Cody Taylor

Lesson: Aggressive sodomy inspires creativity.

The New York Police Department wants to be able to shut down cell phones, in case of a terrorist attack. In testimony today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said he wanted to take out that “formidable capacity to adjust tactics while attacks are underway.”

KentuckyFC writes “A group of electronics engineers have discovered that a thin layer of vanadium oxide acts as a memristor, the fourth basic component of circuits after resistors, capacitors and inductors that were discovered last year. At a critical temperature, a current passing through the layer causes it to change from an insulating state to a metal-like state, thereby changing its resistance (abstract). The effect lasts many hours — which is what makes the layer a memristor (a resistor with memory). The team says this could be scaled up to make resistive random access memory, or RRAM, at very low cost, from little more than layers of vanadium oxide.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Climate change has become the default scapegoat for nearly every extinction on Earth lately. But a new study lets climate off the hook for at least one dramatic event: The disappearance of the Neanderthals from Europe about 35,000 years ago.

From the Aegean Sea to Zambia, this year’s most compelling destinations are awash in sublime landscapes, cutting-edge art, gala music festivals, and stylish new resorts.

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show saw the unveiling of the first ready-for-primetime music game that involves real instruments, rather than plastic ones. We captured some footage so you can see how the game is played.