We’ve all experienced it: The frustration of entering a room and forgetting what we were going to do. Or get. Or find.
New research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses. “Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and… read more
Rats with spinal cord injuries and severe paralysis are now walking (and running) thanks to researchers at EPFL.
They found that a severed section of the spinal cord can make a comeback when its own innate intelligence and regenerative capacity is awakened.
The study points to a profound change in our understanding of the central nervous system. According to lead author Grégoire Courtine, it… read more
The new generation of search and rescue soft robots can wiggle their way into some tight spaces, but as for speed, not so much.
So Tufts University researchers decided to make their bots imitate caterpillars, some of which have the extraordinary ability to rapidly curl themselves into a wheel and propel themselves away from predators — really fast.
It’s called “ballistic rolling” — one of the fastest wheeling… read more
Walgreen Co. will sell genetic tests in about 6,000 of its stores starting in mid-May to help evaluate a person’s relative risk of developing certain diseases.
Walgreen plans to offer Pathway’s Insight Saliva Collection Kit at retail from $20 to $30. The saliva test, which will be done at Pathway’s labs, will cost between $79 and $249. Genetic tests typically cost about $300.
Scientists have found a way to regenerate hair follicles that may lead to a cure for baldness, by reawakening genes once active only in developing embryos.
“The greatest getting-and-spending spree in the history of the world is about to end,” says Matthew Stein in his book, When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival.
“The 200-year boom that gave citizens of the industrial world levels of wealth, health and longevity beyond anything previously known to humanity is threatened on every side. Oil is running out; the climate is changing at a potentially catastrophic… read more
We could expect to see flexible displays in the marketplace in the next three to five years, but the other components are a little further out, says Nicholas Colaneri, director of the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University.
The California Rice Commission on Monday approved Ventria Bioscience’s request to grow the state’s first crop genetically modified to contain a drug.
The rice is genetically modified to produce two human proteins that fight infection: lactoferrin and lysozyme, both naturally present in breast milk.
Opponents say growing the crops in open fields endangers organic and conventional crops, as well as human health.
Mark Wahlberg and Liam Neeson are mulling over offers to headline director Vicenzo Natali’s long-gestating adaptation of William Gibson‘s Neuromancer, Moviehole reports.
Wahlberg would play the anti-hero Case and Neeson would play Armitage.
The United States is for the first time flying armed, unmanned aircraft into combat and controlling them with operators in the United States via satellite.The use of the armed RQ-1 Predator drone planes is a revolutionary step in the conduct of warfare because they signal that the Air Force is now able to survey and then shoot at ground positions from lower altitudes without putting pilots at risk.
The… read more
Can a computer be loaded with the world’s textbook-science knowledge, reason through it and then answer questions in plain English like a phenomenal teacher, a “Digital Aristotle”?
Paul Allen’s private investment company, Vulcan, has announced it is willing to bankroll three competing research teams from around the world to answer this question, in what it calls “Project Halo,” a quest over the next 30 months to create a computerized… read more
Rutgers researchers have filed a patent application for a PC-based virtual- reality system that provides stroke patients hand-impairment therapy. In use, the patient’s gloved hands are linked to virtual hands on the PC monitor, so the patient’s actual hand movements are mimicked on-screen. By interacting and playing with on-screen graphics — including fluttering butterflies, piano keyboards and mechanical hands — the patient performs intensive rehab exercises without drudgery, according to… read more
A virtual-reality headset is being developed that can diagnose the extent of a head injury within minutes.
The system puts the wearer through an array of neuropsychological tests designed to pick up reduced reaction times and deficits in working memory, conditions that would indicate injuries to different parts of the brain.
By measuring reaction times in a battery of tests, the system is designed to detect even mild… read more
A virtual reality environment has been designed by a team at the University of Queensland in Brisbane to help treat people with schizophrenia, using a simulated living room projected onto a wrap-around screen and a soundtrack with an abusive running commentary.
For example, it can mimic common hallucinations: walls appear to be closing in, photographs of faces morph, straight lines such as the edge of pictures wobble. The idea is… read more