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Robots Advance

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:35:20 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Last week, I explained how humans might soon be learning things from robots. Today, I’d like to explain why robots might become a more integral part of life faster than most people expect.

Yesterday, Technology Review published an interesting article entitled: ”Robots Learns to Use Tools.” What is really intriguing about the article, which describes a new robot called the UMass Mobile Manipulator or UMan for short, is that the robot is employing sophisticated algorithms to teach itself how to deal with unfamiliar objects.

One of the major barriers to date with robotics is that programmers have had to write complicated software code to help robots deal with almost every contingency that it might encounter. For example, for a household robot to be effective, it needs to recognize every item that might conceivably be in someone house—everything from a pair of scissors to a flower vase. This is no easy chore.

The implications of self-learning robots could be quite profound

Tags: robotics

Stem Cells 2.0: Scientists Make Revolutionary Advance

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:07:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

A while back scientists were making revolutionary breakthroughs in stem cell research. Unfortunately they fell foul of interpretations of thousand year old texts in foreign languages, and a government with the scientific understanding of a squashed grape said "Sorry, our kind and loving God requires that people continue to suffer from Parkinson's, anemia, and various other horrible ailments." Luckily, scientists are awesome and did the obvious thing - make ANOTHER revolutionary breakthrough to get around the problem.

The previous problem with stem cells was that they came from aborted or otherwise unviable fetuses. Note that these fetuses had been terminated anyway, and the only issue now was whether it was more moral to chuck the goo in a bin and burn it, or use it to help cure the sick. The ethical answer, apparently, isn't what you think.

This issue can now be sidestepped with the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS) from any kind of tissue

Tags: stem cells, breakthrough, medicine

Japan Creates Mega Solar City -Leads World

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:06:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

In an effort to create one of Japan's greenest urban areas and clean up its air by reducing CO2 emissions, Japan announced that two gigantic solar power generation plants will be installed in Sakai City.

The title of the project is quite a mouth full – the Sakai City Waterfront Mega Solar Power Generation Plan. Say that three times fast. I guess the title has to be fitting for the size of the project, however, because the two facilities will have a 28,000 kW combined maximum capacity and will help to reduce CO2 emissions by a whopping 10,000 tons annually. The city will work in conjunction with Sharp Japan and Kansai Electric Power, with Sharp planning on using thin-film silicon solar modules.

Japan is fast becoming the world's solar capital. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., leaders in the U.S. solar energy industry blasted the U.S. government on Monday for a freeze on applications for new solar projects on public land in six Western states.

Tags: solar power, japan, energy, co2

Pizza Loses Favor as Italians Turn to Pasta

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:39:42 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

The ongoing crisis in food prices has made a luxury of one of the world's most iconic foods even in its affluent homeland.

Italians are shirking pizza due to skyrocketing bills and turning increasingly to pasta, which remains comparatively cheap despite also seeing large increases in cost.

"When I was a student, it was a Saturday night classic: You went out with your friends and had a pizza," said Cristina Romanelli, a 34-year-old living in Rome. "Now you spend so much you can do it only once in a while."

In fact, the number of Italians who say their favorite food is pizza has dropped from 14.1 percent to 8.7 percent in the past two years, according to a survey from GPF Research Institute, a private opinion poll company.

Rising cereal costs, experts say, are pumping up the cost of the wheat flour used to make pizza dough. Wheat costs have grown 23.2 percent since April 2007, according to the national Institute of Services for Agricultural and Food Markets.

Tags: pizza, pasta, italians, cost of food

Teaching futurism to children and teens

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:10:07 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.depressedmetabolism.com

Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” Plato (BC 427-BC 347) Greek philosopher.

For the most part the education systems of the industrialized nations are functional in that they cover the basics: reading, writing, science, and arithmetic. There is systematic guidance in the form of counselors in schools once a child becomes an adolescent and help is given for the child to develop into their adult career.

What is a futurist to do to inspire the next generation?

