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Quadriplegia patient uses brain-computer interface to move his arm by just thinking

New Braingate design replaces robot arm with muscle-stimulating system
April 26, 2017

Bill Kochevar, who was paralyzed below his shoulders in a bicycling accident, is first person with quadriplegia in the world to have arm and hand movements restored without robot help (credit: Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland FES Center)

A research team led by Case Western Reserve University has developed the first implanted brain-recording and muscle-stimulating system to restore arm and hand movements for quadriplegic patients.*

In a proof-of-concept experiment, the system included a brain-computer interface with recording electrodes implanted under his skull and a functional electrical stimulation (FES) system that activated his arm and hand — reconnecting his brain to paralyzed muscles.

The research… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics

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The first 2D microprocessor — based on a layer of just 3 atoms

May one day replace traditional microprocessor chips as well as open up new applications in flexible electronics
April 24, 2017

Overview of the entire chip. AC = Accumulator, internal buffer; PC = Program Counter, points at the next instruction to be executed; IR = Instruction Register, used to buffer data- and instruction-bits received from the external memory; CU = Control Unit, orchestrates the other units according to the instruction to be executed; OR = Output Register, memory used to buffer output-data; ALU = Arithmetic Logic Unit, does the actual calculations. [3] (credit: TU Wien)

Researchers at Vienna University of Technology (known as TU Wien) in Vienna, Austria, have developed the world’s first two-dimensional microprocessor — the most complex 2D circuitry so far. Microprocessors based on atomically thin 2D materials promise to one day replace traditional microprocessors as well as open up new applications in flexible electronics.

Consisting of 115 transistors, the microprocessor can run, simple user-defined programs stored in… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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‘Negative mass’ created at Washington State University

April 21, 2017

Experimental images of an expanding spin-orbit superfluid Bose-Einstein condensate at different expansion times (credit: M. A. Khamehchi et al./Physical Review Letters)

Washington State University (WSU) physicists have created a fluid with “negative mass,” which means that if you push it, it accelerates toward you instead of away, in apparent violation of Newton’s laws.

The phenomenon can be used to explore some of the more challenging concepts of the cosmos, said Michael Forbes, PhD, a WSU assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an affiliate assistant professor… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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Elon Musk wants to enhance us as superhuman cyborgs to deal with superintelligent AI

April 21, 2017

(credit: Neuralink Corp.)

It’s the year 2021. A quadriplegic patient has just had one million “neural lace” microparticles injected into her brain, the world’s first human with an internet communication system using a wireless implanted brain-mind interface — and empowering her as the first superhuman cyborg. …

No, this is not a science-fiction movie plot. It’s the actual first public step — just four years from now — in Tesla CEO Elon… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Human Enhancement | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Internet/Cloud/Telecom | Nanotech/Materials Science | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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What if you could type directly from your brain at 100 words per minute?

Former DARPA director reveals Facebook's secret research projects to create a non-invasive brain-computer interface and haptic skin hearing
April 19, 2017

(credit: Facebook)

Regina Dugan, PhD, Facebook VP of Engineering, Building8, revealed today (April 19, 2017) at Facebook F8 conference 2017 a plan to develop a non-invasive brain-computer interface that will let you type at 100 wpm — by decoding neural activity devoted to speech.

Dugan previously headed Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group, and before that, was Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

She explained… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics

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Neuron-recording nanowires could help screen drugs for neurological diseases

Ultimate goal is a neural-lace-like device that can be implanted in the brain to bridge or repair networks
April 18, 2017

This is a colorized SEM image of a neuron (orange) interfaced with the nanowire array. (credit: Integrated Electronics and Biointerfaces Laboratory, UC San Diego)

A research team* led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed nanowire technology that can non-destructively record the electrical activity of neurons in fine detail.

The new technology, published April 10, 2017 in Nano Letters, could one day serve as a platform to screen drugs for neurological diseases and help researchers better understand how single cells communicate in large neuronal networks.

A brain implant… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics

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Could there be life below Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa?

April 16, 2017

During Cassini’s deepest dive through the plume of Saturnian moon Enceladus, Southwest Research Institute scientists discovered hydrogen gas in the erupting material in the plume. This discovery provides further evidence for hydrothermal activity (illustrated here) and heightens the possibility that the ocean of Enceladus could have conditions suitable for microbial life. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Two NASA missions — Cassini and Hubble — have provided new evidence for life on icy, ocean-bearing moons of Saturn and Jupiter, NASA announced Friday, April 14, 2017.

Scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have discovered hydrogen gas in the plume of material erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus — suggesting conditions suitable for microbial life in an underground ocean. The finding, published April 14, 2017 in the… read more

Topics: Biotech | Space

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How to condense water out of air using only sunlight for energy

MIT-UC Berkeley invention may offer hope for the two-thirds of the world’s population experiencing water shortages, including the one third living in desert climates
April 13, 2017

A water harvester designed and built at MIT condenses water from air. The harvester uses sunlight to heat a metal-organic framework (MOF), driving off the water vapor and condensing it for use. (photo credit: Hyunho Kim/MIT)

MIT scientists have invented a water harvester that uses only sunlight to pull water out of the air under desert conditions, using a “metal-organic framework” (MOF) powdered material developed at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).

