For a beautiful image of glassy needles of silica made by a marine sponge, visit this page about Daniel E. Morse biomolecular research. This is the second one from the top of the page. But don't miss this other page about his current research projects.
It just happened I wrote yesterday about the usages of VR to treat fears.
A company named Virtually Better, based in Georgia, creates virtual environments mixing video images and computer-generated ones to help people deal with their fears and anxieties. In this article, the New York Times (free registration) writes this costs only 10 percent more than conventional therapy. The newspaper adds that therapists using this system claim a success rate exceeding 90 percent. Virtually Better "has created scenes of a glass elevator and a bridge to address fear of height, an airplane cabin for those who fear flying and a thunderstorm to diminish fear of bad weather." Other environments address the treatment of substance addiction or of post-traumatic stress. A (Virtual) Therapist's Dream contains selected excerpts. It also includes images on the virtual airplane environment.
I agree with you, but if you're not a Science subscriber, you only can read abstracts -- and only after registration. If you're a lucky paying subscriber to Science, you obviously can read their peer-reviewed papers. If you're not, you can only read comments from other sources.
Roland.
Science wasn't the only source to report about these Hawaiian squids. When I commented about this on my blog three days ago, I was mentioning other articles from Scientific American or Ananova. In particular, Scientific American said that this small squid has "a built-in flashlight made up of a previously unknown type of protein," that the authors of the study *dubbed* "reflectin". I'm not sure if this will lead to future nanolight tools, but at least it's *very intriguing* and Ananova reports that "the structure of the reflecting plates could offer inspiration to nanotechnology designers." My blog contains more details and includes a picture of the cute three-inch-long Hawaiian bobtail squid.
You'll find more details and references in this overview, including an article from the Guardian. So far, the story is about rats, but Professor Gunter Oberdorster of the University of Rochester in New York said: "It's too early to be alarmed, because we don't yet know what the particles might do in humans. We shouldn't stop working with them, we should just look for what adverse effects these particles might cause." Now, more experiments are needed to determine how nanoparticles can enter our brains. In the mean time, let's hope that nanotechnology research will continue and will not be harmed by a moratorium.
For more about this phenomenon, you should read this overview, based on a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) news release. In addition, you'll see pictures of two atomic clocks used to officially measure time since 1971. The first one dates back from 1949, while the second one, based on cesium and built in 1999, is still in use.
In addition to the Linux Devices guide, Paul Baron spent some time shooting 61 pictures during the 2003 International Robot Exposition in Tokyo about two weeks ago. (Warning: navigation is somewhat difficult; the screen is getting refresh when you just want to scroll). Here is a link to a shorter selection. And for more information about Linux-based robots, you can take a peek at a former overview, "Real-Time Linux Robots Are Coming."
You'll find additional references to the FPX on my blog, in "Stopping Computer Viruses Before They Reach You." And because some comments mentioned speed as an advantage of such a solution, here is a quick excerpt: "The FPX can scan each and every byte of every data packet transmitted through a network at a rate of 2.4 billion bits per second. In other words, the FPX could scan every word in the entire works of Shakespeare in about 1/60th of a second." My summary also contains a photograph of an FPX module.
Thanks to CowboyNealfor mentioning this story. But he cut my original message, which ended by some questions to Slashdot readers. Here is what is missing. "After reading this overview, could you please answer these two questions: would you use such a service? and do you think the company can be successful?"
I commented on this University of Florida news release a week ago on my blog. Not only you'll see more references and details than on the news release, but you'll also read comments by Michael Frank, the UF assistant professor behind this research effort.
I commented a preview of the New Scientist article several days ago. And just in case Chandra's camera filters cannot be cleaned, my overview included a a picture of a composite Chandra X-ray and optical image of the massive star HD 192163.
What is amazing is that Prof. Cramer used only a 16 line Mathematica notebook to produce his simulation of the "sound of the Big Bang. This summary gives you more details on his work and his writings. You also can read his column, "BOOMERanG and the Sound of the Big Bang," It has been published in January 2001 and amended in September 2003.
