Month: December 2015

(credit: Mike Mozart/Flickr)

Following news that Coca-Cola’s chief scientist is stepping down, the controversial academic research group set up and funded by the beverage maker has now disbanded.

The group, the Global Energy Balance Network, announced on its website that it is shutting down its work, effective immediately, due to a lack of resources. The group, headed by James O. Hill of the University of Colorado, shifted focus away from the role of sweetened beverages and excess calories in poor health and obesity and instead promoted the benefits of exercise.

In August, The New York Times reported a financial link between the group and Coca-Cola, which provided $1.5 million in funding. $1 million of those funds went to the University of Colorado, which later returned the money after the financial tie was brought to light and drew criticism. Further investigations by the press found that the beverage company helped pick the group’s leaders, set up its website, and craft its mission statement.

The 8-player NES in all its glory, upon a custom-made octagonal pedestal.

18 more images in gallery

What do you get if you combine the nerdy ingenuity of ETH Zurich, the creativity of Disney researchers, and a swanky Swiss night club with a 360-degree projection system? The world's only cooperative 8-player, 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System capable of continuous, panoramic side-scrolling on that aforementioned 360-degree display, of course.

At this point I would recommend that you look at the photo gallery and at least one of the videos below so that you have a mental image of how this all slots together. I will attempt to describe the system, too, but words don't really do it justice.

So, as you probably know, Super Mario Bros is a single-player side-scrolling game for the NES/Famicom. You constantly move forwards, jumping over obstacles and on top of goombas, until you get to the end of the level. That's about it. There's no going back, you can't zoom out to see where you've been, and the max number of players is two: one for Mario, one for Luigi.

Printer giant Epson has developed an in-office paper recycling machine. Called the PaperLab, you put waste paper in, and then new, bright white printer paper comes out. Epson says this process is more efficient than sending paper to an off-site recycling plant, and it's also much more secure: the PaperLab, which breaks paper down into its constituent fibres before building them back up into new sheets, is one of the most secure paper shredders that money can buy.

The specs of the machine are truly impressive. Within three minutes of adding waste paper to the PaperLab, it starts pumping out perfectly white sheets of new paper. The system can produce around 14 A4 sheets of paper per minute, or 6,720 sheets in an eight-hour workday. The PaperLab can also produce A3 paper, and you can tweak the thickness and density of the paper as well: if you want really thin white paper, that's cool; if you want thicker paper for business cards, it can do that too.

Epson says that the PaperLab is the world's first paper production system to use a "dry process." Paper-making processes usually require a lot of water, but the PaperLab requires only a tiny amount of water to "maintain a certain level of humidity inside the system," so it doesn't need to be plumbed into the mains. Presumably there's a small tank of water that needs to be filled up occasionally—hopefully with normal tap water, not £50-per-litre Epson Purified PrintXL Water.

Albert Einstein in 1919, after the eclipse voyages that verified general relativity. (credit: Public domain)

It stands among the most famous theories ever created, but the general theory of relativity did not spring into being with a single, astonishing paper like the special theory of relativity in 1905. Instead, general relativity's birth was more chaotic, involving a handful of lectures, manuscripts, and more than one parent.

One hundred years ago this fall, that harrowing labor occupied almost an entire month in November 1915. When finished, Einstein finally delivered a theory perfectly formed, if not already mature, and trembling with potential. Today, the general theory retains its status as our modern theory of gravity, and its fundamental equations remain unchanged.

However, we've learned a great deal more about the back story and consequences of general relativity in the past century. In fact over time, this model of gravity, space, and time has come to be regarded by many who know it as perhaps the “most beautiful of all existing physical theories.” But to fully appreciate all the complexity of general relativity—in substance and creation—you need to start before the very beginning.