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How unconscious processing improves decision-making

February 15, 2013

New brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University provides some of the first evidence showing how the brain unconsciously processes decision information in ways that lead to improved decision making. Published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, the study found that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task. This image shows unconscious activity in two parts of the brain, the left visual cortex and right prefrontal cortex. (Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)

New brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University finds that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task.

The research provides some of the first evidence showing how the brain unconsciously processes decision information in ways that lead to improved decision-making.

“This research begins to chip away at the mystery… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Kinect-based system dramatically cuts cost of telemedicine

February 15, 2013

Kinect Console

A Kinect game controller and Microsoft software could cut the U.S. healthcare bill by up to $30 billion by allowing physicians and other medics to interact with patients remotely, reducing the number of hospital visits and the associated risk of infection.

It could also bring medical services to underserved areas around the world.

Janet Bailey of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Bradley Jensen of… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Telepresence/Telemedicine/Online Education

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Artificial retina receives FDA approval

Argus II is first approved prosthesis to restore limited vision to those blinded by retinitis pigmentosa
February 15, 2013

2sight_argus_ii

In an historic move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted market approval to an artificial retina technology, the first bionic eye to be approved for patients in the U.S.

The device, called the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, from Second Sight Medical Products, transmits images from a small, eye-glass-mounted camera wirelessly to a microelectrode array implanted on a patient’s damaged retina. The… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Human Enhancement | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Black hole discovered 26,000 light years away, says NASA

Something to worry about more than an asteroid?
February 14, 2013

Supernova Remnant W49B (credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/L.Lopez et al; Infrared: Palomar; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA)

A supernova remnant called W49B 26,000 light-years away may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy, new data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory suggests.

The remnant, about a thousand years old as seen from Earth, appears to be the product of a rare explosion in which matter is ejected at high speeds along the poles of a rotating star.

(One newspaper suggested,… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Space | Survival/Defense

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A cure for type 1 diabetes

February 14, 2013

Diabetic dog cured from the disease

Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have succeeded in completely curing type 1 diabetes in dogs with a single session of gene therapy by introducing a “glucose sensor” into muscle.

This is the first time the disease has been cured in large animals, a fundamental step towards applying the therapy in humans. The dogs recovered their health and no longer show symptoms of the… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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An automated ‘time machine’ to reconstruct ancient languages

Will greatly accelerate and improve the process of reconstructing hundreds of ancestral languages
February 14, 2013

Computer scientists have reconstructed ancient Proto-Austronesian, which gave rise to languages spoken in Polynesia, among other places (credit: A. Bouchard-Cote et al./University of California - Berkeley)

Researchers from University of California, Berkeley and the University of British Columbia have created a computer program that can rapidly reconstruct “proto-languages” — the linguistic ancestors from which all modern languages have evolved.

These earliest-known languages include Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Afroasiatic and, in this case, Proto-Austronesian, which gave rise to languages spoken in Southeast Asia, parts of continental Asia, Australasia and the Pacific.

Ancient languages hold… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Turning off the sensation of cold

Could lead to better pain treatments
February 14, 2013

Schematic diagram of mouse molars indicating the termination zones of cold-sensitive fibers (red and green) localized in the pulp and dentin, respectively. The two types of fibers fire with distinct rates of discharge, latencies, and adaptation, as depicted in green box.

 

USC neuroscientists have isolated chills at a cellular level, identifying the sensory network of neurons in the skin that relays the sensation of cold.

David McKemy, associate professor of neurobiology in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and his team managed to selectively shut off the ability to sense cold in mice while still leaving them able to… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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New world-record efficiency for thin-film silicon solar cells

February 14, 2013

Record efficiency with less than 2 micrometers of silicium (credit: PVLab/EPFL)

EPFL’s Institute of Microengineering has reached a remarkable 10.7% efficiency for a single-junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell, surpassing the previous world record of 10.1% held by the Japanese company Kaneka Corporation since 1998.

