Observing Brain in the Act of Seeing

Neuroscientists have shown that individual neurons carry out significant aspects of sensory processing. The method allows for the first time to observe individual synapses, small differences between nerve contact sites.

Reference: Science Daily

Deciphering the Human Brain

New research indicates that the brain processes information more flexibly than previously thought, where overlapping of thoughts and deciphering information occur frequently at high speed. The underlying theory of "liquid computing" was developed by Henry Markham and Maass and published in the journal Nature Reviews in Neuroscience.

Reference:
Victor et al. Distributed Fading Memory for Stimulus Properties in the Primary Visual Cortex. PLoS Biology, 2009; 7 (12): e1000260 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000260

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

Child's Play May Improve Video Gaming and Police Work

In an article published in Learning and Motivation, the researchers, Marcia Spetch and and Vadim Bulitko sought out the claim in the decision-making process involved in hiding and searching for objects. They hope to advance more realistic game environments and possibly advanced search-enhancing tools for law enforcement.

The study of the strategies and hide and seek will give programmers more information where they can use to make computer-generated characters more human-like by incorporating human characteristics and limitations.

Reference: Science Daily

Armored Polymer High-Tech Foams

Engineers at the University of Warwick have found that exposing mixtures of polymer particles and various materials to immediate freeze-drying can create an armored foam that could be used for applications like low power gas sensors at room temperature.

Background/History: Freeze-drying has been used to create foams before with rubber experiments in the 1940s. Before, to make strong and stable foam structures a straight-forward method is foaming or expanding process - introduce small discontinuities into a soft polymer then reinforce the cellular structure by polymerization or cooling.

The team at the University of Warwick make polymer foams by "ice-templating" and make building blocks from a special mixture of small particles in water. By changing parameters like nano-particle/polymer latex ratios and concentrations, it is possible to create certain pore structure. This new process allow the creation of foam based nano-composite materials that can operate at room temperature

Reference:

University of Warwick. "Icy Exposure Creates Armored Polymer High-Tech Foams."

ScienceDaily 19 August 2009. 19 August 2009 .