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How computers can learn better

May 30, 2013

RLPy

Researchers from MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have  developed a new reinforcement-learning algorithm that allows computer systems to find solutions much more efficiently than previous algorithms did and for a wide range of problems.

With a recently released programming framework, the researchers show that a new machine-learning algorithm outperforms its predecessors.… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI

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Metamaterial flat lens projects 3D UV images of objects

May 29, 2013

ultraviolet (UV) metamaterial formed of alternating nanolayers of silver

Scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses ultraviolet (UV) light in such an unusual way that it can create ghostly, 3D images of objects that float in free space.

The easy-to-build lens could lead to improved photolithography, nanoscale manipulation and manufacturing, and even high-resolution three-dimensional imaging, as well as a… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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Experts using facial recognition technology ID Boston Marathon bomber suspect in video

May 29, 2013

Automatic face recognition is technology that can quickly attach a name to a face by perusing large databases of face images and finding the closest match (credit:

In a study that evaluated some of the latest in automatic facial recognition technology, researchers at Michigan State University were able to quickly identify one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects from a law enforcement video.

The researchers tested three different facial-recognition systems in the Pattern Recognition and Image Processing laboratory.

By using the law-enforcement video from the bombing, they found that one of… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Survival/Defense

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Stem cell injections improve spinal injuries in rats

May 29, 2013

A three-dimensional, reconstructed magnetic resonance image (upper) shows a cavity caused by a spinal injury nearly filled with grafted neural stem cells, colored green. The lower image depicts neuronal outgrowth from transplanted human neurons (green) and development of putative contacts (yellow dots) with host neurons (blue).

A single injection of human neural stem cells produced neuronal regeneration and improvement of function and mobility in rats impaired by an acute spinal cord injury (SCI), an international team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports

Grafting neural stem cells derived from a human fetal spinal cord to the rats’ spinal injury site produced an array of… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Stroke patients show signs of recovery in stem-cell treatment trial

May 29, 2013

reNeuron

Encouraging interim data from the world’s first clinical trial examining the safety of neural stem cell treatment in ischemic stroke patients has been reported by researchers ahead of an application for Phase II trials.

Professor Keith Muir of the University of Glasgow, who is heading the trial of ReNeuron Group plc’s ReN001 stem cell therapy at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow reported that… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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White House announces ‘We the Geeks: Asteroids’ Google Hangout Friday

May 29, 2013

asteroid

This Friday, an asteroid nearly three kilometers wide is going to pass by the Earth-Moon system.

To mark the event, on Friday, May 31st at 2pm EDT, the White House will host the second in a series of “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangouts to talk asteroids with experts, according to a White House annoncement.

The President’s new budget calls for increased efforts by NASA to detect and… read more

Topics: Social Networking/Web | Space | Survival/Defense

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Pentagon aircraft, missile defense programs target of China cyber threat

May 29, 2013

(Credit: iStockphoto)

New revelations that China used cyberattacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defense technologies have increased pressure on U.S. leaders to take more strident action against Beijing to stem the persistent breaches, The Washington Post reports.

The disclosure, which was included in a Defense Science Board report released earlier this year, but is only now being discussed publicly, comes as… read more

Topics: Electronics | Survival/Defense

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Wanted for the Internet of Things: ant-sized computers

May 29, 2013

freescalex299.jpg

A computer two millimeters square that contains almost all the components of a tiny functioning computer is the start of an effort to make chips that can put computer power just about anywhere for the vaunted “Internet of Things,” MIT Technology Review reports.

The KL02 chip, made by Freescale, is shorter on each side than most ants are long and crams in memory,… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics

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How to create models of biomolecules using x-rays

Most of the two million proteins in the human body can’t be crystallized without destroying them, so they can't be visualized. That's about to change.
May 29, 2013

Fluctuation x-ray scattering is the basis of a new technique for rapidly modeling the shapes of large biological models, here demonstrated (gray envelopes) using existing diffraction data superposed on known high-resolution structures. Top left, lysine-arginine-ornithine (LAO) binding protein; top right, lysozome; bottom left, peroxiredoxin; and, bottom right, Satellite Tobacco Mosaic Virus (STMV).

