, 2016

New 'Artificial Synapses' Could Let Supercomputers Mimic the Human Brain

Large-scale brain-like machines with human-like abilities to solve problems could become a reality, now that researchers have invented microscopic gadgets that mimic the connections between neurons in the human brain better than any previous devices. The new research could lead to better robots, self-driving cars, data mining, medical diagnosis, stock-trading...

Aug 29, 2016

Computers Can Sense Sarcasm? Yeah, Right

Humans pick up on sarcasm instinctively and usually do not need help figuring out if, say, a social media post has a mocking tone. Machines have a much tougher time with this because they are typically programmed to read text and assess images based strictly on what they see. So...

Sep 6, 2016

New 'Gel' May Be Step Toward Clothing That Computes

A gel-like material that can carry out pattern recognition could be a major step toward materials that compute, with possible applications for smart clothing or sensing skins for robots, according to a new study. Recent advances in both materials and computer science have prompted researchers to look beyond standard silicon-based...

Sep 26, 2016

1st Computer-Generated Music Record from Alan Turing's Lab Restored

The first-ever computer-generated music, recorded in the labs of computer pioneer Alan Turing in 1951, has been restored, according to The British Library. A BBC unit in Manchester, England, made the recording using a primitive computer that filled much of the ground floor of Turing's Computing Machine Laboratory. The computer...

Sep 26, 2016

New 'Artificial Synapses' Pave Way for Brain-Like Computers

A brain-inspired computing component provides the most faithful emulation yet of connections among neurons in the human brain, researchers say. The so-called memristor, an electrical component whose resistance relies on how much charge has passed through it in the past, mimics the way calcium ions behave at the junction between...