A futurist can share sci-fi books such as Stephen Hawking’s new book for children “George’s Secret Key to the Universe”, or a transhumanist adventure based on what is seen as possible by scientists now –like my book “21st Century Kids”,

but they still must encourage the child’s own loves, even if they are radically different.

Tags: teaching, learning, open mind, future

Looking for the Fountain of Youth? Cut your calories

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:46:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Want to slow the signs of aging and live longer? New Saint Louis University research suggests cutting back on calories could be a promising strategy.

Calorie restriction has long been shown to slow the aging process in rats and mice. While scientists do not know how calorie restriction affects the aging process in rodents, one popular hypothesis is that it slows aging by decreasing a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging.

A new study in the June 2008 issue of Rejuvenation Research, found that calorie restriction – cutting approximately 300 to 500 calories per day – had a similar biological effect in humans and, therefore, may slow the aging process.

"Our research provides evidence that calorie restriction does work in humans like it has been shown to work in animals. The next step is to determine if this in fact slows age-related tissue deterioration. The only way to be certain, though, is to do a long-term study."

Tags: longevity, calorie restriction

Hot future shock: Heat wave temperatures to soar

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:09:12 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

(AP) -- During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees. Nearly 15,000 people died in that country alone. During the Chicago heat wave of 1995, the mercury spiked at 106 and about 600 people died.

In a few decades, people will look back at those heat waves "and we will laugh," said Andreas Sterl, author of a new study. "We will find (those temperatures) lovely and cool."

Sterl's computer model shows that by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 with Lyon coming closer to 114.

Sterl, who is with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, projects temperatures for rare heat waves around the world in a study soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Tags: temperatures, heat waves, climate change

No Time for the Singularity

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:24:30 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.worldchanging.com

Scientists like to low-ball their estimates. The now-famous IPCC scenarios for the effects of climate change are already known to be woefully, unrealistically conservative (Freeman Dyson's recent comments notwithstanding). Arctic changes expected 20 years from now are happening now, and in North America the beginning of spring has already been pushed back by two weeks, which is enough to play havoc with the fertility cycle of many migratory birds (among other consequences). The worst-case scenarios used in public debate ignore some extremely worrisome factors, such as the possible release of oceanic methane from clathrates. If we're going to deal with this problem, we have to do it now, as in, within the term of your next government.

The ultimate in technological optimism is the idea of the technological singularity, which posits that technological advance is exponential and, driven by progress in artificial intelligence, will soon hit the vertical slope of the curve.

Tags: singularity, scenarios

Firefox Users Most Secure on Internet, Study Reveals

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:43:11 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.crn.com

Mozilla Firefox fans might rest a little easier these days after a study released Tuesday revealed that its users are most secure on the Internet.

The study "Understanding the Web browser threat: Examination of vulnerable online Web browser populations and the "insecurity iceberg," was a collaborative effort conducted by researchers at The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Google and IBM (NYSE:IBM) Internet Security Services. The research offers a comprehensive analysis of Web browsers, particularly in the area of security. The study's aim was to analyze Web browser preference and behavior for people using the Internet.

Altogether, the study found that less than 60 percent (59.1) of people use up-to-date, fully patched Web browsers. Failure update browsers exponentially increases the chance for remote attacks executed by hackers, the study found.

Tags: browsers, firefox, net

'Mind's eye' influences visual perception

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:14:20 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: ..even a single instance of imagery can tilt how you see the world one way or another..

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery—what we see with the "mind's eye"—directly impacts our visual perception.

"We found that imagery leads to a short-term memory trace that can bias future perception," says Joel Pearson, research associate in the Vanderbilt Department of Psychology. and lead author of the study. "This is the first research to definitively show that imagining something changes vision both while you are imagining it and later on."

"You might think you need to imagine something 10 times or 100 times before it has an impact,"

Our results show that even a single instance of imagery can tilt how you see the world one way or another, dramatically, if the conditions are right."

