#What happens when we put computers in our brains? This may seem like a wild idea,
but within 40 years neurons made from nanomaterials could enable humans to survive even the most horrendous accident,
and as a bonus, acquire some remarkable new abilities.####Researchers at#USC s Viterbi School of Engineeringhave created a#functioning synapse#using neurons made from carbon nanotubes.
In tests, their synapse circuits perform similar to normal biological neurons. Of course, duplicating synapse firings in nanotube circuits does not mean that scientists are ready to replace the human brain,
but a new interdisciplinary research center at#MIT#aims at nothing less than unraveling the mystery of intelligence;
which promises to fast-forward this technology. The#MIT#researchers hope to gain a better understanding of how the brain gives rise to intelligence,
This is the first step in creating computers more powerful than human brains, says futurist Ray Kurzweil, in#The Singularity is Near.##
and simulating the cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition, ##Kurzweil continues;####The human cortex has about 22 billion neurons and 220 trillion synapses.##
##Today, computers capable of crunching this amount of data do not exist, but IBM experts believe that supercomputers with increased computational
and memory capacity that can process this data will be available within three years. Nano engineer John Burch, commenting on this molecular nanotechnology#video,
predicts in his#blogthat expected advances in molecular nanotechnology will one day enable us to replace brain cells with damage-resistant nanomaterials that process thoughts faster than today s biological brains.##
##The new brain would include an exact copy of the structure and personality that existed before the conversion,
##Burch says, but it would run much faster and would increase our memory a thousand-fold.
A daily pill would supply nanomaterials and instructions for nanobots to form new neurons and position them next to existing brain cells to be replaced.
These changes would be unnoticeable to us, but in six months, we would sport the new brain.
Our artificial brain will allow wireless interface with computers and other digital technologies. We could access the Internet
control electronics, and make phone calls, with just our thoughts. In addition, we would understand complicated subjects;
even speak a new language, without need for study. The most important benefit of our new brain could be its ability to survive disaster.
nanobots would quickly repair our brain, if damaged. Information is transmitted then to a processing center where a new body is cloned,
Biological brains die within minutes after the heart stops, but our new brain will simply turn itself off and wait for a new power supply.
Experts predict these technologies could be in place by mid-century, but some wonder, will this make us less human;
Proponents explain that we already enjoy glasses, false teeth, titanium hip replacements, cochlear implants, and prosthetic limbs.
I see this as an incredible lifesaving medical procedure. Photo credit: Running Cause I Can t Fly Via Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat r
#Will the Internet of Thing replace the web? Apple stores can already pinpoint your location with unprecedented accuracy. 2014 will be the year that the##internet of things###that effort to remotely control every object on earth##becomes visible in our everyday lives.
from souped-up gadgets that track our every move to a world that predicts our actions and emotions.
In this way, the internet of things will become more central to society than the internet#as we know it today.#
#The web will#survive, just as email survived the arrival of the web. But its role will be reduced to that of a language for displaying content on screens,
which are likely to be more ubiquitous but less necessary. Here s a closer look at the internet of things that s already here,
and where it s headed. NOTE:##It s never too late to become an invisible button pusher
and learn programming skills. More at Davinci Coders. The internet of things will create a world of##invisible buttons##The#pioneer species#of the internet of things is the smartphone.
For example,#every time we take a smartphone with us in a car, it beams information on our location and speed to Google.
The result is real-time traffic information that can be used by everyone. That smartphones gather traffic data without their users ever being aware that they re doing
so shows how the internet of things replaces the internet-related actions we already know##click a button,
navigate a webpage##with context. This awareness, especially as it relates to where we are in the physical world,
and whatever other data Google and other companies have about us, leads to what#Amber Case, a researcher for mapping company Esri,#calls##invisible buttons.##
a smartphone##moves into that physical space. It could be as small as a two-inch square on top of a conventional credit card reader,
to enable payments, or as large as a room, which might want to know that you have entered
or left so that it can turn on or off the lights. With#Phillips Hue#and countless other smart lights, this is already possible.
such as the time of day, our previous actions, the actions of others or what Google knows about our calendar,
That we currently need a cell phone to act as a proximity sensor is just an artifact of where the technology is at present.
The same can be accomplished with any number of other internet-connected sensors. GE and Quirky s motion, sound, light, temperature and humidity sensor#
called Spotter, is a good example. It s even possible to determine proximity indirectly##for example, internet-connected smart energy systems can figure out you re home the moment you switch on a light.
