KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News

Medibots: The world's smallest surgeons

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:50:04 GMT

Advances in robotics could revolutionize healthcare, pushing the limits of what surgeons can achieve, from worm-inspired capsules to crawl through your gut, and systems swallowed in pieces that assemble themselves inside the body, to surgical robots that will soon be ready to embark on a fantastic voyage through our bodies, homing in on the part that's ailing and fixing it from the inside. Swimming camera capsule (The Royal College of Surgeons / Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427351.100-medibots-the-worlds-smallest-surgeons.html)

IBM scientists create rapid disease diagnostic chip

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:26:45 GMT

IBM scientists have created a fast, one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test, based on a silicon chip that uses capillary forces to analyze tiny samples of blood serum for the presence of disease markers. It requires less sample volume, is significantly faster, portable, easy to use, and can test for many diseases, including cardiovascular disease -- a small sample of a patient's serum could be tested immediately following a heart attack to enable the doctor to quickly take a course of action to help the patient survive. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news177880059.html)

The Emerging Field of Biophotonic Communication

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:15:02 GMT

Sergei Mayburov at the Lebedev Institute of Physics in Moscow suggests that optical communication is a natural process in many cells of body, closely related to photosynthesis. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24425/?a=f)

On Your Last Nerve: Researchers Advance Understanding of Stem Cells

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:55:02 GMT

North Carolina State University researchers have identified a gene, FoxJ1, that tells embryonic stem cells in the brain when to stop producing neurons. The research could lead to new treatments to replace damaged or diseased brain tissue. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117102034.htm)

A Central Nervous System for Earth: HP's Ambitious Sensor Network

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:32:03 GMT

HP Labs has announced a project that aims to be a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" (CeNSE): a R&D program to build a planetwide sensing network, using billions of tiny accelerometers that detect motion and vibrations, and later, ones for light, temperature, barometric pressure, airflow and humidity. The nodes could be stuck to bridges and buildings to warn of structural strains or weather conditions and along roadsides to monitor traffic, weather and road conditions. Other uses include in everyday electronics, tracking hospital equipment, sniffing out pesticides and pathogens in food, and ultimately even "recognize" the person using them and adapt. HP Labs' ultimate aim is to have a worldwide network of a trillion of these CeNSE sensors. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2009/11/18/18readwriteweb-a-central-nervous-system-for-earth-hps-ambi-15544.html)

Google to Add Captions, Improving YouTube Videos

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:51:40 GMT

In the first major step toward making millions of videos on YouTube accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google unveiled new technologies on Thursday that will automatically bring text captions to many videos on the site. The technology will also open YouTube videos to a wider foreign market and make them more searchable, giving users the choice of using its automatic translation system to read the captions in 51 languages. (Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10401170-2.html)

Sounds During Sleep Aid Memory, Study Finds

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:27:11 GMT

Playing sound cues associated with a picture in a specific location while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced, scientists at Northwestern University report in the journal Science. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/science/20sleep.html)

Intel: Chips in brains will control computers by 2020

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:05:15 GMT

By the year 2020, you won't need a keyboard and mouse to control your computer, say Intel Corp. researchers, who are close to gaining the ability to build brain sensing technology into a headset that culd be used to manipulate a computer, working with associates at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Their next step is development of a tiny, far less cumbersome sensor that could be implanted inside the brain. (Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141180/Intel_Chips_in_brains_will_control_computers_by_2020)

Time-travelling browsers navigate the web's past

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:04:08 GMT

Finding old versions of web pages could become far simpler thanks to Memento, a "time-travelling" web browsing technology being pioneered at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18158-timetravelling-browsers-navigate-the-webs-past.html)

Andy Grove's Prescription for Health Care

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:56:11 GMT

Andrew S. Grove, the 73-year-old former chief executive of Intel, is advocating a new master's degree program in translational medicine (the art of taking laboratory, one-off discoveries and putting them into mass production -- in higher volume and at lower cost than previous treatments). The degree would combine the talents mainly of engineering and medical schools, with some business know-how tossed in. (Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/andy-groves-prescription-for-health-care/)

Blindness Causes Structural Brain Changes, Implying Brain Can Re-Organize Itself to Adapt

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:41:25 GMT

Blindness causes structural changes in the brain, indicating that the brain may reorganize itself functionally in order to adapt to a loss in sensory input, say UCLA Department of Neurology scientists. For long-term blind subjects, they found significant enlargement in areas of the brain not responsible for vision, such as working memory and improved ability to feel subtle changes in temperature and distinguish between the auditory echoes caused by walls and windows. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143259.htm)

Thin-Film Solar with High Efficiency

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:17:20 GMT

Solar cells made from cheap nanocrystal-based inks have the potential to be as efficient as the conventional inorganic cells currently used in solar panels, but can be printed less expensively, says Solexant, which expects to sell modules for $1 per watt, with efficiencies above 10 percent. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23980/)

Computers Can't Answer Everything

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:12:36 GMT

The real power of natural language processing can only be unlocked by acknowledging its limitations and filling in the gaps with human intelligence, says Damon Horowitz, chief technology officer and cofounder of Aardvark. "We wanted to let another human being answer and have the machine do the heavy lifting of indexing everybody--the tens of thousands of people who are in your extended network and all of the things that those people know," he said. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/23978/)

