Clipmarks | Silkweaver's clips

Holographic television to become reality

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:24:18 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: "It took us a while to make that first breakthrough, but as soon as you have the first element of it working the rest often comes more rapidly," he said. "What we are doing now is trying to make the model better. What we showed is just one color, what we are doing now is trying to use three colors. The original display was four inches by four inches and now we're going for something at least as big as a computer screen."

There are no more great barriers to overcome now, he said.

The breakthrough has made some long-time researchers of the technology believe that it could now come to fruition.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Picture this: you're sat down for the Football World Cup final, or a long-awaited sequel to the "Sex and the City" movie and you're watching all the action unfold in 3-D on your coffee table

It sounds a lot like a wacky dream, but don't be surprised if within our lifetime you find yourself discarding your plasma and LCD sets in exchange for a holographic 3-D television that can put Cristiano Ronaldo in your living room or bring you face-to-face with life-sized versions of your gaming heroes.

The reason for renewed optimism in three-dimensional technology is a breakthrough in rewritable and erasable holographic systems made earlier this year by researchers at the University of Arizona.

Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the university's Optical Sciences department, told CNN that scientists have broken a barrier by making the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.

Tags: holographic tv

DNA could reveal your surname

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:11:56 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Cool and... frightening

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Scientists at the world-leading Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester – where the revolutionary technique of genetic fingerprinting was invented by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys- are developing techniques which may one day allow police to work out someone's surname from the DNA alone.

Doctoral research by Turi King has shown that men with the same British surname are highly likely to be genetically linked. The results of her research have implications in the fields of forensics, genealogy, epidemiology and the history of surnames.

Dr King said: "In Britain, surnames are passed down from father to son. A piece of our DNA, the Y chromosome, is the one part of our genetic material that confers maleness and is passed, like surnames, from father to son. Therefore, a link could exist between a man's surname and the type of Y chromosome he carries. A simple link between name and Y chromosome could in principle connect all men sharing a surname into one large family tree.

Tags: dna, genealogy, forensics

Scientists adapt economics theory to trace brain's information flow

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:01:19 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Scientists believed the frontoparietal cortex was influencing the visual cortex, but the brain scanning approach they were using, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can only complete scans about once every two seconds, which was much too slow to catch that influence in action. When researchers applied Granger causality, though, they were able to show conclusively that as volunteers waited for the stimulus to appear, the frontoparietal cortex was influencing the visual cortex, not the reverse.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Scientists have used a technique originally developed for economic study to become the first to overcome a significant challenge in brain research: determining the flow of information from one part of the brain to another.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Florida Atlantic University report the new capability in The Journal of Neuroscience. It will provide important insights into brain organization and function, advancing efforts to help patients recover from brain injuries and mental disorders.

The approach involves comparisons of streams of data known as time series, such as fluctuations in the stock market index and changes in employment levels.

author Steven L. Bressler, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University, suspected the technique might help reveal if one brain area was passing data to or influencing another brain area.

Tags: brain, information flow in the brain

Risk and reward compete in brain

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:43:47 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.brainmysteries.com

That familiar pull between the promise of victory and the dread of defeat - whether in money, love or sport - is rooted in the brain's architecture, according to a new imaging study.

Neuroscientists at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute have identified distinct brain regions with competing responses to risk.

Both regions are located in the prefrontal cortex, an area behind the forehead involved in analysis and planning.

By giving volunteers a task that measures risk tolerance and observing their reactions with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers found that activity in one region identified risk-averse volunteers, while activity in a different region was greater in those with an appetite for risk.

"We can see risk as a battle between two forces," said Antoine Bechara, professor of psychology at USC. "There is always a lure of reward. There's always a fear of failure. These are the two forces that are always battling each other."

Tags: neuroscience, behavior, emotions, risk, fear

Street lamps powered by discarded batteries light the neighborhood for cheap

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:40:09 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Really cool idea

Clip Source: dvice.com

That battery you're throwing away may not have enough energy left to power your gadgetry, but it does have enough juice to light up a low-energy LED. That's the driving idea behind South Korean designer Sung Woo Park's conceptual Energy Seed, a stylish street lamp powered entirely by discarded batteries.

Drop a battery into one of the Energy Seed's disposal holes and it'll fall down into a tube. Several batteries can be stacked one on top of the other, daisy-chaining drained batteries into a long-lasting power supply for an LED lamp that will give pedestrians a bit of light on the sidewalk. It's a great way to re-appropriate trash that we'd otherwise consider useless.

