Brain-Machine Interface Research

Brain-computing with a prosthetic device is gaining ground on research and development. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center is working on a real-time interface with a full-body exoskeleton to be controlled by signals from a paraplegics brain. Their ultimate goal is to enable a paralyzed individual to walk again by the end of 2012.

Four years ago, the project began with the implantation of electrodes in a rhesus monkey's brain that detects the movement of an arm. The initial process is decoding the brain signals from the monkey's cerebral cortex while it held a joystick to move a single shape in a video game. Eventually, the monkey was able to use its mind to move the object without the joystick. Three years later, a different rhesus monkey was implanted with a new BMI in the motor and sensory cortex to control a computer-screen image of a human-like figure walking on treadmill. The monkey was rewarded for walking in sync with the robot. The treadmill was turned off after an hour, but the monkey was able to direct the robot to walk another few minutes. This research indicates that part of the monkey's brain is adapted to control the robot movement. Therefore it is possible to establish connections between the brain and a computational device, which will lead to the ability to control the movement of limbs.

Reference: IEEE Institute

Robot Armada in Space

In the future, the approach of planetary exploration maybe different than traditional methods. An armada of robots instead of one will be sent on exploration, where each autonomous robot will be expendable and low-cost. In addition, they will command themselves or with each other simultaneously. A team at the University of Arizona are developing autonomous software and have built a robotic test bed that can mimic a field geologist or astronaut, capable of working independently and as part of a large team.

An example mission scenario will be using an orbiter to circle Titan with a global view of the moon while communicating to the air balloons to fly to unknown areas or areas of interest. The aerial balloon commanding multiple rovers on surface exploration. On the other hand, the rover can report to the airship or orbiter of an aerial geographic property on the surface.  The idea is similar to divide and conquer with autonomous robots in space.

Reference: http://autonomy.caltech.edu

"Petman" Prototype

A machine that mimics walking of a human being, while balancing itself. It can also simulate human physiology within a protective suit for military tests.

30 Mile Thermometer

Researchers needs to monitor the temperature of in accessible, dangerous places on the planet without using satellite data (rough estimate). The solution is using the world's largest fiber-optic cable that records temperature at three foot intervals every ten seconds. This 30 mile detector was originally designed to monitor oil wells. It functions by firing laser pulses down the length of the optical cable and photons collide within the cable and bounces back at shifted frequencies, revealing temperatures along the entire line.

Reference: Wired

Artic Sediments Indicate Climate Change is Unlike Natural Variation

Scientists are slowly diminishing the possibility that climate change is a natural variation. Research reveals that sediments retrieved from a remote Arctic lake contain rare, unprecedented information about the past 200,000 years, much longer record or prediction on past climates. It is a long sequence or archive of sediment that has survived arctic glaciations and the data it contains is one of a kind. From the data, there are periods of time when the climate was as warm as today, but under natural causes and well-understood patterns of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Today, the ecosystem is shifted and it is different than past warming cycles. The 20th century is the only period during the past 200 millennial in which aquatic indicators reflect increased warming, despite the slow changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis, which should lead to climatic cooling.

Reference:
Axford et al. Recent changes in a remote Arctic lake are unique within the past 200,000 years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 19, 2009; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0907094106

Another Unknown Force Acting on Dark Matter?

Scientists now believe that interactions between dark and ordinary matter is more important and complex than previously thought. For instance, dark matter 'knows' how the visible matter is distributed and they conspire with one another such hat gravity of visible matter at the characteristic radius of the dark halo is always the same. Therefore, it is possible that a non-gravitational fifth force is ruling dark matter, leaving the same mark on all galaxies irrespective of their ages, shapes and sizes. This might be an explanation for the mystery of 'dark energy'. This research is important to the theories that relate to the history and expansion of the universe.

If we account for our observations with a modified law of gravity, it makes perfect sense to replace the effective action of hypothetical dark matter with a force closely related to the distribution of visible matter.