Apple s play for the internet of things Apple seems keen on the idea of invisible buttons.
which allows any newer iphone or Android phone to#know its position in space with centimeter precision.
You can think of ibeacon as a version of GPS that works indoors and which is also more precise.
This allows the developers using Apple s technology to define##invisible buttons##of just about any dimensions.
Right now#companies like Estimote#are#pitching to retailers#the hardware##beacons##that broadcast the signal required to make ibeacon work.
That Apple has made ibeacon open enough to work with third-party hardware providers like Estimote shows that Apple wants the standard to spread.
Notably, the signals broadcast by any ibeacon-compatible radio (which broadcast signals known as Bluetooth Low energy) can also be picked up by Android and Windows phones,
which shows that Apple is trying to dominate a technology that could become ubiquitous across phones.
This means invisible spatial buttons that could be so small that touching your smartphone smartwatch or other equipped device to a surface will allow you to press that##button.##
##There s nothing stopping this technology from be squeezed into something as small as a credit card, or being embedded in clothing or other discrete wearable devices like fitness sensors, wristwatches#or even temporary tattoos.
Anticipatory computing and the end of interfaces Objects on our bodies (health monitors, smart glasses) and in our homes and businesses (smart thermostats, lights, appliances and security systems) can all be programmed to interact in complicated and unexpected ways
once the internet knows that we re present and what our intentions might be. For example, a smart home might know
when you wake up based on the activity monitor on your wrist, and begin warming up the house,
brewing a pot of coffee and switching off your security system. That s the vision of companies like#Smartthings,
which is in the forefront of making the internet of things#accessible to people other than techies and hobbyists.
These pro-active actions are all part of what some call##anticipatory computing.####Invisible buttons and other contextual information about you will allow the internet to do more than facilitate your needs.
It would actually anticipate them.##Google Now#is a good example of the potential of this technology.
As long as you opt in, Google has access to every meaningful store of explicit data about yourself you create##email, contacts, calendars,
social media##and plenty of implicit ones as well, like your web-browsing history.##Adding location and other physical inputs#to that data allows Google Now to do everything from sending youhyperlocal news items targeted to the precise neighborhood in
which you live#to offering information about the television show#you re watching at that exact moment.
So what s required for more companies to tap into anticipatory computing? There are companies that specialize in reality mining,
###which refers to using data to track the#remarkable predictability of our daily lives. This is a potential#bonanza for marketers#who want to target ads to particular times and places.
Marketers are already starting to use this technology#to target both online and real-world advertising (like billboards).
Wearable computers will connected keep us at all times The next layer of the internet of things will require combining disparate streams of data##mined##from reality##everything from your location to the members of your social network.
This is called#sensor fusion, a task that is basic to all big data projects. Knowing where you are throughout the day won t mean much,
but add in data about who else is present and a computer algorithm can tell you#how likely you are to get the flu.
Finding the connections##in other words, meaning##in all this data is key to making it useful.##
##We have frictionless data gathering but we don t have frictionless correlation, ##Esri s#Case said at last year s Le Web conference.##
##If you have to be a data scientist to do it, then it s totally wrong.##
##Mike Bell, head of the new devices group at Intel, says that the future of smart devices,
##whether it s a wearable computer or a next-generation tablet replacement, will have a real user interface,
but it s not necessarily visual.####Bell, whose primary interest is wearable computing, can t talk about what Intel is currently working on,
but I d guess from our conversations that it s more likely to look like a wristband fitness monitor than another cell Phone in other words,
the internet of things will replace the internet, but not by giving us another way to explicitly tell computers what we want.
Instead, by sensing our actions, the internet-connected devices around us will react automatically, and their representations in the cloud will be updated accordingly.
In some ways, interacting with computers in the future could be more about telling them what not to do##at least until they re smart enough to realize that we are modifying our daily routine.
Sensing and responding to your needs, wants and emotions If this all sounds like mind reading,
that s because in a way it is.##Munjal Shah, entrepreneur in residence at Charles river Ventures,#surveyed a thousand peopleabout
what super powers they would acquire if they could. The most popular answer was##speak all languages,
##but the number two answer might surprise you: the ability to comfort anyone. Shah had conducted the survey
in order to determine what sort of businesses could be built to give people these abilities (the first one,
our connected devices will be able to monitor our state##inactivity could indicate sickness or depression.
And maybe we ve recently posted on social media about a tragedy that befell us. Text alerts are sent out to friends,
and are directed for the most part by computers, the world becomes#something like a living creature.####We believe the digital world
and body with the internet, this is good news . But if you were hoping that in the future,
getting away from it all would be as simple as#switching off your mobile phone, you re in for a rude surprise.