Bigger Not Necessarily Better, When It Comes to Brains

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:42:57 GMT

Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London. Research repeatedly shows how insects are capable of some intelligent behaviors scientists previously thought was unique to larger animals. This must mean that much "advanced" thinking can actually be done with very limited neuron numbers. Computer modelling shows that even consciousness can be generated with very small neural circuits, which could in theory easily fit into an insect brain. In fact, the models suggest that counting could be achieved with only a few hundred nerve cells and only a few thousand could be enough to generate consciousness. Engineers hope that this kind of research will lead to smarter computing with the ability to recognize human facial expressions and emotions. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117124009.htm)

Innovation: The dizzying ambition of Wolfram Alpha

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:34:33 GMT

Stephen Wolfram wants Wolfram Alpha to generate knowledge of its own. Alpha has been exposed to more utterances than a typical child would hear in learning a new language, allowing it to get smarter at understanding how people phrase their requests, he says. "You'll be able to ask it a question, and instead of it using knowledge that came out of a method invented 50 years ago it will invent a new method on the fly to answer it." (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18163-innovation-the-dizzying-ambition-of-wolfram-alpha.html)

Bendable Magnetic Interface

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:22 GMT

Microsoft's experimental tactile interface lets users interact with computers by squashing, stretching, rolling, or rubbing a "sensor tile" The device produces magnetic multiple fields above its surface. By detecting disturbances to these fields, the system can track the movement of a metal object across its surface, or the manipulation of a ferrous fluid-filled bladder to sculpt 3D virtual objects. (Microsoft) (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23969/?a=f)

The cat is out of the bag: cortical simulations with 10^9 neurons, 10^13 synapses

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:39:13 GMT

Results of massively parallel cortical simulations of a cat cortex, with 1.5 billion neurons and 9 trillion synapses, running on Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Dawn Blue Gene/P supercomputer, will be presented by IBM and LLNL researchers today at the SC09 Conference on High Performance Networking and Computing in Portland. "The simulations, which incorporate phenomenological spiking neurons, individual learning synapses, axonal delays, and dynamic synaptic channels, exceed the scale of the cat cortex, marking the dawn of a new era in the scale of cortical simulations," according to the ACM proceedings abstract. BlueMatter, a new algorithm created in collaboration with Stanford University, exploits the Blue Gene supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively measure and map the connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations within the human brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Mapping the wiring diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast communication network and understanding how it represents and processes information. (IBM Research) Also see: IBM Moves Closer To Creating Computer Based on Insights From The Brain (Source: )

A 25-Year Battery

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:43:49 GMT

Betavoltaics, batteries that harvest energy from the nuclear decay of isotopes to produce very low levels of current and last for decades without needing to be replaced, are being developed by Widetronix. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23959/)

The Real 3D Mandelbulb

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:38:46 GMT

An awesome 3D equivalent of the Mandelbrot fractal has been developed. (Click image for 500x4500 pixel version) (Source: )

Supercomputers with 100 million cores coming by 2018

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:16:55 GMT

The U.S. Department of Energy has begun holding workshops on building a system that's 1,000 times more powerful than today's top supercomputer (Jaquar's 2.3 petaflops): an exascale (10^18 calculations per second) system, which would likely arrive around the year 2018. Exascale systems will be needed for high-resolution climate models, bio energy products and smart grid development as well as fusion energy design. The Energy Department, which is responsible for funding many of the world's largest systems, wants two machines somewhere in the 2011-13 timeframe that will reach approximately 10 petaflops. (Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140928/Supercomputers_with_100_million_cores_coming_by_2018)

How Will We Keep Supercomputing Super?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:57:37 GMT

Building an exascale supercomputer that can deliver a billion billion (10^18) calculations per second is going to force designers to change the way they think about putting these supercomputers together. Graphics processors (GPUs) are the first step in that process, although more esoteric technologies may emerge. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2009/11/16/16gigaom-how-will-we-keep-supercomputing-super-85018.html)

YouTube to Help Sites Gather News Clips

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:42:46 GMT

YouTube has signed up NPR, Politico, The Huffington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle for YouTube Direct, a new method for managing video submissions from citizen journalists. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/business/media/17youtube.html)

Unfriend: the word of the year, apparently

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:30:44 GMT

The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced its Word Of The Year for 2009: unfriend (v. To remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking site such as Facebook). (Source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15108/unfriend_the_word_of_the_year_apparently)

Mystery 'dark flow' extends towards edge of universe

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:26:30 GMT

Up to 1000 galaxy clusters have found to be streaming at up to 1000 kilometers per second towards one particular part of the cosmos, a possible sign that other universes are out there. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427345.000-mystery-dark-flow-extends-towards-edge-of-universe.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news)

Google Submits Second Proposal for Library of the Future

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:47:16 GMT

Google and a coalition of authors and publishers are hoping a second draft of a legal settlement will clear the way through a thicket of copyright laws to let Google build the library of the future. (Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/11/google-books-settlement/)

Singularity University Executive Program: Ray Kurzweil's Opening Address

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:01:59 GMT

Over the last week, Singularity University has been holding an Executive Program with the goal of preparing executives for the "imminent disruption and opportunities resulting from exponentially accelerating technologies." (Source: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/13/singularity-university-executive-program-ray-kurzweils-opening-address/)

Tips for improving cardiac-arrest survival

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:12:23 GMT

Science Daily reports two important tips for improving cardiac arrest victims' chances of survival: - Use continuous chest compressions without stopping for mouth-to-mouth breathing (Continuous Chest Compression-CPR Improved Cardiac Arrest Survival in Arizona) - Cool the brain: RhinoChill, for use by emergency medical technicians, is approved for marketing in Europe (Early Cooling in Cardiac Arrest May Improve Survival) (Source: )

