Physicians News: How Video Games Can Improve Your Health, Attention and Skills. Power Sleep App Will Use Your Unused CPU Cycles For Science. When you are sleeping, chances are you have plugged your phone in to charge for the night. However since you are sleeping, it also means that your phone is not being used, meaning that there is a lot of unused processing power. But what if you could “share” that processing power in the name of science? Would that be something you might be interested in? If you are, perhaps you might be interested in downloading a new app by Samsung called Power Sleep. The app itself is pretty straightforward as it is more or less an alarm clock. This is a joint effort by Samsung and Cheil Worldwide in which the app would use unused CPU cycles to help compute protein calculations that will be used to help find a cure for diseases like Alzheimer’s. .
Discoveries - Mind-Controlled Devices Reveal Future Possibilities. DiscoveryMind-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 to individuals with amputated limbs, paralysis and other impairments that prevent or limit normal movement.
With the help of this interface, volunteers have been able to precisely control the flight of simulated and small model helicopters using only their minds. While mind-reading sounds more like science fiction than science fact, researchers have been pursuing this type of technology for the past several decades. The drawback is that this approach is incredibly invasive. 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. Here, we develop a strategy to encode arbitrary digital information in DNA, write a 5.27-megabit book using DNA microchips, and read the book using next-generation DNA sequencing. 16 pages of supplemental material.
Bio-Retina to enter clinical trials in 2013. 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.
View all 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. These neurons transmit the image to the optic nerve, and the ganglia perform low-level processing of the visual information. AMD is caused by deterioration or breakdown of the retina's central region, which is called the macula.
One problem remains. Source: Nano Retina. 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. The prototype is currently just a single lens jury-rigged to a tiny portable projector, but the results are already impressive. The video image takes up around a quarter of the entire lens and appears to hover around 10 centimetres in front of your face, so it is easy to see your surroundings at the same time. Images are displayed on the lens using optical waveguide technology. MH-2 is the tiny wearable telepresence humanoid robot you've always wanted. The MH-2 telepresence robot mimics the movements of its remote operator (Photo: Yamagata University) Image Gallery (3 images) 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. Although both the friend and the robot are guaranteed quite a workout, it’s you who needs to do most of the heavy lifting. Source: Yamagata University via IEEE Spectrum About the Author Post a CommentRelated Articles.
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? The King of Pop? He can wait, as Elvis might just return to the building in the form of a hologram concert. Hopefully it will be one where he is still in his prime, without that pot belly, looking all suave. Ed Ulbrich, Chief Creative Officer at Digital Domain, said, “Elvis Presley is the king of rock and roll…you have to start with the king. .
Gorilla Glass maker unveils ultra-thin and flexible Willow Glass. Willow Glass is said to be the thinnest and most flexible glass Corning has ever produced Image Gallery (2 images) 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. Where Willow Glass differs from Gorilla Glass, however, is its unusual thinness and flexibility, two properties which seem to all but guarantee that it be utilized by smartphone and tablet manufacturers in new and novel ways. Source: Corning. How to Make Science and Tech Jobs More Enticing to Undergrads. The number of U.S. undergraduate degrees being awarded in most STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math) has risen steadily in recent years{link to G Sci page}. Yet some American employers say they are having trouble finding candidates to fill STEM jobs. The mismatch is not occurring because of an actual shortage of graduates; the numbers of job openings and new degree holders align fairly closely.
And the shortfall is not because more foreign-born students are returning home after earning U.S. degrees, as has been rumored lately. The mismatch is occurring because people with STEM degrees are choosing jobs in other fields that pay more or have higher perceived status, according to Nicole Smith, senior economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Smith says several steps could make STEM jobs more attractive to students. Making science jobs appear more exciting would also improve their attractiveness. Healthy New Year Video Challenge. 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. Note: To participate, you must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
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. Hutto confirms that the powered prosthetic is much better at anticipating his next move.
Provided by the National Science Foundation. 5 technologies that will plug the Internet directly into your brain. Even among those of us who aren't fluent in geek speak, most are at least casually familiar with the concepts of software and hardware: the digital ghost and the shell. But there is a third computer component without which the other two would be meaningless. We're talking about meatware,* or the tech that connects computers to the meaty organic components, aka you. Today, we access the digital world various types of user interfaces (or a UI): keyboards, touchscreens, Kinect; anything that facilitates information transfer between flesh and silicon. And this tech works well enough. However, compared to the connectivity within a computer or within the brain, contemporary UIs are little more than annoying speed bumps along the road to the Matrix.
But fear not, future human batteries in training! (*A more common term is "wetware," but "meatware" just sounds cooler. One day, this could be you! 5. After gathering enough data, the team was able to decipher brain patterns for each word. 4. 3. 2. Software could spot face-changing criminals - tech - 18 January 2012. 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. New Scientist Not just a website! More From New Scientist Robot guard-dragon unveiled in Japan (New Scientist) Camera system makes 3D models of anything placed inside of it. 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.
Presently, OrcaM is limited to objects with a diameter no larger than 80 centimeters (31.5 in), and weighing no more than 100 kilograms (220.5 lbs). The process begins with the user sliding back the camera head, opening up the sphere, and placing their object inside. Once the scanning is completed, a linked computer creates a 3D model of the object, using the captured images. Source: Dvice About the Author.
Microsoft OneNote for the iPad released, Lync on the way. Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ | Gadget Lab. 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. He put a GPS device in his car to trace the route he would follow.
Then, he hit the road. “The main reason I did it is because I am an Ayn Rand fan,” he says. Newcomen, unlike previous GPS artists, actually traveled the lines he traced on the map. “The first word I wrote actually was the word ‘Rand’, then I went up North to do the word ‘Read’ and finished it with ‘Ayn,’” says Newcomen. And for those who don’t know, Ayn Rand is a Russian-American writer whose books Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are among the world’s best-selling novels. Newcomen’s venture sounds pretty crazy, though he gets points for ambition. What message would you write using a GPS?
Remote Access Technology. Ubergizmo, The Gadget Blog. Facial-recognition. GeoCast. Tenna Concept Turns Almost Any Gadget Into A Mobile Phone. Remote Control.