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#Secret code discovered in human DNA Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages. A secret second code hiding within DNA
which instructs cells on how genes are controlled has been discovered by scientists. The amazing discovery is expected to open new doors to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, according to a new study.##
##Ever since the genetic code was deciphered over 40 years ago, scientists have believed that it only described how proteins are made.
However, the revelation made by the research team led by John Stamatoyannopoulos of the University of Washington indicates that genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages.##
##For over 40 years we have assumed that DNA changes affecting the genetic code solely impact how proteins are made,
###said Stamatoyannopoulos, according to the press release.####Now we know that this basic assumption about reading the human genome missed half of the picture.##
##Scientists discovered that the second language instructs the cells on how genes are controlled, according to findings published in Science magazine on Friday.
Scientists already knew that the genetic code uses a 64-letter alphabet called codons. The research team discovered that some of the codons can have two meanings one related to proteins, the other to gene control.
And it s those duons that are expected to change the way physicians interpret human genomes and give clues for the treatments of diseases.##
##The fact that the genetic code can simultaneously write two kinds of information means that many DNA changes that appear to alter protein sequences may actually cause disease by disrupting gene control programs
or even both mechanisms simultaneously,##said Stamatoyannopoulos. Speaking about the discovery, Stamatoyannopoulos said that the##new findings highlight that DNA is an incredibly powerful information storage device,
which nature has exploited fully in unexpected ways.####Photo credit: Red Orbit Via RT Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat i
#Google s new robot army Wildcat Google has purchased Boston Dynamics, the#lab of scientists#behind some of the most awesomely scary robots you have seen ever.
The deal gave Google an army of jaw-droppingly capable robots that can walk, run,
With laser rangefinders and stereo cameras for vision, hydraulically actuated aluminum and titanium limbs and fully articulated humanlike hands, Atlas is envisioned as a humanoid hero who can walk undaunted into dangerous environments
and rescue robot contest, inspired by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown. CHEETAH Cheetah is Boston Dynamics speed demon.
Wildcat is strikingly agile##watch how it leans into turns like a motorcycle. It s nimble, it runs as fast as you,
and with a full tank of fuel it never gets tired. You do#not#want this thing chasing after you.
That s no accident##PETMAN was developed to test the durability of chemical protection suits used in hazardous environments,
Originally designed to haul soldiers gear in terrain too challenging for traditional vehicles, Boston Dynamics upped the ante this year by#giving Big Dog a burly articulated arm.
while hurling a cement block We doubt anyone s gonna go around kicking this robot now. Big Dog s even bigger brother#LS3#carries 400 lbs
Sandflea Looks like a slightly chunky remote-control car, right? Maybe, but your kid s RC can t leap tall buildings in a single bound the way this little guy can.
With a gyro-stabilized body that stays level during flight and an onboard camera, the 11 lb Sandflea jumps 30 feet in the air.
This rolling and jumping bot could help soldiers and rescue workers get a look inside buildings and compounds from a safe distance away.
With its big wheels, squat body, and astounding vertical leap, Sandflea looks kind of fun and friendly among its scary robotic cousins.
Via Gizmodo Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati swfobject. embedswf (http://www. youtube. com/v/chpanw0qwha& rel=0&
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#A solar-powered 3d printer that prints glass from sand Marcus Kayser s Solar Sinter project When Markus Kayser, a design student,
wanted to test his#solar-powered, sand-fed 3-D printer, he knew the gray skies outside his London apartment wouldn t do.
So he shipped the 200-plus-pound contraption to Cairo, Egypt, flew there himself, and haggled with officials for two days to get it out of customs.
A few small##tips##and 11 hours of driving later, he finally made it to the Sahara.
But soon the mercury hit 104 degrees his components nearly overheated, and he was forced to improvise.##
##The idea for the printer first came to Kayser a few months earlier. He wanted to find a project in which the sun did more than just power a device.
He researched possibilities online, talked to physics professors, and learned about a process in which sand, heated to its melting point,
cools into solid glass. With enough sun, a large lens and an ample supply of sand, he figured he might be able to produce glassware.
Markus Kayser s homebuilt 3-D printer created this glass bowl out of heated sand from the Sahara For the printer to work efficiently
the focal point of the lens would have to be trained right onto the surface of the sand.