Tags: clean energy, recycling

World's first flying car, to ship late next year

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:29:29 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: dvice.com

[Video]

Flying cars are all hat, no cattle. But wait. What's this? A flying car that will actually exist, roll on real streets and highways and then take off into the wild blue? You betcha. Pony up your $194,000, and by the end of next year you'll be cruising skyward in a 1300-pound Terrafugia Transition and then parking it in your garage when you're done. It's more like a drivable airplane, but we'd rather call it a flying car.

Let's do a walkaround. Out back is a push prop, and the front canard does double duty as a wing and bumper. Its gas engine will push it over a range of 460 miles through the air. Look at the cool way the wings fold up into a compact package, completing its metamorphosis from airworthy flying machine to street-legal road rocket.

The first flying prototype is scheduled to take off next month. Nice. Covert that prop to a jet engine and give it vertical takeoff capabilities, and we'll be living in the future.

Tags: transportation, gudgets

Discovery Of 'Broken Symmetry' At Subatomic Level Earns 2008 Nobel Prize In Physics

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:36:03 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: It has proved to be extremely useful, and Nambu’s theories permeate the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The Model unifies the smallest building blocks of all matter and three of nature’s four forces in one single theory.

The spontaneous broken symmetries that Nambu studied, differ from the broken symmetries described by Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa. These spontaneous occurrences seem to have existed in nature since the very beginning of the universe and came as a complete surprise when they first appeared in particle experiments in 1964.

It is only in recent years that scientists have come to fully confirm the explanations that Kobayashi and Maskawa made in 1972. It is for this work that they are now awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. They explained broken symmetry within the framework of the Standard Model, but required that the Model be extended to three families of quarks. These predicted, hypothetical new quarks have recently appeared in physics expe

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2008 with one half to Yoichiro Nambu, of the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics,"

and the other half jointly to Makoto Kobayashi, of Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and Toshihide Maskawa, of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP) at Kyoto University, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."

The fact that our world does not behave perfectly symmetrically is due to deviations from symmetry at the microscopic level.

As early as 1960, Yoichiro Nambu formulated his mathematical description of spontaneous broken symmetry in elementary particle physics. Spontaneous broken symmetry conceals nature’s order under an apparently jumbled surface.

Tags: physics, particle physics, nobel prize, quarks

Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:19:04 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com

Hydrogen cars may be feasible sooner than previously thought thanks to the efforts of a research team at the University of Crete in Greece. The scientists have developed a hydrogen storage model that can store up to 41 grams of hydrogen per liter— almost matching the US Department of Energy’s target of 45 grams per liter.

The storage structure consists of graphene sheets that are only one atom thick connected by vertical columns of carbon nanotubes. Hydrogen is stored in the gaps between the nanotubes and the graphene sheets. The researchers also added lithium ions to the structure for increased storage capacity.

In the past, one of the major drawbacks in using hydrogen for transportation purposes has been a lack of storage ability. This new discovery comes close to removing that hurdle. But since most hydrogen is still produced using fossil fuels, we still have a ways to go before hydrogen-powered cars are ready for commercial use.

Tags: clean energy, hydrogen economy

Evolution stops here ?

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:12:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is an interesting read, yet biological evolution is only part of the story of human evolution, perhaps a tiny part at that. Moreover, biodiversity in human populations have new sources that are not considered in this article. Many genomes that would have been selected out of the gene pool in older days are now propagated. Made a clip about that a while ago.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

For centuries, writers have attempted to predict the future of the human race.

Some have argued that we are destined to evolve into super-beings, others that we are turning into dim-witted goblins incapable of anything more demanding than watching TV.

But according to a leading geneticist, both visions are wrong because human evolution has ground to a halt.

Professor Steve Jones, of University College London, says the forces driving evolution - such as natural selection and genetic mutation - no longer play an important role in our lives.

The people living one million years from now, should Man survive, will resemble modern-day humans.

We now know so much about the process of evolution that we can make some predictions about what might happen in future,' said Professor Jones in a lecture on Monday.

Evolution is driven by natural selection and mutation.

Genetic mutations create traits which, if helpful, give individuals a competitive edge over rivals.

Tags: evolution, modern human

Too many calories send the brain off kilter

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:40:08 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The researchers report that that increased activity of the IKKß/NF-?B pathway can be divorced from obesity itself -- infusions of either glucose or fat into the brains of mice alone led to this inflammatory brain reaction.

Further studies revealed that this activity in the brain leads to insulin and leptin resistance. Insulin lowers blood sugar by causing cells of the body to take it up from the bloodstream. Leptin is a fat hormone important for appetite control.

Moreover, the researchers found that treatments preventing the activity of IKKß/NF-?B in the animals' brains protected them from obesity.

