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Mar 23, 2016

Neurons on a chip let drones smell bombs over a kilometer away

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, neuroscience

Neurons still remain the most powerful piece of computation machinery on the face of the planet. More to the point, nobody throws up their hands in despair when a screwdriver removes a flathead screw better than their fingernail can, and yet the parallel is an apt one. The circuitry of the human brain has not been honed by evolution to be especially good at playing the game of Go, any more than evolution has fine-tuned our fingernails for removing screws.

Which is not to say there is no room for surprise in today’s world of rapidly advancing technological achievement. What is more impressive, however, is when computers exhibit greater skill than humans at tasks evolution has been perfecting for millions of years like exercising a sense of smell. And yet such advancements are taking place right beneath our noses, metaphorically speaking.

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Mar 23, 2016

Detroit makes community college free

Posted by in category: education

Starting this year, any graduating high school senior who is accepted to one of Detroit’s five community colleges won’t have to pay a dime for tuition.

The Detroit Promise Zone program, officially launched on Tuesday, will make it possible. At first the funds will come from a private scholarship foundation. But starting in 2018, some of the money will come from property taxes already earmarked for the program.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a high school senior preparing for college now or a second-grader whose college career is years away. The Detroit Promise will be there to help make a college education a reality,” said Mayor Mike Duggan.

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Mar 23, 2016

Breaking the prime-number cipher, one proof at a time

Posted by in category: mathematics

Like a mirror image of Bedford’s Law, mathematicians have found a pattern in prime numbers that raises more questions than it answers.

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Mar 23, 2016

Temple Grandin On Her Search Engine — Blank on Blank | PBS Digital Studios, KurzweilAI

Posted by in categories: innovation, science

“What it’s really like to have an autistic brain and how Einstein’s not the only genius who could have been dismissed for being different.”

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Mar 23, 2016

The world’s first grid-connected wave power station in Australia

Posted by in category: energy

Credit: David Wolfe

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Mar 23, 2016

First prosthesis in the world with direct connection to bone, nerves and muscles

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs

Thanks to the electrodes system a stable signal is obtained, which allows precise control like handling an egg without breaking. It also provides sensations as if it were a real hand.

The first prosthesis in the world that connects directly to the bone, nerves and muscles, allows the person to experience sensations, free mobility and is handled using the mind.

It was created by the Mexican Max Ortiz Catalan, who lives in Sweden, the device becomes an extension of the human body through osseointegration, this means that it connects directly to the bone via a titanium implant, and thanks to the neuronal and muscle binding interfaces a robust and intuitive control of the artificial hand is achieved, this way just by thinking about it is possible to move the limb.

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Mar 23, 2016

This bed automatically makes itself three seconds after you get up

Posted by in category: futurism

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Mar 23, 2016

This Hotel Is 3D Printed from Sand and Volcanic Ash

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, materials

The world’s first 3D-printed hotel suite is located in the Philippines. This is just the first in a series of 3D-printed buildings the designer hopes to create in the area.

Planning a vacation to the Philippines? Consider staying at the Lewis Grand Hotel, where a newly-printed room awaits its first guests. You read that right. The hotel, which is located in Angeles City, Pampanga, has the world’s first 3D-printed hotel suite.

Printing a Hotel Suite in 100 Hours

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Mar 23, 2016

A professor made an invisibility cloaking device

Posted by in category: futurism

A professor made a device that can make you invisible.

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Mar 23, 2016

New 3D printer unlocks ‘mind-blowing’ possibilities with electronics manufacturing

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, electronics

Lawrence Livermore electronics technologists Dale Kurita, at microscope, and Julian Larregui examine manufacturing circuits for 3D printing. Photo by Julie Russell/LLNL (Download Image)

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