Listen, Watch, Read: Computers Search for Meaning

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:59:50 GMT

European researchers in the MESH project have created the first integrated semantic search platform that integrates text, video and audio. The platform can search annotated files from any type of media -- photographs, videos, sound recordings, text, document scans -- using optical character recognition, automated speech recognition and automatic annotation of movies and photographs that track salient concepts. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111120759.htm)

Tiny Particles Can Deliver Antioxidant Enzyme to Injured Heart Cells

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:54:08 GMT

Georgia Tech scientists have developed microscopic polymer beads that can deliver an antioxidant enzyme made naturally by the body into the heart, reducing the number of dying cells and resulting in improved heart function in rats. The enzyme in the particles, called superoxide dismutase (SOD), soaks up toxic free radicals produced when cells are deprived of blood during a heart attack. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091115191019.htm)

Reality Bytes

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:40:34 GMT

The action figures in toy stores for James Cameron's forthcoming Avatar film add an an "augmented reality" feature to toys, the first to add artificial reality to a product. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/magazine/15FOB-consumed-t.html)

Cray's Jaquar now world's fastest supercomputer

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:42:34 GMT

The Jaguar Cray supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has become the world's most powerful supercomputer, at 1.75 petaflops per second, edging out the IBM Roadrunner system at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which has slowed slightly to 1.04 petaflops per second. The newest version of the TOP500 list, which is issued twice yearly, will be formally presented on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the SC09 Conference, to be held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Source: Top 500 news release (Source: )

A joyride through the nanoworld

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:14:40 GMT
Chemist George Whitesides has collaborated with MIT and Harvard photographer-in-residence Felice Frankel to produce No Small Matter, a book of images of the micro and nanoworld. Atomic force microscope (Felice Frankel) (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/no-small-matter)

Philip Rosedale: The web needs to be more lifelike

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:05:16 GMT
Residents of Second Life have spent one billion hours in this digital world. Now founder Philip Rosedale has plans to push the concept much further in a new virtual venture. "My expectation is we will see a web-scale usage fairly soon, meaning 1 billion people," says Rosedale. "I think the total GDP of virtual worlds will catch up with real-world GDP over the next 20 to 30 years." (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427347.200-philip-rosedale-the-web-needs-to-be-more-lifelike.html)

Water Discovery Fuels Hope to Colonize the Moon

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:01:09 GMT
The LCROSS probe discovered the equivalent of a dozen 2-gallon buckets of water in the form of ice, in a crater at the lunar south pole. Having that store of water on the moon could be a boon to possible future lunar camps. In addition to a source of drinking water, lunar water ice could be broken into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms, ultimately to be used in rocket fuel. (Source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091113-moon-water-colony.html)

First universal programmable quantum computer unveiled

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:32:44 GMT
The world's first universal programmable quantum computer, capable of one- or two-qubit logic operations at 79 percent accuracy, has been demonstrated by National Institute of Standards and Technology scientists. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18154-first-universal-programmable-quantum-computer-unveiled.html)

Can personalized medicine fix healthcare?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:21:04 GMT
"Healthcare is a trial and error industry...because the current pharma R&D model of blockbusters for broad patient groups is broken," says Rita Lim-Wilby, Conference Director at PCI Pharma. "The solution is targeted therapeutics." That's the premise of PCI Pharma's "Advances Towards Personalized Medicine," a one-day symposium, to be held at the Claremont Resort and Spa, Berkeley, California, on Thursday, November 19, 2009, featuring ten speakers from the University of California-Berkeley, Pfizer, CollabRx, Illumina, and six other leading organizations engaged in developing targeted therapeutics and companion diagnostics to transform healthcare. Among the speakers: Jay M. Tenenbaum, Chairman, Founder and Chief Scientist of CollabRx, and Chairman and Founder of CommerceNet, will have "a conversation about healthcare, medicine, and what's possible" with the audience*. He will focus on redesigning drug development and on his vision for the Health Commons, a collaboration between CommerceNet, Science Commons, Public Library of Science, and CollabRx designed to transform the pace and number of drug development projects by removing the barriers to knowledge sharing and collaboration. Steven Brenner, founder of Genome Commons, UC Berkeley, will present an open source infrastructure to realize the transformative opportunities presented by the ready availability of genomic data. Through the Genome Commons, scientists will be able to predict the risk of particular diseases from an individual genome by comparison with known genomes for defined patient profiles and disease categories. Adam Pavlicek, Senior Principal Scientist at Pfizer, will present a tumor classification system to predict new indications for existing cancer therapies, applying existing drugs to new tumor types to accelerate the number of treatable cancers. More information: PCI Pharma, 858-344-0156, info@PlanetConnect.com, lifescience.planetconnect.com/program/pmberkeley2009. * KurzweiiAI.net newsletter readers have been invited to submit comments and questions via info@PlanetConnect.com, with name and affiliation optional. The conversation will be posted in print or audio form. -Ed. (Source: )

Robo-Rehab at Home

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:41:41 GMT
Northeastern University researchers have developed portable robotic devices for the knee, wrist, pelvis, and ankle that are portable and cheap enough to allow continuation of the rehabilitation process at home. (Biomedical Mechatronics Laboratory, Northeastern University) (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23939/?nlid=2512&a=f)

Mood Improves On Low-fat, But Not Low-carb, Diet Plan

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:30:39 GMT
After one year, a low-calorie, low-fat diet appears more beneficial to dieters' mood than a low-carbohydrate plan with the same number of calories, researchers at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation-Food and Nutritional Sciences, Adelaide, Australia have found. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109173614.htm)

