#Mind-controlled exoskeleton to help paralyzed teen to kick first ball at World cup Thanks to an international collaboration between universities such as Colorado State university, the Technical University of Munich and the Lily Safra
International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil, a paralyzed teen is set to open this year World cup by kicking a football
while wearing a motorized exoskeleton controlled by his or her brain. Colorado State university in particular recently published a video of its portion of the Walk Again Project,
describing just how the mind-control helmet was 3d printed layer-by-layer in order to fit the wearer head
and connect the electrodes. Take a peek after the break to see the video in question
#The Living Heart Project will use 3d simulation of the human heart to combat heart disease The World health organization recent research has revealed that 17.3 million people died from cardiovascular diseases worldwide in 2008,
A report by the American Heart Association, Forecasting the Future of Cardiovascular disease in the United states, believes the total direct medical costs of cardiovascular disease will reach $818. 1 billion over the next three decades.
and prevent disease. Normally, this is done by physically analyzing the anatomy of a human being, but a groundbreaking idea could change the face of medicine for good. 3d software design companies Dassault systèmes
and 3dexperience have joined forces on a new venture theye named The Living Heart Project to try
and combat he biggest challenge in the medical science right nowcardiovascular disease. The project started by partnering with some of the best brain
and heart experts in the industry to brainstorm and develop ideas. Over time the teams developed a realistic 3d model of a human heart featuring software designed to make it function just like the real thing.
The model captures the electrical and mechanical behavior of the heart in one of the most realistic and vivid ways yet to be seen.
The project is breaking new ground in the study of heart disease and personalized treatment, since researchers are limited currently at being able to predict a pacemaker effect on a patient before surgery, for example.
These 3d designs could become the norm for diagnosing and treating heart conditions in hospitals all over the world,
where doctors could simulate how a patient might respond to different types of treatment, reducing the risks
and potential failures of medications and procedures used today. Instead of looking at pages of a patient medical history,
Dr. James C. Perry, Professor of Pediatrics at University of California San diego and Director of Electrophysiology and Adult CHD at Rady Children Hospital in San diego explains,
and offers up-to-date data on the wearer mental and physical tiredness by linking the MEME to a smartphone feed.
Users can then keep track of their daily energy levels, ideally taking a break when their MEME notes their tiredness,
the MEME glasses rely on monitoring a user eye movements and gaze. The glasses contain small metallic lectrooculographysensors in the portions of the frame that touch the face,
such as the bridge, nose pads and the bars that rest on the ears. These sensors then measure the electrical potential of the eye movement;
changes in voltage are collected then into data that is measured for parameters such as alertness or fatigue.
In addition, the MEME also comes equipped with a six-axis motion-tracking sensor built into the frame that calculates different body movements,
posture and balance throughout the day. Wearing the MEME while walking or running can then provide information such as calories burned
and runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and offers about 8 hours of continuous use.
There will be an optional attery headbandavailable for purchase that will extend battery life to about 16 hours It is anticipated to be compatible with Mac, Windows, ios,
and Android devices, and will be available in both English and Japanese languageshough there is no word on overseas sales beyond their upcoming 2015 launch in Japan.
A prototype has been built near the Spanish city of San sebastian. An underwater foil operates beneath a pier that runs the length of the lagoon.
It works like a snow plough pushing the water upwards and outwards. Wavegarden engineer Alex Onatibia presses a button
who surfs in the Basque Country. very surfer dreams of having the perfect wave in his backyard.
It is complicated a mix. he computer simulation of fluid dynamics has changed dramatically in the last 5 years,
An aluminium factory used to stand on the site but was closed down in 2007. The freshwater lagoon will be 300m long
and dropped and it loses its energy more rapidly. This new technology is mechanical giving engineers the capability of creating a wave that could last for miles.
#Toshiba s new vegetable factory to bring perfect produce to Japan When you hear the name Toshiba,
you probably think about electronics products like televisions and computers. Thanks to its CT and other diagnostic imaging machines and technology, Toshiba has made a name for itself in the healthcare industry, too.
by introducing 100 percent pesticide free vegetable factories in Japan. The first Toshiba vegetable factory will open in a few months in Yokusuka, Japan.
