AUGENBLICK

"thought identification." ?

2009-01-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, neuroscience research into how we think and what we're thinking is advancing at a stunning rate, making it possible for the first time in human history to peer directly into the brain to read out the physical make-up of our thoughts, some would say to read our minds.

SOURCE: CBS NEWS - Produced by Shari Finkelstein
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Thought Reading Demonstration

Visual long-term memory has a massive storage

2008-12-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

Visual long-term memory has a massive storage
capacity for object details
Timothy F. Brady*, Talia Konkle, George A. Alvarez, and Aude Oliva*
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
Edited by Dale Purves, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, and approved August 1, 2008 (received for review April 8, 2008)

One of the major lessons of memory research has been that human
memory is fallible, imprecise, and subject to interference. Thus,
although observers can remember thousands of images, it is
widely assumed that these memories lack detail. Contrary to this
assumption, here we show that long-term memory is capable of
storing a massive number of objects with details from the image.

© 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA

Image Courtesy

Robots learn to move themselves

2008-08-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Researchers in Leipzig have demonstrated software designed for robots that allows them to "learn" to move through trial and error.

SOURCE: BBC NEWS

Status, free will, the human condition.

2008-07-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

Wolfe, who calls himself "the social secretary of neuroscience," often turns to current research to inform his stories and cultural commentary. His 1996 essay, "Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died," raised questions about personal responsibility in the age of genetic predeterminism. Similar concerns led Gazzaniga to found the Law and Neuroscience Project. When Gazzaniga, who just published Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique, was last in New York, Seed incited a discussion: on status, free will, and the human condition.

Source: SeedMagazine.com
Article by: EDIT STAFF

IMAGE COURTESY :'Free Will,' by Joseph M. Thompson (2004)

Scent on Mobile Phones

2008-05-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

The Nokia Scentsory "allow you to see, hear, feel and smell your caller's environment".

The isi, institute of sensory analysis and marketing consultancy in Göttingen, and conVISUAL, Oberhausen-based specialist for interactive value added services, has filed the patent for applications allowing users to send scents onto properly equipped cell phones.

Japanese phone company testing scent downloads

E=mc²: Einstein explains his famous formula

2008-04-21T03:09:00.000-07:00

Island of stability

2008-04-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

-This is quite a breakthrough for science,- Said Chemistry, Materials and Life Sciences Associate Director Tomas Diaz de la Rubia. -We’ve discovered a new element that provides insight into the makeup of the universe. For our scientists to find another piece of the puzzle is a testament to the strength and value of the science and technology at this Laboratory.-

“Now that it has been shown that the ‘island of stability’ of superheavy elements exists, it would be interesting to predict the position of other islands,” said Yuri Oganessian, Ph.D., of Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. He is the scientific leader at the Institute’s Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions.

PHOTO COURTESY:
-LISE MEITNER PRIZE FOR NUCLEAR SCIENCE.-
-www.llnl.gov/str/Diaz.html-

IMAGE CREDITS: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.-

2008-03-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

THIS SITE WILL BE UPDATED ON APRIL 2008

Please,
Defend Human Rigths, support the Dalai Lama .

Atomic-level dance

2008-01-18T04:21:00.000-08:00

After three years of study, researchers at Texas Tech University and the Physics Institute of the University of Freiburg, Germany,

have found that one type of a certain chemical reaction fundamental to cellular biochemistry is actually more complex than originally thought.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2008)

Dance around the Maypole

http://omicron.de/index2.html

Future directions in computing

2008-01-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

On BBC NEWS-Technology:- Six advances that could spell the end of traditional computing .-

The Center for Quantum Computation's Web site:
http://www.qubit.com/

Articles related to quantum information science:

http://www.sciam.com/

Black Holes

2007-04-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Photo Courtesy Chandra Harvard.
Chandra Sees Remarkable Eclipse of Black Hole
This was revealed during a series of observations of NGC 1365

Electrons!

2007-04-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

An international team of researchers working with Ferenc Krausz has now caught the electrons in the act of tunnelling through the binding potential of the atom nucleus under the influence of laser light. The physicists used the new tools provided by attosecond metrology. "For the first time, our findings confirmed in real time observation the theoretical predictions of quantum mechanics," says Ferenc Krausz, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and head of the team of scientists. ( article's in Science Daily)

A quantum brain? Quantum consciousness?