To Make Memories, New Neurons Must Erase Older Ones

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:25:56 GMT
We may experience difficulties in acquiring new information because the storage capacity of the hippocampus is "occupied by un-erased old memories," researchers at the University of Toyama in Japan researchers suggest, based on evidence from experiments with mice and rats. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112121601.htm)

Biodegradable Transistors

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00:46 GMT
Fully biodegradable organic transistors have been fabricated by researchers at Stanford University. They could be used to control temporary medical implants placed in the body during surgery, and help monitor the healing process from inside the body. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23940/)

Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:51:45 GMT
University of Washington researchers are developing a contact lens with embedded microelectronics for overlaying graphics on the real world that could provide a compelling augmented reality experience. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18146-contact-lenses-to-get-builtin-virtual-graphics.html)

Signature of consciousness captured in brain scans

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:43:39 GMT
Reproducibility -- the replication of similar neural patterns in the brain each time it becomes conscious of the same sensory input -- gives us clues as to what consciousness is, Princeton University researchers have found in fMRI experiments. The method could also be used in the future to tell if someone in a coma is conscious, or probe the consciousness of people under anesthesia. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18150-signature-of-consciousness-captured-in-brain-scans.html)

Suite of chatterbox genes discovered

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:34:09 GMT
By combining human and chimp Foxp2 genes in a petri dish, University of California, Los Angeles neuroscientists have identified 116 genes controlled by Foxp2 that responded differently to the human version of Foxp2 than the chimp version, supporting Foxp2's suggested role in the evolution of language and speech. In another experiment, they found a striking overlap between the genes whose activity was different in the human brain tissue and the set of genes that are controlled differently by human Foxp2, suggesting that a significant part of the difference between human and chimpanzee brains could be explained by two small changes in one gene. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18140-suite-of-chatterbox-genes-discovered.html)

IMMERSE IN THE FUTURE

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:41:54 GMT
The latest in immersive media, 3D domes, neurofeedback art, virtual worlds and other cutting-edge media formats and their potential as tools for transformation will be explored at IMMERSE IN THE FUTURE: A VISIONARY EVENING OF ARTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Monday, November 16th in Los Angeles and in Second Life. The event will include presentations by the LA Opera; Kathy Eldon, Founder of Creative Visions Foundation; John Raatz, Founder of GATE; Ed Lantz, Founder of IMERSA and Vortex Immersion Media and the c3: Center for Conscious Creativity, followed by an inspiring keynote by noted author and futurist, Jerome Glenn, the Director of the Millennium Project offering insights on the future of arts, media and entertainment and their effects on global culture. Glenn will also announce a partnership with c3 to create an international group of futuristic artists and media visionaries, and institutions, to become the Global Arts and Media Node for the Millennium Project's "State of the Future" report. More info Second Life access (Source: )

YouTube to get high-def 1080p player

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:25:36 GMT
YouTube will provide an option for full HD 1080p resolution and a new full-screen player within days. (Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10396826-2.html)

Wireless Phones Can Affect The Brain, Swedish Study Suggests

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:22:11 GMT
A study at Orebro University in Sweden indicates that mobile phones and other cordless telephones have at two biological effects on the brain: increased content of the protein transthyretin in the blood-cerebrospinal-fluid barrier (part of the brain's protection against outside influences), and various health symptoms reported by children and adolescents, with the connection strongest regarding headaches, asthmatic complaints, and impaired concentration. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111121251.htm)

Digital 'Cloud' could form over London for the 2012 Olympics

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:09:50 GMT
MIT researchers have proposed to build a tourist attraction called "The Cloud" in London for the 2012 Olympics. The structure would consist of two 400-foot tall mesh towers that are linked by a series of interconnected plastic bubbles, which would themselves house an observation deck inside and be used to display everything from Olympic scores and highlights to a "barometer of the city's interests and moods" outside. (Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/12/digital-cloud-could-form-over-london-for-the-2012-olympics/)

New search technique for images and videos has broad applications

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:54:00 GMT
Engineers at the University of California, Santa Cruz have developed a new approach to a fundamental problem in computer vision: how to program a computer to recognize or categorize what it "sees" in an image or video. The software analyzes the map of pixel relationships and determines the salient geometric features of the object or action. These components remain perceptually constant within an object regardless of image quality. Their software could change the way people search the Web for photos and videos, and it may have applications in many other areas, such as video surveillance and security systems. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news177095786.html)

Iowa State engineers develop 3-D software to give doctors, students a view inside the body

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:38:37 GMT
Iowa State University engineers have developed technology that converts 2-D medical scans into detailed 3-D images that can be used to plan a surgery or teach a lesson in anatomy. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news177177522.html)

Longevity tied to genes that preserve tips of chromosomes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:33:30 GMT
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres (the tip ends of chromosomes). (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news177186096.html)

DARPA: Inventing this side of the impossible

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:17:33 GMT
Prosthetic arms as nimble and light as the real thing, driverless cars that work their way through real traffic, a portable robotic emergency room, and scramjets able to race around the world in just a few hours are among the DARPA projects profiled by journalist Michael Belfiore in a new book, The Department of Mad Scientists. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427335.700-darpa-inventing-this-side-of-the-impossible.html)

