college

Sensor promises disease detection with naked eye

British scientists have come up with a super-sensitive prototype sensor that lets doctors detect early stage diseases with the naked eye, an innovation that could prove valuable in countries that lack the resources for expensive diagnostic equipment.

The sensor, created at Imperial College London, relies on nanotechnology to analyze serum derived from blood samples.

A positive reaction to p24, a protein that indicates early HIV infection, or PSA, a protein that at certain levels can indicate prostate cancer, generates irregular clumps of nanoparticles that emit a blue color in a solution kept in a disposable container.

A negative reaction, however, … Read more

TorrentFreak pegs top pirating universities in U.S.

Restricting access to Web sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents has been a long-standing practice for universities in both the U.S. and United Kingdom.

Suffering under the strain of heavy traffic due to students streaming films and downloading gigabytes of data via torrents, academic institutions have attempted -- often in vain -- to curb the trend.

But when the next episode of "Game of Thrones" isn't out for another week and has been broadcast already in another country, the temptation is no doubt difficult to resist.

Universities are not unaware of this and have … Read more

Ohio State marching band plays game tribute at halftime

I've always said that if there is ever a time to talk about video games, it's at a college football game. Of course, I'm almost always wrong about these kinds of things. But not this time! I've finally been validated in the form of a halftime show marching band. Check it out.

If you missed it, make sure to watch the running horse at 6:01 -- simply incredible! The sweet tribute to gaming was posted by YouTube user handmrow gobucks, who writes: … Read more

Facebook and Gates Foundation host education hackathon

Facebook partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today to host an education-centered hackathon called "HackEd."

The goal of "HackEd" is to kick-off the Gates Foundation's new $2.5 million investment fund called the College Knowledge Challenge. The fund is dedicated to getting developers to build apps for students that would assist them in navigating the college process -- this means helping young folks get into school and stay there.

"At Facebook, we believe that a more open and connected world can have a big impact in addressing some of society's biggest … Read more

Laundry additive turns shirts, pants into pollution eaters

Last year, we heard about the first article of Catalytic Clothing, an experimental dress that pulls pollutants out of the atmosphere. Now the technology is moving along to the point where it could be used as a liquid laundry additive and become part of our regular clothes washing chores.

According to a release from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the U.K., "Within just two years, we could all be wearing clothes that purify the air as we simply move around in them."… Read more

Hug Me Coat wraps its sad, warm arms around you

We've seen some unusual fashion statements around here before. There's a Wampa-skin dress and a jacket that collects rain, for example, but neither is quite as unusual or strangely unsettling as the Hug Me Coat.

The Hug Me Coat comes from Si Leong Chan, a London College of Fashion student. It's a bright green puffer coat with a row of hands with intertwined fingers running down the front. It gives the illusion of many martian arms grasping the model's torso.… Read more

Evernote, Moleskine debut techy Smart Notebook

Keyboards schmeyboards. Whatever happened to writing with stationary? Before we totally descend into a touchy-feely world of screens and buttons, at least the new can co-exist with the old through the Evernote Smart Notebook, made in collaboration with Italian paper company Moleskine.

Why would a couple of companies call a bunch of blank pages smart? … Read more

'Canopy' gives subway trains an outside view

Ever had the experience of being in a subway and feeling completely disconnected from the world outside? A group of British design students has dreamed up Canopy, a concept display system that would attach to the ceiling of an underground train to give passengers a picture of life above.

Canopy uses dynamic flexible "e-paper" display panels affixed to the interior of the train. As a train moves along its line, commuters get a view of passing landmarks, a sight that could definitely brighten a stodgy ride. (Then again, it could be a bit dispiriting to watch the world stroll happily down a breezy tree-lined street while you're stuck sweating in a crowded, stalled train.) … Read more

Cross your fingers: Bot lets superstition guide stock trades

Would you invest in a fund that bases its trades on the patterns of the moon? In a move unlikely to be espoused in any Business 101 class, lots of people already have.

They're sinking their dollars into the Superstitious Fund, a one-year experiment that invites the public to invest in the stock market via an uncanny trading algorithm. The automated bot trades live against the FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange predicated purely on numerology and astrology. … Read more

A bicycle built for two: One person, one skeleton

We at CNET of course believe in the importance of science education -- and if going on a 1,000-mile bike ride with a life-size skeleton as a passenger helps more students get one, why, all the better.

Kadhim Shubber, a physics undergraduate at the high-ranking science-based Imperial College London, is currently riding the length of the British Isles to raise money for his school's Rector's Scholarship Fund. It's a long and sometimes tedious journey, but Shubber has constant company in the form of King Arthur, an artificial skeleton riding on the back of his Claud Butler racing tandem. … Read more