You'll find some more details on my blog today, including a diagram showing how the eSTAR network operates. And you can find additional information in "Smart software watches the skies," also published today by BBC News Online.
Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy About the 21st Century
on
The Next Path for Joy
·
· Score: 1
I wrote about the Fortune's interview of Bill Joy a couple of days ago here. But I focused my summary on his comments about the article he wrote for Wired in April 2000, "Why the future doesn't need us," in which he said that rapid advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics (collectively known as GNR) could endanger our lives. And in this long text published by CIO Magazine, Ray Kurzweil also writes about the dangers introduced by new technologies. More specifically, he also gives his views about GNR. In his conclusion, he says that "we need to understand that these technologies are advancing on hundreds of fronts, rendering relinquishment completely ineffectual as a strategy. As uncomfortable as it may be, we have no choice but to prepare the defenses."
Ivan E. Sutherland has always been a great thinker. An article about asynchronous computers fascinated me last year. You can find more details here. And you can count on him for real products to come.
Sorting Carbon Nanotubes Will Help the Space Eleva
on
Space Elevator Going Up
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The Guardian says: "The biggest technical obstacle is finding a material strong but light enough to make the cable; this is where the carbon nanotubes come in." But what about selecting the appropriate carbon nanotubes among the 56 known varieties? Two teams of chemists from Rice University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have found a way to separate and manipulate these varieties of carbon nanotubes. Obviously, it will help to build the Space Elevator. More details are available on my blog.
I also covered this subject some days ago in my blog. It is important to note that the medical applications of this technology should be ready within four years and these spray-on nanocomputers should be at work in hospitals, schools and shops in less than ten years. But this isn't the only application envisioned by the scientists. Professor Arvid, who leads the project, thinks our current computer interfaces, typically a keyboard or a mouse, will completely be replaced by these nanocomputers.
More about "Adam in Eden"
on
Learning Robots
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I read all the comments about this story.
First, if you want a direct access to my report, click here.
Then, even if I agree that's the code behind and the robot itself don't look *very complex*, I think the idea of a robot recharging its batteries from pseudo-flowers is pretty refreshing -- if I might say so.
And, finally, you need to read what Andy Russell, Professor at Monash University in Australia, says on his homepage: "For me this is a new area of research and so there are no publications as yet."
A last note: the small videos available on his site are really fun to watch.
This is the title of a Knowledge@Wharton article from April 2002, still available from CNET News.com. I commented this article here. Basically, a professor of management argued that depending of your starting location on the Web, a *cheap* one or Forbes, you would obtain different prices from online travel companies. I tried it, sending identical queries *simultaneously* from different computers and browsers, but I didn't find any differences. Maybe things have changed.
Nature also wrote an article about the American Solar Challenge 2003. This summary of Nature's story contains photographs coming from the ASC Photo Library, but read Nature's article for more technical details.
In "Poker playing computer will take on the best," the Edmonton Journal wrote last June (the article is no longer available for free) that there was a new poker player in town "that never sweats, never gets tired, never tips a hand and can still bluff with the best of them.
University of Alberta artificial intelligence researchers bet their new poker computer program will be the best player in the world, perhaps within a year." And why will it the best player? Because it bluffs.
"You have to bluff," says Jonathan Schaeffer, who heads up the university's Games Research Group and who already has a world-champion checkers computer program under his belt. "If you do not bluff, you're predictable. If you're predictable, you can be exploited."
This kind of program could be used whenever you have to deal with imperfect information, like buying a new car. You can find more details and references in this summary.
RFID tags used to find stolen musical instruments
on
RFID Explained
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Chicken Catching Goes High-Tech
on
Chicken Run
·
· Score: 0
For those of you who do not have access to the Wall Street Journal online articles, I wrote a summary of the original story. This column also shows a picture of one of these mechanical chicken harvesters.
Slashdot Mirror
For a beautiful image of glassy needles of silica made by a marine sponge, visit this page about Daniel E. Morse biomolecular research. This is the second one from the top of the page. But don't miss this other page about his current research projects.
