The Daily Croissant

"...the one chip that towers above all others—the big, bad CPU. We know there are millions, and often billions, of transistors packed inside each and every modern-day processor. This in itself is a testament not only to man's obsession with miniaturization but his unstoppable thirst for power. But there's other stuff too—silicon wafers; dielectric insulators; copper electroplating; a high-speed, multi-layered highway of interconnections; and assorted unit-specific bits and pieces.

Wanna see what it all looks like? Check out the gallery below !"

Lily Anther, Still Alive

"Using a new microscopy technique, scientists can see living cells clearly without the need to stain them, a process which usually kills the cells. These cells are from a lily anther, the pollen-carrying reproductive portion of the flower. University of Sheffield 

A new microscopy method called electron ptychography that ditches lenses altogether could create the highest-resolution images ever seen. The system reconstructs an image from the electron waves scattered by a sample, and has no fundamental experimental limits imposed by constraints like blurry glass or wavelengths of visible light. It can even be used to image live cells without harming them."

By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times 
January 26, 2012

"The X-47B drone, above, marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone’s ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.