Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Probe the Use of the Tongue
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that in the military's continuing search for better sensory input they have started looking at the tongue as a 'superior transmitter'. From the article: 'A narrow strip of red plastic connects the Brain Port to the tongue where 144 microelectrodes transmit information through nerve fibers to the brain. Instead of holding and looking at compasses and bluky-hand-held sonar devices, the divers can processes the information through their tongues, said Dr. Anil Raj, the project's lead scientist.'"
Tag: Jokefodder
Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story
With extended use, this thing better have some nice flavors available to combat my gag reflex. I suppose one could get used to having something in their mouth constantly, but so far I've only grown accustomed to pen caps.
Yep, I never spell check.
More incorrect spellings can be found he
resistance is futile!
Check out my women's designer clothing store.
Sounds like there's a lot more tongue-probing in science than IT. I'm switching fields.
he's a real cunning linguist.
What?
Well, my wife seems to find uses for my tongue. but she's no scientist.....
Ira
Does it come in Strawberry flavor?
I surely am!
...tastes just like chicken.
So, they'll be able to see the battle field, but not the forest for the trees..
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
Yes, it's called yelling.
"We've got incoming bogeys, due vanilla by vanilla-strawberry. And either that was some damn strong cofee this morning, or there's at least twenty of em'!"
Aside from tasting things, there is only one other good use for my tongue, and my girlfriend agrees.
Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
I can see it now: --MarkusQ
OK, seriously. If I had a name that could in any way be mispronounced as something like "Anal Rage," I'd seriously consider changing it before attempting to do anything noteworthy.
:P
That said, this is cool tech. I wonder if it could eventually be implemented as a chip implanted in the tongue, communicating wirelessly with a small computer? 15 years from now, instead of our kids getting tongue piercings, they'll all be getting "tongue implants."
Formerly GNU/Anonymous Coward. This message has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
Something about sticking electronic devices in your mouth that doesn't sit well for hygeine, taste or ergonomics.
Maybe this could be better devised by a handheld computer? Or maybe a nerdy Giraffe?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I been probing my girlfriend's tongue for months. And don't worry, the research has been fruitful; I've found many uses for it.
This is truly one technology that would require first hand experience to have much comment. If I am receiving some input that registers in the vision centers of my brain how does that interact with my regular vision. Over 38 years of moving about I have managed to coordinate my senses and motor skills. If I had a rear view of some kind in addition to my regular binocular vision how what would that experience be like? Would it make me dizzy?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
I can't wait to see the comments on this one.
~*~ Tara
Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy!
I Taste.. Danger. Kif bring me the mouth wash.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses similar to owls, snakes and fish
So the SEAL acronym of Sea, Land, and Air will be replaced by Fish, Snakes & Owls?
Look out enemies of America, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom is coming to your town!
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
This technology has been around for a while: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010901/bob14 .asp
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
When the army went East, it left a real bad taste in my mouth.
You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one delicious' dink body. The taste, you know that gasoline taste, the whole hill. Tasted like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end... ....and then I am going to Red Lobster for their all you can eat shrimp feast!
Enemy troops could seed the battlefield with peanutbutter cracker cluster bombs to jam these communication channels.
...a revolutionary technology already being referred to as Anilingus.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
In Soviet Russia, tongue probes YOU!.....
{Homer}.... with sexy results!{/Homer}
What about the hirez rig for supertaster?
--
make install -not war
Besides the obvious military uses, it seems to me that a more popular use would be as an adjunct to MMORPGs (or any other interactive RPG computer game, for that matter). Imagine being able to "see" the bogeys right behind you without having to take your eyes off your current target!
He could not only get willing beta testers, but can you imagine the kind of user-mods/hacks that could be created?! "Only" 144 sensory points? Heck, I just hacked it to provide 1024!
This has been on-going research for over a decade.
I read a paper (not scientific, but from a science magazine) where by researchers in (I *THINK*) John Hopkins Hospital where in the works of developing just this... but not for divers. It was for blind people.
The most impressive thing I remember: A blind man catching with his hand a ball, whirled at him over a table (slowly thrown).
Side-Notes: Researchers where also looking into a very similar "input grid" placed over the entire back of the user.
Very cool research. Not many people think about the blind/handicapped.
Now, this technology is for divers... military divers... oh god...
I had read a story a year or two back about similar technology. It was used to help a woman regain her sense of balance which was lost after an inner ear infection. A grid of tiny electrodes was placed onto her tongue and connected to a rather bulky device worn on her head which would sense tilt and send a signal to one of the electrodes on her tongue. She was told to keep the signal "in the middle" of her tongue to stay balanced. After several therapy sessions, she had a full recovery and could balance herself without the device.
Maybe this could be better devised by a handheld computer?