Watching The Body's Metabolism Using Ultra Low Field MRI

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:06:27 GMT
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have replaced the large magnets needed for MRI by using a combination of "dynamic nuclear polarization" to align carbon 13 nuclei before they are injected into the body and a new generation of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS) to pick up the signals used to reconstruct an image. That should make ultra low field MRI images of metabolism in action even easier to make and paves the way for real time imaging of metabolism. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24386/)

Mimicking the Building Prowess of Nature

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:56:16 GMT
Scientists such as Joanna Aizenberg, a materials scientist at Harvard University, are building new materials using inspiration from complex biological forms. She aims to decipher some of Mother Nature's unique designs, including dirt-resistant sea urchins and sea sponges made of super-strong light-conducting glass, to develop novel materials that, like these organisms, can self-assemble and sense and respond to their environment. Nanobristles (Joanna Aizenberg) (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23933/)

A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:25:52 GMT
Dr. J. Allan Hobson, a psychiatrist and sleep researcher at Harvard, argues that dreaming is a parallel state of consciousness that is continually running but normally suppressed during waking. This is supported by research on lucid dreaming, which has been found to have elements of both rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and of waking. Hobson argues that the main function of REM, when most dreaming occurs, is physiological: the brain is warming its circuits, anticipating the sights and sounds and emotions of waking. He also suggests that the flights of imagination in schizophrenia may be related to an abnormal activation of a dreaming consciousness. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10mind.html)

NASA Reproduces A Building Block Of Life In Laboratory

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:12:21 GMT
NASA Ames scientists studying the origin of life have non-biologically reproduced uracil (a component of RNA) in the laboratory, under conditions found in space, where pyrimidine (frozen in water ice) exposed to ultraviolet radiation produces uracil. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110070320.htm)

DNA Origami Nanoscale Breadboards Developed For Carbon Nanotube Circuits

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:02:12 GMT
Caltech researchers have developed simple nanometer-scale electronic circuits out of carbon nanotubes by sticking them to DNA origami in a desired geometric pattern. DNA origami is a type of self-assembled structure made from DNA that can be programmed to form nearly limitless shapes and patterns. It is created from a long single strand of viral DNA and a mixture of different short synthetic DNA strands that bind to and "staple" the viral DNA into the desired shape, typically about 100 nanometers (nm) on a side. The researchers expect that the approach can be improved and extended to reliably construct more complex circuits involving carbon nanotubes and perhaps other elements including electrodes and wiring, and can be scalable to complex logic units, and to do this for thousands or millions or billions of units that self-assemble in parallel. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110112440.htm)

Scientists Decipher The Formation Of Lasting Memories

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:45:05 GMT
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that signalling via a receptor molecule called nogo receptor 1 (NgR1) in the nerve membrane plays a key part in forming lasting memories during the first week after an event. The scientists hope that their findings will eventually help in the development of new treatments for memory impairments, such as those related to Alzheimer's and stroke. Medicines designed to target the NgR1 receptor system should be able to improve the brain's ability to form long-term memories. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110105347.htm)

2012 Prophecies Sparking Real Fears, Suicide Warnings

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:21:06 GMT
Amid the hype -- including a viral marketing campaign for 2012, the disaster movie opening Friday, with bogus scientific organizations, press releases, and 2012 whistle-blowers --some people are developing "end times" anxiety that has experts seriously concerned. NASA's Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers and 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End? web pages seek to debunk stories about the fictional planet Nibiru and predictions of doomsday in December 2012. Scenes from the motion picture "2012" (Columbia Pictures) (Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091106-2012-movie-end-world-fears-maya-predictions.html)

Theory about long and short-term memory questioned

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:04:37 GMT
The long-held theory that our brains use different mechanisms for forming long-term and short-term memories has been challenged by new research from University College London. Their findings identify two distinct short-term memory networks in the brain: one that functions independently of the hippocampus and remains intact in patients with long-term memory deficits, and one that is dependent on the hippocampus and is impaired along with long-term memory. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news177005525.html)

Tissue Engineering a Functioning Penis

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:50:24 GMT
Scientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have created penile erectile tissue and implanted it into male rabbits, developing the organ from implanted scaffolds seeded with cells from rabbit penile tissue. "Our hope is that patients with congenital abnormalities, penile cancer, traumatic injury and some cases of erectile dysfunction will benefit from this technology in the future," said Anthony Atala, M.D., director of Wake Forest's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24374/)

Making Carbon Nanotubes into Long Fibers

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:41:16 GMT
Rice University scientists have developed a new method of assembling carbon nanotubes into conductive fibers hundreds of meters long that might be used as lightweight, efficient wires for the electrical grid or as the basis of structural materials and conductive textiles. (Rice University) The placement of this and the above news item was unintentional. -Ed. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23921/)

Live high-res video feeds by cell phones now possible

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:22:16 GMT
Mobile video broadcasting service Qik plans to announce today the first high-resolution mobile streaming service, with beta support of the new Droid cellphone handset's 720x480 (DVD-quality) video resolution, MobileCruch reports.