It's just been announced. Because of high winds above Kourou, the launch of Ariane 5 carrying Rosetta is being postponed until (at least) tomorrow.
It just happened I wrote yesterday about the usages of VR to treat fears. A company named Virtually Better, based in Georgia, creates virtual environments mixing video images and computer-generated ones to help people deal with their fears and anxieties. In this article, the New York Times (free registration) writes this costs only 10 percent more than conventional therapy. The newspaper adds that therapists using this system claim a success rate exceeding 90 percent. Virtually Better "has created scenes of a glass elevator and a bridge to address fear of height, an airplane cabin for those who fear flying and a thunderstorm to diminish fear of bad weather." Other environments address the treatment of substance addiction or of post-traumatic stress. A (Virtual) Therapist's Dream contains selected excerpts. It also includes images on the virtual airplane environment.
I agree with you, but if you're not a Science subscriber, you only can read abstracts -- and only after registration. If you're a lucky paying subscriber to Science, you obviously can read their peer-reviewed papers. If you're not, you can only read comments from other sources. Roland.
Science wasn't the only source to report about these Hawaiian squids. When I commented about this on my blog three days ago, I was mentioning other articles from Scientific American or Ananova. In particular, Scientific American said that this small squid has "a built-in flashlight made up of a previously unknown type of protein," that the authors of the study *dubbed* "reflectin". I'm not sure if this will lead to future nanolight tools, but at least it's *very intriguing* and Ananova reports that "the structure of the reflecting plates could offer inspiration to nanotechnology designers." My blog contains more details and includes a picture of the cute three-inch-long Hawaiian bobtail squid.
You'll find more details and references in this overview, including an article from the Guardian. So far, the story is about rats, but Professor Gunter Oberdorster of the University of Rochester in New York said: "It's too early to be alarmed, because we don't yet know what the particles might do in humans. We shouldn't stop working with them, we should just look for what adverse effects these particles might cause." Now, more experiments are needed to determine how nanoparticles can enter our brains. In the mean time, let's hope that nanotechnology research will continue and will not be harmed by a moratorium.
For more about this phenomenon, you should read this overview, based on a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) news release. In addition, you'll see pictures of two atomic clocks used to officially measure time since 1971. The first one dates back from 1949, while the second one, based on cesium and built in 1999, is still in use.
In addition to the Linux Devices guide, Paul Baron spent some time shooting 61 pictures during the 2003 International Robot Exposition in Tokyo about two weeks ago. (Warning: navigation is somewhat difficult; the screen is getting refresh when you just want to scroll). Here is a link to a shorter selection. And for more information about Linux-based robots, you can take a peek at a former overview, "Real-Time Linux Robots Are Coming."
You'll find additional references to the FPX on my blog, in "Stopping Computer Viruses Before They Reach You." And because some comments mentioned speed as an advantage of such a solution, here is a quick excerpt: "The FPX can scan each and every byte of every data packet transmitted through a network at a rate of 2.4 billion bits per second. In other words, the FPX could scan every word in the entire works of Shakespeare in about 1/60th of a second." My summary also contains a photograph of an FPX module.
Thanks to CowboyNealfor mentioning this story. But he cut my original message, which ended by some questions to Slashdot readers. Here is what is missing. "After reading this overview, could you please answer these two questions: would you use such a service? and do you think the company can be successful?"
I commented on this University of Florida news release a week ago on my blog. Not only you'll see more references and details than on the news release, but you'll also read comments by Michael Frank, the UF assistant professor behind this research effort.
I commented a preview of the New Scientist article several days ago. And just in case Chandra's camera filters cannot be cleaned, my overview included a a picture of a composite Chandra X-ray and optical image of the massive star HD 192163.
What is amazing is that Prof. Cramer used only a 16 line Mathematica notebook to produce his simulation of the "sound of the Big Bang. This summary gives you more details on his work and his writings. You also can read his column, "BOOMERanG and the Sound of the Big Bang," It has been published in January 2001 and amended in September 2003.
