Tech Suki

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16358

.. A previous study had looked at using fMRI scans of parts of the brain linked to shape identification to correctly guess the a viewed image from a series of stock images.  Jack Gallant, a University of California, Berkeley neuroscientist who led the current effort, describes this previous work as similar to “the magician’s card trick where you pick a card from a deck, and he guesses which card you picked. The magician knows all the cards you could have seen.”

The new study expands this approach greatly by also scanning parts of the brain used for general classifications like “person”, “car”, or “building”.  Utilizing Bayesian probabilistic math, researchers armed with a database of over 6 million possible results and the new scans were able to go beyond identification into the realm of reconstruction, coming up with an image corresponding to what the person was thinking of, after an initial calibration to adjust for mental differences.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7543089.stm

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16353

New breakthrough uses commercially achievable cold temperatures

Researchers at UC San Diego have made a breakthrough in integrated circuits using a particle type called excitons that can operate at commercially available cold temperatures. The breakthrough could one day lead to computers that are capable of running much faster than the machines we use today.

The same team made a similar discovery last summer with the development of an integrated circuit that was capable of working at 1.5 degrees Kelvin. The researchers point out that that temperature is warmer than the average temperature in space.

The new discovery is of a similar integrated circuit that can operate using excitons at 125 degrees Kelvin, equivalent to minus 234 degrees Fahrenheit. That is still a very cold temperature, but it can be achieved with commercially available liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen costs about as much as gasoline. The previous discovery requiring temperatures of minus 457 degrees Fahrenheit was only achievable in specially outfitted labs.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16340

3D printing is an interesting technology which allows engineers and designers to get a 3D object from a digital design that can be viewed in the real world. Artists also use 3D printing to make art that is designed digitally.

A team of engineers and artists working at the University of Washington’s Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has developed a new method of using conventional 3D printers to create glass objects. A 3D printer typically uses a layer of powder that is activated by an ink jet printer that sprays a binding material at the exact location it is needed. The reaction binder adheres to the powdered and creates the object.

DailyTech – Honda Reveals ‘Personal Mobility’ Device.

Honda recently showed off a new personal mobility technology that closely mimics a robotic unicycle designed to help disabled people move around.

The new device, the U3-X, has a seat height a bit higher than an average person’s waistline, and riders must jump up a bit before they can put their feet on a foot rest.  Honda designed the U3-X so it can move forward and backwards, sideways and diagonally.

Riders simply need to lean the direction they wish to go in, and it has a top speed of 3.7 MPH.

Anti-wi-fi paint offers security

via BBC NEWS | Technology | Anti-wi-fi paint offers security.

Researchers say they have created a special kind of paint which can block out wireless signals.

It means security-conscious wireless users could block their neighbours from being able to access their home network – without having to set up encryption.

The paint contains an aluminium-iron oxide which resonates at the same frequency as wi-fi – or other radio waves – meaning the airborne data is absorbed and blocked.

By coating an entire room, signals can’t get in and, crucially, can’t get out.

DailyTech – Commercial Plasma Rocket Reaches 200 KW, an Important Milestone .

Developed by former astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, the engine could change a lot about how we interact with space.  The new rocket, driven by plasma, is able to use cheaper fuels like neon, argon, or hydrogen, while providing finer control over thrust and specific impulse — two key parameters that determine a rocket’s movement and speed.  The new rocket is also much safer and more reliable than traditional chemical rockets, reducing the risks associated with space flight.

The engine exhausts plasma, a fourth state of matter along with solids, liquids, and gases.  Plasma is essentially ionized gas.  It is typically created via either low pressure or extremely high heat (10,000° C or more).  Plasma consists of a mix of electrons and positively charged gas ions.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Engineering Earth ‘is feasible’.

A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are “technically possible”.

Such approaches could be effective, the authors said in their report.

But they also stressed that the potential of geo-engineering should not divert governments away from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Suggestions range from having giant mirrors in space to erecting giant CO2 scrubbers that would “clean” the air.

Such engineering projects could either remove carbon dioxide or reflect the Sun’s rays away from the planet.

Of the two basic geo-engineering approaches, the report concluded that those involving the removal of carbon dioxide were preferable, as they effectively return the climate system closer to its pre-industrial state.

But the authors found that many of these options were currently too expensive to implement widely.

