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http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=127576&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1

Discoveries - Mind-Controlled Devices Reveal Future Possibilities

Discovery Mind-Controlled Devices Reveal Future Possibilities Researchers are giving new meaning to the old adage: "Mind over matter" April 10, 2013 A team of scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota is giving new meaning to the old adage: "Mind over matter." Led by Bin He, Ph.D., director of the Biomedical Functional Imaging and Neuroengineering Laboratory , the team has created a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that could one day restore mobility and independence for individuals with amputated limbs, paralysis and other impairments that prevent or limit normal movement.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/09/53-thousand-word-textbook-encoded-in-dna.html

53 thousand word Textbook encoded in DNA

Nature - 5.27-megabit book containing more than 53,000 words, 11 digital images and a computer program has been encoded in DNA — the largest amount of non-biological data yet stored in this way. Sriram Kosuri at Harvard's Wyss Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and his colleagues created nearly 55,000 different short DNA strand to store the information. Science - Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA Digital information is accumulating at an astounding rate, straining our ability to store and archive it. DNA is among the most dense and stable information media known. The development of new technologies in both DNA synthesis and sequencing make DNA an increasingly feasible digital storage medium.

Bio-Retina to enter clinical trials in 2013

http://www.gizmag.com/bio-retina-restore-vision-blind/23387/ At least 25-30 million people worldwide have age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of blindness in middle-aged and older adults. Israeli start-up Nano Retina has announced its new Bio-Retina, a tiny array of photodetectors which can be implanted directly on the retinal surface. Ready to enter clinical trials in 2013, the Bio-Retina restores vision to AMD sufferers almost immediately following the simple implantation process. The retina is a light sensitive tissue lining the inside rear surface of our eyes. Retinal tissue is layered, where the photoreceptors of the eye (rods and cones) are located beneath several layers of neurons and ganglia interconnected by synapses.

One Per Cent: Augmented reality glasses look a step ahead of Google

Jacob Aron, technology reporter (Image: Jacob Aron) I'm sitting in a bar watching a video of a baseball player. That's unusual enough in the UK, where the sport has minimal following, but I'm not watching on a wall-mounted flatscreen or even my smartphone. The slugger's swing plays out on a piece of glass just 2 millimetres thick, part of a prototype augmented reality (AR) glasses system created by display technology firm Vuzix . "We basically make monitors - really hard-to-build monitors," says Vuzix's Clark Dever. http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/06/vuzix-smart-glasses.html
http://www.gizmag.com/mh2-telepresence-robot/22860/

MH-2 is the tiny wearable telepresence humanoid robot you've always wanted

The MH-2 is a telepresence robot like no other we have seen, and believe us, we’ve seen our share of weird robots . This tiny humanoid figure is always there for you, perching on your shoulder, ready to be remotely inhabited by your friends. Conceived by the researchers at Yamagata University in Japan, MH-2 is designed to imitate human behavior accurately enough for you to feel like your friend is actually there with you. The truth, however, is that this friend of yours is back at home, in the living room, making wild gestures in front of some sort of a motion capture set-up and watching the video captured in real time by the MH-2.

Elvis hologram might see new Elvis concerts in the future

There was some interest a couple of months ago when a Tupac “ hologram ” (actually, it was just a digital projection of Tupac on a glass display) performed ‘live’ on stage with Dr. Dre and Snopp Dogg, and it sure did open up a whole new avenue of “resurrecting” dead stars for future concerts. Who do you want to call up from the netherworld? http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/elvis-hologram-might-see-new-elvis-concerts-in-the-future/
Corning announced details of a major new glass design at the eighth annual Display Week in Boston, a trade event hosted by the Society for Information Display. Named Willow Glass, Corning’s new glass is manufactured in such a way that allows it to reach temperatures of up to 500°C (932ºF) while maintaining a thickness of just 100 microns – or about that of a sheet of paper. The company's Gorilla Glass was first brought into being to meet Steve Jobs' need for a hard-wearing glass screen for the original iPhone, and has since appeared on smartphones from almost every major manufacturer, in addition to a host of tablets and televisions. http://www.gizmag.com/corning-willow-glass/22818/

