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Wednesday November 21, 2012 Daily edition   News and Blog Headlines Neurons made from stem cells drive brain activity after transplantation Three radical new energy technologies Is college credit for massive open online courses coming? New augmented-reality glasses due out in 2013 Rice unveils super-efficient solar-energy technology The highest-resolution immersive visualization facility ever built A 3D light switch for the brain FRINGE series repeat premieres on Science Channel @ 8pm Latest News Neurons made from stem cells drive brain activity after transplantation November 21, 2012   Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have found a way to stimulate stem cell-derived neurons to direct cognitive function after transplantation to an existing neural network by using optogenetic stimulation — getting us a step closer to using these cells to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Researchers and patients look forward to the day when stem cells might be used … more… Three radical new energy technologies November 21, 2012   Three innovative new energy technologies are explored in the current issue of Technology and Innovation — Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors: Tidal currents and ocean waves that can be recovered using ocean thermal conversion technology. Infrared thermal radiation (more than half of the power provided by the Sun). A new nanophosphor-based electroluminesence lighting device that caters to the … more… Is college credit for massive open online courses coming? November 21, 2012   The American Council on Education (ACE) has announced a wide-ranging research and evaluation effort that will examine the academic potential of massive open online courses (MOOCs). The ACE College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) will evaluate for potential college credit select courses offered by Coursera, a leading provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs). “MOOCs are … more… New augmented-reality glasses due out in 2013 November 21, 2012   Google Glass now has a competitor: Vuzix Corporation’s Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 — designed for on-the-go data access from your smartphone and the Internet and available commercially in 2013, says Vuzix CEO Paul J. Travers. Like Google Glass, the Vuzix M100 contains a virtual display with integrated camera, running Android OS, and will wirelessly connect via Bluetooth or … more… Rice unveils super-efficient solar-energy technology November 21, 2012   Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses silicon dioxide/gold nanoshells and N115 carbon nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new “solar steam” method from Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. The technology has an overall energy efficiency … more… The highest-resolution immersive visualization facility ever built November 21, 2012   Stony Brook University (SBU) recently unveiled its new Reality Deck, with 1.5 billion pixels total on 416 super-high-resolution screens in a four-walled surround-view theater — the highest-resolution  immersive display ever built — and driven by a 220 TFLOPs graphic supercomputer. Its purpose and primary design principle is to enable scientists, engineers, and physicians to tackle … more… A 3D light switch for the brain November 21, 2012   A new fiber-optic device created by MIT biologists and engineers is the first tool that can deliver 1000 precise points of light to a 3D section of living brain tissue matter smaller than a sugar cube. This is a step forward for a technique called optogenetics, which uses gene treatments to turn individual brain cells … more… FRINGE series repeat premieres on Science Channel @ 8pm November 20, 2012 New Articles This is your brain on neural implants November 21, 2012 by Ray Kurzweil   Are you still you if devices improve your memory, attention span, and other cognitive skills? You are in the future with technologies more advanced than today’s. While you are sleeping, some group scans your brain and picks up every salient detail. Perhaps they do this with blood cell sized scanning machines traveling in the capillaries … more… Latest Kurzweil Collection posts This is your brain on neural implants   Source: Slate — November 16, 2012 | Ray Kurzweil Are you still you if devices improve your memory, attention span, and other cognitive skills? You are in the future with technologies more advanced than today’s. While you are sleeping, some group scans your brain and picks up every salient detail. Perhaps they do this with blood cell sized scanning machines traveling in the capillaries … more… Read full article here Revealing the secret of human thought   Source: The Leonard Lopate Show — November 20, 2012 | Leonard Lopate Futurist Ray Kurzweil discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence in addressing the world’s problems. In How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, he examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical … more… Read full article here Kurzweil: How to create a mind   Source: Greg Laden's Blog — November 20, 2012 | Greg Laden How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed is Ray Kurzweil’s latest book. You may know of him as the author of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil is a “futurist” and has a reputation as being one of the greatest thinkers of our age, as well as being one of … more… Read full article here Ray Kurzweil on smartphones, artificial intelligence and the human brain   Source: SmartPlanet — November 12, 2012 | Andrew Nusca Inventor, author, and futurist Ray Kurzweil tool to the stage here at the Techonomy conference in Tucson to offer his thoughts on a future where humanity is enhanced by technology. Kurzweil spoke to Techonomy founder David Kirkpatrick about his new book on human thought, How to Create a Mind, and the various themes that stem … more… Read full article here When brain implants arrive, will we still be us?   Source: SmartPlanet — November 19, 2012 | Reena Jana What happens when non-biological implants in our bodies — along the lines of cochlear implants to improve hearing in the deaf — include brain-related devices that might enhance our memories? Will we still be “us”? Will we be more of a cyborg than we were if, say, we had another type of implant? And for … more… Read full article here Visit KurzweilAI.net You are currently subscribed to the KurzweilAI.net newsletter as *|EMAIL|* To unsubscribe, please click here. To change your email preferences, please click here. *|LIST:ADDRESS|*.