But this isn just a greenhouse: Toshiba plant factory will be a high-tech facility. Itl include optimized lights set to a wavelength to grow perfect plants
and specialized air-conditioning that keeps temperature and humidity set to a constant level. Managers can remotely monitor the factory from another location
and keep an eye on plant growth, with the ability to change settings as needed. The factory itself will be completely sterile,
creating a super-clean facility with plants that won need pesticides. Because of the clean environment, all plants will be germfree,
which means theyl have longer shelf lives and be fresher and higher in nutrients than farm-grown vegetables.
Toshiba will sell their produce to grocery stores restaurants and convenience stores, focusing on cities where urban growth often prevents fresh vegetables from being readily available.
Not only do residents of cities benefit from this, but Toshiba benefits financially, with estimated yearly sales around $3 million.
If successful, Toshiba may build a larger plant outside of Japan and sell its plant factory technology to other cities worldwide.
It certainly a good solution to providing nutrition in urban areas where fresh pesticide free produce is almost nonexistent
#25%of patients now read online physician reviews There has always been a love/hate relationship between doctors and the Internet.
Some doctors bristle at the fact that many patients now shop for physicians in the same way they shop for restaurants and plumbers:
using online review sites. A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan says 25 percent of Americans now look online for doctor reviews before making an appointment.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says a third of those people make a decision to see
or not see a particular doctor based on reviews they read. There are now 40 to 50 doctor-review sites for patients to choose from,
the biggest among them being Healthgrades, Ratemds and Vitals. Also, general review sites such as Yelp also offer ratings for medical practices and specific physicians.
It gets better. The study shows that the doctors are nervously reading the reviews too, and even changing parts of their bedside manner to avoid bad ratings.
Some doctors bristle at the idea of being reviewed Yelp-style. After all, medicine is a business where customer service is important,
but it also a science. Doctors are often talkative during the ubjectivepart of an exam,
when patients are asked to describe their symptoms, but less conversant during the bjectivepart, when they get down to the job of examining the patient in a scientific way.
Also, new technology in doctors offices may not help matters. With the new focus on real-time documentation of care in electronic health records
doctors can sometimes be preoccupied with their handheld computers. Patients can feel ignored. And doctors sometimes simply must give patients bad news. Some doctors believe bad news in the exam room can cause bad feelings that turn into bad reviews on sites like Healthgrades. com
. But the review sites are on the minds of doctors. Both the Congress of OBGYNS and the American Psychiatric Association have held panel discussions about online reviews at recent meetings
#Longevity gene may enhance brain power For the first time ever, scientists have shown that people who have a variant of a gene called KLOTHO also have improved cognitive abilities,
including better memories and enhanced thinking skills. In parallel research on mice, the researchers found that
when they increased the levels of the gene variant, the mice got smarter, perhaps due to increased connections between nerve cells.
This could provide a promising avenue of research for tackling Alzheimer disease. The study lead author, Dena Dubal said:
his could be a major step toward helping millions around the world who are suffering from Alzheimer disease and other dementias.
If we could boost the brain ability to function, we may be able to counter dementias.
In the human arm of the research, the scientists gave a whole battery of cognitive tests to over 700 people with and without the gene variant.
About 20-25%of participants had one copy of the gene variant, known as L-VS Those with one copy, compared to none,
performed better on the cognitive tests, regardless of their age, sex or genetic risk factors for Alzheimer disease.
Another of the study authors, Roderick Corriveau, said: hese surprising results pave a promising new avenue of research.
Although preliminary, they suggest that a form of klotho could be used to enhance cognition for people suffering from dementia.
Like the humans in the study, the mice also performed better on cognitive tests, including those of memory and learning.
Lennart Mucke, the director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological disease, said: verall our results suggest that KLOTHO may increase cognitive reserve
or the brain capacity to perform everyday intellectual tasks. The gene takes its name from the entity in Greek mythology called lotho who was one of the ateswho were supposed to control the thread of people lives.
#UC Irvine School of medicine to add Google glass to its curriculum The University of California at Irvine (UCI) School of medicine announced that it is integrating the already-iconic wearable into its four-year curriculum for medical students.
UCI will be the first medical school to do so. Glass has seen its strongest professional reception in medicine, with a variety of pilot programs in hospitals, operating rooms,
and other parts of medical life. t way too early to tellif Glass will become standard in medical schools,
Dr. Jennifer Joe told us, ut a lot of people in medical education are interested. She heads up Medtech Boston
a nonprofit organization that has been conducting projects and competitions involving medical uses of Glass. Joe noted a surprising fact:
Medical schools in the U s. are generally slow to adopt new technologies, and perhaps nly half require students to use a laptop or tablet.
