Dozens of space-based telescopes operate near Earth and provide incredible images of the universe. But imagine a telescope far away in the outer solar system, 10 or even 100 times farther from the Sun than Earth. The ability to look back at our solar system or peer into the darkness of the distant cosmos would make this a uniquely powerful scientific tool. I’m an astrophysicistwho studies the formation of structure in the universe....

As Christopher Hitchens once opined, it’s always worthwhile to establish first principles. How do you know, he asked a Canadian audience, that the world is round? How do we know, he continued, what we think that we know? This is as true in as philosophy as it is in operating systems. In case you are a new TNW reader, I am a card-carrying Windows fanboy. In fact, I am for all intents and purposes the only Windows user here at The Next Web....

Scientists have demonstrated the first human use of a wireless brain-computer interface, a potential breakthrough for people with paralysis. While traditional BCIs are tethered to users via cables, the new system — called BrainGate — replaces the cords with a small transmitter affixed atop a users’ head. The unit then connects to an electrode array implanted in the brain’s motor cortex. In a clinical trial, two participants with paralysis used the system to point, click, and type on a standard tablet computer....

I was pretty excited to head toCTIA. Not only because I knew that I’d see some amazing wireless technology (and I did) but also because I knew that there was a large section of the floor dedicated solely to applications. This, in case you’ve not read my gushing love of apps on TNW Apps before, was enough to get my pulse racing. So there I stood at the bottom of the escalator, getting ready for my first steps onto the show floor....

A woman, publicly identified as Jane Doe, was followed home by a man after a liaison arranged by the dating site Match.com and is now suing the site. The woman had two dates with a match made by the site. The first date was normal, but on the second date the man followed her home and forced her to perform a sexual act on him. The man was apparently a registered sex offender and the site currently does not check the criminal status of any of it’s users....