2007-02-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

The most difficult problem… concerning the use of the language arises in quantum theory. Here we have at first no simple guide for correlating the mathematical symbols with concepts of ordinary language: and the only thing we know from the start is the fact that our common concepts cannot be applied o the structure of the atoms. (Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, 1963)

"Our brains follow the same basic laws of the whole universe. These laws are quantum mechanical. In our brain dance electrons and photons - the particles of light responsible for communication between electrons. The dance of electrons with light makes up our minds and provides the stability of our 85-percent water-filled brains. Thus it is that mind will not be found in any physical pattern of our brain material, but instead in quantum wave functions" (WOLF 1984, p. 134).

"quantum mechanics is the mechanics of the human spirit" (WOLF 1984, p.267/268).

Neuroethics

2007-02-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Neuroethics n. The moral principles and standards governing the scanning, treatment, and enhancement of the brain

... Even in their current state, brain scans may be able to reveal, without our consent, hidden things about who we are and what we think and feel. ... Before such scans are used, neuroethicists warn, we must understand what they can and cannot do.
—Francine Russo, "Who Should Read Your Mind?," Time, January 29, 2007

Plastic challenge to silicon microchip

2007-02-15T02:34:00.000-08:00

Plastic challenge to silicon microchip
By Peter Marsh in London

The plastic semiconductors are made using a process similar to ink-jet printing, which is widespread in the packaging industry for producing labels.

Building Brains in Silicon

2007-02-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

SCIENTIST'S TEAM AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY :- We have two synergistic goals: We wish to understand how brains work; this will enable us to replace damaged neural tissue. And we want to build computers that work like brains; this will enable us to increase computational power a million fold.-

Superstrings(?)

2007-02-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

A proposed orbiting observatory called the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, could provide the first measurements of very low frequency gravitational waves, perhaps the first such measurements at any frequency, cosmologist Craig Hogan said. In addition to the expected wave sources, such as binary stars and black holes, these signals also might include the first direct evidence of cosmic superstrings.

Evidence That Subliminal Is Not So 'Sub'

2006-11-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

In an article in the November 9, 2006, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press, Kimihiro Nakamura and colleagues report experiments with human volunteers demonstrating such "top-down" processing of subliminal information.

Learning How Nature Splits Water

2006-11-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

High-resolution structure of photosynthetic catalyst holds promise for clean energy

Photo Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)

Ultra-Intense Laser Blast Creates True 'Black Metal'

2006-11-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

Guo's research team has tested the absorption capabilities for the black metal and confirmed that it can absorb virtually all the light that fall on it, making it pitch black.

Neuroscience and meditation!

2006-11-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

Buddha drew a clear distinction between our body and our mind. Although the two are related, he said, they are not the same thing. The mind is not the brain, and the brain is not the mind.

The quantum world is about to get bigger

2006-11-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

The quantum world is about to get bigger thanks to a technique that will allow objects big enough to see with the naked eye to exist in two places at once.

Chain of magnetite crystals

2006-10-30T03:44:00.000-08:00

Close up of the chain of magnetite crystals.

Magnetotactic bacteria are among the bacteria types currently being studied. Their magnetic properties enable their application for wastewater treatment i.e. the clean-up of hazardous metals such as those encountered in the nuclear and heavy metal producing industries.

Cyberkinetics' technology

2006-10-30T03:41:00.000-08:00

Cyberkinetics' technology allows for an extensive amount of electrical activity data to be transmitted from neurons in the brain to computers for analysis. In the current BrainGate™ System, a bundle consisting of one hundred gold wires connects the array to a pedestal which extends through the scalp. The pedestal is connected by an external cable to a set of computers in which the data can be stored for off-line analysis or analyzed in real-time. Signal processing software algorithms analyze the electrical activity of neurons and translate it into control signals for use in various computer-based applications.

Working invisibility cloak created at last

2006-10-30T03:26:00.000-08:00

An invisibility cloak that works in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum has been unveiled by researchers in the US. The device is the first practical version of a theoretical set-up first suggested in a paper published earlier in 2006.

BLOGGER DOESN'T WORK ,FOR ME, TODAY

2006-10-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I'M SORRY BUT, TODAY THIS CHANNEL DOESN'T WORK.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.

----------------------
30 october 2006

today, it works.
------------------------>

Gold mine holds life untouched by the Sun

2006-10-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

The first known organisms that live totally independently of the sun have been discovered deep in a South African gold mine.