But, she added, if Glass did get widely adopted and was used for collecting data as well as video t would dramatically change medical education.
Imagine an attending physician seeing what you saw during a simulation, Joe said, and guiding you through the procedure using Glass.
Initially, ten pairs will distributed at UC Irvine this month to third-and fourth-year students in the operating room and emergency room departments.
The school is working with an Austin-based company Pristine, and Google is involved not currently.
In August, another 20 to 30 pairs will go to first-and second-year students, for use in anatomy labs, the medical simulation center, the ultrasound institute,
and the Clinical Skills Center. The devices will also be used for basic science lectures, where patient-physician encounters about specific diseases will be transmitted in real time over 16 miles between the medical center and a lecture hall.
And an unusual point-of-view will be added to Glassgrowing medical repertoire: the patient. hat one of the uses I most excited about,
said Dr. Warren Wiechmann, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at the UCI medical school and head of the Glass program there.
The school curriculum includes mock sessions between students and patient actors, which are recorded by several cameras in the room that can how only gross movements,
he said, ike whether the student is facing the patient, unconscious eye rolls from the student doctor, head rolls.
With the patient actor wearing Glass, faculty outside the room can see the video feed from the patient point-of-view in real-time
and the student can watch the recording later. Right now, Wiechmann said, the video/audio and communication capabilities of Glass are the primary functions being used by the school,
but he looks forward to incorporating data calling up a patient electronic health record, for instance
#Amplituhedron may revolutionize the future of physics Amplituhedron Understanding exactly what happens after subatomic particles collide has been a long struggle for physicists.
#U s. military wants to teach robots how to make moral and ethical decisions How do you code something as abstract as moral logic into a bunch of transistors?
The Office of Naval Research will award $7. 5 million in grant money over five years to university researchers from Tufts, Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, Brown,
Google self-driving cars are legal and in use in several states at this point. As researchers, we are playing catch up trying to figure out the ethical and legal implications.
The United states military prohibits lethal fully autonomous robots. And semi-autonomous robots can elect and engage individual targets
search-and-rescue and in the medical domain, we can take the idea of in-theater robots completely off the table,
Some members of the artificial intelligence, or AI, research and machine ethics communities were quick to applaud the grant. ith drones,
missile defines, autonomous vehicles, etc.,the military is rapidly creating systems that will need to make moral decisions,
AI researcher Steven Omohundro told Defense One. uman lives and property rest on the outcomes of these decisions
and so it is critical that they be made carefully and with full knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of the systems involved.
The military has had always to define he rules of warand this technology is likely to increase the stakes for that. ee talking about putting robots in more and more contexts in
The sophistication of cutting-edge drones like British BAESYSTEMS batwing-shaped Taranis and Northrop grumman X-47b reveal more self-direction creeping into ever more heavily armed systems.
But how do you code something as abstract as moral logic into a bunch of transistors?
with a high potential to transform the battlefield. ne of the arguments for moral robots is that they may be even better than humans in picking a moral course of action
Ronald Arkin, an AI expert from Georgia Tech and author of the book Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, is a proponent of giving machines a moral compass. t is not my belief
that an unmanned system will be able to be perfectly ethical in the battlefield, but I am convinced that they can perform more ethically than human soldiers are capable of,
Arkin wrote in a 2007 research paper (PDF. Part of the reason for that, he said,
is that robots are capable of following rules of engagement to the letter, whereas humans are more inconsistent.
He been highly critical of armed drones in general . and has argued that autonomous weapons systems cannot be trusted to conform to international law. do not think that they will end up with a moral or ethical robot,
It will follow a human designer idea of ethics. he simple example that has been given to the press about scheduling help for wounded soldiers is a good one.
if the military were to extend a system like this for lethal autonomous weapons weapons where the decision to kill is delegated to a machine;
since the department can change it without congressional approval, at the discretion of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two undersecretaries of Defense.
