Teams of sniffer robots may someday scour land and sea, using their artificial snouts to root out mines in places and situations humans would rather avoid.At least this is the goal of a team studying the lobster–a creature considered a paragon of odor analysis–in order to create a robotic version of the lobster’s snout.
“The idea is that evolution has developed the lobster antennule (nose) to do the job… read more
On Sept. 11, alternative stock-trading networks stayed active via the Internet and redundant systems even after the New York Stock Exchange closed because of the terrorist attacks on the nearby World Trade Center, witnesses told a House subcommittee Wednesday.The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection looked into the post-Sept. 11 experience of these “electronic communications networks”–operations with names such as Instinet and Archipelago.
These ECNs bring stock… read more
An experiment to uncover the world’s funniest jokes has found that some computer-generated gags can be more amusing than those thought up by humans.
The Laugh Lab survey is being conducted through a web site, on which members of the public are invited to submit favourite jokes and rate other submissions. They are also asked to contribute information about themselves.
Five computer-generated gags were contributed by researchers at… read more
In the controversy of extracting stem cells from human embryos for possible use in the treatment of diseases, researchers must weigh not only the question of when human life begins, but what being alive really means.
Are the following “alive” or not?
Researchers at the Office of Naval Research are using a combination of engineering and neurobiology to model mammalian brain processes.They are learning how the architecture and physiological properties of cells in visual cortex integrate visual cues for target recognition.
“Right now we’re building a cellular-level model of a small piece of visual cortex,” says Dr. Leif Finkel, head of the University of Pennsylvania’s Neuroengineering Research Lab. “It’s a very… read more
Life in perpetuity will be secured by “rejuvenative medicine” — repairing the body by developing new tissues and organs as the old ones wear out — and nanotechnology, says Dr. William A. Haseltine, CEO of Human Genome Sciences.He sees rejuvenative medicine growing out of “regenerative medicine,” which will unfold in four phases.
1. The first phase is using the body’s own signaling factors to stimulate healing… read more
Alternatives to controversial human embryonic stem cells are being explored for creating tissue needed to repair damaged organs.
Possibilities include:
US researchers have made the world’s smallest building blocks. The nanocubes are just one nanometer across.Stacked like bricks, they could make up a range of materials with useful properties such as light emission or electrical conduction.
Many chemists are currently trying to develop molecular-scale construction kits in which the individual components are single molecules to provide the polymers of the future. Conventional polymers are chainlike molecules. These entangle to… read more
Scientists have created a new microelectronic device that can emit the smallest amount of light possible, a breakthrough that may lead to absolute confidentiality in communications involving finance, health care and other fields.A perfectly secure message impossible to eavesdrop on depends on communication signals that contain only one packet of light, or photon. Ordinary light sources, however, are not able to reliably generate these incredibly dim, one photon pulses.… read more
The Sept. 11 attacks confirmed the ongoing terrorist threat and the importance of proactive development of methods to prevent nanotech abuse, K. Eric Drexler, Chairman of the Foresight Institute said in a statement sent to institute members.”Foresight’s position favoring speedy development of advanced nanotech has also been strengthened,” he said. “The longer we wait, the better the infrastructure worldwide, the smaller the budget and project needed–and the easier… read more
Which innovative technologies will spur the next boom? That was a key question on the minds of executives attending the recent BusinessWeek Conference on the Digital Economy in San Francisco.
For consumers, seamless access to information will drive the future of the computer industry, according to Daeje Chin, president and CEO, Digital Media System Business, Samsung Electronics. For businesses, it will require seamless access to devices –-… read more
Hollywood celebrity television reporter Jiminy Glick interviewed Ray Kurzweil at BusinessWeek’s Digital Economy conference during a special evening performance featuring Martin Short and the “Second City” Comedy Improv Group Thursday night.
Glick expressed a strong interest in Kurzweil’s research. “Forget AI, I need a Heimlich!” he said, apparently choking from munching nonstop jujus.
He was also fascinated with virtual reality. “Could a computer bring back Robbie Benson?” he asked,… read more
Realistic computer sound, specifically tuned for each listener, could get a little closer using a new, free public database of acoustic measurements developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis.
“We’ve captured the critical information needed to reproduce actual sounds as each listener perceives them,” said Ralph Algazi, who led the research team at the UC Davis Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing (CIPIC).
Spatially realistic sound… read more