TechPicks: January 2012

NASA’s New Satellite Captures Amazing Hi-Res Image of Earth:

You’ve seen Earth, but you’ve never seen it like this.

Suomi NPP, NASA’s newest Earth-watching satellite, has taken a high resolution image of Earth, one of the most beautiful such images ever created. It’s available in 8000×8000 pixel resolution, and it takes a while to download, but it’s definitely worth it.

The satellite, named after the “father of satellite meteorology,” Verner E. Suomi, is designed to create fabulous images of Earth, monitor for natural disasters and improve weather forecasts as well as our understanding of long-term climate changes.

The image is a composite, created using a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on Jan. 4, 2012. It echoes the legendary “Blue Marble” photograph, taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on Dec, 7, 1972,

The Blue Marble 2012, as NASA named the new photo, is available in high resolution here.

Now, where do we sign up for a 8000×8000 pixel screen so we can use this baby as a desktop background?

Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring

[via Our Amazing Planet]

Google Brain: Are We Losing Our Memory to the Search Giant? [VIDEO]:

Google is great for looking up words, finding movie times or perusing recipes, but recent research out of Columbia University shows our dependence on Internet search may be hurting our memory.

The Internet has replaced our brain’s ability to remember information we could easily search for online, a study led by neuroscientist Betsy Sparrow shows. While we heavy Internet users remember where to search for information, we have forgotten information itself.

Just as computers use external hard drives to store information, our brains use the Internet as a back up. Many of us are rarely without an Internet connection, meaning we can rely on the memory of where we read something online. As a result, we often forget information we don’t think we will need again.

“People actively do not make the effort to remember when they think they can look up information later,” the study’s authors write.

Furthermore, we go into withdrawal when we can’t find something online. Losing our smartphones is becoming more like the experience of losing a friend, The Daily Mail explains.

The study’s participants underwent four experiments, which tested their memory of easily searchable information, whether they responded more quickly to computer-related words than other words and whether they remembered where to search for information online.

Do you think constant Internet connection has influenced your ability to recall information? Do you make any effort to remember information you can search for later? Let us know if this study describes your behavior in the comments.