Since it was invented decades ago, ray tracing has been the holy grail for rendering computer graphics realistically. By tracing individual light rays as they bounce off multiple surfaces, it can faithfully recreate reflections, sub-surface scattering (when light penetrates through a bit of a surface like human skin, but …

Security circles were thrown into disarray late last year when serious bugs known as Meltdown and Spectre threatened to leak private data from computers around the world. The industry spent months developing patches while the public remained unaware of the danger. Updates only began rolling out early this year, and …

It has been several months since ‘Oumuamua’s discovery, but scientists are still puzzling over our first interstellar visitor. We’ve determined a few important facts, like it’s not an alien spaceship and it’s sort of cigar-shaped. Bigger questions like where it started out and how it got to our solar system …

A team of Canadian scientists from the University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute has found fossilized human footprints of at least three different sizes impressed into a 13,000-year-old paleosol beneath beach sands on Calvert Island, off the Pacific coast of Canada. Photograph of a human footprint (center) at the …

According to a new study published online in the journal PeerJ, foraging marine turtles use flippers to handle prey despite the limbs being evolutionarily designed for locomotion. A green turtle swiping the stinging jellyfish (Cyanea barkeri) in the water column at Hook Island, Queensland, Australia, taken June 2017. Image credit: …

A study published in the journal Nature Communications indicates that when people consume a form of Vitamin B3 called nicotinamide riboside (NR) daily, it mimics caloric restriction, kick-starting the same key chemical pathways responsible for its health benefits. NR also tends to improve blood pressure and arterial health, particularly in …

The UK government recently passed the Space Industry Bill, covering the basics like spaceflight licensing, insurance requirements and safety commitments. It didn’t make much of a splash when it was announced, but it’s a huge move for the UK as it laid the regulatory groundwork that will be needed to …

Maryland sophomore Justin Jackson is foregoing his final two seasons of eligibility and declaring for the 2018 NBA draft. The 6-foot-7 combo forward emerged on the NBA radar with a strong freshman season at Maryland, averaging 10.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from 3-point range, …

For the first three years of the Search Engine Land Awards program, we made a conscious decision not to include awards categories such as “Best SEO Software” or “Best SEM Tool”. The logic behind this choice had many layers, but among the top reasons: Judging all tools individually would require access …

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about the bizarre Q4 rise of brand text ad cost per click (CPC) on Google, following a Q3 in which brand CPC was actually declining. This despite the fact that Google brand top-of-the-page and first-page minimum bid estimates continued to decline steadily through …