Technology

iPad used during Soyuz launch. Why did I ever have to turn off my phone?

During the launch of the latest Soyuz to the space station Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko calmly looked at an iPad.  Other than the cramped confines of the Soyuz capsule, and their space suits, they looked like business men discussing their presentation ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Mar 28 2015 - 1:05pm

Zeiss Imaging Tech Creates A 'Google Maps' For The Body

Silicon wafer imaging technology has been modified to scan the human body down at the level of a single cell  - zooming in and out of a joint in the body like Google Maps does from the sky. Coupled with Google algorithms, the imaging system developed by G ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2015 - 4:26pm

Intelligent Neuroprostheses: Brain-Controlled Devices Mimic Natural Motor Control

Researchers have tested a range of neuroprosthetic devices, from wheelchairs to robots to advanced limbs, that work with their users to intelligently perform tasks. They work by decoding brain signals to determine the actions their users want to take, and ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 30 2015 - 8:25pm

YouTube And Spotify Portend The Death Of MP3

In a recent survey 76% of young respondents listened to music from YouTube every day with Spotify coming in second. But YouTube is so popular for music listening and new music discovery that even active Spotify users still visited YouTube often to complem ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 31 2015 - 2:30pm

Presumptive Computing- Until Machines Become Intelligent, Things Like Autocorrect Will Be Flawed

Have you ever texted somebody saying how “ducking annoyed” you are at something? Or asked Siri on your iPhone to call your wife, but somehow managed to be connected to your mother-in-law? If you have, you may have been a victim of a new challenge in compu ...

Article - The Conversation - Apr 1 2015 - 11:31am

Sabina, A Robot Domestic Learns When You Show Her

In the 1942 short story "Runaround", author Isaac Asimov came up with Three Laws of Robotics and those fictional ethics have captivated engineers ever since. Maintaining the spirit of Asimov, Dr. Eduardo Morales Manzanares of the National Institu ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 7:00am

AI: Organizing Brains Into Modules Boosts New Learning Without Catastrophic Forgetting

A new paper suggests that when brains are organized into modules they are better at learning- without having to replace old knowledge. The authors believe the findings will accelerate attempts to create artificial intelligence (AI) though they would also h ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 2:25pm

Journals And Publication Pollution Denialism

The scientific community is facing a 'pollution problem' in academic publishing, one that poses a serious threat to the "trustworthiness, utility, and value of science and medicine," according to Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, director of the ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 1:55pm

Direct Brain Interface Allows Blind Rats To 'See'

A microstimulator and geomagnetic compass attached to the brains of blind rats allows them to spontaneously learn to use new information about their location and navigate through a maze nearly as well as normally sighted rats. The findings show the incredi ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 4 2015 - 8:30am

Roll Up Your Computer Screen And Stow It Away- Thanks To DNA

Display screens are everywhere but convenience needs are going up, not down, and people are wanting to break free of rigid monitors. The race is on to develop computer displays that can be easily rolled up and put away rather than requiring a flat surface ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 4 2015 - 10:42pm