Clip Source: www.brainmysteries.com

An overload of calories throws critical portions of the brain out of whack, reveals a study in the October 3rd issue of the journal Cell

That response in the brain's hypothalamus-the "headquarters" for maintaining energy balance-can happen even in the absence of any weight gain, according to the new studies in mice.

The brain response involves a molecular player, called IKKß/NF-?B, which is known to drive metabolic inflammation in other body tissues. The discovery suggests that treatments designed to block this pathway in the brain might fight the ever-increasing spread of obesity and related diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.

He speculates it may have been an important element for innate immunity, the body's first line of defense against pathogenic invaders, at some time in the distant past.

In today's society, this pathway is mobilized by a different environmental challenge-overnutrition

Tags: brain, metabolism, obesity

The Man Who Stuck His Head Inside a Particle Accelerator

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:32:59 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Well if you are interested, go and read. Not for the faint of heart though...

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

So with all the recent news about the Large Hadron Collider, many of you may have this nagging question: what, exactly, would happen if you stick your head in the particle accelerator?

Well, actually, we know the answer to that because someone did stick his head into a particle accelerator. Here’s the story of Anatoli Bugorski:

Tags: particle accelerator, strange accidents

Artist Builds Temple of Science

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:25:58 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

At a time when the gulf between religion and science is growing ever greater, an artist has erected a temple for scientific worship.

Jonathon Keats, designer of the petri dish God, built The Atheon to get people thinking about what a scientific religion (or religious science?) would look and feel like.

Keats' conception of that idea took shape as a two-story building complete with stained-glass windows patterned after cosmic microwave background radiation and a liturgy based on the sounds of the Big Bang. The Atheon opened Sept. 27 at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.

But, could science replace religion?

The question has intrigued both rationalists frustrated at the persistence of what they see as superstitious dogma, and religious believers — as well as all-purpose skeptics — unwilling to promote science, with its mixed and messy history, to a position of absolute authority.

Tags: science, art, religion

Don't Stress! Bacterial Cell's 'Crisis Command Center' Revealed

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:17:22 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: If a bacteria cell finds itself in a dangerous situation - for example, if the temperature or saltiness of the bacteria's environment reach dangerous levels which threaten the survival of the bacteria -a warning signal from the cell's surface is transmitted into the cell.

Using cutting edge electron microscopy imaging techniques the authors of the new research observed that the stressosomes receive this warning signal, and in response several proteins called RSBT break away from the large stressosome. This breakaway triggers a cascade of signals within the cell which results in over 150 proteins being produced - proteins which enable the cell to adapt, react and survive in its new environment.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A bacteria cell's 'crisis command centre' has been observed for the first time swinging into action to protect the cell from external stress and danger, according to new research published in Science.

The research team behind today's study says that finding out exactly how bacteria respond and adapt to stresses and dangers is important because it will further their understanding of the basic survival mechanisms of some of the most resilient, hardy organisms on Earth.

The crisis command centre in certain bacteria cells is a large molecule, dubbed a 'stressosome' by the scientists behind today's research. These cells have around 20 stressosomes floating around inside them, and although scientists knew they played an important role in the cell's response to stressful situations, the complexities of this process had not been fully understood until now.

Tags: molecular biology, bacteriology

Cannabis less harmful than drinking, smoking: report

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:13:04 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The British government is pressing for cannabis to be re-classified in law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious, Class C classification.

Clip Source: www.camizone.com

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a British research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy.

The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior British and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals.

"Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission.

The Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, claimed only two deaths worldwide have been attributed to cannabis, while alcohol and tobacco use together kill an estimated 150,000 people in Britain alone.

Many of the harms associated with cannabis use are the result of prohibition itself, particularly the social harms arising from arrest and imprisonment," it said.

Tags: canabis, drug abuse

Intelligent Computers Put To The Test

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:05:51 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: It could also raise profound questions about whether a computer has the potential to be 'conscious' - and if humans should have the 'right' to switch it off.

>>> I haven't seen humans having too much problem in 'shutting off' each other. What does it say about consciousness ?

Clip Source: neuronion.blogspot.com

Can machines think? That was the question posed by the great mathematician Alan Turing. Half a century later six computers are about to converse with human interrogators in an experiment that will attempt to prove that the answer is yes.

In the 'Turing test' a machine seeks to fool judges into believing that it could be human. The test is performed by conducting a text-based conversation on any subject. If the computer's responses are indistinguishable from those of a human, it has passed the Turing test and can be said to be 'thinking'.

But at 9am next Sunday, six computer programs - 'artificial conversational entities' - will answer questions posed by human volunteers at the University of Reading in a bid to become the first recognised 'thinking' machine.

If any program succeeds, it is likely to be hailed as the most significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence since the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tags: artificial intelligence, turing test