Under conditions of 20–30 percent humidity (a level common in arid areas), the prototype device was able to pull 2.8 liters (3 quarts) of water from the air over a 12-hour period,… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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Graphene-oxide sieve turns seawater into drinking water

April 13, 2017

Schematic illustrating the direction of ion/water permeation along graphene planes (credit: J. Abraham et al./ Nature Nanotechnology)

British scientists have designed a way to use graphene-oxide (GO) membranes to filter common salts out of salty water and make the water safe to drink.

Graphene-oxide membranes developed at the National Graphene Institute had already demonstrated the potential of filtering out small nanoparticles, organic molecules, and even large salts. And previous research at The University of Manchester also found that if immersed in water,… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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Nanopores map small changes in DNA for early cancer detection

April 12, 2017

Nanopore cancer detection. To detect DNA methylation changes (for cancer early warning), researchers punched a tiny hole (pore) in a flat sheet of graphene (or other  2D material). They then submerged the material in a salt solution and applied an electrical voltage to force the DNA molecule through the pore. A dip in the ionic current (black A) identified a methyl group is passing through, but a dip in the electrical current (blue A) could detect smaller DNA changes. (credit: Beckman Institute Nanoelectronics and Nanomaterials Group)

University of Illinois researchers have designed a high-resolution method to detect, count, and map tiny additions to DNA called methylations*, which can be a early-warning sign of cancer.

The method threads DNA strands through a tiny hole, called a nanopore, in an atomically thin sheet of graphene or other 2D material** with an electrical current running through it.

Many methylations packed close together suggest… read more

Topics: Biotech | Electronics

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Glowing nanoparticles open new window for live optical biological imaging

“Quantum dots” emit infrared light, providing highly detailed images of internal body structures
April 12, 2017

quantum-dot SWIR imaging

A team of researchers has created bright, glowing nanoparticles called quantum dots that can be injected into the body, where they emit light at shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths that pass through the skin — allowing internal body structures such as fine networks of blood vessels to be imaged in vivo (in live animals) on high-speed video cameras for the first time.

The new findings are described in an… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics

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Carnegie Mellon University AI beats top Chinese poker players

April 10, 2017

Carnegie Mellon University professor Tuomas Sandholm talks to Kai-Fu Lee, head of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese venture capital firm, as Lee plays poker against Lengpudashi AI (credit: Sinovation Ventures)

Artificial intelligence (AI) triumphed over human poker players again (see “Carnegie Mellon AI beats top poker pros — a first“), as a computer program developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers beat six Chinese players by a total of $792,327 in virtual chips during a five-day, 36,000-hand exhibition that ended today (April 10, 2017) in Hainan, China.

The AI software program, called Lengpudashi (“cold poker master”) is… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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Alpha Go to take on world’s number one Go player in China

Artificial intelligence software vs. humans to highlight five-day festival
April 10, 2017

The world’s number one Go player, Ke Jie (far right] and associates have recreated the opening moves of one of AlphaGo’s games with Lee Sedol from memory to explain the beauty of its moves to Google CEO Sundar Pichai during a visit he made to Nie Weiping’s Go school in Beijing last year (credit: DeepMind)

DeepMind’s Alpha Go AI software will take on China’s top Go players in “The Future of Go Summit” — a five-day festival of Go and artificial intelligence in the game’s birthplace, China, on May 23–27, DeepMind Co-Founder & CEO Demis Hassabis announced today (April 10, 2017).

The summit will feature a variety of game formats involving AlphaGo and top Chinese players, specifically designed to explore the mysteries of… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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‘Strange Beasts’: Is this the future of augmented reality?

April 10, 2017

(credit: Magali Barbe)

“Strange Beasts” — a five-minute short science fiction movie produced by Magali Barbe, is in the form of an augmented-reality-game promo. Victor Weber, founder of Strange Beasts, says the game “allows players to create, customize, and grow your very own creature.”

Weber explains that this is made possible by “nanoretinal technology” that “superimposes computer-graphics-composed imagery over real world objects by projecting a digital light field… read more

Topics: VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Patient moves paralyzed legs with help from electrical stimulation of spinal cord

April 10, 2017

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord (credit: Mayo Clinic)

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord and intense physical therapy have been used by Mayo Clinic researchers to help Jared Chinnock intentionally move his paralyzed legs, stand, and make steplike motions for the first time in three years. The chronic traumatic paraplegia case marks the first time a patient has intentionally controlled previously paralyzed functions within the first two weeks of stimulation.

The case was documented April 3,… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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