Berkeley Lab researchers and their colleagues have created a new way to model biological molecules using x-rays.

Existing methods for solving structure largely depend on crystallized molecules, and the shapes of more than 80,000 proteins in a static state have been solved this way.

Most of the two million proteins in the human body can’t be crystallized, however, so  even their low-resolution structures are… read more

Topics: Biotech | Physics/Cosmology

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Foldable electronics with inkjet-printed graphene

May 28, 2013

inkjet-printed graphene lines

Northwestern University researchers have developed a graphene-based ink that is highly conductive and tolerant to bending, and they have used it to inkjet-print graphene patterns that could be used for extremely detailed, conductive electrodes.

The resulting patterns are 250 times more conductive than previous attempts to print graphene-based electronic patterns and could be a step toward low-cost, foldable electronics.

“Graphene has a unique combination… read more

Topics: Electronics | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Atomic-scale semiconductor devices

May 28, 2013

Molybdenum sulfide atomic image

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating high-quality semiconductor thin films at the atomic scale — meaning the films are only one atom thick.

The technique can be used to create these thin films on a large scale, sufficient to coat wafers that are two inches wide, or larger.

“This could be used to scale current semiconductor technologies… read more

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

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Low-cost self-driving cars expected by 2016

May 28, 2013

audi_mobileye

Mobileye Vision Technologies has created a self-driving system for an Audi A7 car, John Markoff writes in The New York Times.

It is capable only of driving in a single lane at freeway speeds, as well as identifying traffic lights and automatically slowing, stopping and then returning to highway speeds.

But by blending advanced computer-vision techniques with low-cost video cameras, the company is… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Electronics

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Innovation promises flexible solar cells, transistors, displays

May 28, 2013

Electron microscope images show a new material for transparent electrodes that might find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics, and future "optoelectronic" circuits for sensors and information processing. The electrodes are made of silver nanowires covered with graphene. (Credit: Birck Nanotechnology Center/Purdue University)

Purdue University researchers have created a new type of transparent electrode that might find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics, and future optoelectronic circuits for sensors and information processing.

The electrode is made of silver nanowires covered with graphene, an extremely thin layer of carbon. The hybrid material shows promise as a possible replacement for indium tin oxide, or ITO, used in… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Scientists discover origin of a giant synapse

May 28, 2013

The calyx of Held (orange) is a type of giant synapse, which synapses onto MNTB neurons (green) and relays excitatory information to these neurons. The neurons in turn send inhibitory outputs to a number of targets in the auditory brain stem and thus act as a master source of well-timed inhibition for the lower auditory system. (Credit: University of Colorado School of Medicine)

EPFL scientists have revealed a mechanism responsible for the creation of giant synapses in the brain that allow us to efficiently process auditory information.

Humans and most mammals can determine the spatial origin of sounds with remarkable acuity. To accomplish this small daily miracle, the brain has developed a circuit that’s rapid enough to detect the tiny lag that occurs between the moment the auditory information reaches one of… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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IQ predicted by ability to filter visual motion

May 28, 2013

University of Rochester students participate in photo illustrating a news release. A simple visual task that measures the brain’s unconscious ability to suppress motion predicts IQ, according to a new study. photo taken in Rush Rhees Library May 15, 2013. // photo by J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester

Individuals whose brains are better at automatically suppressing background motion perform better on IQ tests, according to a new University of Rochester.study.

The test is the first purely sensory assessment to be strongly correlated with IQ and may provide a non-verbal and culturally unbiased tool for scientists seeking to understand neural processes associated with general intelligence.

“Because intelligence is such a broad construct, you can’t… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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