Umm did you read TFA, hell did you even read the fucking summary? Right in the summary: Instead of holding and looking at compasses and bluky[sic]-hand-held sonar devices. This is supposed to eliminate holding items and taking the eyes off of the terrain so drivers can drive better and have better awareness of the environment and threats. They already have handheld devices that can do this, they want to move beyond that.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
New Marvel comics villian.
BTW. Th' verification text for this posts is yeasts. Yum.
How long can it be before scientists realize that the Zoq-Fot-Pik have already perfected the tongueing attack in their struggles against the zebranky.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
Slimy electrodes, anyone?
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
At least for men, I can think of another organ that provides quite possibly the most direct neural route to the brain.....
And you could use it withowt talkinth likth thith!
So how do you test 9-volt batteries then, if not with your tongue?
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
Above comment caused me to laugh so hard I had to choke back... tears. Thanks for that. Pity it's buried all the way down here...
Don't feel the curve, Taste it!
Before we even get to the whole tongue thing, can someone first explain what a bluky sonar is? What did I miss!?
Instead of making a full comment about the French, insert your own humorous/insightful comment. I just know something has to be said about what the French will do with this. They are a big fan of the tongue.
This will lead to some interesting Post-Traumatic Stress disorders in the future. Some poor army guy will take one bite of his eggplant parmesan and dive under the table, all, "INCOMING! AAIEE!"
stuff |
Tongue PORN! Hmmmmmm.... porn.....
Joke all you want, but until direct brainwave interfaces are perfected, I think this kind of research is the most promising area of human-computer interface design going. I just wish they'd emphasize the opposite direction.
...that have more nerve endings per unit area and where people are very sensitive to all kinds of surface stimulation. Of course it would require different models for men and women but that's not such a big deal.
"The White House is not an intelligence-gathering agency," -- Scott McClellan, Whitehouse spokesman.
From the article:
In testing, blind people found doorways, noticed people walking in front of them and caught balls. A version of the device, expected to be commercially marketed soon, has restored balance to those whose vestibular systems in the inner ear were destroyed by antibiotics.
As a someone with NF2 (http://nfinc.org/nf2.shtml), both of my vestibular organs were destroyed in life-saving operations, so this presents some hope to me.
I feel so break-up, I wanna go home!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
"Instead of holding and looking at compasses and bluky-hand-held sonar devices, the divers can processes the information through their tongues, said Dr. Anil Raj, the project's lead scientist.'"
Haven't dogs been doing this for thousands of years?
Well, the lady scientests do, anyway...
You said tongue probe...
ahh, so thats what Lord John Whorfin was doing in the insane asylum.
who knew Buckaroo Bonzai was so ahead of its time.
- yummy rootbeer.
well i presume this will come as part of the breathing regulator unit so i can't imageine hygine will be much more of an issue than it already is.
an ordinary handheld computer probablly won't be much use underwater and i imagine the masks turbulance, any contamination etc will mean that anything with a display would need much bigger text than normal.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Institute for Human and Machine Cog a few years ago with my neighbor (a Navy pilot). On the tour, the guide showed us this experiment, and how the guys had hooked it up to a Doom video game with a visual partition. A screen came down to shield your eyes, but when the "tongue cap" was worn, you could still accurately shoot the enemies. It was quite cool.
We also saw thier next-gen HUD for navy fighters, a suit to reduce pilot G forces and a PDA designed for astronauts on the ISS, which was modeled after the ball that Luke Skywalker practiced his saber skills on the Falcon (they were doing the voice recognition software for it.....not the whole thing).
This does not make a lick of sense.
...on how many mod points are being wasted on this item...I'm very curious. That and I have to send this to my wife, who loves me for my "noodly appendage."
Why go fast when you can go anywhere? O|||||||O
That's ONE way to redefine the expression "that's a sweet ride, dude."
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
"Whaddaya think, Sarge? How's that approach taste to you?"
Network geek with a strong affinity for Telecasters
I wish aliens would find a new subject matter to probe like these scientists have. Probing my tounge would be a refreshing change...... ...wait a minute, that doesn't sound good either.
"Anonymous and loving every minute of it."
Exactly. And that, too, would be funny.
Lighten up and laugh a bit.
An article about the use of the tongue and the quote at the bottom of this slashdot comments page says "Be dirty", LOL!
Slashdot Classic
I imagine this will catch on since if it will work for interactive Porn...
Randy.Flood@RHCE2B.COM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192824,00.html
http://www.slidingzone.de/SLIDINGZONE/stones.html
Premiere Scientist John Whorfin of the 8th Dimension has known about this for decades: Here is a photo of him using such technology in the mid 80s. Find out what she knows! Use more honey!
Is Dr. Mung-Mung involved?