The bacteria exist without the benefit of photosynthesis by harvesting the energy of natural radioactivity to create food for themselves. Similar life forms may exist on other planets, experts speculate.

Color Names: More Universal Than You Might Think

2006-10-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Using a technique called cluster analysis, he and Brown analyzed data gathered by previous color survey researchers. This approach helped them measure the similarity across all the different cultures in terms of how each applies name to color.

New theory explains enhanced superconductivity in nanowires

2006-10-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Physics researchers at Illinois not only have discovered an unusual phenomenon in which ultra-narrow wires show enhanced superconductivity when exposed to strong magnetic fields, they also have developed a theory to explain it.

New motor first to be powered by living bacteria

2006-10-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

A new motor designed by scientists from Japan offers the best of both worlds: the living and the non-living. The group built a hybrid micromachine that is powered by gliding bacteria which travels on an inorganic silicon track and pushes a silicon dioxide rotor. The combination takes advantage of the precise engineering of synthetic devices along with the efficient energy conversion and potential for self-repair of biological systems.

Teenager moves video icons just by imagination

2006-10-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

He is the first teenager to play a two-dimensional video game, Space Invaders, using only the signals from his brain to make movements.

Astronomers see inside a quasar for the first time

2006-10-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Quasars are the brightest things in the universe.
For the first time, astronomers have looked inside quasars -- the brightest objects in the universe -- and have seen evidence of black holes.

The study lends further confirmation to what scientists have long suspected -- that quasars are made up of super-massive black holes and the super-heated disks of material that are spiraling into them.

The results of the Ohio State University-led project were reported Thursday at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) High Energy Astrophysics Division in San Francisco.

"There are many models that try to describe what's happening inside a quasar, and before, none of them could be ruled out. Now some of them can," said Xinyu Dai, a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State. "We can begin to make more precise models of quasars, and gain a more complete view of black holes."

Making molecular machines work

2006-10-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

In this review we chart recent advances in what is at once an old and very new field of endeavour — the achievement of control of motion at the molecular level including solid-state and surface-mounted rotors, and its natural progression to the development of synthetic molecular machine

Making Water From Thin Air

2006-10-13T01:52:00.000-07:00

Aqua Sciences, developed a product on its own and was first to put a product on the market that can operate in harsh climates.

New project open source at MIT

2006-10-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Who Created this Project and Why?
This project was created by a group of graduate students at MIT, as part of a class assignment. The students believe strongly in the principles underlying Open Source software, and hope that you will find the website useful. The only benefits that we get from your contributions to the project is satisfaction that we have created a useful extension of the MIT community.

Microscopic worlds in 3D

2006-10-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Cellular Visions: The Inner Life of a Cell

Quantum networks

2006-10-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Even if quantum computers can be made to work, there will still be two big obstacles preventing quantum networks becoming a reality. First, quantum bits, or qubits, stored in matter will have to be transferred to photons to be transmitted over long distances. Secondly, errors that creep in during transmission have to be corrected. Two unrelated studies have now shown how to clear these hurdles.

Mind-reading competition

2006-10-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

Brain-activity interpretation competition won by Italian researchers:
The Italians - Emanuele Olivetti, Diego Sona, and Sriharsha Veeramachaneni were the most accurate, achieving a correlation of .86 for basic features, such as whether an instant of the film contained music.

Mental link between actions and words

2006-09-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

Collaboration among USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley and Italian university finds strong mental link between actions and words.
The brain’s premotor cortex shows the same activity pattern when subjects observe an action as when they hear words describing the same action, the study’s authors said.

Report: Scientists 'teleport' two photons

2006-09-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

HEIDELBERG, Germany, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Scientists in Germany say they have successfully teleported the combined quantum state of two photons.

That achievement is said to be the first for a composite system, and the researchers say their approach could lead to new ways to harness quantum effects for communication and computational purposes.

A quantum-mechanical system is characterized by a set of properties that can exist in certain possible states. For example, one property of a photon is polarization, the state of which can be horizontal, vertical or a mixture of the two. Quantum teleportation transfers the state -- in this case of the polarization -- of one object to another, which can be an arbitrary distance away.

Teleportation does not transfer energy or matter, the scientists noted.

Quantum leap

2006-09-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Brain prosthetics. Telepathy. Punctual flights. A futurist's vision of where quantum computers will take us.

