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The CIA and Jeff Bezos bet on quantum computing

October 8, 2012

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With funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the CIA’s investment arm, the Canadian company D-Wave Systems is gaining momentum for its revolutionary approach to computing, Technology Review reports.

D-Wave’s supercooled processor is designed to handle what software engineers call “optimization” problems, the core of conundrums such as figuring out the most efficient delivery route, or how the atoms in a protein will move around when it meets… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum | Singularity/Futures

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Self-braking cars will save thousands of lives

October 8, 2012

car_crash

How effective are systems that warn a driver about an impending front collision, then slam on the brakes if the driver doesn’t act quickly enough?

A lot, says a paper recently published in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Spectrum Tech Talk reports.

Researchers at Virginia Tech’s Center for Injury Biomechanics studied systems that rely on radar to tell the car when it is coming… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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The sleeping brain behaves as if it’s remembering something

Working-memory-like persistent activity occurred in the entorhinal cortex during sleep and even under anesthesia
October 8, 2012

In the background is an entorhinal cortex neuron that was studied. The blue-green trace shows neocortical slow oscillation while the yellow trace shows the persistent activity of entorhinal cortical neuron, even when the inputs from neocortex were silent. (Credit: Thomas T. G. Hahn, et al/UCLA)

UCLA researchers have discovered that the activity of a brain region known to be involved in learning, memory and Alzheimer’s disease behaves as if it’s remembering something during sleep, even under anesthesia — a finding that counters conventional theories about memory consolidation during sleep.

The research team simultaneously measured the activity of single neurons from multiple parts of the brain involved in memory formation. The technique allowed them to… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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The most complex synthetic biology circuit yet

New sensor can detect four different molecules, could be used to program cells to precisely monitor their environments
October 8, 2012

Mining circuits from genomic islands. a, The truth table for an<br /> AND gate. b, The architecture of an AND gate. The protein–protein and<br /> protein–DNAinteractions that can lead to crosstalk between gates are shown as<br /> red rectangles. c

Christopher Voigt, an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT,.and his students have developed circuit components that don’t interfere with one another, allowing them to produce the most complex synthetic circuit ever built.

The circuit integrates four sensors for different molecules. Such circuits could be used in cells to precisely monitor their environments and respond appropriately.

Background: the big burrito

Using genes as interchangeable parts,… read more

Topics: Synthetic Biology

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Declassified at last: Air Force’s supersonic flying saucer schematics

October 8, 2012

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The National Archives has recently published never-before-seen schematics and details of a 1950s military venture, called Project 1794, which aimed to build a supersonic flying saucer, Wired Danger Room reports.

In a memo dating from 1956, the results from pre-prototype testing are summarized and reveal exactly what the developers had hoped to create.

The saucer was supposed to reach a top speed of “between Mach 3… read more

Topics: Survival/Defense

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The future of online vs. residential education

October 8, 2012

In this correspondence (posted with permission), Ray Kurzweil and MIT president L. Rafael Reif discuss the future of online education and its impacts on residential education. Also see the three related posts today (below). — Ed.

Hi Rafael,

I enjoyed your insightful piece in today’s WSJ on the emergence and future of online education. It eloquently makes the point that online teaching is here to stay. But I… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Does online education need to be free to succeed?

October 8, 2012

salman_khan

Also see the three related posts today (below). — Ed.

According to venture capitalists and entrepreneurs,  technology will “disrupt” education as we know it, and maybe create a few billion-dollar companies along the way (see “The Crisis in Higher Education”), says Technology Review.

According to Dow Jones VentureSource, VCs invested $217 million in digital education companies during the first half of 2012 — more than… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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What campuses can learn from online teaching

October 8, 2012

edx_announcement

Also see the three related posts today (below). — Ed.

Higher education is at a crossroads not seen since the introduction of the printing press, said MIT president L. Rafael Reif* in The Wall Street Journal.

“Residential education’s long-simmering financial problem is reaching a crisis point,” he said. “At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other campuses, the upheaval today is coming from the technological change posed by… read more

Topics: Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Sperm and eggs created in dish produce mouse pups

October 5, 2012

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After producing normal mouse pups last year using sperm derived from stem cells, a Kyoto University team of researchers has now accomplished the same feat using eggs created the same way, Science Now reports. The study may eventually lead to new ways of helping infertile couples conceive.

The stem cells in both cases are embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The former are taken… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Proteins remember the past to predict the future

October 5, 2012

Motor_Proteins

The most efficient machines remember what has happened to them, and use that memory to predict what the future holds.

That is the conclusion of a theoretical study by Susanne Still, a computer scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and her colleagues, and it should apply equally to “machines” ranging from molecular enzymes to computers, Nature News reports. The finding could help to improve scientific… read more

Topics: Biotech | Physics/Cosmology

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Google simulates brain networks to recognize speech and images

October 5, 2012

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This summer Google set a new landmark in the field of artificial intelligence with software that learned how to recognize cats, people, and other things simply by watching YouTube videos (see “Self-Taught Software“).

That technology, modeled on how brain cells operate, is now being put to work making Google’s products smarter, with speech recognition being the first service to benefit, Technology Review reports.… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Internet/Telecom

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A multi-photon approach to quantum cryptography

Information breach may be drastically reduced as a result of a technology breakthrough
October 5, 2012

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University of Oklahoma researchers have,  demonstrated a novel technique for cryptography that offers the potential of unconditional security.

As increasing volumes of data become accessible, transferable and, therefore actionable, information is the treasure companies want to amass.

To protect this wealth, organizations use cryptography, or coded messages, to secure information from “technology robbers.” This group of hackers and malware creators increasingly is becoming more sophisticated at… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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The race to bring quantum teleportation to your world

There'd an international quantum teleportation space race heating up
October 5, 2012

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Around the world, countries are investing time and millions of dollars into the technology, which uses satellites to beam bits of quantum information down from the sky and and could profoundly change worldwide communication, Wired Science reports.

In the past year, a team from China and another in Austria set new records for quantum teleportation, using a laser to beam photons through the open… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Quantum | Space

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Cryonics photos delve into the frozen world of the immortality faithful

October 5, 2012

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The Prospect of Immortality is a six-year study by UK photographer Murray Ballard, who has traveled the world pulling back the curtain on the amateurs, optimists, businesses, and apparatuses of cryonics, the preservation of deceased humans in liquid nitrogen, Wired reports.

“It’s not a large industry,” says Ballard, who visited the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona; the Cryonics Institute… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Singularity/Futures

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How neuron electrical activity controls the biological clock

October 5, 2012

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New York University biologists have discovered new ways our biological clock’s neurons use electrical activity to help control behavioral rhythms. The findings also point to new way to explore sleep disorders and related afflictions.

“This process helps explain how our biological clocks keep such amazingly good time,” said Justin Blau, an associate professor of biology at NYU and one of the study’s authors. The findings may offer new… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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