Controlling Computers with Your Mind
November 8, 2010 Scientists used a brain-computer interface to show how the activity of just a few brain cells can control the display of pictures on a computer screen. The finding sheds light on how single brain cells contribute to attention and conscious thought. Patients were asked to focus on 1 of 2 superimposed images, here of Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe. Researchers have been making great progress in developing brain-computer interfaces—devices that let a person's thoughts guide the actions of a computer. A team of scientists led by Dr. The scientists recruited 12 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. In a previous study, the researchers found that individual brain cells respond more strongly to certain images than to others. For this study, the scientists first identified neurons in each person that responded selectively to 4 different images. The results appeared in the October 28, 2010, issue of Nature.
Nerve-Electronic Hybrid Could Meld Mind and Machine | Wired Science
Nerve-cell tendrils readily thread their way through tiny semiconductor tubes, researchers find, forming a crisscrossed network like vines twining toward the sun. The discovery that offshoots from nascent mouse nerve cells explore the specially designed tubes could lead to tricks for studying nervous system diseases or testing the effects of potential drugs. Such a system may even bring researchers closer to brain-computer interfaces that seamlessly integrate artificial limbs or other prosthetic devices. “This is quite innovative and interesting,” says nanomaterials expert Nicholas Kotov of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. To lay the groundwork for a nerve-electronic hybrid, graduate student Minrui Yu of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his colleagues created tubes of layered silicon and germanium, materials that could insulate electric signals sent by a nerve cell. “They seem to like the tubes,” says biomedical engineer Justin Williams, who led the research. See Also:
New solar fuel device that ”mimics plant life”
Scientists have unveiled a prototype solar device that mimics plant life, turning the Sun’s energy into fuel. The device uses the Sun’s rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels, which can be stored and transported. The prototype, which has been devised by researchers in the US and Switzerland, uses a quartz window and cavity to concentrate sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide, also known as ceria. If as in the prototype, carbon dioxide and/or water are pumped into the vessel, the ceria will rapidly strip the oxygen from them as it cools, creating hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide. Hydrogen produced could be used to fuel hydrogen fuel cells in cars, for example, while a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be used to create “syngas” for fuel. It is this harnessing of ceria’s properties in the solar reactor, which represents the major breakthrough, said the inventors of the device. “It’s very much tied to policy.
The future is coming, in the form of internet-controlled power outlets
A common theme in any form of entertainment depicting the future is the use of a remote to control everything – futuristic houses are often shown with the owner turning the lights on before they even arrive. Turns out, using the internet to control our houses is not too far away. A group of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication Systems ESK in Munich, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, have developed a new power outlet that supports the brand-new IPv6 Internet protocol. These new outlets, known as the wireless smart socket, could very well revolutionize the way we turn things on and off in our homes. “We have been able to connect the power outlets wirelessly using the IPv6 protocol,” says ESK research engineer Günter Hildebrandt. These wireless power outlets are part of the HexaBus home automation system, which is part of the mySmartGrid project. Source: Fraunhofer
Netiquette, by Virginia Shea, Front Cover
RSS | RSS Explicado
Los términos y el vocabulario que empleamos para referirnos al RSS son más sencillos de lo que puedan parecer a primera vista. Muchos de estos términos están “heredados” del inglés. Las siglas de RSS provienen de la expresión en inglés Really Simple Sindication; es decir, sindicación realmente simple. Este término hace referencia al sistema completo por el cual una página publica información a través de los canales o fuentes RSS y otras personas pueden acceder a los titulares, noticias o actualizaciones de las páginas web que desean recibir desde a través de su lector de RSS. Ejemplo ilustrativo sobre el funcionamiento de las RSS: Vamos a explicar cómo funciona un sistema RSS a través de un ejemplo ilustrativo. En el caso del mundo online y los RSS, esto funcionaría de la siguiente forma. Los sistemas RSS tienen muchísimas ventajas, entre las que cabe destacar, que te permiten mantenerte informado con un importante ahorro en tiempo.
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