Science fiction, right? Sure - just like satellites, moon shots, and the original microprocessor once were. To scientists on the quantum computing frontier, this scenario is conservative.

"The age of computing has not even begun," says Stan Williams, a research scientist at Hewlett-Packard. "What we have today are tiny toys not much better than an abacus. The challenge is to approach the fundamental laws of physics as closely as we can."

Brain scan 'sees hidden thoughts'

2006-09-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

Scientists say they can read a person's unconscious thoughts using a simple brain scan.

Functional MRI scans plot brain activity by looking at brain blood flow and are already used by researchers.

A team at University College London found with fMRI they could tell what a person was thinking deep down even when the individual was unaware themselves.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, offer exiting new ways to probe the subconscious, said experts.

To enable the use of biometric authentication technology in Information Age Government

2006-09-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

The word "biometrics" is derived from the Greek words 'bios' and 'metric' ; which means life and measurement respectively.
There are basically two types of biometrics:
1. Behavioral biometrics
2. Physical biometrics

There are many examples of biometrics being used or considered in Federal, State, local, and foreign government projects. One use is to provide robust authentication for access to computer systems containing sensitive information used by the military services, intelligence agencies, and other security-critical Federal organizations. Physical access control to restricted areas is another key application.

Biometric system:

Face Multimodal

Fingerprint / Palm Print Retinal

Hand and Finger Geometry Vein

Handwriting Various/Others

Iris Voice/Speaker

Israeli-developed system:
The Israeli-developed system combines questions and biometric measurements to determine if a passenger should undergo screening by security officials.

The trial of the Israeli-developed system represents an effort by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to determine whether technology can spot passengers who have "hostile intent." In effect, the screening system attempts to mechanize Israel's vaunted airport-security process by using algorithms, artificial-intelligence software and polygraph principles.

Evolutionary Psychology

2006-09-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

An open access peer-reviewed journal
Evolutionary Psychology is an open-access peer-reviewed journal that aims to foster communication between experimental and theoretical work on the one hand and historical, conceptual and interdisciplinary writings across the whole range of the biological and human sciences on the other. We also encourage reflective and exploratory essay reviews on books that merit extensive treatment.

Robotics Sensor Images the Sense of Touch

2006-09-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest challenges in robotics engineering is mimicking the human sense of touch. The ability to respond to texture and pressure is essential for delicate tasks, such as surgery. To that end, researchers have developed a new type of sensor that has a tactile sensitivity comparable to that of human fingertips--making it 50 times more sensitive than previously existing technology.

Antisocial robots go to finishing school

2006-09-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

If you sometimes have difficulty reading other people's expressions and emotions, imagine how difficult it will be for silicon-brained robots. They will only ever be able to respond to us in an appropriate way if they can understand human moods.

'Champagne Supernovae' Challenges Ideas About How Supernovae Work

2006-09-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Image of supernovae SNLS-03D3bb. This peculiar supernova does not fit the standard model for these enormous thermonuclear explosions

Scientists at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have discovered a supernovae that does not fit the standard model for these types of extreme explosions. The results require scientists rethink their basic understanding of how stars explode as supernovae.

'Spectrum of empathy' found in the brain

2006-09-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how some people can “put themselves into another person's shoes” and some people cannot? Our ability to empathise with others seems to depend on the action of "mirror neurons" in the brain, according to a new study.

AMD VIRTUAL IT EXPERIENCE

2006-09-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

About AMD :
A Leading Global Provider of Innovative Microprocessor Solutions.

www.amd.com

Extraterrestrial blogosphere

2006-09-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

First Female Private Space Explorer
& Space Ambassador

Anousheh Ansari, has been officially named to the Soyuz TMA-9 primary crew. The first female spaceflight participant will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 18, 2006 en route to the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Expedition 14 crew members: NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.

DRONES-Aerial Robotics

2006-09-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

In aviation:
Anmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV),often used for target practice, increasingly used for surveillance.

Forthcoming events 2006, 1st International Conference on Nano-Networks

2006-09-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

Conference positions itself at the intersection of two worlds, namely, emerging nanotechnologies on one-side, and network/communication theory on the other side. The standing question that this conference will address is: What are the new communication paradigms that derive from the transition from micro- to nano-scale devices? The related degrees of freedom and constraints associated with these new technologies will change our notions about efficient network and system design. Nano-Net provides a multidisciplinary forum for the discussion of new techniques in modeling, design, simulation, and fabrication of network and communication systems at the nano-scale.

