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Jan 5, 2016
The Art of Biography — By Joseph Epstein | The Wall Street Journal
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in category: media & arts
“Patrick Hayes’s “Human 2.0? Life-Writing in the Digital Age” provides a defense of autobiography as it comes through Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, blogging and the rest.”
Jan 5, 2016
How to Cultivate the Art of Serendipity — By Pagan Kennedy | The New York Times
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: media & arts, science
Tag: creativity
Jan 5, 2016
How Assistive Technology Is Opening New Doors for ALS Patients
Posted by Dan Faggella in categories: innovation, science, wearables
![Image credit: iDigitalTrends](https://lifeboat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Alex-Blaszczuk-300x200.jpg)
Image credit: iDigitalTrends
While the “Ice Bucket Challenge” raised millions to fuel research toward a cure for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), there are a number of assistive technologies already at work to help those currently affected by the disease. According to Alisa Brownlee, a clinical manager for the ALS Association, more assistive technologies and brain-computer-interfaces are on the way. At present, the largest hurdle is access.
Brownlee noted that the loss of communication is often the hardest part of ALS for someone to endure. As ALS is a progressive disease, there are several forms of assistive technology that are used based on a given patient’s physical status. Each form of that technology will work for awhile, but then patients will have to move on to something else as the disease progresses, she says.
Using computer access as one way to help maintain an ALS patient’s communication skills, ALS patients can transition to a track-ball mouse and on-screen keyboard in lieu of a standard computer mouse. From there, a person can use a head-mount, eye-gaze system, and even a tablet computer with a switch scanner.
Continue reading “How Assistive Technology Is Opening New Doors for ALS Patients” »
Jan 5, 2016
Dolfi — The Tiny Gadget That Could One Day Replace Your Washing Machine
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: futurism
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0oWKr6_ttx0
Dolfi is a portable device that relies on ultrasound technology to do the work of a washing machine. It can be used anywhere, it’s cheap and silent.
Jan 5, 2016
How Fox’s “The Martian VR Experience” Became Hollywood’s Most Ambitious VR Experiment
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: space, virtual reality
Much more than marketing, the experience lets users feel what it’s like to survive on Mars, just like Mark Watney. Yes, there are potatoes.
Jan 5, 2016
Could This Man Hold the Secret to Human Regeneration?
Posted by Jeremy Lichtman in category: innovation
Michael Levin wants to help people regrow lost limbs. Now he could be on the verge of a breakthrough.
Jan 5, 2016
Next-generation Wi-Fi 802.11ah announced with almost double the range, lower power
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, food, habitats, health, internet, transportation
The Wi-Fi Alliance branded its next-generation 802.11ah wireless protocol as Wi-Fi HaLow. It is targeted at the Internet of Things (IoT), which includes the smart home, connected car, and digital healthcare, as well as industrial, retail, agriculture, and smart-city environments. Unlike the older and more familiar 802.11 protocols, which mostly use the 2.4 or 5GHz bands, 802.11ah is a sub-gigahertz protocol that uses the 900MHz band. It has an enviable combination of characteristics.
Jan 5, 2016
The Limit Of Healthy Living: Are We Hitting A Life Expectancy Plateau?
Posted by Roy in categories: biotech/medical, health, life extension
We may be fed a tale of ever expanding life expectancy, but while average lifespans may be rising maximum years are unchanged. If we want to keep extending the clock we need more than antibiotics and nutrition.
The easy work is done
While improving living standards and reducing infant mortality was not an easy job in itself, it extended years without fundamentally changing human biology. The incredible changes brought by the 20th century yielded longevity — but predominantly did so by lifting the majority closer to those luckier few. Even in the ancient world individuals seemingly lived over 80 years old; it was simply a rarer event to do so. You were significantly more likely to be felled by a disease beforehand, and many never reached such an advanced age as a result.