TIME EUROPE
January 29, 2001 VOL. 157 NO. 4
Tech Watch
THE NOBEL FOUNDATION
Great Minds Go Online
Aspiring scientists of all ages can now recreate some of the greatest experiments in history thanks to the Nobel Foundation's new electronic museum. The Nobel e-Museum (www.nobel.se), an online hall of science and culture, is introducing virtual laboratories to its site that will allow high school and university students to simulate electronically some of the experiments that led to Nobel prize-winning breakthroughs. An avatar named Eve — a virtual laboratory assistant that provides tips and answers questions — will step in to help when students get stuck. After the experiment is finished, users can play an online game to test their knowledge. The e-Museum uses databases, text, images, audio and video, as well as 3D virtual reality and webcasts, to provide information about the work of the hundreds of Nobel Prize winners since 1901. The online experiments project, known as the Wallenberg Young Scholars' Program, is made possible in part by a sponsorship deal with Cisco, which is donating consulting time plus switches, routers and software. In addition to increased access to educational material, the system will allow public access to webcasts of Nobel lectures and video-on-demand views of Nobel Prize activities. The foundation's Internet push coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. "Alfred Nobel's goal was to spread enlightenment," says Michael Sohlman, the foundation's executive director. The new networking infrastructure "will put this idea into turbo mode, helping to spread knowledge around the world." The Nobel e-Museum separately plans to introduce an online education program called Science & Technology focusing on important discoveries in the basic sciences that have resulted in practical applications and industrial products. Similar programs are also planned for Literature and Peace.
SITE SEEING
All Creatures Great and Small
Have you seen Bigfoot, the species of giant primate believed by some to inhabit remote stretches of the North American forest? If the answer is yes, then the Bigfoot Field Researchers' Organization (www.bfro.net) wants to hear from you. The bfro website offers information on early American legends about Bigfoot — also known as Sasquatch — maps of recent sightings and a "sighting report form" in which visitors can describe their close encounter with this mysterious creature.
Bigfoot is about the only creature you won't find on the forthcoming Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) — an interconnected network of biodiversity databases that can be searched at www.gbif.org. Information about all the earth's 1.8 million named species will be available, as will data on the billions of specimens in the world's natural history collections. The project, funded by member countries and endorsed by the oecd, launches later this year.
WHAT'S NEXT
Web Software: Just Browsing
As the two big Internet browsers — Netscape's Communicator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer — slug it out, Norwegian firm Opera Software has launched Opera 5, the latest version of its cult-favorite browser. Around 2 million copies have been downloaded for free from the firm's website, www.opera.com, since early December. The high-speed, multiple-window browser supports the wml language, which allows users to access cell phone wap pages. Opera 5 also includes an instant messaging service.
Machine Translation: Speaking in Tongues
Too lazy to learn a foreign language? The U.S. Office of Naval Research may have just the thing for you. The O.N.R. is currently funding research to develop a mobile, lightweight language translator. The device, which will be small enough to be worn on a belt, is capable of making real-time English translations to and from Arabic, Bosnian, Korean and Mandarin Chinese, as well as major European languages. In addition to word-for-word translations, the device can understand conversations in context. The technology is intended for use by Navy personnel during foreign operations.
Internet Devices: Believe It or Not
Sony has unveiled its "I can't believe it's not a computer" product at this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The eVilla Network Entertainment Center provides Internet access via a 15-inch display terminal that comes with a modem, pre-loaded software, browser and Sony eVilla ISP account. Even without a built-in hard drive, users can access e-mail and download music or movies using up to 10 MB of online storage. Alternatively there are 2 USB ports to support external storage devices or printers. No surprise, there is also a slot for a Sony Memory Stick.
This edition's table of contents
TIME Europe home
More stories from TIME Europe and related links
E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com
Like what you're reading?
Click here to try 4 FREE ISSUES of TIME
|
|
|