Reference:

Gianfranco Gentile, Benoit Famaey, HongSheng Zhao, Paolo Salucci. Universality of galactic surface densities within one dark halo scale-length. Nature, 2009; 461 (7264): 627 DOI: 10.1038/nature08437

StarCraft 2 Battle Report 4

New Material Boost Data Storage

Researchers have created a new material that allow 50 times more storage in computer chips. Therefore, a finger-size computer chip will have an equivalent capacity of 20 HD DVDs. The doping process of creating the material is also useful for boosting vehicle's fuel economy and reduce heat produced by semiconductors.

Information storage is not the only specialty where advancements can be made. By introducing metallic properties into ceramics, a new generation of ceramic engines will be able to withstand much higher temperatures, allowing normal vehicles to achieve fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon. The material can also be applied to solar energy.

Reference:
Narayan et al. The synthesis and magnetic properties of a nanostructured Ni-MgO system. International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2009; 61 (6): 76 DOI: 10.1007/s11837-009-0093-8

Idling Mind is Important

Brain scientists are beginning to suspect that daydreaming is crucial to solving problems in our personal lives. For years, it was believed that daydreaming is a lapse in cognition, but recent studies show that temporal lobes - associated with long-term memories - are functioning (data-storage work). The wandering mind also utilizes the prefrontal cortex, part of the brain that involved in problem solving.

Reference: Wired

Smallest Electronic Component: Molecular Diode

Researchers have found a way to make small, versatile diodes. The smaller size means cheaper cost and better performance for electronic devices. Diodes are important components for a broad range of applications. The idea of surpassing silicon limits with molecule-based electronic components has been around awhile. Currently, 'AC Modulation' is used by applying a little varying mechanical perturbation to the molecule.

Reference: Science Daily

Mammals Resilient to Fungal Disesases

Scientists may have found an explaination as to why humans and most mammals are not affected by fungal diseases. In fact, the warm temperatures of mammals may have evolved to protect against fungal diseases. There are roughly 1.5 million fungal species and only a few hundred are pathogenic to mammals. Fungal infections in people are often the result of an impaired immune function. Fungi are also important in the decomposition of plants.

Reference: Science Daily

Locomotive Ideas from the Animal Kingdom

The animal kingdom provides great insight for creating mobile robots. Locomotion is an important aspect of their functions, which can contribute to fundamental design principles. An example is a lightweight carbon-fiber foam composite cheetah that is built to move. The cheetah has an extremely flexible backbone that gives extra speed or force to its running motion. The greatest challenges in building this prototype is to get enough power from motor devices to generate desired speed.

Reference: wired

'Magnetricity' Observed and Measured for the First Time

A magnetic charge can behave and interact in a way similar to electric charge in some materials, new research indicates.  It also demonstrates a perfect symmetry between electricity and magnetism - 'magnetricity'. This will lead to a reassessment of the current theories of magnetism.

In order to experimentally prove the existence of magnetic current by applying a magnetic field to a spin ice sample at a low temperature.

Reference:

S. T. Bramwell, S. R. Giblin, S. Calder, R. Aldus, D. Prabhakaran & T. Fennell. Measurement of the charge and current of magnetic monopoles in spin ice. Nature, 2009; 461 (7266): 956 DOI: 10.1038/nature08500

Number of Universes in a Multiverse

Physicists have calculated the number of distinguishable universes to be 10^10^16.  The idea of multiverse raises a different theory of the Big Bang.  Instead of the producing a single uniform universe, multiple universes appear in uniform.

The Big Bang was essentially a quantum process which generated quantum fluctuations in the state of the early universe. After that, the universe then underwent a period of rapid growth called inflation during which these perturbations were "frozen", creating different initial classical conditions in different parts of the cosmos. Since each of these regions would have a different set of laws of low energy physics, they can be thought of as different universes.  The actual number depends critically the way the universes are defined.

