Download Knowledge Directly to Your Brain, Matrix-Style. For the first time, researchers have been able to hack into the process of learning in the brain, using induced brain patterns to create a learned behavior.
It's not quite as advanced as an instant kung-fu download, and it's not as sleek as cognitive inception, but it's still an important finding that could lead to new teaching and rehabilitation techniques. Future therapies could decode the brain activity patterns of an athlete or a musician, and use them as a benchmark for teaching another person a new activity, according to the researchers. Scientists from Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to study the learning process. Brain downloads 'possible by 2050' - May 23, 2005. Scientists Reconstruct Brains' Visions Into Digital Video In Historic Experiment.
Stain-Proof Material Can Repel Virtually Any Liquid. Military leaders and laundry-plagued mothers both have reason to rejoice over an improvement in the development of liquid-repelling surfaces.
For the first time, lab researchers have created a "superomniphobic" coating that resists not only water and juice but everything from blood to hydrochloric acid. Past coatings focused on resisting Newtonian fluids such as water or apple juice but had more trouble with oils and alcohols. Study of the Day: Soon, You May Download New Skills to Your Brain - Hans Villarica. New research suggests it may be possible to learn complex tasks with little to no conscious effort, just like in The Matrix.
Whoa, indeed. Japanese Humanoid Robot Dominates DARPA Challenge. HOMESTEAD, Fla. — A Japanese robotics team dominated the field after an ambitious two-day competition that saw robots driving cars, climbing ladders and wielding power tools.
A two-legged robot built by engineers at SCHAFT Inc., a Japanese robotics firm, won the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials today (Dec. 21), scoring the most points across tasks that tested the robots' mobility, dexterity, perception and autonomous operations. Florida-based IHMC Robotics' humanoid robot claimed second place in the competition, with Carnegie Mellon University's Team Tartan Rescue rounding out the top three.
The DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials were held Friday and Saturday (Dec. 20-21) here at the Homestead Miami Speedway. Seventeen teams qualified to compete, but travel issues prevented one team from China from making it to Florida in time for the competition. [Images: Meet the DARPA Robotics Challengers] During the Trials, the robots were evaluated based on their performance in eight physical tasks. Cloaking Device Produces True Invisibility. The problem with invisibility cloaks was that they always reflected a little bit of light, so the object being hidden was partially visible.
Researchers at Duke University have tweaked their fabrication technique to create a device that doesn't give off that reflected image. Webinar: The New PCI 3.0 Standard Learn the steps to take to get your company ready for PCI DSS 3.0 changes coming January 2015. We cover all of the details you need to know as we head to the deadline to complete and pass your PCI DSS 3.0 audit. View the PCI Webinar Series Now. Stain-Proof Material Can Repel Virtually Any Liquid. Starship. Self-healing metal closes cracks when under stress. A self-healing metal is one thing — in today’s wacky world of quantum computing and self-driving cars, why wouldn’t a metal be able to shore up any fractures it happens to acquire?
A new study from MIT describes a substance for stranger than that, however; this new metal doesn’t just heal itself spontaneously, but closes micro-fractures in response to being pulled apart. This isn’t just amazing, it seemingly goes against our most basic understanding of how the world works. And yet, seems to be true. The research team itself did not initially trust their results, checking them several times before tentatively bringing them to the public’s attention. The video below shows a computer model of the process at the molecular scale. Self-healing metal could lead to longer-lasting airplanes.
MIT researchers recently pulled on a piece of cracked metal so hard that they expected it to break apart.
Instead, something unexpected happened: The crack healed. “We had to go back and check,” MIT materials science and engineering professor Michael Demkowicz said in a release. “Instead of extending, [the crack] was closing up. First, we figured out that, indeed, nothing was wrong. The next question was: ‘Why is this happening?’” Warp Drive Feasible? Relativity Loophole Means 'Star Trek' Device Might Actually Work, Physicists Say. By: Jillian Scharr Published: 05/14/2013 11:20 AM EDT on TechNewsDaily In the "Star Trek" TV shows and films, the U.S.S.
Relativity loophole makes Star Trek Enterprise warp possible. Physicists say there is a loophole in Einstein's general theory of relativity that could allow a space ship to travel faster-than-light, fulfilling the USS Enterprise fantasy of a warp drive with which Captain Kirk takes the Enterprise to "Warp II.
" TechNewsDaily reports that scientists at NASA are working on an experiment to demonstrate the practical possibility of faster-than-light travel. Einstein's special theory of relativity (SR) implies that no massive body, that is a body with a nonzero rest mass, can ever travel at or faster than the speed of light. Accelerating a massive body to the speed of light will require infinite energy because, according to SR, the mass of a body moving at the speed of light would be infinite. Warp Speed, Scotty? Star Trek's FTL Drive May Actually Work. In the "Star Trek" TV shows and films, the U.S.S. Enterprise's warp engine allows the ship to move faster than light, an ability that is, as Spock would say, "highly illogical. " However, there's a loophole in Einstein's general theory of relativity that could allow a ship to traverse vast distances in less time than it would take light.
The trick? It's not the starship that's moving — it's the space around it. In fact, scientists at NASA are right now working on the first practical field test toward proving the possibility of warp drives and faster-than-light travel. According to Einstein's theory, an object with mass cannot go as fast or faster than the speed of light. [gr-qc/0009013] The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity.