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A magnetic memory with one bit per molecule

July 6, 2012

kit_molecule_magnetism_conductance

Researchers from Karlsruhe, Strasbourg, and Japan have developed a memristor magnetic memory with one bit per molecule.

One bit of digital information stored on a hard disk currently consists of about 3 million magnetic atoms.

Using an electric pulse, the metal-organic molecule can be switched reliably between a conductive, magnetic state and a low-conductive, non-magnetic state.

“The superparamagnetic effect prevents smaller bit… read more

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

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A major step toward an Alzheimer’s treatment and vaccine

January 17, 2013

PET scan of the brain of a person with AD showing a loss of function in the temporal lobe (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A way to stimulate the brain’s natural defense mechanisms in people with Alzheimer’s disease has been discovered by researchers at Université Laval, CHU de Québec and pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): a molecule known as MPL (monophosphoryl lipid A) that stimulates the activity of the brain’s immune cells.

The breakthrough opens the door to developing a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and a vaccine to prevent the… read more

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

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A ‘Manhattan Project’ for the Next Generation of Bionic Arms

March 21, 2008

Johns Hopkins researchers are leading a DARPA-funded nationwide effort to make a bionic arm that wires directly into the brain to let amputees regain motor control and feeling.

Topics: Human Enhancement

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A Maybe Planet, Orbiting Its Maybe Sun

September 22, 2008
(Gemini Observatory)

Astronomers from the University of Toronto have published a picture of what they say might be the first image of a planet orbiting another Sunlike star, about 30 billion miles away from the star, inexplicably.

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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A Means for Publishers to Put a Newspaper in Your Pocket

July 28, 2008

Verve Wireless believes it can save the dying local newspaper by making it mobile, with a technology to create Web sites for cellphones.

Topics: Internet/Telecom

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A Meeting Of The Metal Minds

May 22, 2006

This year’s theme at the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation is “Humanitarian Robotics.”

A primary role of these lifelike robots is not to advance human mimicry but rather human understanding. Scientists formulate theories about how various systems of the human body work, and roboticists believe that some of these theories can be verified or rejected by building robots.

Topics: AI/Robotics

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A Memory Breakthrough

February 4, 2008

Intel announced a research advance that doubles the storage capacity of a single phase-change memory cell.

Unlike flash, data can be written to cells much faster, at rates comparable to the dynamic and static random-access memory (DRAM and SRAM) used in all computers and cell phones today.

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI

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A memristor true random-number generator

July 17, 2012

The resistive memory cell sits between a tungsten contact and the transistor's drain region (credit: National Tsing Hua University)

Engineers at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan have invented a tiny low-power circuit based on memristors that could improve security for data transmission over the Internet and via Near Field Communication (NFC) from smartphone wallets, IEEE Spectrum reports.

The security of many digital transactions depends on generating truly random numbers, something that’s difficult to do using today’s digital circuits, which typically produce numbers… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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A midday nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity

February 22, 2010

A midday 90-minute stage 2 non-REM sleep (takes place between deep sleep and the dream state known as Rapid Eye Movement or REM) period refreshes the mind and can make you smarter, UC Berkeley researchers have found.

The findings reinforce their hypothesis that sleep is needed to clear the brain’s short-term memory storage and make room for new information.

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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A middle-ear microphone — new hope for the deaf

May 5, 2012

ear_microphone

A tiny prototype microphone and related electronics that can be implanted in the middle ear has been developed by University of Utah and Case Western Reserve University engineers.

Cochlear implants have restored basic hearing to some 220,000 deaf people, yet a microphone and related electronics must be worn outside the head, raising reliability issues, preventing patients from swimming, and creating social stigma.

The proof-of-concept device,… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics

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A Milestone In Human DNA Sequencing

September 17, 2004

Researchers in the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and Stanford Human Genome Center have reached a halfway point in decoding the human genome by finishing chromosome 5, the 12th chromosome finished, with 12 more to go.

The fifth chromosome contains key disease genes and a wealth of information about how humans evolved. This large chromosome contains 923 genes, including 66 genes known to be involved in human disease.… read more

Topics: Biotech

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A military robot that does it all

February 7, 2012

iRobot 710 Warrior

With the official launch of the iRobot Warrior, a large wheeled robot with a hefty mechanical arm, military robots just got significantly larger and more adaptable.

The robot can climb stairs and cover rough terrain, and perform tasks ranging from the delicate (opening car doors) to the destructive (smashing car windows) with its two-meter-long mechanical arm, and could be weaponized — in one test it launched a rocket that… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Survival/Defense

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A million-year hard disk

July 13, 2012

Star saphire (credit: Mitchell Gore/Wikipedia)

Patrick Charton of the French nuclear waste management agency ANDRA has presented one possible solution for long-term preservation of data: a sapphire disk inside which information is engraved using platinum.

The prototype shown costs €25,000 to make, but Charton says it will survive for a million years. The aim, Charton told the Euroscience Open Forum here, is to provide “information for future archaeologists.”

In 2010, ANDRA began a project… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal

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A mind at rest strengthens memories, researchers find

January 28, 2010

Our memories are strengthened during periods of rest while we are awake, not just during sleep, researchers at New York University have found.

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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A mind to walk again

May 18, 2012

Houston_robotic_legs

Dr. José Contreras-Vidal of the University of Houston has designed a pair of bionic legs that respond directly to signals from the brain.

The problem with the current brain-computer interface approach — implanting electrodes into a brain, as in the BrainGate2 system, is that it’s a dangerous procedure and can also lead to infections. It also requires a bulky hardware system.

Contreras-Vidal’s approach gets round these difficulties by… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement

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