The limit of how many universes humans can observe is dependent on the properties of the oserver and not on the properties of the multiverse.

Reference: arXiv blog

DNA and Computing

Biomolecular computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, only exist in specialized labs. Nonetheless, Tom Ran and Shai Kaplan, research students have found a way to make these microscopic computing devices ‘user friendly,’ even while performing complex computations and evaluating complicated queries. Besides the possibility that such biology-based devices can one day be injected into the body, biomolecular computers can conceivably perform millions of calculations in parallel.

Reference: Science Daily

Penny-sized Nuclear Battery Developed

"Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times higher than standard batteries. Nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years, their large size has limited their general usage. But now a research team at the University of Missouri has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The research team is also working on making use of liquid semiconductor technology and replacing it with traditional solid semiconductor. This will make the nuclear batteries safer.

Reference: Slash Dot

Look Through Walls with Radio Waves

University of Utah engineers found that a wireless network of radio transmitters can indicate people moving behind solid walls. The system could help police, firefighters and others nab intruders, and rescue hostages, fire victims and the elderly. It may also be useful to retail marketing and border control. Radio tomography can help law enforcement and emergency responders to know where they should focus their attention.

Radio tomographic imaging (RTI) is different and much less expensive than radar, in which radar or radio signals are bounced off targets and the returning echoes or reflections provide the target's location and speed. RTI instead measures "shadows" in radio waves created when they pass through a moving person or object. RTI measures radio signal strengths on numerous paths as the radio waves pass through a person or other target. It works in the dark, behind obsticales which proves to be more useful than optical and infrared imaging systems in these situations.

Reference: Science Daily

A Step Towards Cell Reporgramming

A team of Stem Cell researchers at Harvard made a major advancement toward producing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) that are safe to use. The chemical the team used is a small molecule called RepSox, which functions similar to two out of four different genes. It is important to find a way to produce safe iPS cells because the possibility of rejection of the transplanted cells will be eliminated.

Reference:
B. D. Colen, Harvard Staff Writer.

Banana Plants May Produce Plastics

The Polymer Processing Research Center at Queen's is undergoing a Badana project, which will develop new procedures to include banana plants in the Canary Islands into the production of rotationally moulded plastics. An estimated 25, 000 tonnes of natural fibre from banana plant goes to waste in Canaries every year. The sucess of this project can reduce the amount polyethylene used in the rotational moulding process. The funding for the Badana project has been provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme.

Reference: Science Daily

IBM Starts Genetic Sequencing

IBM is working on prototype DNA-processing electronics that feeds DNA through a nanopore, measuring the electrical properties of the chemicals at a more precise manner.

IBM's approach uses a flat device about 250 nanometers with a thin alternating layers of metal and a material called a dielectric. The nanopore is bored through these layers using an electron beam from a tunneling electron microscope. On one side of the layer is the DNA, unzipped from its familiar double-helix configuration with two strands of matched bases into a single strand with single bases. The strand is pulled through the nanopore by an electrical field that attracts the negatively charged strand. But in the nanopore, some layers are electrically switched on to fix the strand in place for a tick of an electronic clock while another layer makes its measurement.

Reference: Cnet

Human Powered Electric Amphibious Vehicle

A trike with electric assist encapsulated in a buoyant waterproof that allows the vehicle to move in the water

Acidic Clouds Nourish Ocean

Scientists have discovered that acid in the atmosphere breaks down from large particles of iron found in dust into small soluble nanoparticles, which can be useful to plankton. The lack of iron in the ocean can be a limiting factor for plankton growth. Man made pollution increases the acidity of the atmosphere and thus enourage formation of iron nanoparticles. This is the previously unknown source of bio-available iron that is delievered to Earth's surface in precipitation.

Reference
Shi et al. Formation of Iron Nanoparticles and Increase in Iron Reactivity in Mineral Dust during Simulated Cloud Processing. Environmental Science & Technology, 2009; 43 (17): 6592 DOI: 10.1021/es901294g