Brains wired for language, if only chimps could talk - life - 05 December 2011 - New Scientist

Brains wired for language, if only chimps could talk - life - 05 December 2011 - New Scientist

Heads-Up Goggles Smarten Skiing

• Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) chips enable skiers, snowboarders and other alpine enthusiasts to quantify their boasts with smart goggles that track and record feats of prowess.
• By continuously tracking position, velocity--both vertical descent and horizontal speed--and a dozen other parameters, smart goggle-mounted heads-up displays (HUDs) allow alpine enthusiasts to come clean about their skiing and snowboarding runs with quantifiable metrics that can be compared with the best performances of world-famous skiers and snowboarders.
  "Unlike fish stories which depend on your memories of events, skiers and snowboarders can now upload quantifiable proof of their best runs, and compare them with other great runs recorded on our Website," said Dan Eisenhardt, CEO of Recon Instruments, at the MEMS Executive Congress (Nov. 2-3, 2011, Monterey, Calif.).
  
  
  
  Heads-up displays inside standard ski goggles display a variety of tactical dashboards derived from on-board MEMS and GPS sensors plus analytics run on wirelessly connected smartphones. (Source: Recon Instruments)  
  Recon Instruments micro-optic displays (MODs) mount inside your ski goggles to provide real-time readouts of your speed, latitude, longitude, altitude, vertical distance traveled, total distance traveled, temperature, time and jump analytics, as well as providing chrono/stopwatch modes and a run counter. The HUD can also communicate wirelessly (using Bluetooth) with a wristwatch-like remote control as well as with smartphones. Android applications provide live connectivity for navigation maps, points-of-interest, caller ID, text messaging, MP3 playlists and buddy tracking. And the HUD can also serve as a viewfinder for wearable video cameras.
  With the system, jump analytics like air-time, along with a dozen other metrics like maximum downhill speed, are recorded and viewed on a heads-up display mounted inside standard ski goggles by sensor-studded wireless electronics combining microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers and GPS micro-chips.
  Skiers and snowboarders upload data from their smart goggles by plugging a USB cable into their computers, which transfers data from up to eight-hours of alpine adventures, then performs complex motion-processing analytics on the day's runs, which can then be compared with the runs of other skiers and snowboarders at that location.
  The small, full-color HUD is located in the bottom right corner of the skier's or snowboarder's goggles so that it does not obstruct the user's view, and the device is managed by a remote control that can worn like a watch, but on the outside of a parka. Large buttons on the watch-like remote control can be operated without taking off winter gloves. Recon-ready goggles are available from Uvex, Alpina and Briko.
  Online communities at the Recon Instruments Website allow users to recount memorable runs and share them with other users, as well as to enjoy the runs of others. There, thousands of memorable experiences can be relived and be statistically compared with a user's own best runs.

Brain Microchip Faster Than Humans

By emulating electrical ions in the human nervous systems with the electronic charge in a custom analog microchip, MIT researchers claim to have created an artificial brain technology that learns even faster than the human brain.

IBM's Watson recently showed that supercomputers can play the game show "Jeopardy" just as well or better than humans. The one advantage that humans still had over software simulations of learning and recall was that a human's analog nervous system was smaller and lower power than the room full of high-performance servers needed for Watson. Now, by using low-power hardware emulations of human neural networks, instead of software simulations on high-performance supercomputers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers predict that microchip-sized artificial brains will learn-and-recall even faster than humans.

MIT's brain-like microchip uses more than 400 transistors and other support circuits to emulate the ionic fluids that cause real brains to learn. (Source: MIT)

In this age of computer-aided design (CAD), software simulations have become the first approximation for any smart system. The decision as to which parts of a design--if any--to implement as a hardware emulation often depends on the results of the software simulations. By identifying the most often used routines and approximating how much faster hardware emulations would speed up execution, the question of whether the extra cost of accelerators or custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) can be evaluated. Emulators outperform simulators by recreating an analog function in another medium. With this new work, the researchers use electronic charge in place of chemical ions.
For speeding up human learning-and-recall simulations, Professor Chi-Sang Poon, MIT's principal research scientist in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and associates have created a hardware emulation of the brain's learning element--the synapse. Brain cells are connected by synapses that grow when voltage spikes cause learning, and atrophy when their absence causes forgetting. Poon claims his electronic synapses emulate both learning and forgetting even faster than in humans, by virtue of using electronic charges in wires as opposed to chemical ions in neurotransmitter channels.
"We wanted to mimic brain functions realistically, by capturing the intracellular processes that are ion-channel-based, not just the voltage spikes," said Poon. "Our model now captures all the ionic processes going on inside a synapse."
MIT's artificial synapse could eventually become a circuit element in a neural prosthetic--such as the artificial retinas that cure blindness--and may eventually be replicated across very-large-scale integrated circuits (VLSIs), where millions could emulate whole brain regions like the pattern-recognition capabilities of the visual cortex. Today, however, the MIT researchers are still perfecting a single synapse, which so far requires about 400 transistors. Poon did the research with fellow MIT professor Mark Bear, University of Texas professor Harel Shouval and former MIT postdoctoral researcher Guy Rachmuth.