The efficiency increase was also achieved with with only 1.8 microns of photovoltaic active material — 100 times less material than with standard wafer-based crystalline silicon PV technology.

The new thin-film… read more

Topics: Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Neuroprosthesis gives rats the ability to ‘touch’ infrared light

Ever wonder what it would be like to see in the infrared (or radio waves, x-rays, etc.)?
February 14, 2013

IR stimulation of mouse-sm

An experiment by Duke University Medical Center researchers has implications for both remediating sight and augmenting perception in the future.

Nicolelis Lab researchers attached a head-mounted infrared (IR) sensor to rats and connected it to the whisker area of the brain (somatosensory cortex), using electrical microstimulation.

Despite the fact that the IR sensations were very different from whisker sensations, the rats readily learned to use… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement

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Black holes growing faster than expected

February 14, 2013

M104_ngc4594_sombrero_galaxy

Black holes are growing faster than previously thought possible, according to new research published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal.

Even the black hole in our own Milky Way Galaxy, which otherwise appears very quiet, has probably been consuming the equivalent of one Sun every 3000 years.

Until recently, astronomers thought that black holes grow mostly when galaxies crash into each other, at which time a large… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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A nanocopter camera that follows you around, streaming video to your smartphone

February 14, 2013

MeCam

Always Innovating is developing a $49. tiny flying video camera called the MeCam, due out in 2014.

The camera streams live video to your smartphone, allowing you to stream or upload videos. A nanocopter with 4 spinning rotors houses the camera, with an ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, WiFI, and Bluetooth.

The MeCam launches from the palm of a hand and hovers instantly. It streams… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Entertainment/New Media | Social Networking/Web

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Protein ‘filmed’ while unfolding at atomic resolution

May contribute to a better understanding of how proteins misfold during illness
February 13, 2013

“Snapshot” of the unfolding of the CylR2 protein from Enterococcus faecalis. If the protein is cooled from 25°C to -16°C, it successively breaks down into its two identical subunits. The latter are initially stable, but at -16°C they form an instable, dynamic protein form, which plays a key role in folding. (Credit: Zweckstetter/Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry & German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases)

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Göttingen — in collaboration with Polish colleagues — have now “filmed” how a protein gradually unfolds for the first time.

By combining low temperatures and NMR spectroscopy, the scientists visualized seven intermediate forms of the CylR2 protein while cooling it down from 25°C to – 16°C.… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Imaging fish larvae in 3D could aid drug development

February 13, 2013

mit_3d_fish

Zebrafish larvae — tiny, transparent and fast-growing vertebrates — are widely used to study development and disease. However, visually examining the larvae for variations caused by drugs or genetic mutations is an imprecise, painstaking and time-consuming process.

Engineers at MIT have now built an automated system that can rapidly produce 3D, micron-resolution images of thousands of zebrafish larvae and precisely analyze their physical traits. The… read more

Topics: Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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‘Artificial atoms’ allow for sensing magnetic fields of individual cells

February 13, 2013

Artist's impression of nanomanipulation of an artificial atom (credit: ICFO)

Researchers in Spain and Australia have developed a new technique that similar to MRI but with the high resolution and sensitivity need to scan individual cells.

The researchers, from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), in collaboration with the CSIC and Macquarie University in Australia, are led by ICFO Prof. Romain Quidant. They used “artificial atoms” — diamond nanoparticles doped with nitrogen impurity — to probe… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Welcome to the malware-industrial complex

February 13, 2013

(Credit: iStockphoto)

The U.S. government is developing new computer weapons and driving a black market in “zero-day” bugs. The result could be a more dangerous Web for everyone, says MIT Technology Review.

A freshly discovered weakness in a popular piece of software, known in the trade as a “zero-day” vulnerability, can be cashed in for much more than a reputation boost and some free drinks at the bar. Information about such flaws can command prices in… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Survival/Defense

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