Will you be here all week? And, yes I've tipped my waitress.
Hades, PoD: Official Advocate
Raspberry! There is only one man who would dare give me the raspberry.
When they get this working for movies and gaming, it's going to be incredible. Not only manufactured taste, but scent. (I recall they were working on scent detection some years ago at Caltech, and I've seen it mentioned a few places since, I think both on the detection and generation side.) But imagine a gaming experience that can invoke smell...
Of course, they'll probably hesitate to use the technology during war films or movies about skunks. In fact, they'll probably accidentally use it with a movie about skunks first, to show realism, and it can be the power glove of the next generation... (An idea that could work wonderfully, but really fails to deliver right the first time and isn't marketed again for twenty years)
Yahoo isn't a news gathering organization and doesn't report anything. They relay and reprint but they don't report. In this case they are reprinting an AP article and that is very clear if you follow the link to TFA. The first line of that story could have wasily have read, "The Buttfuck Times ..."
Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
Causes gag reflex, instead of Blue Screen of Death?
...the tongue probes YOU! (for $50)
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
please type the word in this image: garrison. cute.
Hasn't anyone here ever dreamed of using your tongue as an I/O device for computing?
iIi aam wreiting thids usungh my tonguew asd an inputy devithe.
(D'oh... I don't think that was such a good idea. I think I just contracted staph, strep, and klebsiella from my keyboard. And SARS.)
Hey! If we ship all fat people with this tech to Iraq, the obesity problem in the US would be quickly solved!
"No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
to the phrase, "An Army of One"
Friends don't let friends line-dance.
Years ago someone told me about theese little strips I could put on my tongue that would let me see things in a whole new way, I aint been right ever since...
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
It would cost about 1400 rubles.
The U.S. Navy has recruited Gene Simmons, formerly of the band KISS, to join their elite SEAL division. A spokesman says that Mr. Simmons is uniquely qualified for certain data-intensive missions. When contacted at his home in Beverly Hills, Mr. Simmons responded, "Ah cahnth tathk rith nah".
I'm sure they will find a bunch of field research under "casual encounters"
Oh now, I'm getting old.
Initially I thought this looked pretty flaky, but after searching a bit on pubmed and finding a few papers about it I must say that this technology is certainly very cool. It seems that the brain is more plastic that we've previously thought. By using software to encode the signal from a video camera to what the brain would interpret as a visual signal, the information is actually sent to the visual cortex even though it's entered through the tongue.
Now I wonder if this technology could ever provide enough resolution to be useful for virtual reality.
The military will also provide a Don't ask Don't tell flavor.
Somehow I doubt that use is scintillating conversation and that's too bad for you. With these strips, she won't need you anymore. Then again, you won't need her either.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
You know, what I'm wondering about is this...forget about what this thing tastes like....
What happens when you have the probe on your tounge, and your helmet radar shows you 50 unfriendlies heading your way, and you need to spit out (pun intended) the information to your buddies.... but if you take the probe off the tounge you lose the radar...but if you leave it on you can't communicate what you're 'seeing'.
What's the workaround?
Huh?
Scientists Probe the Use of the Tongue
While the rest of us use the tongue as a probe.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Sounds like my old timex "takes a lickin' and goes on tickin'" ??!
always thought the military were as bunch of window lickers, but now we know.
Mmm, tastes like North North East.
It doesn't somehow transfer data directly to your brain, it simply uses tiny electrodes to shock different parts of your tongues with really small current.
From TFA:
Michael Zinszer, a veteran Navy diver and director of Florida State University's Underwater Crime Scene Investigation School, took part in testing using the tongue to transmit an electronic compass and an electronic depth sensor while in a swimming pool.
He likened the feeling on his tongue to Pop Rocks candies.
"You are feeling the outline of this image," he said. "I was in the pool, they were directing me to a very small object and I was able to locate everything very easily."
Imagine it as someone scratching a really small image on your tongue. They originally used the back (I asssume becuase of the large surface area) but the tongue actually has many more nerves and is much more sensitive.
Of course, if you had the choice of asking the Navy for funding for "a device capable of scratching images unto your tongue to convey information" or "a brain port which extends the senses of a soldier in the field by giving him sonar or night vision". You can guess which will get more money.
Don't get me I wrong, I do think it's a fantastic idea. But it's not new technology, just creative use of current ones.
Quantum Physics a.k.a. sub-molecular statistics
This device does not work by taste as most of you seem to think, it works by touch.
Whoa, I knew the tongue always deserved more attention than people give it. Now they realise... ;P
There is nothing permanent except 'Change'- HERACLITUS,6TH CENTURY B.C
Scientists working on the new technology have said "As with any other cutting-edge science, there are a number of problems to overcome. But we think we have most of them licked."
It's just not as funny that way.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?