You'll find some more details on my blog today, including a diagram showing how the eSTAR network operates. And you can find additional information in "Smart software watches the skies," also published today by BBC News Online.
I wrote about the Fortune's interview of Bill Joy a couple of days ago here. But I focused my summary on his comments about the article he wrote for Wired in April 2000, "Why the future doesn't need us," in which he said that rapid advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics (collectively known as GNR) could endanger our lives. And in this long text published by CIO Magazine, Ray Kurzweil also writes about the dangers introduced by new technologies. More specifically, he also gives his views about GNR. In his conclusion, he says that "we need to understand that these technologies are advancing on hundreds of fronts, rendering relinquishment completely ineffectual as a strategy. As uncomfortable as it may be, we have no choice but to prepare the defenses."
Ivan E. Sutherland has always been a great thinker. An article about asynchronous computers fascinated me last year. You can find more details here. And you can count on him for real products to come.
The Guardian says: "The biggest technical obstacle is finding a material strong but light enough to make the cable; this is where the carbon nanotubes come in." But what about selecting the appropriate carbon nanotubes among the 56 known varieties? Two teams of chemists from Rice University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have found a way to separate and manipulate these varieties of carbon nanotubes. Obviously, it will help to build the Space Elevator. More details are available on my blog.
I also covered this subject some days ago in my blog. It is important to note that the medical applications of this technology should be ready within four years and these spray-on nanocomputers should be at work in hospitals, schools and shops in less than ten years. But this isn't the only application envisioned by the scientists. Professor Arvid, who leads the project, thinks our current computer interfaces, typically a keyboard or a mouse, will completely be replaced by these nanocomputers.
I also covered this subject today on my blog where I gave some additional references, including an illustration of a face reconstruction process.
And remember that this software was shown during last Siggraph. New Scientist published "Animation lets murder victims have final say" on this work about two weeks ago with a nice illustration, "How the dead can express themselves."
In "Skulls gain virtual faces," Technology Research News didn't give much more information.
I read all the comments about this story.
First, if you want a direct access to my report, click here.
Then, even if I agree that's the code behind and the robot itself don't look *very complex*, I think the idea of a robot recharging its batteries from pseudo-flowers is pretty refreshing -- if I might say so.
And, finally, you need to read what Andy Russell, Professor at Monash University in Australia, says on his homepage: "For me this is a new area of research and so there are no publications as yet."
A last note: the small videos available on his site are really fun to watch.
This is the title of a Knowledge@Wharton article from April 2002, still available from CNET News.com. I commented this article here. Basically, a professor of management argued that depending of your starting location on the Web, a *cheap* one or Forbes, you would obtain different prices from online travel companies. I tried it, sending identical queries *simultaneously* from different computers and browsers, but I didn't find any differences. Maybe things have changed.
Nature also wrote an article about the American Solar Challenge 2003. This summary of Nature's story contains photographs coming from the ASC Photo Library, but read Nature's article for more technical details.
In "Poker playing computer will take on the best," the Edmonton Journal wrote last June (the article is no longer available for free) that there was a new poker player in town "that never sweats, never gets tired, never tips a hand and can still bluff with the best of them.
University of Alberta artificial intelligence researchers bet their new poker computer program will be the best player in the world, perhaps within a year." And why will it the best player? Because it bluffs.
"You have to bluff," says Jonathan Schaeffer, who heads up the university's Games Research Group and who already has a world-champion checkers computer program under his belt. "If you do not bluff, you're predictable. If you're predictable, you can be exploited."
This kind of program could be used whenever you have to deal with imperfect information, like buying a new car. You can find more details and references in this summary.
You'll find the summary of this Business 2.0's story on Smart Mobs. And on my blog, you can find two other stories about RFIDs, Bye-Bye Bar Codes? and The Eerie Possibilities of RFID Tags.
For those of you who do not have access to the Wall Street Journal online articles, I wrote a summary of the original story. This column also shows a picture of one of these mechanical chicken harvesters.