He knew the sun would move and the focal point would shift during the process, so he ordered a single 4. 5-foot-wide lens
and built a motorized frame for it. The central sandbox, in which the objects are printed, shifts in all directions,
and solar panels at the other, can pivot from straight overhead down to a 45-degree angle to chase the sun. directed by a CAD design from a connected laptop,
the printer uses the concentrated beam of sunlight to slowly trace an object into the sandbox layer by layer.
When the electronics began overheating, Kayser cut open a soup can, sliced and bent its sides into fan blades,
and aimed it right at the circuit board. The sun melted only the sand, and, after more than four hours, he printed a glass bowl,
##How It Works Time:##8 weekscost:##$3, 500 After all the layers are done, Kayser digs the object out of the sandbox TRACKING Kayser attached a cylindrical sun tracker to the frame perpendicular to the lens.
Sensors inside detect the shadows and feed the data on their position to Kayser s computer,
The printer s motors the electronics, cameras and a laptop all run on batteries charged by the solar panels PRINTING Kayser first designs the object he wants to print in a CAD program.
His computer sends instructions to the printer, which works from the bottom up. After a layer has cooled into glass,
he adds more sand to the sandbox in the center of the machine and flattens it out,
and the printer begins heating the next layer. Kayser s first major piece, a bowl, took about four and a half hours to print.
POWER Two photovoltaic panels, one on either side of the machine keep the printer powered
. since the panels are attached to the same arms as the lens, they also benefit from the sun tracking,
which ensures that they always get direct light. Via Pop Sci Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat k
#Norway digitizing all of its books and will make them free to read online National Library of Norway All of the books in the National Library of Norway s collection will be digitized.
#It s similar to the mass digitization efforts in the#UK#and#Finland, but Norway has taken the extra step of making agreements with many publishers to allow anyone with a Norway IP ADDRESS to access copyrighted material.
The library owns equipment for scanning and text structure analysis of the books. It s also adding metadata and storing the files in a database for easy retrieval.
Librarians estimate the digitization of the entire collection, which includes materials dating back to the Middle ages,
will take 20 to 30 years. The effort started in 2006. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons Via The Verge#Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat o
In the U s.,the outlook for solar power is bright and sunny. The solar industry in America has recorded its second largest quarter ever in the third quarter of 2013,
save money for U s. consumers, and reduce pollution nationwide.####The U s. installed 930 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaics (PV) in Q3 2013, up 20 percent over the second quarter and 35 percent from the third quarter of last year.
Residential PV installations were up 45 percent year-over-year. Residential was the main driver of this momentum,
as the nonresidential market limped along by comparison. There is now 10,250 MW of solar energy in the U s
That is the equivalent of removing 2. 1 million cars from the road or planting 262
##Solar is now the second largest source of new electricity capacity in the U s.,behind natural gas,
It is also thanks to advancements in solar technology which brought costs down, and innovative new forms of financing that make#going solar more affordable for consumers.#
#Companies like Vivint, Solarcity and Sunrun have raised all upwards of $500 million to finance residential solar projects around the country.
This reflects a downward trend in America s CO2 EMISSIONS, which have fallen five out of the last seven years.
a transparent display specialist and military head up screen supplier, is wading into the wearable computing market, revealing a new#developer#kit that, unlike#Google s Glass, offers full augmented reality support.
Set to debut at CES 2014 next month, the Lumus DK-40 monocular dev kit may look ostensibly like Glass at first glance,
but where Google s headset has a small display-block suspended in the corner, the entire right lens of the Lumus wearable is in fact a 640 x 480 display.
That means developers building apps for the Android-powered headset can overlay graphics directly on top of the real-world view
rather than simply sliding in separate notifications as Glass does.####Lumus might not be the household name that Google is,
but it has some history in#wearable#displays. The company developed a patented##Light-guide Optical Element##(LOE) in effect a tiny projector that projects onto a special lens
so that the computer-generated image is see-through and has been supplying it to industrial and military customers for some years,
including the helmet displays the US Air force has deployed in the F-16 and A-10. The company s consumer plans have been a little later to the game,
and in fact Lumus still doesn t intend to commercially produce a mass-market wearable computer. Instead
it s aiming to promote the adoption of its lens#technology#by other OEMS, with the DK-40 dev kit a tool to show application authors exactly
Whereas the last Lumus prototype we saw#the OE-31 wearable display back in March 2012#was somewhat geeky in its appearance,
The VGA-resolution display with 25-degree field of view is integrated into the right lens, while the block section on the side accommodates the 5-megapixel camera,#
#processor, battery, and sensors. Android runs on an OMAP processor Lumus isn t saying which one specifically
and there s a motion sensor with 9 degrees-of-freedom to do precise head tracking, important when you want to exactly match what s on-screen with what s in front of the wearer.
