Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Thursday February 14, 2013 Daily edition   News and Blog Headlines A cure for type 1 diabetes An automated ‘time machine’ to reconstruct ancient languages Turning off the sensation of cold New world-record efficiency for thin-film silicon solar cells Neuroprosthesis gives rats the ability to ‘touch’ infrared light Black holes growing faster than expected A nanocopter camera that follows you around, streaming video to your smartphone Latest News A cure for type 1 diabetes February 14, 2013   Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have succeeded in completely curing type 1 diabetes in dogs with a single session of gene therapy by introducing a “glucose sensor” into muscle. This is the first time the disease has been cured in large animals, a fundamental step towards applying the therapy in humans. The dogs … more… An automated ‘time machine’ to reconstruct ancient languages February 14, 2013   Researchers from University of California, Berkeley and the University of British Columbia have created a computer program that can rapidly reconstruct “proto-languages” — the linguistic ancestors from which all modern languages have evolved. These earliest-known languages include Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Afroasiatic and, in this case, Proto-Austronesian, which gave rise to languages spoken in Southeast Asia, parts of … more… Turning off the sensation of cold February 14, 2013     USC neuroscientists have isolated chills at a cellular level, identifying the sensory network of neurons in the skin that relays the sensation of cold. David McKemy, associate professor of neurobiology in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and his team managed to selectively shut off the ability to sense cold in … more… New world-record efficiency for thin-film silicon solar cells February 14, 2013   EPFL’s Institute of Microengineering has reached a remarkable 10.7% efficiency for a single-junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell, surpassing the previous world record of 10.1% held by the Japanese company Kaneka Corporation since 1998. The efficiency increase was also achieved with with only 1.8 microns of photovoltaic active material — 100 times less material than with … more… Neuroprosthesis gives rats the ability to ‘touch’ infrared light February 14, 2013   An experiment by Duke University Medical Center researchers has implications for both remediating sight and augmenting perception in the future. Nicolelis Lab researchers attached a head-mounted infrared (IR) sensor to rats and connected it to the whisker area of the brain (somatosensory cortex), using electrical microstimulation. Despite the fact that the IR sensations were very different … more… Black holes growing faster than expected February 14, 2013   Black holes are growing faster than previously thought possible, according to new research published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal. Even the black hole in our own Milky Way Galaxy, which otherwise appears very quiet, has probably been consuming the equivalent of one Sun every 3000 years. Until recently, astronomers thought that black holes grow mostly … more… A nanocopter camera that follows you around, streaming video to your smartphone February 14, 2013   Always Innovating is developing a $49. tiny flying video camera called the MeCam, due out in 2014. The camera streams live video to your smartphone, allowing you to stream or upload videos. A nanocopter with 4 spinning rotors houses the camera, with an ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, WiFI, and Bluetooth. The MeCam launches from the … more… New EVENTS 100 Year Starship 2013 Public Symposium Dates: Sep 19 – 22, 2013 Location: Houston, Texas more... New books Civilization: The West and the Rest author Niall Ferguson Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer … more… 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|*.