Gorilla Glass maker unveils ultra-thin and flexible Willow Glass

How to Make Science and Tech Jobs More Enticing to Undergrads

Web Exclusives | More Science Despite studying science, technology, engineering or math, many students avoid STEM careers. Higher salaries, improved status and apprenticeships would change that. A special online-only addition to February 2012's Graphic Science http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=graphic-science-science-tech-jobs-enticing
http://healthynewyear.challenge.gov/?sso=9c75a7419eae812a061e894bb0b31c670282f6a63e1ad7cd613e1e8e976db7b61eaaedb337aa073aa6e00a6b6191141c264f Winners announced (view all dates) Let’s get the new year off to a healthy start! The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Healthy New Year Video Challenge ( #HealthIT4U2012 ) invites you to create a short, compelling video (up to 2 minutes in length) sharing one New Year’s resolution for improving your health or the health of a loved one, and how you will use technology to achieve your resolution. We encourage you to create videos that are creative, inspiring and instructive — share a resolution that others can relate to, and demonstrate how technology will make it easier to achieve. Your resolution can be anything health related, such as quitting smoking or drinking, eating healthier, losing weight, reducing stress, or managing a chronic condition.

Healthy New Year Video Challenge

The Knowledge Network - Bionic Leg makes Amputee Faster On His Feet

A shark attack survivor now knows what it feels like to be part bionic man. 23-year-old amputee Craig Hutto has volunteered to play guinea pig, testing a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg with powered knee and ankle joints. With early support from the National Science Foundation and continued support from the National Institutes of Health, Vanderbilt University mechanical engineer Michael Goldfarb has spent several years developing the leg, which operates with special sensors, an electric motor, a battery and computer technology. Sensors monitor the user's motion and microprocessors figure out what the person is trying to do. Goldfarb says the powered leg reduces the lag time between a real leg and a prosthetic one. http://science360.gov/obj/video/ccc1a1d4-ad8b-475b-ba96-c86b92790fc2#.Tx2FkSqwu1s.twitter
CRIMINALS who go under the knife in an effort to evade capture might want to consider an alternative disguise, thanks to a new technique for matching faces before and after plastic surgery. Typical facial-recognition software can be thrown off by even minor changes in the lighting and position of an unaltered face. Post-surgical matching is even harder for obvious reasons, says Kevin Bowyer , a computer scientist at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, whose team developed the new system: "If someone has plastic surgery, they're trying to change the appearance of one or more parts of their face." As a result, existing software's success rate can be cut in half when trying to match before and after photos gathered from plastic surgery websites. Bowyer's colleague, Gaurav Aggarwal, realised that matching individual facial features rather than whole faces could be more successful.

Software could spot face-changing criminals - tech - 18 January 2012

The OrcaM Orbital Camera System can create a 3D digital model of any object placed within its 'reconstruction sphere' Image Gallery (3 images) Obtaining a high-quality 3D digital model of a physical object can be a fiddly process, that often requires considerable user input. German research and development company NEK, however, is attempting to make things easier, with its OrcaM Orbital Camera System. Users just place an object inside of its "reconstruction sphere," then the system goes to work, automatically creating a near-perfect three-dimensional recreation of the object.

Camera system makes 3D models of anything placed inside of it

If you’re a fan of Microsoft OneNote and wished that they had a version just for the iPad – you’re in luck. Yesterday, Microsoft launched the iPad-optimized version of the OneNote note-taking app on the Apple App Store. The app allows users to take notes with their iOS devices – just like Evernote, notes are stored in the cloud (via Microsoft SkyDrive) which lets you access them on any device no matter where you are. The latest version of OneNote features a new UI that takes full advantage of the iPad’s display real-estate, and brings some new additions such as localization into several new languages and markets, tabbed user interface, quick note creation in the Unfiled Notes section, Table rendering, improved Windows Live sign-in experience, option to sync notebooks only over a WiFi connection, and an integrated upgrade option.

Microsoft OneNote for the iPad released, Lync on the way

<img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-46004" title="worldsbiggestwriting" src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2010/08/worldsbiggestwriting-660x647.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="647" /> One man drove 12,238 miles across 30 states to scrawl a message that can only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: “Read Ayn Rand.” Nick Newcomen did a road trip over 30 days that covered stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. First, he identified on a map the route he would need to drive to spell out the message.

Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ | Gadget Lab

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facial-recognition

GeoCast

on 05/19/2010 With the boundaries between gadgets blurring, it’s hard to tell what is an MP3 player, PMP, tablet device, smart phone or feature phone nowadays. That being said, the Tenna concept wants to do away with all this mobile phone convergence, allowing any gadget out there that sports a USB mini port to function as a phone. Basically, the Tenna is a screenless phone that supports voice commands. You can detach the earphone, and speak commands directly into it, but if you have a gadget handy, you can just plug it into the gadget, the built-in software called Tennalink will kick into gear, instantly turning it into a smartphone that’s capable of performing advanced functions such as scheduling, managing contacts, browsing the web, and whatever mobile phones do nowadays.

Tenna Concept Turns Almost Any Gadget Into A Mobile Phone

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