Menu

Blog

Page 10451

Aug 23, 2016

Neuroscientists identify cortical links to adrenal medulla (mind-body connection)

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Cortical pathways to the adrenal medulla. Cortical areas on the lateral surface and the medial wall of the hemisphere are the source of neurons that influence the adrenal medulla. Gray shading: cortical motor areas; blue shading: medial prefrontal areas. (credit: Richard P. Dum et al./PNAS)

Neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh have identified the neural networks that connect the cerebral cortex to the adrenal medulla — the inner part of the adrenal gland, located above each kidney, which is responsible for the body’s rapid response in stressful situations.

These findings, reported in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS), provide evidence for the neural basis of a mind-body connection. They also shed new light on how stress, depression, and other mental states can alter organ function, and show that there is a real anatomical basis for psychosomatic illness.

Continue reading “Neuroscientists identify cortical links to adrenal medulla (mind-body connection)” »

Aug 23, 2016

Aliens in Orbit? Probably Not. $100K on a Kickstarter to Check? Oh, Sure

Posted by in category: alien life

Hey, it’s probably not aliens—but you should stay excited anyway!

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

These Theoretical Propulsion Systems Might Make Interstellar Travel a Reality

Posted by in categories: physics, space travel

One of the biggest questions in physics whether or not humanity could ever really travel between the stars. Here’s how we might be able to do it.

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

Here is Jeremy Seaman’s talk at NeuroFutures on the dynamic encoding properties of medial frontal cortex neurons and ensembles

Posted by in categories: futurism, neuroscience

Click on photo to start video.

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

Aubrey de Grey Explains The OncoSENS Approach to Curing ALT-Cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZOzDmeVWk4

Aubrey de Grey Explains ALT cancer at the DNA Conference earlier this year. Support their cancer research at: https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/sens-control-alt-delete-cancer/


Help Aubrey and the SENS Foundation fight ALT-Cancer here, https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/sens-control-alt-delete-cancer/

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

Battery you can swallow could enable future ingestible medical devices

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Baterias comestível feita com melanina e materiais absorvíveis.

Baterias de melanina é baixa em relação ao de iões de lítio, seria suficientemente elevada para alimentar um dispositivo de libertação de fármaco ou de detecção ingerível. Por exemplo, Bettinger prevê usando a bateria do seu grupo para detectar mudanças intestino microbioma e respondendo com um comunicado da medicina, ou para a entrega de rajadas de uma vacina durante várias horas antes de degradar.

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

NASA Invests in Innovative Concepts, Including Electronic-recycling Microbes

Posted by in categories: biological, internet, sustainability

Read more

Aug 23, 2016

Look Up! 2017 is Going to be the Year of the Autonomous Flying Taxi

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Aircraft manufacturing company Airbus is looking to the skies for a solution to the growing traffic problem. They intend to send out a prototype for their self-flying taxi by next year.

For those of us who live in crowded cities, rush hour traffic is a daily struggle we aren’t likely to get used to. The past few years have seen an ever-lengthening travel time in different cities all over the world.

Nobody is immune, not even the most innovative minds of the world. Aircraft manufacturing company Airbus notes the irony that techies in Silicon Valley come up with all sorts of innovation every day, yet none of them has solved one of their own biggest problems: traffic congestion. “Silicon Valley may pride itself on speed, but during rush hour, everything around the IT Mecca grinds to a halt,” they wrote on their website. “The situation is even worse in cities such as Mumbai, Manila, or Tokyo,” they added. In the Philippines, an estimate says PHP 2.5 billion ($57 million) of potential income is lost to traffic every day, and will rise to P6 billion daily by 2030. In the US, this loss is estimated at $160 billion a year.

Continue reading “Look Up! 2017 is Going to be the Year of the Autonomous Flying Taxi” »

Aug 23, 2016

Alan Watts on Socially Responsible Automation and an Unconditional Basic Income Guarantee

Posted by in category: economics

It’s like he knew what the main problems of work-cultist capitalism and its socially irresponsible job automation were going to be before the whole mess even got started.

This video is a piece selected from watercourseway1’s longer version called “Alan Watts — Money and Guilt” (account since deleted). Closest copy I can see now is:

Continue reading “Alan Watts on Socially Responsible Automation and an Unconditional Basic Income Guarantee” »

Aug 22, 2016

Iraq Is Preparing an Armed Robot to Fight ISIS

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

Alrobot would not be the first robot to hit the sands of Baghdad, but it might become the first to actually fire a weapon.

Back in 2007, the U.S. Army deployed three armed ground robots called the Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, or SWORDS, from weapons maker Foster-Miller (now owned by Qinetiq). SWORDS basically consisted of a Foster-Miller TALON robot armed with a machine gun. But the SWORDS were pulled off the battlefield before they were able to take a single shot.

Kevin Fahey, the Army’s program executive officer for ground forces, explained why the following year at a RoboBusiness Conference in Pittsburgh: “The gun started moving when it was not intended to move.”

Continue reading “Iraq Is Preparing an Armed Robot to Fight ISIS” »