The End of Antibiotics
Antibiotics are going to be seen as one of the worst things to ever come out of pharmaceutical science because they have made us only weaker in the face of ever increasingly strong super bugs that are resistant to antibiotics.
When we look at how deep the rabbit hole goes with antibiotics, we will get sick in our souls. Antibiotics have fulfilled their anti–biotic anti-life role leaving a long trail of death and suffering in the wake of their use.
Diseases include measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria and polio. All were in decline for several decades before the introduction of antibiotics or vaccines - Dr. Lawrence Wilson.
Read complete article @ Natural News
Robotic Minds Think Alike?
Led by Linköping University in Sweden, the researchers in the COSPAL project adopted an innovative approach to making robots recognise, identify and interact with objects, particularly in random, unforeseen situations.
"Gösta Granlund, head of the Computer Vision Laboratory at Linköping University, came up with the concept that action precedes perception in learning. That may sound counterintuitive, but it is exactly how humans learn,” explains Michael Felsberg, coordinator of the EU-funded COSPAL.
Charity Battles Imaginary Killing Machines
London-based charity Landmine Action wants autonomous robots capable of killing people banned under the same kind of treaty that has outlawed landmines in over 150 countries.
Machine-gun wielding military robots are currently remotely controlled by soldiers. But the US Department of Defence wants them in future to work without supervision, meaning they would have to make their own decisions about when to pull the trigger.
Noel Sharkey, a roboticist at Sheffield University, UK, raised the profile of these plans when he condemned them earlier this month.
Read more @ New Scientist
also read @ Wired.com
Robotic Guidance for Knee Surgery
Painful arthritis of the knee can make it difficult to take even a short walk. Knee replacements can give osteoarthritis patients a new lease on life. But some patients, particularly younger ones, don't need the entire joint replaced, and they may benefit from a minimally invasive, partial knee replacement. Patients have fewer complications and faster recovery times following such surgeries, but they're tricky to perform and not routinely done. The robotic guidance system helps orthopedic surgeons create and execute detailed plans for this complex surgery.
Credit: MAKO Surgical Corp.
Read complete @ Technology Review
10 Emerging Technologies 2008
MIT's Technology Review magazine has just published its annual list of the top ten emerging technologies.
Read more @ Technology Review
BigDog
BigDogBI is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.
Read more about BigDog @ Boston Dynamics
Distinguishing Artificial From Natural Is Possible
We like to tell ourselves that it's easy to distinguish between the natural and the artificial, but they have a knack for fooling us. When European colonists traveled through the patchwork of forests and meadows of New England, they thought they were exploring primeval nature. In fact, Native Americans had been tending it carefully with fires for centuries. When the Viking probe snapped a fuzzy picture of a mountain on Mars in 1976, some people were sure it showed a giant face carved by Martians. When another probe took a sharper picture in 2001, all trace of the face had vanished.
Read complete @ wired
Fuel Cell Car
Fuel cells are one of the most promising means of producing energy in the future. Because they do not consume fossil fuels they are considered environmentally friendly. Automobile manufacturers are already experimenting successfully with this technology and it is widely believed that fuel cells will become the energy source for automobiles in the near future.
This new Thames & Kosmos Fuel Cell Kit provides a playful introduction to one of the most significant technologies of the 21st Century. With this kit you can build a model car that actually runs on water!
Find it here
Pivo2 electric car concept
Shiro Nakamura likes to think that designing cars is like making music. As Nissan Motor's chief creative officer and an active cello player, Nakamura should know.
Since he began heading up design at Japan's third-biggest automaker nine years ago, the youthful 57-year-old has transformed the company's image as a technologically savvy but generally form-blind outfit into one known for its design flair.
"Nissan draws hints from contemporary Japan -- things like animation, and 'manga' (comics)," Nakamura said. The bubbly Pivo2 electric car concept, which has an egg-shaped cabin nestled inside four small, swivelling wheels, is a perfect example.
Read more
Mathematical Model Predicts Success Of Businesses
Ping-Chen Lin of the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences in Kaohsiung and Jiah-Shing Chen of the National Central University, Jhongli, in Taiwan, explain how the financial status of any company can be of interest not only to its owners and employees but to a range of creditors, stockholders, banks, and individual investors. However, there are so many changing and interconnected factors that can lead to success or failure that it is usually considered an impossible task to predict whether a company will fail.
Read Complete @ Sciencedaily
Mindful Motion
Scientific American editor Christine Soares talks with Duke University neuroengineer Miguel Nicolelis about his groundbreaking work in controlling robot movement using only thoughts, as well as efforts to create science cities in Brazil and national development through education, especially in science and technology.
Listen the podcast @ Scientific American
Child-like intelligence created in Second Life
The child is a product of logic-based artificial intelligence and complex modelling techniques, and operates on what has been said to be the most powerful university-based supercomputing system in the world.
A creation of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Eddie has his own set of beliefs, and the ability to reason about his beliefs to draw conclusions in a manner that matches human children his age.
Read complete article @ iTnews
Hybrid Light Shines Longer With Less Energy
Researchers in California have developed a hybrid light that is cheaper, longer lasting, more energy efficient and is as bright as traditional light emitting diodes (LEDs).
The technology, which blends traditional LEDs with newer light emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) could eventually be used to make cheap hi-definition televisions and other displays that are flat as film.
Read complete @ Discovery
Cosmic Clean-Up: Wild Ideas to Sweep Space
Space is littered with millions of bits of orbiting garbage leftover from missions. The flying flotsam can delay launches and could potentially smash into spacecraft. Now some creative ideas are emerging for how to sweep up the junk. One idea even involves an oversized NERF ball. The graveyard of ghostly scraps from satellites and other craft continues to grow. Last year, the intentional destruction of China's Fengyun-1C weather satellite sent at least 150,000 bits of orbital debris less than a half-inch (one centimeter) across and larger into space, according to NASA's Orbital Debris Program. Read complete @ Space.com
True lies of Artificial Intellingence
A virtual child controlled by artificially intelligent software has passed a cognitive test regarded as a major milestone in human development. It could lead to smarter computer games able to predict human players' state of mind.
Children typically master the "false belief test" at age 4 or 5. It tests their ability to realise that the beliefs of others can differ from their own, and from reality.
Read complete @ NewScientist