stanford university

Research published this week is taking a new angle on a conundrum that has long puzzled scholars of the Roman empire. Historians know an incredible amount of detail about the Romans. We know that they were very fond of fermented spicy fish sauce, had ritualistic sex in temples, and kept dormice in terracotta jars are a few of the minor details of Roman life (those in Pompeii at least). But 'bigger' facts – like the size of the Roman population – are still a bit of a mystery.

Another carved stone figurine has been discovered at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, adding to an already large collection of over 2,000 pieces that has raised conflicting theories among scholars about their prehistoric purpose. The find, made last week, is of a six inch-tall reclining man with a large beard and oversized nose.

Stanford photo scientists are out to reinvent digital photography with the introduction of an open-source digital camera, which will give programmers around the world the chance to create software that will teach cameras new tricks.  If the technology catches on, camera performance will be no longer be limited by the software that comes pre-installed by the manufacturer. Virtually all the features of the Stanford camera – focus, exposure, shutter speed, flash, etc. – are at the command of software that can be created by inspired programmers anywhere. “The premise of the project is to build a camera that is open source,” said computer science professor Marc Levoy.