trogador writes “Researchers from Imperial College London are improving the Da Vinci surgical robot by installing an eye-tracker, which allows surgeons to control the robot’s knife simply by looking at the patient’s tissues on a screen. Tracking the eyes can generate a 3D map, which in turn can make moving organs — like a beating heart — appear to stand still for easier operation. Other features include ’see-through’ tissues on the surgeon’s screen (so tumors can be seen underneath tissues) and ‘no-cut’ zones, places where the robot won’t grant the surgeon to cut by mistake. Says ICL Professor Guang Zhong Yang, ‘We want to empower the robot and make it more autonomous.’”

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harsha_c sends in a local Indian perspective on the vote against Microsoft’s OOXML ahead of the March 29 deadline. Of 19 companies participating, only 5 voted in favor of OOXML. “It was the ultimate battle for control over global IT standard for documents — between Microsoft-promoted OOXML and Sun and IBM-backed Open Document Format. It was played out between Indian IT giants, namely Infosys, Wipro, TCS supported by Nasscom on one side and the global IT biggies like IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat backed by te IITs, IIMs and IISc on the other, on their respective positions on Microsoft’s OOXML standard. Microsoft understandably expressed its disspointment. ‘While we are disappointed with the decision of the BIS committee, we’re encouraged by the support from NASSCOM.’

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sciencehabit writes “Physicists might have finally figured out why the universe contains more matter than antimatter. The key lies in a flaw in the relationship between the two and a potentially new subatomic particle. ‘Other researchers, however, state the results, published today in Nature, should be interpreted cautiously. It could all be an effect produced by run-of-the-mill particles’.”

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