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Jan 29, 2019
Engineers translate brain signals directly into speech
Posted by Caycee Dee Neely in categories: innovation, robotics/AI
History Made
In a scientific first, Columbia neuroengineers have created a system that translates thought into intelligible, recognizable speech. By monitoring someone’s brain activity, the technology can reconstruct the words a person hears with unprecedented clarity. This breakthrough, which harnesses the power of speech synthesizers and artificial intelligence, could lead to new ways for computers to communicate directly with the brain. It also lays the groundwork for helping people who cannot speak, such as those living with as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or recovering from stroke, regain their ability to communicate with the outside world.
Jan 29, 2019
As tropical oceans warm, we could see a substantial increase in extreme rain storms
Posted by Michael Lance in category: climatology
A new study led by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory finds that 21 percent more storms will form for every 1.8° F (1° C) that ocean surface temperatures rise. See the projections based on currently accepted climate models: https://go.nasa.gov/2GcAS65
Jan 29, 2019
Mayhem, the Machine That Finds Software Vulnerabilities, Then Patches Them
Posted by Caycee Dee Neely in categories: business, cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI
Bug and vulnerability hunting is a big business and the need for it is getting larger and larger. Up until this point, the majority of work had been from people. Either as hackers discovered holes and released exploits or as companies paid people to do the testing.
The machine triumphed in DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge, where teams automated white-hat hacking.
Jan 29, 2019
Business Forum: Photons are good business — An interview with Akira Hiruma
Posted by James Christian Smith in categories: bioengineering, business, transportation
Early November 2018, Conrad Holton visited Japan at the invitation of Hamamatsu Photonics to attend the three-day Photon Fair, the company’s big event looking at its technologies and vision for the future. The Fair is held every five years near its headquarters in Hamamatsu City, about 150 miles southwest of Tokyo. In addition to thousands of customers, suppliers, and students who attended, the event was open to the public for one day to show the many technologies just emerging from the company’s research labs and how these technologies might impact fields ranging from the life sciences to transportation and manufacturing.
An interview with the CEO of Hamamatsu Photonics shows how an engineering company with a singular focus on photonics can succeed.
Jan 29, 2019
UNITY Expands Human Senolytic Trial
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
UNITY Biotechnologies has recently announced an expansion of its first-stage human trial of UBX0101, a drug that has been shown to have senolytic properties in mice [1] and that the company hopes will be useful in treating painful osteoarthritis of the knee.
An expanded clinical trial
UNITY Biotechnologies, a $495 million biotech company in the process of creating senolytic medicines that target one of the aging processes, has just announced an expansion of its first-stage human trial of the first drug in its pipeline (UBX0101), which targets painful osteoarthritis of the knee.
Jan 29, 2019
Quantum Computing Research at NASA
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: quantum physics, supercomputing
A participation in the annual Supercomputing conference taking place in Salt Lake City, UT, USA from November 14–17, 2016.
Jan 29, 2019
Lowering blood pressure could cut risk factor for dementia
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
(CNN) — Intensive lowering of blood pressure, to a less than 120 mm Hg level, can have a measurable impact on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — a well-established precursor of dementia, a new study finds.
Previous studies have suggested high blood pressure could be a risk factor for dementia and mild cognitive impairment, leading US researchers to explore whether lowering pressure could reduce this risk in a large randomized trial on more than 9000 people.
Lowering blood pressure did not significantly reduce dementia risk, but the secondary results showed a significant reduction in MCI, according to the study published Monday.
Continue reading “Lowering blood pressure could cut risk factor for dementia” »
Jan 29, 2019
Breakthrough flexible material transforms WiFi signals into electricity
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, internet
Researchers are always looking for new materials that can help power electronics and medical devices in the future. MIT has made a breakthrough with a new material that makes that goal closer to reality. The breakthrough is thanks to a fully flexible device that can convert WiFi signals into electricity that could power devices.
Jan 29, 2019
Quantum structure of buckyballs
Posted by Caycee Dee Neely in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
Buckyballs! We love them.
JILA researchers have measured hundreds of individual quantum energy levels in the buckyball, a spherical cage of 60 carbon atoms. It’s the largest molecule that has ever been analyzed at this level of experimental detail in the history of quantum mechanics. Fully understanding and controlling this molecule’s quantum details could lead to new scientific fields and applications, such as an entire quantum computer contained in a single buckyball.