Lumus is billing the DK-40 as completely wire-free, though not commenting on battery life expectations as yet.
Update:##Lumus tells us that very early tests on the DK-40 prototype suggest at least 1-2 hours of runtime.
For developers, there ll be an SDK to get them up to speed with coding Android apps to take advantage of the platform,
though Lumus is clear that this is a jump-starting measure for OEMS rather than a sign that it itself is getting into the consumer#business.
It s not the first lens-as-display wearable we ve seen in recent months,
though it s perhaps one of the more aesthetically appealing (albeit in render form as seen here).#
that has two transparent screens, one for each eye, unlike the single-display Lumus. Unfortunately, while Lumus intends to start shipping the DK-40 monocular dev kit at the end of Q1 2014,
The end-goal is still to sell the displays to other companies who will put them into their own consumer products,
to see how the DK-40 holds up to Glass and other attempts at wearable computing. Via Slash Gear Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat h
#Tesla batteries are powering an energy revolution Solarcity generator Tesla motors lithium-ion battery packs aren t just powering electric luxury sports sedans for wealthy any more.
They ve started#appearing in a small number of California homes to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels,
and Solarcity, the Silicon valley solar installer, will start providing Tesla batteries for businesses that want to cut their utility bills.#
#A big box retailer like Walmart could charge up a Tesla battery pack with cheap energy produced by its Solarcity rooftop photovoltaic array
and then tap that power when demand##and electricity rates##spike. That would let them minimize paying their local utility high##demand charges##for electricity
when they need it most. And the cost of the Solarcity s system, called Demandlogic?
Effectively zero, according to Solarcity, since the monthly payments for energy storage would be less than the money saved by not forking over cash to the utility.
And if that sounds like a threat to century-old monopoly utilities, it is.####Our business model is to become the energy company of the 21st century,
##Solarcity chief executive Lyndon Rive told#The Atlantic.####You re still connected to the grid but the grid would be your secondary provider
and the primarily provider would be your solar system and your storage device.####For now, though, it s only a minor threat to utilities that levy high demand charges,
such as those in California and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut where Solarcity is offering Demandlogic.
And to get the Tesla battery pack you have to sign up for a solar array, which means only businesses with low-rise buildings and flat roof##retailers,
corporate campuses##can take advantage of going solar. But the trend is clear. Another Silicon valley company,#Stem, has begun installing 54-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery packs for corporate customers,
allowing them to store electricity from the grid when rates are low and use that power
when demand charges spike. While Stem is a startup the utilities should be particularly wary of Solarcity and its partnership with Tesla motors.
Tesla chief executive Elon musk serves as Solarcity s chairman and is Rive s cousin.)Tesla and Solarcity s combined market cap##$21. 3 billion##exceeds that of the parent companies of Pacific gas & electric and Southern California Edison, the two big California utilities
whose customers Rive covets. And Solarcity is pioneering#the securitization of solar##giving it the ability to dip into a potentially vast pool of capital by packaging leases for photovoltaic systems into asset-backed notes that are sold to pension funds,
hedge funds and other deep-pocketed investors. Rive says Demandlogic should save commercial customers 20 percent in demand charges.
The system s algorithms constantly monitor electricity supply and demand charging and discharging the battery to minimize drawing expensive electricity from the power grid.
The size of the battery pack will be customized for each business but would be able to store roughly 30 percent of the electricity generated by the solar array.
And the Tesla batteries provide backup power if the grid goes down in an earthquake
or storm##a key selling point as climate change spawns increasingly powerful hurricanes and tornadoes. While energy storage systems would cut utilities revenues they would also help them balance supply
and demand on the grid as increasing amounts of renewable but intermittent electricity are generated by wind and solar farms.
Lithium-ion batteries remain expensive and Rive and Solarcity spokesman Jonathan Bass was sketchy on the details on how the economics pencil out
when providing energy storage to customers for no money down. But growing economies of scale are in Solarcity and Tesla s favor.##
##In places with high costs of electricity, I think you ll see up to 50 percent of solar systems will have energy storage,
##says Rive.####The economics and scale that Tesla has achieved in the automotive market now make stationary energy storage more cost effective and reliable than it has ever been in the past,##JB Straubel,
Tesla s chief technical officer and cofounder, said in a#statement###We expect this market to grow very rapidly
now that we have crossed this economic threshold.####Via The Atlantic#Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat h
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