This included “carbon capture and storage” methods, which require CO2 be captured directly from power plants and stored under the Earth’s surface.

Current proposed methods also work very slowly, taking many decades to remove enough carbon dioxide to significantly reduce the rate of temperature rise.

Of the carbon removal techniques assessed, three were considered to have most potential:

1. CO2 capture from ambient air: This would be the preferred method, as it effectively reverses the cause of climate change.

2. Enhanced weathering: This aims to enhance natural reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals. It was identified as a prospective longer-term option.

3. Land use and afforestation: The report found that land-use management could and should play a small but significant role in reducing the growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Some suggestions include: a giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminium mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years.

The study also said that many of these approaches had huge logistical demands, and it could take several decades for them to be implemented.

But if temperatures rose to such a level where more rapid action needed to be taken, three techniques were considered to have most potential:

1. Stratospheric aerosols: Previous volcanic eruptions have effectively provided case studies of the potential effectiveness of this method.

2. Space-based methods: These were considered to be a potential technique for long-term use, but only if major problems of implementation and maintenance could be solved.

3. Cloud albedo approaches: These include “cloud ships” which would send sea water into the clouds to make them more reflective.

DailyTech – International Space Updates, September 2009.

Japanese companies Mitsubishi and IHI have agreed to join a $21 billion project that aims to create a solar-power generator in space that can send electricity back to Earth.

“It sounds like a science-fiction cartoon, but solar power generation in space may be a significant alternative energy source in the century ahead as fossil fuel disappears,” said Kensuke Kanekiyo, Institute of Energy Economics director told Bloomberg.

The power generator is a 1-gigawatt project that will use four square kilometers of solar panels, though it isn’t expected to be fully functional for 30 years.

DailyTech – Researchers Create World’s Smallest Semiconductor Laser.

The new laser breakthrough may one day usher in a new era in computing power by providing CPU makers with the ability to use light rather than electronic circuitry in processors. The key breakthrough was a method that the researchers devised to squeeze the light into a space smaller than its wavelength and keep the light from dissipating as it moved along.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We’re all mutants, say scientists.

Each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA, according to research published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists have been trying to get an accurate estimate of the mutation rate for over 70 years.

However, only now has it been possible to get a reliable estimate, thanks to “next generation” technology for genetic sequencing.

The findings may lead to new treatments and insights into our evolution.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Galaxy’s ‘cannibalism’ revealed.

The vast Andromeda galaxy appears to have expanded by digesting stars from other galaxies, research has shown.

When an international team of scientists mapped Andromeda, they discovered stars that they said were “remnants of dwarf galaxies”.

Liquid-OLED Offers More Light-Emitting Possibilities.

Recently, researchers have fabricated a “liquid-OLED” – an OLED that uses a liquid organic semiconducting layer to transport charge.

The scientists, Denghui Xu and Chihaya Adachi from the Center for Future Chemistry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, have reported the liquid-OLED in a recent issue of Applied Physics Letters. As they explain, the novel design is based on a liquid-emitting layer, and could have advantages for flexible displays and other organic electronics applications.

Usually, OLED displays use solid-state organic films that give off light when an electric current is applied. One significant benefit of OLED displays compared to traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight. For this reason, OLEDs can be made very thin and flexible, as well as use less power, enabling them to run longer on a single battery charge.

The new liquid-OLED could achieve these same benefits, but by using a liquid organic semiconductor instead of the solid-state films. Other than a few previous studies that have investigated using polymer solutions as the semiconducting layer, this is the first time that researchers have attempted to fabricate a practical liquid semiconductor for OLEDs.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Single molecule’s stunning image.

The detailed chemical structure of a single molecule has been imaged for the first time, say researchers.

The physical shape of single carbon nanotubes has been outlined before, using similar techniques – but the new method even shows up chemical bonds.

Understanding structure on this scale could help in the design of many things on the molecular scale, particularly electronics or even drugs.

Technology Review: The Smallest Laser Ever Made.

Researchers have demonstrated the smallest laser ever, consisting of a nanoparticle just 44 nanometers across. The device is dubbed a “spaser” because it generates a form of radiation called surface plasmons. The technique allows light to be confined in very small spaces, and some physicists believe that spasers could form the basis of future optical computers just as transistors are the basis of today’s electronics.