British Museum Unveils WWII Computer Replica

2006-09-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

The brainchild of Alan Turing--often called the father of modern computer science--and Gordon Welchman, "bombes" such as the one the replica represents were used to decrypt more than 3,000 messages a day from the Nazi's Enigma machine.

IBM Uses PlayStation Chip For New Supercomputer

2006-09-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

It's No Game: IBM Uses PlayStation Chip For New Supercomputer
IBM is working with Los Alamos to install
the first phase of the latest supercomputer,
dubbed Roadrunner, by next month.
The hybrid machine will get a speed boost
enabling it to break the petaflop barrier when
the Cell processors are added to AMD's Opteron technology.

2006-07-31T04:29:00.000-07:00

Virtual worlds to test telepathy

2006-07-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

A virtual world designed to test human telepathy has been demonstrated at the University of Manchester, UK.

Pairs of participants enter separate virtual rooms in the game and try to select which virtual object they think the other is interacting with.

Ancient book of psalms found in Irish bog

2006-07-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ireland's archeologists heralded as a miracle the accidental discovery of this ancient book of psalms — discovered last week when an exceptionally alert construction worker spotted something as he drove the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.
View related photos
National Museum Of Ireland / AP

A friend Blog

2006-07-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

Gualtiero Piccinini
Assistant Professor
Philosophy Department
University of Missouri – St. Louis

Brains
On Mind and Related Matter

Scientists to build 'brain box'

2006-07-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

new type of computer that mimics the complex interactions in the human brain is being built by UK scientists.

Researchers Identify Very First Neurons in the “Thinking” Brain

2006-07-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

The earliest identified neuron in the embryonic human cerebral cortex. Predecessor neuron is labeled golden, other proliferating cells are blue.

Police launch eye-in-the-sky drone above LA

2006-07-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

A drone aircraft was launched into the smoggy sky over Los Angeles on Friday, bringing technology more commonly associated with combat zones to urban policing.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which looks like a remote-controlled airplane and weighs about 2.3 kilograms, is a prototype being tested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Police say the drone, called the SkySeer, could carry out dangerous tasks and free up crewed helicopters for other missions.

Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems

2006-07-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

Contemporary robots and other cognitive artifacts are not yet ready to
autonomously operate in complex real world environments.
One of the major reasons for this failure in
creating cognitive situated systems is the difficulty in
the handling of incomplete knowledge and uncertainty

By taking up inspiration from the brains of mammals, including humans, the BACS project will investigate and apply Bayesian models and approaches in order to develop artificial cognitive systems that can carry out complex tasks in real world environments. The Bayesian approach will be used to model different levels of brain function within a coherent framework, from neural functions up to complex behaviors. The Bayesian models will be validated and adapted as necessary according to neuro-physiological data from rats and humans and through psychophysical experiments on humans. The Bayesian approach will also be used to develop four artificial cognitive systems concerned with (i) autonomous navigation, (ii) multi-modal perception and reconstruction of the environment, (iii) semantic facial motion tracking, and (iv) human body motion recognition and behavior analysis. The conducted research shall result in a consistent Bayesian framework offering enhanced tools for probabilistic reasoning in complex real world situations. The performance will be demonstrated through its applications to driver assistant systems and 3D mapping, both very complex real world tasks.

University Forms One of Largest Wireless Research Groups in Nation

2006-07-15T02:57:00.000-07:00

WIRELESS WIFI COGNITIVE RADIO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ANTENNAS RFID

Wireless communication research, long an area of strength at Virginia Tech, has become a major focus with the creation of one of the largest wireless research groups in the U.S., Wireless @ Virginia Tech, encompassing the Center for Wireless Telecommunications, Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group, and Virginia Tech Antenna Group.

Second Geoethical Nanotechnology workshop

2006-07-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop to Explore Ethics of Neuronanotechnology and Future Mind-Machine Interfaces. The Terasem Movement announced today that its Second Geoethical Nanotechnology workshop will be held July 20, 2006 in Lincoln, Vermont. It will explore the ethics of neuronanotechnology and future mind-machine interfaces, including preservation of consciousness, implications for a future in which human and digital species merge, and dispersion of consciousness to the cosmos, featuring leading scientists and other experts in these areas.