"These findings are important because they suggest a potential mechanism by which top-down expectations or recollections of previous experiences might shape perception itself,"

Tags: 'mind's eye', visual perception, brain, imagination

The "Idea Acceleration Chamber"- " Kage Roi"

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:25:58 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

You've heard lots about genomic this and nano-that, but deep down we've all really known what high-tech was meant to provide: great big room-filling voice controlled displays.

Technology company Kayac have developed a prototype "idea acceleration chamber" called "Kage Roi". Microphones monitor conversations and search the web for relevant images and pages, displaying them directly on the meeting table, and even controlling the ambient lighting to match the desired mood.

Not since nuclear power has a technology with such an awesome potential for use and abuse come about. Once the idea is liberated from the corporate world and makes its way into the home, it could be the most awesome setting for parties and alcoholically-influenced discussions you've ever seen

while many struggle to make faster this and bigger that, others realise that outside of specialists there isn't any need to make some things better, but to blend them better with their human users.

Tags: kayac, tech, displays

Gene Editing Could Make Anyone Immune to AIDS

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:31:20 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Some people have a mutation that makes them amazingly resistant to HIV -- and now, scientists may have found a way to give that immunity to anyone.

Viruses enter cells and take them over, but to get inside, they need a handhold. HIV pulls itself in by grabbing onto a protein called CCR5, which decorates the surface of T-cells, which are one of the two major types of white blood cells and play an important role in helping the body fight infections. Back in the 1990's, researchers took interest in a handful of promiscuous gay men who were able to engage in sexual relations with their HIV-positive partners with impunity. Most of them had a mutation that kept their cells from producing normal CCR5 protein.

Armed with that knowledge, scientists have developed several tactics to block the production of CCR5 or perturb its shape so that the HIV virus can't grab onto it during the first step of its hijacking attempt

Tags: dna, hiv, immunity, viruses

10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:34:22 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Although the brain-computer metaphor has served cognitive psychology well, research in cognitive neuroscience has revealed many important differences between brains and computers. Appreciating these differences may be crucial to understanding the mechanisms of neural information processing, and ultimately for the creation of artificial intelligence. Below, I review the most important of these differences (and the consequences to cognitive psychology of failing to recognize them): similar ground is covered in this excellent (though lengthy) lecture.

Difference # 1: Brains are analogue; computers are digital

Difference # 2: The brain uses content-addressable memory

Difference # 3: The brain is a massively parallel machine; computers are modular and serial

Difference # 4: Processing speed is not fixed in the brain; there is no system clock

Difference # 5 - Short-term memory is not like RAM

Difference # 6: No hardware/software distinction can be made with respect to the brain or mind

Tags: computers, brains, metaphors

Red wine may mitigate red meat’s dangers

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:15:55 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.world-science.net

What happens when red wine meets red meat? If that happens in the stomach, wine’s healthful chemicals may thwart formation of harmful substances released during digestion of fat in the meat, scientists report.

Researchers attribute the documented benefits of moderate wine consumption—including protection against cancer and heart disease—to its high levels of polyphenols, compounds also found in fruits and vegetables.

Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants, substances that suppress destructive chemical reactions promoted by oxygen.

But the body doesn’t absorb polyphenols easily; scientists have puzzled over how and where they exert their benefits.

The stomach acts as a “bioreactor” that facilitates the beneficial effects, the researchers wrote. The polyphenols work not only to prevent generation of toxic compounds, but also to inhibit their entry to the blood stream, they added.

Tags: red wine, red meat

Penguin populations falling steeply

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:14:06 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.world-science.net

Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, penguins are sounding the alarm for potentially catastrophic changes in the world’s oceans, a University of Washington biologist says.

The culprits are global warming, oil pollution, depletion of fisheries and rampant coastline development, which threaten breeding habitats for many penguin species, she argues.

These factors are behind rapid population declines among the birds, said the university’s Dee Boersma, an authority on penguins.

“Penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world,” she said. “The fate of all species is to go extinct, but there are some species that go extinct before their time and we are facing that possibility with some penguins.”

there are 16 to 19 penguin species, and most penguins are at 43 sites, virtually all in the Southern Hemisphere.

Tags: penguins, life, biology, ecology