SCIENCE

First they beat humans in Jeopardy, now the machines have conquered the Rubik's cube. A group of students from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology have created the robot, aptly named Ruby. Ruby was able to solve the Rubik's Cube in a record 10.18 seconds, the fastest time by a robot. It beat the old record of 18 seconds set by Rubot II, developed by Peter Redmond of Ireland.

It seems that hair-raising rockers aren't the only ones who think AC/DC's music is bloody killer. A tourism operator at Eyre Peninsula has noticed a seemingly bizarre happening every time he visits the vicious predators at Neptune Islands located at south of Port Lincoln.

Atlantis, the last US shuttle was sent out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the final launch of the American shuttle program in July, the US space agency reported. It is the second American shuttle to enter retirement before the US shuttle program ends.

The world's most passionate online gaming community can now connect, compete and improve their Call of Duty multiplayer experience through Activision's (Nasdaq: ATVI) innovative new online service, Call of Duty Elite.

Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to return to Earth for the final time on Wednesday, June 1, completing a 16-day mission to outfit the International Space Station. If Endeavour lands Wednesday, it will have spent 299 days in space and traveled more than 122.8 million miles during its 25 flights. It launched on its first mission on May 7, 1992.

In an unprecedented on-orbit maneuver, Commander Mark Kelly completed the first ever Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)-like approach to the International Space Station at 3:24 a.m. CDT today as part of the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM). The orbital rendezvous verified the successful operation of the MPCV's next generation docking sensor, which NASA has identified as a critical technology needed for future space exploration missions.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has dealt more body blows to the uranium and nuclear power industries.

The world's largest solar-powered boat arrived yesterday on its first Australian stopover in Brisbane. PlanetSolar's Turanor has been touring the world's cities in an effort to become the first solar-powered vehicle to circle the globe. It has already travelled 15,000 nautical miles and is already half way done with its journey.

Australia leads other Asian Pacific countries in adopting cloud computing. In a recent report from Frost and Sullivan titled State of Cloud Computing in Australia: 2011, 43% of enterprises are now using cloud computing in some form and 41% of IT decision makers agreed that cloud computing will continue to be a top priority.

A new development in Apple's legal suit against Samsung has a federal court forcing Samsung to hand over samples of their new Android smart phones and tablets for Apple to examine.

NASA is ending attempts to regain contact with the long-lived Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, which last communicated on March 22, 2010.

When Microsoft acquired Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion, there were concerns about how Skype's IM, voice and video calling features can be integrated with Microsoft's Outlook and Lync products.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today announced the findings of a major study analyzing the impact of information-based energy efficiency programs at eleven utilities across the country. The report identifies energy reductions that could generate billions in savings for Americans and reduce carbon (CO2) emissions by more than 8.9 million metric tons per year if extended nationwide.

Observations of more than 200,000 galaxies made with the Anglo-Australian Telescope in eastern Australia have shown that “dark energy” is real and not a mistake in Einstein’s conception of gravity.

Nuclear physicists have announced that that by the end of 2012 they could determine whether a theorised particle called the Higgs boson, which has unleashed a gruelling decades-long hunt, exists or not.

Scientists from King's College London and the University of Oxford have found that a gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol is a master trans regulator, which controls other genes found within fat in the body.

NASA said on May 12 that new data analysis from its Galileo spacecraft reveals a subsurface ocean of molten or partially molten magma beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.

NASA's countdown clocks has begun ticking again for Monday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour.

A visual treat performed by planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter was visible today in the dawn sky background around sunrise.

Red-faced Facebook executives on Thursday admitted launching a smear campaign against number one rival Google and discredit its privacy practices.

Ancient town Lorca in Spain was hit by a rare 5.3 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, damaging old churches, causing houses to collapse and killing at least 10.

Security researchers at Symantec sad a programming bug on Facebook’s website may have unintentionally given advertisers and others access to a bunch of personal information. This issue may have affected almost 100,000 Facebook applications for now.

A devastating earthquake purportedly predicted for that day by a long-dead seismologist has made Roman locals to leave their town in fear of the catastrophe.

The federal government said it would reduce generous subsidies for home solar electricity panels, in response to the escalating demand for solar electricity panels on Australia's rooftops.

A U.S. space probe carrying four gyroscopes has confirmed two key elements of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, according to the journal Physical Review Letters.

The U.S. government has effectively ended its search for alien life after it slashed the budget of its only center that looks for intelligent life in the universe beyond Earth.

The admonishment about not judging a book by its cover may not be quite right according to a study in the current issue of the journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science. Most people's first impressions tend to come out quite accurate according to the study.

Researchers at the University of Utah have determined that having a high working memory capacity is not an indication of one ability to focus deeply on a current task but a strong capability to shift attention to another task when it is needed.

Seven months after it announced that it would imbue its support pages with more 'social' relevance, Apple, Inc. went live with Apple Support Communites over the pre-easter weekend.