Young people (8-18) devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week), increasing by one hour and seventeen minutes a day over the past five years, according to a new study, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, designed and analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Stanford University… read more
January 2, 2004
Scientists have identified a gene in the cerebral cortex that apparently controls the developmental clock of embryonic nerve cells, a finding that could open another door to tissue replacement therapy in the central nervous system.
The researchers found that they could rewind the clock in young cortical cells in mice by eliminating a gene called Foxg1. The finding could potentially form the basis of a new method to push… read more
December 8, 2009
An “ad morphing” system that serves up banner ads that fit a website user’s personality type has been developed by MIT Sloan School of Management researchers.
It uses a program called the Bayesian Inference Engine running unobtrusively on a user’s computer to monitor the person’s click patterns to determine how they respond to different textual and visual cues. This is then used to categorize the user’s cognitive style and… read more
February 17, 2010
John Underkoffler, who helped create the gesture-based computer interface imagined in the film “Minority Report,” has brought that technology to real life in the new g-speak Spatial Operating Environment from Oblong Industries.
July 20, 2012
What would it be like if you could transfer your personal data, your consciousness, to a robot or a machine?”
That’s what almost every major technology organization seems to be asking, says Huffington Post blogger Lucas Kavner.
- Terasem’s LifeNaut project allows you to create a mindfile for yourself, or anybody else close to you, using photos and online data and other “digital reflections” you
December 30, 2004
Roboticist Hans Moravec has founded Seegrid Corporation to develop vision-enabled robotic carts that can be loaded and then walked through various routes to teach them how to navigate on their own and move supplies around warehouses without human direction.
January 8, 2010
“We cannot conclude that when we see what seem to be neural correlates of consciousness that we are seeing consciousness itself”, says Ray Tallis, professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester.
“While neural activity of a certain kind is a necessary condition for every manifestation of consciousness, from the lightest sensation to the most exquisitely constructed sense of self, it is neither a sufficient condition of it,… read more
September 29, 2005
A scientist at the Medical University of South Carolina has found that magnetic resonance imaging machines also can serve as lie detectors, with more than 90 percent accuracy.
The MRI images show that more blood flows to parts of the brain associated with anxiety and impulse control when people lie. More blood also flows to the part of the brain handling multitasking because it is hard for people to… read more
April 18, 2013
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have invented a microneedle adhesive more than 3x stronger than surgical staples for skin graft fixation, inspired by Pomphorhynchus laevis, a spiny-headed worm that lives in the intestines of its hosts, in this case fish.
The worm securely attaches to the host’s intestinal wall by penetrating, and then plumping up its elongated, cactus-like head into the intestinal tissue.… read more
A systematic review of 37 randomized controlled trials showed promising evidence for the ability of yoga to improve cardiovascular and metabolic health, but found no significant difference in the effectiveness of yoga versus aerobic exercise.
Yoga showed significant improvement in body mass index, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; and significant changes in body weight, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and heart rate.… read more
May 24, 2010
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s YeZ, a concept car, behaves like a plant, converting carbon dioxide from the air via photosynthesis into oxygen that is sent back into the atmosphere.
YeZ uses photoelectric conversion from solar panels on the roof, wind power conversion via small wind turbines in the wheels, and carbon dioxide absorption and conversion through the bodywork.
April 2, 2009
Yeast cells feeding on the glucose in human blood might one day power implants such as pacemakers, eliminating the need for regular operations to replace batteries.
University of British Columbia scientists have developed tiny microbial fuel cells by encapsulating yeast cells in a flexible capsule.
January 3, 2008
University of Haifa researchers have discovered a yeast-derived substance called Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF) that acts similarly to insulin and may become an oral treatment for diabetes and its complications.
In the studies–done on cell cultures and on diabetic rats–GTF inhibited oxidation processes that could cause atherosclerosis and further complications like strokes and heart attacks. When GTF was given at the early stage of the disease, it could prevent… read more