Still frame from sample high-res streaming video from Droid cell phone The combination allows for high-quality personal narrowcasting to family, friends, social networks, and live feeds by individuals to TV networks for breaking news or remote coverage of disasters and other events. (Source: )

Words, Gestures Are Translated By Same Brain Regions

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:39:44 GMT
Brain regions where spoken or written words are decoded are also important in interpreting wordless gestures, research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has found. The findings suggest that these brain regions may play a much broader role in the interpretation of symbols than researchers have thought, so they could be the evolutionary starting point from which language originated. These regions include the inferior frontal gyrus, or Broca's area, in the front left side of the brain, and the posterior temporal region, commonly referred to as Wernicke's area, toward the back left side of the brain. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109173412.htm)

Stem Cells Restore Cognitive Abilities Impaired By Brain Tumor Treatment

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:34:42 GMT
UC Irvine study research with rats found that transplanted human embryonic stem cells restored learning and memory to normal levels four months after radiotherapy. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109173600.htm)

Setting Sail Into Space, Propelled by Sunshine

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:14:15 GMT
Over the next three years, the Planetary Society will build and fly a series of three solar-sail spacecraft dubbed LightSails powered only by sunlight, first in orbit around the Earth and eventually into deeper space. (The Planetary Society) The third, with help from a small rocket, will sail out of Earth orbit to the L1 Lagrange point (between the Earth and the Moon) with a package of scientific instruments to monitor the output of the Sun and provide early warning of magnetic storms that can disrupt power grids and damage spacecraft. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/space/10solar.html)

Japan eyes solar station in space as new energy source

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:16:56 GMT
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to collect solar power in space and send it to Earth by 2030 using laser beams or microwaves, and has created a consortium (the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer) that includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp. (Japan Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer) (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news176879161.html)

Findings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:08:51 GMT
Purdue University researchers have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using synthetic "copolymer micelles" nanospheres injected into the blood shortly after an accident to repair damaged axons. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news176908863.html)

Magnetic Nanoparticles To Simultaneously Diagnose, Monitor And Treat

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:56:46 GMT
Magnetic nanoparticles could play a crucial role in developing one-stop tools to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat a wide range of common diseases and injuries, says a special issue of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, "Progress in Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles in Biomedicine." (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106084245.htm)

Moore's Law: Beating The Noise Problem

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:21:06 GMT
It may be possible to improve computer memories by using noise to overcome the increase in noise as transistors become smaller, using stochastic resonance, researchers at the Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires suggest. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24366/)

How your brain sees virtual you

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:22:37 GMT
MRI brain scans of 23-hours-a-week players of the online fantasy world World of Warcraft game reveal that areas of the brain involved in self-reflection and judgement -- the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex -- seem to behave similarly when someone is thinking about their virtual self as when they think about their real one, Dartmouth University researchers have found. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18117-how-your-brain-sees-virtual-you.html)

Ray Kurzweil proposes entrepreneurial peace fund and renewable-energy initiatives to Israeli leaders

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:35:53 GMT
Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the recent Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow 2009, Ray Kurzweil proposed several innovations for dealing with the coming energy shortages and bolstering Israel's growing economy. He also proposed an "Entrepreneurial Peace Fund" -- a collaborative technology incubator between Israel and Palestine. The proposal was widely met with enthusiasm and support in both public and private sessions. In a speech to the conference, Netanyahu credited Kurzweil with the insight and inspiration for the Prime Minister's new National Commission for Renewable Energy initiative, with the goal of replacing fossil fuels with renewable technologies within ten years. "Yesterday, Ray Kurzweil…said that the efficiency of solar energy doubles every two years; you said that within a very brief generation it will become the energy of the proximate future," said Netanyahu. "Well, if that's the case we're in good shape. But I say let's make it happen, faster.... What I propose to do today is to establish a national commission of scientists, engineers, business and government people, to set a goal that within ten years we'll have a practical, clean, efficient substitute for oil." Speaking at the conference's Opening Plenary Session, Looking towards Tomorrow: Turning Crises into Opportunities, Kurzweil explored ways of using nanotechnology and other exponentially growing "information technologies" to transform the energy and environmental crisis into opportunities for Israel and for the world. In two additional panel discussions, Kurzweil presented his ideas on the future of artificial intelligence and reverse engineering the brain. Responding to a prediction by Henry Markram (head of the Blue Brain Project) that the human brain would be successfully reverse-engineered by 2018, Kurzweil noted that he was "the conservative" in this case, with his prediction of 2029. The annual Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow is attended by the world's top leaders in business, government, media and technology, focused on policy making, economic and business initiatives, and critical thinking about global challenges. Ray Kurzweil's speeches at the conference can be seen on the conference website. See thumbnail 5, "Morning Plenary Session," and thumbnail 9, "A Conversation." (Source: )

Humanity+ Summit and Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:55:28 GMT
The feasibility of redesigning the human condition (such as the inevitability of aging, limitations on human and artificial intellects, unchosen psychology, suffering, and our confinement to the planet Earth) will be the focus at Humanity + Summit, Dec. 5-6 in Irvine, California at EON Reality's new state-of-the-art, 18,500-square-foot facility, built to showcase 3D visual content management and virtual reality applications. Is Hollywood reflecting a transhuman turn in popular culture, helping us imagine a day when magical and muggle can live together in a peaceful Star Trek federation? Will the merging of pop culture, social networking and virtual reality into a heightened augmented reality encourage us all to make our lives a form of participative fiction? Those are among the issues to be discussed by transhumanists, futurists, culture critics, artists, writers, and filmmakers to explore the biopolitics that are implicit in depictions of emerging technology in literature, film and television at Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar, December 4, 2009, preceding Humanity + Summit at the same location. (Source: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/eventinfo/bpcs09/)

Elevator to the Top: Space Elevators Climbing Towards Reality

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:21:57 GMT
The group LaserMotive successfully ran a climber up 1 kilometer of test cable at an average rate of just over 2 meters per second, qualifying for the 2nd place prize of $900,000 in The Space Elevator Games competition. The craft is powered by a stationary laser beaming the power to operate to the climber. (NASA MSFC, Artist Pat Rawling) (Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/11/elevator-to-the-top-space-elevators-climbing-towards-reality/)