University of Denver scholar Heather Roff, in an op-ed for the Huffington Post, calls that a isconcertinglack of oversight and notes that ielding of autonomous weapons then does not even raise to the level of the Secretary of defense, let alone the president.
and that the same as Google cars as it is for military robots, we should begin now to do the research to how far can we get in ensuring the robot systems are safe
#Germany generates 74%of power needs from renewable energy Germany impressive streak of renewable energy milestones continues, with renewable energy generation surging to a record portion nearly 75 percent of the country overall electricity demand
electricity prices actually dipped into the negative for much of the afternoon, according to Renewables International. In the first quarter of 2014, renewable energy sources met a record 27 percent of the country electricity demand,
thanks to additional installations and favorable weather. enewable generators produced 40.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity,
up from 35.7 billion kilowatt-hours in the same period last year, Bloomberg reported. Much of the country renewable energy growth has occurred in the past decade and,
as a point of comparison, Germany 27 percent is double the approximately 13 percent of U s. electricity supply powered by renewables as of November 2013.
or energy transformation, which aims to power the country almost entirely on renewable sources by 2050. nce again,
it was demonstrated that a modern electricity system such as the German one can already accept large penetration rates of variable but predictable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PV power,
a renewable energy consultant based in France, via email. n fact there are no technical and economic obstacles to go first to 20 percent of annual electricity demand penetration rate from a combination of those two technologies,
then 50 percent and beyond by combining them with other renewables and energy efficiency measures and some progressive storage solutions at a modest level.
To reach the lofty goal of 80 percent renewables by 2050, Germany had to move quickly.
Regardless, a recent analysis by the consulting firm Eclareon found that solar power has reached grid parity in Germany,
the price of commercial solar power is now equal to retail electricity rates. And wind power reached record output levels last year producing a massive 25.2 GW
and accounting for 39 percent of the electricity supply on a single day in December The unprecedented growth of solar PV in particular has been fueled in large part by policies that incentivize clean energy.
which pays renewable energy producers a set amount for the electricity they produce under long-term contracts,
the government instead proposed A v self-consumption chargeon new photovoltaic systems, something Germany Solar Industry Association recently announced it plans to challenge in court.
Along with cutting out fossil fuel-generated energy to a large extent, the transition to renewables includes completely phasing out nuclear power.
These goals are only achievable in combination with greatly reduced energy demand. Instead, coal imports are increasing
in order to meet the country baseload power demands. And retail electricity rates are high and rising, putting pressure on lower income individuals in particular.
But many of the criticisms are largely overblown according to Amory Lovins of the Rocky mountain Institute.
The modest uptick in coal fired generation was substituting for pricier natural gas, not representative of a return to coal as it often mischaracterized.
In fact, last December, as renewable energy production continued to grow and energy demand shrank, Germany largest utility chose not to renew two long-term contracts for coal fired power.
And while much is made of rising industrial electricity prices, Lovins points out that in fact, iant German firms enjoy Germany low and falling wholesale electricity prices,
getting the benefit of renewablesnear-zero operating cost but exempted from paying for them. And as for the impact on the consumer
he FIT surcharge raised householdsretail price of electricity seven percent but renewables lowered big industrieswholesale price 18 percent.
As long-term contracts expire, the past few yearssharply lower wholesale prices could finally reach retail customers
and start sending householdstotal electricity prices back down. What more, n Germany you have the option of earning back your payments,
and far more, by investing as little as $600 in renewable energy yourself, Lovins writes. itizens, cooperatives, and communities own more than half of German renewable capacity, vs. two percent in the U s. Challenges aside,
Energiewende rooted in the acknowledgement that a fossil fuel-based energy system is not sustainable is remarkable for its scope and its widespread support,
particularly in a heavily industrialized country like Germany. on forget what Germany is doing right now.
It changing its power supply, Paul Hockenos, a Berlin-based energy expert and journalist, told Voice of america earlier this year. he last time
when an energy supply was changed was the industrial revolution; this is something that has never been done before. r
#Japanese startup unveils a long-lasting and safer dual-carbon battery A young Japanese startup called Power Japan Plus,
or PJP, has a new type of battery under development that lasts longer, is safer,
charges faster and is less expensive than a standard lithium ion battery. The year-old company uses carbon for both the anode
and the cathode portion of the battery and hopes to start producing it later this year.
A battery is made up of an anode on one side and a cathode on the other, with an electrolyte in between.
In a lithium ion battery lithium ions travel from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte, creating a chemical reaction that allows electrons to be harvested along the way.
