If you’ve listened to a top 40 radio station in the past few years, you’ve probably noticed a distinct electronic warbling that seems omnipresent in pop vocals. Ever wondered how this type of robotic singing is created? The software behind the effect is called Auto-Tune – think of it as Photoshop for audio – and was invented by none other than an engineer.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have created another mechanical creature: the robotic cockroach. While it may be unpleasant to find one of these squirmy pests in your house, the cockroach is a natural marvel due to its incredible speed and resilience.
Thousands of lives have been lost in Haiti after a major earthquake struck the southern region of the island nation two days ago. The earthquake reached a magnitude of 7.0 and occurred near the boundary between two major tectonic plates, the Caribbean and North American plates. The catastrophe knocked over power lines and caused buildings to crumble.
Earlier we blogged about Earth’s hot twin, an extrasolar planet that bears striking similarities to our home sweet home. Whether they are scorching gas giants or frozen ice queens, these alien Earths appear to be the next hot focus for cosmological research. That’s where NASA’s newest space telescope comes in. Launched last March, the Kepler Mission has already detected five Earth-like exoplanets (one of which apparently has the same density as Styrofoam!).
