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‘Mind-Control’ gaming devices leak users’ secrets

August 22, 2012

A sequence of credit cards is presented to the user. Her brainwaves from an EEG device (EPOC from Emotiv Systems in this case) are monitored by a computer.

In a study of 28 subjects wearing brain-machine interface devices built by companies like Neurosky and Emotiv and marketed to consumers for gaming and attention exercises, researchers found they were able to extract hints directly from the electrical signals of the test subjects’ brains that partially revealed private information, like the location of their homes, faces they recognized and even their credit card PINs, Forbes reports.

In… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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Beam yourself to work in a remote-controlled body

September 26, 2012

beam-robot

To make it more practical for engineers and others living in cheaper places to telecommute to work, Suitable Technologies (a Willow Garage spinoff) has developed a roving telepresence system that is more practical and less awkward to use than previous systems, says founder Scott Hassan, Technology Review reports.

The $16,000 Beam Remote Presence telepresence system, now available, can save on the expense and time of long-haul travel and allows remote workers to be… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Single-molecule motor sits on a single-atom ball bearing

Can be run forward or in reverse, depending on where electrons are injected
December 31, 2012

The base of the device holds a Ru atom, and the five-armed device can rotate on top of it (credit:

Researchers have created a reversible rotor that sits atop a ball bearing — a single ruthenium atom, Ars Technica reports.

The base of the system involves a boron atom that coordinates three ringed structures that are chemically similar to the bases of DNA. Nitrogens at a corner of these ringed structures coordinate the ruthenium atom, placing it at the peak of a three-sided pyramid.

The ruthenium atom acts… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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Rollable, foldable e-devices coming

November 2, 2012

foldable_rollable_edevices

What if a tablet screen were a paper-thin plastic that rolled like a window shade?

University of Cincinnati researchers have now announced experiment verification that such “electrofluidic imaging film” works. The breakthrough is a white, porous film coated with a thin layer of reflective electrodes and spacers that are then subjected to unique and sophisticated fluid mechanics in order to electrically transport the colored ink and clear-oil… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Breakthrough: compound generated by low carb/low-calorie diet blocks effects of aging

Discovery suggests way to protect cells from damage caused by oxidative stress
December 10, 2012

salad

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified a novel mechanism by which a type of low-carb, low-calorie diet — called a “ketogenic diet” — could delay the effects of aging: the compound  β-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB), a “ketone body” that is generated during a prolonged low-calorie or ketogenic diet.

Blocking oxidative stress

While ketone bodies such as βOHB can be toxic when… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity

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Independent Mars mission planned for 2018

February 25, 2013

775px-Dennis_Tito

The Inspiration Mars Foundation,  led by Dennis Tito, the first space tourist, will announce on Wednesday Feb. 27 a planned mission to Mars in 2018.

The mission would take advantage of a unique window of opportunity; the orbits of Earth and Mars will be closely aligned. The round-trip journey would start in January 2018 and take 501 days.

No details are available yet on how they… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Space

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Stay cool and live longer?

Scientists have known for nearly a century that cold-blooded animals, such as worms, flies and fish all live longer in cold environments, but have not known exactly why
February 20, 2013

Roundworms' secret of long life: being cool (credit: The Goldstein Lab)

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have identified a genetic program that promotes longevity of roundworms (nematodes) in cold environments — and this genetic program also exists in warm-blooded animals, including humans.

“This raises the intriguing possibility that exposure to cold air — or pharmacological stimulation of the cold-sensitive genetic program — may promote longevity in mammals,” said… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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Can computers understand art?

Another “only humans can…” belief has just been shattered
September 27, 2012

figure_artists

Computer scientists Computer scientists Lior Shamir and Jane Tarakhovsky of Lawrence Technological University in Michigan have developed a program that analyzes paintings in a manner similar to how expert art historians perform their analysis, and conducted an  experiment that showed that machines can outperform untrained humans in the analysis of fine art.

In the experiment, the researchers used approximately 1, 000 paintings of 34 well-known artists, and let the computer… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Computers/Infotech/UI | Entertainment/New Media

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Cosmic radiation found harmful to astronauts during space travel

NASA-funded study shows exposed mice develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
January 2, 2013

This NASA shapeship design may no longer be able to protect astronauts during a trip to and from Mars (credit: NASA)

Cosmic radiation — which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars — could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study in the open-access journal PLOS ONE shows.

“Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts,” said M. Kerry O’Banion, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurobiology and… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Space

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A 3D-printing pen

February 25, 2013

3doodler

Have you ever wished you could just draw a object in the air and have it magically printed out? 

WoobbleWorks has created 3Doodler (a Kickstarter project), the world’s first “3D printing pen” to do just that.

As you draw, it extrudes ABS plastic (the material used by many 3D printers) in the air or on surfaces — no software or computers required.

The… read more

Topics: Entertainment/New Media | Nanotech/Materials Science | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Obama to unveil specifics of Brain Activity Map project

April 2, 2013

brain-rays

President Obama on Tuesday will announce specifics on the Brain Activity Map project Tuesday, The New York Times reports. The initiative, which will officially be known as Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or Brain for short, has been designated a grand challenge of the 21st century by the Obama administration.

The broad new research initiative, starting with $100 million in 2014, is intended to invent and… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Houston, we have liftoff: HumanBirdWings guy finally enjoys the miracle of human flight UPDATE

March 21, 2012

flyinglikeabird

Jarno Smeets, famous for his HumanBirdWings project, may just have made semi-self-propelled aeronautical history, flying over 100 meters on his self-built wings. His inspiration: the albatross.

UPDATE: The ‘birdman’ is FAKE

If this video doesn’t inspire you, nothing will. — Ed. 

Topics: AI/Robotics | Human Enhancement | Physics/Cosmology

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New York Times bestseller: Ray Kurzweil’s How to Create a Mind

November 26, 2012

How to Create a Mind cover

How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed by Ray Kurzweil is now #5 on the New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Nonfiction.

It came out at #1 among all books on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list and went into its third printing one week after publication.

The book is available from the book website and from all major… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Using HIV to attack itself

January 21, 2013

HIV virus (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) Associate Professor David Harrich has developed a way to use HIV to beat HIV in the laboratory.

He has determined how to modify a protein in the virus, creating the the “Nullbasic” protein, which provides strong, lasting protection from infection by stopping the virus from replicating in a lab environment. Animal trials are due to start this year.

“If this… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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The next generation of vertical flight

March 1, 2013

VTOLXPlane1

The DARPA Tactical Technology Office is soliciting proposals on the design, development and demonstration of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) experimental aircraft (X-Plane) with exceptional performance in vertical and cruise flight, and operational capability through transition from vertical to forward flight

Higher speeds, increased efficiency, elegant designs are the focus of DARPA’s new VTOL X-Plane.

The versatility of helicopters and other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft… read more

Topics: Survival/Defense

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