While lithium ion batteries are the dominant batteries these days for laptops, cell phones and early electric cars,
they have some shortfalls. For example, the batteries degrade pretty quickly over time (which explains why your laptop battery dies every couple of years),
and they can catch on fire under extreme impact. Theye also relatively expensive if you need a bunch of them to power an electric car,
which is why Tesla cars are only really attainable by the wealthy right now. An all-carbon battery A battery that uses carbon for both the anode and the cathode could be safer than a lithium ion battery
because it removes the highly flammable lithium oxide. While battery fires have been rare for electric car companies, Tesla,
GM and others have seen all a handful of cars with punctured batteries catch on fire, and have faced PR hiccups as a result.
Thermal runaway intense, long-lasting fires caused by lithium oxide catching on fire has long been the Achillesheel of lithium ion batteries.
A carbon battery also doesn degrade as quickly as a lithium ion battery over time. While a standard lithium ion battery with a two-year lifetime could have around 500 cycles of charging and discharging
Power Japan Plusdual-carbon battery could last for 3, 000 cycles, the company executives told me in a phone call.
They also say that because of the carbon chemistry, their battery can charge 20 times faster than a standard lithium ion battery.
Because the battery only uses carbon for its main active material, it could cost less than standard lithium ion batteries,
though executives declined to name its price. Lithium ion batteries have continued to drop in price and Tesla says it reducing the cost by 30 percent with its planned battery factory.
Finally, an all-carbon battery could be recycled more easily at the end of life than a lithium ion battery because it doesn contain rare earth materials and metals.
Activated carbon can come from a variety of low cost, easily-available sources. The idea for a dual carbon battery has been under development by Japanese researchers since the 1970s.
Around six or seven years ago, scientists at Kyushu University started working on nanotechnology and material breakthroughs in the laboratory of applied chemistry professor Tatsumi Ishihara that could raise the capacity (how much electric charge can be delivered at a certain voltage) of those early dual carbon batteries.
Now Power Japan Plus co-founded by Japanese tech entrepreneurs Dou Kani (the CEO and president) and Hiroaki Nishina (the COO) is looking to commercialize the research done at Kyushu.
While neither Kani or Nishina has a long background with battery chemistry (they hail from the telecom
and software sectors theye brought on Japanese battery cathode expert Kaname Takeya, who developed the cathode tech used today in the Toyota prius
and the Tesla Model S. Takeya splits his time between San francisco and Japan and is the company CTO and CEO of its U s. operations.
He just finished a project for Argonne National Labs, and previously also worked on some battery startups including Quallion and Enerdel.
Other companies are looking at ways to engineer carbon to make batteries better. Energ2 is one of those startups,
and the company has developed carbon materials for a variety of battery applications. Because Power Japan Plusinnovation is in the development of the carbon material
the company is also looking into a side business of selling its carbon to third parties.
Early stage While the tech has been under development for several years, the founders incorporated just a year ago,
and now employ only eight people. To date theye been bootstrapping the company, but are hoping to raise funding to help them begin moving into early production later this year.
Funding, particularly in Silicon valley, could prove to be difficult for an early stage battery manufacturer,
given all of the battery startups that have struggled over the years. It a difficult market because scaling up battery production can take a long time and
potentially, a lot of money. But big corporations that are interested in ultimately owning or licensing advanced battery tech might still be interested in providing early funding.
Power Japan Plus says it is less capital-intensive than other battery companies because its battery can be manufactured on existing battery production lines.
Because the batteries don use rare materials and have only one active material, execs say the supply chain is extremely simple,
which also reduces costs. Additionally, executives told me that while they want to do some early pilot line production themselves,
they know they need a large manufacturing partner if they want to scale up production to offer batteries to electric cars.
Power Japan Plus intends to first launch batteries for the medical device and satellite industries, which are focused hyper on safety.
Later down the road, they could try to tackle electric cars. An electric car with a battery pack of dual-carbon batteries could charge much faster and last much longer on the road, giving it a higher resale value.
Currently the team is supplying batteries for a Go-cart in a transportation proof-of-concept partnership.
In the immediate future, electric cars at least from dominant players Tesla and Nissan are betting on lithium ion chemistry for batteries.
But farther down the line, other types of chemistries will need to be investigated to provide power for the next generation of electric cars h
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