Analysis: Google's Dashboard Tackles Transparency

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:16:54 GMT
A new Google product called Dashboard aggregates users' personal information from more than 20 Google services into a single, password-protected page. (Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355490,00.asp)

Large Hadron Collider scuttled by birdy baguette-bomber

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:27:40 GMT
A bird dropping a piece of bread onto outdoor machinery has been blamed for a technical fault at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), causing significant overheating in the system's supercooled magnetic doughnut. Obligatory "this is not an Onion story" statement - Ed. See also: The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate (Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/05/lhc_bread_bomb_dump_incident/)

A Battery-Free Implantable Neural Sensor

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:08:36 GMT
Electrical engineers at the University of Washington have developed an implantable neural sensing chip that needs less power, drawing power from a RFID reader radio source up to a meter away. (Brian Otis, University of Washington) The NeuralWISP is a collection of smaller, more low-power components, such as a specialized signal amplifier, on a circuit board just over two centimeters long. A future version will integrate all components onto a single chip that's one millimeter by two millimeters in size. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23878/?a=f)

Sequencing Price Drops Even Lower

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:59:26 GMT
Complete Genomics has sequenced three human genomes for an average cost of $4,400. Lowering the cost of sequencing would allow scientists to study large numbers of human genomes, which is now thought necessary to understand the genetic basis of complex disease. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23891/)

Spoonful Of Sugar' Makes The Worms' Life Span Go Down

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:49:00 GMT
By adding just a small amount of glucose to the C. elegans worm diet, University of California, San Francisco and Pohang University of Science and Technology researchers found the worms lose about 20 percent of their usual life span, suggesting that a diet with a low glycemic index may extend human life span. They trace the effect to insulin signals, which can block aquaporin channels that transport glycerol. Further studies are needed to see if these same effects of sugar can be seen in mice, or even people. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091103121605.htm)

Sony demos game controller to track motion and emotion

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:28:42 GMT
Sony has unveiled a hands-free, full-body game controller, the Interactive Communication Unit (ICU). Like Microsoft's Natal, Sony's ICU tracks a person's whole body without their having to wear the body markers used in motion-capture studios, and it can detect a player's emotions by watching their facial expressions, and judge sex and approximate age from their appearance. CU "reads" facial expressions using a pattern-matching algorithm that has been trained on pictures of people expressing different emotions. Using cues such as the position and shape of the lips, ICU spots five basic states: happiness, anger, surprise, sadness and neutral. Video See also: Sony patents reveal emotion recognition software (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18115-sony-demos-game-controller-to-track-motion-and-emotion.html)

Singularity University Kicks Off First Executive Program

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:57:21 GMT
Singularity University (SU) will launch the SU Executive Program at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. on Saturday. The nine-day program is designed to educate, inform and prepare executives for the imminent disruption and opportunities resulting from exponentially accelerating technologies. The SU Executive Program addresses six fields experiencing exponentially accelerating change: AI and Robotics, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Medicine and Human Machine Interface, Networks and Computing Systems, and Energy and Environmental Systems. The program will be repeated in February 2010. (Source: )

Applause For The SmartHand

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:05:56 GMT
Tel Aviv University researchers have successfully wired the "SmartHand," a state-of-the-art artificial hand, to existing nerve endings in the stump of a severed arm. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104132708.htm)

Genome 10K: A new ark

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:46:47 GMT
The Genome 10K Project aims to collect tissues or cells from at least 10,000 vertebrate species, enough to catalog DNA sequences from about every vertebrate genus. Its designers have decided to wait for sequencing costs to drop by a factor of 10 or more -- probably in the next couple years -- before launching their analytical program. (Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49148/title/Genome_10K_A_new_ark)

Woe, Superman?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:33:56 GMT
In ID: the Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century, Susan Greenfield, Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford, describes a startling range of neurological possibilities: devices enabling paraplegics to activate prosthetic limbs by thought alone, and marrying brain cells with silicon chips. Further in the future, she envisages reverse cochlear implants that can not only turn sound into brain waves but also the reverse. Fitted with tiny radios, these open up the amazing possibility of directly transmitting thought from brain to brain. (Source: http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2009-10/v22n1/01.shtml)

Peter Diamandis: the joy of taking risks

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:58:41 GMT
Peter Diamandis, CEO of the X Prize Foundation, wants to use our competitive instincts to make the world a better place--his latest: a heath care prize. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18113)

Animated ink-blot images keep unwanted bots at bay

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:33:04 GMT
Captchas, the scrambled images used to separate humans from software bots online, could become harder for bots to solve and easier for humans to handle by animating them, says computer scientist Niloy Mitra at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, who along with colleagues has devised a system that should separate the bots from the humans. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18078-animated-inkblot-images-keep-unwanted-bots-at-bay.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news)

3,000 Images Combine for Stunning Milky Way Portrait

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:26:22 GMT
A new 648-megapixel panoramic image of the full night sky, melded together from 3,000 individual photographs with mathematical models, shows stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. (Axel Mellinger of Central Michigan University) (Source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091030-milky-way-panorama.html)

TEDMED features medical and health innovations

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:09:45 GMT
The four-day TEDMED conference last week introduced eye-opening medical and health innovations. Coverage has included medGadget (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4), Scientific Amarican, Huffington Post, and Twitter. (Source: )