Black Hole

Black holes are an object of research and mystery for the whole scientific community from decades. Many researchers are working day and night to explore the mysteries of black holes. In this series, a recent invention by Yale University Astrophysicist revels the fact that, There is a upper limit of the mass of any black hole. This research has been also published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?

As most of you are aware BLACK HOLE is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even electromagnetic radiation can escape from it. Dur to this black holes can not be seen (as they absorbs light radiations) but can only be experienced by their ultra strong gravitational pull. That's why they are named as BLACK HOLE.. They continue to grow in size by absorbing any matter that comes in range of their gravitational field.

HOW MUCH THEY CAN GROW?

Till now it was not sure that what can be maximum size of a black hole. These black holes are now known to exist throughout the Universe and the largest and most massive are at the centers of the largest galaxies. These "ultra-massive" black holes have reported to have mass about One Billion Times that of our own Sun.




CONCEPT OF UPPER MASS LIMIT

According to the new research by Priyamvada Natarajan, an Associate Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University and a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, it has been proved, that even the biggest of these Black Holes can't keep growing forever. Instead, they appear to curb their own growth - once they accumulate about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.




THEORY BEHIND THIS RESEARCH

Normally Black Holes continue to accumulate mass by absorbing matter from neighboring gas, dust and stars. But according to new research by Priyamvada Natarajan, that it is possible only to a certain limit, irrespective of the position of black hole. The reason behind this is that, "Eventually these Black Holes reach the point when they radiate so much energy as they consume their surroundings that they end up interfering with the very gas supply that feeds them, which may interrupt nearby star formation."

EXPERIMENT BY PRIYAMVADA NATARAJAN

Natarajan used existing Optical and X-ray Data of these Ultra-Massive Black Holes to show that, in order for those various observations to be consistent, the black holes must essentially stop at some point in their evolution. This helped her to prove this fact that these black holes can not grow indefinitely in mass and there is some upper mass limit of black holes.

Draganflyer X6

Draganflyer X6 is an advanced helicopter that can be operated remotely without any pilot. It is designed mainly to carry wireless video cameras and still cameras. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter can be operated very easily with its hand held controller.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is based on a unique 6-rotor design that has been under development since early 2006. It uses 11 sensors and thousands of lines of code to self-stabilize during flight which makes it easier to fly than any other helicopter in its class. The on-board software of Draganflyer X6 is developed after extensive testing and development. Draganflyer X6 helicopter is a revolution in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

It can be used very efficiently for various applications and it is ideal for spying on the enemy in a safe and reliable manner.

MAJOR FIELDS OF APPLICATIONS

The new Draganflyer X6 can be used in various field such as Industrial Constructions, Government Applications and Educational needs.

1)Industrial Use:

Draganflyer X6 can be used very efficiently in Bridge Constructions, Building Construction, Pipeline / Hydro-Transmission Line Inspection, Road Construction. With the help of this aircraft you can get videos and images of any site from various angels.

Equipped with a high resolution still camera (with remote zoom, shutter control and tilt) it can capture great images. And its high definition video recorder can record videos very efficiently. It has a range of 500 meters and have a flight time of 20 to 30 minutes.

It is designed specifically with easy controlling system for ease of use it. So, it is easy to fly, needs very minimal training, and provides an extremely stable aerial platform from where you can get photographs and video. It's small size and portability makes it suitable to carry it to any construction site and have it ready to fly in minutes.

2)Government Applications:

Draganflyer X6 can be used in many government applications such as Law Enforcement, Fire, Emergency Measures, Wildlife Management, Environment and Transportation. You can use this advanced machine for Disaster Response, Conservation Enforcement, Crime Scene Investigation, Crowd Control, Explosive Disposal Unit, Search and Rescue Missions, Traffic Congestion Control, Criminal Intelligence Applications, Fire Damage Assessment, Fire Scene Management any many more.

3)Educational Applications:

Draganflyer X6 is very useful in educational applications such as Advanced RC Flight Research, Aerial Archeology, Environmental Assessment, and Geological Exploration.

FEATURES AT A GLANCE:

Draganflyer X6 is unique in many terms. It has some very advanced features that make it different and more efficient then other remote controlled helicopters. Some of these features are:

1)Six Rotor Co-Axial Configuration

2)GPS Facility

3)Carbon Fiber Folding Frame

4)Handheld Flight Controller

5)Advanced Power System

6)High Damage Tolerance

7)Specially manufactured Cases

8)Engineered for Safety

9)Electronic Flight Stability

10)Telemetry Software

11)Wireless Video System

12)Anti-Vibration Camera Mount

13)HD Digital Video Camera

14)Low Light Camera

15)Thermal Infrared Camera

These various features of Draganflyer X6 makes it very useful and efficient in its work.

Forget Windows: Midori is coming

WINDOWS is a name that has ruled the whole computer world since its first launch in November 1985. Since then it is like a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

With many advanced versions of Windows available today such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, it is the most used operating system in the world. In 2010, Microsoft is going to launch WINDOWS 2007, but now here is time to experience a yet another technology of operating systems.

