Scientists Convert a 53,000-Word Book Into DNA. In a scientific first, Harvard University researches successfully transformed a 53,426-word book into DNA, the same substance that provides the genetic template for all living things.
The achievement could eventually lead to the mass adoption of DNA as a long-term storage medium. Published Thursday in the journal Science, the experiment aimed to demonstrate the viability of storing large amounts of data on DNA molecules. Since the data is recorded on individual nucleobase pairs in the DNA strand (those adenine-guanine/cytosine-thymine pairs you may be straining to remember from high school biology), DNA can actually store more information per cubic millimeter than flash memory or even some experimental storage techs, IEEE Spectrum reports.
The difficulty is in the translation — both to DNA and back again (summarized in the diagram below). Google's 'brain simulator': 16,000 computers to identify a cat. Stanford computer scientist Andrew Ng next to an image of a cat that a neural network taught itself to recognise.
Photo: The New York Times Inside Google's secretive X laboratory, known for inventing self-driving cars and augmented reality glasses, a small group of researchers began working several years ago on a simulation of the human brain. There Google scientists created one of the largest neural networks for machine learning by connecting 16,000 computer processors, which they turned loose on the internet to learn on its own. A Start-Up Bets on Human Translators Over Machines. Language does not come naturally to machines.
Unlike humans, computers cannot easily distinguish between, say, a river bank and a savings bank. Satire and jokes? Algorithms have great trouble with that. XVIVO. Research at Stanford may lead to computers that understand humans. After decades of trial and error, artificial intelligence applications that aim to understand human language are slowly starting to lose some of their brittleness.
Now, a simple mathematical model developed by two psychologists at Stanford University could lead to further improvements, helping transform computers that display the mere veneer of intelligence into machines that truly understand what we are saying. UAVs and open source software combine to digitize historical buildings in 3D. Cheap, energy-efficient ARM Cortex-M0+ may usher in the Internet of Things. Bits of the Future: First Universal Quantum Network Prototype Links 2 Separate Labs. Quantum technologies are the way of the future, but will that future ever arrive?
Maybe so. Japan team creates world's first "crab computer" Wouldn't your latest generation tablet be way cooler if it ran on live crabs?
Thanks to Yukio-Pegio Gunji and his team at Japan’s Kobe University, the era of crab computing is upon us ... well, sort of. The scientists have exploited the natural behavior of soldier crabs to design and build logic gates - the most basic components of an analogue computer. They may not be as compact as more conventional computers, but crab computers are certainly much more fun to watch. Electricity and microcircuits aren’t the only way to build a computer. In fact, electronic computers are a relatively recent invention.
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet and Personal Computers in 1974 (Video) Fighting Child Pornography with PhotoDNA. For law enforcement, combating the online distribution of child pornography is a major challenge.
The anonymity of the Internet, the shear volume of sites to monitor and the difficulty of identifying individual images of child pornography provide too many opportunities for distributors of child porn to slip through the cracks. According to Bill Harmon, Associate General Counsel for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, the more than 65 million images of child sexual exploitation viewed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children show that images are growing more violent and victims younger, with 10 percent of the images reviewed being infants and toddlers.
In an effort to help law enforcement with their investigations, Microsoft is partnering with Swedish company NetClean to makes its PhotoDNA software available at no cost. The software, developed in collaboration with Dartmouth College, creates a unique signature for a digital image, called a "hash". Capillary from Heart Muscle. Canvas Pinball - StumbleUpon.
IBM unveils one trillion bit-per-second optical chip. IBM's prototype 5.2 x 5 .8 mm Holey Optochip Image Gallery (2 images) Last Thursday at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference in Los Angeles, a team from IBM presented research on their wonderfully-named "Holey Optochip.
" The prototype chipset is the first parallel optical transceiver that is able to transfer one trillion bits (or one terabit) of information per second. To put that in perspective, IBM states that 500 high-def movies could be downloaded in one second at that speed, while the entire U.S. Turn 2D photos into 3D relief scupltures. BumpyPhoto turns 2D photos into 3D relief sculptures Image Gallery (16 images) Those looking to bring a little more "depth" to their photos might want to check out the custom-made photo reliefs from Portland, Oregon, based BumpyPhoto.
Using 3D-printing technology, the company will produce a full-color 3D relief sculpture from a 2D photo to give an even better indication of the size of that sun dial that Uncle Barry calls a nose. View all The BumpyPhoto system allows users to upload a regular photo image to the company's website where some software is used to create a 3D depth map. New technology allows for high-speed 3D printing of tiny objects. A race car model no larger than a grain of sand, created using the new high-speed two-photon lithography process Image Gallery (7 images) Are 3D printers not amazing enough already?
Biodegradable transistors created from proteins found in the human body. In a bid to develop a transistor that didn't need to be created in a "top down" approach" as is the case with silicon-based transistors, researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) turned to blood, milk and mucus proteins. The result is protein-based transistors the researchers say could form the basis of a new generation of electronic devices that are both flexible and biodegradable. When the researchers applied various combinations of blood, milk, and mucus proteins to any base material, the molecules self-assembled to create a semi-conducting film on a nano-scale.
As New iPad Debut Nears, Some See Decline of PCs. His forecast has backing from a growing number of analysts and veteran technology industry executives, who contend that the torrid growth rates of the iPad, combined with tablet competition from the likes of Amazon.com and Microsoft, make a changing of the guard a question of when, not if. Tablet sales are likely to get another jolt this week when Apple introduces its newest version of the iPad, which is expected to have a higher-resolution screen.
With past iterations of the iPad and , Apple has made an art of refining the devices with better screens, faster processors and speedier network connections, as well as other bells and whistles — steadily broadening their audiences. An Apple spokeswoman, Trudy Muller, declined to comment on an event the company is holding Wednesday in San Francisco that is expected to feature the new product. E-Readers Finally Get a Splash of Color. LCD e-readers have one big advantage over e-paper ones: color. But what makes LCD screens so vibrant is also their downfall—the backlight necessary to illuminate pixels adds heft, slashes battery life, and can strain readers' eyes.
LCDs require a protective layer, typically glass, so they suffer from extreme glare in direct light. E Ink's new Triton e-paper display, which came out in the U.S. this year on the Ectaco jetBook Color, produces 4,096 colors (the same palette as a newspaper) with ambient light alone. Can Computer Games Save Us All? New Research Shows How Gaming Can Help Cure Our Social Ills. February 21, 2012 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. LightBeam makes any surface a projector display, and everyday objects a remote control. LightBeam allows physical objects, such as a water bottle, to act as a control for the pico projector Image Gallery (2 images) Thinking Machine 4. Thinking Machine 4 explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought. Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought process visible on the board before you. Applying Google’s PageRank algorithm to the molecular universe. DARPA reveals Avatar program, robot soldiers incoming.
Genius Swedish computer program has IQ of 150. Researchers at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, and Theory of Science at the University of Gothenburg in Göteborg, Sweden, have created a computer program that can score 150 on standard non-verbal IQ test questions.