AI Spacesuits Turn Astronauts Into Cyborg Biologists

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:25:57 GMT
Patrick McGuire, a University of Chicago geoscientist, has developed algorithms that can recognize signs of life in a barren landscape, using a Hopfield neural network, which compares incoming data against patterns it's seen before, picking out those details that qualify as new or unusual. (Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/cyborg-astrobiologist/)

Speed Limit To The Pace Of Evolution, Biologists Say

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:07:13 GMT
University of Pennsylvania researchers have developed a theoretical model that provides quantitative predictions for the speed of evolution on various "fitness landscapes," the dynamic and varied conditions under which bacteria, viruses and even humans adapt. A major conclusion of the work is that for some organisms, possibly including humans, continued evolution will not translate into ever-increasing fitness. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102171726.htm)

Breakthrough In Industrial-scale Nanotube Processing

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:00:35 GMT
Rice University scientists have unveiled a method for high-throughput industrial-scale processing of carbon-nanotube fibers, using chlorosulfonic acid as a solvent. The process that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102172024.htm)

Sending Drugs to Specific Spots in a Tiny Cage

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:44:59 GMT
Washington University researchers are putting drugs inside "nanocages" (gold cubes with sides about 50 nanometers long and holes at each corner), using with near-infrared light to heat and unseal them and let the drugs out. The nanocages can also be made to bind with tumors. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/science/03obcage.html)

Implantable Silicon-Silk Electronics

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:22:09 GMT
By building thin, flexible silicon electronics on silk substrates, researchers have made implantable electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body. University of Pennsylvania researchers are developing silk-silicon LEDs that might act as photonic tattoos that can show blood-sugar readings, and arrays of conformable electrodes that might interface with the nervous system. The electrodes might be wrapped around individual peripheral nerves to help control prostheses. And arrays of silk electrodes could be used for deep-brain stimulation to control Parkinson's symptoms. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23847/?a=f)

Theme-park dummy trick becomes teleconference tool

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:44:14 GMT
University of North Carolina researchers have developed a system to make teleconferencing more realistic by projecting video images of remote participants onto a 3D dummy model of their head. The system could also be useful by doctors and patients for remote doctor visits, and as a "prosthetic presence" for patients unable to leave their home. Video (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18084-themepark-dummy-trick-becomes-teleconference-tool.html)

Driver-less car in high-speed rally assault

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:15:38 GMT
Stanford engineers are developing the first autonomous racing car to climb Pikes Peak, a challenging 12.4-mile ascent in the Rocky Mountains, at 130 mph, as a way to create and test safety systems they hope one day will be used in all vehicles. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news176354395.html)

Nanoscale Drug Delivery Developed For Chemotherapy

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:58:33 GMT
Duke University bioengineers have developed a simple, inexpensive method for loading cancer drug payloads into nanoscale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this delivery system can eliminate tumors after a single treatment. The system uses an E. coli bacterium that have been genetically altered to produce a chimeric polypeptide. When that molecule combines with a drug in a container, they self-assemble into a water-soluble nanoparticle of about 50 nanometers, making them ideal for cancer therapy. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091101132541.htm)

How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:24:47 GMT
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have found that nonlinear resonant effects allow terahertz (THz) waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. THz scanners are beginning to be installed in airports and hospitals. Reference: DNA Breathing Dynamics in the Presence of a Terahertz Field (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/)

The Future of Video Game Input: Muscle Sensors

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:09:07 GMT
A muscle-sensing system that can remotely control devices such as games and multi-touch surfaces has been developed by researchers at Microsoft, the University of Washington, and the University of Toronto. They system uses electromyography (EMG) sensors to detect muscle signals from the arm skin's surface, allowing researchers to build a gesture recognition library. (Source: http://www.livescience.com/technology/091029-ttr-muscle-sensing.html)

Robot driving companion brings emotion to navigation

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:48:47 GMT
Audi, Nissan, and Pioneer are working on dashboard robotic devices that are sensitive to a driver's moods, behavior, and habits and can offer reminders (such as failure to buckle a seat belt) and information (such as GPS-based route suggestions). (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18085-robot-driving-companion-brings-emotion-to-navigation.html)

Sticky future for the spider suture

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:33:50 GMT
University of Wyoming scientists have identified the genes potentially involved in the glycoprotein-based ultra-strong glue that spiders use to trap their prey, raising the hope that similar substances could one day be synthezised to produce surgical adhesives. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427325.200-sticky-future-for-the-spider-suture.html)

'The Future of Aging' makes the scientific case for biogerontology

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:20:16 GMT
The Future of Aging: Pathways to Human Life Extension has just been announced by Springer. The 40 authors make the scientific case that a biological "bailout" could be on the way, and that human aging can be different in the future than it is today. Based on the future therapeutic potential of biogerontology, their paradigm-breaking proposals include sirtuin-modulating pills, new concepts for attacking cardiovascular disease and cancer, mitochondrial rejuvenation, stem cell therapies and regeneration, tissue reconstruction, telomere maintenance, prevention of immunosenescence, extracellular rejuvenation, artificial DNA repair, and full deployment of nanotechnology. The chapters range from Chapter 1, Bridges to Life by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman to Chapter 23, Comprehensive Nanorobotic Control of Human Morbidity and Aging by Robert A. Freitas, Jr. The Future of Aging: Pathways to Human Life Extension Fahy, G.M.; West, M.D.; Coles, L.S.; Harris, S.B. (Eds.) 2010, Approx. 500 p., Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-481-3998-9 Available: May 4, 2010 Approx. $209.00 (Source: )