Yes, MICROSOFT is working on a new generation of operating systems called Cloud-Based Operating System and rumors are there that MIDORI will be their first such operating system, which will replace Windows fully from computer map.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE

MIDORI is an offshoot of Microsoft Research's Singularity operating system. In this the tools and libraries are completely managed code. MIDORI is designed to run directly on native hardware (x86, x64 and ARM), will be hosted on the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor, or even be hosted by a Windows process.

MIDORI can be also seen as MICROSOFT'S answer those competitors who are applying "Virtualization" as a mean to solving issues within contemporary computing.

The main idea behind MIDORI is to develop a lightweight portable OS which can be mated easily to lots of various applications.

IMPORTANCE OF MIDORI

For knowing the importance of MIDORI you have to think about, how an operating system is loaded on a computer. Actually operating system is loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. In this way, the operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware. As Windows is dependent on hardware, it might face opposition from contemporary ways of working because people are extremely mobile in using different devices in order get diverse information.

Due to this trend installing different applications on a single computer may led to different compatibility issues whenever the machine require updating. The new operating system will solve these problems by the concept of Virtualizing. This will solve problems such as widespread security vulnerabilities, unexpected interactions among different applications, failures caused by errant extensions, plug-ins, and drivers and many more.

ERIC RUDDER, Senior Vice President, Technical Strategy

The importance of this project for MICROSOFT can be understood by the fact that company choose Eric Rudder , former head of Microsoft's server and tools business and a key member of Chairman Bill Gates' faction of the company, to handle it.

WHEN WILL IT BE LAUNCHED

Just Wait and See. Microsoft has not declared any such date about launching of MIDORI, but there are rumors that this project is in incubation phase.

Vulture - Unmanned Aircraft

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of United States is working to develop an unmanned aircraft that is able to stay in air for a period of 5 years at a time. It is one of the most recent inventions of world.

Officials of DARPA has revealed that this aircraft will be known as VULTURE due to its Persistent Pseudo-Satellite Capability . It means that this aircraft will be able to fly over a single area, communicating or performing analysis for years at a time.

Major Obstacles in Project:

Even this project looks appealing to many of you, but there are some serious problems or you can say obstacles in achieving this project.

1) First challenge in front of designers is to figure out some Way to Supply Power to this aircraft during long missions.

2) Another problem is that this aircraft will carry a 1000 pound (450 kg) payload in winds at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet.

3) Designers have also to sort out the problems regarding Deterioration of Materials during their long-time exposure to stratospheric flight.
In addition to this there may be many challenges during designing of this aircraft.

Daniel Newman: The Man Behind VULTURE

Daniel Newman is the Project Manger of this ambitious project of NASA. In his words: "We want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft. Aviation has a perfect record - we've never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record". It looks that its time to get out of the traditional "launch - recover - maintain - launch cycle of aircrafts."

Concept Behind Vulture:

Basically Aircrafts operates just like satellites, but the major difference is that these are not regulated by orbital mechanics. You can understand Vulture as a Pseudo-Satellite, which operates in the stratosphere and not in the low Earth orbit. This would provide a 65 dB upgrading in communications capability and will increase onboard sensor resolution.




When Will it Become a Reality?

Well, right now NASA has not mentioned any time table when the aircraft will be ready. But for now NASA has worked on the probable design of Vulture (see picture).

Fourth Generation (4G)

4G also called as Fourth-Generation Communications System, is a term used to describe the next step in wireless communications. A 4G system can provide a comprehensive IP solution where voice, data and streamed multimedia can be provided to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis. The data transfer rates are also much higher than previous generations.

The main objectives of 4G are:

1)4G will be a fully IP-based integrated system.

2)This will be capable of providing 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s speeds both indoors and outdoors.

3)It can provide premium quality and high security.

4)4G offer all types of services at an affordable cost.

4G is developed to provide high quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by forthcoming applications such as wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging, Video Chat, Mobile TV, High definition TV content, DVB, minimal service like voice and data, and other streaming services.

4G technology allow high-quality smooth video transmission. It will enable fast downloading of full-length songs or music pieces in real time.

The business and popularity of 4Gmobiles is predicted to be very vast. On an average, by 2009, this 4Gmobile market will be over $400B and it will dominate the wireless communications, and its converged system will replace most conventional wireless infrastructure.

Data Rates For 4G:

The downloading speed for mobile Internet connections is from 9.6 kbit/s for 2G cellular at present. However, in actual use the data rates are usually slower, especially in crowded areas, or when there is congestion in network.

4G mobile data transmission rates are planned to be up to 20 megabits per second which means that it will be about 10-20 times faster than standard ASDL services.

In terms of connection seeds, 4G will be about 200 times faster than present 2G mobile data rates, and about 10 times faster than 3G broadband mobile. 3G data rates are currently 2Mbit/sec, which is very fast compared to 2G's 9.6Kbit/sec.